After that embarrassing episode, Keith suddenly collapsed in front of me.

It seemed that the escape he did while he carried me was very tiring.

Since sleeping without a pillow may hurt his neck, I gave him a lap pillow.

Throughout the night, as he slept, I thought about where and what we should do.

“I never thought we’d run away like this… I wonder where we should go.”

In the south, where the climate was warmer, there’s a possibility of finding a beach.

In the north, there was a country where beastmen and the like exist.

In the west, a school that teaches people magic existed.

The east was no good because it was currently at war against Celestines.

“The beach sounds good, so is meeting a beastman… but I’ve always been curious about magic.”

I continued stroking Keith’s hair as I thought of our future.

“If we’re talking about magic, there’s flying magic, teleportation magic and stuff like that. Isn’t that pretty convenient?”

I remembered some of the show that featured magic in my previous life.

I felt that it was the most useful out of the three, so I decided to go west and enroll in the magic school together with Keith.

“Now our only problem is food and water for our travel.”

“… Don’t worry….”

“Eh?”

I was surprised when I heard Keith answer me, but I found out that he was still asleep.

“Hehe… I never thought you had a habit like this.”

***

Morning came and Keith woke up with a really surprised face.

“D-did I fall asleep?”

“Nn, you did. You head was really heavy you know.”

“Heh?”

He became silent for a few moments.

When he finally discovered what he was using as a pillow, he quickly stood up.

He was really red up to his ears.

“S-sorry!”

“It wasn’t a problem.”

I slowly stood up and dusted the dirt off my clothes.

Keith started breathing deeply and when he was finally calm, he asked me a question while diverting his gaze.

“Uhh, do you have any destinations?”

“Nn… well, let’s go west. I heard that there’s a school for magic there.”

“Ahh, you wanna go to Austeria?”

I nodded to his question with gusto.

He then placed his hand on his chin and started muttering something.

“We can go there, but we’d need to go through a mountain pass. It’ll take a year to travel from here to there.”

“That’s quite far. How’d you know?”

Keith raised his face and stared at the sun for a few moments before he answered me.

“It was part of the training. We were told to memorize distances between cities so that we’d manage to come back here if ever we were separated.”

“Hee~, your training seems tough. I’m amazed you managed to do all those.”

Keith panicked and started moving his hands before he ran away.

“Where are you going!?”

“I’m going to gather and hunt for food!”

“Is that so? Be careful ok!”

“Oh!”

Seeing his silhouette getting smaller and smaller, I started thinking about other things.

(Hmm, since his very skillful, it seems like food and water won’t be a problem. Then the only thing we need is money huh.)

I searched my pockets if I managed to carry any and discovered that I only had 4 copper coins.

Though every country has their own measurements for Gold to Silver to Copper.

In Celestines, 1 gold is equal to 100 silver coins and 1 silver coins is equal to 50 copper coins.

“This is enough to buy us food and lunch in a town… I wonder how much Keith managed to bring.”

I sat under a shade for a few minutes until Keith came back with some fruits and berries.

Since he picked them, they must be safe, so I cleaned it using my sleeves before taking a bite.

“Then, can we go to Austeria to learn magic?”

“Yep, but do we have the money to learn?”

I nodded to his question and swallowed a mouthful of fruits.

“As we travel, we’ll sell the things you hunted to some merchants. Once we’ve arrived at Austeria, we’ll negotiate with them and become working students.”

“But will they accept?”

“I don’t really know.”

“Eh?”

I could understand why Keith was anxious.

Even I wasn’t sure if this method would work, but because we won’t lose anything even if we failed.

I decided to gamble our chances.

“We’ll know once we get there. For now, let’s get going while the day is still early.”

I stood up and started walking forward.

“Ummm… Eulalia, Austeria is the other.”

I looked at Keith and found him pointing in an opposite direction.

Who’d blame me if I was going the wrong way anyway, I’m not some survivalist.

I’ve only been a bullied student in my previous life and a slum girl who became a servant in this one.

So I’m not ashamed.

Turning 180 degrees, I followed Keith while he was trying his best not to laugh.

***

We continued walking for hours and there was still no sign of human civilization.

“Hey, are there any villages nearby?”

“Hmm… I don’t really know.”

Keith answered my question half-heartedly as he swung his sword to clear away the vegetation.

I didn’t become angry at him for answering me that way cause he was busy.

“I thought finding the way back was part of your training? How come you don’t know if there’s a nearby village?”

“Well, for one thing… we aren’t following the main road for traveling, so I don’t really know where we are.”

My eyes became wide when I heard his answer.

“Then, aren’t we lost!?”

“… not really, I generally know where Austeria is.”

“Really?”

I quickly moved in front of Keith to stop him.

I stared into his eyes as I waited for his answer.

“Really!”

Keith replied to me with quite a red face as he slowly backed away from me.

As he backed away, I saw him diverting his gaze away from me.

“Then why aren’t you meeting your eyes with mine?”

“N-nothing…”

I narrowed my eyes and emitted a threatening aura to him.

“You’re lying! We’re lost aren’t we?”

“I said that we’re not lost!”

“Then tell me why you know where Austeria is?”

Keith pointed his finger to the sun in response to my interrogation.

I scowled and stared at the sky.

“Umm, the sun rises up from the east. Using that, I managed to learn where it is.”

It took me a while before I understood his answer.

Discovering that I was wrong, I quickly apologized to him.

“I’m sorry, I was just really insecure… it’s my first time traveling through a forest.”

“That’s okay… it’s my first time too.”

“Huh?”

Since he was moving so naturally, I thought that he was already used to moving through a forest.

“It’s cause I’ve been training.”

I covered my face with my hand and started laughing.

“Hahaha… I can’t believe it… I thought you were already a veteran… haha…”

Keith became red and started scratching the back of his head.

After a few minutes of laughing, I finally managed to calm down.

“Then I’ll believe in you, Keith. Show me the results of you training.”

“Oh!”

As he replied to my request with an enthusiastic shout, I was really glad that he was a friend I could show all my good sides and bad sides.

Being this open to somebody feels really great.

Spoiler :

Hey there, I'm back... I could post any stories last week due to some festivities relating to Easter. ^^

Also, I'm really happy that I'm finished with those five heavy chapters. In the original, it was Chapter 29 to 31. From Kidnapping to With the moon and the lake. ^^

Since, I'm done with those heavy ones, I can finally rest easy. Though I was a bit hurt in the last comment of chapter 5, but what he does say was true and I know that I was at fault... T^T

Well, that's it for now, btw, I'm gonna post a chapter everyday for nor. I don't know when my chapters would become irregular again though :D