The Northern Journey Begins

Albert turned towards the sound, just as a figure collided with him, then swiftly ducked behind his back.

“Fú Nī Yà?”

“A-Aila, she’s gone mad…!”

Fú Nī Yà trembled behind him, her voice quivering.

“Mad?”

Hearing Fú Nī Yà’s frantic words, Albert turned his gaze, perplexed, towards the direction she had fled from. He watched as Aila advanced slowly towards Fú Nī Yà, an unsettling glint flickering in her eyes.

“Aila?”

“Eh? Little Albert?”

Albert’s call snapped Aila out of her peculiar trance, and she blinked, her gaze landing on the three figures before her with a look of utter surprise.

Instantly, she began to awkwardly poke her fingers together, mumbling.

“Well… you see… it’s just been a whole week since I last touched little Nī Yà… I just couldn’t help myself…”

Upon hearing Aila’s explanation, Fú Nī Yà cautiously turned to Mitchell.

“Mitchell… is Aila’s mind truly unaffected by her peculiar battle aura?”

Mitchell’s face was etched with a silent, exasperated frown.

Aila, however, let out a disgruntled shout.

“Of course not! I merely wanted to caress little Nī Yà! I need to recharge my Nī Yà energy!”

“What in the world is ‘Nī Yà energy’?! This isn’t some Japanese light novel!”

Fú Nī Yà retorted, her voice rising in exasperation.

Witnessing their squabble, Albert released a weary sigh. With one hand, he deftly grasped Fú Nī Yà’s collar, lifted her, and deposited her into Aila’s waiting embrace.

“Eh!?”

“Try not to break her.”

Having delivered his curt warning, Albert turned on his heel and departed, resuming his oversight of the relocation preparations.

“Albert! I’m not done with you—!”

“Little Nī Yà… little Nī Yà…”

From behind him, the girl’s desperate cries mingled with Aila’s blissful murmurs.

****

Approximately an hour later, Fú Nī Yà approached Albert, her complexion utterly drained.

Albert set aside the document he was holding and cast his gaze down at the girl.

“Is it over?”

“Heh…” Fú Nī Yà managed a weak, hollow laugh. “It’s over. Our association is finished. You’re free to scurry off wherever you please now.”

Albert remained silent, a faint, knowing smile playing on his lips.

‘Finished?’

‘How could it possibly be?’

The bond between them had long since grown too intricate to simply sever.

Following their conversation the previous night, Fú Nī Yà had forged a unique partnership with him: they would collaborate to bring her envisioned new world into being.

This pairing was truly singular. Albert, for his part, would never encounter another like Fú Nī Yà, someone capable of illuminating alternative possibilities. Similarly, Fú Nī Yà would be hard-pressed to find another noble like Albert, who, having witnessed a tragic future, was so determined to alter its course.

Albert gently pinched the hairband Fú Nī Yà wore—since her head itself was off-limits, this was the only acceptable point of contact—and then inquired.

“Have all those girls been settled?”

“They have.”

Shifting her focus to the pressing matter, Fú Nī Yà roused her spirits with a visible effort. “In total, twenty-three girls were released by Kǎ Dá Lā and subsequently taken in by us. Four of them were abducted and sold into slavery; they yearn for our assistance in returning home. The remaining nineteen, having been sold by their own parents, all expressed a desire to accompany us to Lusitania. Of these, eleven hope to live as ordinary citizens, while the remaining eight wish to serve as maids.”

“Eight? That’s precisely the number we require. Yet, they all wish to journey to Lusitania…”

Albert mused for a moment, quickly grasping the rationale behind their wishes.

After all, these girls were strangers in a strange land; the sole source of security they knew was Fú Nī Yà, who had rescued them from hunger and cold. Their desire to remain with her was, therefore, entirely understandable.

“By the way, what about those who are still recuperating?”

Albert asked.

Those girls had suffered severe abuse at Kǎ Dá Lā’s hands, and a week of wandering had left their bodies profoundly weakened. Seven of them, in particular, would require bed rest for at least one or two months, if not longer, merely to regain a semblance of health.

“I came specifically to ask you about this,” Fú Nī Yà stated, tossing the question back to Albert. “How do you intend to arrange for their care?”

“Is that the case?” Albert mused, stroking his chin. “If so, we’ll have no choice but to leave them here. Are there any among them who still wish to journey to Lusitania for a normal life?”

“Let me think… yes, two.”

Fú Nī Yà considered it for a moment before replying.

“Those who wish to return home should do so once they’ve fully recovered. As for those who prefer not to, tell them: ‘For now, you may serve as maids within this estate, and when the time is right, I will personally escort you to Lusitania.’ ”

“Okay.”

Fú Nī Yà assented to the plan with little hesitation, understanding full well that it represented the most pragmatic solution.

As for journeying north alone once recuperated? The bandits and brigands along the route would be absolutely delighted.

‘A chieftain’s wife, fallen from the heavens, no less!’

These girls were, by no means, unattractive—a fact that undoubtedly caught Kǎ Dá Lā’s eye. It was thus highly probable that any bandits or brigands they encountered en route would be more than eager to seize them.

In this unforgiving world, traveling in groups offered the only semblance of safety.

