Chapter 8:
Touring the Capital
PAULA OFTEN PESTERED Noela and I to come hang out, and we’d cave and head to her tool shop from time to time. This was one of those times. At least she always served refreshments when we visited.
“Rei Rei, you’ve been in Kalta, like, forever—right?” Paula asked, sipping a cup of black potion.
“Yeah, I suppose,” I replied, likewise nursing my own black potion that she offered me. As usual, not much was happening here at the tool shop, and it was starting to concern me—was Paula making enough to live on?
“Have you ever been to the royal capital?” she asked.
“No. What’s with the questions all of a sudden?”
The conversation seemed to bore Noela. She pulled out a sword that Paula would probably never sell, unsheathed it, stared at it, and sheathed it again. Once she finished, she repeated the process.
“I lived in the capital before I moved here,” Paula replied.
“Whoa. That’s news to me.” The capital, huh? I was never particularly interested in the place. I had more than enough fun messing around here, raising herbs in the meadow and selling medicine and treatments. But, okay, maybe I was a little curious…
“Uh-huh. I studied item appraisal there for about four years.”
Ah, that’s right. She was hitting the books to renew her license not too long ago.
“I was just thinking back on how fun that was,” Paula continued.
“Oh?”
“Come on.” She burst out laughing. “You’ve gotta give me more than that!”
“Sorry. This is just how I am, you know?”
“Anyhow, I highly recommend visiting if you get a chance.”
In the moment, I shrugged off Paula’s suggestion. On the way home though, I posed the same question to Noela: “Have you been to the capital?”
She shook her head. “Boondocks werewolf. No go there.”
“I see.”
I wondered what the capital of this land was like. Heck, I hadn’t even visited a proper city here yet, but that was partly because I didn’t see it as urgent. I was having fun here without going on such a trek. If I had become an adventurer instead of a pharmacist, I might’ve seen the capital as a place I ought to go.
To my surprise, the chance Paula mentioned came without warning the next day.
A carriage stopped in front of the drugstore, and Elaine disembarked. “I’ve arrived!”
“We can tell.” Thus far, she was our only friend who visited in a horse and carriage.
“I’m here, Noela!”
“Welcome, Drills.”
Hearing voices, Mina poked her head out from the back. “Hello, Elaine. Let me get you some tea.”
As always, I stopped her. “It’s fine, Mina. Elaine’s probably just here to play with Noela.”
Elaine pouted. “Why must you always act so brusquely, Sir Reiji?”
“Because whenever you’re here, Noela skips out on work.”
Noela frowned angrily. “Never!”
“Lying won’t get you anywhere, Noela.”
Elaine wasn’t guiltless either. She’d show up at the drugstore acting as if she were going shopping, but instead, she’d just chat with Noela and play with Griffy. She kept my werewolf from doing her duties.
Elaine cleared her throat as performatively as possible, puffing out her chest. “That may usually be the case, but today’s different!”
“Oh? How come?”
“Well, actually, they’re holding a banquet in the capital next week. Father wondered if you’d care to join us.”
“Something like this happened before,” I replied. I attended an aristocratic party on Lord Valgas’s invitation once.
“This event will be in the capital city,” Elaine said. “The Kalta region is basically in the middle of nowhere, so we rarely have opportunities to visit the capital. And this is an official banquet.”
“What’s that mean?”
“His Highness will likely be there,” she explained.
“Whoa. I don’t want to be present for that.”
“Why not?! That part would usually convince someone to go!”
“I want to avoid sticky situations.”
“Well, Father said you needn’t attend the banquet if you don’t want to.”
Elaine should’ve led with that! “He’s just inviting me to the capital city then? How come?”
“As a breath of fresh air!” Elaine said.
Ah. He wanted to hang out. I wasn’t anxious to take a break from the drugstore, but I was getting curious about what kind of place the capital was.
“If Master go, both go!” Noela apparently planned to tag along.
“How about you, Mina? If you’d like to join us, we can close the store for a bit.”
“That’s all right. A hiatus at Kirio Drugs would inconvenience a lot of people. I’ll join you next time.” That made sense. At any rate, Mina’s primary concern seemed to be Noela, and she then turned to her. “Be sure to listen to Mr. Reiji, all right, Noela?”
“Groo! Got it.”
“Okay, Elaine,” I said. “Noela and I will visit the capital with you and Lord Valgas.”
“Understood,” Elaine said. “I shall inform Father.”
Elaine’s butler Rayne said that reaching the city by carriage took about four days. Riding Griffy would take only half a day, so Noela and I decided to travel that way. We would meet Elaine and her dad there. After we met back up, they’d show us around the capital. Having guides would keep us out of trouble.
The same day Elaine and Valgas left, a travel pass arrived at our house. That would allow Noela and I to enter the capital city’s gates. Eventually, the date of our departure arrived, and Mina, Vivi, and Ejil saw us off.
“All right,” I said. “We’ll see you guys later.”
Vivi hugged Noela. The lake spirit seemed miserable that the werewolf was departing for a while. “Reiji, you better come home, okay?” she pleaded. “If you don’t keep me employed, I’ll turn into one of those annoying customers who loiter at the drugstore all alone.”