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As usual, once the light of the teleportation died down, the surrounding scenery was changed. Its destination was nearby Maleva. Since we did not use the Guild’s teleportation, this wasn’t an official teleportation point.

Vast grasslands spread ahead, and there was a steep mountain towering over the surroundings from the west of the city. It had a history of erupting before, so humans didn’t approach it. In fact, that was supposed to be the sanctuary of the God of Destruction, Yuuri.

In other words, it was the homeplace of my great ancestor.

Since it was the sanctuary of such a God, on top of the risk of eruption, almost no one wanted to go near it despite being right next to the city.

That was the reason why that recluse blacksmith lived in such a place.

“…It’s lookin’ the same as always.”

It’s been twenty years since I had died. But the scenery here hasn’t changed one bit. Unlike me, who muttered that nostalgically, Letina started flapping her clothes.

“What are you doing?”
“Don’t you feel it, Nicole? The air here feels… Different, isn’t it?”

Hearing that, I also imitated her and brought fresh air inside my clothes to confirm the sensation. And I quickly realized what she meant.

“Ahh, this is because we aren’t in the sea of trees.”
“What makes it different?”
“The Forest Kingdom of Raum is full of deep forests. The moisture drifts all around there. But the Sword Kingdom of Alecmarle doesn’t have that many forests. Because of that, our clothes don’t feel as sticky here.”
“Now that you mentioned it, I don’t feel the smell of the greenery, just the dirt.”
“I don’t think it’s really all that bad… It’s a little pitiful to compare it to Raum.”

Alecmarle had shallow forests, but it wasn’t like it lacked nature. However, as it was a kingdom that revered the One-Armed War God Alec, and followed the supremacy of swordsmanship, they also were active in smithing.

And in proportion to it, they were actively mining for the ores and felling trees in the forests across the land, so their forest territories were gradually decreasing… Back in my time, at least.

“At present, their ore supplies are mostly imported from the Matara Alliance. Sadly there is still nothing to be done about the firewood problem.”

Maxwell heard our conversation and joined in. Since he had visited this place before, he should’ve been more aware of what was going on with it nowadays.

“Lord Maxwell!? Ah, that’s right, you followed us here.”
“That sounds like I am an extra…”
“My apologies! Putting that aside, you are quite knowledgeable about this place, aren’t you, Nicole?”
“I-I, uh, heard it from Dad…?”
“Why did you bend your head while answering that, I wonder?”
“Just felt like it!”
“Really?”

I made a fist and insisted on it. Letina was overpowered by my insistence and backed down without catching on to the fact that I was bluffing my way out.

Maxwell smiled at our behavior and patted our heads. Incidentally, Kabby was on my head as a guard so my hair escaped the pat.

Having her hair ruffled, Letina showed a complex expression, being both happy and sad. As a noble daughter who was advocating her high girliness, having her hair messed up was quite a sad thing. But at the same time, she was hanging on to the threshold of happiness since it was the touch of that Maxwell.

“Well, their smithing can be said to be prosperous, but they still cannot hold a candle to Matara, which is the home of it. However, there is still a possibility of a hidden craftsman lurking here.”
“Is there someone like that here?”
“How could I know! That is why they are called hidden.”
“That’s sounded so evasive…”

Letina gave him an exasperated glance, but Maxwell was probably referring to the blacksmith that I came to visit. It was a total coincidence that I got to meet him, too, but he was someone who truly held an extraordinary ability to make elaborate magic tools.

It has been twenty years since then, though, so I didn’t know whether he was still alive and kicking.

“Hey, Maxwell! Stop loitering over there, let’s hurry up to the city.”
“Very well. It would be scary to anger you, Cortina.”
“Huuuuuhh!?”

They started their usual chitchat, but even the students were already used to seeing it at the academy. Before I came here, they seemed to have acted a bit more distant, so everyone was surprised at their change at first.

“Anyway, we have to check the chivalric order and stuff later, so we should hurry up!”
“Okay, okay.”

Maxwell was the one to suggest inspecting their swordsmanship since we were coming to the Sword Kingdom and all. Back in my childhood, I longed for the chivalric order, but due to my frail body, I failed the entrance exam.

The marathon training of the physical exam completely and utterly wrung me dry of power. I collapsed and was left behind on the way, but those that managed to pull through that hell managed to become the most respected knights of this kingdom.

Having the opportunity to inspect that same chivalric order after all this time was a strange play of fate.

By the way, today’s schedule was to check-in at the inn, then have a lecture about the chivalric order, and then have lunch. After that, we planned to ask them to observe their training.

Following that would be dinner and bath, then sleep. And finally, I planned to head to the blacksmith in question. Maxwell was following me, so returning would be easy.