Chapter 022: To The Capital!!!

Together, they left the Inn and followed Arthur.

Walking through the crowd, Shelly heard a faint voice calling her name and stopped to listen.

"Lady Shelly! Wait!" It was a familiar voice, but the face not yet seen.

"Is something wrong?" Arthur stopped and turned to Shelly.

"No- It's just that… I think someone's calling my name". Shelly looked at the crowd.

"Really? I don't hear anything." Maou pointed his ears upwards.

This time the voice came louder.

"Lady Shelly! Wait! I have something to give you."

"Ah! I hear! I hear it too!" Maou shouted.

"Ugh! Oh no…. I think I know who it is." Shelly started sweating.

"Who is it?" Arthur asked. "A friend of yours?"

"Not really… more like my bad karma." Shelly anxiously scanned the crowd for 'her'.

"Uh!" A thought hit Maou. "I remember that voice, It's Amari. I think she wants to give you something."

Shelly grabbed Maou's hand, "Forget her! Let's run before she finds-"

"Lady Shelly! Thank God! I found you."

Amari burst through the crowd, appearing in front of the trio with something pressed against her chest by both hands.

"Too late." Maou pointed out.

"Oh… hey Amari. H-how are you?" Shelly tried her best to remain calm.

"It really is true!" Amari got uncomfortably closer to Shelly with a glowing expression. "The strings of love brought us together as you said."

"I said 'Fate' not 'Love'." Shelly thought to herself, "Ugh! Why do I have to deal with you now?"

Seeing the travel bag, Amari fearfully asked, "Ar-Are you…leaving?"

"Yeah… I'm leaving for the capital". Shelly explained.

"No… I thought I had more time." Amari with a distressed look clutched the thing in her hands tighter. "Lady Shelly! I have something to give you before you leave."

"For me? Ah… want would that be?" Shelly asked.

"Please take this with you!" Amari handed Shelly a beautifully knitted green scarf. "I made it thinking about you".

"Wow! Wait! Is this cotton-silk? I can't take this, it's too expensive. You'd be better off selling this."

Shelly tried giving back the scarf to Amari, but she refused.

"Lady Shelly! You're my saviour. Before I met you, I had loss my aspirations," Amari smiled to herself. "But, while I was making this scarf for you, I realised how much joy I had doing so."

"It made me remember when I was little and wanted to be the best fashion maker to ever exist". Amari, with a determined expression, looked up at Shelly. "One day, I'll move to the capital and start my own clothing store, for humans and beastfolk alike. That's the dream you helped me to remember…. So please! Take this scarf as a sign of my thanks. It's all I can do now".

"Ah… well…. Thank you. I'll cherish it with my life". Shelly pressed the scarf against her chest.

"And hopefully we will meet again, someday". Amari prayed.

Leaving them to continue their journey, Amari waved Shelly goodbye as the crowd slowly pushed them out of sight.

"I don't deserve this scarf. All I did was use her to buy cheaper clothes". Shelly thought to herself, the guilt eating at her heart. "I'll never use someone like that ever again".

Exiting the town, they arrived at a black carriage. It was positioned on the roadside with a roof, a door on both sides, glass windows and had large wooden wheels. There was a small seat outside the carriage with shelter from the sun.

At the front were two horses that drew the carriage, one white and the other brown.

A man with a slender build, white hair and moustache opened the carriage door and stepped down some small steps. "Your carriage is ready to go, Sir Arthur."

He looked to be about 50 years old and wore a full white butler's uniform.

"Woah!! What's that!" Maou dashed to the carriage, excitedly circling, touching and questioning what everything was and even found himself on the roof.

"Frederick. These are my friends, Shelly and Maou." Arthur happily introduced.

"It is a pleasure to meet you both. My name is Frederick Smith William, Arthur's butler." He kindly bowed his head as he introduced himself. "Arthur told me so much about you two."

"Hey, Mr Mustache man!! How does this thing work?" Maou looked down, standing on the roof of the carriage.

Mr Frederick smiled and said. "You'll see very soon, Sir Maou."

He then turned to Arthur and asked. "Shall we depart, Sir Arthur?"

"Yes, please," Arthur confirmed. He looked to Maou and said. "Maou-sensei. Come look inside too."

Maou excitedly jumped off the roof landing perfectly and followed Arthur inside the carriage.

"Lady Shelly." Mr Frederick called to me. "Your luggage. May I pack it away for you?"

"No, it's fine. I'll keep it on me. No big deal." Shelly politely declined his offer.

