“Parfeil, I wonder if this was the creature you spotted during our previous trip here? The one that looked like a deer.”
“Oh, I think you’re right, milady! It did look something like this,” Parfeil said.
Diamant was home to about three hundred of these elk. They were gentle creatures that could withstand the heavy snow and were quite easy to tame. These elk were several times larger than horses, and their massive size was an impressive sight to behold.
The elk whinnied and produced white breath from its nostrils.
“So this is what an elk looks like,” I remarked. “They’re huge.”
“Indeed. This is actually one of the smaller ones,” Fenetra said. A single one of these creatures was strong enough to pull three adults and their baggage. These beasts of burden were indispensable in this snow-covered region.
“If only we could have shown these majestic beasts to all of you during your first trip to Diamant,” Fenetra lamented. Back then, Marquis de Noisette had been under Streusel’s control while Fenetra had been trapped underground. There just hadn’t been an opportunity for them to introduce these elk to us.
“Well then, Lord Dragon Duke, Madame Dragon Duchess, and Miss Parfeil, please take this sled. This one is for...”
Fenetra divided us into three groups. Roche and Lady Opera were in the second group, and Madeleine and my brother were in the third. And with that, the sleds were ready to take off.
“This is the first time I’m riding a vehicle where I’m all exposed to the elements like this!” I said, somewhat terrified of the prospect.
Van gave me a confused glance. “But you’ve ridden on my back before. If you weren’t scared back then, you should be just fine on this sled.”
“Oh, you’re right.” I had completely forgotten that I’d ridden on Van’s back. It was possibly because a dragon didn’t immediately register as a “vehicle” to me.
“Okay, we’ll be taking off,” Fenetra announced, giving me a smile of reassurance.
The sled had no driver. Elks were clever creatures, so they knew where to go even without a driver directing them. There was a bell hanging high at the station, and the elks only needed to hear it ring to know to take us to the hot spring resort. Fenetra pulled on a string, and the sound of the bell echoed throughout the station. Upon hearing the sound, the elks kicked the ground repeatedly and started moving. They were slow at first, but they quickly picked up speed.
I shrieked as the freezing cold wind blew in my face. When Van had let me ride on his back, he’d put up a barrier to shield me from the incoming gusts of wind so I wouldn’t have to deal with them.
“I-It’s freezing!”
“Mille-Feuille, close your mouth! You’ll bite your t— Mmph?!”
Despite his warning, Van seemed to have bitten his own tongue. He looked sad. Without saying anything else, he drew me closer to him and embraced my shoulders to keep me warm. I huddled close to him in response.
The sled leaned to the side whenever we had to turn a corner. We were going so fast that I thought we might get thrown off if we didn’t pay attention. I could hear screams from Roche and Lady Opera right behind us, but it looked like only Roche was terrified of the ride; Lady Opera sounded like she was enjoying herself instead.
I’ll check on Madeleine and my brother later.
We arrived at the hot springs resort in no time. Sled handlers were waiting at our stop, giving us a hand as we disembarked. We had only been riding for less than five minutes, but my knees wouldn’t stop shaking. The sled traveled much faster than I was expecting.
“Mille-Feuille, are you okay?” Van checked up on me.
“I am... I was scared, but I enjoyed the ride. What about you?” I asked. “Didn’t you bite your tongue out there?”
“I’m all right. I bit it pretty hard, but it’s not bleeding or anything.”
I was relieved that Van seemed to be just fine.
Fenetra arrived at the hot springs in her personal sled soon after. “Is everyone here? How was the ride?” she called out.
Lady Opera seemed to have been a huge fan of the sleds, while Roche was incompatible with them. He looked like he was about to lose his lunch at any moment.
“I am glad that you enjoyed our sleds,” Fenetra said. Apparently, they were their own attraction at the hot springs, and there were visitors who would use them to go on more distant trips. “Every day, we have fifty to a hundred visitors who want to use them.”
The elks traveled at speeds that were essentially a fast walk for an elk when heading to the hot springs resort, but they went at top speed when heading out on distant trips.
“We envisioned these sleds to be a method of travel for commoners, but it seems that even nobles enjoy traveling on them too,” Fenetra explained. She, the Marquis de Noisette, and the townspeople had all contributed ideas for this attraction. The elks, just like the wyverns, seemed to be earning their keep as well.
“Lately, elk racing is becoming a popular pastime too,” Fenetra continued. As in horse racing, the elks would run along tracks and compete to see who was the fastest runner. Surely nobles who were fans of horse racing would go wild for such an event as well. “The proceeds from these races go toward the maintenance of the hot springs’ environment, like replanting trees that had been cut down for construction.”
I felt reassured that the hot springs seemed like they were being managed pretty well.
Fenetra then led us to the resort proper. “First, I would like to introduce to all of you the stall that sells our famed local delicacy, the ‘mont blanc.’ Let me tell you, the taste of freshly steamed mont blancs in the cold weather is heavenly,” she said excitedly.
The sweet scent drifting from the steamers at the storefront hung in the air. The person manning the store was the previous head cook at the Noisette mansion, whom we had met on our previous trip to Diamant.
“It’s nice to see you again. How are you doing?” I greeted her.