As we drive out of the forest, I can see glimpses of our capital city.
''We're about to reach South Ayr.'' Justia announces.
The geography of our kingdom is pretty straightforward, I think. Although we named our country 'Kingdom', our territory is only one vast forest, bordering the empire and several other countries, and there's only one city in the huge forest, that's it.
The forest's name is Ayr, so the city is also Ayr. Our castle is in the heart of the forest, surrounded by a sizable ring of trees, then the city itself is also shaped like a huge ring, and the rest is just forest.
It's kinda like Attack on Titan, a bit. The royal family divided the city into four parts, East, West, South, and North. We're now heading to South Ayr.
As the car enters the city, Justia parks the car in front of one of the bigger houses and gets out of our vehicle.
''I think we should leave the car here and go explore by feet, Your Highness and ladies. It would attract too much attention.''
I was about to suggest that, too. ''I'm fine with it, how about you guys?'' I turn to my two companions.
''I think we should do that as well.''
''No objection.''
That's decided, then.
We start to get out of the car as well. Though I think our appearances will attract attention anyway.
Justia is looking very obvious already, her clothing screams royal guards as that's the only squad that uses green military uniform.
And then there's us, I'm wearing a white shirt with a beige skirt, Liana is wearing a white one-piece with the usual twin-tails, and Emy is wearing black short pants with a white shirt just like me.
But that's not the problem, the problem is our hair color, most normal elves have bright blonde hair, like Justia, other hair colors are only seen in high elves. My hair is somewhat fine because it's just a pale blonde, but those two with bleach-white hair and green hair, they'll get a lot of looks, I'm sure.
While I'm thinking that, Justia has gone over to a dude and is talking with him near the entrance of the 3 stories house.
Then she walks back to us.
''Please wait here for a moment, I'll go park the car in a secured location.''
''Sure.'' I reply.
After a while, she comes back to us, and we head to the city.
As we finally walk through the main street of the city, I can see many more elves walking around. It's not at the level of crowded, but definitely quite a lot.
And we also get looked at frequently, as expected. It doesn't seem like anyone in our party cares though, and I doubt anyone can do anything harmful to us.
To begin with, everyone here so far is looking pretty friendly, and second, Justia is a 3-Star Advance mage, that is very strong for normal standards.
Aside from that, I also notice that the buildings here are quite well built, most of them are 1 or 2 stories tall, but occasionally there are some 3-story buildings like the one before as well. All of them have green roofs though, unsurprisingly seeing they love trees and plants.
''Alright, what do we do first?'' Sys Liana, who has been walking silently with us for a good 2 minutes.
'''' No idea. '''' That's me and Emy. I have no idea what to expect, really.
Liana snorts. ''Heh, then let your older sister here guide you.''
Well said, the one who is significantly shorter than Emy over there.
So we follow little Liana for a while, and she stops at a jewelry shop. That's a good start.
''Let's see some jewelry first.'' And she goes inside.
Walking into the shop, I can see all kinds of accessories being presented behind glass displays, there are several rows of them, actually.
I saw quite a lot of jewelry shops earlier as well. That's probably because of 2 reasons:
Firstly, jewels and gems in this world are not rare at all like on Earth.
Subsequently, the big reason, is gems can store mana, so they're pretty much essential for mana users, hence why there are quite a number of shops. They made it into jewelry so that you won't have to hold a gemstone while fighting like an idiot, and also for aesthetic reasons, obviously.
Finding out what kind of gemstone would suit you is quite a daunting task, though. Every person has their unique 'affinity' for a type of gemstone, one could be comfortable drawing out mana from Sapphires, another could be adept at using mana from Aquamarines, things like that.
So usually you can have the shops provide you the service of testing with a minimal fee. I've done that already, I work best with Lapis Lazuli, so Lapis is 'my' gemstone, and hey, same color as my eyes, that's pretty neat.
I'm curious about those two gemstones.
''Hey owner, mind showing me some Emeralds?'' Liana talks to the shop owner behind the counter, who is a young woman. And she seems nervous as well. I don't know her age though. ''How about you two? You guys knew your gems already, right?'' She turns to us.
''Show me obsidians.'' So Emy's gem was obsidian, those really suit her, appearance-wise.
''Lapis Lazuli for me.'' I got Dad commissioned for me several pieces already, but it doesn't hurt to see more.
''Understood! Please sit at the table and enjoy some refreshments, I'll go prepare in the meantime.'' The nervous lady replies and starts to collect the gems from the displays.
So now we go to the table. Having sat down, me and my comrade Emy start to munch on the cookies while the other two are looking at us worryingly.
After my seventh piece, I can see the owner comes to our table and places a wooden tray, on it are 3 rows of 3 different gemstones as we ordered. She then excuses herself.
There is a reason as to why one would seek gemstones regularly, the purer the gemstone is, the better it's functioning as a mana battery. So always looking out for a purer gemstone than your current one is obviously not a bad idea.
There's a lot of confusion as well, a mage could have a lot of gems on his body because his gems were trash. Or he could be bluffing, or he was just overly careful. No one really knows.
