Chapter 41: A Place to Transfer Cargo

After the manor was notified, two men came to Rue to inspect the road.

One wore a sword, but cared more about the route than guarding the village. The other wrote on paper laid across a board whenever he heard something.

Elmer wasn’t with them.

“You aren’t necessarily asking to make the entire road passable for carts?” the inspector confirmed.

“Right,” the chief said. “We don’t know if it’s worthwhile. A merchant suggested transferring cargo between carts and packhorses at the highway. Examine that too.”

The men, the chief, Dario, and I headed south.

◇

The inspector studied more than width: rocks jutting from the mountainside, exposed roots, weak soil on the outer slope.

“To widen this for one cart, cutting into the mountain is probably safer.”

“Why not build outward?” Dario asked.

“Added soil may not hold under repeated heavy wheels. Some sections would need supports.”

At a shallow water channel, he warned that careless cutting could divert water onto the road.

“So width isn’t the only problem,” the chief said.

“It’s a mountain road.”

From the air it was one narrow line. On the ground, every section had different rock, slope, and drainage.

“…Must fix all?”

“To bring a cart to the village, every narrow section.”

“…If one remains?”

“The cart stops there.”

Obvious, but important. A packhorse could adjust its path. A cart’s wheels and bed couldn’t become narrower.

A packhorse approached from the south. We moved into a wider spot. I pressed toward the mountain, but my body still took considerable room. The horse slowed at sight of me, so I turned my face away while its handler guided it past.

“A packhorse can still pass,” the chief said.

“Yes. For carts, you also need passing places. Widening everything for two carts is unrealistic, but intermittent wider sections could work.”

“Still a great deal of labor?”

“A great deal.”

Rue had no workers to dedicate for long, and moving rocks didn’t mean I could build the entire road alone.

“…Difficult now?”

“Not impossible,” the chief answered. “But we don’t urgently need carts in the village.”

“With current cargo volumes, packhorses still work?” the inspector asked.

“Yes.”

“Then testing the transfer method would cost less than rebuilding everything.”

We already knew its problems: a place to unload, rain, theft, and permission to use highway land.

“…Will inspect place?”

“Yes. Let’s go to the highway.”

◇

I had never walked all the way to the highway before. Distances felt different on foot. Even places that seemed close in flight took humans a long time, longer still with packhorses.

The broad familiar road finally appeared beyond the trees.

People, packhorses, walkers, and a cart passed.

The manor’s men examined the junction.

“Cargo would transfer near here.”

“Could the site be farther from the highway?” the chief asked.

“If carts can’t enter the side road, building there would require roadwork anyway.”

A little farther along was low grass and gentle ground where people and horses could leave the road.

The inspector didn’t approve it immediately.

“It may be usable, but we’ll confirm the land rights.”

“Not Rue’s land?”

“Ordinary use doesn’t mean the village may do whatever it wants—especially build a storehouse.”

The second man wrote.

Dario looked between highway and mountain road.

“Then carts stay here and packhorses handle the climb.”

“Yes.”

The problem didn’t vanish. Capacity still depended on packhorses and workers. But the existing mountain road could remain.

“…Leave cargo here?”

“Not unattended,” the chief said.

“Best is to coordinate the cart and packhorses and transfer immediately,” the inspector explained.

“Will their times match every trip?”

“We won’t know until we try.”

Merchants could arrive late, and the packhorses too. But a building wasn’t necessary for the first test.

“Let’s try once,” said the chief.

“…Can?”

“After the land check,” the inspector said. “If it’s permitted, a single same-time transfer keeps the matter small.”

That was all they decided. No storehouse. No widened road.

But they had found a plausible place to test Heinz’s suggestion.

◇

On the return, the road’s narrowness bothered me less.

It hadn’t widened, and carts still couldn’t pass.

But we might not need the entire distance to have the same width.

Dario called to me.

“You didn’t say ‘transfer’ back there.”

I paused.

“…Transfer.”

“You can say it.”

“…Practiced just now.”

He laughed.

Speaking human language meant learning unfamiliar words. Understanding the meaning didn’t guarantee my mouth could form the sound.

“…A place to transfer cargo.”

It came out with a pause, but they understood.

“If permission comes,” the chief said from ahead.

When we reached Rue, the manor’s men left for home.

“We’ll report once it’s confirmed.”

The road itself remained unchanged, and the idea of bringing carts to the village hadn’t disappeared.

But for Rue’s present needs, we could begin with something smaller.

Try the junction between highway and mountain road once.

For now, that was enough.