We set out for the woods in the mountains near Riyute. I cut down some trees with my spear. At my level of power, I can cut through trees like tofu. We quickly set about gathering wood and building a cart.
Filolials are creatures who simply love to pull carriages, I say.
I’ve made carriages from scratch before, I’ll have you know. Making the wheels is probably the most frustrating part. For the time being, a wooden cart should do the trick. If it becomes necessary later, we could always have the old guy at the weapon shop do it up in gold leaf, the type that Filo-tan always adored. I knew that the old guy was a real pro at gilding because he’d made a golden carriage for Filo-tan before, I say. He had skills.
“Let’s put on the wheels already!” Kou shouted.
“Kou, you need to shave them down more,” I said. “Otherwise, it’s going to be too uncomfortable to ride in.”
“Got it!”
“Let’s make them lustrous!” Yuki called.
Yuki and Kou were making a real effort at carriage-crafting! So we kept up the work, slowly polishing our creation.
I used magic to start a fire to heat up the wood and cut the pieces, allowing them to bend into a more flexible shape. “Yes, a little heat doesn’t hurt, I say!”
Of course, besides racing up mountains, we needed the cart to be able to withstand the bare minimum of being hauled around. We needed the structure to have a bit of bend to it.
At last, we finished making the cart. All we needed was a good canopy to cover it and we’d have ourselves a proper carriage!
“We did it!” Kou shouted.
“Everyone will be so glad,” Yuki said with a smile.
“Perfect, I say!” I declared.
It was just an ordinary carriage, but to me, it looked like it was sparkling with light.
I remembered the carriage that I decorated for Filo-tan with all of my passionate love! She kept it hidden away in the village storehouse, so I know that it was precious to Filo-tan.
When I glanced up at the sky, I saw that the sun was already starting to go down.
“Let’s hurry back to Father,” I called.
“Roger!” Kou said.
“I’ll go ahead and pull the carriage,” Yuki said.
“Hey, I wanna!”
Yuki and Kou scrambled for the reins.
“Yuki’s the leader, Kou,” I said. “So Yuki’s first. Then when we get to the castle town, we’ll switch to you!”
“Of course,” Yuki said.
“All right!” Kou said.
I boarded the carriage, and we set off to meet up with Father again.
When we got back to the magic shop, we found Father and the others waiting outside.
“Oh, welcome back.” Father yawned. “Wow, you really did get a new carriage. Wasn’t it expensive?”
“We made it ourselves, I say!”
“W-what? You made that? Amazing!”
“My spear can cut through wood no problem at all,” I explained.
“I didn’t know you could make carriages. Wow.”
Father went over to look at the carriage and placed his hand on it.
“So I guess we can finally get started,” he said.
Keel oinked in excitement, racing around the carriage and peering inside it. Sakura looked sleepy, as usual.
“Oh, about the thread,” Father said, nodding at Sakura. “We made it—but barely. That device that turns magical power into thread—Sakura kept turning slowly, but eventually the magical jewel that we were using as the pivot shattered! I was surprised.”
“Oho? It broke? In that case we ought to acquire another magic jewel to return to the magic shop, to make up for it,” I said.
“Yeah, good point,” Father said. “Oh, Motoyasu. They turned the magic thread into cloth for us, but what do you do now? We could just ask a tailor to do it.”
“I shall make it, I say! Sakura, what sort of design do you like?”
Just to be safe, I wanted to confirm with her. If I went with the same sort of clothing as last time with the current adult Sakura, it would have a very different impression.
“Hmm.” Sakura glanced at Kou and Yuki. “Weeeell, I can tell you that I really don’t like what Yuki’s wearing . . .”
“How dare you!” Yuki cried, glaring angrily at Sakura. Sakura hid behind Father.
“Sakura, do you like dresses?” I asked her.
“Weeeell . . . I don’t hate them, but I don’t like them either, I guess.”
Interesting. So her tastes had changed a bit from the previous round.
“So would you rather have something more like Kou?”
Kou was wearing overalls. It was a more boyish, rascally outfit. It was a good look, I say!
“I don’t know. I don’t really like that either.”
Then Sakura suddenly pointed at a passerby on the street. “That! I like that!”
So it was kind of like what Big Sis used to wear under her armor. I tried to imagine it on Sakura.
“Okay, I’ve got it,” I announced. “No problem, Yuki. Now, Father, everyone—it’s time to board the carriage!”
“Oh, yeah. We still need to go pick up the peddling permit from the Siltvelt emissary, don’t we?”
“But of course,” I agreed. “Shall we hurry to receive it, as promised?”
“Yup,” Father said. “All right, let’s get on with it!”
Following Father’s orders, Sakura and Keel got onto the carriage.
“Departure, I say!”
Kou took off with delight at the sound of my voice. Before the sun had even set, we had left the castle town at a galloping pace. I only hoped that Keel wouldn’t get carriage sickness or anything and force us to slow down.