Once More at the Imperial Capital (1)

We finally arrived at the imperial capital.

It was a long journey… needlessly so.

After passing through the capital's gates, a wide, long road paved with stone bricks stretched before us, lined with stone and wooden buildings housing various shops on both sides. It was overwhelmingly glamorous and stylish compared to the towns we'd passed through. Apparently thanks in part to the efforts of an alchemist group called Hero's Workshop, the capital had a distinctive look with lots of European-style buildings that really gave off that "fantasy capital" vibe.

The main street befitting a capital was bustling with people and carriages. About one in ten was obviously luxurious or bore a noble crest.

"This is the capital!"

Wataru declared grandly from inside the coach, using the main street as his backdrop.

Since it was a covered coach, I couldn't really see past him standing there like that. Setting that aside, he looked embarrassingly like a country bumpkin gawking at the city. Yep.

The city-elf Shikina, being from the capital, watched him with lukewarm eyes as if to say, "People like this show up in the capital occasionally, so no one really cares about that kind of thing anymore."

"Yeah, it's the capital alright."

"Huh, you're not surprised? It's like you've seen a town this size before."

"Mikhan aside, we saw some pretty big towns in Tsuia, Donsama, and Corky."

"… The scale is quite different though."

"You know how they say one, two, three, lots, lots, lots? Past a certain point, 'big town' is all the same impression. Compared to Golen Village, it's all just really big. That's about it."

"How sloppy! As expected of you, Kehma-san."

Well, I've been here before too. Not that I'm going to say that. And what exactly does "as expected" mean in the context of being sloppy?

By the way, our coach passed through the capital's gate without any inspection either. The power of that summons letter is amazing.

"Well, let's head to the nearest Adventurer Guild first. Like Corky, there are several here. One each at the north, south, east, and west, plus one in the center, five in total."

"One near each gate, huh. Let's go to the east guild then."

By the way, Misha was at the central Adventurer Guild. We probably wouldn't run into her… Right? Misha should understand that meeting would make things complicated.

"Never mind all that, Kehma. Delicious food. So Ichika, what's good to eat in the capital?"

"There're ranches around, so dairy products are the thing. They've got stews and such."

"Rokuko, the cheese here is really good too. The smell is distinctive so it's not for everyone, but for cheese lovers, it's irresistible."

"Oh, that's your recommendation, Roppu? Alright, let's try the cheese too. If it doesn't suit my palate, I'll deal with it then."

… Rokuko, you've been completely influenced by Ichika… not that I don't understand the feeling, though.

"By the way, Rokuko, do you remember why we're here?"

"What was it? A food tour trip, wasn't it?"

"Close. Not even close, actually. We were summoned here because we defeated a dragon, remember?"

"Oh right, that was a thing."

"Unlike the towns so far, we definitely have things we need to do here. Wataru, what's the schedule looking like?"

"Right. Since I showed the letter at the gate, word should have definitely reached them by now. They'll probably make contact once we show our faces at the guild, and we can go from there."

The other side is also supposed to arrange lodging for us. If anything, we just need to deliver our cargo to the guild and wait there.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

After delivering the packages to the guild, we decided to wait a bit in the guild's attached dining hall. That's when she appeared.

"Yahoo～! I'm here to pick you up, meow!"

"Oh, Misha-san. Thanks for your hard work."

"Yo, Wataru. Being worked hard as always, huh? Come by anytime and I'll give you some practice!"

Ugh, Misha showed up. The pink-haired airhead cat-eared A-Rank adventurer slash guild master showed up. And her energy seems really high for some reason. What do I do.

For now, I'll pretend I don't know her.

"Hey Wataru, is this Misha person someone you know? Introduce us."

"Huh? What are you talking about, Kehma-san? There's no need for an introduction now—wait, yes there is! Of course there is! Yes, that's right, that's right. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance for the first time."

A painful excuse, but yes. Misha and I shouldn't have ever met. After all, I normally never leave Golen Village, and Misha is always lounging around at the capital's guild headquarters.

In other words, Misha and I are two people who should never have crossed paths. We do know each other due to dungeon-related circumstances, but outside of that, it would be strange for us to be acquainted.

"… Huh? Misha-san, Kehma-san, do you two know each other?"

"Nah, first time meeting her. I don't know who she is, but she's got great energy. I feel like we'll hit it off, Misha!"

"Right!? It's our first meeting, but I already feel like we've seen each other so many times! We could be best friends!"

"Totally, I felt this closeness the moment I saw you. Best friends! Best friends! Yeaah!"

"Yeaah!"

We high-fived. Did that fool anyone? I hope so. Even if it didn't, I'll just push through with momentum.

"Well, let me introduce myself. I'm Kehma. The village chief of Golen Village. This is Rokuko. And these two are my slaves, Kuro and Ichika."

"I don't need an introduction. Umm, these are our party members, Gozoh-san and Roppu-san."

"I am Shikina Kukkoro!"

"Yeah yeah, I'm Misha. I'm the guild master of the imperial capital's Adventurer Guild. Nice to meet you!"

Good, now there's nothing strange about us knowing each other's names and faces going forward.

But Wataru was still tilting his head in thought, so I whispered in his ear.

"Wataru. Just between us, Misha has visited my place before. But it was incognito. So keep that to yourself, got it?"

"Ohhh, I see. So that's how it is."

Wataru nodded, convinced. Misha must have overheard because she gave me a thumbs up.

Alright. Perfect. And this excuse works for any future encounters with Haku-san's party members too. If they pretend not to know me, it's because they were incognito. If they act like they know me, it's because we met while they were incognito. Flawless.

"Alright then, let's go! I'll lead the way on my mount, so follow along with your coach!"

With that, Misha straddled the lion (the kind with wings and a snake for a tail) parked outside the guild that had a seat mounted on it. We got back into the coach.

"Then, Rokuko-sama, please come this way."

And then Misha reached her hand out naturally… but only toward Rokuko.

"Misha. Right now I'm just Rokuko, so you don't need to be so polite."

"… Ah. Sorry, I wasn't being considerate enough."

Glancing over, I saw that Wataru aside, Gozoh and Roppu were making faces like "Ahh… yeah, I see, I see," clearly wanting to say something but deciding it was better not to. Shikina was tilting her head at their reaction. Well, yeah. A guild master addressing her with -sama. Blatantly prioritizing only Rokuko.

"Let me start over. We're heading to the castle. Please follow me and don't fall behind!"

We resumed our procession through the capital's streets with Misha in the lead. Her mount was indeed rare, drawing all kinds of attention… And she tried to put Rokuko on that thing? Heeeh.

Seriously though, are you going to be okay, Misha? Your cover is full of holes.

… Or wait, maybe Haku-san ordered her to treat Rokuko that way?

Nah. It's Misha, after all.