'Oh my God... is this the river? It's the ocean, isn't it....

　Water, water, water, water as far as the eye can see. You can see the land vaguely beyond the horizon. It's like the feeling I had when I went to Hokkaido from Cape Oma in Aomori when I was a kid. Then, it's as wide as the Tsugaru Straits...
　Six days after our departure, we finally arrived in Canaan, the southernmost town in the Kingdom of Belfast. From there they would take a boat to Langley, a town in the Kingdom of Mismid on the other side of the river.
　However, as one would expect from a town that connects Belfast and Mismid, there are many sub-humans in the city. In addition to dogs, cats and other beastmen, there are also winged people with bird feathers on their backs, horned people with horns on their foreheads, and dragonmen with scales on one part of their bodies and a thick tail.
　Apparently, the humans and the sub-humans of this town are able to get along well with each other.
　When we arrived at the riverbank (but it looks like only the port), there were various boats floating around. However, they were all small boats, some of them were medium, but none of them seemed to be large ships.
　It seems to be a sailing ship, but it is not the kind that has many sails, I get the image of a simple sailing ship. It is said that since some people who can use wind magic board the ship, they can reach the opposite shore within two hours, and this kind of ship is sufficient.
　We left our carriage here and took a boat across to the Mismid side. It seems that a similar carriage is available over there as well.
　I left the formalities of the boat to Olga, Garun and the others from Mismid, and watched the street vendors setting up shop on the streets not far from the boat where we boarded.

'Oh, they're selling crafted goods over there,'
This one is silk... and all kinds of things are sold.

　Alma and Yumina, who were beside me, murmured as they looked at the goods being sold. This is the last town in Belfast, you know. You can't blame them for having so many souvenir shops.

I'm not sure. Fuyao-san, that........
Hmm?

　Out of Yumina's gaze, in front of a street vendor who was arranging brooches, rings, necklaces and other accessories, there was Rion, who was troubled with a difficult look on his face. I'm sure he went to send a letter to the royal palace.
　Rion-san seems to be wondering which of the accessories she should buy. But those are women's items, right? ...Oh, yeah. Yeah, I see.

Are you bringing a souvenir for your family, Leon?
'What? And, Lord Winter Night! No, I mean, that's for your mother... yes! I thought I'd buy something for your mother...
Huh.

　The splendidly scowling woman quickly discovers that the gift is not her mother. Well, samurai's compassion, let's not go into it here, shall we?

'You sell all sorts of accessories, don't you? I know. Alma, pick one. 'I'll give it to you as a gift in memory of Belfast.
Are you sure?

　Alma happily picks out a single brooch from the array of accessories. It's a brooch in the shape of a grape, with a purple crystal inlaid at the fruit of the grape. The fox and the grape - it reminds me of that thing in the fairy tale.

'They look great on you, Alma.
Heh, thank you very much.

　While looking at Alma, who was smiling happily, he paid the price to the street vendor. And here I decided to ask for the information that Rion-san would have wanted to know.

''I wonder if Origa-san likes this kind of brooch too?
'Hmm, my sister is more interested in flowers and other designs. Especially, you see, she loves these Elius flowers and so on, and I often buy them.

　As she said this, Alma pointed to a single hair ornament that lined the stalls. It was an unassuming but beautiful hair ornament decorated with flowers like cherry blossoms.
　At those words, Rion-san's expression becomes happy. I knew it.

I'm sure you're right. You should go back to the ship early, Leon-san. It's time to leave.
Oh, yes. I'll be right back.

　As we left and turned around a moment later, I looked back and saw in the distance that Rion-san had bought Elius' hair ornament from a street vendor and was wrapping it up.

''Brilliant, Fuyao-san,''

　Yumina complimented me. You've been found out. I don't think the sister of my sweetheart has noticed.

It's just that I wanted you to give me a gift when you were there.
I'm sorry.
Well, I'll be happy to have a ring on my left ring finger eventually.

　Yumina turns her overflowing smile on me and hugs me in her arms. Should I have bought some accessories...? The price is too great.
　With that in mind, we headed back to the boat we were boarding.




'We're there in a flash,'
A two-hour drive, that it is.

　As Else and Yae said this, I got off the ship, holding the box with the figurehead to give to the King of Misumid. Following them were Alma and Yumina with their luggage, followed by Ember, and finally I got off the ship with Linse on my back.

''...Sorry, Fuyao-san...''
It's fine. I don't mind.

