Monarch war of the princ.., p.3
Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 14, page 3
“Enjoy!”
“Thank you!” Rit’s eyes glimmered as she took a bite. “Mm, delicious!”
She dug into her omelet with real gusto, wearing a smile that would delight any chef.
“Ahaha, I’m so glad you like it!” Solis said, smiling happily.
Omelets, chicken soup, salad, and lemon pound cake for dessert.
Other than Solis’s specialty omelet, all the flavors were pretty standard, but it was clear every dish had been made with care.
“You’re a mean man, keeping such a great restaurant secret from me,” Rit complained.
“But if I take you to too many good restaurants, you might stop eating my cooking.”
“Hmph! Of course not! I love your food.”
“Thanks. I was just kidding, though.”
“Honestly!” Rit said, and we laughed together.
“Still, though…,” I said after finishing the last bite of the cake.
“What is it?”
“Doing all the initial preparations for the wedding ceremony today…”
“Mm?”
“I guess it’s finally starting to sink in that we’re actually getting married.”
“What? You already gave me an engagement ring and a necklace,” Rit said, looking at me with an amused smile.
“So it already felt real to you?”
“It did. Ever since you gave me that amber bracelet, I knew I was going to marry you one day.”
“I mean, I felt like we’d be together, but still…”
“Hehe. It always felt real to me.”
Compared with me, Rit really had a much better handle on things like this.
That’s why I’m sure we’ll be just as happy even after we’re married.
“Next up are the preparations for the dress,” I said, getting things back on track.
“Yeah!” Rit replied enthusiastically. “The dress is important because however long it’ll take will determine when we schedule the wedding!”
You could even call that our main job for today.
“Are you sure it’s all right not to just rent a dress?” Rit asked.
“A day like this only happens once in a lifetime, so I want you to have a dress all of your own. I’ve been saving up to make sure of that.”
“You have…?”
“To be honest, I actually asked around to find out the general price of dresses a while ago.”
“What?! If it was something to do with our wedding, you should’ve taken me with you!”
“It would’ve been really embarrassing if it’d turned out to be too expensive and we had to come up with some sort of compromise, though.”
Business had been going great ever since the shop went from being Red’s Apothecary to Red & Rit’s Apothecary. We’d also made quite a tidy sum offering the Merchants Guild our technique for making oil from coconuts. With our current savings, I thought we’d probably be able to order pretty much whatever Rit wanted from any of the tailors in Zoltan…but in the world of fashion, sometimes a piece of clothing could cost even more than a magic item.
“You’re unbelievable,” Rit said, pouting unhappily. But the next second, a smile crossed her lips. “Getting married means sharing in the happy things and the embarrassing things.”
“Ngh…”
“Having the perfect dress would make me happy—but what makes me even happier is preparing for the wedding with you and worrying and figuring things out together.”
“…I understand.”
It’s times like this that Rit takes me by the hand and pulls me along. She has a strength I don’t.
Little differences like that make me incredibly happy.
Interlude
The Demon Lord Goes Fishing
In a lake in the forest near the western border of Zoltan floated a ship that looked too big to be a riverboat. It had a single aft mast, yet it wasn’t designed to hang a sail. After all, this was a flying ship.
It was a smaller model, about the same length as a midsize sailboat, that had been constructed approximately thirty years ago for use in reconnaissance. It was newer in design than the previous demon lord’s flying ship Ruti and Tisse had used, but it was far inferior in capabilities, lacking the ability to land on solid ground. As such, it couldn’t lift off again under its own power unless it landed on water.
Demons and dwarves possessed the technology for flying ships, but it was unknown to the Asuras. They could only use the simplest of the flying ships captured from the former demon lord’s armies.
And this flying ship, which was so precious to the Asuras, had smoke rising from it.
“Lord Taraxon, please stop cooking fish on the deck.”
“The fish here are truly delicious. I want to eat them while they’re fresh.”
“What will we do if the wooden deck catches fire?”
“Don’t be so uptight. There’s plenty of water around us to extinguish it with, isn’t there?”
This was the Demon Lord Taraxon and his retainer, Shisandan, both currently in their human forms. Taking the shape and name of a man he had eaten long ago, Shisandan was attending the demon lord in the guise of Bui. Taraxon, meanwhile, was holding a fishing rod in his right hand and eating a grilled fish on a skewer using his left.
