We manage to arrive at the vice capital, get off the carriage, and thank the patrolmen who saw us here .

“Nnmtto, amazing!”

Priscillchan’s eyes s.h.i.+ne as she takes in cityscape spread before her . That’s right, this should be Priscillchan’s first time seeing a big city such as this .

I also follow Priscillchan’s line of sight and take in the vice capital . The city spreads over a gentle hill, allowing us to see even the farthest areas of the vice capital . The highway continues through the heart of the vice capital, divided the hill into two halves, north and south . Also, not only do trees line the road, but lush green parks can be found scattered throughout the city .

Due to dragon raids, there are many st.u.r.dy houses made of stone in the capital city . As such, the wooden buildings here are made that much more conspicuous . If the capital city can be called a stone city, then the vice capital is a wooden city . Still, where do they get their timber from? The dragon forest is in the south like always, but cutting down trees from there is prohibited .

“There sure are a lot of wooden houses . ”

Mistral has the same impression as me after taking in the cityscape .

“It seems like they bring in lumber from the mountainous area in the northeast . ”

Ruiseine answers our question . She’s really knowledgeable .

“I see . Since this area is no longer the hunting grounds of the flying dragons, they can go north . ”

North isn’t a place we can go .  That’s something I’ve always felt . As such, I find this thought fresh .

While the view northern area of the cityscape continues without breaking, the northeast is blocked by a hill . Said mountainous area can’t be seen . Instead, my eyes focus on the large building on the hill’s summit .  

“Uwahhh, isn’t that the palace where the king lives?”

The royal palace, the center of the vice capital, spreads all over the hill . The castle in the capital city is certainly magnificent, but safeguards against the flying dragons naturally takes priority over its appearance . Here in the vice capital, however, the royal palace in is spectacular . Even out here at the city gate, its dazzling splendor is visible at a glance .

“Uwahhh, so pretty!”

Priscillchan’s eyes sparkle as she stares at the royal palace .

“Nnmtto, I want to go there!”

“Ahaha, except there’s no way we’d be allowed in . ”

“We can’t enter, but we can at least gaze at it from outside . ”

“I want to see it, I want to see it . ”

Mistral catches Priscillchan as she gleefully starts jumping around .

“We’ll visit it next time . Today, let’s look for a place to stay first . ”

“Muu, but I wanna go . ”

“If you keep acting selfish, I won’t bring you out anymore . ”

“Mist is mean!”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine with being mean . ”

Mistral is strangely really good at soothing Priscillchan . While Priscillchan struggles in vain to escape, Mistral keeps a firm hold over her and enters the city . We enter the city as well .

The highway continues to serve as the main road, there seem to be more people here than the capital city . Seeing all the pa.s.sing carriages and people going back and forth makes me dizzy .

“I hear there are many inns along the inner road . ”

“Eh, Ruiseine, you occasionally come here for errands, right? How is it you’ve only heard that?”

“Etto, when I come on those errands, I always stay at the temple . As such, I won’t be able to stay together with everyone tonight . ”

“Ehh, really?”

“We’re parting with Ruiseine?”

Priscillchan’s eyes become teary .

“My, my, well, well, there’s no need to worry . We can still meet again tomorrow . ”

Ruiseine strokes Priscillchan’s cheek .

“By the way, what is your errand?”

“Now that you mention it, I certainly don’t seem to have told you?”

With those words, Ruiseine holds up the pouch hanging around her neck .

“There is a valuable medical herb inside this pouch . It is only something we can acquire through transactions with the dragon tribesmen . As such, we immediately send it to the temple the moment we receive any . ”

“Hee, is that so? Can I see it?”

“Of course, take a look . ”

Ruiseine opens the pouch towards my curiosity and shows it to me .  Since it’s a valuable medical herb, can you show it to me, was something I was just asking without expectations though .

She shows it not just to me, but also to Mistral . Priscillchan, being held in Mistral’s arms, also gets to see .

From within the pouch appears a white leaf s.h.i.+ning with a faint light .

