Vermillion

Chapter 24 – Part 2

Yulia

Editor: ShinonomeResearchLabs, Proofer: Hakou

When Kei returned to camp, Aileen was already awake. “Guten morgen, Kei!” She greeted with her usual charm.

Although Kei was relieved that everything felt the same, he couldn’t completely wipe out his feelings of anxiety, and awkwardly returned a “good morning.” But, perhaps he was overthinking what Alexei had said.

After having a light breakfast, the caravan set off again.

According to Holland, the goal was to pass through the next village quickly and reach the lakeside town called Yulia by the end of the day.

Same as yesterday, Kei held onto Sasuke’s reins next to Pierre’s carriage at the rear. Aileen was riding Suzuka as usual, with Alexei walking and alongside her while talking.

“ … ”

Kei just silently took it all in.

Two hours later, the caravan arrived at the next village.

It was almost midday by then, and it appeared that they would stay for an hour or so to do business with the villagers. However, Pierre said that the village was not an ‘enticing’ business partner, since trading with them was basically charity in the form of goods distribution. As such, they would leave as soon as the transactions were complete.

Of course, while in the village, it was leisure time for the guards. Kei got permission from Dagmar and decided to go to the nearby field with his Dragon Stinger in hand.

“Kei, where are you doing?”

“Just doing a little hunting for lunch. If I don’t use my bow often, my archery skills will become dull.”

Kei was interrogated by Aileen as he was trying to mount Sasuke. Answering as frankly as possible, he left the village quickly so that she could not discern his agitation.

If he took too much time, he might make the whole caravan wait. Thus, three wild hares and a bird that looked like a large dove later, he returned to the village after first draining them of blood.

Aileen, who Kei had expected to be speaking to Alexei, was instead lying in the shade of a tree, taking a nap. Alexei was near the riverbank eating a fruit resembling a loquat which he appeared to have bought in the village. Even though he was the one that went out hunting alone, Kei was still relieved that everything was normal, and with that, handed the prey over to Heidimarie.

“ …What’s up, Kei? You’re lookin’ pretty down.”

While he was resting near Sasuke, a red-faced Dagmar approached him cheerfully. There was a small bottle in his hand, and if one were to get close to it, it would smell of sake. Apparently he was drinking the alcohol directly.

“It’s still noon you know. Is it ok to be drinking at this hour?”

“Whaaat, it’s fiiine. We’re not reaching Yulia anytime soon anyway, and besides, there’s neither thieves nor beasts around here.”

“ …You’re gonna fall off your horse.”

“Gahaha, I won’t get drunk to that extent!”

Dagmar bravely laughed off Kei’s concern. However, despite his reassurance, it seemed that the man was pretty far gone already. Is he weak against alcohol?

(As I thought, dealing with drunk people are troublesome… )

Well, since Kei had nothing else to do, he decided to humor him.

“So, Kei. Are you going to ‘hire’ someone in Yulia?”

“ …Hire what?”

“ Hire what,’ he says… You know what I mean!”

Dagmar laughed teasingly at a puzzled Kei. The latter wasn’t sure what to do, so he simply looked up blankly at the sky.

“What? Don’t you know? Yulia is a town where strong sailors and mercenaries gather. Where men gather, so do women… The red-light district! I’m talking about the red-light district of course!”

At this point, the meaning of the word ‘hire’ immediately became clear.

“ …Isn’t that a bit sudden?”

Although Kei maintained his calm facade, he did so with difficulty as it couldn’t be said that he had zero interest in it.

“Sudden? What are you talking about? Everyone else was looking forward to it, y’know? I’m sure you, too, have things that’ve been ‘accumulating’ in more than one way. I’m just lending a helpful hand as your senior. Guhehehe… ”

Dagmar gave a meaningful look in Aileen’s direction, the person in question being in the middle of a nap.

“ …It’s okay, I’m good. I appreciate the notion though.”

Rationally speaking, the first thing that would come to mind would be STDs, but Kei kept that to himself, and refused politely.

“I know a mighty fine inn that has a pretty good line up of women but….”

“That’s not something I would need, so don’t fret about it.”

“Is that so… ”

Dagmar, who took another swig from his bottle, looked upon Kei with a pitiful expression.

