206

I spent the quiet night with the crackling of the campfire as my companion.

I diligently transferred boiled water into the plastic tank, going back and forth to the river while being careful not to wake the two women using my apron as a blanket.

Keeping watch through the night was no problem.

I had spent many nights like this.

At this point, I would not lament the boredom, and I watched the fire while training my magic with an empty mind.

I had no talent, so no matter how much I trained, there was no visible change, but if I neglected my training, it would rust away easily. It was a troublesome thing.

I did not know how many round trips I had made, but the tank was finally full.

I let the leftover hot water cool a little, then drank it down. Since I still felt unsatisfied, I boiled water once more.

I sat on the rock I was using as a chair and thought while staring at the campfire.

Delivering them to the Furon Council-State was fine. If we were lucky, they would arrive safely. The problem was entering the country.

In the worst case, it would be illegal entry, but it would be better if they had something to guarantee their identities.

However, I had literally recovered the two of them naked, so there was no sign of any belongings anywhere.

Even if they managed to enter the country like this, would they not have problems afterward?

I could not help but worry, but I had no obligation to help them that far.

As payment for the information, getting them as far as entry into the country was enough.

While looking at the two of them sleeping soundly, probably from exhaustion, I silently waited for dawn.

Even though the apron was large, there was naturally not enough cloth for two women to use it.

As if to make up for that, Rena was sleeping while clinging to Diera, but even then, their arms and legs were sticking out.

“I really do want to stop by a town sooner rather than later.”

There were many things we needed.

Also, if they became able to carry luggage themselves, various parts of the situation would improve.

If things were going to be like this, perhaps I should have stopped by Eilqueel first, I thought, crossing my arms and swaying my body.

I threw a dead branch into the campfire and looked at the fuel, which was now almost gone.

As I wondered whether it would be all right to leave this place, I thought of the unnecessary items in my backpack that could serve as substitutes, and then remembered the handgun I had obtained the other day.

…Hm. Have them deliver this to the two of them. If the family still exists, could they receive a reward?

The chances were slim, but simply selling it would still turn it into money.

After that, I could have them pick up a few items along the way that seemed sellable, and they could set up a foundation for their lives before their money ran out.

My thoughts came together, and I muttered, “This is probably the limit.”

If we found something special along the way, that would be another matter, but it was unreasonable to expect such a convenient development.

If only they had at least had hunter dog tags or something, I think there still would have been ways to handle this… But in the first place, I don’t even know what kind of identification is used in the current Furon.

Thinking about it this way, the premise itself was hopeless.

Dawn was approaching, so it was about time to end my thinking.

Meals while traveling would be almost entirely meat, so I planned to make fish for breakfast.

I might as well replenish the fuel now, I thought, throwing the last dead branch into the shrunken campfire and standing up.

Just in case, I searched the surroundings with my eyes and ears before entering the forest.

Then, after securing enough dead branches to grill fish and returning, the two of them were still sleeping.

The eastern sky was turning pale, so dawn would arrive soon.

When I relit the extinguished campfire, perhaps reacting to the sound, Boobs Lady rolled over in her sleep.

“Today as well, you are splendidly magnificent,” I said, carefully worshiping the exposed mound of skin-colored flesh.

As I stared at it for a while, I felt like I was about to remember something.

Hm… It isn’t that I’ve forgotten. Something is bothering me?

As I tilted my head in puzzlement, perhaps awakened by the pale light of the sky, Diera sat up.

The towel she had been wrapped in was being held by Rena, who was sleeping beside her, and she rubbed her sleepy eyes while still naked from the waist up.

That was when I realized it.

The keyword was “naked.”

More precisely, it was “nude woman,” but because of that, Boobs Lady’s breasts alone probably had not connected to it.

Leaving the awakened woman alone, I rummaged through my backpack.

Then I took out a short dagger from the bottom.

It was a dagger engraved with the emblems of a butterfly and flames.

It belonged to House Orselem, a noble family of Seizeria.

I did not know whether the house still existed, so I tried asking the half-awake woman.

“No, I’m not very familiar with noble-related matters.”

Boobs Lady said this while retying the towel she had recovered from Tiny Chest Girl beside her.

“I thought this might be usable as a substitute for identification, but…”

“You want me to pretend to be a noble? Acting all refined is a bit impossible for me.”

“If I did something like that, they’d find out right away,” she said, waving her hand, and I nodded because that was true.

Then, when I said we should think of a setting that seemed likely to pass, Rena woke up.

She said something to me, so it was probably “good morning.”

So I tried imitating it, and she returned the same words to me.

In any case, dawn had broken, so although it was a little early, it was time to prepare breakfast.

I conveyed to the two of them through gestures that they should get ready, then caught fish in the river.

The two who came to the river washed their faces and took turns tidying their hair.

When I returned first with the fish, the fire was ready, so I prepared the prey in my hands, sprinkled salt over them, and skewered them on iron skewers.

As I sat on a rock and waited for them to finish grilling, the two of them returned from the river with refreshed faces.

“Come to think of it, you didn’t sleep?”

As expected, Boobs Lady seemed cold in that outfit, and she asked that question while warming herself by the campfire.

