Ch.132131. Summer Vacation (5)

# 131. Summer Vacation (5)

Another invariably bright day today.

I woke up with warm sunlight bathing my entire body.

“Yaaawn… so sleepy.”

As always, no matter how much I sleep, I still feel drowsy.

I thought I had slept for quite a long time too.

I got up from bed in that half-asleep state, and with perfect timing, a maid called for me right after.

-Knock knock!-

“Young master, please wake up.”

“I’m up, I’ll head to the dining room.”

Since it was breakfast time, I just quickly washed my face and headed to the dining room.

On the way there, the maid asked me:

“So you’re leaving today, right?”

“Yes, starting today.”

Today was the day I had been waiting for so long.

The first day of the journey to the Persian Kingdom—that was today.

“Please be careful, and don’t get hurt.”

“I’ll try my best.”

Of course, avoiding injuries completely would be impossible.

I suppose I could if I really wanted to, but then there would be no point in going with them.

As I was steeling myself for the hardships ahead, one of my travel companions spoke to me.

However, what they said had nothing to do with the journey.

“Are you still using formal speech?”

“You’re the weird one.”

“Have you ever seen a noble speaking formally to their maid?”

While most nobles do treat their servants poorly, there are exceptions.

And my mother was one such example.

“My mom.”

“T-that’s…”

“Forget it, let’s just eat.”

Aelin and I arrived at the dining room.

Looking at all the empty seats, we asked the maids:

“Did everyone already leave?”

“It’s 10 o’clock now.”

“Ah…”

I thought I had woken up early, but in reality, I had slept until 10.

“Time flies.”

“What are you talking about…”

We sat down at the table filled with delicious-looking food and had our meal.

I was basically a light eater, so I didn’t consume large amounts of food, but Aelin was different.

‘She eats so well…’

I quietly watched Aelin overeating to an admirable degree.

“Do you always eat in such tiny bites?”

“Stop talking nonsense and just eat.”

Actually, I started eating lightly out of necessity.

During missions, it’s impossible to eat large amounts of food, and there’s no time for it either.

As a result, I gradually reduced my portions, and that habit continued until my current situation.

“Besides, eating light is good for your body—just getting the necessary nutrients.”

“But then you don’t feel full.”

“I hate feeling full.”

I don’t dislike the act of eating itself, but I really hate that bloated feeling when my stomach is full.

“By the way, what time are we leaving today?”

“One o’clock.”

“Do we need to go somewhere?”

“They said they’ll come pick us up. We just need to be ready and wait.”

Thankfully, they offered to come directly to us.

We received a message last night saying they would arrive around 12:50 or 1:00.

“Hey, how far can we go by carriage?”

“Obviously right up to the edge of the forest.”

Beyond that point, not only is the terrain difficult, but dangerous monsters make it impossible to travel by vehicle.

Still, we can use transportation until then.

“Is that forest big?”

“Of course it’s big. About four times the size of our country?”

“Wow…”

“It’s okay, it should only take about a week.”

Since the Persian Kingdom wasn’t completely in the opposite direction, we wouldn’t need to cross the entire forest.

“Can’t we just go around the forest?”

“Did you sleep during geography class?”

“No… not really… I just thought there might be some way.”

“We don’t even know the exact location, so how…”

The fact that it’s surrounded by that forest is one problem, and the entire country being covered by high-level concealment magic is another.

“That’s too bad… but if we don’t know the location, how will we find our way in?”

“We just need to call someone who knows.”

Even if we don’t know, people from that country would know where the Persian Kingdom is and how to enter it.

“We don’t know many people, but we do know some.”

“So we’re really going with elves?”

“Seems that way.”

At least traveling with someone familiar with the place means finding it won’t be a problem.

“Elves… I’m excited.”

“What’s there to be excited about? It’s probably just going to be Teacher Gloria.”

“Oh? Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

Aelin seemed to have just realized there was an elf near us.

“I forgot because she’s not our teacher… but she’s really pretty too… Are all elves that beautiful?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“I thought you would know?”

