58 On The Road To The Capital

I thought we would actually fly towards the city but Mother said that there wasn't any rush so we simply joined up with a caravan that was heading there as well.

Before departing, I made sure to let the few acquaintances I made in this city know about my next stop.

Carla simply wished me the best of luck while Linette and Malcolm gave me some kind of card that would identify me as a VIP client of theirs in any of their stores.

I tried to decline it but they insisted so I had no choice but to accept it.

The funny thing was that I still have no idea what their Merchant Company actually deals with.

After that, we met up with the caravan that would be making their way towards Crown Capital City through Latipac City.

It was a rather small group owned by an independent merchant and we'll be hitching a ride with him and the Mercenaries he hired to guard his convoy.

Apparently in this World, short of hiring a dedicated carriage, this was the most common way for people to travel between cities.

Merchants usually don't fill up their wagons to the brim so there's always space left over to pick up passengers that happen to be travelling in the same direction. The passengers would pay for the seat and would be responsible for their own food and shelter during the trip unless they pay extra.

This was also a good chance for me to see real Mercenaries in action too! Aside from Ardi and her group of course. I wonder what they're up to now?

"Greetings! I am Dennis, the owner of this caravan group! It's nice to see beautiful ladies joining us for the trip!" A well dressed and plump Mahun greeted us.

Mother smiled at him, "Ara? What a flatterer you are! I know my child is beautiful of course but how nice of you to mention that~"

"Mommy…" I groaned.

"Oh, a mother and daughter pair I see! How nice! No need to worry, this route is relatively safe and I've travelled it quite often! Besides, we have a D rank Mercenary group escorting us as well!"

Considering I just wiped a few D rank mercenaries by myself not even a few days ago, that's not exactly reassuring. I'm guessing that a D rank is considered rather experienced here?

"Ufufu~ Thank you for your kind words! We are certainly looking forward to it!"

He nodded before moving to greet the other people who would be travelling with us as well. We weren't the only passengers he had after all.

Putting that aside, he was indeed quite polite and courteous.

After him, a young man wearing scale armour and a sword on his waist came by to greet us.

"Hello there, I am Jack, leader of the Free Wind Mercenary group, we'll be escorting you all on this journey!"

I quickly checked his stats.

[Name: Jack

Title: Leader of Free Wind Mercenary Group

Race: Mahun

Stats:

30 Strength

50 Dexterity

42 Endurance

15 Magic

Skills:

Leadership (Tier 2), Martial Skill-(Sword Proficiency (Tier 2), Shield Proficiency (Tier 2), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 1))

Magic Skills:

Geomancy (Tier 1)]

Well… I suppose such stats are normal for a Mahun Mercenary? I've yet to see any Mahuns cross the forty mark for the strength stat at least.

"Oh my, what a well mannered young man you are! We'll be in your care!" Mother chirped happily.

I noticed that his gaze went to Mother's chest before moving to mine.

Ah… This is actually the first time I noticed anyone actually ogling at my chest. I wonder if there were more times I missed?

I have to say it does feel quite unpleasant.

At least the merchant from earlier was respectful and never let his eyes wander.

Good thing he quickly recovered and moved his gaze away from me before I felt the need to cover myself.

"Ahem… You can place your trust in us, we're quite experienced Mercenaries."

Mother giggled, "Ara? That does sound reassuring. We'll be in your care  then."

He then excused himself and went off to speak to the others.

Surprisingly, Mother turned to Katsuki who was standing behind me, "Ufufufu~ What do you think, little Katsuki?"

My Inugami maid grimaced, "That man is trash for looking at Mistress with such eyes…"

"Ara ara? That is the perfect response! Ufufufu~ You'll definitely be a star student at the maid school!"

I don't even know what to say to that…

We hung around for a while more as the wagons were doing their final loading of their wares before Dennis gave out the signal for everyone to board.

We ended up being assigned to the wagon at the back of the train, sharing it with three members of the Free Wind Mercenary group, one of them being Jack himself.

The other two were also men, one of them wearing full plate armour with a tower shield leaning against his side while the other wore primarily cloth armour with a bow and a quiver full of arrows peeking out from his side.

I believe the rest of his party were spread out in the other wagons so that they could leap out and defend the convoy in case of an attack.

"Oh? How lucky we get to share the space with the beautiful ladies from earlier!" Jack greeted us immediately. "These two are my teammates, Markus the shieldbearer and Loyd the hunter!"

Markus waved and smiled in greeting while Loyd simply nodded at us.

As I was climbing aboard however, I felt three pairs of eyes lock themselves on me and I looked up just in time to see the three men shift their gaze elsewhere.

I sighed and ignored it, turning around to help Katsuki onto the back of the wagon.

Once everyone was on board, the convoy finally began the journey towards our destination.

Jack tried to make conversation with us, "So, where are you fair ladies headed to?"

Mother smiled at him, "Ufufu~ We are moving to the capital city to prepare for my child to attend school~ Although I would definitely miss the markets and the bustle of this city~"

Markus took the chance to enter the conversation, "Wahaha! It's a great city isn't it?! I, myself, enjoy coming here for the sights! It's one of the few places you can meet people from other races within this kingdom that isn't a slave!"

That got my attention, "Eh? Is there no other place around here that has other races mingling around as well?"

Jack chuckled, "You must have grown up in Dragon View Trade City your entire life eh? Mahuns are the primary race within Lehcarouc Kingdom and quite a sizeable chunk of our workforce consists of slaves from other races."

Hmm… I'm still not sure how slaves are usually treated in this World though, for all I know they might actually be treated well but I find that highly unlikely. I do know there are different kinds of slaves so most likely the treatment for each kind is different too.

I regret not looking around that slave shop I visited a little more. Even though I said all those things to Katsuki, I have no idea how I should treat her.

I looked back at them, "Don't the other races resent the kingdom for enslaving their people then?"

Markus laughed, "Wahaha! If anything, they should be grateful instead! Most of the slaves are criminals or people sold to pay off debts! So they get to dump their problematic people on the kingdom in return for money! Of course there are exceptions to this but it isn't worth fighting a war over it anyway."

I suppose it's better than conquering their lands to enslave the people as an alternative.

"Although I'm surprised you got yourself an Inugami to work for you willingly," Jack pointed out, nodding at Katsuki.

Ah, they probably didn't know she's a slave since the collar of her maid dress was high enough to hide the slave collar, something that I would like to remove when Katsuki is comfortable with the idea.

"Well… I kind of saved her so she agreed to serve me," I explained.

Loyd perked up after staying silent all this while, "Oh? Is the lady also a member of The Guild by any chance?"

I decided there wasn't any reason to hide it from them so I nodded, "I only just recently joined as a Mercenary as well so I'm currently F rank."

The three men made complicated faces at me but eventually just nodded at my words. I wonder what's with that reaction?

"They think Mistress is just a rich lady playing at being a Mercenary, Mistress…" Katsuki whispered beside me.

Ah, I guess that makes sense. My current clothes don't really give the feeling of being a Mercenary at all and coupled with Mother's dress and the fact I have Katsuki serving me as a maid, it does give that idea for outsiders.

Oh well, I don't really care to explain anyway, I'm not exactly interested in these guys who would openly ogle at my chest… Like what they are doing right now…

Ugh… I wonder if we will be able to change wagons later…