Chapter 162: From The Ryokan To The Port
The next morning, we got nice weather. Many voices can be heard coming from outside of the ryokan, despite the usual peaceful morning hours.
「Bring the luggage to the southern port after you load all them, a’ightー! Douglas-san and the others are already waiting there!」
「「Oooーohh!」」
The company’s member started to load the luggage into the carriage one after another under Tori’s instruction.
And when the carriage is almost packed, the coachman will guide the horse to the port and deliver all of the luggage to Douglas-san who had been waiting there.
In other words, if we don’t quickly bring the luggage to the ship waiting at the port, the ship will not be able to depart.
The members of the company look to be in a hurry.
I had finished my breakfast in such a restless atmosphere, packed my own luggage already, and am now watching the luggage being carried one by one at the side of the entrance.
「Oi, hurry up Irvine! We won’t be able to make it at this kind of pace!」
「I know! I know that, but this rice is so heavy!?」
Irvine cried while breathing heavily as he carried heavy looking rice sack on his shoulder.
It seems like these two members of Silver Wind helped out the loading of luggage because of the seemingly short-handedness of the company.
「Quickly move it if you still have the time to shout」
「Damn it! I just wonder how many of these damn sacks of rice I had carried! Oi, Mort! Take turns with me for a moment, let me be the coachman!」
「No way! I’m not gonna carry those kinds of heavy stuff, see. If you want to blame someone, then blame Alfried-sama for purchasing a large amount of rice」
Oi oi, you’re going to throw it at me?
I looked the other way as if I knew nothing about it when Irvine - who was carrying the rice - glanced at me.
Fufufu, no matter how much you’re complaining about it, I’m just a seven years old kid with a small build in the end.
As long as I don’t say anything about helping it’d be no use even if you complain about it.
Though, since it’s kinda bad for me that I’m keeping silent as the main culprit of this hectic situation, let’s just give them some ale later.
「Irvine, do your bestー!」
「Gunununu, I’m not happy at all being cheered on by you of all people! What’s more, the main cause of this - Alfried-sama - was the one who said that I can only think of it as you doing that only to agitate me, yeah!」
Even though I was cheering for him wholeheartedly, Irvine said something so terrible.
「If you can think about such a thing then perhaps it’s because your personality is twisted. Look, observe that Roomba! Roomba is carrying two large sacks in one breathー」
At the place where I point my finger, is Roomba, who is carrying sacks of rice on both of his shoulders.
The amount of rice carried on his shoulder is also poles apart from Irvine. It looks like one sack of rice is around four times my weight.
「Don’t mistake me with someone who always carried a friggin heavy sword on his back every day!」
「Irvine-san, you stopped moving your hands y’knowー. We don’t have much time, please hurry」
Maybe it’s because Irvine’s hands stopped moving and he was only moving his mouth that Tori cautioned him.
Then, Irvine carries the rice sack on his shoulder again while being indignant.
「……to begin with, we were working as guards, so we shouldn’t be doing this kind of odd job!」
「No no, you said at the start that you’re going to help me with some stuff, didn’t youー」
I’m sure that Irvine had said that casually.
I mean, you shouldn’t promise someone without thinking since these kinds of things do happen.
There were several times I had experienced something like this even in my previous life, seeー
「Nonetheless, it would be bad if it continues like thisー. Perhaps our luggage is heavier than expected, but we’re behind the schedule」
As I’m reminiscing about my previous corporate slave’s life, Tori looked at me with a gaze that seems like he’s blaming me.
And along with him, Irvine, Mort, and the company’s employees are looking at me in the same manner.
As I’m looking for a place to escape their gazes, Tori suddenly came in front of me.
「……what?」
「Alfried-sama, can you help us a little?」
「What are you going to make a weak seven years old kid like me do? I can’t possibly carry the luggage――」
「That’s not itー, Alfried-sama can use magic, right? Look, you can even lift heavy stuff using Psychic magic right! If you use that, you can carry all of that luggage in an instant, don’t you think?」
「The thing about Psychic is, you see, it’s a magic that is difficult to control――」
「But I’ve heard that you controlled hundreds of snowballs with Psychic back in the village though? Besides Roomba-san said that you lifted a large rock using magic the day before yesterday」
Though I tried to avoid doing it, it appears that Tori already knows about the level of Psychic I could use after doing careful research about it.
Darn it, Roomba that big mouth.
「Ahh y’seeー, if it’s true then we should have finished sorting the luggage much earlier, right? I mean, it’s because a certain someone bought more stuff than we expected, see――」
「Ahhー! Fine! I’ll help, stop nagging at me!」
「You’re a great help!」
When I agree to help him, Tori - who is usually smiling with a kind of purpose behind his smile - is now honestly smiling.
I wonder if this is the negotiation technique of Tori, the company’s chairman?
I felt that his expression was much more unpleasant than I expected.
As expected from the chairman who leads such a large company, I wonder if it’s a necessary skill as a chairman to have this kind of persistence and craftiness?
Then I stand up while thinking about that kind of thing.
After confirming the luggage placed in the garden and entrance, I use Psychic on all of the luggage.
After I controlled all of them with my magic power, I moved and started to load them onto the carriage all at once.
Immediately after that, the carriage was filled with luggage.
Of course, those heavy things are placed at the bottom while things like fragile cutlery are neatly placed at the top. My arrangement for the luggage is perfect.
