Ch.113Special Side Story – To Another Continent (6)

The journey with a child who could be my daughter was quite lively.

If it had been just Irefi Justitia and me, I imagine it would have been a quiet trip. Though I wouldn’t say one was particularly better than the other.

For me, it was simply an embarrassment of riches, with too many good points to choose between.

Thanks to our constant chatter about this and that, we quickly became comfortable with each other. Of course, Rishecrate still found Irefi intimidating, but at least she could cautiously strike up conversations now.

Whenever Rishecrate showed signs of discomfort, hints of regret would flicker across Irefi’s face. While Irefi had scolded her harshly for Rishecrate’s own good, she couldn’t help but feel guilty when the child walked on eggshells around her.

Even that was part of our pleasant daily routine.

Though our connection was immediate and temporary, I was enjoying myself so much that I wished this time could last a little longer. Unfortunately, in this world, I was the only one whose clock was broken. The hands of time ticked relentlessly, and the pendulum of the grandfather clock continued to trace its arc.

Pushed along by the flow of time, we now found ourselves facing the bustling town before us.

“We’ve finally arrived.”

Rishecrate spread her arms with theatrical flair. She seemed unable to hide her excitement at breathing in her hometown’s air after so long.

“Welcome to Jedo!”

“How cute.”

“How adorable.”

Nepy and I each offered our impressions of her enthusiastic welcome.

Rishecrate shrank back rapidly, embarrassed by our affectionate praise.

“I’m not a child to be called cute…”

“What are you talking about? You are a child.”

“And quite a young one at that.”

“Neither of you seems old enough to use expressions like ‘quite young’ with such authority, do you?”

Rishecrate tilted her head quizzically. She raised a valid question, though she was far from the truth. Certainly, judging by simple reality, her doubt was a reasonable observation.

However, our ages couldn’t be quantified by the years visible on the surface. This was because our souls had experienced time differently than others.

Irefi had inherited all the memories from before the future was twisted, and I had lived an incredibly long time in Netionpiece’s past life.

We no longer knew each other’s true age. All we could say was that we had lived beyond the lifespan of an ordinary person.

“Well, thank you for your cute and enthusiastic welcome, Rishecrate.”

“It’s nothing.”

“So… what will you do now?”

“About what?”

“Now that we’ve reached Jedo, your return home is very close. It’s almost time to say goodbye.”

Irefi’s sudden declaration made me cry out in dismay.

“Oh, that’s right, already…!”

“What’s wrong with you, Nepy? You look like the sky is falling…”

Her cutting remark pierced straight through my heart.

This wasn’t the kind of facial expression I should be showing in front of a child, so I quickly composed myself.

Nevertheless, the feeling of disappointment was too genuine to hide completely.

“I just realized that Nepy is quite expressive. Sometimes you seem so mature, but then there are these childish moments…”

“You have a good eye for people, Rishecrate. But let me correct one misunderstanding.”

Irefi glanced at me and delivered her cold assessment.

“Nepy spends more time being childish than being an adult.”

“Irefi, you…!”

“Hehe, I wonder when you’ll ever change?”

“I am an adult!!!”

“Yes, you’re an ‘adult-y.'”

“…Huh?”

Why is Irefi agreeing so quickly?

Her pronunciation was slightly unclear, but she’s acknowledging that I’m an adult, right?

The elongated ending gave me an uneasy feeling, but it would be virtuous to end the questioning here.

While I was puzzled and trying to figure out Irefi’s true intentions, I heard a snicker from elsewhere.

“Pfft… haha, I can see exactly where the misunderstanding happened!”

“Rishecrate’s word is absolute. I am an adult.”

“Hmm, sure. Nepy is an adult. At least, the impression I’ve formed while observing you won’t be overturned.”

“See, Irefi? I told you so!”

“Though you seem like a child at times like this.”

“Gasp…!”

Even my desperate attempt to cover my mouth seemed to amuse Rishecrate.

She chuckled as if watching a jester’s performance, then took in both Irefi and me with a single glance.

After her heaving chest had calmed down, she returned to a more serious tone.