“This ‘bamboo’ is quite handy. Perhaps we should bring some back to grow.”
“Please do not bring an unknown plant from a far-off land back with you. We cannot know what effects it might have.”
“Hmm. Is there any knowledge of this bamboo in the memories of the people you’ve eaten?”
“I have not eaten any botanists…so the only memory pertaining to bamboo is that it has an extraordinary ability to grow and, when not carefully managed, can encroach on the surrounding environment.”
“Oh-ho! I never would’ve thought it such a sinister plant! Perhaps this is the demon lord of the plant realm. Hahaha, how very interesting.”
Taraxon laughed as he pulled in another fish.
“The fish here resemble those in Asura Kshetra, yet they are not quite the same.”
“Presumably because they live beneath the sun.”
“Hmm. I wonder why God created the sun.”
“Those who live aboveground need the sun to survive, so the logical explanation is that it was created for ground-dwellers, is it not?”
“God is omniscient and omnipotent, though. Wouldn’t it be simpler to make people capable of living without the sun?”
Bui shrugged.
Though Asuras challenged God, there was much they didn’t understand about him.
They weren’t gods themselves, so they couldn’t say whether it was easier to create a world without a sun or a world that needed one. God’s power was beyond comprehension. If it weren’t for the fact that they were Asuras capable of effectively being reborn endlessly, they would have been exterminated long, long ago.
“You know, Bui…”
“Sir?”
“I can’t believe Demis created the entirety of this world.”
“However, there is no mistake that it was, indeed, created by Demis.”
“I know… Nevertheless, I feel the illogical nature of this world itself is in conflict with Demis’s designs. As if the entirety of this world is not as God wished, just as we were born against God’s wishes.”
“…This is quite the difficult subject.”
Bui turned away, unable to follow his master’s line of thought.
“I shall bring some alcohol and pickled vegetables.”
“Oh, that sounds like it’ll go perfectly with the grilled fish. As expected of my trusted retainer,” Taraxon said, laughing loudly.
Bui knew the location of the ancient human ruins where the Sacred Avenger they sought was sealed away. It wouldn’t be long before they finished assembling the Hero’s full regalia.
“Ruti and Gideon… From what you said, they are truly superior humans. I should like to talk with them.”
Taraxon wanted to discuss why the Asuras had stolen the demon lord’s power and declared war on the world, as well as what their goal was. He was curious what the two humans would say if they knew. Perhaps they would discover an answer the Asuras hadn’t been able to.
“It’s dangerous…and yet I cannot help but be intrigued.”
With that, Taraxon pulled in another fish, skewered it, and put it over the fire.
Chapter 2
Yarandrala Returns
Our next stop was Madam Offler’s Wonderful Clothes. It was a high-end shop despite being in Zoltan’s downtown, and Rit shopped there even more than I did.
“Welcome!” called out a strong female voice.
It was Madam Offler, the owner of the store. Tall and muscular, she had a broad smile on her refined face as she came over to us.
“Oh my, if it isn’t Rit and Red. It’s lovely to see you, dearies.”
“Good afternoon, Madam Offler.”
She bent over just a little to match my eyeline. It was part of her belief as a tailor that she had to see things from the same level as her customers to know what sorts of clothes suited them.
“What are you looking for today?” she asked.
“…”
“Oh?”
She cocked her head when I didn’t immediately answer, probably because she thought that was unlike me. But for something like this, I really did need to take a second to drum up a little courage.
“We’d like you to make clothes for our wedding.”
“Ohhh, my darlings!!!” Madam Offler clapped her hands excitedly. “The day’s finally here! I’m so happy for you both!” She took one of my hands and one of Rit’s. “Congratulations! I’ll make you the perfect outfits for your big day… As your friend, it would be the greatest honor!”
Tears twinkled in the corners of her damp eyes.
Madam Offler already had several potential designs for the dress.
She’d trusted that we would get married and had been thinking for a while now about what clothes might suit us.
“But the perfect outfit for a person is always changing. What might have been best for the two of you a month ago won’t be the best for you now,” she explained while showing us her designs. “And even after you choose something, it will still need to be adjusted right up until the day of the ceremony. You’ll have to come by several times to go through various things.”