“This is…”

“If we combine this leaf with other concoctions, the effects of the created medicines will be augmented . ”

“Ehehe, that’s amazing . ”

The temple not only offers magic treatment, but also provides medical examinations and treatments . In fact, unless someone is seriously injured, that person is most likely to be treated with medicine instead of magic . As such, the temple buys lots of medicinal herbs .

“So this herb has an effect like that . I never knew . I know a place where they grow in ma.s.s, how about I pick some for you next time?”

“Eetto, uhm…”

Isn’t this a precious plant? To be growing in ma.s.s…

“This is extremely expensive, though…”

“I don’t need money . ”

“That is…”

Perhaps those dragon tribesmen have overcharging them?

“Ah, the place where they grow is dangerous and ordinary dragon tribesmen don’t go there . That’s might explain the high price . ”

“But even if Mist-san brings some for me, how should I explain it to those of the temple…”

“That’s true . A disaster would arise if you said an acquaintance among the dragon tribesmen provided them to you . ”

“That’s right . ”

“I- I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear anything just now . ”

With those words, Ruiseine covers her ears with both of her hands . Priscillchan imitates her and covers her own ears from over her hat .

“I’m sorry . I was fussing about strange things . Please forget it . ”

“Yes . ”

All of us laugh .

After that, we part with Ruiseine and search for an inn .

As expected, with this being a ma.s.sive city, there is no shortage of inns . We thus manage to find a place that meets our conditions perfectly . Except, for some reason, we’re staying in a three-person room . I thought for sure I’d be rooming alone . Mistral surprised me when she suggested we share a room . Priscillchan is utterly overjoyed that we’ll all be staying in the same room .

Incidentally, today’s lodging fee is also being covered by the temple . Ruiseine gave us a wooden slip with a special pattern on it just as we were parting . Apparently, as long as we hand this to the inn, the fee will be forwarded to the temple .

Normally, these are utilized by temple certified adventurers . I’m not a certified adventurer . Why did she give this to me?

When Mistral turns the wooden slip over to the inn staff, she isn’t met with any suspicion .

“Certified adventurers?”

“Certified adventurers?”

Once we finish leaving our bags in our room, we go out to have a meal . That is when Mistral curiously asks me that .

“Is it different from ordinary adventurers?”

“Yeah, it’s a bit different . ”

I, while holding Pricillchan’s hand, explain as we walk .

Ordinary adventurers are the people who join the adventurers’ guild and work there . Apparently, most everyone can join the guild after taking a basic test . After joining, they can get benefits like discounts at various shops and receive employment mediation . While becoming an adventurer without joining the guild is possible, such people are met with a drop in confidence . It’s probably because of such that most aspiring adventurers make sure to join the guild .

As for a temple certified adventurer,

The temple occasionally commissions the adventurers’ guild for someone with excellent achievements and has a reputation for morally integrity . However, the rewards from the temple requests are negligible, they’re almost like service work . Nevertheless, accepting and completing those commissions generates a lot of praise from others .

Adventurers who take the initiative to do the temple’s requests are highly regarded . They also receive favorable treatment from the temple . With them, the temple will share valuable medicinal herbs and cover lodging fee like what happened just now .

In other words, while there are almost no rewards at first, favorable treatment and admiration will come as achievements are piled up . Honor is earned .

Thus, adventurers who gain that honor are commonly referred as the “temple certified” adventurers .

“I see,” Mistral says while nodding after listening to my explanation .

“So, then, the staff at the inn earlier viewed me as a certified adventurer . ”

“Gununu, it’s frustrating, but you’re probably right . ”

Mistral is a beautiful woman with a prim and proper appearance . Plus, the jet-black, one handed, rod at her waist gives the impression of being a sharp sword . The staff of the inn should be familiar with adventurers . They should be able to immediately infer their guests’ prowess through their gestures .

While we are talking, Priscillchan’s eyes sparkle as she looks at the various products displayed on the various storefronts . I keep hold of her hand to stop her from being drawn over to them .

“Nnmtto, I want to go there!”

