Chapter 117: Arrival at Kagura
The fifth day of using Wind magic to continue our voyage. There’s no more sea in front of us, as if to inform us about the end of our voyage, we can see a townscape that has a lively atmosphere, not an uninhabited island or sea anymore.
Buildings that appear to have tiled roofs are lining up the street, a lot of people wearing loose clothes that look like kimono can be seen on the beach and port.
It’s as if I’m watching something like a historical drama.
「There’s a lot of buildings with tiled roof.」
My parent’s house in my previous life also has a tiled roof, you see.
I muttered with deep emotion as I recalled such nostalgic scenery.
But, well, my parent’s house is located in the remote countryside where there are more paddy fields than houses.
Whether returning from fishing or going out to the sea, a lot of fishing boat-like ships can be seen around the place.
In a place near the port, there was also a Japanese-style boat moving with a person pushing and pulling the scull.
It would be nice to take a ride on such a boat along the calm river while sightseeing the townscape of Kagura.
But, rather than the river or sea, the land is more important right now.
My motto is to enjoy myself as much as possible no matter what the situation is, but as expected, I’m still not used to the voyage and I began to miss stepping on land. I terribly miss a foothold that doesn’t sway under me.
I want to quickly reach the land, take a short rest at a ryokan that Tori will guide us to.
Something like sightseeing in the townscape of Kagura could be done tomorrow.
「Ohー! So this is Kagura! I’ve heard about it, the townscape is completely different, isn’t it!」
「It looks different from any Kingdom, the roof is simple but they are uniform so it’s doesn’t look bad.」
「Aleutia, look at that. Most of the people here have black hair!? Wouldn’t I stood out a lot if I went to that kind of place!?」
「Ilya what are you saying. Your pink hair stands out even back in the kingdom, you know?」
The members of Silver Wind who are standing close to me are raising their voices in excitement when they see the townscape of Kagura.
That reminds me, this is also the first time for the members of the Silver Wind party to come to Kagura.
Kagura would be like a completely different world for those who had never seen a Japanese-style scenery before. It must be an especially new experience for them.
Although I said that, I lived in modern Japan before, so this kind of period drama-like place is also a completely different world to me.
When I slowly looked around from a place that looks like the downtown that overflows with people, I can see a Donjon, a symbol of power and authority.
That was a grand five-story tall castle, towering above the rest of the building as if looking down on the downtown area.
I think Misfrit Kingdom’s castle is bigger in terms of size, the surrounding buildings are low in height, and perhaps it’s thanks to the imposing stone wall stacked around it, it gives off an impression that it was huge.
There are probably Shogun, princesses, and important people of this country in that place, just like what Tori said.
◆◆◆
「「「「Land!」」」」
Me, Irvine, Mort, and Roomba jumped out of the ship as we made a beeline for land as soon as the ship anchored at Kagura’s port.
We jumped up high in the air and landed on the ground so that we can feel and appreciate the ground with our own two feet.
After that, I thoroughly stretched myself and loosened up all of the stiff muscles. Then I slowly breathed out.
「Ahー, I just felt the ground after a long time, but it feels like I’m still swaying for some reason.」
「Nothing we can do ‘bout it, we’ve been on the ship all along after all. But, there are also such extreme times when we had to live on the ship for months, so this time is still much better, don’t you think? 」
Irvine - who was also stretching beside me - answered like that.
「On the sea for months you said……was it fun?」
Roomba curiously asks after hearing what Irvine said.
「……it’s not fun at all, but the money was good」
「After that experience, we became renowned so it saved us some trouble but, I’m not going to go on a long voyage again.」
Irvine and Mort said with a distant look in their eyes.
Oh well, there are a lot more accidents while you’re traveling on the sea compared to land, and when the other party is nature there’s a lot of instances where you can do nothing about it.
「The four of us really got carried away. 」
「The speed of that Aleutia as she got off from the ship is also fast, you know?」
Afterward, Aleutia and Ilya got off the ship.
Just like he said, Aleutia also walked faster compared to her usual walking pace, perhaps she also missed being on land.
Then the people of Toriela’s firm and the sailors in charge of unloading the luggage started to get off from the ship in succession just like that.
Meanwhile, we had nothing to do, so we chatted while sharing our impressions of Kagura.
And then, a man came from the direction of the port accompanied by two men with showy equipment.
The two armed men at the back are not wearing armors just like the one in the Kingdom, rather they wore armor as seen in the Warring States period. A long sheath hung on their waist, each time they ran the sheath hit their armor as it made a rattling sound *gachagacha*.
Tori told me that, they are 『Swordsmen』 having the role of guards just like the one in the Kingdom.
