399 Things Left Behind and Speed
After meal, I brought the dishes to the counter.
Five people were standing at the ready there. The coachman spoke. His face was twitching a bit under the smile.
"G-good morning. We are ready to depart anytime, how would you like?"
A trifling matter crossed my mind yet again.
(Wouldn't shared stagecoaches like this usually leave behind people who oversleep? Or at least they'd wake them up by force, no?)
"Let's depart now. We've wasted a lot of time so things are probably not going on schedule. Guess I'd have to ask the ladies to bear camping out. Sorry about that, I shouldn't have overslept."
I bowed as I apologized. A 'gesture' I was all too familiar with in my past life.
Even though my body here should have been reset. I got reborn after all.
But it seemed to be etched on my memory, retracing it was effortless.
"Please raise your head. We don't mind at all. We're aware that it's not your fault."
Linda replied. I went back to standing upright.
"Ah, yeah, I've told some of those bandits to stay here and leave all their belongings and cash to the village as a compensation, is that alright?"
The coachman smiled wryly at this.
"We have no sway on that. You took care of everything alone after all. If that is your wish, I shall go notify the village elder. Please get on the stagecoach in the meantime."
The stagecoach was apparently parked in front of the village's entrance, so we walked there.
I'm sure the coachman would settle everything by then. Honestly, I was glad I didn't have to go.
(I mean they'd definitely question me about last night. That's such a huge pain. Also, that coachman seems to have an idea of his own anyway.)
An ordinary coachman wouldn't play messenger like this.
His job should start and end at driving the stagecoach. Normally, I should be the one doing all the negotiation while he's tending the stagecoach.
I decided to stop my unusually keen sense on this stuff and forgot about the whole thing by gazing at the tranquil scenery around the village.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
(Well, guess the man's got his 'duty'. I'll shut up about it.)
Who can say if me blurting something wouldn't end up with another addition to this journey. I don't need any more spark of trouble igniting.
"It is done. Let us depart."
The coachman came back, our stagecoach set off at once.
The animals pulling this coach is not exactly horses. I'm used to it by now.
Oft seen in fantasy they are four dragons.
(I couldn't help but laugh when I first saw them back then. I mean they look like camels but not really. Some parts look somewhat similar, while some are completely unlike. I'm sure I'll never stop being surprised by these things.)
The stagecoach is running faster than during our trip to the village, likely to make up for the lost time.
But it's still far slower than Chimera when it flew us to the kingdom.
That's probably why the ladies and underling look unfazed.
Unlike them however, the coachman had a tense strained expression on his face, indicating that this speed is not 'normal' in this world, enough for him to be on the highest alert.
"Oy! We might get in an accident if we're going too fast! Drop it to normal speed!"
I said that loudly to counteract the noisy clattering.
It'd be bad if this 'not normal' routine invited yet another trouble our way.
The coachman looked relieved when he heard me and slowed down the pace after glancing at me.
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