The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Noble in a World with a Skewed Gender Ratio - 9

Chapter 9: Off to Rainrose Castle!

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It took us about a week to reach the royal capital from my village. We finally arrived after passing through several small towns and villages along the way. During this journey, I met the first man I had ever encountered in this world in one of the villages we stopped by. He was quite elderly and he was the feudal lord of this village. Furthermore, since he was a man, he held a title equivalent to that of a duke. He wasn’t the type to abuse his power though. He was very kind and friendly.

I hoped we could visit that village again on our way back from the royal castle to our village. I wanted to have a long and leisurely conversation with him. After all, I didn’t get the chance to talk with him when we were on our way to the Royal Castle. 

We passed through the town gate and upon looking up, I could see the royal castle looming above us. The castle was huge! Just like the castles I often saw in movies. The road extending from the town gate was wide and beautifully paved with stone and brick. Large house lined up along the road. The number of people in the royal capital was incomparable to the countryside.

“Isn’t it amazing, El?”

“Yeah. That’s the castle, right?”

“Yes. It’s big, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. The castle looks really magnificent…”

“Allow me to lead everyone to the inn first.”

Upon arriving at the castle town, we followed Erin-san’s lead to the inn. As soon as we entered the room, Mother dived right into the bed. Everything that Mother did was always adorable to see…

“Hahhh~ The journey to the royal capital is so long and arduous~”

“It takes a week just to get here…”

If only we had a car in this world… The modern world in my previous life was really convenient…

“Perhaps it’s because Madam doesn’t exercise enough?”

“Wait, Miinya?! You’re supposed to agree with me there! Not telling me to exercise!”

“If I agreed, Madam would exercise even less. Hence why, I absolutely won’t agree with you.”

“Buu!~ Buuuu!~”

“Now then, let’s leave the buu, buu, Madam aside… El-sama?”

“What is it?~ Miinya?~”

“Would you like to take a look around the castle town?”

“Can we?! I would love to!”

“Understood.. Letty, Rinrin, please take care of Madam.”

“Hm. Understood…”

“Leave it to us-aru!”

“Be careful, okay? Well, I guess I don’t need to worry about that since Miinya is with you…”

It looked like the two maids would stay at the inn to take care of Mother. She looked really exhausted after all. But still, I wondered why she said there was no need to worry about ‘that’ since Miinya would be accompanying me? Well, I guessed I would find out why in due time.

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Leaving the inn, Miinya and I walked along the main street. Various shops lined up the street, selling things like fruit, vegetables, weapons and many more. I felt a bit tempted to take a peek into the weapon shop.

I’m a boy after all~♪

“Miinya.”

“What is it?”

“Can we go to the weapon shop?”

“Fufu… Of course.”

I stepped into the weapon shop together with Miinya. The store was packed with swords, spears, axes and many more. Everything looked incredibly cool! Just looking at the goods displayed here was enough to make me feel excited!

“Welcome… Wait, you’re a boy?!”

The one who spoke to us was a woman in her 30s. She was probably the shop owner. I looked at Miinya’s face and she nodded at me. This was a signal that I was allowed to speak as I pleased. 

“Yes, I am.”

“Could it be… You’re that rumored son from a duke family?!”

“We’re not sure what kind of rumor you’re talking about, but we’d like to browse your store like a regular customer if that’s alright with you?”

“O-Of course! Ah, I mean… Certainly.”

I see… If I say the same thing that Miinya just said, the shopkeeper would treat me like an ordinary person too… What a valuable learning experience…

“If you’d like… Would you like to see the sword for children? The one for self-defense, of course.”

“Absolutely!”

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I ended up getting a little bit too excited in the weapon shop, but Miinya seemed to be in a good mood throughout the time. I wasn’t sure why… Of course, I bought one sword meant for self-defense too. I doubt I would get the chance to use it. Well, I hoped I wouldn’t need to use it, but just having a sword latched on my hip made me feel like the protagonist of a game. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say my excitement was at its peak. 

After leaving the weapon shop, we continued wandering around to look at various shops in the town when suddenly… I noticed a girl about my age crying all by herself.

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T/N: First encounter! (૭ ｡•̀ ᵕ •́｡ )૭