I did know, but her attitude made me not want to tell her.

“Most of them are pretty and handsome, at least more than you.”

“Hey, I think I’ve become quite good-looking lately… don’t you think?”

I don’t know where this confidence came from, but she kept asking me these kinds of questions.

Something must have happened to her recently.

“Stop asking me.”

“Honestly, I’m pretty these days, right? Admit it?”

Ignoring Aelin, who was subtly expecting something, I stood up from my seat.

“I’m going to wash up now, so finish eating and get ready to leave.”

“Hey! Wait! Answer me!?”

“You? Ugly. Extremely.”

I left behind a fuming Aelin and headed straight to the bathroom.

Then I washed up to prepare for going out.

“I won’t be able to wash like this for a while.”

Even outdoors, I could wash in places like rivers, but it was definitely less comfortable compared to a bathroom like this.

Besides, putting down your equipment and washing outdoors was quite dangerous.

“Well… I’ll manage somehow.”

Not washing for a few days wasn’t really a problem.

At least not by my standards.

After finishing what could be considered my last bath before reaching the Persian Kingdom, I left the bathroom.

“Huh?”

After changing clothes and checking my phone, I found a message that had arrived while I was bathing.

The message read:

-We’ll be leaving in about 30 minutes, so be ready! And we’ll arrive a bit earlier than planned.-

A message from her.

I replied to the message, dried my hair, and headed to the dining room.

But…

“She’s not here…”

Whether she went to wash up or not, no one was sitting at the table, and only the maids remained, clearing away the food.

“The young lady is bathing right now.”

“When she comes out, please tell her to pack her things and come to the lobby on the first floor.”

“Yes!”

After leaving that message, I went to my room to get the bag I had packed yesterday.

It wasn’t particularly large, but thanks to the storage magic cast on it, it could hold quite a lot of items.

“Well… this should be enough.”

I wasn’t the type to pack everything anyway, so I didn’t fill the space completely.

With the bag about half full, I headed to the lobby on the first floor.

Then I waited for Aelin to arrive.

‘Ah… when is she coming…’

Just as I was starting to complain, Aelin appeared.

She was wearing a robe she didn’t usually wear.

And it looked quite expensive too.

“A robe?”

“My money, my purchase.”

“Huh? What’s that…”

“I bought it with my own money.”

“I wasn’t criticizing…”

Still, she must have saved up quite a bit of money to buy a robe of that quality.

That was worth praising.

“That’s good, saving money to buy a robe.”

“Aren’t you going to buy one?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, cloaks are worth buying, right?”

Indeed, as Aelin said, cloaks that effectively boost agility stats were almost essential items.

But despite that, I still hadn’t bought a cloak for myself.

“I won’t buy unless it’s expensive.”

“What? Are you saving money too?”

“Not really.”

“Then?”

I didn’t need to save money to buy items.

Though it was a one-time thing.

“Survival Ace reward.”

“Right… you have that.”

“The problem is it hasn’t arrived yet.”

After the midterms, I decided what to buy and informed the academy. I heard the order was placed, but it still hadn’t arrived.

“Does it usually take this long?”

“It should have arrived by now… but nothing we can do. It’ll probably be here when we get back.”

As I was feeling disappointed, my phone suddenly rang.

-Ding!… Ding!-

I slowly checked the two notifications.

The content of those messages made me smile involuntarily.

“Don’t tell me it just arrived right now?”

“Something like that.”

The first message was from the delivery service, and the second was from her.

The former was obviously about the safe delivery of the ordered item, and the latter was a photo.

A photo showing the person I was waiting for and the item together in one place.

I smiled contentedly at that photo.

“Let’s go now, are you ready?”

“Yeah.”

I opened the front door and stepped outside to see them waiting for us.

Her, enthusiastically waving her hand at us, and behind her, those impressive people.

Only when I saw them did it finally sink in that we were heading to the Persian Kingdom.

“I’m definitely looking forward to this.”

Aelin and I headed toward where they were waiting.