DEPARTURE

“Okay, I’ll be back!”
“Ah, wait.”

As I finish preparing for my departure and return to the workshop, Lain calls out to me.
When I turn around, I see Lain stopping his work and walking towards me.

“Can you keep this on yourself at all times?”
“What is it?”

Lain handed over a necklace like ornament to me.
It had a silver chain with a red gem attached to it.
I had no idea what it was used for.

“That’s, for y-…for training. It would suck if you were the only one who got rusted because you went to the royal capital, right? By absorbing your magical power, it will keep your lowering magical power in check.”
“Eeh!? Magic power could go down?”

As soon as I hang the necklace around my neck, the magic tool begins absorbing my magical power.
It was the first magic tool that consumed this much magic from me.

Certainly, if it consumed this much power then this could count as training.

“…Depending on the situation. The concentration of magic is high here, but that’s not the case for the royal capital. Try and keep it on as much as you can.”
“You’re right. Thanks Lain. I won’t take it off even when I’m asleep!”
“…Yeah. I hope not.”

“?”

I felt something off with how Lain said that.
Normally, he would say important stuff with more certainty.

He’s usually hiding something at times like these.

“…Lain, is someth-“
“Aria! Best of luck for the tournament!”
“Please come back home safely.”
“Kili! Thank you for encouraging me! I’ll do my best. You worry too much, Milia.”

Kili and Milia came to support me.
I felt my heart warming Kili’s words of encouragement, and Milia’s words of concern.

“Aria! Come back soon!”
“Come, back.”
“Thank you, Sui and Reno. I’ll bring you both gifts.”
“Al-right!”
“Thank you.”

Commoners needed permission from nobles in order to enter the royal capital.
Sui and Reno won’t be going there anytime soon.

(For gifts, I should get something with a royal capital-like feel)

I left home while being seen off by all five of them.

“Ah, I forgot to ask Lain about what he was hiding.”

As soon as I left, I remembered wanting to ask Lain whether he was hiding something.
But I forgot about that as soon as I heard cheers from Milia and the rest.

“…”

I turn around and ponder upon whether I should go back.
It’s embarrassing to go back and ask what he said, right after receiving so much encouragement.

“…Oh well.”

I look at the necklace Lain gave me and decide to trust him.
Lain had kept secrets in the past too, but none of them had been harmful to us.
This time too, he must have done it for me.

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I turn my back to our home and head towards the gate.

***

“Ara? Sieg-san?”

“Aria-san! Leaving already?”

As I reach the gate, Sieg-san the trader was standing there with his two bodyguards.

“Yes, those were my intentions. What business does Sieg-san have here?”
“Some business came up, so I had one of my escorts hurry back towards the town.”

Now that he mentioned it, Sieg-san did have three bodyguards, but there were only two here.
It seems that the third one went back to town.

“This drawbridge is truly convenient, I must say. You can lower it simply by passing magic through it.”
“Yes indeed. Lain made it for us. In case something happened, we could easily lower it and escape.”

There are two bridges in this village, and both can lowered by passing magic through them.
No one could escape when the village was attacked last time, which is why Lain designed it this way.

It seems to be a device from a different place, and though he said he couldn’t make anything complicated, I don’t think I’ve seen something like this even in the royal capital.
Moreover, after a certain amount of time has passed, it goes up by itself.

As I was looking at the drawbridge, Sieg-san spoke as if he noticed something.

“It looks like you’ve prepared for your trip, but are you planning to head to the royal capital now? On foot?”
“Yes, I intend to.”

I don’t have the leeway to rent a horse.

If I’m on foot, it’s questionable whether I would make it to the tournament in time or not. That’s why I have to leave as early as possible.

“In that case, can I lend you one of our horses? We came on a two-horse-led carriage this time.”
“Thank you for your consideration. But I have had no training in horse riding.”

I was born in a family that had been magicians for generations.
That’s why I was not trained in anything else until I could use magic.

My half-sibling born through a concubine, who’s the same age as me, learnt magic immediately and moved on to swordsmanship and horse riding, while I not trained in any of those things.

“Is that so, that was rude of me.”
“Not at all. It happened a long time ago.”
“…”

Sieg-san said so apologetically.

Sieg-san was chosen exclusively for this village by Margravine-sama.
He’s probably heard about me to some extent as well.

“Well, I’m heading out now. Let’s meet again next time.”
“…Yes. Next time”

Sieg-san looked like he still had something to say, but I’m sure they’re just words of consolation.
I’m fed up of hearing those.

I ended our conversation a bit abruptly, and left the village.

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