Chapter 42

Fiene was busily munching away on the stuffed bread rolls lined up on the table. She was already innocent and cute to begin with, but watching her eat with such single-minded focus made her even more adorable.

Generally speaking, the bread in the Kingdom of Saxens is unflavored. The common bread in circulation is a slightly sour, hard black bread. As a result, I’ve never seen anything here like Japanese “sozai-pan”¹ that come pre-seasoned.

“This one has onion, cheese, and bacon… but I don’t recognize this other ingredient,” she noted.

“That’s a sauce called mayonnaise. It’s topped with minced parsley and then baked,” I explained.

“It’s delicious… bacon is the best…”

She seemed entirely devoted to the act of eating. While onions and cheese are common enough here, bacon is a luxury food item that rarely makes it to an average household’s table. I once saw a brick-sized slab of shoulder bacon for sale at 4,000 Marques. Considering Fiene’s take-home pay is 600 Marques a day—slightly less than the average worker’s wage—you can see just how much of a luxury bacon really is.

Well, even with 600 Marques, she’s actually better off than most workers. Since her master, Clara-sama, covers her meals and lodging, she can save most of it. She can even borrow weapons and armor. She has to provide her own clothes, of course, but once she joins the Royal Capital City Guard, she’ll be issued a uniform, which is another significant perk.

“Phew, that was wonderful. You must be so big because you eat such delicious things, Kota.”

It was true; both Yoshioka and I were larger than the average person in this world. Though, I do see the occasional “irregular” here—I’ve passed several people in town who looked to be well over two meters tall.

“I wonder if I’ll get big if I keep eating this? Maybe even my chest could get a little…”

“I wouldn’t recommend it. Your stomach will probably pop out before your chest does,” Yoshioka quipped.

I watched Yoshioka get smacked by Fiene out of the corner of my eye as I checked today’s schedule. Our itinerary for the day was forty-two kilometers, ending at a large city called Golfsdorf. Reaching Golfsdorf meant we had covered roughly half the total distance of our journey.

It had been twenty-eight days since we left Ebba-berg. We’ve certainly come a long way.

I was dozing off in the trailer when I was suddenly jolted awake by Fiene’s shouting.

“The sea! It’s the sea, Kota!”

The sea? We should be inland…

“Hahaha. Fiene, that is Lake Baden,” Clara-sama corrected her.

Stretching out where Clara-sama pointed was a vast, blue lake. Lake Baden is a massive body of water, boasting a length of 147 kilometers and a maximum width of 38 kilometers. It’s famous for its thriving water transport industry. Our destination today, Golfsdorf, was a city situated right on its shores.

At this point, the Reinga Road temporarily splits into a waterway and a land route, and we were taking the water. I had heard we’d be traveling by boat starting tomorrow, and I was looking forward to it. Still, it really was an enormous lake. It’s no wonder Fiene mistook it for the ocean.

Furthermore, the opposite shore belonged to the neighboring country, the Duchy of Ostrea. Apparently, it was originally part of the Kingdom of Saxens, but about a hundred years ago, the then-Margrave of Ostrea declared independence and established his own nation. Naturally, relations with the Kingdom of Saxens have been poor ever since.

Technically, it should have led to war, but at the time, Saxens was dealing with invasions from northern nations and a war with the Kingdom of Portand to the east. They didn’t have the military capacity to deal with Ostrea. The Margrave likely understood that and chose his moment to rebel perfectly. Because of that, Saxens was stripped of its vast western lands, a situation that persists to this day.

However, while the governments are on bad terms, trade is flourishing at the civilian level, and there’s very little actual animosity between the people. They were originally the same ethnic group, and with relatives often living in cities on opposite shores, it’s only natural. Thanks to these circumstances, while there is a slight air of tension, no actual conflicts were occurring in the region.

Yoshioka and I were on the sandy beach of Lake Baden, huddled around a campfire. We were planning to head to the next city, Bregantz, ahead of the others.

The reason? Boat fares are expensive. The fare from Golfsdorf to Bregantz is a whopping 3,000 Marques per person. Horses are even worse at 5,000 Marques. When I asked the shipowner how much it would cost to transport the bike and trailer, he quoted me 5,000 Marques—the same as a horse. The total would have come to 22,000 Marques.

So, we decided that Yoshioka and I would go ahead across the lake by bike and wait for Clara-sama and Fiene in Bregantz. With my “Water Walking” skill, driving the bike on water wouldn’t be an issue. However, since riding across the surface of a lake is a bit too conspicuous, we were waiting for everyone else to fall asleep.

