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“Water, check! Food, check! Spare clothes, check! Everything else, check! Master, we’re all set!”
“Yeah, yeah, hold on a second.”
“Okay!”

Time always passed faster than expected, and before we knew it, the day of our departure had arrived.

The thought of leaving this town made me a little sad—once we left Regulus, chances were we wouldn’t see the king and the others very often anymore.

“Well, pink-haired one, what do you think of the wagon I prepared?”
“Oh, Your Majesty! It’s wonderful… but, um, this isn’t really a wagon, is it?”
“Woof!!”

The “wagon” the king had arranged didn’t have any horses. Instead, it was being pulled by eager-looking Daigorou.

To be honest, it was more like a dog sled with wheels—one powerful enough to carry both us and our luggage all on its own. As expected of Daigorou.

“The base was originally a demi-dragon-drawn carriage, but I modified it for your use. With Daigorou’s strength, it will pull just fine.”
“He’s so strong… though maybe I’d pull harder if I did it myself?”
“Whimper…”
“Ha-ha-ha! Then you’d only wear yourself out. A wagon is meant for comfort, not labor.”
“Yeah, quit saying stupid things and get on already. The sun’s going down.”
“Oh—Master.”

At some point, Master had appeared behind the king, looking at me with a deeply exasperated expression.

“Geez, I was waiting for you! We’re completely ready to go!”
“I was checking for any traces of dragons, just in case. Didn’t sense a single one—not even demi-dragons.”
“Indeed. My demi-dragons are currently on vacation at a nearby oasis. You may rest easy.”
“Good. At least we won’t have to worry about Theo controlling them again. Now then—”
“—Teach!!”

Just as Master was about to climb into the wagon, a shout came from behind.

When we turned around, there was Kyodaigorou, clanking toward us at full speed—with Stell slung over its shoulder.

“Wait, Teach!!”
“Oi, lass! Leavin’ without so much as a word to us? Cold, that’s what it is!”
“Whaaat!? Master, don’t tell me you didn’t tell them we were leaving today!?”
“Oops, we’ve been found out. Run, Momo! Daigorou, go!”
“Woof-woof-woof!!”

Fleeing from the rapidly approaching Kyodaigorou, our wagon burst into motion.

As Daigorou picked up speed, everyone’s figures quickly grew smaller in the distance.

“Teach…! I still haven’t…!”
“Master, Stell’s calling you. You should answer.”
“Momo, you answer for me.”
“A-n-s-w-e-r!!”
“…Honestly, stop whipping a dying person.”

When I pressed her hard enough, Master finally sighed in defeat.

I couldn’t just let them part like this—Stell had come all the way here just for her.

“Ah, hello, Stell? Don’t worry about me. You should walk your own—”
“Teach! I still haven’t even paid you back yet!!”

She must’ve used wind magecraft to carry her voice, because the moment Master spoke, Stell’s voice blasted right into our ears.

“You saved me—my life, and my future! So now it’s my turn—!”
“That’s impossible. You’re far too weak for that.”
“Master! Don’t say it like that!”
“So go back to the academy and train. Even without me, you’ll make a fine wizard.”
“…Tea…ch…”
“Stell, you finally have your own life in your hands. Don’t use it for someone else—use it for yourself.”

With that, she ended the spell and raised a finger, pointing toward Stell, who was perched on Kyodaigorou shoulder.

A small orb of water swelled at her fingertip, then shot straight through the air like an arrow.

“Wah—!?”
“A parting gift. By the next time we meet, you’d better be able to do at least this much.”
“O-okay… okay! I’ll do my best…! See you again, Teach…!”

From this distance I couldn’t see clearly, but I was sure the water sphere had reached her.

That was Master’s final lesson to her student.

――――――――…………

――――……

――…

“Mgggh, Master, you’re so stubborn sometimes!”
“Enough with the mooing. If you wanna be a cow, why not just lie down and sleep?¹”
“Mgghh!”

I was never going to win a war of words with her.

Frustrated, I stuffed the bread in my hand into my mouth in one bite.

…Yep, still delicious. Bread topped with cheese toasted over the campfire—definitely something I could never have eaten back in Japan.

“Stell will be fine. She admired me far too much. If she didn’t break away at some point, that admiration would have ended up capping her potential.”
“Then you should’ve told her that to her face!”
“You’re noisy. Anyway, don’t neglect the fire. The wood around here’s oddly resistant to burning, and it’s a pain to start it up again.”
“Yes, yes. But… are we really fine just camping so casually like this?”

The journey from Regulus to our next destination was long, and we were spending the first night out under the open sky.

In a world with so little artificial light, the stars overhead were breathtakingly beautiful—but even so, I couldn’t stop thinking about that six-month time limit.

“Don’t let the clock pressure you. We’re heading straight into the heart of the curse’s domain from here on. If we rush, we’ll only get tripped up.”
“I see your point… but still, no showers and no beds? That’s rough.”

After getting spoiled by castle life under the king’s care, the change hit hard.

It hadn’t even been a full day yet, and already I missed that soft bed and warm bath.

“Put up with it. If you ask, I’ll at least give you some water. There won’t be any proper villages from here on.”
“We’re getting closer to the cursed area, so everyone probably evacuated to somewhere far away…”
“Exactly. And where there are no towns or villages, there’s no law or order either. So what do you think happens?”
“Hm… ah—are we going to get attacked?”
“Precisely. So you lot hiding out there, you might as well show yourselves!”

When Master shouted into the dark, torches flickered one by one, lining the gloom.
More than ten flames encircled us at a glance; they didn’t look like friendly campers who wanted to join us.

“Women… there’s a woman…”
“A silver-haired brat and a dumb kid…”
“Nice—women fetch a high price. Pretty face too…”
“Nice… that pisses me off. They’re well dressed and loaded with food and coin…”
“Hmph. Probably thieves driven out of their villages and towns, with nowhere else to go.”
“Eeeeh… what are we going to do, Master!?”

Even though we were surrounded, Master chewed on her bread, lazily stretching the melted cheese.

There was no sense of tension from her—more like she thought this wasn’t even worth handling herself.

“Momo, I didn’t bring Stell here—I brought you. So I expect you to live up to at least this much, right?”
“U-uhm… I understand. I’ll do my best!”
“What nonsense are you spouting! Get ’em—do it!”

I resolved to give it everything I had—after all, Master had entrusted this to me.

I’ll try to avoid injuring anyone if possible and ‘persuade’ them into fleeing.