“It’s always sumo with you two.”
“Sorry, Adela,” replied the prince.
“Sorry I kept you waiting. You too, Barkus. Let’s go,” I said.
“Bark, bark!” He jumped in delight, evidently bored of waiting for us to end our practice.
“So what’s the plan? Do we head straight for the Border Tree Town?” I asked.
“It’s closed off by now, I’m sure,” replied Adela as she climbed into the driver’s seat, with a distant look to the west. “See that tall mountain range, milady?”
“I do. Pretty tall indeed.”
To the right of us was an enormous mountain range that reminded me of the Alps from my previous life.
“It’s known as the Dome Mountains. Halfway up are the Dwarven Great Caves. Rather than heading directly to the border, I suggest we make our way there and have the dwarves help us get home. What do you say?”
“Dwarves...” I pondered this.
From what I’d heard about the otome game The Rondo of Light and Darkness, dwarves had so little presence in it that they didn’t even have sprites. Some background elves appeared in Douglas’s route, though.
“You’re thinking of the Magic Train, aren’t you, Adela?”
“That’s right, Your Highness. So you’re familiar with it.”
“Yes, together with the dwarves, my brother arranged for the construction of a magic railway to connect our countries. But I don’t know what became of the whole project since his downfall.”
It was surprising to hear that even Jonas had tried to do something good for Aryaka. But then I remembered he had been a wise prince before becoming Jaromíra’s plaything.
“Even if it was stalled, I’m sure they’ve built at least part of the tracks. It’ll make for quicker travel to Aryaka. And most importantly, we should let the dwarves know about the coup,” suggested Adela.
“I agree. It sounds like a better idea than simply heading to the Aryakan border, as they no doubt expect us to do,” I replied.
“Okay, let’s do that. Good suggestion, Adela, thank you.”
“Heh heh heh. You’re too kind, Your Highness.”
“Bark, bark!”
“By noon we should arrive at the nearby highway village of Hufton, where we’ll have lunch and stock up on supplies. Sound good?” continued Adela.
“Do you think elven revolutionaries will be there?” I asked.
“Hmm. Such reformist political organizations are bound to exist in urban areas, but I doubt we’ll run into one in a village.”
“We’ll handle them if we find any, right?” spoke the prince.
I had defeated an army of ten thousand before. We should be fine if we weren’t facing something like fifty thousand at once.
We entered the coach and got going. Barkus was behaving himself and quietly sat on my lap. I patted his fluffy back. Ah, I could get addicted to this sensation. Barkus’s eyes told me he enjoyed it too.
“These recent events are similar in many ways to those of two years ago, but there are various differences too,” said the prince.
“That’s true. Back then I had Yustin and Lord Clifton join my stable. I’m sure that won’t be the case with Aikio and Givun.”
“Their Dark Sumo was pretty amazing. I could tell it was a proper form of sumo.”
“Indeed. They’ve done their share of training for Grand Sumo. That, and their special monster abilities make them mighty opponents to be reckoned with.”
Aikio and Givun were both good wrestlers. The depth of their training showed in our bouts. Wanting to face them in the ring again, I wondered whether it would be possible to hold a joint sumo event with those who practiced Demonic Sumo. It felt like an opportunity for cultural exchange between humans and denizens of the demonic realm. If both sides knew they shared an interest in sumo, they might be able to respect each other for it. For now, though, I had to hurry back to my fatherland, Aryaka. Everything else would have to come after.
Once the coach came to a stop, I looked outside to see a small village. Villages like this were built alongside highways to assist with the transportation of goods. My pocket watch said it was almost noon. I was eager to stretch my legs.
“Bark, bark!”
“You want to go outside too, Barkus? Let’s go, then.”
“You’re obsessed with him, aren’t you? I feel a little jealous.”
“Oh, Your Highness, the love I feel for Barkus is not the same as the love I feel for you.”
“Heh heh, I guess not.”
Smiling, the prince got out of the coach. I followed, Barkus in my arms. The weather was clear and pleasant. It was unfortunate that we were in the midst of making an escape, because I was in the mood for a tour around the Elven Forest Republic.
“Let’s have lunch here, milady. Though being where we are, we’ll probably be stuck with vegetables.”
“It’s really the cooking that sours the experience of coming here. The vegetable dishes are good, but the locals don’t serve any meat or fish at all.”
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do, Floortje. Though I can’t wait to dig into a steak once we get out of here,” spoke the prince.
“Would you like chanko for dinner? I wonder if we can find meat somewhere.”
“We don’t have miso or soy sauce, milady.”
“You don’t have any in your pockets?”
“I have a Traveler’s Bag inside, but rice, miso, soy sauce, and other such things take up too much space to be worth bringing.”
So she did have a Traveler’s Bag in there. Such a vessel has the appearance of a small bag, but contains an alternate dimension that allows storing much more than the apparent size of the bag would allow. No wonder she kept pulling all sorts of things out of her pocket.
“Welcome to Hufton. You must have come from the Town of Yggdrasil,” spoke a beautiful elderly elf.
That’s elves for you. Even the elderly and the very young were all beautiful. And theirs was a slender, vegetative kind of beauty.
“Yes, we left it yesterday evening,” I replied.
“I heard something big happened in the capital around that time, so you three must have been caught up in it too.”
“Yes, the fairy king is supposedly gravely ill, and Chancellor Mickaël has seized power. He forged an alliance with the Demon Lord and let his monsters wreak havoc in the capital.”
The beautiful elven elder looked up into the sky, then shook his head.
“What a fool! Only an idiot could do something like that!”
“Bark, bark!” agreed Barkus.
It was almost as if he understood our speech. No way, right?
“Looks like the Elven Liberation Army is yet to reach this village.”
“We wouldn’t let those thickheaded fools in regardless!”
It appeared the liberation army was not exactly popular with the elven folk.