The next morning .

Mistral shakes me awake .

“Ah, morning . ”

“Morning . ”

Mistral gives me a wry smile as I open my eyes .

“Ernea, please lock the room properly . You’re too careless . ”

“Ah, darn . I forgot . ”

When I try to get up, a weight on my arm pulls me back to the futon . A glance reveals Priscillchan still clings to it in her sleep . Is this a good sleeping posture?

“You sure are loved . ”

Mistral gives me a hard stare .

“Y-you’re wrong . This is a misunderstanding . ”

I panic, but she lightly brushes it away .

“Now, Priscilla, please wake up too . If you don’t get up, there won’t be breakfast . ”

“Muuu, sleepy . ”

Priscillchan wakes up in response to the mention of food .

“My, my, well, well, Ernekun and Priscillchan both have such wild bed hair . ”

“Uwahhh“

I blush from how they’re staring at my messy bed hair .

“It can’t be helped . I’ll specially help you fix it today . ”

“I-it’s okay . I can do it by myself . ”

My shriek like refusal falls into deaf ears and Mistral starts to untangle my hair with her comb .

“Ah, the tastiest role has been taken . In that case, I’ll do Priscillchan’s . ”

Ruiseine pulls Priscillchan from my arm and straightens her hair .

Still, I shouldn’t have been turning about with Priscillchan clinging to me . Priscillchan was clinging to me the whole time and shouldn’t have been able to move either . Why do we have this amazing level of bed hair?

“Priscilla woke up early in the morning and grabbed you again, nyan~”

Nymia, having woke up since who-knows-when, walks under me and resolves my confusion .

So that’s what happened . Well, that makes sense . There’s no way we’d have been able to sleep if she clung to me all night long .

Either way, having my hair touched feels really good . I always get drowsy whenever I go for a haircut . Even now, by having my hair touched by Mistral, waves of sleepiness are coming over me .

Priscillchan is already asleeping .

“Both of you, really now…”　　

Mistral sighs out in amazement while Ruiseine simply smiles .

Shortly after that, we finish our preparations and leave the inn . Upon stepping outside, we discover that the patrolmen are already on standby waiting for us .

We greet each of the patrolmen and invite them to breakfast . Priscillchan has a vigorous appet.i.te in the morning . It even surprises the patrolmen .

Once we are full, we board the carriage again to resume our journey .

Really, traveling on a carriage is really comfortable . If I stick my face out from under the canopy, I’m able to watch the pa.s.sing scenery . Priscillchan, too, seems to enjoy watching at the scenery . She’s quietly sitting beside the coachman and taking in the scenery .

Thus, within the canopy are Mistral, Ruiseine, and me .

“Did you sleep well last night?”

“Did you do anything strange to Priscillchan?”

“Uuu .  I slept well, and I didn’t do anything weird…”

For even a shrine maiden to doubt me, just how undependable am I? Ruiseine laughs at my despair, saying that she is joking .

“That girl is strong . ”

I tilt my head at Mistral who wears a similar smile .

“She has been away from her home village all this time . Yet, despite how close we’ve gotten with her over this trip, she hasn’t uttered a single complaint . ”

“Now that I think about it, that’s true . ”

“If another child were to go through something similar, that child would probably be more burdened with trouble . ”

“As expected from the Long-Eared Tribe . ”

“Rather than her race, I think Priscilla is just incredible . I just hope that her br.i.m.m.i.n.g curiosity doesn’t cause any trouble later on . ”

“Priscillchan has great spirits with her . She should be safe from just about any danger . ”

“Except, don’t forget that she herself is still a child . ”

“So Priscillchan is a spirit user?”

“That’s right . She’s amazing . ”

I tell Ruiseine about Priscillchan’s spirits . Even though she should know more about spirits and the Long-Eared Tribe than me, she happily listens .

By the way, it seems like war shrine maiden Ruiseine diligently studied about spirits and various races during her learning at the temple . So, I wonder if the lessons at school were useless for her since she already knew all of that to begin with?

I ask her my thoughts .

“I enjoy learning the various things we’re taught at school . With a change of location, then even if the topic is the same, there can be new discoveries . ”

“Ehh, really?”

As I give a profound nod, Mistral changes the topic .

“On the way back, we will go through dragon forest . ”

“So suddenly? Why?”

There is no decent path through dragon forest . Even if there are trails used by beasts, walking over the far off highway is much easier .

“I talked about it to Ruiseine last night . I’ll introduce her to the venerable elder . ”

“Ah, for that?”

If she is going to become my wife, then by one way or another, her meeting Old Sleigstar is for the best . Thinking about it makes me twist my face .

But before she becomes my wife, how do I make her fall in love with me? This question

has been troubling my mind ever since yesterday .

My suddenly holding my head and groaning out brings wry smiles to the faces of Mistral and Ruiseine .

And so, the third day of our trip advances smoothly . By evening, we finally reach the capital city .