Inside those sheaths are perhaps not a sword but, a katana.
「You’re from Toriela’s Firm, yes? I’ve heard that you’re due to arrive tomorrow……」
「Ah wellー, we arrived earlier thanks to the good weather, y’seeー. And we also have magicians on our side, yeah.」
「But, I also heard that you will still arrive tomorrow even those included………」
Incidentally, the language in this world is basically the same everywhere, so whichever country you went to, you can still hold a conversation with others just like usual. It is said that it’s the result of people in the olden days who lived in the capital of some country respectively moved to other places in search of rich land.
However, it looks like you still need to be careful since there are still some languages and accents that can only be used in those land. The language barrier is not that high, so it’s a great help.
As the people of Toriela’s Firm and Kagura proceed with discussing the procedure of entering the port, we were loitering around in silence while watching the swordsmen with great interest.
「They look completely different from a knight, huh. They look exactly like what I heard from Toriela.」
「Hey, can you show me your katana? Those are Kagura’s famous products, aren’t they?」
「N, no, stop this! Don’t touch my armor without permission. A katana is a swordsman's most important thing. It’s not something to show off so easily.」
Irvine and Mort curiously approached those swordsmen and were bothering them.
Just like a tourist with bad manners.
No, it would definitely look like that from their perspective. Perhaps, they were armed with that kind of showy equipment to prevent those kinds of actions from visitors, but it completely backfired on them.
Even with various things happening, we were permitted to enter the country after proving our identity at the checkpoint.
I wanted to go sightseeing immediately, but I was completely exhausted after having a long voyage so I‘m going to the ryokan first.
But, it’s not fun watching the long-awaited Kagura’s street from inside the carriage, so at the very least I decided that I will walk to the ryokan as a form of resistance toward my exhaustion. Fortunately, the ryokan that was reserved by Tori is located relatively close to the port so there’s no problem on that side.
We move while watching the unusual scenery of Kagura that was completely unlike the one in the kingdom.
The people in our surroundings were mostly wearing Japanese clothes, their hair color is black just like Sara. I can also see people with brownish hair among them sometimes, but people with black hair are still high.
Do most of the people who migrate to the land of Kagura in the past have black hair, I wonder?
They have less-chiseled features compared to the people in the Kingdom.
There are also few people with frightening looks like Roomba, I think that they have a feature that makes you feel at ease just by seeing their faces.
「I, I really stood out, after all, am I?」
However, just as we observe them, the people of Kagura also watch us as if to observe us.
That would be natural if there are foreigners with blonde, pink, deep blue, and brown hair among a mass of people with black hair.
Perhaps vivid colored hair is especially a rare sight in Kagura, a lot of their curious gaze is pointed toward Ilya.
「Well, there’s nothing you can do about it. From the other party’s viewpoint, our hair is unusual after all. We wouldn’t become lost here, right」
Unlike the timid Ilya, the confident Aleutia looks somehow indifferent.
Indeed just like Aleutia said, we wouldn’t get lost in Kagura. Even if we can’t find someone from our party, we can easily find them just by asking the people around.
As I walked down the street while having such thoughts, a savory smell of soy sauce wafted in the air.
「It’s soy sauce!」
When I shouted and looked back, I saw a store selling various types of seasoning.
A big black jar was placed on the storefront and the dense smell of soy sauce came from there, wasn’t it?
Before anything else, I headed there to smell the jar.
The shopkeeper ossan was left speechless by my desperate expression, but that was not something I care about right now.
My long-sought soy sauce! If I have this, then my cooking repertoire will increase even further. Not only will I be able to reproduce the food from my previous life, but I should also be able to make the food that was unique to this world even more delicious.
「You suddenly rush out at such a breakneck speed, hey? There are a lot of people coming and going around this part of the downtown, it’s dangerous for a child to rush out so suddenly like that, y’know? 」
「Oi oi, let’s do the shopping tomorrow, alright. I want to relax at the ryokan today.」
Irvine ran up straight toward me while saying that.
I’m of the same view with Irvine’s comment a little while ago, but I just involuntarily reacted before the soy sauce.
「The soy sauce won’t run away, right? Also, even the food in the ryokan will uses soy sauce, ‘fter all」
Placated by Tori, I leave the soy sauce jar.
That’s right, soy sauce won’t run away so I’ll get a well-deserved rest at the ryokan and I can come back to buy it later.
Moreover, the coins from the Kingdom can’t be used here, so I have to exchange them.
I told myself that, but afterward I found a stall selling yakitori so I ended up clinging to that place like before.
I mean, I think it’s unavoidable since it’s a yakitori. The smell is so violent, you know.
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