Arc 3 - Chapter 2: The Butler’s Preparations (1/2)

♪ Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ♪

♪ How I Wonder What You Are ♪

♪ Up Above The World So High ♪

♪ Like A Diamond In The Sky ♪

♪ Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ♪

♪ How I Wonder What You Are ♪

When he saw the stars above his head as he loaded the wealth on the ground into his wagons, he thought of a children's song and started singing it for Yurine.

Yu Valarfin didn't like nights because whenever he couldn't sleep at night, he always had disturbing thoughts in his mind, and he couldn't sleep at night because his sleep patterns were disturbed. So nights were a constant torture for him.

But even he could not deny that when he looked up at the sky in this world, the night scene was perfect. Where he lived in the First World, only a few stars could be seen in the sky because of the city lights, but here the whole firmament was decorated with stars.

"Ten thousand gold, huh... We spent two months in Rolderhelm for half that. A great haul in two weeks. Of course, in Rolderhelm, we were a handful of people with Marino's men."

With a hundred men, they engaged in regular robbery and fraud and dealt a blow to İlonya that will be hard to repeat.

Yurine made sure that everyone lying on the ground was dead, while Yu watched her out of the corner of his eye.

"The fact that she killed them all without blinking an eye... Even though I understand the motivation behind it and I agree with it, when I think about her age... I don't know. Of course, since I was the instigator, it wouldn't be right for me to think how she could do such a thing now."

Yet the fact that he watched her silently through all the bloodshed and brutality showed that there was something he didn't know about himself.

Why was it that he was upset about Satoshi's death, and even Sharley's death, but now he was silent about the slaughter of a hundred people?

Was it because they were bad people? Or because they would make amends? Or was his sorrow for the death of Satoshi and the others only to ease his conscience?

Yurine had one ear on Yu and was humming the melody of the song, although she could not sing along because the lyrics were in English.*

"Yu, why are you silent?"

"My jaw is tired. Do you want me to go on?"

"If you're tired, you should rest, Yu."

"That's very kind of you."

But Yu realized that she wanted to listen more and started singing a different children's song, even though he was tired. He was used to singing children's songs, they made him sing them every time he went to the orphanage.

The most comfortable of the wagons, but also the one with the highest load capacity, was the one belonging to Yu and Yurine. After calculating their share, the two had thought that this moment might come and had prepared accordingly.

Some rinos had been frightened away by Yurine's magic, but not the two rinos pulling Yu's vehicle. Yu had accustomed the rinos to Yurine's magic while learning to drive them.

After putting all the valuables in their own wagon, the space in the wagon was reduced. So much so that if they wanted to sleep in the wagon they would have to squeeze in, but they were already used to that.

The speed of the two rinos pulling their wagons would decrease with the added weight, so he took one of the rinos that had not escaped and tied it to his wagon.

"Okay, I'm going to name you after Red Kit's horse, so from now on, your name will be Düldül."

He looked for other rinos to take it, but backed away when all the rinos he approached showed their teeth and growled at him.

"Yu, who's Red Kit?"

"A cartoon character."

"Yu, what's the cartoon?"

Yurine's constant questions, like a four-year-old child, made him smile.

"The children's show for the children to watch... Hmm... It's like puppet shows, but they look like pictures drawn in books. They move around in frames and you can hear their voices."

"I'd like to see it."

"I wish it were possible, Yurine. I wish you could see it too."

The animals were still growling at him as he cut the ropes of the rinos tied to the other wagons. After untying them, he carried the supplies from the wagons to his wagon. The only thing they didn't put in the wagon was the sack with the magic stones. After Yu put the magic stones in, they were completely finished.

"It was lucky that the magic stones didn't explode during the brawl..."

"No, it's not. I paid special attention." Yurine interrupted Yu and put a big smile on her face.

"Well done, then."

It was good to have magic stones and he had plans for them.

Yu was tired of always hiding behind someone in times of danger and he didn't want to let it hurt his pride any more.

