Chapter 17

I was thankful for the fact that I met Celia .

Because of Celia doing the food and washing water preparations I could fully concentrate on healing my injury .

As a result of that, on the 10th day since I came to this place the 6th day after I met Celia my wound was almost completely closed .

Celia . I can concentrate on healing my wound thanks to you

Since I can be useful to Aegir-sama then its natural . Rather than that, Im sorry that I dont know enough its troubling you

Due to her living in the city she seems to have the knowledge pertaining to that, but because she lived as a slave shes a bit lacking in common sense .

In the first day, since she cant be walking around in bloodied clothes I told her to buy some new clothes, and gave her my clothes and some money, but since she thought she cant be wearing her masters clothes she went shopping stark naked, causing quite an uproar .

A rumor that I made a little girl my sex slave started drifting about and I was kicked out of the inn .

The next inn was well equipped and had good rooms, so result-wise all went well .

I thank you anyway . This is the last day well be staying in this town, too . Have you got everything ready to depart?

Were finally departing for the Olga federation tomorrow .

Entering the Olga Federation, which unlike the comparatively stable winter climate of the Central Plains, is intensely cold, requires a bit of preparation .

I have bought clothes and blankets for Aegir-sama . Ill definitely show you I can carry them all

Shes all fired about it .

Well now, lets go to the bar to get livened up

Ill go with you

This Hard-Boiled Pavilion consists of an inn in the second floor and a restaurant-cum-bar on the first .

Because of Gordonia being a prosperous city, the variety and flavor of the drinks were good .

I had some hard distilled liquor, while Celia was sipping on some honeyed weak booze .

In contrast to her unchanging expression, shes not good with her drinks .

When she had a taste of the same drink I had, she toppled over sideways and spat out, still with a firm expression .

I looked at the reddish-faced Celia while talking about dumb things with the barmaster .

You sure got strange tastes, going to the federation this time of the year

Thats cause I want to see Olga Federation in winter

If you still wanna go anyway then you should go along the North Teljes . The coldness thereabouts is still tolerable . You can use a ship too, so you can go quickly

I see, using a ship is one way .

But I wanted to see the Federations northern parts, too .

Though I want to see the north too if I can

The barmasters face turned serious .

You gotta be outta your mind, going north in winter . There are large empty spaces between towns and snowstorms happen a lot . Get rolled up in one of those and people or even animals get frozen alive like some ice sculpture

Its an icy hell out there, he says .

The barmaster seems to be from the north of the Federation, he came to Gordonia when he was younger .

The Federation had a feudal system firmly in place so the peasantry couldnt easily abandon their hometowns and move somewhere else .

So he had no choice but to cross the border and come to the Central Plains, built this inn all on his own and raised a family .

At first I felt respect for him but when I heard his wife was turning 17 this year it turned cold .

By the way, his name is Andrei, a moustached dandy giant of a man whos turning 40 this year .

He married 3 years ago with Natalie who came from the Federation like he did, it was love at first sight and he proposed on the spot .

Natalie is definitely a beauty but her height doesnt even reach my chest, and her T&A is like a child .

Even if you put her side by side with the 13 year old Celia theyd be about the same height, and Celia would win in the T&A department .

Shes like this now so what was she like 3 years ago I wonder .

Im not badmouthing you . You got little missy here so Im saying you should go by the river where its safe . That, and

Take this, he says while handing me two fluffy fur coats .

At first glance, theyre hooded longcoats long enough to reach my feet if I wore them, but they had a twofold structure and the inside was stuffed with feathers .

So obviously, they were heavy . The coats are hard to use in daily life but theyre indispensable for going to the Olga Federation in winter, and everyone in the north of the Federation must have one .

These are the ones I once used . I wont be going north anymore

The barmaster had a distant look and took a gulp of his own drink .

I didnt miss the fact that there were two coats .

His distant look had a little bit of grief in it .

He was good-looking like that, even for a man like me . One of the waitress women saw and watched red-faced in fascination .

But her feelings wont reach him .

Because she had a captivating set of splendid breasts and plump body .

