Which reminds me, I heard that sea-going ships had cloth attached and no oars but it seems river ships do the same, too.
The “White City” is the Olga Federation capital and because the official name changes with each successive king so it seems to be called with its nickname.
Celia seems to be seeing the river and boats for the first time and even talked to Nonna who she doesn’t usually get along with, how admirable.
It’s my first time, too but I’m not going to raise a fuss about it.
There were lots of shops lined up along the riverbank, and there’s a wide variety of them, too.
From fruits I’ve never seen before to handicrafts, as expected from a foreign trade post.
Nonna picked up a small yellow fruit and said “this is delicious you know”, so we bought a few.
Seems they’re called “mandarins”.
I had her peel the rind with her slender fingers and put it in my mouth. It had a strange taste, sweet and yet sour.
Celia happily stuffed her mouth with it too, but Nonna didn’t partake.
As a town with a trade port and a logistical base for the locality, there were many traders who set up shop at Elektra, their numbers rival Gordonia.
Then the reason we were now visiting a shop was to trade the wagon in.
The wagon had been useful to us up until now, but they’ll get in the way if we were to go on a ship, and as we go west we would draw near the capital so there would be transport facilities like stagecoaches there.
But most of all, unlike a single horse like Schwarz, a wagon that takes up a road lane would be restricted for entry to developed towns.
It would’ve been fine if we only had to pay a fee, but Nonna said there were towns where they were only allowed for nobles and traders who own stores.
The wagon was convenient if we had to sleep outdoors but then we had to sleep outdoors with it, which would be putting the cart before the horse.
“Two mares and a medium-sized wagon, right? The items were quite good but they were well used so I can only offer this much …”
I was going to say that’s fine but Celia interjected.
“Aegir-sama. If it’s just that much then that other store buys for more”
Though this is the first store we came to.
“Please wait! In consideration for the lovely young lady…”
In the end the two mares go for 5 gold and the wagon for another 5; they fetched quite the price.
Celia was worried that Schwarz who had seem to like the mares would sulk but he doesn’t seem to be interested.
“He’s loyal to master, isn’t he”
So Celia said, but I knew better.
He had already copulated with both the mares before we came here.¹
Seems like he’s no longer interested in them once he’s banged them once.
Really, what a ridiculous horse.
¹ «TN: My headcanon says this happened while Egg was banging Arisa and Collette – Like horse like master»
Now all we need to do is get on a boat due west, but both Nonna and Celia were tired from the long trip and it’d be better for Schwarz to get a change of horseshoes and rest as well.
Elektra was lively and had lots of people so there were proportionally many inns.
There stood inns ranging from low quality rowhouse-like ones to high class temple-like inns.
My creed is to not spare any expense for women, food, and lodging, so I thought to pick the best inn but Nonna tearfully shook her head.
Looks like high-class inns would be inconvenient for her.
In the end the three of us stayed in one that costs two silvers per person per night.
Celia was the one who said so but it seems that this was still incredibly high-class.
The first floor was a dining area and bar-room like the hard-boiled pavilion but the food there were higher-class.
But then again the food Andrei makes might have been better.
The rooms’ decor were also beautiful, the beds are large and clean.
But the best thing of all was that they have bathtubs in the inn.
It was of course a large bath where all the inn’s guests bathe together but being able to enjoy dipping in warm water is the best.
“Now then, since we’ve got the luggage out of the way, should we head for the baths?”