The Southern Entrance, malbab.
This place, too, was a big city and had many things to see, but unfortunately, they didn't have ti to look around.
They transferred straight onto another train.
This ti, it was also a super-deluxe suite.
"Super-deluxe is really nice."
"There's no super-deluxe on the southern coastal train, so it's best to get so rest here."
"How long will it take from here to Bixoro?"
At Luca's question, Ottbo looked at the train ticket and replied.
"Around four hours."
"That's better than before."
"The central circular train can take a lot of ti depending on direction. The afternoon train only takes two hours to get here, but in that case, the next train's schedule doesn't fit and we'd arrive tomorrow."
It seed Ottbo had put quite so effort into arranging the schedule.
Luca slowly nodded his head.
"I see. Thank you for your effort in making the plan."
"Hehe, I'm used to train travel since I've done it a few tis before."
"Oh? That makes sense. You said your family made the trains, after all."
As ntioned before, the drive magic setting is an important elent that appears well into the latter part of the story.
But a curious point is that the Gress family—the original house of drive magic—wasn't really treated as sothing so grand.
'The protagonist didn't use the trains much, after all. Well... I just happen to use the trains made by the Gress family since Ottbo is with .'
The main protagonist in the original didn't even know what super-deluxe was, so it made sense that they didn't really use the trains.
'But it's odd the Gress family wasn't ntioned much even in the mid-war arc or the late regression part. Seeing as they seem rather influential now.'
The noble family mainly associated with drive magic in the original was the Chisel Marquisate.
They used a form of drive magic different from the Gress family.
'Co to think of it, the Traverse family, which is in a similar position as the Gress family, was barely ntioned in the original too. So, I guess it's not that strange.'
The Traverse family never played an active role in the original.
Even Wylde Traverse only showed up under the na of the Masked Knight Willow and didn't use the Traverse na at all.
'And according to what I've seen at the Academy, there's a huge number of families, so maybe they just couldn't all appear.'
There were a lot of marquisates I'd never heard of.
Not just from the Hernan Empire; there were tons of people from other kingdoms too.
'From the start, the protagonist's group was made up more of people from other countries than from the Hernan Empire.'
The protagonist's group had a bit of an underdog vibe.
Given that the protagonist was from humble origins, they were ignored by the nobles, and among those, it was the Hernan Empire's nobles who held the most power.
Naturally, the Empire-born nobles were perceived strongly as enemies.
'Even during the Aldnoa War, they didn't move to protect the empire, but for the Academy and the heroine.'
The Aldnoa War, started by the magic kingdom of Aldnoa.
Judging by the flow up until now, the Kingdom of Aldnoa must have already been eaten up by the Demonz.
Most mages seed particularly weak to the devil's whispers.
'At first, I wondered how a re magic kingdom would invade the empire, but they were ravaged by special armored soldiers with technology superior to the current empire.'
That was why drive magic was such an important setting in the middle-to-late original story.
Special armored soldiers.
The most important story of the war was how to break the drive magic used in those armored units.
'Well, that's a story for another ti anyway.'
It's not like they could do anything about the Kingdom of Aldnoa right now.
Even with all the running around during this festival, they couldn't stop Eltima from retiring as headmaster in the end.
'Maybe letting that happen was the best fate after all.'
Personally, Luca was satisfied that Herote beca the new headmaster.
He thought she'd be more reasonable compared to Eltima.
'Eltima was always a lone wolf, even in the original.'
No matter how much the protagonist objected, she'd push through, saying it was the will of God or whatever.
But the outcos were usually good, and she always tried her best and sacrificed herself, so she wasn't an unlikeable character.
'It'd be better for her to go and just make a Heaven's Door, anyway.'
It'd be nice to have, but not soone he wanted to be close to.
Luca shuddered slightly, then glanced at Ottbo.
"Hmm... Should I eat before sleeping, or sleep first and eat after I wake up...?"
Ottbo was deeply pondering such a trivial matter.
Luca gave a slight smile and walked over to him.
"Is there anything we can eat right now, Ottbo?"
"I'm fine, but Luca, you tend to eat more than I expected. Or... is that normal for soone with your constitution?"
"I haven't trained lately, so digestion isn't working so well. I'll eat later."
At Luca's words, Ottbo brightened.
"Sure. Anyway, when we get to Bixoro, we have to wait for the next train. Let's eat sothing more delicious there!"
"Hmm. I'll look forward to it."
The journey, which had started for other reasons, was now becoming enjoyable in its own way.
* * *
Ti passed once again, and the four of them arrived in the port city of Bixoro.
As soon as they got off the train, the salty scent of the sea tickled their noses.
"It's getting a bit hot."
"It's the southern region, after all. Still, it's pretty cool here because it's by the sea!"
There was definitely a difference in temperature.
But it wasn't unbearable.
"This is the famous seafood BBQ joint! They coat a variety of seafood and vegetables like corn or potatoes in seasoning and grill them!"
"Oh."
Ottbo guided them while looking at what seed to be a tourist map.
It really was delicious.
The spicy seasoning was quite stimulating, but familiar to Luca.