“I had suspected it might be the case… So, you’re impotent?”

“That’s not the case!”

As Kei argued with Dagmar, the time to depart arrived once again.

???

A few hours after leaving the village, the caravan took a lunch break before heading straight to Yulia.

The terrain gradually became more rugged as they moved north. Grasslands turned to plains, plains to hills, and the Morula River began to meander gently too.

As expected, Dagmar was vulnerable to liquor and was wobbling on his horse. However, the part that he did get right was that there were no obstacles on this stretch of their journey. By the time the sun was beyond the horizon, the group had arrived at the lakeside town of Yulia.

The most obvious feature of Yulia is evidently its neighboring lake, Lake Schnapeia. As the point where the Morula River from Satyna and the Aria River from Uruvan intersect, it is a key hub of transportation as both a temporary storage for goods as well as an entertainment center for sailors and merchants.

Due to the nature of the town, it was a lot more open than Satyna and did not have a castle stronghold. In addition, since the red light district occupies most of the town and the number of guards is small, it left something to be desired in terms of security.

However, the local lord has a castle on the rocky mountain near the lake jam packed with Yulia’s knights and mercenaries, so they were fully prepared for an emergency.

“Well then, the day after tomorrow, we will meet at the plaza when the bell strikes twelve. Disband!”

The aforementioned plaza was located near the town’s outskirts. Following Holland’s instructions, the mercenaries scattered throughout the town to carry out their personal activities. The caravan will stay in Yulia for two days. During that time, the mercenaries will each have to find an inn to stay at as an out-of-pocket expense.

“Alright then, Kei. Let’s head head off too.”

“Ah, right… ”

Kei was forcibly pulled by Aileen towards the commercial district. Of course, Sasuke and Suzuka came with them.

“Now, to find a modest inn with a stable… ”

Kyoro kyoro. Aileen strolled about looking around for her target. There were many buildings labeled “Inn” in the commercial district where such businesses congregated. So much so, that it was difficult to pick any one of them because there were so many.

“I have no idea what to pick. Should we have asked Mister Holland?”

“Perhaps.”

Hearing Kei’s dry reply, Aileen wondered if she had rushed too much.

In the end, they decided to splurge a little and choose a small and beautiful inn sporting a plaque showing a goose along with lots of showy ornamentation.

“Welcome to the Golden Goose Inn. Is it just the two of you?”

From the far end of a reasonably clean lobby, doubling as a tavern, a middle-aged woman, who also seemed to be the landlady, greeted them with a professional smile.

“Ah, yes. That and two horses.”

Leaving their mounts to the handmaid, they decided to book a room right away.

“So, how many rooms are available?”

Prompted by Aileen, the landlord opened the ledger. Kei’s face was colored with apprehension.

“So… There’s a twin room and a suite… and two single rooms as well.”

At the landlady’s words, Kei nodded self-satisfyingly (gottem!).

“Well then, the—”

“Two single rooms please.” (ED/PR Note: Why u do dis, Kei!?!?)

Before Aileen could finish, Kei interrupted her. Looking between the two of then, the landlady tilted her head confusedly as asked,

“Isn’t a twin room better for you two?”

“No, I’m fine with a private room… Right, Aileen?”

Kei looked towards Aileen for confirmation, who frowned a little.

“ …Mhm. That’s fine, but… ”

“Two singles it is.”

Kei looked a little relieved, and put money for two days on the counter.

(Now I can finally be alone… )

Not that he took Dagmar’s words to heart, but to be honest, Kei was pretty backed up and was dying to relieve himself.

(If we had chosen a double room, it would be pretty hard to do… )

Besides, the twin room variety was dangerous. They had stayed in the same room in Satyna the whole time, and in the last few days, they’d been sleeping in the same tent: Kei’s rationality was approaching the breaking point. With the added stress from Alexei, if the situation continued, he might just lose himself to a sudden impulse.

If that were the case, his friendship with Aileen collapsing would just be the tip of the iceberg—it was scary just thinking about it.

(Originally, we got a twin room in Satyna because there were no single ones… However, I still have an obligation to protect Aileen from the beast inside of me… )

When Kei was thinking about such things with Aileen beside him who made an expression as if she still can’t wrap her head around it.

“Aileen!”

