CH 147

Kururu stopped quietly in the warehouse of Camilo’s store. We all worked together to undo the brace from the cart. Kururu shakes its body like a dog rising from the water,

“Kuu”

Kururu sounded quietly. While asking the clerk to prepare some water and fodder, I take Kururu to the back of the store –where we first met Kururu.

“Wait here quietly alright?”

Diana speaks to Kururu and gently taps its nape.

“Kururu”

Kururu, made a sound as if he understood then he sat down there. Alright, it’s a clever one indeed. Soon after the five of us entered the negotiation room, Camilo and Clerk-san came. After exchanging greetings, I took out the pouch from my pocket. It’s the pouch full of gold coins that Marius gave me.

“Take the price of the Sōryū from here.”

When I put the pouch on the table, Camilo looked at the contents.

“There’s a lot in here.”

“It’s a gift from His Excellency.”

“Haha, he thought that the one last time was still insufficient huh. He got a strong sense of duty.”

Camilo seemed to have guessed the situation. His words were ironic but his expression is gentle. Well, he is a kind man at heart. It’s just that when it comes to profit and loss, he does some cold hearted calculation.

“Alright then, I’ll get this much for everything.”

Camilo takes out some gold coins from the pouch. It’s less than I expected.

“Is it sufficient with only that?”

“Yes. A certain nobleman in the empire has fallen. I grabbed it at a low price as they also have a trouble of selling it. So even with this, I’m still making a lot of money.”

The empire is the kingdom next to our country. It haven’t reached the stage where we’re at war but I heard that there are occasional skirmishes at the border. Of course, I heard this from Camilo.

“I see. That’s good then.”

The possibility of Camilo feeling reluctant to make me pay crossed my mind, but I have to trust his pride as a merchant. However, was he also expanding his business to neighbouring countries? I suppose there is no particular liability for that, but there seems to be a lot of risk in doing business in another place that the country don’t get along with. Well I guess Camilo’s talent as a merchant is to manage that area.

“How is the Sōryū?”

“Ah, it’s smart and it helped me a lot. By the way, is it a male or a female?”

“Hn? I heard that it’s a female.”

Kururu is a girl huh. I’m the only man in Eizou workshop… When I felt a little melancholy,

“So…”

Camilo suddenly lowered his voice a little. We leaned forward naturally.

“What is the mechanism of the cart you are on?”

“Oh, are talking about the leaf spring suspension?”

“What is that?”

It’s amazing to know that he quickly heard about it even though it hasn’t been long since we came. I then talked about its simple mechanics and effects without hiding anything in particular.

“So if it can suppress the impact from the road and absorb the bumpiness, is it okay to run at high speed?”

“There will be limits, but yes, you can. If it’s done well, I think you can make a round trip between cities in just a day.”

“I see…”

Camilo begins to ponder. If you’re a merchant who goes to a neighbouring country to do business, the increase in speed per cart is not something to be scoffed at, and if what I’m saying is true, it’s easy to imagine that this is a technology you’d want to have.

“If you want, you can imitate it. I won’t complain about it and I don’t need any money.”

“Really!?”

Camilo made a loud voice while standing up, which is so unusual of him. Seeing that we were surprised, he quickly sit down. I’m amazed that even Clerk-san was also surprised…

“Ehem. Thank you, but I’ll give you a corresponding thing as thanks.”

His tone has regained composure, but the excitement has not disappeared from his face. He must have been really anxious.

Camilo gives instructions to the clerk. He made the usual assessment of the purchase and then he note down the structure of the suspension. I offered to help him with the notes but he said he would try to do it himself. If it didn’t work out, we’d discuss it again when we came back in two weeks.

After that, we chatted and exchanged information about the happenings in the world. Marius’s position seems to be stable due to his achievements in defeating the monsters. It’s a good thing that I was of help to him. I also heard that there are still occasional skirmishes near the borders of the demon country. There haven’t been any large-scale battles and neither seems to have a big impact.

It appears that there is a mine near the border and there is a problem of sovereignty on that. It seems that the border line was tentatively drawn due to the dispute over the ownership there. Given that, this is not because the other party is from the demon country.

“By the way, what happened to that rumoured bandit?”

“I haven’t heard anything about him being caught yet.”

“I see…”

If he was already caught, I would have less worries about returning home. There seems to be no good news on that though.

“I heard he won’t cause harm but still, be careful when you go home.”

“Thanks. That’s a given.”

We shook hands lightly and then we leave the negotiation room. Kururu was quietly waiting behind the store as “she” was told. Diana was so moved that she was stroking Kururu’s head. Oii, she might dislike it if you do too much.

I handed one silver coin to the clerk who brought the fodder and water and then we connected Kururu to the cart again and left the warehouse.

Today’s luggage should be quite heavy because aside from the usual items, there is clay for molding but Kururu is all good. I was relieved that the suspension was still holding up. It will be tough if it collapse on our way home.

As we go through the town, we get the same attention like when we went in a while ago. It can’t be helped for Kururu’s case but I want Camilo to do his best to make the suspension known. I would be happy if they could get accustomed to such scenery in the town.

We nodded to the guard, passed by and then we exited the city. The road was as tranquil as ever and it was easy to let your guard down.

Come to think of it, we overlooked one thing. How can one stop a cart that can’t be stopped by running or shooting after it? Right then, a person appeared and stands in the middle of a road that is somewhat far from the city. With a sword in hand, that person yelled,

“You there! Stop! If you don’t stop, I’ll kill you!”

Yes, the figure just blocked the road. I instructed Rike to stop and then I observed the figure.