'Feels like I'm ho.'
It reminded him of the food he used to eat in Korea.
The Academy food had been so good he hadn't really missed it, but tasting this spicy food after a while did make him a bit nostalgic.
'Now I get why, in old novels, they always had a scene where soone made kimchi. I do miss it a little.'
Still, he had no intention of making it.
Too much trouble.
"The next train cos in two hours, so we can eat slowly!"
"If it's coming in two hours, it'll be evening."
"Yup! But the last train takes only two hours. We'll arrive at the mining city of Bizen by eight!"
It was a tight schedule, but it was a relief that they'd reach Bizen in a single day.
"We'll have to buy camping gear and rent an auto-carriage there."
"Yup. But being a mining city, it should be sowhat developed."
As Ottbo spoke, Hav, who was eating shrimp, turned to him slightly.
He seed about to say sothing but shook her head.
'He must know.'
It seed like Ottbo didn't know sothing.
* * *
"... It's small."
Luca muttered indifferently, looking at the first-class compartnt.
A small room with a bed, two chairs, and one table—that was the first-class.
It was better than just a room-type seat, but compared to the super-deluxe, it was shabby.
"Can't help it, Luca. They don't have the technology here to make super-deluxe."
"Isn't this train made by your family?"
"The trains my family builds are expensive, so they're only used in the central area or major districts."
He could feel the Gress family's technological prowess anew.
Luca sighed and sat in a chair.
"At least it's only two hours to endure."
"Yeah."
But enduring those two hours wasn't as easy as he thought.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
"... It's rattling."
"They can't control the vibration with the technology here."
"It's also noisy."
"With the technology here..."
"Tsk."
The train's shaking was worse than expected.
The noise was worse, too.
Ottbo spoke with a helpless look.
"Not many people co to areas around here for tourism except Bixoro. Those who do, use rented auto-carriages."
"I see."
"Just having a regular train instead of only freight trains is lucky. The freight ones are worse."
Luca sighed at the fact that there was sothing even worse than this.
"Urk! Uuurk!"
"H-Hav, hold it in...!"
Hav, who was in another compartnt, seed to be having an even harder ti.
Luca glanced at them through the window, then sighed.
"At least we're not sharing a room with them."
"Yeah, that would've been truly terrible."
"H-Hav, please, just endure!"
"Urk!"
"Hav...!"
It looked like a scene from hell over there.
"Ugh... I think I'm dying..."
"These two hours on the train feel longer than the nine hours in the super-deluxe earlier."
The two hours in the first-class felt longer than the nine hours they'd spent in super-deluxe.
They gathered their luggage and got off the train to look around.
"So this is... Bizen...?"
Luca clicked his tongue as he surveyed the area.
"What a terrible countryside."
"Haha..."
Compared to other train stations, 'desolate' was the only word that fit.
There were neither snack shops nor restaurants.
Maybe it was because it was late, but there were barely any people around.
"Is there only a single station worker?"
"The regular train for passengers only runs twice a day."
"Good grief."
There was a reason Ottbo emphasized catching the right train to get here today instead of tomorrow.
"So, for now, shall we find an inn and spend the night before moving on?"
"Let's do that. I don't think I can go any farther today."
Luca said, then glanced at Hav and Moula.
"Uuuu..."
"Hav... get a hold of yourself..."
Half-fainted, Hav was relying on Moula.
Luca clicked his tongue and looked to Bella.
"Bella, why don't you leave the luggage to us and help look for an inn? It might take us a long ti to find one ourselves."
"Yes, young master!"
Bella imdiately headed out of the station.
Ottbo sighed in relief.
"It's a good thing we have Bella. If it was just us, finding an inn would've been tough."
"To be honest, I'm not confident about booking a room myself."
"Hehe, you too, Luca?"
In the mories of Luca Traverse, he had never once booked an inn by himself.
Luca, who had rented a motel a few tis back in the modern world, was still a bit nervous as he'd never booked an inn in this world.
"Ugh... Where am I...?"
"You finally ca to your senses. This is Bizen."
"Bizen... so we made it..."
Hav finally seed to have recovered.
He glanced around, then frowned.
"The... person called Bella?"
"She went to find an inn."
"What? A woman went out to find an inn by herself at this hour?"
Hav was alard.
Luca looked at him quizzically.
"What's the problem?"
"Of course it's a problem! A foreign woman wandering around at night like this..."
Thud!
A crashing sound ca from sowhere.
Ottbo looked at Luca anxiously.
"L-Luca?"
"Hah..."
Luca sighed and picked up his travel bag.
"Let's go. Before sothing bigger happens."
"W-wait. Where's my capsule shooter?"
Hav hurriedly dug through his bag, and Luca looked at him curiously.
"What do you need that for?"
"To subdue people, of course!"
"You won't be able to subdue Bella with that, I'm afraid."
At Luca's words, Hav looked sullen.
"What... do you an?"
Thud!
Again, a loud noise rang out.
As everyone turned to look, Luca spoke.
"Let's hurry. Before Bella beats up everyone in this town."
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Yeah, Bella is the danger...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】
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