The Great City of Ateil

We loaded the carriage with goods.

This time, we weren't borrowing one. It was our own.

The cargo bed was slightly more spacious than the rental, and the ride smoother.

"That's quite the carriage."

"But wasn't it expensive? You had the expansion done too."

"Yeah, pretty much all of our recent earnings went up in smoke."

The expansion itself had only been a modest addition, so it wasn't that bad, but the carriage had swallowed nearly all of Azu's group's earnings and the shop's profits.

I did still have operating capital set aside, of course, but…

That was one reason I'd loaded up on high-margin goods like spices, soap, and perfume this time.

Hopefully they'd sell well.

I hitched the mules to the carriage and we set off.

"Here's where we're heading."

I handed the reins to Elza for a moment and unfolded a simple map inside the carriage to show everyone.

The plan was to follow the road toward the city of Aquarius, branch off partway, and keep going for a while.

Even with Alexia hardening the ground for us, it would take at least two days one way.

I looked up at the sky with that thought and found the weather looking rather poor.

The rainy season was approaching.

Sure enough, after we'd been on the road a while, rain started to fall.

The cargo bed had a roof so that was fine, but the driver and the mules were getting soaked.

Elza, on driver duty, had put on a waterproof robe to stay dry.

The drenched mules were enveloped in Alexia's fire magic to keep their body temperature from dropping.

Orleans watched all of this with a look of wonder.

"A mage can do things like that too?"

"As I've said several times, Alexia is perfectly fine."

"I couldn't possibly be so familiar."

Orleans bowed her head as she said it.

She seemed reluctant to call people by name.

Perhaps a product of her upbringing as a serf.

Even with Alexia's earth magic hardening the ground, the rain turned it to mud almost immediately.

Still, just removing the bumps made a big difference in keeping the mules from slipping.

"So you can use fire magic and earth magic at the same time."

"Well, for fire magic, this helps."

Alexia held up the fire brooch.

The magic stone at its center was wreathed in a red glow.

"Alexia-chan, I could use some fire magic over here too…"

"I suppose it can't be helped."

Alexia relented at Elza's plea.

A gentle warmth bloomed around Elza.

"Ahh, so warm. Bliss."

Alexia watched Elza and then turned her gaze back to the fire brooch.

"Something is off about how it's performing."

"What's wrong? Feeling unwell or something?"

"No, the opposite. It's performing too well, if anything…"

She tilted her head.

If Alexia couldn't figure it out, I certainly wasn't going to.

I had no choice but to chalk it up as one of those things.

Azu and Orleans sat watching the rain.

We pressed on for a while, accompanied by the sound of it.

When hunger hit, we stopped to eat and I swapped out the driver.

Elza toweled off her slightly damp hair and climbed into the cargo bed.

"Not getting chilled is a real lifesaver. Thanks, Alexia-chan."

"Noted. Now would you please stop trying to hug me?"

"It's a hug of affection. A hug."

"I'll pass."

Alexia held off Elza's approach.

Elza gave up and squeezed Azu and Orleans tight instead.

"You two are so warm."

"Whoa, you startled me."

"You really do like hugs, Priestess-sama."

I watched all this while scarfing down a bread roll stuffed with vegetables and meat.

The rain was getting the bread soggy, so I crammed it into my mouth as fast as I could. No savoring this one.

We continued on and arrived near a forest.

The rain showed no sign of letting up, so we decided to camp here for the night.

The cargo bed would do for us, but the mules needed something else.

I put on a hood and built a makeshift shelter as close to a large tree as possible.

It was less of a shelter and more just leafy branches cut and tied together.

Azu was a big help with the branches.

She darted around in the rain, lopping them off with ease.

Layer enough branches and the leaves did a decent job blocking the rain.

If we kept a fire going to warm the air, the mules would be able to sleep.

Elza set up a simple blessing to ward off monsters.

I thought it every time, but this party was well balanced.

Sure, in an ideal world I'd want even more, but too many people and I wouldn't be able to manage them all.

Orleans pitched in with the small tasks.

By the next day, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining down.

I wondered if the Sun God and that sun had any connection.

The ground was still muddy, but just not having rain coming down made things much better.

We made good time, making up for the delay.

Monsters we encountered on the road were a valuable food source.

The meat we'd loaded up at the start was all smoked, so without hunting monsters along the way, there'd be no fresh meat.

Plus, they came to us, which made it easy in a way.

When you were traveling as merchants without fighters, this became a real headache, but…

And so, resting the mules along the way and taking a chance to wash up, we arrived at our destination.

The great city of Ateil, governed by a Senate member, near the estate where Orleans had lived.

Finn had said this was likely the place, but we'd need to do some investigating first.

The city was larger than Aquarius or Kassad, so the flow of people in and out was heavy.

The gatekeepers were practiced, and the long line melted away quickly.

Orleans was disguised, but as an extra precaution, I'd had her cover her face as well.

The gatekeepers did little more than a cursory check before collecting the entry tax.

They probably hadn't looked at anything beyond our cargo.

With this many people, that was inevitable.

We entered the city with the carriage.

Inside the walls was a level of energy that could rival even the Imperial Capital or the Royal Capital.

I'd come here to check on Orleans's parents, but the merchant in me was stirring.