“But my impression seems quite different from Irefi’s. It’s interesting that someone who’s spent much more time with you than I have would disagree with me… Doesn’t this suggest that Nepy only shows his true self when alone with Irefi?”

“Well…”

“Hehe.”

I made a wheezing sound despite having done nothing wrong, while Irefi directed a gentle sneer at me.

In a sense, her observation was entirely accurate, so I couldn’t even muster a feeble rebuttal.

As an uncomfortable feeling was bubbling up inside me, something about Rishecrate naturally caught my attention.

‘Rishecrate, you…?’

Her hands were demurely clasped at the center of her body. And her slender fingers were constantly fidgeting. Though our time together had been brief, I’d already recognized this as one of her habits.

Usually, when she felt indebted but had a favor to ask, she would fidget with her fingers as a precursor.

Sure enough, Rishecrate’s eyes soon began to roll diagonally.

“So, Nepy…”

“Yes?”

“Regardless of your true nature, to me, you’re an adult… an adult I can rely on.”

“Yes, I am an adult.”

“So I have a favor to ask. If possible, could you accompany me all the way home…?”

“Going with you is simple enough, but is there a reason?”

“I’m hoping you might… scold me less in front of others.”

“Pfft, khuhuh…”

“Don’t laugh…!”

Finally, Rishecrate’s face turned red. She had seemed quite mature when making her insightful observations earlier, but now she seemed like an ordinary child again, which was endearing.

I stroked her cute silver hair to reassure her.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go to your home together. I’ll even take some scolding with you.”

“Scolding? You two are my saviors! Besides…”

Rishecrate’s eyes rolled toward Irefi this time.

“…I can’t imagine anyone scolding her.”

“Of course not. Who would dare frown at the Queen of Nagging?”

I’m practically asking for death here.

“Who are you calling the Queen of Nagging!?”

Irefi raised a vehement objection, but it was overruled by the silent agreement between Rishecrate and me.

Of course, Irefi was unaware of this overruling.

“Sigh… Fine. I’ll go along and at least explain the situation.”

“My home is… quite large, will that be okay?”

“What? We probably live in a bigger house.”

“Are you competing with a child about house size, Nepy?”

Irefi looked at me with disbelief.

I was simply proud of our home!

Netionpiece’s mansion, preserved as a national treasure, was slightly lower than the imperial palace in height but nearly equal in area.

It was unnecessarily spacious for me, who only used one or two rooms.

But if it made things comfortable for the staff who lived there, I was satisfied.

“Ah… I see.”

Rishecrate accepted this with a dubious expression.

Her thoughts were transparent, but understandable.

Her mansion must be quite large for her to dismiss my boast as nonsense.

‘Is it about the size of Marquess Justitia’s manor?’

I vividly remember crawling all the way to the main gate to escape from Irefi who had imprisoned me.

When she appeared in her nightgown and hugged me from behind just as I was certain of escape, I thought my heart would explode.

As this traumatic memory resurfaced through my stream of consciousness, I unconsciously shot Irefi a sharp glance.

…Though I immediately lowered my gaze when our eyes met.

Ignoring my miserable ruminations, the two of them rented a carriage nearby.

At times like this, mature Irefi and Rishecrate seemed to be in perfect sync.

On the surface, Rishecrate was intimidated by Irefi, but that didn’t seem to translate into dislike.

Perhaps Irefi’s sincerity had reached Rishecrate.

While Irefi might have initially seen the Empress’s childhood in Rishecrate, she quickly projected different feelings onto her.

Feelings that perhaps even Irefi herself hadn’t noticed…

‘That’s all well and good, but Irefi was too harsh in scolding the child.’

I finished gathering my thoughts after all the procedures were completed.

They say money can solve anything, and the process of renting a carriage was instantaneous.

As soon as Rishecrate presented some sparkling stones from her possession, the original owner of the carriage bowed deeply and expressed his gratitude.

Of course, this world wouldn’t have a taxi system. In such a world, the only way to rent a carriage is to overwhelm with money…

The triumph of capitalism seemed to be an unchanging truth.

“Rishecrate, what did you take out earlier?”

“Magic stones. They’re extremely high quality, so they’re expensive.”