“You’d really do that much for us?”
“Of course!” Madam Offler’s powerful voice resonated. “You’ve asked me to dress you for one of the happiest days of your life, and it’s by no means a cheap request, either. That shows how much faith you have in the clothes I make. I couldn’t call myself a tailor if I didn’t live up to that trust you’ve shown in me. I’ll use all my skills to make the perfect outfits for you both.”
Madam Offler rolled up her sleeve and raised her muscular right arm. It was the arm of a former warrior, marked by old scars, yet now it belonged to a craftswoman who had the utmost confidence in her tailoring skills.
“…Also, there’s something I want to tell you before you choose your outfits.”
““What is it?””
“I was a slave gladiator. My homeland was caught up in a war, and I was captured and sold off to an entertainer. From there, I was put into a notoriously brutal training school, where I was taught how to kill monsters and people, and how to entertain the crowd.”
“Madam Offler…”
Rit and I were both bewildered. We’d heard the rumors that Madam Offler had been a slave gladiator in the merchant city of Lark, but this was the first she’d ever told us about it.
“I fought and fought, and with the money I saved, I bought my freedom. But by that point, I didn’t know any other way of living, so I just kept on fighting. Then, one day, I found myself talking to the daughter of the tailor who made the clothes I’d been fighting in. She said she was a fan, and she told me how hard they’d worked to make me look beautiful… It was so wonderful.”
“And that was what led you to stop fighting and open a clothing store?” Rit asked.
“There were a few other things after that,” Madam Offler said with a vague look in her eyes, “but that was the first push. What I was getting at, though, is this: How do you both feel about your past?”
“Our past?”
“That’s right! There are a lot of difficult things in my past, but I incorporated all those memories into these clothes when I made them because that’s what suits me best,” she said, straightening her back.
The dress Madam Offler was wearing really emphasized her height and build, and it also had a swordswoman design embroidered into it… Or at least, that’s what Rit explained to me.
“In Zoltan, it’s generally accepted that you shouldn’t probe into people’s pasts, and I think that’s a good thing,” she continued. “If you’ve completely set aside your past, then it would be better not to leave remnants of it in your clothes. But if your past is something you want to remember, I think you should bring those memories with you to your wedding.”
“Memories, huh…”
“Just whatever you feel comfortable sharing. It doesn’t matter if the order makes sense or if things aren’t connected, but if you have any memories that are precious to you, I’d like you to tell me about them.”
Rit and I looked at each other.
She’s right. Our past is precious to us.
It had already come out that I was the Hero’s older brother, Gideon, and that the war with the demon lord’s armies was over…so it was probably fine to talk about it now.
Rit nodded, apparently having come to the same conclusion.
“Okay, but this might get pretty long, so should we sit down to talk?”
“Of course. I’ll get some tea and sweets!”
“Thank you… Now then, where should I begin?”
As I followed Madam Offler into the back of the shop, countless memories ran through my mind.
Even though she hadn’t even started making our clothes yet, I was sure they would be amazing.
It was already evening by the time we finally left Madam Offler’s store, and the sky was red with the setting sun.
“See? Aren’t you glad we decided to go to Madam Offler?” Rit said.
“Yeah. I’m sure she’ll make the perfect outfits for us.”
They weren’t the sorts of designs that would be finished in a day, so we would need to go back to her store a number of times. Not that that was any real trouble, mind you. It was a pleasure to see our wedding ceremony take shape.
“It really is starting to feel real.”
“Again with that,” Rit said with a giggle.
It was true, though, so what else could I say?
“I’m looking forward to after we get married.”
“I’m sure I’ll be used to it by then.”
“Really? You’re suuure?” Rit chided me.
We walked side by side back to our home. The thought that this was a moment we’d share countless times over the course of our lives together made me all the happier.
Years from now, we could look back on today as a wonderful memory. And when we did, maybe we’d ask Madam Offler to make some more clothes for us.
I was sure she wouldn’t let us down.
Two days later, it was finally the day of Yarandrala’s return.
I had wanted to wait for her at the port, but we didn’t know when her ship might come in. It was even normal for them to arrive a day late.