Clara-sama told us she had enough to cover everyone’s fare and that we shouldn’t worry, but the combined cost for the two of us and the bike was 11,000 Marques. We figured it would be better for everyone if we saved that money and increased the amount for our next investment instead. Besides, riding the bike for two hours is much easier than being tossed around on a boat for ten.

Since it’s a boat trip, there isn’t much for an attendant to do anyway. I can leave the personal care to Fiene; she’s really grown into her role as an attendant.

“Shall we get going?”

It was 10:00 PM. The sound of the bike’s engine began to echo across the shores of Baden.

“This noise is probably going to wake people up.”

I knew he was right, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. There are electric motocross bikes with quiet engines, but I’m pretty sure they aren’t on the market yet. If only I had one of those, covert operations would be a breeze…

I activated “Water Walking” and tentatively steered the bike onto the water. It was fine; it didn’t sink.

“No problems on my end either.”

The wheels of the trailer were also staying firmly on the surface. We began to glide smoothly across the water. Low-hanging clouds covered the night sky, making the surroundings pitch black. I had swapped the bike’s headlight for a bright LED, so visibility wasn’t bad. Even so, since I didn’t know what might be lurking out here, I decided to keep our speed capped at 60 km/h.

“How long until we arrive?”

“It’s about 110 kilometers to Bregantz, so it should take less than two hours.”

We’d likely reach Bregantz before midnight. The port would probably be closed at this hour, so the plan was to set up camp near the main road.

An hour into the ride, an intense drowsiness washed over me. But since we were on the water, I couldn’t exactly ask Yoshioka to take over. If I got off, the bike would sink, and Yoshioka was back in the trailer anyway.

“I’m so sleepy… I’m gonna die…”

I tried to stave off the sleepiness by grumbling to Yoshioka over the intercom, but I was reaching my limit.

“Senpai, look to your left. There’s a small island!”

Talk about a godsend. We could take a nap on that island. I steered toward it, desperately clinging to my fading consciousness.

It was a small island, about 500 tsubo (around 1,650 square meters), with sparse trees. It looked like it was used for something regularly, as it had a properly maintained dock. However, it wasn’t built for a bike to come ashore directly from the water. We struggled to haul the bike up onto a shore littered with large, craggy rocks. Both Yoshioka and I were drenched in sweat.

“Sorry…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m wide awake now.”

I felt like an idiot for going through all that trouble for nothing, but I couldn’t help it! Hauling the bike up had completely jolted my brain into high gear.

“It’s fine… let’s just rest for a bit.”

We both lay down on the grass. The breeze blowing across the lake felt wonderful against our heated skin.

“Looking at the lake makes me want to eat unagi…”

“Yoshioka… I couldn’t agree more.”

I vowed to myself that I’d definitely eat some the next time I returned to Japan! I was starting to feel a bit hungry. I knew I had various snacks in my Spatial Storage… oh, found some Almond Pocky!

“Kawagoe is actually famous for its unagi. Since it’s landlocked, eels and river fish caught in the Arakawa and Iruma Rivers were precious sources of protein—”

Yoshioka, who was chatting away next to me, suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

“What is it?”

“A light on the lake.”

Once he pointed it out, I noticed a faint, flickering light swaying in the darkness. Was that a torch?

“So people are out on boats even at this hour.”

“Is it safe? If it’s a normal boat, fine, but if it’s bad people…”

That was a scary thought. Pirates—or in this case, lake-pirates? I didn’t want us to get spotted by types like that. We hurriedly switched off the LED lantern.

“Senpai, they’re coming this way.”

“We don’t have time to get the bike back into the lake.”

We could manage the bike on its own, but with the trailer attached, getting back over those craggy rocks was a major chore. For now, we moved the bike to the opposite side of the dock and held our breath.

A small boat pulled up to the island’s dock. It was a single-masted vessel, maybe ten meters long.

“As I thought, the other boat is nowhere to be seen. Looks like they haven’t arrived yet.”

“Strange. I could’ve sworn I saw a whitish light.”

Coarse voices echoed across the small island in the dead of night. Illuminated by the torchlight, the men were all red-faced and bearded; they didn’t look like gentlemen by any stretch of the imagination.

“Should we go say hello?”

“I’m a bit shy, sir.”

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I really believe a person’s character shows in their face. No matter how you looked at them, the men who had arrived on the boat didn’t look like honest businessmen. They were all carrying weapons, for one thing…

“What should we do?”

“What do you mean ‘what should we do’… want some Pocky?”

“How can you be so carefree?!”

Well, panicking wouldn’t help, would it? We had ways to fight back if we were found. Besides, we didn’t know for sure if they were bad people yet.

“You don’t want any?”

“I’ll take some… oh, the strawberry one.”

Hiding in the shadows at the edge of the island, we watched the men while munching on Pocky.