Ch.92Chapter 92 – The Harbinger of a Cat Fi…ght(?)

Just as Serin Ekatos was about to join our group and leave the Black Feather Belsalem branch, Branch Director Justin asked me to wait a moment.

“What is it?”

“You’ll be traveling a long distance. Did you not bring any luggage separately?”

“Luggage…”

I was slightly confused by Justin’s question.

All I had was just a few bags.

Neither I nor Eterna tended to carry much luggage.

“I only have a few bags, that’s all.”

“Then this will be very helpful. People who travel long distances usually keep at least one of these. Bring them in.”

After Justin finished his explanation and clapped his hands a couple of times, the door opened and a blue-haired woman entered carrying two bags.

“What are those?”

“Spatial bags.”

At Justin’s words, my eyes were naturally drawn to the bags the blue-haired woman was holding.

Spatial bags.

A type of artifact that makes bags feel light as if nothing is inside, no matter how many items are placed in them.

This item, which appears in numerous creative works, varies depending on the work, but generally commands a very high price.

“Are you giving us such expensive items for free?”

“I’m not giving them for free.”

Hmm, as expected. It’s not free.

Then what does he want in return?

“These are gifts from Margrave Beventus, who hopes they will aid Count Severio’s journey as thanks for treating his daughter.”

Ah, I see.

So this was a gift from Margrave Beventus in return for my treating Miss Aisen Beventus’s illness.

In that case, there’s no reason to refuse.

“Please convey my gratitude to the Margrave, and tell him I’ll make good use of them.”

“Of course I will.”

The blue-haired woman handed the spatial bags to me and Eterna.

The spatial bags were quite large.

About 1.5 times the size of the backpack I used to carry in high school?

Just to test it, I put one item from my luggage into the spatial bag, and the spatial bag didn’t change at all in weight or size.

“How do you take items out?”

“It’s simple. Put your hand into the bag’s opening and imagine the item you want to retrieve, and it will come to your hand. If you want to empty the bag completely, just turn the opening downward and think about pouring everything out.”

“That’s convenient.”

Seeing that it works just by thinking about something, without having to inject magical power or follow complicated instructions, it seems it was designed with user convenience as a priority.

I like it very much.

Eterna and I put our entire luggage bags into the spatial bags that Justin, or rather, Margrave Beventus had prepared for us.

Even though we put in quite large luggage bags, the spatial bags remained unchanged, as if nothing had happened.

Now it was time to use Belsalem’s teleport station to head to the city furthest from the Grendillet Mountains.

“Which city are you heading to?”

“We’re going to Ecanteriopolis.”

“Ecanteriopolis… I suppose you’re going there for a pass to enter the Grendillet Mountains.”

I don’t remember telling Justin that we were going to the Grendillet Mountains…

“How did you know that?”

“Ecanteriopolis is the only city in this country that issues passes to the Grendillet Mountains. And the fact that you’re going to that city, which is the furthest from the Grendillet Mountains, makes it the most reasonable assumption that you’re going there for a pass.”

I guess this level of deduction is natural for an executive of an information broker organization.

“If you want to get a pass to enter the Grendillet Mountains from Ecanteriopolis, you need to go to the city hall and state your purpose of visit. This is because passes are only issued at the city hall. People who don’t know this visit Ecanteriopolis and end up getting scammed by con artists who claim they can easily help with pass issuance.”

Hmm, that’s important information I should remember well.

‘Passes can only be issued at the city hall.’

I should remember this to avoid being scammed.

I can’t be certain that no one would try to scam someone accompanied by a skilled swordsman and a Chief Inquisitor.

‘It would get resolved eventually, but the process would be very annoying.’

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After leaving the Black Feather Belsalem branch, Serin, Eterna, and I immediately headed to the teleport station.

“By the way, what’s our specific itinerary?”

As we were about to slowly walk toward the teleport station, Serin asked a question.

“Itinerary?”