"I understand". Mr Frederick said.

Just as Shelly was about to climb up the small stairs, Mr Frederick held out his palm, offering his assistance.

"May I help you up the stairs?" He politely asked.

Shelly, taken by surprise said, "Ah… Um… Y-yeah. Why not?"

Mr Frederick guided Shelly daintily into the carriage. Which was an awkward first experience for her.

The carriage was true royalty. The interior was way better and more amazing than the outside.

The wood used to make the entire carriage was unbelievably smooth and well crafted. This could only be done by a professional.

Two seats were extending across the carriage that faced each other. The seats had soft cushions with red coverings and even curtains to block out the sun.

It was truly high fashioned as regular carriages were not built like this, but had hard wooden seats which would cause your butt to ache when going on long journeys. It would be an aching experience, to say the least.

"Shelly! Do you see this! It's so cool in here." Maou buzzed around the carriage like a fly, amazed at everything.

"Crack! Heya!" Mr Frederick signalled the horses to move.

The carriage began moving forward. Maou was taken off guard and he fell butt-first, next to Arthur.

"We're moving! This is awesome!" Maou excitedly wiggled.

"Maou-sensei don't get excited yet because… I have this." Arthur revealed a huge bright green watermelon.

"No way! What is this? Can we eat it now?" Maou hovered over the watermelon eagerly.

"Sure. We just have to open it."

"I have a knife, that would help. Let me get it real quick." Shelly searched through her bag. "Found it. Let me cut it open."

Arthur gave her the watermelon and she could feel its heaviness.

She cut the watermelon into four parts and handed a slice each to Arthur and Maou. "Here you go, a slice for each of you."

As they both held the watermelon in their hands and stared at its bright red colour, they slowly sank their teeth into the fruit.

"Yum! It's so sweet and juicy like you said." They agreed with tears welling up in their eyes.

They further mercilessly demolished the fruit. Even devouring the green part which Shelly was too late to stop them from doing.

"More! MORE!"

They looked at Shelly with a crazed look and she carefully handed them the rest.

Like a blender, they began tearing away at the slice.

"That was good." Maou wiped his mouth in joy.

"This is too good!" Arthur pulled out twelve watermelons. "It's a good thing I bought plenty."

"Good thinking Arthur." Maou thumbs up to him.

"How many did he buy?" Shelly asked herself in disbelief.

"Save some for later," Shelly said, slicing only six watermelons.

As they continued eating the watermelon, Shelly called to Mr Frederick handing him a slice through the window.

"Hey. You should try some before they eat it all. It's really good, trust me."

"Thank you very much." He took the slice and with one bite his eyes widen in astonishment. "This is really good!"

"I told you so." Shelly smiled. "Have another slice."

"I most definitely will." He gladly took the slice.

"Now it's my turn." Shelly bit into the melon and was pleasantly surprised at the taste.

She finished her first slice and went for another, but they were all gone.

Disappointed and slightly angry, she turned to look at Maou and Arthur leaning their backs against each other. Their bellies bulging as if they were pregnant.

"Burp! That was good." Maou rubbed his tummy in content.

"That was better…. Burp!! Than I expected." Arthur also rubbed his tummy.

Immediately they both dozed off.

"And now they're asleep. Haa!" Shelly sighed loudly. "At least now I have some peace and quiet."

Since recently, Shelly decided to keep a journal of her journey and feelings.

She planned to write as often as she could and how the situation made her feel.

"What if you published this?" The thought made her giggle a little. "As if I could become an author."

"."

*Journal Entry 1*

When I left the orphanage back in Divali, I was honestly scared and nervous. Anything could go wrong and that thought was scary, but surprisingly I had Maou there with me.

But why did I bring him along?

He's just a child I don't know anything about. Yet I brought him along with me and I even spent money on him, buying him clothes and food.

I guess… I was afraid of being alone and Maou made the journey fun and even made me feel… not alone. That night when he was crying and shouting in his sleep, he was going through something, but I was too afraid to ask him. Even if I did ask, would I be able to solve his problems? I pray that he'll be happy like he always is.

On a positive note, I made another friend, Arthur. We're even headed to the capital city together. This is such a blessing. Now I won't have to walk ao the capital or pay for travel. Thank you, fate! Although, you nearly killed me many times.

I'm happy and I hope this happiness can last forever. Rather, PLEASE let this happiness last forever.

I wonder how that old lady is doing?

I hope she hasn't hurt herself carrying those heavy logs. It sucks that I didn't get to say 'goodbye', but I hope we get to meet each other again.