Volume 2: The Temucha Region—Aunt in Flames

Chapter 30: Now That’s Something to Look Forward To

Once, there was a country called the Principality of Temucha.

Past tense.

It no longer exists.

Today, it is part of the northern territory of the Kingdom of Griefia and is known as the Temucha region.

Approximately one hundred and twenty years ago, a great conflict engulfed the Eastern Continent where we live.

Temucha lost the war between Griefia and Temucha—the conflict later called the Continental Unification War. The fighting ended when the principality was annexed by the kingdom.

From that war onward, Griefia grew into what people now call the continent’s hegemonic state.

Temucha’s final sovereign was Anastasia Luze Dravenia.

She was a historical figure included in every textbook.

Devoting herself primarily to ending the Unification War, she accumulated numerous localized ceasefire agreements and is said to have ultimately saved approximately one million lives.

Statistics suggested that without her, the postwar reconstruction of Griefia and Temucha would have suffered enormous delays. Even Grandpa had said, “If she hadn’t been there, my papa probably would’ve died.”

At the same time, a persistent faction blamed her for the Principality of Temucha surrendering its national sovereignty. Although she was called the “Princess of Salvation,” people who loved Temucha sometimes called her a traitor.

Temucha was also a medical superpower. Its medical technology remained the finest on the continent, and its central cities housed an idiotic number of medical universities and institutions, making the region sacred ground for medicine.

Thus concluded our history lesson.

The journey from Rakan, the Griefian royal capital, to the Temucha region was long.

We had to remain seated on the magical train for ten hours. We departed at seven in the morning, crossed valleys, mountains, and wetlands, and would arrive only after nightfall.

“Ooh, it’s huge.”

Amae offered a rather absent-minded observation at the vast lake beyond the window.

Dragon Lake stretched before us, a ridiculously large body of water classified as one of Griefia’s largest first-class water systems.

It was so absurdly enormous that we couldn’t see the opposite shore.

It had formed one hundred and ten years ago.

The final battle between the Kingdom of Griefia and the Principality of Temucha took place nearby. Supposedly, the aftereffects of that fight transformed the terrain into its present shape.

That had to be a lie.

Culture changed dramatically beyond the lake.

Even the cuisine became Temuchan to the north and royal-capital style to the south.

Once we crossed the lake and traveled a short distance farther, our long railway journey finally ended.

“That took foreveeeer.”

“Good work, Amae.”

“Filiestra, I’m hungryyyy.”

“Yes, yes. You endured it very well.”

The two girls chatted happily.

Meanwhile, as someone unaccustomed to travel, I could no longer feel my backside.

Apparently, my arse had vanished without leaving a trace.

A magical train…

It was my first time riding one, but it differed little from the trains in my memories of my previous life.

Though, to be fair, I’d never ridden a train in my previous life.

This world contained a strange number of concepts identical to those of my former world.

Grains, vegetables, meat, fish, clothes, time, dates.

Even the numbers were essentially Arabic numerals. The names and forms differed slightly, but aside from the presence of magic, this world resembled my original one to a frightening degree.

Then again, once a civilization has wheels, perhaps it will eventually reach railways.

I had no idea.

If I dug into the subject, I might uncover a truth worthy of appearing on a world-shocking news program. But I wasn’t very interested, so I had never investigated it.

Incidentally, an ancient Magias student developed the railway’s predecessor.

One day, a Magias student achieved the garbage-tier singularity of converting the back-and-forth movement of his hips into rotational motion at practical efficiency.

Thus, railways were born into this world.

They were born.

They never should have been born.

One difference from Earth was that these trains operated through a magical-energy supply.

If Luluk’s steam system were added, the technology might advance even further.

As my thoughts drifted toward my previous life, the magical train sounded a long whistle.

A moment later, the mountain scenery changed.

Beyond the window, a vast city illuminated by twilight appeared.

An ivory cityscape spread in a circle across the broad, basin-like land. In its center, an old castle towered like the axis around which everything else had been built.

This was the largest city in the Temucha region.

Filiestra’s birthplace and our destination.

Dravena, former capital of the principality and present-day city of medicine.

“It’s enormous…”

“Your hometown is incredible, Filiestra… It really deserves to be called the Ivory City.”

As Amae said, the entire city clearly followed a unified concept.

The view would have been impossible unless the local government imposed strict scenic restrictions on building designs.

In my previous life, a certain city had its entire center registered as a World Heritage Site. This scene was comparably beautiful.

Even though, bluntly speaking, everything was merely white.

“I contacted my orphanage, so we’ll rest there tonight. My sis—the present director—is an excellent cook.”