I hadn’t really thought about it specifically.

Because the plan was simply to use the teleport station to go to Ecanteriopolis and get a pass.

Then use the teleport station there to move to the area closest to the Grendillet Mountains.

And then enter the Grendillet Mountains with the dwarves who would come to meet us, find Ironbeard, and solve the problem.

“There’s no fixed schedule.”

It’s not like we had a specific date by which we needed to get there.

Besides, I heard that the dwarves who came down from the Grendillet Mountains were personnel stationed there for communication purposes.

“Shouldn’t we move a bit faster then?”

“Pardon?”

I expected Serin to suggest taking our time, but what came out of her mouth was a suggestion to move even faster than we were now.

“Could you explain why you say that?”

“Well, this is related to my family, so it’s a bit complicated to explain…”

Serin was hesitating instead of explaining why we needed to move quickly.

“Is it because the Ekatos family’s treasured sword was being repaired when the Extreme Flame Heart broke down?”

I knew exactly what Serin was trying to say.

After all, I had heard from His Majesty the Emperor that the Extreme Flame Heart had broken down while trying to repair the Ekatos family’s treasured sword.

“What?”

“Huh?”

When I mentioned the secret involving the Ekatos family and the Extreme Flame Heart, Serin and Eterna showed clearly different reactions.

In Eterna’s case, she seemed very surprised, probably because she didn’t even know that the Extreme Flame Heart was broken.

In particular, she reacted as if she was learning about it for the first time.

On the contrary, Serin looked flustered, as if a secret she had been hiding had been exposed.

Her face naturally turned slightly red, perhaps thinking I wouldn’t know about it.

“How did you…?”

Serin had an expression of disbelief.

“I was called to solve this problem in the Grendillet Mountains, so naturally I should know the details of what happened, shouldn’t I?”

“Y-yes, I suppose so…”

Serin seemed very flustered.

She appeared quite embarrassed that a secret her family had been keeping was revealed.

“I won’t say anything more about it. It seemed like His Majesty the Emperor was willing to let it slide quietly once this matter is resolved.”

“R-really?”

Of course, I don’t know for sure.

But judging by the Emperor’s lack of reaction when he mentioned it, it’s probably not something I should be concerned about.

I just want to fix the broken Extreme Flame Heart so that carbonated beer can spread widely across the continent.

“Let’s get moving then.”

Since we had no time to waste here, we resumed our journey.

“Yes~ let’s get going.”

Eterna seemed a bit more cheerful than before.

“…”

Unlike Eterna, Serin seemed somewhat deflated.

Hmm… did I say something wrong?

‘Well, if it comes to it, I can fix that sword later.’

The Ekatos family’s treasured sword. I’d like to see it once.

◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈

‘Aaaaargh. How on earth does he know about that?’

Serin Ekatos felt like her head was about to explode.

She thought the matter would be buried since no one had mentioned it in the Grendillet Mountains.

However, Pathos seemed to know the details of what had happened in the Grendillet Mountains.

‘What should I do? How can I improve his perception of our family?’

For Serin, the most important thing was repairing the divine sword.

But she assumed that this incident had given Pathos a bad impression of the Ekatos family.

In reality, Pathos didn’t care about such things and only wished for the Extreme Flame Heart to be repaired so that carbonated beer could spread throughout the world.

‘Hohoho, so it was her family that caused the Extreme Flame Heart to break?’

In contrast to Serin’s obvious dismay, Eterna’s steps were very light right now.

She had been somewhat uncomfortable with Serin showing interest in Pathos.

But now, knowing that Pathos was traveling this far because of the Ekatos family…

‘Phew, this means Pathos won’t be interested in that woman. What a relief.’

Eterna thought that Pathos would no longer be interested in Serin.

Of course, this was Eterna’s misunderstanding.

From the beginning, Pathos had no romantic interest in the small-chested Serin Ekatos.

In any case, both women were counting their chickens before they hatched.