There was also a cold going around Zoltan. It wasn’t a dangerous illness like goblin fever that could be fatal, but it was still pretty bad and required a few days of bed rest.
We had received an urgent order for medicine from Dr. Newman’s clinic, and he’d even asked us to keep our shop open on the weekend. The doctors of Zoltan were busy trying to stop the spread before it went any further.
“But it’s not so easy to stop a disease from spreading, is it?”
And so, Rit and I were working in the shop.
“It’s been a while, but it’s looking like I should probably go out to gather herbs tomorrow,” I said after checking the shelves.
“Huh? We’re already running out?” Rit asked in surprise. “Wasn’t Ruti going to deliver some tomorrow?”
“Other apothecaries are also putting in orders with Ruti. It would make more sense to prioritize them since I can use my Lightning Speed to gather herbs by myself in just a few hours.”
“Is it really getting that bad?”
“Hmm, the doctors at the hospital and clinics are saying it’s spreading. That said, there are a wide range of symptoms, and it isn’t life-threatening, so it isn’t really visible around town.”
“Huh.”
“More people seem to be taking sick days, but this being Zoltan, that’s not particularly rare. The only real difference is that it means other people can’t slack off.”
“So it seems peaceful…but we can’t underestimate it,” Rit said with a serious look.
“That’s right. Dr. Newman hasn’t been able to identify it yet, but it’s too infectious to just be a normal cold, and it isn’t like any of the other diseases endemic to Zoltan.”
“So it came from outside Zoltan?”
“That’s the natural explanation… It’s rare for that to happen here, though, considering how little foreign traffic we get.”
Zoltan was out on the frontier, so it had fewer people coming and going than most other countries. It was relatively common for diseases that were spreading in neighboring countries not to make much of an impact here.
“Do we know if it’s affecting other countries?”
“We haven’t received any news about it yet. It would be one thing if it was a huge pandemic, but I don’t imagine anyone would walk however many days just to let us know about something that’s the equivalent of a cold.”
In these sorts of situations, the lack of news out here was a problem.
“For now, all we can do is give people painkillers, medicine to bring down the fever, and something to help them recover their stamina. All of those medicines are in high demand, but they’re also used to treat other illnesses, so we can’t afford to run out.”
“Thank you!” Rit’s eyes glimmered as she took a bite. “Mm, delicious!”
She dug into her omelet with real gusto, wearing a smile that would delight any chef.
“Ahaha, I’m so glad you like it!” Solis said, smiling happily.
Omelets, chicken soup, salad, and lemon pound cake for dessert.
Other than Solis’s specialty omelet, all the flavors were pretty standard, but it was clear every dish had been made with care.
“You’re a mean man, keeping such a great restaurant secret from me,” Rit complained.
“But if I take you to too many good restaurants, you might stop eating my cooking.”
“Hmph! Of course not! I love your food.”
“Thanks. I was just kidding, though.”
“Honestly!” Rit said, and we laughed together.
“Still, though…,” I said after finishing the last bite of the cake.
“What is it?”
“Doing all the initial preparations for the wedding ceremony today…”
“Mm?”
“I guess it’s finally starting to sink in that we’re actually getting married.”
“What? You already gave me an engagement ring and a necklace,” Rit said, looking at me with an amused smile.
“So it already felt real to you?”
“It did. Ever since you gave me that amber bracelet, I knew I was going to marry you one day.”
“I mean, I felt like we’d be together, but still…”
“Hehe. It always felt real to me.”
Compared with me, Rit really had a much better handle on things like this.
That’s why I’m sure we’ll be just as happy even after we’re married.
“Next up are the preparations for the dress,” I said, getting things back on track.
“Yeah!” Rit replied enthusiastically. “The dress is important because however long it’ll take will determine when we schedule the wedding!”
You could even call that our main job for today.
“Are you sure it’s all right not to just rent a dress?” Rit asked.
“A day like this only happens once in a lifetime, so I want you to have a dress all of your own. I’ve been saving up to make sure of that.”
“You have…?”
“To be honest, I actually asked around to find out the general price of dresses a while ago.”
“What?! If it was something to do with our wedding, you should’ve taken me with you!”
“It would’ve been really embarrassing if it’d turned out to be too expensive and we had to come up with some sort of compromise, though.”
