A couple of normal days passed after that letter. Maribel didn’t return, and Camilo didn’t provide us with any updates. We continued to make the items for our order. I was curious about current events I might get via letter, but now likely wasn’t the time to be using resources for such updates. Once work was done for the day and we cleaned up the forge, I could see the small mountain of items that we’d made.
“We forged quite a bit,” I said to Rike, who was cleaning up with me.
“I agree,” she replied.
We did a lot of other things on the side, but when we focused, we could finish plenty of blades in a short amount of time. Though maybe we fall just short of the number that matches our six-week hiatus.
“It’s a bit too late to worry about it, but I wonder if Krul can haul them all,” I said. “We’ll be riding in the back of our cart along with all of this.”
“Hmm...” Rike said, placing a finger on her chin. “I think she’ll be fine. She always seems to have some energy to spare when we go to and from the city.”
“I see.”
Rike manned the reins of the cart that Krul pulled for us. I trusted her opinion—it did seem like Krul got excited if she had a heavy load to pull.
“It’ll only be heavy during the ride to the city,” I said. “If it gets too hard, we’ll carry some and walk alongside her.”
“It’ll be a longer trip, but we’ve got no other choice,” Rike agreed.
Some manpower might be needed during desperate times. Luckily, every single person in our family had more than enough strength. They could carry quite a few items, and though they likely couldn’t match Krul’s speed, they could still walk faster than the average person.
“Before we had the cart, I was the one pushing our wares,” I said.
“Ah, you were,” Rike said.
Back then, it took nearly a day to make a round trip—we traveled considerably faster since Krul’s arrival. Since we’d have a smooth return, I didn’t mind if we were a bit late getting to the city. We would be just fine as long as everyone else knew about it.
When I told my family over dinner, no one seemed to voice any complaints. Perhaps they’d all, in varying degrees, sensed the heavy load we’d be bringing to the city. In fact, Diana was eager to carry some cargo from the very start—she didn’t want Krul to get tired. There was no need for me to even make that suggestion because she had it covered.
“Wait, does that mean that we’ll have some time tomorrow?” Samya asked after we finished discussing our next trip.
I nodded. “I wouldn’t say completely free, but we’ll definitely have enough time to take a few breaks.”
My agreement with Camilo didn’t dictate that we bring a set amount—I was free to forge as much as I wished. Admittedly, this was a very loose and easygoing contract, but if Camilo was okay with that, I was going to take his offer. I don’t think I’ll get a set minimum one day.
“Hey, then why don’t we all go to the forest for a bit?” Samya suggested as she leaned forward.
“The forest?” I asked.
I’d been told that there was no prey nearby, so Samya had been choosing to stay indoors. Is she going hunting or something? When I asked her as much, she shook her head.
“There’s nothing for us to hunt, but I wanna check the state of the forest,” she said.
It’d been around five weeks since she’d last patrolled the forest, and it was risky to jump back into hunting without the latest news.
“Got it,” I replied. “We can keep tomorrow free.”
Perhaps Arashi might arrive with Camilo’s letter, but I wouldn’t make him wait for a full day unless our own wyvern became targeted for some reason. Everyone excitedly chatted away about tomorrow’s plans—it was as though I’d just told a group of kids that we’d be headed for the amusement park tomorrow. If they become this lively about tomorrow, then it’s worth cutting our order down by a day.
⌗⌗⌗
“Oh... It’s cold!” I said as I stepped out of the warm cabin.
A cold breeze blew past me, its freezing air like knives cutting away at my skin. Since there aren’t any clouds, it’ll probably get a bit warmer as the sun rises. Diana and Rike were packing some items onto Krul. We agreed to have a little picnic or go fishing if we found a suitable spot, and we’d need gear for that.
Once they were all done, Krul was sporting a large basket on her back. It contained picnic blankets, wooden wicker lunch boxes, tableware, and some gear. A bag dangled beside the basket containing water I’d lugged from the lake just this morning.
A long, slender tube had also been packed—we could use it as a container to carry spears so that we could fight back during emergencies, but today, it only contained our fishing poles. Once the packing was done, Krul huffed proudly while Lucy gazed up at her sister with twinkling eyes. Maybe she thought that she’d carry the same amount one day. But Krul was an expert of sorts, while Lucy was just a pup. If Lucy grew to become a full wolf one day, she might be able to run around with Maribel on her back.
“It...would’ve been nice if Maribel could’ve tagged along,” Diana said as she gazed at my daughters playing around.
“Yeah.” I nodded.
Had there been four daughters here, it would’ve been an even more cheerful affair. I could easily imagine Maribel flying around with excitement as she went out on her first excursion with us. While I wished to see her smiling face again, she’d gone with Lluisa, and it hadn’t been long since she’d left. I was just wishing for the impossible here.
“Lluisa guaranteed that she’d bring Maribel back,” I said. “Our fun will just have to wait a bit longer, that’s all.”
“You’re right,” Diana said glumly, clearly missing the fire spirit. “I hope she’ll come back soon.”
“C’mon guys, let’s head out,” I called as the preparations were done.
“Okay!” everyone replied.
“Kulululu!”
“Arf! Arf!”
“Kree!”