New encounters and 『The Town of Beginnings』

 
 
 ☆
 
 
 “Woah. I’d heard about it, but you really did come down from the sky!”
 
 Following the beacon’s guidance, we descended into a forest, where a young brunette was staring wide-eyed in amazement.
 
 Seeing her, the grey-haired male swordsman standing beside her grimaced.
 
 “Hey, Johanna. Shouldn’t you greet first? ——— Please excuse us Your Excellency. I am Nordland’s military attache, Glen Vingli.”
 
 “Johanna, who will be escorting you to Heielland’s official residence. Nice to meet you!”
 
 The neatly bowing Glen, and the friendly waving Johanna.
 
 The contrasting duo made me laugh unconsciously.
 
 “It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Leticia Ainsworth. This here is my lady-in-waiting, Anna. I’d like to truly thank you for expressly coming this long way out to greet us.”
 
 Hearing my words, Glen waved both hands in a panic.
 
 “No, no, this much is nothing. It’s your first time in this unfamiliar country, and our country has all sorts of peculiarities. Johanna and I shall support you till your enrollment… Johanna is a former adventurer and knows the rules of this country very well. Her speech is like that, so if you could forgiv——— Ouch!!”
 
 having been elbowed, Glen held down his side.
 
 The perpetrator, as if to show that they had no concern for their colleague’s injury, began explaining herself while smiling from ear to ear.
 
 “It’s because I’m from the local hires. Basically, although I am formally staff of the legation^[1], I’m not a knight, and haven’t gotten any elegant education in manners. ——— If it perhaps does concern you, I could correct it, but is it alright with you?”
 
 Johanna’s speech suddenly changed midway.
 Hearing the strange formal language she used, I once again laughed.
 
 “Fufu. You can leave it as it is. I plan to hide my origin when I go to school, so could you two be more relaxed with me? It’s fine to treat me like a younger junior. And calling me 『Letty』 is fine too.”
 
 Hearing what I said, the two of them exchanged glances.
 
 “No, as expected, there’s no way we ca——— Oouch!!”
 
 Glen fainted in agony as he got elbowed a second time.
 On the other hand, Johanna beside him held out her right hand while sporting a radiant smile.
 
 “Got it! Well then, nice to meet you, Letty.”
 
 “Yes, nice to meet you too, Johanna and Glen!”
 
 Thus I exchanged greetings with two people I would be involved with for a long time.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 “Huh, a branch office?”
 
 When I asked again, Johanna, who was sitting opposite me in the covered wagon, nodded her head.
 
 “Yeah. Since Letty’s going to be enrolled in sorcery school, they decided to set up a Nordland official residence branch office in Ettelstad.——— Although I say that, the office is just a snug mansion with no sign on, it’s just an informal one.”
 
 “… I feel a little guilty you had to go that far for me.”
 
 I frowned.
 But Johanna shook her head with something like a wry smile.
 
 “It’s fine. Our job is also information gathering from the sorcery school.”
 
 “From the sorcery school?”
 
 “Since the wyvern incident one year ago, our home country began a technical investigation into foreign countries in earnest. A little while back we were instructed 『to scout excellent magicians, and investigate the latest trends in sorcery research. Then it was right as we were discussing 『let’s put a branch office in Ettelstad』, so it was a good opportunity when we heard Letty was coming to this country. We got a huge bonus to our budget thanks to that!”
 
 Hmph, Johanna said with a satisfied look on her face.
 Apparently, as far as she’s concerned, it doesn’t seem to have been a bad thing.
 
 “Is that so.”
 
 I sighed with relief.
 Seeing me like that, Johanna smiled.
 
 “The two of you will be in the dormitory after you enrol, but if you’re not against it, stay in the branch office till then. We’re also living in the branch office, and it’s nice not having to worry about food.”
 
 Right.
 
 There’s a week till the entrance exam.
 I had planned to stay in an inn in the town till then, but since there’s an official residence branch office, it wouldn’t be bad to rely on it.
 
 “——— is what they say, but how does Anna feel about it?”
 
 When I asked Anna beside me, my lady-in-waiting gave me a cheerful smile.
 
 “Wherever Ojou-sama is, be it snowy mountains or the depths of the sea, I shall be there with you.”
 
 A huge grin.
 
 Yeah.
 I was a fool to ask.
 
 I turned back to Johanna who was looking this way amusedly.
 
 “Well, I guess we’ll be in your care.”
 
 “Okay. Welcome!”
 
 With that, flick, she gave a thumbs up.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 Then before long, the carriage we were riding in passed under the city gates of Ettelstad, 『The Town of Beginnings』.
 
 “Woah, the town’s atmosphere is way different from both Heielland and the Holy City!”
 
 “It really is! What amazing vibrancy!!”
 
 Excited, Anna and I had our heads sticking out of the canopy.
 
 Just as Anna said, the scenery in this town is nothing like any of the towns I’ve seen before.
 
 If the royal capital of Heielland and the Holy City were cityscapes from around the 17th-18th century’s early modern era, then this town had a townscape which gave the impression of mediaeval times.
 
 And, there’s a lot of people!
 As far as the eye can see, people, people, people.
 
 Furthermore, the path was brimming with armour-clad swordsmen, robed magicians, archers, axe-wielding warriors and such adventurers.
 
 Not only the human race.
 I thought I could also see those who could only be found in parts of the Northern Continent, like elves and dwarves, interspersed here and there.
 
 And also———
 
 “M-, monsters?! There are monsters walking around???”
 
 I unconsciously shouted out.
 
 In the middle of the town, there were dinosaur-like iguanas walking around.
 And there were also people mounted on their backs.
 
 In response to my voice, Johanna hung out from behind me.
 
 “Oh, those are monster tamers^[2].”
 
 “Monster tamers???”
 
 “Yeah. It’s the kind of job that tames things like monitor lizards and wild wolves and has them fight. You need a qualification and permit from the country in order to bring them into the town, it’s a really hard profession to get into. It’s also compulsory to use safety measures like footwear and restraints, so as long as they’re walking around like that it’s safe, so no need to worry.”
 
 Saying so, Johanna winked at me.
 
 Returning to my seat, I let loose a sigh.
 
 “So there was a country like this in this world. I had no idea.”
 
 Those words slipped past my lips.
 
 Including before my redo, I did not set foot outside of Heielland even once.
 
 Just how much of a frog in the well had I been?
 The world is so big.
 
 “I’m glad I came to this country.”
 
 Hearing me, Johanna grinned at me from the seat across.
 
 “The fun is just beginning. If you two are ok with it, I was thinking of guiding you to my alma mater.”
 
 “Your alma mater? You mean———”
 
 “The place you two will be commuting to and from, 『The Runefelt School of Sorcery』.”