Business had been going great ever since the shop went from being Red’s Apothecary to Red & Rit’s Apothecary. We’d also made quite a tidy sum offering the Merchants Guild our technique for making oil from coconuts. With our current savings, I thought we’d probably be able to order pretty much whatever Rit wanted from any of the tailors in Zoltan…but in the world of fashion, sometimes a piece of clothing could cost even more than a magic item.
“You’re unbelievable,” Rit said, pouting unhappily. But the next second, a smile crossed her lips. “Getting married means sharing in the happy things and the embarrassing things.”
“Ngh…”
“Having the perfect dress would make me happy—but what makes me even happier is preparing for the wedding with you and worrying and figuring things out together.”
“…I understand.”
It’s times like this that Rit takes me by the hand and pulls me along. She has a strength I don’t.
Little differences like that make me incredibly happy.
Interlude
The Demon Lord Goes Fishing
In a lake in the forest near the western border of Zoltan floated a ship that looked too big to be a riverboat. It had a single aft mast, yet it wasn’t designed to hang a sail. After all, this was a flying ship.
It was a smaller model, about the same length as a midsize sailboat, that had been constructed approximately thirty years ago for use in reconnaissance. It was newer in design than the previous demon lord’s flying ship Ruti and Tisse had used, but it was far inferior in capabilities, lacking the ability to land on solid ground. As such, it couldn’t lift off again under its own power unless it landed on water.
Demons and dwarves possessed the technology for flying ships, but it was unknown to the Asuras. They could only use the simplest of the flying ships captured from the former demon lord’s armies.
And this flying ship, which was so precious to the Asuras, had smoke rising from it.
“Lord Taraxon, please stop cooking fish on the deck.”
“The fish here are truly delicious. I want to eat them while they’re fresh.”
“What will we do if the wooden deck catches fire?”
“Don’t be so uptight. There’s plenty of water around us to extinguish it with, isn’t there?”
This was the Demon Lord Taraxon and his retainer, Shisandan, both currently in their human forms. Taking the shape and name of a man he had eaten long ago, Shisandan was attending the demon lord in the guise of Bui. Taraxon, meanwhile, was holding a fishing rod in his right hand and eating a grilled fish on a skewer using his left.
“This ‘bamboo’ is quite handy. Perhaps we should bring some back to grow.”
“Please do not bring an unknown plant from a far-off land back with you. We cannot know what effects it might have.”
“Hmm. Is there any knowledge of this bamboo in the memories of the people you’ve eaten?”
“I have not eaten any botanists…so the only memory pertaining to bamboo is that it has an extraordinary ability to grow and, when not carefully managed, can encroach on the surrounding environment.”
“Oh-ho! I never would’ve thought it such a sinister plant! Perhaps this is the demon lord of the plant realm. Hahaha, how very interesting.”
Taraxon laughed as he pulled in another fish.
“The fish here resemble those in Asura Kshetra, yet they are not quite the same.”
“Presumably because they live beneath the sun.”
“Hmm. I wonder why God created the sun.”
“Those who live aboveground need the sun to survive, so the logical explanation is that it was created for ground-dwellers, is it not?”
“God is omniscient and omnipotent, though. Wouldn’t it be simpler to make people capable of living without the sun?”
Bui shrugged.
Though Asuras challenged God, there was much they didn’t understand about him.
They weren’t gods themselves, so they couldn’t say whether it was easier to create a world without a sun or a world that needed one. God’s power was beyond comprehension. If it weren’t for the fact that they were Asuras capable of effectively being reborn endlessly, they would have been exterminated long, long ago.
“You know, Bui…”
“Sir?”
“I can’t believe Demis created the entirety of this world.”
“However, there is no mistake that it was, indeed, created by Demis.”
“I know… Nevertheless, I feel the illogical nature of this world itself is in conflict with Demis’s designs. As if the entirety of this world is not as God wished, just as we were born against God’s wishes.”
“…This is quite the difficult subject.”
Bui turned away, unable to follow his master’s line of thought.
“I shall bring some alcohol and pickled vegetables.”
“Oh, that sounds like it’ll go perfectly with the grilled fish. As expected of my trusted retainer,” Taraxon said, laughing loudly.
