We’d been on our way to dinner anyway, so we brought Yae into a restaurant. She refused to eat on the grounds of not accepting charity from strangers.
“We want to hear stories about Eashen as a souvenir of our trip. In exchange, dinner. Not charity — fair trade.”
That got her ordering. Easy.
”…Wow, Yae, you’re on a — warrior pilgrimage?”
“Munch munch. Indeed. Sessha’s family is samurai-line. The eldest brother inherits; sessha left to refine her skill. Gulp.”
“Wow — that’s tough. Good for you.”
Yae was working through a beef skewer; Elze was impressed. Yae, pick one — eat or talk.
“So, Yae, what’s the plan? Destination?”
“Slurp — the royal capital. Munch munch. A person there once helped my father. Sessha intends to call on them. Sluuurp.”
She answered while slurping kitsune udon. Stop replying through noodles.
“What a coincidence — we’re heading there for work. Want to come with? One more fits in the carriage. Easier for you, no?”
“R-really? Munch — that would be — gulp — an opportunity beyond words. Are you certain?”
Yae’s eyes went wide while she devoured takoyaki. How much can this girl eat? How many dishes is this?
“That’s fine, right, Touya-san?”
“Huh? Oh — yeah, fine, but…”
I was already worrying about the food budget if we brought her along.
In the end Yae was satisfied (she single-handedly cleared a hamburger steak, beef skewers, yakitori, kitsune udon, takoyaki, grilled fish, sandwiches, and a beef steak), we paid (sob), and left.
Walking back, we agreed to meet up again tomorrow. As we started to head back to the inn, I had a question.
“Yae, where are you staying?”
“Ah — roughing it, sessha intends.”
Right, she’s broke.
“Sleep outside, what? Come to our inn. I’ll cover it.”
“Sleeping alone outside is dangerous.”
“N-no, sessha cannot accept that level of assistance—”
Reservation, Japanese-style. Direct cash wouldn’t work. Okay — try this.
“Yae, would you sell me your hairpin?”
“My — hairpin?”
She touched the pin in her hair. Mottled yellow and brown.
“That’s tortoiseshell, isn’t it. I’ve been wanting one. Planning to give it to someone who’s helped me.”
“Bekkō?”
Elze interrupted, unfamiliar.
“Craft made from turtle shell. In my country it was a luxury item.”
I didn’t know that for sure, but it was at least historically accurate.
Of course, the I’ve been wanting one line was a lie — a cover for handing her money. Elze and Linze caught on and started pushing.
“If something like this is acceptable to Touya-dono, sessha is willing—”
“Deal. Here’s payment.”
I took the hairpin and put one gold in her hand.
“Th-this is too much! Sessha cannot accept—”
“Take it, take it. Touya’s been wanting this for ages. Come on, inn time.”
“W-wait — Elze-dono!?”
Elze grabbed Yae by the arm and dragged her off. As they receded into the distance, Linze asked quietly:
”…That hairpin — is it really expensive?”
“No idea. Real tortoiseshell should be a luxury item in my country, but the market rate, who knows.”
“No idea and you paid one gold?”
“It’s a nice thing. Probably is worth a decent amount. I don’t feel cheated.”
I tucked the hairpin into my pocket and we walked on.
Yae successfully secured a room at the same inn, slept the night, and from then on traveled with us in the carriage.
Out of Amanesque, further north.
This country, the Kingdom of Belfast, sits in the western part of the Europa continent — the second-largest country in the west.
Maybe because of that, once you leave town, houses get sparse fast — and soon there’s nothing but mountains and forest. Low population density for its area, apparently.
The frequency of passing carriages or travelers was about one every two hours; supposedly that would pick up closer to the capital.
I bounced along in the back and watched Yae take a turn at the reins. She was a competent driver too, so from today they were rotating three ways. Hitting a new low on shoulder-shrinking guilt. The freeloader feeling intensifies.
To compensate, somewhat — I’d been studying magic books in transit.
Since Linze started teaching me, I’d discovered I could use multiple Null spells.
The trigger was when I tried Boost (Elze’s body-strengthening) just to see — and it activated cleanly.
So apparently Null spells were name-and-effect-driven for me: if I knew the spell’s name and what it did, success rate was near-100%. The twins were beyond surprise — blank disbelief. Probably should be grateful.
But there was a wrinkle. Null spells are mostly personal magic — meaning they aren’t widely documented. So I’d bought books of historical Null spells and was working my way through them, picking up usable ones.