A Way To Return Home

“Kent-san?”

In the morning, Kent woke up to Caro’s angry tone of voice.

“Good morning, Caro-san.”

“Did you enjoy yourself with Al-chan last night, I wonder?”

“Huh?”

After Caro said that, Kent realized he was not wearing any clothes, and beside him, a naked Al was sleeping peacefully.

“I don’t think anything like that happened, though…”

Kent remembered last night, but he had no memory of doing such a thing.

“Sniff, sniff… The smell certainly is not there, so it seems that no such act took place.”

After sniffing, Caro said that as though she was certain.

“As expected of Caro-sama. To think you would calmly judge this situation—truly admirable.”

Al, who had woken up at some point, said.

“I can understand that no act took place, but why did this situation happen?”

After Caro said that, he realized it. He was positioned right across from Al, as though they were embracing each other.

“Isn’t it fine? Caro-sama has been enjoying herself with Master the whole time since you came here, haven’t you? Isn’t it fine for you to yield just a little? I worked hard in all kinds of ways, you know?”

“Ugh, when you put it that way…”

Caro had been hit where it hurt and was at a loss for an answer.

“Fine. Fine, I understand. Do as you like.”

“Yay!”

When Caro said that half in resignation, Al happily clung to Kent. Al smelled like grass, and the scent calmed him, so Kent instinctively sniffed her.

“It is true that Al-chan has a pleasant scent, as though one had returned to nature.”

At some point, Caro had sat beside Kent and sniffed Al the same way while stroking her head.

“That tickles.”

Al’s words sounded like she disliked it, but from her expression, she seemed happy. The three of them spent a relaxed time together for a while, then began preparing to return home. Summer vacation ended today, and school would start the next day. If they had their own carriage, they could depart whenever they liked, but there was only one stagecoach bound for Tior, departing in the afternoon. If they missed it, they would not be able to go to school the next day.

In the end, they finished preparing to return just before noon.

“Thank you very much for everything.”

“No, I am sorry we could not provide you with any proper hospitality.”

Kent greeted the Town Head’s family as their representative. Since the Town Head knew the circumstances, he spoke apologetically.

“Kent, Caro-sa… ahem. Caro, Al, come visit again when you have free time.”

Perhaps because yesterday’s events briefly crossed Verna’s mind, she kept a slight distance from Caro.

“Caro-san gets like that when she drinks, so you don’t need to worry about it. But it was a good thing that you went around apologizing to the children your age. And you seemed to be able to talk with the adults too, so I’m relieved.”

“I-it is not as though I asked you to do that. …But thank you.”

After that incident, Verna seemed surprised that adults began speaking to her, but she quickly opened up to them. However, because her overbearing attitude toward children her own age had backfired, she had lost the chance to talk to them. Then, because drunk Caro had made her go around apologizing by sheer momentum, those relationships improved.

“Did I do something?”

“So you really don’t remember.”

Caro apparently did not remember and asked Kent about it. When Kent told her about yesterday, Caro’s face turned bright red in embarrassment.

“I am sorry. To think I did something like that.”

“It’s fine. Thank you too, Caro.”

Caro apologized, but far from minding it, Verna seemed grateful.

“Well then, see you again.”

“Thank you for taking care of us.”

“See ya!”

Each of them gave their farewells and left the Lord’s secondary residence. Incidentally, the one who said “See ya!” was Al. She even gave a polite thumbs-up with it.

Carrying bags filled with luggage, Kent and the others headed toward the stagecoach station. On the way there, people in town called out to them, and they exchanged greetings as they went, so it took longer than expected.

“Kent-san, we have cut it very close on time.”

“That’s true. Let’s hurry a little.”

Kent and the others hurried a little and arrived at the stagecoach station.

“Mister, we would like seats for three to Sampto, but…”

“Sorry. We’re already full today. Stay here tonight and come a little earlier tomorrow.”

Including the transport for the arrested people, three carriages had been prepared, but all of them were full. And just like that, they departed for Tior.

“Kent-san… what should we do?”

“What should we do? Stay one more night and go back on tomorrow’s coach?”

“No, school starts tomorrow, so I want to return somehow.”

“Right…”

Caro apparently wanted to return no matter what. Since it was Caro’s wish, Kent wanted to find some way to make it happen.

“For now, let’s leave town.”

“Understood.”

When Kent said that, he walked toward the gate, and Caro and Al followed without saying anything.

Just as they were about to leave town, a guard protecting the gate called out to them.