Bui knew the location of the ancient human ruins where the Sacred Avenger they sought was sealed away. It wouldn’t be long before they finished assembling the Hero’s full regalia.
“Ruti and Gideon… From what you said, they are truly superior humans. I should like to talk with them.”
Taraxon wanted to discuss why the Asuras had stolen the demon lord’s power and declared war on the world, as well as what their goal was. He was curious what the two humans would say if they knew. Perhaps they would discover an answer the Asuras hadn’t been able to.
“It’s dangerous…and yet I cannot help but be intrigued.”
With that, Taraxon pulled in another fish, skewered it, and put it over the fire.
Chapter 2
Yarandrala Returns
Our next stop was Madam Offler’s Wonderful Clothes. It was a high-end shop despite being in Zoltan’s downtown, and Rit shopped there even more than I did.
“Welcome!” called out a strong female voice.
It was Madam Offler, the owner of the store. Tall and muscular, she had a broad smile on her refined face as she came over to us.
“Oh my, if it isn’t Rit and Red. It’s lovely to see you, dearies.”
“Good afternoon, Madam Offler.”
She bent over just a little to match my eyeline. It was part of her belief as a tailor that she had to see things from the same level as her customers to know what sorts of clothes suited them.
“What are you looking for today?” she asked.
“…”
“Oh?”
She cocked her head when I didn’t immediately answer, probably because she thought that was unlike me. But for something like this, I really did need to take a second to drum up a little courage.
“We’d like you to make clothes for our wedding.”
“Ohhh, my darlings!!!” Madam Offler clapped her hands excitedly. “The day’s finally here! I’m so happy for you both!” She took one of my hands and one of Rit’s. “Congratulations! I’ll make you the perfect outfits for your big day… As your friend, it would be the greatest honor!”
Tears twinkled in the corners of her damp eyes.
Madam Offler already had several potential designs for the dress.
She’d trusted that we would get married and had been thinking for a while now about what clothes might suit us.
“But the perfect outfit for a person is always changing. What might have been best for the two of you a month ago won’t be the best for you now,” she explained while showing us her designs. “And even after you choose something, it will still need to be adjusted right up until the day of the ceremony. You’ll have to come by several times to go through various things.”
“You’d really do that much for us?”
“Of course!” Madam Offler’s powerful voice resonated. “You’ve asked me to dress you for one of the happiest days of your life, and it’s by no means a cheap request, either. That shows how much faith you have in the clothes I make. I couldn’t call myself a tailor if I didn’t live up to that trust you’ve shown in me. I’ll use all my skills to make the perfect outfits for you both.”
Madam Offler rolled up her sleeve and raised her muscular right arm. It was the arm of a former warrior, marked by old scars, yet now it belonged to a craftswoman who had the utmost confidence in her tailoring skills.
“…Also, there’s something I want to tell you before you choose your outfits.”
““What is it?””
“I was a slave gladiator. My homeland was caught up in a war, and I was captured and sold off to an entertainer. From there, I was put into a notoriously brutal training school, where I was taught how to kill monsters and people, and how to entertain the crowd.”
“Madam Offler…”
Rit and I were both bewildered. We’d heard the rumors that Madam Offler had been a slave gladiator in the merchant city of Lark, but this was the first she’d ever told us about it.
“I fought and fought, and with the money I saved, I bought my freedom. But by that point, I didn’t know any other way of living, so I just kept on fighting. Then, one day, I found myself talking to the daughter of the tailor who made the clothes I’d been fighting in. She said she was a fan, and she told me how hard they’d worked to make me look beautiful… It was so wonderful.”
“And that was what led you to stop fighting and open a clothing store?” Rit asked.
“There were a few other things after that,” Madam Offler said with a vague look in her eyes, “but that was the first push. What I was getting at, though, is this: How do you both feel about your past?”
“Our past?”
“That’s right! There are a lot of difficult things in my past, but I incorporated all those memories into these clothes when I made them because that’s what suits me best,” she said, straightening her back.
The dress Madam Offler was wearing really emphasized her height and build, and it also had a swordswoman design embroidered into it… Or at least, that’s what Rit explained to me.
“In Zoltan, it’s generally accepted that you shouldn’t probe into people’s pasts, and I think that’s a good thing,” she continued. “If you’ve completely set aside your past, then it would be better not to leave remnants of it in your clothes. But if your past is something you want to remember, I think you should bring those memories with you to your wedding.”