When choosing a gemstone, usually feeling it directly is the best method, so here we are, touching and trying out different jewelry.
Mhmm, these are not quite as pure as the samples I got back in the castle, though, I think I'll pass. ''Nah, not feeling it.''
It looks like Liana also feels the same. ''The ones at my house are better than this, I'll pass.''
''This one is pretty good, I'll take this.'' Emy seems to have found a good one, a pair of obsidian earrings.
''Alright, Emy, let's go pay and continue exploring, then.''
''Mhmm.''
We walk back to the counter, then Emy places the earrings on the counter. ''Have these made into a bracelet for me, send it and the bill to the Campbell mansion.''
''U-Understood, I'm assuming you're lady Campbell, is that correct?''
''Mhmm.''
''I've received your order, the bracelet will be ready in 2 weeks, my lady.''
After that, we went to a lot of places, there was a kind of theme park, I had fun riding the rollercoaster, I bet one madlad from Earth invented that.
We also went to clothing stores and bought some nice dresses, and had lunch at a local restaurant, it was nice.
And now as we are walking on the street, something suddenly catches my eye. A hot spring. My Japanese blood is screaming for me to get into that ASAP right now.
''Hey, let's try the hot spring.'' So I call out to my party.
''Sure''
''Why not.''
Yes!! Wait for me hot spring, I'll be there soon.
The interior of the building is very Japanese-like, apparently, this hot spring is inspired by another one in the empire, another Earther, huh.
Liana immediately proceeds to rent a private hot spring, that's good, I like privacy.
I finished undressing first, threw a towel onto myself, and got into the outdoor hot spring. It's been a really long time since I've been to one, so I'm super excited, I'm definitely telling my parents to build one of these in our castle, but first, gotta wash.
Thinking that, I hear the door open again and I instinctively turn my head towards the sound to see Emy and Liana wrapped in towels standing there. Oh, and also Justia.
''Hey there, l-let's wash first.'' The reason why I sound weird is because I accidentally saw a bump below their navels, so they're really futanaris, huh... It's strange seeing one, I mean two in real life.
'''' Haaah. ''''
This is it, this is the feeling I've been missing. This one must be in the castle, at all cost.
''It feels so good.'' Says Liana
''Mhmm.''
''Haah'' Justia is melting.
So we had a wonderful time in the hot spring, then we decided to get home before dinner. Today was fun, very enjoyable. Maybe I should do this with these two more later.
The walk back to the car was pretty painful though.
As we drive out of the forest, I can see glimpses of our capital city.
''We're about to reach South Ayr.'' Justia announces.
The geography of our kingdom is pretty straightforward, I think. Although we named our country 'Kingdom', our territory is only one vast forest, bordering the empire and several other countries, and there's only one city in the huge forest, that's it.
The forest's name is Ayr, so the city is also Ayr. Our castle is in the heart of the forest, surrounded by a sizable ring of trees, then the city itself is also shaped like a huge ring, and the rest is just forest.
It's kinda like Attack on Titan, a bit. The royal family divided the city into four parts, East, West, South, and North. We're now heading to South Ayr.
As the car enters the city, Justia parks the car in front of one of the bigger houses and gets out of our vehicle.
''I think we should leave the car here and go explore by feet, Your Highness and ladies. It would attract too much attention.''
I was about to suggest that, too. ''I'm fine with it, how about you guys?'' I turn to my two companions.
''I think we should do that as well.''
''No objection.''
That's decided, then.
We start to get out of the car as well. Though I think our appearances will attract attention anyway.
Justia is looking very obvious already, her clothing screams royal guards as that's the only squad that uses green military uniform.
And then there's us, I'm wearing a white shirt with a beige skirt, Liana is wearing a white one-piece with the usual twin-tails, and Emy is wearing black short pants with a white shirt just like me.
But that's not the problem, the problem is our hair color, most normal elves have bright blonde hair, like Justia, other hair colors are only seen in high elves. My hair is somewhat fine because it's just a pale blonde, but those two with bleach-white hair and green hair, they'll get a lot of looks, I'm sure.
While I'm thinking that, Justia has gone over to a dude and is talking with him near the entrance of the 3 stories house.
Then she walks back to us.
''Please wait here for a moment, I'll go park the car in a secured location.''
''Sure.'' I reply.
After a while, she comes back to us, and we head to the city.
As we finally walk through the main street of the city, I can see many more elves walking around. It's not at the level of crowded, but definitely quite a lot.
And we also get looked at frequently, as expected. It doesn't seem like anyone in our party cares though, and I doubt anyone can do anything harmful to us.
To begin with, everyone here so far is looking pretty friendly, and second, Justia is a 3-Star Advance mage, that is very strong for normal standards.
Aside from that, I also notice that the buildings here are quite well built, most of them are 1 or 2 stories tall, but occasionally there are some 3-story buildings like the one before as well. All of them have green roofs though, unsurprisingly seeing they love trees and plants.
