Volume 5 - CH 18

Chapter 5-18 : Returning Home Ⅱ

When we came to this town yesterday, we left the village early in the morning and arrived in the afternoon. It took us about eight hours.

Today, it was already afternoon when we left Leonora-san’s store, so if it takes the same amount of time, we may need to stay overnight on the way because the road at night is dangerous.

However, I don’t want to spend the night outside with a cart full of precious materials because it’s too risky.

Therefore, I told Iris-san to prepare herself because we would be running faster than when we came to this town yesterday.

「Our goal is to get home before the sun sets!」(Sarasa)

「Aa-ahh… I knew it… I wonder if I can keep up with your speed with my current ability…」(Iris)

「Don’t worry. All you need to do is run one and a half times faster than yesterday.」(Sarasa)

「Ugh… It sounds easy but it’s definitely hard to do…」(Iris)

「You can do it, Iris-san! If you push yourself to the limit, you’ll get even stronger!」(Sarasa)

「Get stronger… Alright! I’ll do it! I’ll push myself to the limit!」(Iris)

「That’s the spirit! Don’t worry, we will run as fast as we can but we won’t overdo it. We’ll take a break and eat Filione-san packed for us at some point. Let’s go!」(Sarasa)

After encouraging Iris-san, I pulled the cart through the town gate and started running.

「Store Owner-dono, wait for me!」(Iris)

Iris-san then quickly ran after me.

Actually, Iris-san wouldn’t be able to get home before dark with her current body-strengthening ability, but since she has an affinity for this ability, I think she might be able to make it somehow if she pushes herself to the limit.

Walking down the street at night with a cart filled with valuable items can be very dangerous. However, that’s not the only reason why I want to get home before dark. The other reason is, of course, because I want to eat Lorea-chan’s food when it’s still warm for dinner!

After six hours of running while pulling the cart, we arrived at home right after sunset.

「Ah, Sarasa-san, Iris-san, welcome home!」(Lorea)

「Welcome home!」(Kate)

「We… We made it… Hahh… Hahhh…*heavily breathing*」(Iris)

「Well done, Iris-san! I knew you could do it!」(Sarasa)

「It was tough…」(Iris)

「Hey, Iris, are you alright?」(Kate)

Seeing Iris-san sweating a lot and breathing heavily, Kate-san approached her.

Iris-san then put her weight against Kate-san and hugged her.

「Kate, can you take me to our room?」(Iris)

「Geez. Are you a baby? What about dinner?」(Kate)

「I think I’ll skip. I don’t have the energy to eat… I’m sorry, Lorea.」(Iris)

「Don’t mind it. I will warm your food later so that you can eat it in the morning.」(Lorea)

「Thank you…」(Iris)

After thanking Lorea-chan, Iris-san closed her eyes.

Kate-san then carried her like a princess and took her upstairs to their room.

As for me, I went straight to the dining table and enjoyed Lorea-chan’s warm food.

◇　　　　◇　　　　◇

After moving the materials from the cart to my workshop, I immediately started working on making the necessary artifacts and equipment the next day.

I decided to make winter clothes first. Of course, the ones I will make are not ordinary winter clothes. They are actually artifacts.

First of all, I treated the sheep fur I bought in South Strugg to improve its quality and cold protection performance.

After that, I cut it into pieces to make coats, boots, gloves, etc.

I picked four pieces and handed them to Lorea-chan and Kate-san for them to sew the fur into coats.

While they were sewing, I moved on to the next task which was making snow boots from sheep hide.

I made snow boots that do not slip on ice and do not easily sink into the snow. It was quite hard to make but with these boots, we will be able to move around on the snow easily.

After I was done with the boots, I made winter gloves.

I made them thin yet warm so as not to interfere with our fingers movements.

After that, I made snow glasses with windproof and anti-glare functions from the materials I bought from Leonora-san.

Lorea-chan and Kate-san finished making the coats when I was done with the glasses, so I immediately added a heating function to the coats.

If we put on everything, I’m sure we will be able to work normally even in the coldest place in the kingdom.

「Phew… The winter clothes for the four of us are done… Oh, right! I almost forgot that I need to make sunscreen too! We are girls after all, so we need to take care of our skin.」(Sarasa)

The sunlight is strong on the snowy mountains. Moreover, the snow is reflecting the sunlight, making it even stronger.

Your skin will get tanned if you’re working on a snowy mountain for an entire day without sunlight.

「Considering we will be fighting monsters, I think we will need earmuffs.」(Sarasa)

Covering our faces with the hood of our winter coats will be enough to warm our ears and face, but it will narrow our field of vision.

Therefore, fighting while covering your head with a hood is a bad idea. On the other hand, earmuffs can protect your ears from the cold without blocking your view.

Of course, these earmuffs are also artifacts just like the coats, boats, gloves, and glasses, so they have some kind of functions that normal earmuffs don’t have.

The earmuffs I will make can reduce the sound of the wind and make it easier for us to hear things going on around us even in a blizzard.

「When the weather gets rough and the wind blows really hard, I think we’ll need a large dome shelter to prevent our Floating Tent from flying away in the wind.」(Sarasa)

While considering various things that might happen, I updated my to-do lists.

The longer I think, the more items that we might need come to mind.

However, I can’t just make all of them since the materials are limited. I have to make choices according to our priorities.

Therefore, I decided to make the essential items first and use the remaining materials to make other items we may need.

For the next few days, I kept working day and night, making all the necessary items.

Just like Iris-san when she did her best to run all the way from South Strugg back to home, I push myself to the limit. The difference was that I was doing my best with the transmutation work.