“Ha ha ha! Now that’s something to look forward to.”

Perhaps the long journey had sent Amae’s mood in an odd direction.

I was beginning to feel hungry too.

I had cooked Temuchan food several times but had never eaten it in its homeland.

Then again, I had almost no experience eating at restaurants at all.

I was looking forward to it.

◇

When we left the train, the air was cold enough to notice immediately.

Naturally, we had traveled far north. The basin also made the temperature dramatically different from the capital.

I was glad I wore long sleeves.

“I’m glad we arrived safely, Nico!”

“Y-Yeah, Rina. W-We can f-finally meet G-God.”

“Yes! I can’t wait for Luluriale’s performance!”

Many people were as excited to arrive as we were.

…I had seen those two somewhere before.

Were they upperclassmen from the Emperor Faculty?

Apparently, many travelers came from Rakan during the holiday.

Dravena ranked first among holiday travel destinations. Second was Ordain, Mercedes’s hometown, known as the City of the Sword Saint.

Incidentally, my home region of Decor ranked ninety-third.

Tremble before it.

As one would expect of Temucha, people with white hair stood out here and there.

I knew white hair was characteristic of the ethnic group whose roots lay in the former principality, but seeing so many in person strongly created the feeling of a foreign country.

Looking from a distance, I noticed two distinct impressions: warm white and cool white.

Filiestra’s was warm, a pale blond.

Perhaps it resembled flaxen hair diluted to its absolute limit.

The subtle gradation was as difficult to put into words as a mixture created by a master craftsman.

Perhaps people unconsciously converted qualities they couldn’t verbalize into the information “beautiful.”

Filiestra guided us through the white streets for some time.

In quiet pastureland about thirty minutes on foot from a station at Dravena’s outermost edge stood a large white, half-timbered house.

A sign beneath the eaves read MAGNOLIA ORPHANAGE.

So this was the institution founded by the director Filiestra had mentioned.

“Welcome home, Filiestra.”

A bespectacled woman with long, softly flowing brown hair greeted us.

“Let me introduce you. This is Parfure. We grew up at the same orphanage, and she is serving as the temporary director now.”

“I’m Parfure. Thank you both for always looking after Filiestra.”

She seemed five or six years older than Filiestra.

Her gentle, embracing smile somehow reminded me of Filiestra herself.

Parfure.

Could I say that without biting my tongue?

“I’m Brendan. It’s nice to meet you, Parf-nyeeeere.”

“I’m Amae.”

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you. Filiestra has told me about you. Your rooms are ready, so please rest.”

I took one step toward the house.

Before I could enter, children poured out from behind Parfure like an avalanche. Boys and girls around the age of young elementary students rushed toward Filiestra.

“It’s Big Sis Filiestra!”

“Everyone! Big Sis came home!”

“Welcome home, Big Sis!”

“I’m home, everyone.”

Filiestra became the center of the children’s circle in an instant.

So she was popular.

Well, of course she was.

There was no way Filiestra wouldn’t be popular.

“I would love to say dinner is ready, but several things happened today. Could the three of you wait a little longer?”

Parfure broached the matter hesitantly.

While stroking one child’s head, Filiestra tilted her own.

“Did something happen, Sis?”

“Yes. Sidley’s cold suddenly worsened. I was nursing him until a moment ago.”

“That’s serious. Let me examine him immediately.”

“I’m sorry, Filiestra. My medical magic honestly can’t reach inflammation that deep. I’ll hurry and prepare dinner in the meantime.”

“Understood. I’m sorry, you two. I’ll be back soon.”

Filiestra headed upstairs.

Was Parfure preparing dinner by herself?

If there was no designated cook, that would be a heavy workload.

Every child here was also too young to contribute much to the housework.

“If you like, can I help prepare the meal?”

“What? No, I couldn’t ask that of a guest.”

“Please let me. I’m accustomed to housework.”

“…Then perhaps I will. Honestly, having another person who can use a knife would help.”

Whatever she intended to cook, I wouldn’t get in her way merely peeling and preparing ingredients.

And honestly, I had nothing else to do until dinner.

“You can cook, Bren?”

“Heh heh heh. As it happens, I can.”

“That laugh was revolting.”

Amae’s reaction aside, I had performed every household chore back home.

Food had been one of the few forms of entertainment in the countryside where nothing else existed. Cooking could be counted among my few skills outside smithing.

The other was my imitation of “Duncan, you bastard!”

“I’d probably get in the way, so I’ll play with the children.”

“You’ll play with us, miss!?”

“Show us magic!”

“Sure. What would you like to see?”

After confirming Amae and the children were heading toward the living room, I followed Parfure into the kitchen.