「Is this alright?」
「……and here I thought that it was false info that you can control hundreds of snowballs using Psychic, so it’s actually true」
Tori dumbfoundedly said when I turned around to ask him.
What the, so you don’t believe me, huh.
Looking around, Mort was staring open-mouthed, while Irvine was muttering something like 「Just what’s the meaning of my work………」.
Despite all the labor he’s done, it finished in an instant by using magic.
Well, with this I’ve taken responsibility for my overbuying.
We probably wouldn’t be late with this.
「Alfried-sama, if you have trouble in providing for yourself in the future you can come to me anytime, alright? I’ll hire you to be someone in charge of loading our goods」
「That’s not something you say to a noble, don’t you think?」
I want to earn money in a more comfortable profession. Cause I will likely be forced to work a lot if I were to work in Tori’s company as a loader.
◆
We were able to finish sending our luggage to the Southern port, and now we lined up in front of the ryokan’s proprietress and employees to say our thanks for taking care of us while we stayed here.
「Thank you for taking care of us!」
「「Thank you!」」
Following Tori's example, everyone bowed.
「It’s really kind of you, we are the ones who should thank everyone, thank you very much for staying here」
「「Thank you very much!」」
When the proprietress also bowed as if to return Tori’s bow, all the ryokan’s employees - including Sannosuke - deeply bowed.
Their perfectly ordered, graceful movements were so beautiful for words that we can only admire them.
A quiet and - in some way - elegant ryokan, really thoughtful and the pleasant manner of the employees, but despite all that we can easily get along and play table tennis together with the employees.
Being able to spend our time surrounded by people like that was really wonderful. We stayed in this ryokan for around one week, but I feel like we’ve stayed much longer than that.
Just that, I guess the time I spent in this ryokan was so peaceful for me.
When I turn my gaze to the ryokan as if somehow regretting our departure, Irvine and Mort - who is beside me - also look at the ryokan with the same kind of gaze as me……
「……I want to stay at this ryokan again when we went to Kagura the next time, but I also want to try staying in a ryokan that has mixed bathing in them」
「Yeah. Shall we try and ask other male adventurers to visit them someday?」
「That’s right!」
Apparently, the mixed bathing still remains in Irvine and Mort’s thoughts.
Even so, if they invited other male adventurers to go with them then I think the ratio of the males will just increase and most of all, it will then become disgusting………
Oh well, let’s keep quiet here.
I sent ales to Irvine and the others in my mind, then I personally headed toward the proprietress since I wanted to say my thanks.
「Proprietress-san, thank you for the assistance. I’m pretty much a noble, so it must be difficult to take care of me, wasn’t it? 」
「I was also prepared since you’re a noble-sama from another country, but since you were a very sociable and kind person it was not difficult to be of service to you」
The proprietress said while smiling.
「It’s just that, I couldn’t take my eyes off you since I don’t know what you are going to do, like getting mixed with a lot of people doing pillow fight, or suddenly using magic in a place near the garden………」
Aah, come to think of it, I feel like there was always the proprietress or Sannosuke near me the next day after we had the pillow fight.
「Yesー, but if you’re talking about the person you couldn’t take your eyes off, should it not be Roomba, Irvine, or Mort?」
「It’s hard to say that their actions are normal, but it is still within common sense, so………」
When you said it like that, it makes me like I’m the most problematic kid, but maybe it’s just my imagination?
Oh well, whatever. Rather than that, I have something I wanted to ask.
It’s about the table for the table tennis.
I’ve heard from Tori that I don’t need to remove it, but I wanted to hear it directly from the proprietress.
Sure, they can remove it even without me, but I can remove it easily if I’m the one who did it.
「Ah, I remember that I made the table using magic, but is it really alright to leave the table that I made in the garden alone?」
「Do-, don’t remove it!」
When I asked her that, the proprietress suddenly yelled.
Immediately after, the gaze from the people around immediately gathered on us.
The proprietress' face automatically turns red because of the embarrassment for raising her voice and the look from everyone.
「……co, cough, I have talked about the table with Toriela-san, please don’t worry about it since we are planning to open up the table tennis for everyone on a trial basis」
「That’s right! We have not received permission from Nord-sama, so we can’t start to sell it in earnest, though we can expect some response from the guests who stay in this ryokan about it!」
「I see」
Indeed, by letting the guests who stay in this ryokan play table tennis, Tori can get some data about table tennis such as their impression about it. The ryokan’s side can offer the guests with unusual entertainment in the form of table tennis, thus leading to attracting more potential guests at the ryokan.
For now, it’s a situation where everyone is benefiting from it.
Though it might also have a lot to do with the fact that the proprietress and the employees take a liking to table tennis.
「Let’s play table tennis together the next time I came here, alright?」
「Yes by all means, please take care of me at that time」
The proprietress and I said so and we smiles at each other.
After exchanging pleasantries for the last time, it’s finally time for us to head to the port.
We each put all of our luggage onto the carriage, and we also get on the carriage.
「Now then, let’s head to the port!」
And when everyone had boarded the carriages, Tori shouted energetically.
Immediately after, the coachmen simultaneously cracked the whip and the carriages began to move.
「「We look forward to your stay in the future」」
The ryokan’s employees lined up in front of the ryokan and said that while bowing to us.
We extended our hands from the window of the moving carriages and kept waving at the employees and the ryokan.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