If little missy here catches frostbite itd be sad, you see, and of course Im going to be charging you

Yeah, it looks like its going to be a hard trip, so thanks

We drank for a while, and as the night grew late and the other customers left the barmaster said Im closing up for tonight . Go back once youre done drinking, and went inside .

Seems like Natalie wants a child sometime soon .

Im sure the actual spot looked like a scene where a pitiful young girl was being raped by a bandit .

Aegir-sama . We should go back soon, as well

Yeah, youre right, I said as I stood up from my seat . Just then a voice called from my side .

Sorry for the late hour

Two men, they were unarmed but they had a good appearance and no gaps in their movements .

Celia put her hand around her waist and gripped her knife .

Were nobody suspicious

We just want to talk to you

I do think urgent business at night is quite suspicious, though

We apologize on that count, but we thought we couldnt meet with you unless we do so now

Seems like they knew we will be leaving town tomorrow .

Plus 1 . 5 times suspiciousness .

Make it quick, please

But Ill be alright with just listening, I guess .

Just let them talk on their own .

I looked and signaled at Celia to make her stand down .

Were from the mercenary group [Wings of Daybreak]

And we would like to buy your Aegir-donos strength at a high price

Suspiciousness level went over the limit .

I never remembered naming myself to any mercenary groups .

Right now, mercenary bands are gathering in Gordonia . Theyre reinforcing themselves for exterminating bandits in the surrounding areas and to strengthen themselves against the Olga Federation

Our group is also contracted by the Kingdom and is now augmenting our members

I see, so they mean to say they caught wind of me from Triea and came to enlist me .

However . they added .

The armys enough for bandit subjugation, and relations with the Olga Federation is good

Whats with that? I totally dont get what they mean .

We cant tell you the name but we sympathize with a certain noble and are moving according to their intentions

Using the official stance of gathering personnel, were preparing for a certain thing

Why are you telling me all this?

We decided to skip the official stance with highly valued people like you

Of course, we cant speak regarding the true reason here . Well tell you if you decide to come with us

You know that were leaving the country tomorrow, dont you?

They have a reliable information gathering ability .

Which is why its even more of a problem .

Of course we do . It would be best for us if you participated right away, but the Wings of Daybreak is only recently established and we need time to take on a proper form

We wanted to tell Aegir-dono how highly we value you

So youre saying I can join you whenever I like after my trip is over?

If they let me in with such selfish talk then theyre all the more suspicious .

If you wait until the time passed then itll be meaningless . Were setting up in the capitals suburb so wed like you to come join us as soon as you can

The men stood up as if to say they had nothing more to say .

I took Celia along and went back towards our room .

Right then one of the men said to me .

Youre an excellent warrior, so this is a good chance for you to rise to higher places!

My objective is to get hold of my own country and to get Lucy .

Of course I need to gain some political, instead of physical, power somewhere .

Should I take this chance, I wonder .

Is it still worrying you?

Celia rolled on the bed and called to me .

We had separate beds but theres little distance between us .

I will follow you anywhere you want to go

I pat Celias head and she bashfully curled herself .

You want me to service you? Im still not fully grown up yet but Im still a woman, rather than nothing

She seems to notice that I wanted women .

She tried crawling onto my bed but I flicked her forehead, sending her back to her own .

No matter what I cant get in that mood with Celia .

When I saw her change clothes, her body that only had nipples attached, without any curves, would not have any effect even if I embraced her .

I have to stop thinking about what the suspicious men said, too .

Its not going to be funny if I worried about this and that and ended up as an ice statue in the Federation .

Ill probably find my answer along the way .

I took my hand of Celia who started snoring somewhere along the way and closed my eyes .

The next day, we departed from the Hardboiled Pavilion .

The barmaster saw us off behind us .

If you return alive and well come here again . Bring the little missy too . You gotta bring her before shes all grown up ya hear!

Ill tell Celia not to leave my side if we ever come here again .

I put a fur coat on Schwarz who looked like he wants to say even me?, but happy that hes with a woman again after so long .

Two people and a horse started walking toward north .