Chapter 7
“Tell me.”
“I-I’ll bring you something proper. Actually, it might be a little unpleasant, but I happen to have a set of clothes made from wyvern leather. They cling a little to the body, but they are easy to move in and do not tear easily. Would that be okay?”
“That is exactly what I want!”
I answered with a wide smile. The owner glanced at me before going inside.
I hummed as I looked through the clothes on display.
Leather clothes, huh?
It would be good to buy something like a shirt to wear underneath them too.
Shopping really is the best.
I happily searched through the clothes.
I also found something that Vanessa could use, so I put that aside too.
Next, shoes?
It would be great if they had something like military boots.
This was a successful shopping trip.
The black market is the best.
Kael was, as expected, watching everything.
He had left the weapons shop and followed Rosana first. The aide who had come with him remained at the weapons shop.
By now, he was probably bargaining with the owner over the weapons Kael had chosen.
However, Kael did not expect his aide to show bargaining skills as impressive as Rosana’s.
Kael silently watched Rosana walking around the clothing shop while humming.
What on earth happened to Rosana?
She’s going to wear clothes made from monster hide?
Of course, knights, including Kael himself, wore clothes made from monster hide underneath their armor.
Clothes made from wyvern leather were considered among the finest, but they were not normally available through regular trade.
Kael had even submitted proposals to the Emperor several times about making armor from wyvern leather, but they were ignored every time.
‘Such a vulgar thing! You want to wrap yourself in the skin of those filthy creatures and save the Empire? Crown Prince, have you truly gone mad? What will people think?’
The Emperor cared greatly about appearances, so he rejected it immediately.
To protect the lives of himself and his knights, Kael had secretly obtained clothes made from wyvern leather through hidden channels and distributed them among his closest people.
And Kael could confidently say that during that process, neither he nor his aide had shown bargaining skills nearly as impressive as Rosana’s.
Kael held his head.
‘Don’t even bring such filthy things in front of me.’
‘Are you telling me to wear such a low-class thing? How dare you. What do you take Lady Ardena for?’
The Rosana he knew.
His memories of her were collapsing.
Is this really her?
Kael rubbed his face in confusion.
He must have gone crazy.
Otherwise, Rosana had gone crazy.
Kael continued staring at Rosana until she disappeared from his sight.
Then the two aides returned to his side.
One of them had been given the task of finding Rosana.
“I apologize, Your Highness. We could not find Lady Rosana…”
“There is no need.”
“Yes?”
“I said there is no need to find her.”
Kael fell silent after saying that.
For some reason, he felt that Rosana would finish whatever she had to do and casually return to the camp as if she had never left.
With that bright smile on her face.
Just as Kael expected.
Before breakfast, Rosana calmly returned and blended back into the camp as if she had never left.
“Oh? Lady Rosana, you changed your clothes.”
“I couldn’t keep walking in that dress.”
“That is true, but…”
The young lady looked Rosana up and down as if she were looking at a stranger.
The woman who had always insisted on wearing extravagant dresses and jewelry was now wearing plain clothes without a single decoration. Even her hair was neatly tied up.
“I never thought you would wear such simple clothes, Lady Rosana.”
“These are much more comfortable for marching. What do you think? Not bad, right?”
Rosana gave a sly smile in front of the young lady her age, who simply nodded blankly.
Was her name Vanessa?
She was a stand-in who had been adopted into a count’s family in exchange for money, taking the place of a precious heir.
There were many people like that here, so it was nothing surprising.
Kael quietly watched them, carefully keeping himself out of sight.
Rosana took a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped Vanessa’s face.
“Did you cry again while sleeping? Vanessa, if you keep crying like that, you’ll become dehydrated. You might even die from dehydration before a monster can chew you up.”
“Ugh, don’t say scary things again… Monster teeth… You said I would never see anything like that. That’s what the Count who adopted me said… He said I only had to follow along… and pretend to do something… Achoo!”
“Stop thinking so carelessly. Here, change your shoes to these too.”
“Where did you get these?”
Rosana smiled and took off Vanessa’s old shoes.
They had been provided by the expedition, but the soles were thin and the leather was already cracked in several places.
The supplies given to people whose families had not prepared proper equipment were mostly like this.
“I found them on the road. I did a good job, right?”
Rosana put the new military boots onto Vanessa’s feet and tied the laces tightly.
“There. Done. How are they? They’re military boots. They’re similar to the boots the knights wear. More precisely, they’re closer to the kind mercenaries wear, but at least they’ll last longer than those old shoes. And this is better than that huge sword.”
Rosana then took away the old longsword that Vanessa had been using like a walking stick.
The blade was chipped in several places, and even the handle was loose.
Instead, Rosana firmly fastened the belt and dagger around Vanessa’s waist.
“W-what is this?”
“A dagger for self-defense.”
“Still, isn’t this sword better than that? A dagger…”
Vanessa looked down at the dagger on her waist doubtfully.
Instead of answering, Rosana smiled.
That dagger, which the weapons dealer had guaranteed could pierce monster hide, would certainly be much more useful than a chipped longsword.
Rosana generously shared the equipment she had obtained with her companion.
This was another side of her that Kael had never seen before.
Rosana had always been too busy taking care of herself.
She never gave away what she had, while always wanting what she did not have.
Wasn’t that Rosana?
Kael quietly engraved this new image of Rosana into his memory.
Exactly as she was.
Exactly as he had seen and heard her in this extreme situation.
I guess I don’t want someone I’ve spent several days with to die.
She’s my companion, after all. Losing a companion is a terrible experience.
Even if people dying is an everyday occurrence in this world.
In this world, only a few important characters, including the female lead and male lead, would survive.
The others would be torn apart by monster claws, eaten, or crushed to death.
Actually, being able to march this far without encountering any monsters could be called a miracle.
Thinking back to the original story, there had been a similar description.
「Until they arrived at their destination, northern Greystone, the only monsters they encountered were the Spider Tribe. It was like the calm before a storm, the final moment of rest given by God.
Because the moment they arrived at Greystone, the monsters’ attacks began.
The monsters broke people’s bones with their sharp teeth and tore their flesh apart with their hard claws. Among them, Kael alone stood out with an especially strong presence. Like a brilliant light leading people toward hope in the darkness.」
It was written from the female lead’s point of view.
It must have been the scene where she fell in love with Kael at first sight.
There were still about fourteen days left before we reached Greystone.
It had only been one day since we left Rainford…
At least that meant we’d be safe for a while.
I turned my head and looked at Vanessa.
“Sob. Mom… Huuuh… I want to go home.”
Watching her sniffle and sob until even her shoulders shook made me sigh.
If she keeps crying like that, she’ll be the first one to become monster food.
And when that happens, the place she’ll return to won’t be her home.
It’ll be the damp stomach of a monster.
I had told her several times, but she just kept crying like this.
One week.
Can I make Vanessa useful within one week?
At the very least, she needs to be able to run away when we encounter a monster.
I don’t want to watch her die like this.
I was tired of hearing the breathing of companions fade away before I could do anything to save them.
If possible, wouldn’t it be better if we all survived together?
But how?
It might be faster to hope that the monsters suddenly become good people…
Ugh.
