CH 201

I Left Range Village

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Phillip.”

I had spent a relaxing six days in the village, which made it nine days in total?

It was then that Phillip arrived from Ractos, along with several horse-drawn wagons.

“By the way…how did you manage to detach yourself from Leo?”

“…Leo just tore the ropes with her mouth… And so I was able to get off… Or rather…fall off…”

“I see…”

As Phillip would have been unable to untie the ropes himself, Leo had torn the ropes that were around her body.

So Sebastian had been wrong about the guards doing it, but it hardly mattered now.

Phillip winced as he seemed to remember the pain of falling to the ground.

…Perhaps I should tell Leo to be careful…but she had made such a difficult journey, and I didn’t want to admonish her either…

“Mr. Takumi, we have finished loading the barrels of wine.”

“Thank you.”

Phillip and I also helped, and we were able to load all of the barrels that I had purchased.

And they were also strapped on securely so that they wouldn’t fall out later.

Once we had confirmed that they were all on, the job was finished.

“Should we leave immediately?”

“…I would like to rest a little…”

I looked at the tired-looking Phillip and asked if we should leave at once.

After coming to this village, Phillip had to ride Leo back to the mansion, and then return to the village and help with the orcs, and then monitor the merchants, and then he was tied to Leo as she ran to Ractos. And if that wasn’t enough, he had to bring several wagons back to the village… It was a rather harsh schedule when I thought about it… So it was no wonder that he felt tired.

It was also more than enough to forgive the whole matter of drunkenness and falling asleep in the wine storage house.

“Well, you and the others, as well as the horses should rest.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Mr. Hannes suggested that they all rest in the village.

Aside from Phillip, there were drivers from Ractos as well, and they were also tired.

“Very well, then you can leave as soon as you are rested, Phillip. I will go on ahead to Ractos.”

“You are going to meet up with Mr. Sebastian, yes? He told me when we met on the road.”

“Yes.”

So Sebastian and Phillip had crossed paths between Ractos and the village. Well, it was no surprise if they were on the same road.

“Leo. Let’s go.”

“Wuff.”

Just like when we had come, I had all of my belongings wrapped up in a large cloth and strapped it to Leo’s back.

And then I climbed onto Leo so we could depart for Ractos.

As I had stayed in the village for quite a while, I did feel a little sad to be leaving it.

“Mr. Takumi, it is not much, but please take this.”

“…What is it?”

“Some of our most aged wine that we keep in the back. Since you seemed to enjoy our wine so much.”

“Thank you. Is that all right, Leo?”

“Wuff!”

When I was on top of Leo, Mr. Hannes had come and brought me a small barrel of wine.

This wine was not affected by the disease.

It was delicious, and I had been wanting to drink it again, so I was quite grateful.

Perhaps I could drink it with Ms. Claire when I returned… If she drinks, that is.

…And Tilura and Milina were too young.

I strapped the barrel behind my other belongings, so that I would be holding onto it while riding.

While this was an unexpected increase in baggage, Leo seemed to be fine.

“Fairwell, Mr. Hannes. Thank you for everything.”

“No, not all. Thank you.”

“Come again, Leo!”

“Wou!”

I then said my goodbyes.

While it was sad, we could always come here again.

As we were about to leave, the children also came out and shouted at Leo.

Upon hearing this, Leo barked in reply and then began to run from the village.

“Well, you’ll have to come back then and play with the children.”

“Wuff-wuff.”

As I talked to her, Leo ran at an even slower pace than when we had come.

Leo had enjoyed playing just as much as them.

While playmates like Tilura, Sherry and Milina were waiting for her back at the mansion, it was not really the same thing.

…Besides, Sherry was more like a baby that she took care of.

“Leo. Just keep going straighter here!”

“Wuff!”

After we had been on the road for some time…

Normally, you would have changed direction at the crossroad, and Leo was about to make a turn, but I told her to continue going straight.

Leo barked in reply, and instead of slowing down, continued to run ahead.

I didn’t want her to run on the main road and startle passersby.

…Though, it might be a little too late for such concerns, since she had already run down that road before, with Phillip tied to her back…

Well, the fewer horrified people, the better.

“Wuff-wuff!”

“Hmm… What is it, Leo?”

After she had been running for a while, Leo suddenly slowed down and tried to tell me something.

What was it…

Leo then stopped completely, and so I got off and asked her what was wrong. She then barked pleadingly.

Uh…you’re hungry…?

“Ah, that’s right… You haven’t eaten since this morning.”

“Wuff!”

Leo nodded. 

Now that I thought about it, Phillip had arrived in the village just before midday.

And then we had loaded the wine and left without any time to rest.

As the sun was starting to set, it was no wonder that she was hungry.

…In fact, I was pretty hungry as well…

“I never thought of such things at my old job. All right, Leo. Let’s eat!”

“Wuff-wuff!”

We weren’t even allowed to take breaks at work, so there was no time to eat lunch.

But it is important to rest… And while I knew that it was bad to skip meals, I always prioritized getting some sleep over eating.

And so it wasn’t until I came to this world that I started eating three proper meals again… It was good that I could live a more healthy life now.

…Perhaps that was why I never felt sick.