NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32: Trip.
Chapter 32: Trip.
*Celia’s POV*
After walking with Yona for a while, my anger with her quickly went away. But now I had no idea on how to break the deafening silence at the moment…
Celia: “Yona, you know, you could have just asked to join me, then I wouldn’t have been upset with you.” I say with a sigh.
Yona: “I realize that now, yes.” She said with a remorseful tone.
Celia: “Your silence tells me that your lies haven’t ended yet, right? What else are you hiding from me?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
Yona: “I do not wish to let you go to Leretia.” She replied.
Celia: “Leretia? Is that the human kingdom that you mentioned?” I ask.
Yona: “That is correct.” She said with a nod.
Celia: “And since that kingdom, and yours are against each other, you do not wish for me to go there, and somehow end up becoming your enemy?” I say with a thinking pose.
Yona: “…Those are my exact thoughts on the matter. Frankly, I am surprised that you were able to guess all of that so easily.” She said with a shocked tone and expression.
Celia: “In my last life, I was a teacher. Reading into what people are thinking just by looking at their facial expressions, and their body language, is something that I learned how to do a long time ago.” I say with a shrug.
Yona: “A teacher, huh? That would explain why you are so wise.” She said with a proud tone.
Again, why are you so proud of me? Am I your daughter, or something? Oh god… she totally sees me as her daughter, doesn’t she? Well, she is very powerful, so this is actually a really good thing.
Celia: “I assume that you came up with some way to convince me not to go to Leretia, right?” I ask with a curious tone.
Yona: “I did. Leretia, and a few kingdoms near it, practice slavery. I planned to convince you to go to a more morally right kingdom instead.” She replied.
Celia: “Yeah, that is enough to convince me. But do you have any kingdom in mind?” I ask.
Yona: “Depends. Either the kingdom of the Elves, Eloateilian, or a human kingdom called Tuseoun.” She said with a thinking pose.
While talking, we were still walking along the forest. I can only assume that Yona is so powerful, that most of the monsters don’t bother to approach us. As we haven’t come across any monsters so far…
Celia: “And Tuseoun is a good place?” I ask.
Yona: “It rests near the coast, on the complete opposite side of Leretia. Sailing off in the sea in my kingdom, we can safely sail to Tuseoun. As such, we have very good relations with that kingdom.” She explained.
Celia: “And slavery doesn’t exist there?” I ask with a serious tone.
Yona: “Unless you count paid maids and butlers as slavery, then no. It is straight ahead of the Elven kingdom, and nearby are a few human and demihuman kingdoms, so, many different races live in Tuseoun.” She replied with a smile.
Celia: “So, we are we going right now?” I ask with a head tilt.
Yona: “Near my kingdom, there is a town with a teleportation array. That is where we are going at the moment.” She answered.
Celia: “Teleportation array?” I ask with another head tilt.
Yona: “One of the people who could use the System, Pea, she was a wonderful sorceress. For free, she built the array, which connects to pretty much every major kingdom on this continent.” She explained.
For free? Yeah, no. Going by how Pea was a reincarnater, she more than likely made those array’s, just so she didn’t have to travel long distances all the time. I mean, that is what I would do if I was in her position.
Celia: “Cool… Now, shall we make our way there?” I ask.
Yona: “Yes. It won’t take that long.” She replied.
Thus, Yona and I continued on our journey. Of which was filled with us chatting about various things. Despite going this far, she is still quite tight lipped about her position, and who she actually is. Girl… just tell me already! The more you refuse to answer my curiosities, the more curious I get! Double curiosity, due to my child mind…
*Hours Later.*
The trip to Yona’s kingdom took longer than expected. This was due to how, even with the System, my body was still that of a child. As such, I had to stop every so often, to either eat, or get some sleep. Which made me feel quite embarrassed…
Yona: “See that?” She said while pointing at a town ahead of his.
Celia: “The town?” I say with a head tilt.
Yona: “We’ll head there, hop in a carriage, and then ride to the another city of my kingdom.” She replied.