　Linse got seasick about an hour into the boat. I'm reading a book on the ship.... I tried "recovery" to try it, but it didn't seem to help. I think that's another conditional error. Why is that?
　I don't mind the rocking of the carriage, but not the rocking of the boat. Well, there is a guy I know who doesn't get sick in a carriage, but gets sick in a boat, so I guess it's the same thing.
　We get off the boat and look around the town of Langley. This is already the kingdom of the sub-humans, the kingdom of Mismid. Just a two-hour boat ride away, there is no sudden change, but compared to the Belfast side of town, Canaan, there are more sub-humans than humans.
　There are more sub-humans than humans on the Belfast side of town, compared to Canaan, but most of them are sub-humans. Various races are overflowing. It's amazing.

It's a bigger town than I expected.
...I think it's because we're still very close to Belfast.

　Linse on my back replies in a small way to my murmur. While observing the city, I followed Oliga-san's guidance and found three carriages, similar to the one I left in Canaan's town, parked there.

''What do we do, Fuyao-san? If Linse-san isn't feeling well, shall we rest today and leave tomorrow?''

　Olga-san called out to me with concern.

'Oh, I'm fine, now. I felt better when I got off the ship.

　Linse gets off my back. And then Else came up to me with a sooty... and blurted out to her sister, "I'm sorry.

'You can have more piggybacking, Linse~'
'Oh, sis, what are you talking about? I wonder if he's there!

　Lindsay recoils in a raised voice. I can't tell because he's not looking at me, but his ears are red. Well, it's embarrassing to be piggybacked all the time.

''Then let's leave in an hour. I'm going to send a letter to His Majesty the Beast King.
Oh, and I'll follow you, then. We don't know what's in store!
Yes. So do you, Leon-dono?

　I giggle and walk away with them both. It makes me feel like I'm smiling. I feel like I can kind of understand the feelings of a caring person who thrives on matchmaking.

'Fuyoru-dono, there won't be any big towns for a while from here. I think you'd better buy the things you need.''

　Garun-san, the wolf beastman and captain of the Mismid's guard, told me so, and we decided to meet up an hour later to do our own shopping.
　I took Ember with me, and together with Yumina, we bought emergency food, tea leaves, and other minor items at the stall. .........hmm?
　I look around and sharpen my senses. ...or is it my imagination?

'What's wrong?'

　Yumina approached me for my suspicious behavior.

''No...I had a feeling someone was watching me... I guess it was just my imagination.''
'Isn't Amber the one you've been watching because she's so rare?'

　The white tiger is considered sacred in the kingdom of the Misguided. You can't kill them and you can't capture them. If I were to put a collar on Amber and keep her on a leash, I would be hanged. The stance is that Amber follows us of her own free will. It's tricky though.

''No, Lord. Indeed, someone has been checking on us. Not to me, but to the Lord and the others. They have completely disappeared now, though.

　I look around again at the telepathic message from Amber. Who are they? I'd better pay attention, in case you're wondering.
　I then bought about ten pieces of fruit I hadn't seen before (looks like a pear in shape, but is orange in color and smells like an apple) and went back to the others.
　Everyone was present at the carriage, and we were the last to arrive, apparently.

Now we're all here. Let's go now.

　As Olga said this, the soldiers in the escort began to climb into the carriages in front and behind us. We are in the middle carriage. When Else and Yae sat on the gojodai and everyone else was about to get into the carriage, I found a hair ornament with a cherry blossom-like flower shining in Olga-san's hair.

I'm sure you'll find that your hair ornaments look great. It looks good on you.
'What? Oh, well, thank you very much.

　When Yumina catches the hair ornament in her eyes and compliments it, Origa-san smiles a small smile, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Rion-san gave it to her when they were out alone earlier. You did it.

''I would like to receive that kind of hairpiece from the person I'm interested in too. I think it is worthy of a high lord to give such a gift as an expression of one's feelings. Of course, if they hug me or express themselves with an attitude, it would be better...
Come on, let's get going!

　As the clouds of conversation were beginning to cloud over, I gingerly climbed into the carriage. She might be the type of person to hold on to her roots unexpectedly. It's true that it's not good to give a gift to Alma alone and nothing to Yumina.
　It's not a good idea to give a gift to a friend, but it's not something I can do. You have to think of something to do.......wait, this time, it might mean that you only gave it to Yumina.
　It's not good to be considered a gift for your girlfriend. It's a good idea to give them to the other three to thank them for their service.
　When I got into the carriage, I started to look up the latest accessories by searching images on my phone in order to make a gift for the four of us by "modeling".