It was some time after we left King's Landing. Me and Garnett were rocking in a carriage belonging to the Argentia family, making our way leisurely along the road to Green Hollow Town.

　A full-time attendant does the driving for us, so we're really just swinging in the carriage.

　Naturally, we didn't have much time to spare during the trip, and we ended up engaging in rambling conversations on a variety of topics from either side.




　--For example, the detailed story of how I came to the royal capital.

　The next day after Garnett left the real situation ...... hiding the order from his father, the former knight commander, to attend a nobleman's night party to mend his fiancée, Erica even restored a letter from his father as a result of the beat of the documents that she had mistakenly discarded [restored], and the real situation.

　He had elicited information from Leila by promising to introduce Travis to her, and he had done everything he could to get his nobleman's son, Theodore, to write a letter of introduction to him on the condition that he would accompany him on a search involving dragons, and he immediately went to the royal capital under the guise of a business trip to the headquarters of the Sun Dial store with which he was dealing.

　I had told him the general circumstances during my stay in King's Landing, but this is the first time I've had him tell me the details of what happened.

　The whole time we were talking about this, Garnett was smiling so good-humoredly that it was hard for me to place my gaze on him.




　--I'm not going to be able to tell you about the events that happened in the royal capital before I arrived, for example, or the people of the Argentean family.

　It was my father, Rembrandt, who met me face to face at the evening party.
　He is a man who draws on old-fashioned, old-fashioned values, and his request for Garnett to find a fiancée is apparently based on his belief that it is important to strengthen ties with other clans through marriage.

　Other than the Commander of the Carmine Clan, there were also other siblings in the royal capital at that time.

　First of all, there's Valentine, the second son of the Argentean family.
　He usually hides his skin with gloves and a cloak, and even covers his neck with a white mask with no holes, and Garnett has never once seen his true face since he can remember.

　It has been said to be due to both injury and illness, and this is believed to be the reason why he was unable to become his successor even after his eldest son's death.

　This man rarely showed up to his relatives, and he didn't even attend the usual evening party.

　The other is Scarlett, the eldest daughter of the Argentia family.
　She is married to an Earl of considerable wealth and she is proud of it, and she and Garnett have fundamentally different values.

　The count is the host of the evening party.
　I've also seen the countess entertaining visitors from afar, so I only know Scarlett by face.

　Scarlett was indeed a beautiful woman if evaluated objectively, but perhaps because they were sisters of different mothers, she bore no resemblance to Garnett in both physique and face.




'So, as for you, what's it like to be a woman like that?
'What's the big deal, all of a sudden. I don't know what it is. ......

　I'm confused by the too abrupt question, but I'll try to think of a response anyway.

　But I've only witnessed Scarlett from afar, so I don't have any criteria for evaluating her other than her appearance.

If I were to say ...... looks alone, I wouldn't be that interested. I think she's beautiful, but I think she's too flashy or her stinginess comes through.
"Hmmm, ......, that's probably not your cup of tea.

　Then Garnett chuckled.

　I was about to say a small, silly, fearless smile ......, but because I had seen this guy's face for a long time, I was able to guess that there was another true feeling hidden.

　For example, if it was this expression, he would have overridden the smile that naturally came to his face because of his happiness with a deliberate scowl.

　Of course, I wouldn't say it out loud and point it out. I just watch without saying anything.
　It's bad enough when someone tries to kick my legs in such a small space.

　As we were thinking vaguely about what to talk about next, the person holding the reins of the carriage opened a small window and spoke to us.

'Master Garnett, the next roadside inn is in sight. We need to give our horses a break, so why don't we take a break?
'Well, let's take a break. Is that okay with the white wolf's too?
Yeah, I guess it's about time for lunch.

　There are inns set up at regular intervals along the main roads.

　As well as providing food and lodging for travellers on foot, they are also well equipped for resting horses, and they provide generous support for travel by carriage or horseback.

　In addition, there are several horses in the inn at all times, so even for extremely urgent business, you can ride your horse to the limit of its strength and then switch horses.

　These roadside inns are the backbone of the Empire's transportation network, so to speak.

　Carriages enter the fenced-in premises.

　We dismounted on the way and headed for the dining room while the carriage was carried with the horses to its own area.

We'll have lunch here for now, and tonight's lodging is two or three streets away. What shall we have at the White Wolf's?
The inn's recommendation is a meat pie or ...... So there you go. We're about two days away from Green Hollow?　The souvenir I sent earlier should have arrived by now.

　The Kingdom of Westland is vast, even though it covers a large portion of the continent.

　Even with the excellent road network, it would take several days to get from city to city.

　For now, I finish lunch with Garnett and look through the newspaper (Gazette) published by the Royal Palace that was placed in the dining room to pass the time until the horses' break is over.

　The speedy exchange of information is a boon to the development of the road network.

　When I was active as an adventurer, I used to get a lot of information from the guild's official newspaper.

''Hmm, this is great. It's already in the paper that the Night Ripper case has been solved.
So we've been overtaken by that information.

　Garnet laughed with amusement as she picked the dried fruit she had ordered for dessert.

　The Night Ripper (Night Ripper)--a serial murder case that has long rocked the royal capital.

　I never dreamed that I would be involved in solving it, but apparently my name has not been officially announced, and even the paper says only 'private collaborators, including adventurers'.

　When I saw that, I was unconsciously relieved.

　It's not necessarily true that the people behind the alleged culprits, Azure and Pinky's fakes, are not necessarily the ones behind the mastermind, so it's undoubtedly dangerous for their names to be spread around like this.

　I turned the page of the newspaper and the following headline caught my attention.

"Arkwright Bridge Collapses ......?　The cause is the collision of the Sea Serpent, a magical beast that has gone upstream from the sea. ...... The location of the appearance is an undersea dungeon or ...... The magical beast has already been defeated by a brave man, but the bridge has yet to be restored... ...
Hey, hey, hey, that's the bridge we're going to take on the way home. You've got to be kidding me. Can't you [repair] it?

　Garnett frowns when he hears what I've read out loud.

'We won't know for sure until we see the scene. If most of the debris is at the bottom of the water, there may be nothing we can do to fix it.'

　I fold the newspaper on the table with a sigh.

　Apparently, the road back to Green Hollow is not a straightforward one either.