A few minutes later, we arrived at the small town. I call it small, but I’d say that it was decently big town for a fantasy world in this time period. Well… technically, this is actually far in the future from my first life. But it goes without saying, that it is clearly in the medieval age at the moment. Though, it looked… off. Like it was slightly more advanced than it should be…
I followed Yona over to a carriage rental place. Oddly, we didn’t rent out a carriage at all… Once there, we just went straight over to a parked carriage, and got into it. The carriage was very regal, and should probably cost a lot of money to rent…
Did she plan this entire thing out even this far? Now that I think about it, the family emblem on this carriage, was the same as the badge that Yona gave me a while back. Ah, so then this is her carriage? I guess that is how she came to that forest?… Not like she would tell me, like I said, she is very adamant about not telling me much about herself.
Despite what I would assume from riding in a carriage, the ride was absolutely smooth. Maybe those other reincarnater advanced this world’s technology with their modern knowledge? Maybe… I think I remember seeing suspensions on the wheels of this carriage.
I don’t think that all carriages are like this. Yona’s was clearly very expensive, and she must be a part of a very powerful family. Even the seats were cushioned well. It was such a smooth ride, that I ended up falling asleep a few times. Since the trip to whatever city that we’re going to, took a decent while to make it to it. Even with a horse-drawn carriage.
Now at the city, rather than explore it, though I would have much preferred doing that, we went right away to the teleportation array. Said array was a giant circular structure. And it looked straight out of a fantasy world. Standing with it in front of me, I couldn’t help but be at awe of such a magnificent construction…
Celia: “Um… Yona?” I say with a nervous tone.
Yona: “Yes, dear… I mean, Celia?” She asked back.
Hey, I totally heard that! Fine. I just pretend that I didn’t hear you say such an alarming thing just now…
Celia: “Is there any reason why I can’t stay with you?” I ask with a head tilt.
Yona: “Yes. You must first become at least half as strong as me. If you choose to align yourself with my kingdom, a war is sure to break out. Until then, you should remain independent of any kingdom.” She explained.
Celia: “Alright… By the way, why did you have a carriage at the ready, when you can just use this array to get around?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
Despite this being a very normal question, Yona broke out into laughter… Girl! Why must you laugh at my expense so often? What is even funny about this!?…
Yona: “Sorry, sorry. Look around, do you see a line of people waiting to use the array?” She asked after she calmed down from her fit of laughter.
Now that she mentions it, there are only knights around the array. Not a single person other than us, and the knights, are here at the moment. But, why?…
Celia: “None at all…” I reply with a confused tone.
Yona: “I said that Pea made the arrays for free, right? Well, to use them, you must pay a fee. The fee goes to, well, it was assumed that it would go to Pea, but she was confirmed to have died.” She explained.
Celia: “So the fee just goes to no one now?” I say with a head tilt.
Yona: “That is what we assume. Anyway, the fee is very, very expensive.” She said with a sigh.
Celia: “How expensive? Ah, I have no idea what the currency of this world is…” I say with an embarrassed tone.
Yona: “The Goddess of economics has already established a single currency, that the entire world uses. It is called Celestium.” She explained.
Celia: “Is there any denominations for it?” I ask with a curious tone.
Yona: “Yes, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and finally, Orichalcum.” She answered.
Wow… how fantasy like… That Goddess must have been a weeb, or something along those lines. Actually, maybe it was just a coincidence? None of those fantasy like pieces of media survived when those beings invaded this world. It was unlikely that they read novels, manga, like that…
Celia: “And the price for one trip through the array?” I ask.
Yona: “It cost a minimum of fifty Platinum Celestium to take one trip. But the price depends on how far you’re going. For example, to send you to Tuseoun, since it is so far away, should cost one Orichalcum Celestium.” She replied.
Fuck… that is a very pricey indeed. That woman must have been very, very greedy… Whatever. Enough wasting time, I walked up to the array, while Yona input my destination in some weird pedestal thing. She gave me a nod, and then I walked into the array.
Inside the array, I felt as if my body was being torn apart, and I also felt like throwing up the entire contents of my stomach… Uh… you know, it has been like five minutes of this hell already... When the fuck will this teleportation actually end!?