Was Lucy aware of her parents’ feelings? I didn’t know, but she immediately went over to Diana and plopped down by her feet. Diana, who’d always assaulted my shoulder and squealed when Lucy had done these things as a pup, only smiled now. She gently stroked Lucy’s head.
“Time to head out!” Rike announced.
“Kululu!”
The rest of us cheered, and when Krul took a step, the cart slowly creaked forward, rolling through the Black Forest. Once we reached the road and the exit to the forest path, we could see early signs of spring dancing across the landscape. The most obvious were the grassy fields beside the road, now a lush, rich green. The sun, which now rose earlier than it did in the winter, shone upon the verdure, sparkling with morning dew and reminding me of the surface of a placid lake. The breeze wasn’t as harsh and cutting as it had been in the winter.
“Kree!”
“Kree! Kree!”
Arashi and Hayate began to cry out, and then Arashi quickly took to the skies. I didn’t even have the time to call for her as she flew high into the air. She did a lap above our heads before zipping off at impressive speed.
“She’s not heading for the city, is she?” I asked.
“Nope. That’s the direction of the capital,” Samya answered.
The city and the capital were in opposite directions along the road. When you exited the forest, you could turn left or right—to the city or to the capital. If Arashi had been headed for the city, she would’ve flown in the direction opposite the one we were traveling. But since we were headed in the same direction, we were all clearly headed to the same place: the capital.
“Which means Camilo must also be there,” I surmised.
“Yeah.” Diana let out a small sigh, still gently stroking Lucy’s head.
Camilo isn’t the type to call for me while he isn’t there. I also know that aside from Marius’s wedding, there wasn’t much happy news in the capital during our last visit. So, combining that information with Camilo’s simple letter... I began to fear that clouds of suspicion loomed over the capital’s skies.
The road that led to the capital was pretty popular, so many people and carriages used the path; the carriages were usually loaded with goods, and at most, two riders. Yet here we were with minimal cargo, several women on board alongside a wolf and a wyvern, and a conspicuous drake pulling our cart. We definitely stuck out like a sore thumb. It was hard to not attract attention. Usually, our cart was visibly packed with wares, allowing others to roughly guess why we were on the road. But this time around, we didn’t have much with us. I just hope no one suspects us of anything nefarious, like, for example, people trafficking.
I was already familiar with the guards in the city, so they always let me pass with a quick greeting. The same couldn’t be said for soldiers patrolling other areas. I might need to come up with an excuse for entering the capital.
“Maybe I should’ve asked for a token or something that I could show during times like these,” I muttered under the clear blue skies.
Something like that would prevent any unnecessary trouble. Clearly, the people questioning us wouldn’t be to blame, but what soldier would believe us if we told them the truth? Besides, I couldn’t possibly tell them why Diana was here with us, much less Anne. It’d be nice to have some kind of ID or pass so that I wouldn’t have to explain myself. The secret peace treaty between the kingdom and empire and Marius’s wedding were special cases that had allowed us entry to the capital without much questioning. But that wouldn’t have been possible without Marius’s power and help.
“You might be able to get one, provided you don’t use it for nefarious purposes,” Diana said with a chuckle. “And I don’t think you’d do anything like that.”
I nodded back. Even if I were able to get my hands on some kind of pass, I wouldn’t use it to cut lines when entering the capital or anything. That wasn’t really my intention.
“I’ll stand in line just like everyone else,” I said. “I just want something to flash to the soldiers when my turn comes. Other than that, a pass might be useful for avoiding sticky situations, but that’s about it.”
“Yeah,” Diana agreed. “Restraint is key. If you use your pass all willy-nilly, people will start to wonder why you even have one.”
“I’m just a normal blacksmith, after all.”
“You could become a personal blacksmith for House Eimoor. That might work.”
“Nah, I don’t think I’ll do that.”
That would be, by far, the easiest explanation for why I had a pass. The only point of suspicion would be why I was located outside of the capital, but I could easily come up with some sort of excuse. Still, I hesitated to shackle myself to service under even a close friend. I wasn’t worried about the hostility between us should our relationship turn sour—it was more about public appearances. I thought it was better if we didn’t have any public ties.
“Hee hee, I’m just kidding,” Diana said. “I know you’re not interested in anything like that, Eizo.”
“I wouldn’t say nev— Well, yeah, actually. You’re right.” I gave an obedient nod. It’s true that I don’t like being tied down. “Maybe I’ll ask Marius about it when the current situation settles down.”
“You wouldn’t ask the margrave for a pass?” Anne asked.
“I’m inclined to avoid having him prepare something like that for me...”
No doubt, the margrave would happily and swiftly prepare a pass for me to use, but I wanted to avoid being indebted to him at all costs. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of unreasonable repayment task he’d saddle me with. I must’ve looked exhausted by the mere mention of the margrave since everyone laughed. Our laughter attracted the attention of other carriages on the road, and we traveled onward to the capital.