“Memories, huh…”
“Just whatever you feel comfortable sharing. It doesn’t matter if the order makes sense or if things aren’t connected, but if you have any memories that are precious to you, I’d like you to tell me about them.”
Rit and I looked at each other.
She’s right. Our past is precious to us.
It had already come out that I was the Hero’s older brother, Gideon, and that the war with the demon lord’s armies was over…so it was probably fine to talk about it now.
Rit nodded, apparently having come to the same conclusion.
“Okay, but this might get pretty long, so should we sit down to talk?”
“Of course. I’ll get some tea and sweets!”
“Thank you… Now then, where should I begin?”
As I followed Madam Offler into the back of the shop, countless memories ran through my mind.
Even though she hadn’t even started making our clothes yet, I was sure they would be amazing.
It was already evening by the time we finally left Madam Offler’s store, and the sky was red with the setting sun.
“See? Aren’t you glad we decided to go to Madam Offler?” Rit said.
“Yeah. I’m sure she’ll make the perfect outfits for us.”
They weren’t the sorts of designs that would be finished in a day, so we would need to go back to her store a number of times. Not that that was any real trouble, mind you. It was a pleasure to see our wedding ceremony take shape.
“It really is starting to feel real.”
“Again with that,” Rit said with a giggle.
It was true, though, so what else could I say?
“I’m looking forward to after we get married.”
“I’m sure I’ll be used to it by then.”
“Really? You’re suuure?” Rit chided me.
We walked side by side back to our home. The thought that this was a moment we’d share countless times over the course of our lives together made me all the happier.
Years from now, we could look back on today as a wonderful memory. And when we did, maybe we’d ask Madam Offler to make some more clothes for us.
I was sure she wouldn’t let us down.
Two days later, it was finally the day of Yarandrala’s return.
I had wanted to wait for her at the port, but we didn’t know when her ship might come in. It was even normal for them to arrive a day late.
There was also a cold going around Zoltan. It wasn’t a dangerous illness like goblin fever that could be fatal, but it was still pretty bad and required a few days of bed rest.
We had received an urgent order for medicine from Dr. Newman’s clinic, and he’d even asked us to keep our shop open on the weekend. The doctors of Zoltan were busy trying to stop the spread before it went any further.
“But it’s not so easy to stop a disease from spreading, is it?”
And so, Rit and I were working in the shop.
“It’s been a while, but it’s looking like I should probably go out to gather herbs tomorrow,” I said after checking the shelves.
“Huh? We’re already running out?” Rit asked in surprise. “Wasn’t Ruti going to deliver some tomorrow?”
“Other apothecaries are also putting in orders with Ruti. It would make more sense to prioritize them since I can use my Lightning Speed to gather herbs by myself in just a few hours.”
“Is it really getting that bad?”
“Hmm, the doctors at the hospital and clinics are saying it’s spreading. That said, there are a wide range of symptoms, and it isn’t life-threatening, so it isn’t really visible around town.”
“Huh.”
“More people seem to be taking sick days, but this being Zoltan, that’s not particularly rare. The only real difference is that it means other people can’t slack off.”
“So it seems peaceful…but we can’t underestimate it,” Rit said with a serious look.
“That’s right. Dr. Newman hasn’t been able to identify it yet, but it’s too infectious to just be a normal cold, and it isn’t like any of the other diseases endemic to Zoltan.”
“So it came from outside Zoltan?”
“That’s the natural explanation… It’s rare for that to happen here, though, considering how little foreign traffic we get.”
Zoltan was out on the frontier, so it had fewer people coming and going than most other countries. It was relatively common for diseases that were spreading in neighboring countries not to make much of an impact here.
“Do we know if it’s affecting other countries?”
“We haven’t received any news about it yet. It would be one thing if it was a huge pandemic, but I don’t imagine anyone would walk however many days just to let us know about something that’s the equivalent of a cold.”
In these sorts of situations, the lack of news out here was a problem.
“For now, all we can do is give people painkillers, medicine to bring down the fever, and something to help them recover their stamina. All of those medicines are in high demand, but they’re also used to treat other illnesses, so we can’t afford to run out.”