“Oh, that’s quite surprising.”

Magic stones certainly exist in the Eld Empire too.

Communication stones that enable long-distance communication are inventions that utilize magic stones.

Of course, they’re not as versatile as modern telephones, so devices capable of immediate communication are rare.

For instance, the imperial gift issued to the captain of the emperor’s guard for official use… the communication stone that Irefi used to argue with the emperor when she appeared to dismember me.

Currently, it’s in the possession of Bartlant, who succeeded Irefi as the knight commander after her resignation.

Looking at it this way, the Eld Empire is a bit…

“I can guess what Nepy is thinking, but there are valid reasons.”

“I wasn’t particularly thinking that the Eld Empire lacks romance due to the absence of magic or magical engineering.”

“That’s exactly what you were thinking.”

“…”

Irefi’s observational skills always give me chills. That’s what makes it thrilling. I believe she sees these things because she loves me so much. So I’ll never look away, please spare me. I love you.

Perhaps finding my desperate smile pitiful, Irefi sighed.

“The Eld Empire has sparse magical energy floating in the atmosphere. There’s a theory that the frequent Chainlich Phenomenon had a significant impact, but it’s unclear. In fact, magic stones like what Rishecrate presented are quite common. There’s just no incentive to process them because there’s not enough energy to infuse into the magic stones.”

“I’ve heard that too. The magic stones from Estern and Justitia territories in the Eld Empire are superior quality but inexpensive.”

“So that’s why Irefi is rich…”

Hearing my words, Rishecrate’s head swiveled back and forth.

She repeatedly looked between Irefi and me.

Then she opened her mouth to say something but firmly closed it.

Eventually, Irefi continued her explanation.

“With limited applications, related technicians are naturally rare. Applying it to combat is even more difficult. Instead, in the Eld Empire… or more precisely, on our continent, it’s common for people to be born naturally strong.”

“Ah, like you?”

“Yes, like me, but Netionpiece falls into the same category. Particularly, the Battle Aura of the Chester family and the spatial control abilities of Yashasmisha, recorded as a saint, represent the pinnacle of such benefits.”

“This is totally that thing.”

It sounds like nothing more than a story of humans becoming stronger because of harsh environments.

Well, it’s a land where disasters like the Chainlich are frequent. It wasn’t that the strong survived, but rather that those who survived became strong.

Without the cheat ability of the first emperor, Astelnerca, the Eld Empire might have become a kingdom of barbarians.

‘It seemed insignificant, but it was a chilling ability.’

Astelnerca recruited all sorts of talented individuals with his eye for connections and laid the foundation for civilization.

Among them, the achievements of the four ducal families and the old man were outstanding.

They made it possible to establish an empire by human hands, even without the use of magical tools.

A power comparable to future vision. It was like the characters in a novel erasing their own text and narrating conveniently, ignoring the author.

With such a cheat ability, Astelnerca’s short life was probably inevitable.

‘According to the old man’s research, beings from other dimensions can interfere freely without any risk.’

In other words, he was an unpredictable character that even the author couldn’t anticipate.

Just by traveling to another continent like this, the promised future might have been greatly twisted.

If it has been twisted… I hope it’s twisted in a direction where as many people as possible are happy.

Because I’m sick of seeing anyone’s sorrowful face now.

“Ah! We’ve arrived.”

I must have lost track of time while engrossed in conversation.

If Rishecrate hadn’t spoken up, I might not have noticed that the carriage had stopped for quite some time.

“…Hmmm?”

“Hmm.”

Rishecrate innocently jumped out of the carriage. Following her, I gasped at the sight before me.

Though I wasn’t well-versed in foreign architectural styles, there was one thing I could guess from the overall appearance.

As Rishecrate had claimed, her “home” was indeed very spacious. Moreover, there were spires showcasing the height of splendor and colorful gardens stretching endlessly.

Above all, since people’s dwellings tend to be similar across lives, it was obvious who lived in such a place.

As if to prove this, Rishecrate shouted with the same theatrical gesture she had used when we first arrived in Jedo.

“Welcome to the Imperial Palace!”