11-2 Part 1
The Mysterious Book Says to Walk 500km
Across the Empire
- The Price of High VIT -
Translator : PolterGlast
The fleeting happiness ended. After three days, which felt
both long and short, passed, I decided to leave Erin to Puis and
return to being my original free self.
By the way, Atomina-aneue and Dulin also
returned to the palace in the Imperial Capital. They said they would
find time while handling official duties in the Imperial Capital to
support Puis, the Consul of Erin.
It looks like I'm forcing the territory onto Puis,
but this was the plan from the beginning. When leaving Erin, the people
of Erin gathered in the town and along the highway to see off the
carriage we were riding in. Well, that's probably due to Atomina-aneue's
personal virtue, not mine.
「Welcome back, Ashley-sama.
I'm sorry to bother you when you're tired, but His Majesty wishes to see you.
Please. Think of it as saving face for this old man, and—」
「Understood, I'll go.」
「Well now, you're awfully compliant...
Hah, could it be, an imposter of Ashley-sama?!」
「Have you finally gone senile?」
「I have not gone senile!! I will
remain active until you are in your coffin!!」
「I appreciate the sentiment, but it's
nothing more than an old man's folly...」
In the early evening, Jii appeared in my room and took me to Father in the Red Dragon
Palace. As for Father's business, there was nothing in particular. He just
wanted to see my face and talk.
「I, see... With Georg, and Atomina,
a vacation... Those two, are... you are............」
「Yeah, I can't thank Aniue and
Aneue enough. Right, next time the three of us will come visit our
father. Before it turns into visiting a grave.」
「Ashley-sama, please stop with the unlaughable jokes!!」
He was stable, but Father's illness was progressing.
Unfamiliar magical equipment began to be placed in his sickroom, and it seemed
to play a part in prolonging Father's life.
If he's suffering, it would be fine to let him die, but
Father, who has become the very order of the Empire, doesn't even have that
freedom. I truly thought that the Emperor is an unrewarding position.
「Jii, I leave Father to you.」
「Yes, even at the cost of this life!」
「When you say it, Jii, it really doesn't sound like a joke. Stop it, I don't want
to lose two fathers.」
「Fu... fufufu... You've come to,
resemble him... G (Gideon)... You look exactly like him, when he was young...
fufu...」
「P-Please stop, Your Majesty. I am
but a mere page... Ashley-sama, I have something to talk about later...」
Jii
had become Father's emotional solace. The relationship between the two didn't
look like just a page and his master.
Though they had their respective positions, it seemed right
to call them friends. Father lived with anguish, but he found happiness in a life
watched over by a friend in his final moments. Thinking it would be a salvation
to believe so, I decided to leave it at that.
◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇
From the next day, I finally became a free man in the true
sense. Because of that, I opened the Book of the Evil Dragon and decided
to set my goals for what I should do from now on.
- Exploration -
【Do another 10 laps around the
Imperial Capital】 7.25 / 10 laps completed
- Reward: VIT +100
- 『I think this is the safest
option. If you do it, I will shoulder all the pain from the gunshot for
you. I can't stand it if you get injured again, you see... Become tougher.』
Seeing as there were no other options, and Zirant
highly encouraged it, I threw myself into strolling around the Imperial
Capital guided by my appetite. The moment I decided to do it, the pain
vanished from the healing wound on my chest, so I was truly surprised. I felt
like my emotions were being seen directly by Zirant, and I broke out in
a weird sweat.
Don't tell me, all my emotions up until today have been
completely exposed to her (Zirant)...
◇ ◆ ◇
「Oh my, Ashley! I heard you
introduced our shop to the Ambassador-sama!?」
「Ah, you mean Begal?」
The first place I must head to is that auntie's cafe. If I
don't have a Kebab Sandwich for breakfast, it doesn't feel like a grand
adventure set in the Imperial Capital has begun.
「Yeah, yeah! That person, you know,
he ate our Kebab Sandwiches with such relish! And after that, he bought every
single item on our shop's menu!」
「Every single one, you say...?」
「That's right. Every last thing the
shop had! Thanks to that, we had to close up shop for the day!」
Resting my steel Shovel from my shoulder onto the
ground, I just tilted my head in puzzlement. The white wolf Yashu's
gluttony was also amazing. Given Ambassador Begal's huge frame, I wonder
if he eats even more.