Yurine said she would always be there to protect him, but Yu wanted to learn to fight in his own way and contribute to their group in times of danger.

So he thought of a few things he could do and decided that the magic stones could help him fight. He also had something to ask Sivina when they met Sivina and Ana waiting for them in Andromedia.

"Can we wipe this paint off now, Yu?"

"Let's get away from here first. According to the map, there should be a lake up ahead, we'll erase it there."

Yu took a blanket for Yurine from inside the carriage and closed and locked the door. Then he first took Yurine out to the driver's side and then himself. He threw the blanket over Yurine's shoulder so she wouldn't get cold, but he felt the cold himself and got under the blanket.

"Deh?"

Yu still found it hard to believe that they could move some kind of dinosaur by command. So he called out in a strange way, as if pleading with the animal to move forward.

Rino understood the command when Yu tapped the halter and started walking forward.

Yu could not swim and was afraid of drowning. That's why he didn't go into the lake when they got there and didn't let Yurine go into the lake either. They would freeze if they did anything like that in November.

"You don't feel any monsters in the lake, do you?"

"No."

Yurine could sense the mana in every living creature except Yu. That's why she could tell that there were no creatures in the lake, but Yu was still cautious and began to clean Yurine with buckets of water from the wagon.

He took care to wipe the brown dye from Yurine's hair and tail without getting her clothes wet, then wiped the white dye from her face.

"Yu... D-I'm freezing..."

"You can go inside the wagon if you want."

"N-no, Yu. I want to be with you always."

"Then go to the driver's seat and wrap yourself in a blanket, don't get any colder."

Yu had dyed his hair white. After cleaning the white dye from his hair and face, he dried himself with a towel and took his place next to Yurine.

"Yu, brown hair looks better on you."

She blushed and struck a sweet pose as she praised Yu. She put her head on Yu's knees and fell asleep, hugging his waist.

***

He woke up before dawn. Although he had concerns about sleeping in a forest, he had to make this choice, knowing that the risk of being robbed would be higher if he slept on the main road than if he slept in the forest.

He already tried to use the main road as little as possible. They usually took the ring roads and went into the forest when they needed to sleep.

After their journey, they entered a town called Seussu around noon. Yurine woke up with Yu and sat next to him, not wanting to travel alone in the wagon.

But when she was with Yu, she put her heads on his knees and fell asleep again. Yu was holding the rino's halter with one hand and stroking Yurine's ears with the other as they walked through the town.

After crossing the river above Seussu, they would travel for a month and arrive in Andromedia, the capital of the Zodianist faction in the civil war, with its Cathedral of Virgo.

The route could have been shorter, but he didn't want to get caught, so he would take side roads instead of the main one, and the route would take about two weeks until they reached the mountains that form the border between Peloponnese and İlonya. Then the hard part would begin.

In Seussu, he would first buy a new wagon and place his belongings in it, then replace his old wagon with a rino and try to reach his planned travel speed with three rinos.

Now he had to look for a wagon. As there was no car dealership, wagons were made by carpenters and Yu could not have a new one made at any time. Instead of waiting for a wagon to be made for him, he looked around for a nice wagon and then he could buy it.

He thought he might find what he was looking for in Seussu. İlonya, though less fantastic than Rolderhelm, was a developed country and the town of Seussu was therefore a developed and populous town. Surely there must be something here that Yu wanted.

As he looked around, he smiled, thinking that he had soon found what he was looking for. On the side of the road was a white wagon, bigger than Yu's wagon.

It was incomparably more beautiful than his own wagon. The windows of Yu's carriage were made of wood, while those of the carriage opposite were made of glass.

On the top of the wagon there was a separate area for storing things and in the back there was a trunk. The entrance door on the side of the wagon was wider than the door of Yu's wagon and it would be easier to get things in and out.

When Yu pulled his carriage next to the white carriage, he liked the driver's seat very much. The seat was covered in leather, with wooden planks on the top and sides to keep out the rain. He gently lifted Yurine's head from his knees and then got down.

"Hello there."