We finished preparing for departure in Tribute Town and decided to head directly for the capital. If we followed the coastline, it would probably take about three weeks by carriage.
"Van-sama, please don't overexert yourself..."
"I'm fine. You be careful too, Targa-san."
"Ha! Thank you!"
Panamera and the Panamera Knights would be heading for the capital from Tribute, along with me, Dee, and just ten members of the Ceat Knights. Oh, of course, Arte, Till, and Kamshin would be traveling with me to the capital as well.
Targa, Espada, and the remaining Ceat Village Knights were asked to return to Ceat Village to fill in during the prolonged absence of the lord.
By the way, Orto and the others still hadn’t returned from the magical beast hunt.
"Well, it's time to depart. Marquis Rosso, thank you so much for everything."
When I said my farewell, Rosso nodded regretfully.
"I wish I could join you to the capital... But I’ll start preparing to leave in a week."
Rosso said with a wry smile. Since he stayed in Tribute until he saw off Tran and the others, Rosso needed to return to his castle in the fortress city. He probably had quite a bit of work piled up as well. As a result, it would be at least one or two weeks before he could head to the capital.
Normally, Rosso would report on the happenings in his domain, so it would be fitting for him to report directly to His Majesty. However, because there was a report about the previously unknown contact with the Fiesta Kingdom’s fleet captain and the alliance, it became urgent, and Panamera was specially assigned to take on that responsibility.
I was accompanying them to explain the usefulness of the ships, but if Rosso hadn’t told me, I probably would have stayed in Tribute working on shipbuilding.
Reluctantly, I prepared to head to the capital. I had bought a large amount of dried fish for provisions, so I would make do. By the way, I also bought an aquarium, so I planned to make and study miniature ships during the journey.
We ended up leaving for the capital before Targa and Espada, and with Rosso and the others seeing us off, we left Tribute Town.
Now, let’s hurry to the capital.
Just as I thought that, a familiar voice rang out along the road.
"V-Van-sama—!"
"Wait up—!"
I heard Orto and Kusara’s voices and stopped the carriage, poking my head out of the window. Then, I saw Orto and the others running at full speed behind us. I thought they were carrying a carriage—what happened?
"Orto-san, what about the magical beast hunt?"
I asked them, as Orto panted heavily, and he shook his hands to answer.
"Well, we managed to hunt quite a few. But we couldn’t come back for three days because we filled the carriage with the corpses of magical beasts. The smell was unbearable, and we didn’t even have time to get rid of it, so we ended up selling the whole carriage to the Adventurers’ Guild."
"It turned out to be quite a good amount of money!"
It seems like the magical beast hunt was a huge success. While the two of them were grinning ear to ear, Pulierel looked dissatisfied.
"...I told them we’d return in a day, but these idiots... Van-sama, I’m terribly sorry for being late."
"Haha, well, I guess the important thing is that you made a good profit..."
When I answered, Pluriel sighed deeply and shook her head from side to side.
"We were supposed to be your guards and guides, so we should have returned much sooner..."
"Well, don’t worry too much about it."
I casually responded to Pulierel while pointing ahead.
"I'm glad everyone made it back. Please make sure to contact Panamera-san, who’s leading the way."
"Y-Yes, understood! Alright, Orto!"
"Got it! I’m going now!"
Orto, the leader, was called by Pulierel and ran off to join Panamera. Panamera-san is scary, after all. Good luck, Orto.
In some ways, Orto and the others had done their work in a rather careless manner, but thanks to their experience as adventurers, we were able to make good progress, and I was moving faster than I’d expected. He really was a capable man in his own way.
We spent the journey happily making and testing ships on the water, and before long, we arrived at the capital.
However, it was already late in the evening by the time we arrived, so our audience with His Majesty would have to wait until the next day. With no other choice, I decided to head to the coast near the capital. The capital was vast, with a large population. But the farther you went from the coast, the humbler the town became, and near the coast, there were very few houses—just small boats scattered around, barely visible in the distance. It was a place where only fishermen lived, leading a modest life.
If large ships were to arrive here, the scenery would surely change drastically. Considering that, we would have to develop and operate the large ships properly.
"No, that’s something His Majesty will have to think about."
I murmured while gazing at the coast facing the capital, then looked back at Orto and the others.
"Ah, right. I’d like to ask you all for something—could you gather a lot of wood?"
"Huh? Wood?"
"Oh, could it be..."
When I tried to make a new request to Orto and the others, they all suddenly looked startled. I nodded in confirmation and answered.
"I’m thinking of floating a ship here tomorrow morning."
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