「Come to think of it, I heard Her
Imperial Highness Princess Atomina also came before that. With this,
this place is suddenly a famous shop. I'm proud
to be a regular.」
「Yes, that's right! Atomina-sama
called me auntie! Oh my, what should I do, it was so hectic that day! I
can well understand the feelings of parents who have such a cute daughter!
Haaa... It's something to be thankful for. Continuing this shop for 20 years,
I'm so glad I did...」
Her love is heavy, but she's my pride of an older sister.
Every time the auntie praised Aneue to the skies, I realized the corners
of my own mouth were loosening into a grin.
「Here, it's on the house today. Take it!」
「Then I'll accept without
reservation. Thanks to your good mood, auntie, and Ambassador Begal's
gluttony.」
I received three Kebab Sandwiches and parted with the
auntie. I made all of them my breakfast, and after that, it was a sprint.
Heading toward the North Gate of the Imperial Capital, I, possessing
15.3 times the stamina of a normal person, ran around the Imperial Capital
from morning to sunset.
Naturally, my body demanded energy proportional to that, so
I ate while running. Starting with the classic fried chicken, a bacon lettuce
sandwich, freshly squeezed orange juice, quiche, and pizza generously topped
with anchovies were also delicious.
Aah, the Imperial Capital Bergelmir is a
wonderful city... Back when I first started doing laps around the Imperial
Capital, I probably never even imagined I could run a lap around this vast
land in half a day...
- Exploration -
【Do another 10 laps around the
Imperial Capital】 7.25 → 9.25 / 10 laps completed
- Reward: VIT +100
- 『If you weren't a vessel for the
Emperor, I would have recommended you change jobs to a courier. Eat and
run, eat and run, how do you not get tired of it... Drool...』
If she wanted to eat that much, she should have
materialized. Smiling at the bizarre book with that thought, I headed back to
the castle that day.
◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇
When I returned to my chilly room, Atomina-aneue and Dulin
were sitting by the bedside. Perhaps they were bored while waiting; it looked
like they were holding hands playing a child's game.
「Oh my, welcome back, Ash—ugh...?!」
「A, Ashley-sama... i-i... it
stinks... dyu...」
Pinching their noses together, the two looked at me. Aren't
women a bit too sensitive to smells?
「You're exaggerating.」
「I'm not exaggerating at all!」
「U, uu... you smell like, a
vagrant... uguu...」
It's sweat from two laps around the Imperial Capital.
This is the first time in my life I've sweat this much and eaten this much.
Now that they mention it, I bathed in the dust of the Imperial
Capital, which clung to the sweat flowing like a waterfall, dried, and
soaked into my clothes. If this didn't stink, it would rather be a
mystery.
「Onee-sama, but, this is a problem, you know...? At this rate, Ashley-sama
will be kicked out of the castle...」
「Ah, that's true too... Geez, it
can't be helped, Ashley, come to my room!」
「Come to your room in the middle of
the night, Aneue? That really will get me gossiped about by all
the pages in the court.」
「But, sleeping in that state is...
ugu, Dulin doesn't recommend it either... I understand you worked hard
on your training... but it shtinks...」
「Understood, if you don't want to
come to the White Dragon Palace, take them off here. Dulin-chan, let's
boil some water.」
「Yes! There's no other way! Ashley-sama,
your shtinky clothes are confiscated!」
Atomina-aneue
carried firewood to the fireplace and began striking flint over the kindling
straw. That flint was made by Dulin and can easily create large sparks.
Flames quickly spread in the fireplace.
As for Dulin, she was reaching for my clothes with
hands that looked like she was touching something filthy.
「You don't need to fuss over me, I
can do that much myself.」
「You see, Ashley-sama... if a
Prince wanders around the court naked, everyone will be troubled...」
「A full wash, Dulin-chan! No
matter what, this is too dirty!」
「Nwa?! H-Hey, stop it, both of you,
okay, calm down! I get it, so—at least spare my underwear!!」
After that, I was splashed with hot water by Aneue
and Dulin and scrubbed like a sculpture with a deck brush meant for
cleaning. When my clothes were soaked in a tub of hot water, the sweat, sebum,
and dust dissolved out, dyeing it like a muddy swamp...
『Haa... I command my Apostle. Wash the inside
of your underwear too...』
Zirant, that is clearly a sexual harassment remark...
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