Epilogue: Heading for the March of Guzzle
A few days later.
With all the preparations done, Zenjirou was ready to leave the Royal Capital. His destination was Guzzle City, the main town in the March of Guzzle.
There he was going to attend the marriage ceremony between Puyol Guillén, the current head of the Guillén Family, and Lucinda Guzzle, the eldest daughter of the Guzzle Family, as a representative of Queen Aura.
“Well then, I leave the rest in your hands, Zenjirou. Do a proper job in congratulating the newlyweds in my stead, since I cannot attend.”
“Yes, you can count on me, Your Majesty. I shall do my utmost to complete the task to your full satisfaction.”
In the audience room of the Royal Palace, Queen Aura sat on her throne while she had a formal exchange with her Prince Consort Zenjirou, standing beneath the throne, under the watchful eyes of a couple of nobles.
Needless to say, they had bidden the true farewell to each other in the Inner Palace this morning.
Along with a passionate embrace, a kiss and warm wishes.
Before that, they had spent a lovely time together with their beloved child Carlos Zenkichi.
So the current situation was nothing but a formal rite.
“Have a safe trip, Master Zenjirou!”
Zenjirou turned his back on the throne and left the audience room mannerly, paying attention to his step length and speed, while the civil servants saw him off with loud voices.
Flanked by guards on all sides, Zenjirou left the Royal Palace and headed to the huge carriage drawn by eight dragons standing in the forecourt. Before the carriage awaited him the Crown Princess of the Uppsala Kingdom and her bodyguard.
“I will be in your care, Your Majesty Zenjirou. I hope we have a pleasant travel together.”
Before he had time to admire the huge carriage he was seeing for the first time, Princess Freya bowed before him so that her short silver hair fluttered.
“Oh, Princess Freya. Yes, I will be in your care as well.”
Zenjirou shifted his gaze from the carriage to the silver-haired girl and answered fairly like that.
The clothes of Princess Freya were a bit of a surprise. In the Royal Palace, she had always worn a white or light blue dress, but now, she was clad in thick trousers and a long-sleeved shirt with some kind of leather vest pulled over it.
These clothes were outfitted with a lot of large pockets for convenience rather than fashion. The final touch was the weapon holster attached to her thick leather belt and the object holstered in it could be called a “hatchet”?
Only the fluffy muffler around her neck and the sapphire broach holding it together were indicative of fashion for women.
Maybe she had expected a march by foot instead of a trip by carriage? At the very least, her clothes gave off that impression, if she were to shoulder a large backpack, at that.
Zenjirou himself was also wearing a decorative bronze sword at his waist, but otherwise he had put on the traditional attire of the Carpa Kingdom like always, so the contrast to Princess Freya was even more obvious.
Princess Freya had probably sensed his gaze on her.
“Oh, I had heard that it will be a long travel overland, so I chose clothes that are easier to move in instead. If it is a bother, I can go change them right away, though.”
The silver-haired princess said this to Zenjirou with an upturned look and waited for his reaction.
“…..”
However, it was more than likely that she was just making up an excuse for her “preference” in clothes, considering the hint of “dissatisfaction” showing through the inexpressive mask of Skathi, the blonde female warrior standing at attention behind her.
Either way, Zenjirou did not really have a reason to object.
“No, that will not be necessary. It suits you well.”
“Thank you very much. I knew you would say that.”
Princess Freya smiled happily and lowered her head once more.
Zenjirou then boarded the prepared dragon carriage. Drawn by eight dragons, the carriage was admittedly huge, but its width was more or less limited, since it had to be able to pass through the streets.
Hence, the interior had a tall ceiling and enough space lengthwise, but was not all that wide. A group of five was currently sitting on the seats inside.
The centre seat facing the front of the carriage obviously belonged to the owner of the carriage, namely Zenjirou. Next to him sat Princess Freya, his partner for the upcoming marriage ceremony.
The remaining three people were sitting across them, facing the back of the carriage.
Across from Princess Freya sat her bodyguard and trusted retainer: The female warrior Victoria Kronkvist also known as Skathi.
Across from Zenjirou sat his personal knight: Natalio Maldonado.
And slightly away from him sat waiting maid Ines, the caretaker for Zenjirou dispatched from the Inner Palace.
The way to the March of Guzzle was not necessarily hazard-free, so the bodyguards Skathi and Knight Natalio had taken their short spear and sword with them into the carriage.
Normally, it was unthinkable that a person riding in the same carriage as Prince Consort Zenjirou would be allowed to be armed, but Skathi was the trusted retainer of Princess Freya, who in turn was a possible concubine for Zenjirou.
And considering that Skathi was the only bodyguard for Princess Freya here, she had been given special permission this once to arm herself.
Before long, the dragon carriage slowly started to move. As expected of the driver of a royal carriage, the ride went extremely smoothly.
The level of civilization in the Carpa Kingdom was not advanced enough for suspension systems, so even the fanciest dragon carriage would still bump all the same, but fortunately enough, the roads within the Royal Capital were all evenly paved.