Once this matter was settled, Fú Nī Yà’s expression grew suddenly reserved, and she spoke with palpable hesitation.

“Albert… while searching for these girls, I encountered many vagrants on the road. Could we… of course, I’ll cover the expenses!”

“Do you truly wish for your debt to swell to two or three hundred thousand?”

Albert asked.

“Yes, I will repay it.”

The girl nodded with unwavering resolve. Witnessing her determination, Albert could only release a resigned sigh.

“Alas, we are still too weak to extend aid to such a vast number of people.”

“Is that truly the case…”

The girl’s spirits visibly sagged at his words.

“Indeed. If I were to truly gather all those vagrants and lead them north, it would undoubtedly stir up a great deal of unnecessary criticism among the upper echelons of society… a situation entirely unfavorable to us.”

“I明白了.”

Fú Nī Yà nodded, her expression subdued.

‘How could she not be aware of these harsh realities?’

Yet, the mere thought of those vacant, lifeless eyes filled Fú Nī Yà with an unsettling restlessness, prompting her to wonder if there might not be some miraculous solution.

Miracles, however, earned their name precisely because they were so elusive.

“Within five years, I promise, I will resolve this issue.”

In the end, Albert could offer nothing more than this somewhat ethereal promise.

Hearing Albert’s words, Fú Nī Yà offered a faint smile and nodded.

“Very well, Albert. I believe in you, and I believe in myself… don’t forget the promise you’ve made today.”

“…Of course, I won’t forget.”

Albert paused, then returned her smile.

With that, Fú Nī Yà waved farewell to Albert, preparing to convey his decision to the girls recuperating in their rooms and to gently persuade them to accept it.

Just then, however, she noticed something peculiar about the horses pulling the carriages.

“These horses… why do they have scales? And they’re so incredibly robust.”

Indeed, just as Fú Nī Yà observed, every horse in the team stood over 1.8 meters at the shoulder. Their hides were covered in layers of fine, dense scales, their limbs were powerfully thick, and their skulls had developed into a mask-like configuration, each beast weighing at least a ton.

“Horses? These are all Dragonblood steeds,” Albert clarified. “Their immense strength stems from the faint trace of dragon blood flowing through their veins.”

“Dragon bloodline?”

Fú Nī Yà’s lips twitched involuntarily.

“These dragons certainly aren’t picky, are they…”

“Indeed,” Albert responded, shrugging with a look of shared exasperation. “Especially since the advent of Transfiguration magic, those creatures have become increasingly… depraved in their pursuits.”

“What’s so problematic about Transfiguration magic?” Fú Nī Yà inquired, her curiosity piqued.

Transfiguration magic, as its name implied, was a school of sorcery capable of altering the physical form of matter.

The most renowned and simplest application of this magic was the second-tier spell, Magical Carrier Pigeon (TL Note: A spell that transforms a written message into a homing pigeon for automatic delivery.). This spell, which morphed a letter into a pigeon that would automatically deliver itself, was considered an indispensable incantation for any mage.

“Because Transfiguration magic enables dragons to assume the forms of myriad creatures.”

Albert punctuated his statement with a shrug.

Once dragons mastered Transfiguration magic, it was as if they had stumbled upon an entirely new continent of possibilities.

Given the inherently lustful nature of dragons, prior to the advent of Transfiguration magic, they were compelled to consider the vast disparities in size between themselves and their prospective partners. Their options were largely limited to mating with colossal magical beasts or employing spell-like abilities to assume elven forms before engaging with humanoid beings.

With Transfiguration magic, however, the constraint of size vanished entirely, opening up a spectrum of partners from the smallest ant to the largest sky whale.

Consequently, there was an unprecedented explosion in the proliferation of dragon-descended creatures.

One could only conclude that dragons had made an indelible, if unconventional, contribution to the biodiversity of the Iyetta Continent.

Having heard Albert’s rather unsettling explanation, Fú Nī Yà departed, her expression a bewildered mess. Albert, meanwhile, remained rooted to the spot, continuing to orchestrate the myriad details of their departure.

Approximately an hour later.

All preparations were complete.

A convoy comprising several hundred four-wheeled carriages stood arrayed directly before the manor. Roughly a third of these were laden with precious furniture, exquisite jewelry, and a staggering million ducat gold coins (TL Note: A ducat is a historical European gold coin, used here as a unit of currency.); another third held an arsenal of weapons and armor; while the final third was packed with various provisions for their journey. Only a dozen or so carriages remained designated for passengers.

The entire retinue numbered five hundred souls. Three hundred and fifty of these comprised Albert and Aila’s knightly order, with the remainder being carriage drivers and various household staff.

During this interim, Emperor Uther himself paid a visit, engaging Albert in a brief, casual conversation before departing.

Having settled the girls destined for the north into a designated carriage, Fú Nī Yà then entered the central carriage of the convoy.

Within the carriage, Albert, Aila, the venerable butler Wǎ ěr, and Martha Idis were already seated; with Fú Nī Yà’s arrival, they numbered five. Jo and Mitchell, mounted on horseback, rode as escorts to either side of the carriage.

The lead carriage began to move, followed by the others in a continuous stream, forming a winding convoy two to three hundred meters long, as they departed Saint Mir City in unison.

Their destination: Lusitania, to the north.