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Eleanor and I were put in the same carriage as Harvey.
It has already been three days since I received the request for an escort.
It’s safe to say that there have been almost no raids so far. The only thing that happened were weaker monsters that I one shotted.
The carriage was quite nice, as it was a duke’s carriage, and I think it has a smoother ride.
Maybe this gentle swaying felt good to Eleanor. Because now she is leaning on my shoulder, snoozing.
I gently stroke Eleanor’s head. Harvey, who had broken into a smile, gave us a friendly glance.
It was in this atmosphere that he started talking to me.
「The other day’s attack was probably related to the Stania Empire. I’ve heard rumours that the Stania Empire has been getting more and more suspicious lately, and it may be getting serious.」
Hmm. The Stania Empire, huh? I’m not interested in a war between countries.
「It’s the largest country on Earth, and they have always favored the human race in the past. They have enslaved many beastmen, elves, dwarves, and demons. I hear there are illegal slave hunts, and of course there are human slaves too.」
At the mention of slaves, Harvey’s face twisted.
However, the story seems to continue.
「Since the current emperor ascended to the throne ten years ago, the trend in the Stania Empire has been gradually becoming more and more extreme. …… Now he is trying to spread even more human supremacy throughout the world. The ultimate goal of that country seems to be the unification of Earth. In order to do that, the empire wanted to lower the national strength of the Midogal Kingdom first, which is why they carried out the attack like the other day.」
I’m not interested in wars and conflicts between countries, but if they bother me, that’s a different story. When that happens, I’ll crush …….
「Well, I don’t know if war is really going to happen anytime soon. I told you this because you had a beastman girl with you. You said you were traveling, so you might go to the Stania Empire. I’m sure some of them will try to get involved then, so be careful.」
「I appreciate the information, but why are you telling me this now? It’s been quite a while since the attack, hasn’t it?」
「That’s because what I just said was still uncertain. I’ve been using a covert operative to look into it, and that’s how I found out about it a while ago.」
The fact that he told us as soon as he found out the current information was a sincere gesture to those of us who were his escort.
Besides, I only had a cursory knowledge of Stania, so I’ll take that as advice and be grateful.
I suppose I should thank him for his advice.
「There were things I didn’t know, so it was informative. Thank you.」
Hearing my words, Harvey smiled and nodded.
Eleanor has already become an integral part of me.
I promised myself again that I would have to get stronger and stronger to resist such unreasonable things in order to absolutely protect her who was sleeping beside me.
「The reason I’m telling you this is because I was once in love with a beastman’s daughter. …… I’m still a duke, so we didn’t get together because of our different statuses, but looking at you …… reminded me of that time. It’s just the ramblings of an old man who wants to protect that smile. Gahahaha.」
Afterwards, Harvey took the liberty of talking about his old love story. I don’t want to hear about an old man’s love life…….
I couldn’t tell him to stop talking, so I pretended to be listening to him.
But the Stania Empire.
Lisa is also an elf, so if I see her, I’ll just tell her the information I just heard about the empire.
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The morning of the sixth day the carriage arrived.
Harvey said we would arrive today. This was the last breakfast I would have with the old man.
After an uneventful breakfast, the carriage with us in it started running again.
After three hours of riding in a carriage, we arrived at Midoria, the royal capital of Midogal Kingdom.
The gates of the city are quite large, 20 meters high. And the outer wall surrounds the entire city of Midoria, making it a good defensive structure to look at.
There were small rooms in various parts of the large outer wall, where there were magical tools that could amplify the power of magic. The small room is said to be filled with magical knights belonging to the Midogal Kingdom.
On rare occasions, they launch a number of less powerful magic during exercises, which has become a specialty of the city, and of course, at those times, the city is partially closed to traffic because of the danger.
While I was listening to these stories from Harvey, the carriage passed through the gate for nobles.
After a short drive through the city, we decided to get off and pulled over.
The duke wanted to invite us to his mansion, but he said he had to go to the king to report the attack, so we’ll talk about it another time.
I accepted the reward for my escort, said my goodbyes, and got out of the carriage.
I got off the carriage, stretched, and looked around the city.
It was quite crowded. There were many people on the streets, as you would expect in the royal capital.
「Let’s see, let’s decide on an inn first and then go to the adventurer’s guild. I hope I can get some information about Airi and Lisa there.」
「I understand! The innkeeper should be somewhere with good food!」
Recently, Eleanor has become less reserved when it comes to food and other things. As for me, I don’t like to have to put up with that part of my life, so this is a welcome change.
After that, we decided on an inn and started having a nice lunch there.
After the innkeeper showed us the location of the adventurer’s guild, we headed for our destination, feeling full.
We arrived at the adventurer’s guild without getting lost.
After looking around the noisy guild, I got in line at the reception counter.
After waiting for a while, our turn came around, and I asked the receptionist for information about Airi and Lisa.
However, the results were not encouraging, and all I knew was that they were adventurers in this city.
I talk to the other adventurers in the guild to get more information.
I immediately greeted a nearby male adventurer and asked him about Airi and Lisa, but the information I got was still not very good.
After that, I ask around to a few people about those two.
Then I heard a man yelling from behind me.
「What do you want with Lisa and Airi?!!」