A Pre-wedding Trip in the Name of a Field Investigation 1
The application to head to Earl Hadren's territory went through
smoothly, just as expected. It was so fast that I wondered if the application
was even necessary anymore.
In addition to the request from the diplomat Claude-sama,
considering that the Hadren territory has rare medicinal herbs and
flowers, there might be no reason to oppose it, but the Director
unusually stamped her seal without even reading the document.
However, because the Hadren territory faces the border, the
round trip alone will take two weeks. Assuming a stay of four days in the
Earl's territory, we will be away from the laboratory for a little under twenty
days, so there was a lot of work that had to be finished before then.
Just as Ashren-sama said, there was no work with a pressing
deadline, but I still had several ongoing experiments. Thanks to that, for
these past four days I continued to return home late at night, and standing
before the carriage prior to our departure, both Ashren-sama and I were
stifling our yawns.
「Is this all the luggage?」
「Yes.」
Half of the carriage seats were filled with luggage. Unlike last time,
we aren't climbing a mountain, so we haven't prepared for camping, but just the
change of clothes alone amounted to a considerable number.
Besides that, since I plan to bring back any rare medicinal herbs if we
find them, there are also tools and bottles for collection.
Because some types of plants do not last long, I also brought the
necessary experimental tools for drying or boiling them down, which made the
supposedly spacious carriage a little cramped.
Once we boarded, the carriage began to move. The soft morning sunlight
coming into the carriage was pleasant, but Ashren-sama found even that
too bright and promptly closed the curtains. He intends to sleep, I see.
「The Naturi Marquis family's carriage has soft seats, and this
swaying also invites sleepiness, doesn't it. Ashren-sama, what time did
you go to sleep last night?」
「I didn't sleep. I was finishing up the paperwork for the territory I'll
be inheriting, and the sun came up.」
Upon marriage, Ashren-sama will be granted the title of Earl. I
heard he was already helping with the territory management, but it seems there
are various complicated procedures for officially taking it over.
While grumbling that this and that was all Claude-sama's fault, Ashren-sama
lay down with a thud. His head was on my lap, as if it were only natural.
「A-Ashren-sama.」
「Don't mind it. I'm just going to sleep quietly.」
I think I am the one who gets to decide whether to mind it or not,
though.
Ashren-sama squirmed for a while as if looking
for a comfortable place for his head, and just when I thought he had stopped
moving, I immediately heard his sleeping breathing. Now that it's come to this,
I no longer have a choice.
Thinking 'Good grief,' I looked at his handsome face and could
certainly see signs of fatigue. His hair swayed smoothly along with the shaking
of the carriage. It's unfair that it shines like this without any maintenance.
Leaving the curtains as they were, I opened the window just a little, and a
pleasant breeze came in, causing Ashren-sama's mouth to relax slightly. T-This
is...
Cute. The two-faced man is cute.
Actually, I had wanted to touch his silver hair for a while now. I
wonder if it would be fine to do it just a little right now. When I gently ran
my fingers through his hair, it flowed smoothly and pleasantly between them. It
was much softer and finer than I had imagined. When I cautiously touched his
cheek with my fingertips, he moved his face as if annoyed. Oh no, I almost
accidentally woke him up.
Giving up with an 'It can't be helped,' I took out paper, a pen, and a
hard board from the bag placed at my feet. The book creation requested by Claude-sama
had barely been touched, as I was doing all I could just to handle my
laboratory work.
Because the book will be printed using the recently developed
letterpress printing, we promised to hand over the manuscript as soon as we
return from the Earl's territory, so I couldn't waste the travel time either.
「I hear they use colored ink for printing too.」
Apparently, the text will be black, and the leaves will be printed in
green and brown. Strictly speaking, even if you say 'green', it ranges widely
from the fresh green of young leaves to dark green, but they said that much
variation is impossible. Even so, they said the cover alone would be printed in
five colors, so they probably want to promote not just the content, but the
letterpress printing technology as well.
Having no particular resources is how other countries evaluate the Kanista
Kingdom. However, Claude-sama declared that people themselves are
the resources, and it seems the country provides grants for technological innovation
in all fields.
Because I work in a national laboratory, I didn't know about the grant
system, but it seems research and technological reforms utilizing it are
progressing at a dizzying pace. I heard there was even a group of students who
succeeded in development using that grant, and perhaps it was the people
Princess Stira had talked about.
To think that what the Kanista Kingdom is showing off the most
to other countries right now is pharmaceuticals; as someone involved in it, I
feel the weight of the responsibility. Just the fact that the King's older
sister is the person in charge and her son is the Deputy Director has a massive
impact on other countries.
Furthermore, the medicine I developed is highly evaluated in other
countries as well, and rumors are spreading that His Highness the Second
Prince of the Jilgista Kingdom is praising it highly. To think he is
properly keeping the promise he made with Ashren-sama—he is unexpectedly
upright, so I might need to revise my evaluation of him in that regard.
Now then, I gripped my pen anew and recalled
the text Catherine-sama translated for me. I have written research
papers before, but a book is a different matter, so I received the translated
version of just a few pages beforehand and decided to use it as a reference.
I have already decided on the medicinal herbs to write about, so I put their characteristics, effects, and drying times into words. Losing sight of my surroundings when I get absorbed is a bad habit of mine. Therefore, I didn't notice at all that Ashren-sama had cracked his eyes open and was looking at me.
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