A familiar husky voice resounded. Kei and Aileen both hurriedly looked back at the same time.

And there stood Alexei, luggage in tow, sporting a beaming smile—

“S-sup.”

“What a coincidence, Aileen! I was just about to book this inn too.”

“O-oh, I see.”

Grabbing their luggage, Kei and Aileen quickly ascended the stairs, all the while ignoring Alexei’s “ah, wait up!,” escaping to the safety of one of their private rooms.

“ …What’s up with him… ”

Aileen had an exasperated look as she sat on the bed.

“ …Is he a nuisance?”

“Y-yeah. It’s kind of annoying.”

Hearing Aileen’s blunt answer, he muttered a “is that so… ” while trying to keep calm about it.

“But haven’t you two been talking a lot lately?”

“It wasn’t a big deal really.”

To Kei who spoke as if trying to get something out of her, Aileen slightly shrugged her shoulders and continued,

“Well, rather than that, Kei, how about we explore the town! I saw a stall that sold horses just now!”

Kei, who was hungry, thought it was a good idea, and agreed to go with her. They encountered Alexei in the inn’s lobby who wanted to join them, but Aileen politely refused him, and the pair left by themselves.

“There’s a good smell coming from over there.”

“We have plenty of money. Should we treat ourselves?”

Kei looked like he was having fun while messing around with his purse. The duo were unarmed since they were in the city, but Kei still wore his dragon scale armor around his torso just in case and distributed their purses and valuables throughout his body.

Yulia was a much smaller town than Satyna, but because of its high population density, there were many people in the streets. Many pedestrians means many pickpockets. Since Kei was good at [passive sense], he won’t be robbed easily, but sometimes things still happen. As such, he put into practice for the duration of their stay at this town the ironclad rule of traveling abroad: “valuable goods are to be dispersed.” (ED Note: I can’t remember if “passive sense” was a skill, so if you happen to remember, please help.)

“So, where is that stall?”

“Well, surely it was here… ”

As they were walking together around the shopping street, cheerful music could be heard playing. Upon a closer look, there was a crowd of people at the small square at the end of the street.

“That’s… ?”

“Let’s go look!”

Aileen pulled on Kei’s hand and charged into the crowd. Kei had refrained entering large gatherings of people in order to avoid pickpockets, but now had no choice but to follow.

Gui gui. Pushing aside their fellow curious onlookers, when they reached the center they saw—

“ …Street performers?”

Aileen muttered to herself.

In the square were entertainers dressed in elaborate clothes and playing musical instruments like flutes and drums.

At the center of it all was a dancer whose body flowed in tandem with the cheerful music. She moved about fluidly while shaking her hips, her bewitching eyes gazing out towards the onlookers.

Her appearance too was sensational to say the least. Far from half-naked, one could say she was almost entirely nude. Although her crotch was covered with a miniature pareo, her sculpted upper body had only her own flaxen hair and a thin cloth to maintain decency, with both articles of clothing being diaphanous at best. The fact that those were swaying along with the rhythm didn’t help her modesty in the slightest. No, rather, it’s more accurate to say that she was purposefully shaking her assets.

Copper coins were being thrown into the flat plate in front of the dancer by the crowd. As vulgar cheers flew about, the dancer, smiling mischievously, made provocative gestures to emphasize the alluring parts of her body to the audience. The men only became more turned on by this, and thus, cheered even louder. All in all, the entirety of the audience’s male demographic had perverted expressions on their faces.

Unfortunately, Kei was also part of said demographic.

Well, it’s unfair to blame Kei, after being abstinent for the past few days, for letting his eyes wander in such a situation.

But still, a strike is a strike.

“ … ”

Apparently Kei had forgotten the existence of a girl named Aileen, who had an incensed look on her face.

“ …Hm? Eh? Aileen?”

By the time Kei noticed, Aileen was nowhere to be found. (PR Note: You’re done it Kei, well done.)

Editor’s Note:

Hey! It’s an actually somewhat timely chapter! I have a lot more time now that school is out, so that’s a big plus. No more papers for me! Anyhow, this section was longer than I remembered it to be, but it’s here now.

Oh, also. This time, the button holds a surprise. The video is really interesting this time. You should really check it out. Like, seriously. Just click it already.

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