Chapter 179
To the northwest.
I walk along the road, sometimes veering into a forest, passing through it and crossing a river, then rejoining the road and continuing on.
It's been a little while since I last traveled overland.
I nibble edible tree buds, lick nectar from flowers, and pop picked fruit into my mouth... Ah, of course, I also butcher, roast, and eat whatever game I hunt.
Since this isn't a rushed journey, I can even cool game I've hunted in a stream, let it rest, and wait a few days until it's ready to eat.
The pleasure of acting this freely and spontaneously was something I couldn't get on a sea voyage.
The sea had a different kind of freedom and liberation, of course, but for the most part, I was merely being carried along.
Being able to decide with my own feet whether to move or stop, and even how fast to go, according to my mood, is somehow enjoyable all by itself.
I travel leisurely, stopping at villages I happen upon along the way and trading the game I've hunted for salt.
The journey from Neldania, Dolbogarde's largest port, to Janpemon in the Duchy of Travoya, one of the small states, takes me about a month and a half on foot.
I do take a few detours along the way, so in practice it's closer to two months.
What comes into view is—yes, a wheat field stretching as far as the eye can see.
I'm a little past the best season for seeing the wheat's golden ears, but even so, I feel nostalgic for the stone-built town surrounded by those fields.
Still... an unfamiliar structure catches the corner of my eye.
It stood beyond the wheat fields to the west of Janpemon.
I saw a formidable fortress that shouldn't have been there.
Ah, the Duchy of Karkoym lay in that direction.
The country whose northern half had been invaded by Zieden, while the southern half that remained had become a vassal state of the Republic of Vilestrica.
If I went west from Janpemon, I would run straight into the border where the two powers were clashing.
In other words, Janpemon could be called a rich granary right next to a battlefield.
The possibility of it being targeted if both armies ran short of food during the fighting was... not zero.
Even if things never reached that point, deserters and mercenaries who lost their nerve at the battlefield would surely turn to banditry and come to raid it.
So it was only natural to have one or two fortresses as a precaution.
Even I could understand that.
Even so, I couldn't help regretting that an ominous shadow would fall across the sight I would likely see when the wheat was ripe.
As proof of identity to enter the town, I used my Master Blacksmith's license for the first time in ages.
I was a little surprised when I saw the date written on it... It had been issued more than sixty years ago.
It had been more than seventy years since I left the forest and began traveling.
No—looking at it another way, after all the traveling I'd done, had only that much time really passed?
It felt strange somehow.
The gatekeeper—the guard watching over the town entrance—seemed a little surprised by how old the license was, but he didn't question me just because I was an elf... No, if anything, he opened the gate and let me through with almost excessive courtesy.
I'd expected entering the town to be troublesome, given that a fortress or two had been built, so it was a little anticlimactic.
Still, it was convenient, so I walked through the somewhat changed town of Janpemon, recalling the way as I went.
It was an old town to begin with, and its streets had been repaired and carefully maintained many times over, so I saw little change there.
Some houses were still old, while others had been rebuilt and altered in shape, making them subtly different from how I remembered them.
The greatest change, though, was the inn run by Nonna's family—the destination I'd come to.
Ah, no. Of course Nonna herself would be gone by now, and so would her parents, the innkeepers.
But the change that had taken place at the inn wasn't that kind of unavoidable change; its exterior had been completely transformed.
Nonna's inn had been a cozy little place with affordable rates and delicious food, but the inn before me now was more than twice as large as I remembered—no, perhaps three times as large—and looked quite luxurious.
I was a little bewildered and hesitated over whether to go in, but if I didn't, coming all the way to Janpemon would lose much of its meaning.
Even if Nonna was no longer there, my memories of this town were tied to that inn's comfort, its delicious food, and the warmth of the townspeople, including her.
If it had changed, I wanted to know why—and whether the change was something to celebrate.
I steeled myself and stepped inside.
The moment I did, I was greeted by—
"Welcome! Oh, an elf! Mooom, there's an elf! An elf came!"
It was the utterly innocent cry of a girl, so out of place in such an upscale inn that I felt relieved.
The girl calling for her mother with a beaming smile was around eight years old.
She was somewhat younger than Nonna had been when I first met her, but the girl resembled Nonna enough to make me wonder whether time had somehow been turned back.
Ah, there was no mistaking it: the girl before me and Nonna were related by blood.
Considering the human life cycle, would that make her Nonna's great-granddaughter?
If so, the mother she was calling would be Nonna's granddaughter.
"Now, Aina, that's rude to a guest. I'm sorry, welco... Oh, excuse me, but are you Eisa-san, by any chance?"
The woman who came out in response to the girl's call, presumably the innkeeper, opened her eyes wide in surprise when she saw my face, then asked me.
When I tilted my head and then nodded, she broke into a delighted smile and said,
"I'm sorry. You looked exactly as Grandma described, so I couldn't help myself... Eisa-san, welcome. We've been waiting for the day you would arrive."
She said.