Chapter 64: Going Out Alone

After seeing off Stevie and the others, Lily murmured quietly.

"I’m worried."

Yeah, even though the command center led by the Crown Prince was caught off guard, the fact that they suffered heavy casualties means the reinforcement unit that just left is probably in danger too. Stevie chose to go, but it’s definitely not safe.

"I’m worried about the security of the royal capital," Lily said, thinking one step ahead. The royal capital? Why?

"The Knights aren’t the ones responsible for maintaining public order in the capital, right?"

Lily nodded.

"That’s true, but the City Guard handles security in the capital. Even they don’t have enough personnel."

"Really?"

"If it’s just small-time thieves, there’s nothing to worry about. But if a large bandit group is around, they might take advantage of the Knights’ absence and start causing chaos."

"Does that actually happen? Aren’t you worrying too much?"

"Of course, it’s best if nothing happens. I might be overthinking it..."

Hmm... Is this what they call raising a flag?

"Even if you say that, there’s nothing you or I can do about it, right?"

"Exactly. There’s nothing we can do."

"Can’t we send people from the Garden Maintenance Department?"

"Robby-sama seems to have overly high expectations of the Garden Maintenance Department, but most of its members are genuine gardeners."

"But what about the section chief... Lake, was it? He jumped all the way up onto the roof."

"That person is an exception. There are almost no other skill holders besides myself and Stevie."

"I see... Then it can’t be helped."

"Yes. At best, we can only focus on taking care of Robby-sama."

"So you’re telling me to behave myself?"

"That’s right. It’s fine to go out during the day, but please limit yourself to the noble district. Do not go outside the palace at night. Absolutely not! The most dangerous thing is thinking you’re safe."

"Yes, yes, I understand. So who’s going to be my escort for today’s outing?"

"I just finished night duty, so there’s no one available."

"Huh? What about Marin-sensei?"

"Marin-sensei? Ah, you mean Marin Brando from the Knights? She was busy preparing for the Knights’ departure last night and probably pulled an all-nighter. So please refrain from going out today. Alright?"

"Understood. I’ll stay quiet."

After being firmly reminded by Lily, I returned to my room. But there was no way I was going to quietly stay inside when I finally had a chance to move freely. What’s the point of not going out?!

And so, I left the room and climbed up onto the roof. What a refreshing view! I tried jumping around pyon pyon. It felt like I could jump higher than usual. Whoops, I got carried away and nearly messed up the landing.

I hopped pon pon pon across the rooftops, left the palace grounds, and kept going until I was outside the noble district. Since Stevie wasn’t here, I decided I should eat pudding in her place and headed toward the pudding shop.

As usual, a line of young girls had formed outside. I joined the very end of the line and then realized — I had no money! I had given all my pocket money to Stevie as a parting gift.

Gaaaaaan!! The sound echoed in my head. But if I didn’t have any, I didn’t have any. I was about to leave the line when the two girls who had spoken to me and Stevie before and even treated us suddenly spotted me.

"Isn’t that the blond guy from that time!?"

"It really is! You’re alone today!!"

Even without Stevie, their high energy remained the same. They had been near the front of the line, but they ran over to me and started chatting.

These two were cute and refined, which was nice, but facing them alone made me feel a bit intimidated. So I ran away!

"Ah! What’s wrong!? Let’s go together!"

"Please don’t be shy! Join us!"

Their voices called out from behind me, but I didn’t turn around and kept fleeing. I could hear them squealing "Kyaa kyaa!" but I pretended not to hear. I decided I would only go to that shop when Lily could come with me.

Today I decided to visit a place I had never been to before. Instead of the upper-class residential area of the commoner district, I stepped into the area I had heard was for the middle class.

The difference was immediately obvious: the amount of garbage. The upper-class area was so clean you could say there wasn’t a single speck of dust. People whose job was garbage collection even patrolled the streets. But in the middle-class area, there was no such service, so trash was scattered around. One thing different from Japan in my previous life was that there was almost no paper on the ground. Not zero, but extremely rare. Probably because it was expensive. Parchment was used as high-quality paper, while handmade paper served as the cheaper (though still not something commoners could casually buy) alternative. Industrial paper hadn’t been invented yet, and it probably wouldn’t appear until the Industrial Revolution happened.

Instead, the garbage consisted of wood scraps, cloth rags, small animal carcasses, and horse or donkey dung. Since carriages and donkey carts were common, dung was naturally scattered everywhere, but no one seemed to mind. People skillfully walked without stepping on it. The skill to avoid stepping on shit is truly impressive.

I didn’t have that skill, so I walked while carefully watching my feet. No matter how useful "Clean" was, I didn’t want to step on dung.

As I wandered aimlessly through the streets, I heard the sound of clashing metal. Drawn by the noise, I headed in that direction and found several men sparring with swords in an empty lot. The sound of blades colliding rang out pleasantly. They were swinging fiercely, sweat flying everywhere. A middle-aged man stood watching them.

He was probably their instructor. Curious what kind of person he was, I checked.

Bob Branning, 44 years old, Swordsmanship Instructor. Sword Skill 6, Combat Skill 5, Spear Skill 2.

This guy looked worth learning from. He seemed much stronger than most people in the Knights.

I wondered why someone this strong hadn’t gone with the subjugation force, but the answer became clear immediately. His left sleeve fluttered emptily in the wind. There was nothing inside from the elbow down. Meaning he had lost his left arm below the elbow.