“I have no problem going without sleep for a day or two. That said, I would prefer to avoid going without sleep or rest for too long. More importantly…”

When I asked whether they had thought of a setting for making effective use of that dagger, Rena, who had somehow had it translated to her, gave a broad smile as if to say, “Perfect,” and raised her thumb.

“Ah, we decided it’s a dagger with a history that was in my family.”

“…I see.”

I tilted my head, wondering if that would really be all right, while crunching through the grilled fish, bones and all.

After quickly finishing my meal, I decided to tell the two of them, who were biting into their grilled fish, about our plans from here on.

“That helps. There are any number of things we want.”

When I said we would search for and stop by the remains of a town, both of them agreed.

Rena apparently also needed shoes and clothes, and showed me the torn parts of her maid uniform.

As expected, after two hundred years, its durability seemed questionable.

When they predicted that a few pieces of clothing in good condition should last until Furon, I also nodded.

In addition, when I said it would be better to find things that seemed sellable in order to obtain a foundation for their lives, the two of them nodded this time.

“The problem is that we don’t know what will turn into money.”

After Rena’s words were translated for me, I told them that I had a slight idea about that.

What I was aiming for were compact precision machines—for example, something like the watch I had.

When I had gone to the Furon Council-State before, I had seen obvious technological decline.

In that case, my guess was that items meant for technological analysis would sell for a decent sum.

After that, technical books and the like at bookstores would probably be good targets.

I had unintentionally spoken proudly, but after listening to me, Boobs Lady said in an exasperated tone,

“I’m starting to feel like I’d believe you even if someone told me, ‘Actually, he wasn’t a monster after all.’”

“…Hm. I shall use that line next time.”

For an instant, I thought my heart had leapt, but perhaps my emotion-suppression function had activated, because I was able to reply calmly.

I found myself impressed by the line, since it sounded just like something that would fit her image of me.

“Don’t. Strange misunderstandings will spread.”

Boobs Lady said that and stood up, with Tiny Chest Girl following after her.

After throwing away the bones of the fish they had finished eating, it seemed they would help clean up.

I became curious about what their meals had been like until now, but for now, we should finish quickly and resume moving.

We ran through the forest.

Just in case, I had the two riding on my shoulders watch the surroundings.

There was a possibility they might discover a facility, so I wanted them to do their best.

To motivate them, I concealed my true goal and gave them a different reason, saying, “If there’s information about cutting-edge technology from back then, I’m sure it would sell for a high price.”

This time, I held back on the shaking and prioritized advancing, and before they could cast suspicious looks at me, I escaped trouble by saying something like, “I’m starting to get the feel for it.”

That said, with that mass shaking so greatly, there was no way accidents would not happen, and I saw her repeatedly fixing the position of her towel.

“I want to find a town soon,” she muttered, and Rena agreed when she rephrased it in her native language.

The two female passengers continued talking about something, but unfortunately, I had no idea what they were saying.

Noon came, and conveniently, we had lunch in a place without trees that appeared to be the remains of a road.

Since I conveniently managed to secure a wild boar, I cooked it using herbs.

Breakfast had been light, so most of it disappeared into my stomach.

Here, while eating, it was question time.

As agreed in our contract, I asked her to teach me knowledge about magic.

The first thing I asked about was “how to train.”

What I knew was only the elven beginner method and its developed form.

I had thought the methods would differ by country and race, but what I heard from her was quite interesting.

“In other words, our established theory is that each school has different training methods, and there are effective training methods for each attribute. For example—”

Saying that, she stretched both hands out in front of her and spread them with all fingers except the thumbs closed.

Next, she connected the index fingers and thumbs of both hands, making a triangle.

“You continue gathering magical power in the center here and maintain that state endlessly. Once you get used to it, you press the pads of your fingers together like this and, in the same way, gather magical power in the center and maintain it. You focus on the left-right balance and make the gathered magical power become a sphere.”

Boobs Lady actually demonstrated it.

In her hands, a beautiful spherical ball of light remained still.

I immediately tried imitating it, but my ball somehow failed to become a clean sphere and wavered slightly, as if vibrating.

Incidentally, this training method was apparently used to improve control and precision, and was mainly performed by mages who handled the fire attribute.

I see. This might indeed be useful training for me, since I make it look like I’m breathing fire with magic.

Impressed by it as a fairly good choice and thinking, “As expected of a professional,” I cleaned up after the meal.

Once we finished, we would resume moving, so I carefully checked that we had not forgotten anything.

Now then, it would be good if we found a town before nightfall… but the reality was that it would be difficult at this speed.

If we followed these road remains, we would definitely arrive somewhere, so betting on that was also an option.

When I consulted them about this, both of them chose to proceed along the remains of the road.

The drawback was that it seemed likely to take extra time, but roads usually led to towns.

Naturally, there would also be rest areas along the way, and if any remained, they would be favorable places to camp.

The problem was whether the town ahead had retained its original form.

I did check the map just in case, but since I did not have accurate location information, there were three possible matches.

Two led to the same town, but the other stretched straight east partway through.

Holding the map in one hand, I explained it to the two of them, told them that we would change course depending on the direction, and then set out.

After that, all we could do was leave it to luck.

For the sake of the two of them as well, I would pray that we could arrive without incident.