The seat cushions were exquisite, too, so Zenjirou was not feeling any discomfort so far. Although problems would probably arise once they left the Capital and hit the raw dirt surface of the “Salt Road”.
In the meantime, the carriage went through the gate of the Royal Palace into the downtown of the Capital.
“Ohh…”
Despite his age, Zenjirou raised a small voice in excitement, when he saw the scenery beyond the opened windows.
It was only the second time he saw the town with his own eyes. The first occasion had been the parade on his own wedding.
Needless to say, Zenjirou have had his hands full with not screwing up the wedding ceremony back then. The best he could manage was to wave his hand like a machine while forcing a smile.
So in a manner of speaking, he was taking a proper look at the city for the first time now.
(The city’s bigger and more organised than I thought. Way bigger than Valentia.)
He curiously looked out of the window at the stone paved street and row of houses.
The main street was closed off, since royalty was passing through, but it was not for some kind of event this time, so the dragon carriage moved at a steady speed through the Capital without halt.
Nevertheless, a huge carriage drawn by eight dragons and decorated with gold and silver still drew the attention from the citizens with just that.
Curious onlookers gathered on both sides of the road and talked to each other animated while pointing at the carriage.
And children ran after the carriage on the sidewalk with all their might.
(Heh, kids are the same everywhere.)
Zenjirou naturally smiled at this heart-warming scene.
Quiet up till now, Princess Freya suddenly raised a puzzled voice, when she saw that.
“Did you spot something interesting, Your Majesty Zenjirou?”
She probably just needed a reason to start a conversation.
Zenjirou answered her honestly, albeit with a wry smile, since he did not want to be on bad terms with the girl, whom he was going to travel with for numerous days.
“Oh, excuse me. It was not something interesting in particular. The unusual sight just happened to pique my interest.”
Princess Freya was surprised at his reply.
“Your Majesty, could it be that you have not seen the city before?”
“Well, strictly speaking, I have been here before, but yes, I am effectively seeing it for the first time now.”
“Oh my, what can I say…”
His answer made Princess Freya be at loss for words.
Even though he was living in the palace of the Capital, he had not seen the city itself till this day.
It seemed Zenjirou was actually the sheltered princess of the Inner Palace amongst the two of them.
He realized it would be bad if she were to misunderstand that Queen Aura was shutting him away, so he added with a smile.
“There had been plenty of opportunities, but I am a homebody by nature, so I let these opportunities slide until today.
Do you spend a lot of time outside, Princess Freya?”
The topic change was pushed through quite a bit, but her conversation partner was finally picking up the pace, so she had no reason to turn it down.
With that in mind, Princess Freya smiled as she replied.
“Yes. I am ashamed to admit this, but I have always been a kind of tomboy. I splashed around in the river, ran about the place, hunted foxed or engaged in some white water rafting. My father and mother often scolded me for it.”
“I see. Then I guess our slightly long travel will be no problem for you.”
“Yes. No problem at all. I may not look like it, but I actually have ridden a longboat against the stream of a river for numerous day before… I even lead a hunting party once.”
“Oh, that is impressive.”
“Well, I did manage to hunt foxes or rabbits, but I have never chased a dragon before. I would definitely like to challenge myself to such a hunt, if the opportunity arises along the way.”
This seemed to be no joke as Princess Freya patted the hatchet at her waist with an eager glint in her eyes.
“Hahaha, please allow me to accompany you then. That being said, I would only be a hindrance and no help in the hunt, so I will have my Knight Natalio here do his best in my stead.
I am counting on you, Natalio.”
Suddenly addressed like that, Knight Natalio Maldonado gave a jerk, but immediately put his clenched right hand against his left shoulder and declared.
“Of course, Sire. I shall do my utmost with the Dragon Bow you have bestowed onto me.”
While they were having this conversation, the dragon carriage left the Royal Capital and closed in on the Salt Road.
The scenery outside the window changed from wooden or stone houses to a ridiculous wide plain and a forest in the distance.
“Master Zenjirou, the ride will become a bit rougher now, so please bear it in mind. We can halt the carriage at any moment, if you should feel sick, so please just speak up, when you need to rest.”
“Okay. Ines.”
Zenjirou replied with a smile to Ines, who had called out to him in consideration.
(Oh right. We’re going to use remote roads until we reach the March of Guzzle. This really feels like a trip now.)
With the intense smell of greenery coming in through the opened windows, Zenjirou realized that they had moved on from the populated area of mankind.
Although they were travelling through the middle of nowhere, the carriage of Zenjirou was attended by several hundred soldiers at the front and back and the other nobles travelling with him were also accompanied by their own guards.
So they were not exposed to danger unless something unprecedented took place.
(Well, I can do without trouble. I want to arrive in one piece.)
Aware of these circumstances, Zenjirou maintained his sight-seeing mood and calmly enjoyed the passing scenery from his window.