Chapter 459: Ruins (2/2)

There was a door where the ornament was, and it was half open. Looking inside, there were dusty, broken dolls and toys scattered around. It seemed that it had once been the bedroom of a prince or a princess.

It also appeared that whatever had been of any actual value had already been pilfered from that room.

“It’s a bit… Boring.”

This time, Hanna was the downhearted one.

Certainly, walking around ruins was rather saddening.

“Should we go outside?”

When Jin asked that, Hanna nodded silently.

Elsa, Saki, and Stearleana all sympathized with her, and turned around without saying a word.

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The group left the ruins of the capital and drove the Tortoise by the riverside.

They had a light lunch inside the vehicle.

The group had become somewhat down in spirits.

Jin wondered if they should go back home already, but since they had come all the way there, he thought they might as well spend the night there, so he started to look for a good place to set up camp.

“Ah, that might be a good spot.”

There was a small grassland on an elevated place close to the riverbank. It had a nice view as well.

Jin ordered Steward to take the Tortoise there.

The output of the 12-throttle golem engine, made by Jin, was able to climb the slope with ease, even though it was about 40 degrees steep.

“Yeah, this’ll do.”

The grass was short, so they were able to secure a comfortable space just by weeding a little.

Although there was enough room in the car, Jin was finicky enough to prefer eating outdoors when camping.

“Uwaaah…”

“Oh…”

As they tried to go get chairs and tables for everyone, they noticed.

All of their luggage hadn’t been fixed onto anything, and was all cramped against the back of the Tortoise. Such a thing happened because they had climbed a 40-degree slope.

“…I guess it needs some improvements.”

After rearranging their luggage, they once again started to get ready to have some tea. The tarp of sunshade had also been set up, so the river breeze was comfortable even in the summer.

“Ah, finally some relief…”

Saki muttered that earnestly.

“Yum!”

Reiko considered that a cup of tea with plenty of sugar was great for when one was mentally tired.

To go with their tea, they had dried wilies as snacks. They were deliciously bittersweet.

They were great for healing their spirits, which had been frayed for being surrounded by so much ruin and decay.

“I guess we’ll leave the mystery of the barrier for some other time…”

An illusionary barrier that makes it look like there’s a country when looked at from the sky.

Jin wondered if he would be able to do something like that if someone asked him to.

He believed he could achieve the same effect, but he didn’t know if he would be able to accurately replicate the method used for that other barrier.

Jin thought that depending on the situation, he might have to increase the number of Quintas.

Dinner was ready before the sun had gone completely down. It was standard barbecue.

The iron plates were placed on a furnace made by stacking stones. Since firewood would have made it troublesome to adjust the heating power, they used Magi Stones instead.

The main dish was mountain deer meat and vegetables. Then they added udon noodles made from wheat flour, seasoned with Worcestershire sauce.

Since Jin didn’t know much about lye water, which was used for making noodles, he ended up making thinner udon noodles instead.

It reminded of the “Pashta” he had seen back in Toka Village.

“Wow, it’s a bit different than how I know them, but they’re delicious!”

“That’s right. You’re a great cook, Jin!”

Even so, they seemed to be quite popular among Jin’s companions.

Before the summer day was over, they had finished eating, washed the dishes and the iron plates at the river, and further cleaned them using a purification spell.

Stars started to appear here and there. The wind blowing from the river felt very comfortable.

Then, they all went to the second floor of the Tortoise.

Again, since they had climbed a 40-degree slope, the futons were a little too close to each other, so they had to rearrange them.

Then they laid down on their futons and looked at the sky from the open skylight.

The first one to fall asleep was Hanna. Then Elsa, Saki, Stearleana, and Jin.

Reiko, who didn’t have to sleep, closed the skylight and stood guard together with Steward.

“Sweet dreams, Father.”

Reiko’s words were soaked up into the starry sky.