Wry smiles cross our faces as Priscillchan directs her feet towards a street stall wafting with a delicious smell .

“Priscilla . If you eat snacks now, you won’t be able to eat dinner . ”

“Nnmtto, separate belly for desserts!”

“Priscillchan, who taught you such a phrase?”

“Mother!”

Mother, what are you teaching to her? What if Priscillchan gets fat?

“The separate belly will have to wait for another time . Right now, it’s already time to eat . ”

“Uuu, then, I want to see the shop over there!”

Priscilla points at a shop with puffed cheeks . The décor at the shop’s eave is absolutely lovely . The shelves are br.i.m.m.i.n.g with stuffed animals and dolls . Looks like dolls and little girls is a common pairing in all races .

“What should we do?” When I look at Mistral, she smiles .

“Let’s take a quick look before the dinner . It would be troublesome if the store closes while we’re eating . ”

What’s this? Mistral is surprisingly interested as well .

“Yay!”

Priscillchan jumps up in delight and pulls my hand to the store .

With the words, “It can’t be helped,” I enter a shop meant for little girls . As I’ve never entered one before, I am curious about it .

The inside of the store is filled with cute displays of dolls and stuffed animals that tickle the hearts of children . Parents with their children fill the store, we are the only exception . Furthermore, all the children are girls .

Priscillchan lets go of my hand and immediately rummages through various stuffed animals . Looks like she prefers stuffed animals over than dolls .

“Nnmtto, nmmtto, they’re cute!”

Priscillchan says so while carrying a ma.s.sive number of stuffed dolls in her arms . Her appearance is too precious . Not just us, but even the attendants and parents smile .

“Hey now . I won’t buy you that many . Please pick one . ”

“No, nyo . ”

Priscillchan shakes her head . Everyone laughs at the sight . She really is adorable .

I’m not a dad, but if such a child were my daughter, I would never tire of looking at her . I’d also probably end up buying all those stuffed animals for her . That said, I don’t have that much money on me .

I casually glance at a price tag and discover the doll is more expensive than I had guessed . Stuffed animals are surprisingly expensive .

“Just one . I won’t buy any if you don’t . ”

“Uuu, Mist is mean . ”

Priscillchan looks up at me with teary eyes .

“Gununu, appealing to me with such cute eyes is no good . ”

Priscillchan, that’s a scary weapon you have there . Adorable gestures and big teary eyes are the strongest of weapons .

“Ernea, don’t pamper her . ”

“Ye, yeah, I know . ”

Mistral warns me and I manage to somehow keep my reasoning . If I were alone with Priscillchan, I’d absolutely have bought her everything I could .

“Now, please choose only one thing that you want . ”

“No, nyo . ”

Mistral, with a wry smile, persuades Priscillchan who whines about wanting all of them . Watching them from the side, they really look like a mother and daughter . Only,

Mistral is too young when compared to Priscillchan . It feels somewhat off .

I wonder if come off as the father?

“What a cute imouto . ”

The clerk’s casual comment stabs into me . Not a father, but an onii-san .  With an, “Ahaha,” I scratch my head .

“Please feel free to look over our products . ”

The clerk recommends a lot of stuffed animals to us with a smile . Afterwards, we desperately press Priscillchan, who wants all of them, to choose one .

In the end, Mistral is defeated at the end .

Priscillchan has a cute, round, large, monster that also serves as a cus.h.i.+on and a yellow, stuffed bear . Nymia has a two-heads tall, green, stuffed pterosaurs . Then finally, for some reason, Mistral also buys one for herself . She buys a stuffed caterpillar that’s made of long, tube-like, linked segments, yet is still cute .

The money…

Apparently, Mistral pays for everything .  Ah, looks like she has money on her . By the way, I was satisfied just by watching everyone else have fun choosing their stuffed animals, so I don’t buy anything .

Then, with satisfied expressions, we look for a place to eat . Once there, Mistral and Priscillchan are troubled over where to put the big stuffed animals they bought . I watch them with a wry smile .