''Alright, what do we do first?'' Sys Liana, who has been walking silently with us for a good 2 minutes.
'''' No idea. '''' That's me and Emy. I have no idea what to expect, really.
Liana snorts. ''Heh, then let your older sister here guide you.''
Well said, the one who is significantly shorter than Emy over there.
So we follow little Liana for a while, and she stops at a jewelry shop. That's a good start.
''Let's see some jewelry first.'' And she goes inside.
Walking into the shop, I can see all kinds of accessories being presented behind glass displays, there are several rows of them, actually.
I saw quite a lot of jewelry shops earlier as well. That's probably because of 2 reasons:
Firstly, jewels and gems in this world are not rare at all like on Earth.
Subsequently, the big reason, is gems can store mana, so they're pretty much essential for mana users, hence why there are quite a number of shops. They made it into jewelry so that you won't have to hold a gemstone while fighting like an idiot, and also for aesthetic reasons, obviously.
Finding out what kind of gemstone would suit you is quite a daunting task, though. Every person has their unique 'affinity' for a type of gemstone, one could be comfortable drawing out mana from Sapphires, another could be adept at using mana from Aquamarines, things like that.
So usually you can have the shops provide you the service of testing with a minimal fee. I've done that already, I work best with Lapis Lazuli, so Lapis is 'my' gemstone, and hey, same color as my eyes, that's pretty neat.
I'm curious about those two gemstones.
''Hey owner, mind showing me some Emeralds?'' Liana talks to the shop owner behind the counter, who is a young woman. And she seems nervous as well. I don't know her age though. ''How about you two? You guys knew your gems already, right?'' She turns to us.
''Show me obsidians.'' So Emy's gem was obsidian, those really suit her, appearance-wise.
''Lapis Lazuli for me.'' I got Dad commissioned for me several pieces already, but it doesn't hurt to see more.
''Understood! Please sit at the table and enjoy some refreshments, I'll go prepare in the meantime.'' The nervous lady replies and starts to collect the gems from the displays.
So now we go to the table. Having sat down, me and my comrade Emy start to munch on the cookies while the other two are looking at us worryingly.
After my seventh piece, I can see the owner comes to our table and places a wooden tray, on it are 3 rows of 3 different gemstones as we ordered. She then excuses herself.
There is a reason as to why one would seek gemstones regularly, the purer the gemstone is, the better it's functioning as a mana battery. So always looking out for a purer gemstone than your current one is obviously not a bad idea.
There's a lot of confusion as well, a mage could have a lot of gems on his body because his gems were trash. Or he could be bluffing, or he was just overly careful. No one really knows.
When choosing a gemstone, usually feeling it directly is the best method, so here we are, touching and trying out different jewelry.
Mhmm, these are not quite as pure as the samples I got back in the castle, though, I think I'll pass. ''Nah, not feeling it.''
It looks like Liana also feels the same. ''The ones at my house are better than this, I'll pass.''
''This one is pretty good, I'll take this.'' Emy seems to have found a good one, a pair of obsidian earrings.
''Alright, Emy, let's go pay and continue exploring, then.''
''Mhmm.''
We walk back to the counter, then Emy places the earrings on the counter. ''Have these made into a bracelet for me, send it and the bill to the Campbell mansion.''
''U-Understood, I'm assuming you're lady Campbell, is that correct?''
''Mhmm.''
''I've received your order, the bracelet will be ready in 2 weeks, my lady.''
After that, we went to a lot of places, there was a kind of theme park, I had fun riding the rollercoaster, I bet one madlad from Earth invented that.
We also went to clothing stores and bought some nice dresses, and had lunch at a local restaurant, it was nice.
And now as we are walking on the street, something suddenly catches my eye. A hot spring. My Japanese blood is screaming for me to get into that ASAP right now.
''Hey, let's try the hot spring.'' So I call out to my party.
''Sure''
''Why not.''
Yes!! Wait for me hot spring, I'll be there soon.
The interior of the building is very Japanese-like, apparently, this hot spring is inspired by another one in the empire, another Earther, huh.
Liana immediately proceeds to rent a private hot spring, that's good, I like privacy.
I finished undressing first, threw a towel onto myself, and got into the outdoor hot spring. It's been a really long time since I've been to one, so I'm super excited, I'm definitely telling my parents to build one of these in our castle, but first, gotta wash.
Thinking that, I hear the door open again and I instinctively turn my head towards the sound to see Emy and Liana wrapped in towels standing there. Oh, and also Justia.
''Hey there, l-let's wash first.'' The reason why I sound weird is because I accidentally saw a bump below their navels, so they're really futanaris, huh... It's strange seeing one, I mean two in real life.
'''' Haaah. ''''
This is it, this is the feeling I've been missing. This one must be in the castle, at all cost.
''It feels so good.'' Says Liana
''Mhmm.''
''Haah'' Justia is melting.
So we had a wonderful time in the hot spring, then we decided to get home before dinner. Today was fun, very enjoyable. Maybe I should do this with these two more later.
The walk back to the car was pretty painful though.
