Published: July 5, 2025
From today, I will be posting for three consecutive nights.
Two travelers, two beloved horses, and five gigantic ice carts... an extremely large party.
From any angle, it can be said to be a very rare traveling group.
"Abel may be a wonderful king and a very capable swordsman."
"Uh?"
"However, in this border region, such privileged status and position don't matter. Everyone is equal here."
"O-Oh?"
"I've seen you glancing back at the carts multiple times, and I know what you're planning!"
"Planning?"
Abel tilts his head at Ryo's accusation.
It's only natural to be curious about the giant carts following them from behind and to look from time to time, so there's no particular scheme in his mind.
"You’re thinking of sneaking in and hogging all the contents for yourself, aren’t you? I see right through you!"
"I had no such intention at all."
"That's a lie! They say that heaven's network is vast and doesn’t let anything slip through. Bad things don’t go well."
"I don't know about this ‘heaven's network’ thing... but it's true that bad things don’t go well."
"That's right, that's right."
Ryo nods pompously for some reason.
"The cargo in those massive ice carts..."
"All of it is for Andalusia."
"Oh... at least make it for the ‘Andalusian people’."
"Well, fine. It’s cargo for the Andalusians, including Feiwan."
When Ryo says this, Andalusia and Feiwan make happy noises.
Hearing that, Ryo once again nods with an air of superiority.
"Ryo has it tough too."
"Eh? Why am I the one who has it tough?"
"The cargo is for the horses, so that means you won't get any food from it, right?"
"Y-Yeah, that might be true."
"Right now, hunting is easier because we still have the forest, but isn’t the area around the ‘corridor’ wildlands or desert?"
Abel presents information he heard before leaving the imperial capital.
Ryo's eyes widen significantly.
"If we starve, the Andalusians would be troubled too, so as an emergency measure, we should take some food for ourselves from here..."
"Are you going to take food from Andalusia and Feiwan?"
"Ugh..."
Ryo falls silent.
Abel isn't saying this to bully Ryo.
He simply wanted to hear what Ryo thought about food procurement for the future.
However, it seems Ryo hadn’t thought that far ahead...
"I guess there's no helping it. I’ll show you Abel’s true resolve today and tomorrow."
"...Huh?"
Two days later, the gigantic ice carts following the two travelers and their horses had increased to twenty.
They hunted and gathered fruits together... and this was the result of their food procurement.
"They’ve increased..."
"It’s just in case something happens. Besides, the carts just follow us on their own, so it doesn’t matter how many there are, right?"
Ryo shrugs at Abel’s candid remark.
"That’s true for land travel, but what if we have to take a boat, like when we went upstream on the southern river? We can’t ride them, so we’d be stuck on land the whole time?"
"When it’s a boat, only Ryo and the Andalusians will ride, right?"
"What about this cargo?"
"It’ll be in the river."
"Huh?"
Abel is left speechless.
In his mind, the image of twenty ice carts traveling along the riverbed flows.
"These are ice. Abel, do you know what happens to ice when it goes in water?"
"Um... oh, it floats."
"Exactly. These carts will float on the river surface and follow us... huh?"
"What’s wrong?"
Abel asks when Ryo suddenly goes quiet.
"On land, the wheels move to navigate, but they won’t move forward if the wheels turn on the water or underwater..."
Ryo covers his face with his palm.
He’s probably thinking, "Oh no..."
"We need to think of another way."
After a while, he raised his face and declared that.
"Well, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll need a boat, right? Besides, there aren’t any big rivers like the southern river anymore, are there?"
"That may be true, or it may not be. I don’t want to be in a situation where I have to say, 'I hadn’t thought of that' when the time comes."
"Y-Yeah, that’s true."
Abel nods, feeling pressured by Ryo’s determination.