Shujinkou Janai!

The world of <Brave & Blade> is divided into several “regions”.

Each “region” usually has one large city as its center, as was the case with Frelia or Niebuhr, with one or two towns or villages and several dungeons located far from the city.

The problem is that the distances between each “region” are so great that it takes time to move from one town to another.

Although B&B has a time limit of 2 years, it takes at least a week to get to another region.

One factor that can dramatically shorten this time is the warp function of the 4th DLC’s <Special Safe House>, but unfortunately, this isn’t available for us yet.

As expected, the 10 billion wen needed to buy that house isn’t ready yet at this stage, and even just buying that doesn’t mean it could help us go anywhere we want.

There’s only one warp location that would be open upon purchase.

Other than that, you have to get there by yourself once to turn on the house’s warp function.

(Though I say that, this matter really isn’t just something I can ignore.)

If “someone” who had conquered a ruin in Niebuhr sets out on a journey, their first destination will be one of the two choices: here in Frelia or the Royal Capital.

And if the choice is between those two, it’s more likely that they’ll go to the Royal Capital.

The Royal Capital is naturally the city that represents its “region”, and its location is in the middle of the continent.

In that sense, <Bright City>, the Royal Capital, is the very center of this world.

Naturally, there are many useful facilities and dungeons there, so I had hoped to visit there someday.

I guess I should consider this a good opportunity to do that.

If the swordsman who conquered the ruins left Niebuhr 5 days ago, we don’t have much time to spare.

I wanted to leave as soon as possible, but I couldn’t just leave on a moment’s notice.

It would take about 10 days to travel between Frelia and Bring City by carriage.

There were many things that needed to be done, such as canceling our lodgings and other work for the Guild.

On that day, before I could go on that trip, I had to scramble around the town.

※　※　※

And so, it was mid-afternoon.

The expedition to the ants’ nest had brought related work to a standstill, which was rather beneficial in my case.

After somehow managing to coordinate the Guild’s affairs, I arrived at the training grounds to find Radd and the others waiting for me, in a state that clearly looked different than usual.

Radd was almost crushed by a big bag on his back, Nuku was holding a lot of books and his glasses were shining brightly for some reason, while Mana was checking a book titled “Traveler’s Guide” covered with sticky notes, nodding her head for some reason.

The only one who was acting as usual was Prana, who was still wearing the same light clothes she usually wears.

[……So, what’s that about?]

I asked, Radd snorted and answered.

[Food! We had a hard time on the way back from the ants’ nest because we weren’t prepared for it! That’s why, I made sure we were prepared!]

[Ahh……]

Back in the Ant Queen Subjugation quest, Radd and the others charged in unprepared for the long journey, so they had some trouble on the return carriage.

I had no particular problem because I had been buying supplies, which I’m not sure when they could be of use, and putting them in my inventory, a habit I have had back in the game, but they’ve reflected on that incident huh.

Inventory is very convenient, but it has the drawback that you can “only put in items that existed as items in the game”.

If you prepared only food that wasn’t considered as an item, you’d end up with that much baggage huh.

Moving my gaze to the side, the nearby Nuku spoke, looking a little embarrassed.

[Umm, I also had a lot of free time on the carriage, so I was hoping to have some books to read along the way.]

I thought the number of books he got was unusual, but I guess that’s just how much he read on a 10-day carriage trip huh.

Meanwhile, Mana, who was holding the “Traveler’s Guide” book in her arms, looked at me.

[I- I’ve never been on a real trip before, so just to make sure I won’t trouble everyone……!]

Having bought such a thing with everyone in mind, I thought she was admirable.

It’s just……

[Ahh. Well, sorry.]

Feeling somewhat apologetic, I scratched my head.

[————–Rather than using a carriage, I was planning to have us walk to the Royal Capital.]

[……Eh?]

※　※　※

[……Alright. Here we are.]

After getting everyone’s bags cleared up a bit, we left the Guild, heading for the <Royal Capital, Bright City>.

Naturally, our first destination…… wasn’t Frelia’s gate.

[Eh? This place is……]

Just before the ants’ raid, the Guild had purchased this abandoned house.

[H- Hey, Old man! I thought we were going to the Royal Capital!? If you’ve still got other things to do……]

I stopped the bewildered Radd, who was about to rant again, with my hand.

[Hey, why do you think I held this house for?]

[Eh?]

In front of Radd’s blank stare, I entered the abandoned house and pushed open the large lid on the floor.

The lid shifted dramatically, revealing a hole leading underground.

As for what this place is, everyone probably doesn’t need me to explain anymore.

[D- Don’t tell me……]

As Radd’s face scrunched up in a frown, I nodded.

[Exactly. Our journey starts here. We’ll use this ants’ nest to get to the Royal Capital.]