Chapter 459: Ruins (1/2)

The sight of the blue sky had failed to brighten up anyone’s face, except for Hanna.

“What’s wrong, everyone? Do you all have a stomach ache or something?”

Concerned, Hanna looked up at Jin’s face. Then she reached out to his cheeks and touched them.

“Get better soon, big brother!”

Hanna’s palms felt warm and relieving.

“…Ah, that’s right. What’s done is done.”

Having said that, Jin picked Hanna up and gave her a ride on his shoulders.

“Kyaa!”

Hanna was surprised at first, but soon smiled.

“Waaah, thank you, big brother!”

After seeing that, Elsa, Saki, and Stearleana also found themselves smiling.

“Hmm, that’s right. We can’t do anything about it anymore, huh…”

“Yeah. We came here to do some sightseeing after all, right?”

“…I’m sure Brother Jin will be able to take us to the moon someday.”

Reiko stared silently at them.

“Well, would you like to go see another place? The royal palace is a little further ahead.”

Sensing that the mood had changed, Regulus 45, resumed his guidance.

“The royal palace, huh? Let’s go take a look.”

Having regained their motivation, the party headed for the royal palace. Hanna was still hitching a ride on Jin’s shoulders. She seemed happy that everyone seemed to have gotten better.

The royal palace was also covered with vines.

It also showed signs of having been severely ravaged by scavengers, as several entrances had been opened. Jin and the others didn’t mind that since it only made it easier for them to get inside.

“Hmm, it looks very archaic.”

“…Yeah. There’s something old fashioned about its design.”

Elsa agreed with Saki’s opinion.

“You think? It’s not much different from the Royal Palace of Celuroa…”

On the other hand, Stearleana said that it wasn’t different from the royal palace of the Celuroa Kingdom. There seemed to be a strong sense of tradition in the Celuroa Kingdom.

“Big brother, what’s that?”

Hanna had already gotten down from Jin’s shoulders and was walking beside Reiko, but when she looked to the right, she saw something strange.

“Hmm?”

“Oh?”

Stearleana, who had turned to see in the same direction as Hanna, also expressed her surprise.

“A cat ornament?”

“A cat?”

Hannah didn’t seem to know anything about cats. In the first place, there was almost no custom of keeping pets in this world.

Neither horses, cows, or goats were treated as pets. In some regions, people seem to keep dogs, but as guard dogs, not as pets.

The only exception would be birds, but people would keep them just to enjoy their chirping. And pigeons were used as messenger birds.

Unlike on modern Earth, there was no custom of keeping a cat as a means to seek comfort or company. Also, there weren’t too many issues with rats or mice infesting a house.

The habit of keeping cats to keep mice and rats at bay didn’t appear because the harm those rodents could cause could be prevented with magical tools such as the “Beastward Bell” that Jin and his friends used to deliver wheat.

But it seemed that there was an exception to everything.

“Huh, so they did keep cats as pets in the Lenard Kingdom…”

Stearleana was impressed. It seemed that some people in the Celuroa Kingdom used to keep cats as pets.

“Many people say that cats are attractive because they are whimsy, they don’t get too familiar with nor they butter up people.”

After Stearleana explained how cats were regarded in the Celuroa Kingdom…

“…But I don’t really like them. I actually prefer dogs.”

…She confessed that she actually was more of a dog person.

“Yeah, me too.”

The same was true for Jin. At the orphanage, there was a well-disciplined mixed-breed dog. Jin would sometimes take him for a walk, though it was mostly the younger children who would take care of him.

Jin looked at the cat ornament while absentmindedly reminiscing of such things.

The ornament looked just like a regular cat one would find on Earth. Since it was figurine-sized, he couldn’t know how accurate it was, but Jin assumed that it would be quite on point if compared to an actual-sized cat of this world.

“Oh well, this almost looks like a real cat though.”

Stearleana confirmed Jin’s assumptions. Then Hanna asked him something unexpected.

“Hey, big brother, can you make me one of those?”

“Huh?”

She probably wasn’t referring to a cat ornament, but a cat golem. Jin thought that the idea of making one was quite interesting.