“Acting Lord, Caroline-sama. Surely you are not planning to return on foot, are you?”

“School starts tomorrow, so we have to return. But the stagecoach was full, and we could not board.”

“Since the beginning of this month, the number of people coming in and out of town has suddenly increased. There has even been talk of adding more stagecoach services. …No, that is not the point. You do not even have guards… no, you do have one. It is true that if you walk, I believe you would arrive late at night, but are you truly planning to return on foot?”

The guard said that while glancing toward Al. Even if they had a guard, traveling a long distance on foot would be a considerable burden.

“As one who protects this gate, I cannot overlook this. I will report to the Head Guard and arrange a carriage…”

“That will not be necessary. Someone will come to pick us up along the way, so it will be all right. Naturally, we cannot bring a noble’s carriage into town, after all. That would make hiding our status meaningless.”

Just as the guard was about to say that, Kent said it was all right. Incidentally, the part about someone coming to pick them up was something he had made up on the spot.

“I see… understood. Please take care on the road.”

The guard saluted and saw Kent and the others off.

“As expected of Kent-san. You had arranged a carriage.”

“No, I only said that to put the guard at ease. I think he believed me because Al is here as our guard.”

The three of them set off on foot toward the town of Tior. After walking a little, they moved away from town, and Kent confirmed that no one was around them.

“We should be fine now that we’ve come this far. The road isn’t paved, but there aren’t many bumps, and carriages could pass through normally, so I think it’ll be fine… The only question is how far we can go in one hour…”

Even if they could not reach Tior, Kent was convinced that using this method would get them quite close. His calculation was that if they walked the remaining distance, they could somehow manage.

Kent took out his device and displayed a certain item. That item was…

Until now, because people had been watching, he had noticed that the item existed but had never selected it. He had also never tested what would happen once sixty minutes passed, so there was some anxiety, but this time, Kent intuitively felt that this was the only option.

“Caro-san, Al, step away a little.”

““Yes.””

After confirming that Caro and Al had stepped away, he selected light truck rental from the device. Then a white light truck appeared in front of Kent.

“Whoa, this brings back memories. It even has the logo.”

The body had the logo of the home improvement store where Kent had worked in his previous world. Beneath it, the words [For Customer Rental] were carefully written.

“Caro-san, load the luggage onto the cargo bed and sit in this seat.”

“Yes.”

Kent and Caro loaded the luggage onto the cargo bed and secured it with rope. He had Caro sit in the passenger seat.

“This feeling is somehow nostalgic. Is this a cart made of iron?”

Caro said that nostalgically. She had gotten used to it now, but when she first met Kent, this ability had shocked her greatly. However, since this was something she was seeing for the first time, it seemed to make her feel that way.

“Sorry, Caro-san. Could you put Al on your lap?”

“Yes, understood.”

After placing Al on Caro’s lap, Kent climbed into the driver’s seat.

“The key is there… All right, start the engine.”

When he turned the key… the indicator lights on the meter lit up, but the engine did not start.

“Ah, this is a manual transmission.”

This time, he pressed the clutch and brake while turning the engine key again, and the engine started.

“Good, looks like we can go with this. While I’m at it, I’ll turn on the air conditioner too.”

“Kent-san, we are returning in this vehicle, correct? Is it all right without horses or anything?”

“This has its own power source, so it doesn’t need horses. It can run by itself.”

“Is that so?”

“I might hate the smell of the smoke coming from the back…”

In contrast to Caro, who asked with great interest, Al did not seem very enthusiastic. By the smoke coming from the back, she was probably referring to the exhaust fumes. Kent understood that it was certainly not something good to breathe in. He thought that Al, in particular, was probably sensitive to that sort of thing.

The fuel gauge was not a gauge, but displayed numbers. While they were talking, the number 60 changed to 59.

“So this is the remaining time… Then it’d be a waste of time to sit here. Let’s depart.”

““Yes.””

Kent put it in gear, stepped on the accelerator while easing off the clutch, and began moving the light truck. The clutch operation on a light truck was delicate, so it was difficult to connect without stalling the engine. However, he operated it with practiced ease, changed gears properly, and increased speed.

“This is very fast. And even though it is hot outside, it is cool inside.”

“Amazing, amazing.”

Caro and Al were delighted by a speed they had never experienced before.

“It shakes, so be careful not to bite your tongue.”

Since they were traveling along an unpaved road, there was considerable shaking. Because there was also a time limit, Kent maintained the highest speed at which he could drive steadily and aimed for the town of Tior.