9 Chapter 9

"Thanks for the food!"

Both Shizu and Igarashi clapped their hands together as they muttered, the coachman slightly taken aback joined them, though he didn't know why they did it, he considered it as something cultural, so he didn't mind.

"I must say, this was satisfactory," dropping his plate down, the man patted his stomach in satisfaction, grinning at the rare treat. When was the last time he had a meal this good, he mused.

Shizu, too, with a small nod, nodded in agreement, staring at Igarashi with a thoughtful expression.

She began to contemplate whether she should start living with him. While it was a simple dish like he said, she wanted to enjoy such satisfying meals every day.

Or should she kidnap—ahem, I mean, drag him into adventuring with her? 'No!' Shizu shook her head. She couldn't possibly do such a thing.

With a small sigh and shake of her head to remove such thoughts from her head, she turned towards Igarashi. "Thank you, Yuuto, it was delicious."

Since leaving Ruberios, Shizu had grown closer to Igarashi, now calling him by his given name, though Igarashi himself insisted she called him Yuuto.

Igarashi smiled back at Shizu, grateful for her appreciation as he got up in attempts to start cleaning up, but was stopped by the coachman who hit him with the "hollup, let him cook" pose.

"Don't worry about this, kid, you go have a rest. I'll take care of the rest." The man smiled, giving him a thumbs up and a wink.

'… Is he misunderstanding something?' Igarashi thought with a wry smile, before shaking it away.

"Alright then, I'll leave it to you," Igarashi replied with a wry smile before stretching his tired body and laying down on a long flat piece of wood Shizu had reluctantly cut down so they could improvise makeshift sitting arrangements.

Sure, it was a little uncomfortable, but he couldn't afford to whine yet. 'If only I had more convenient means.'

'Well, I can't rush myself,' Igarashi sighed as he looked up high in the sky. "Haah." Igarashi yawned, on the verge of closing his eyes, when he noticed a shadow alongside footsteps approaching.

"Yuuto, is it alright if we talk for a bit?" It was Shizu.

"Ah, sure," Igarashi responded, sitting up as Shizu sat beside him, both of them staring up at the starry sky.

"Now that I think about it, I wonder how my family and friends are doing," Igarashi mumbled, loud enough for Shizu to hear, his gaze still fixed on the starry sky.

"Suddenly, I returned home from school as usual. Since it was pretty late at night, I simply flopped on my bed, expecting to wake up tomorrow as usual…"

"…However, I woke up in this strange world instead," Igarashi continued, his right hand reaching up toward the sky as he reminisced.

"I was stranded somewhere close to the Holy Empire, and I was luckily found by Hinata-san."

"Else, I don't know what would have happened to me." He sighed wryly, and Shizu listened silently, turning her gaze to him before returning it to the sky.

"It must have been tough for you," she muttered.

However, Igarashi simply shook his head. "Compared to others who may have already had it worse than me, I don't really think I had it tougher than them."

Hearing Igarashi's words stunned her, leaving her speechless, fully drawing her attention.

As for Igarashi, he didn't think much of it, but he simply felt so; as for why he said those words, even he himself wasn't sure, but he believed it must be so.

It wouldn't be surprising if there were other summons who met their end before they began life in this world. In a way, one could say he was simply lucky.

"I see…" Shizu's voice trailed off, the words she wanted to say didn't come out, so she simply kept silent, her head down.

After seemingly getting herself back together, she glanced towards Igarashi, however, Igarashi was already dozing, his body swaying.

He had spent the afternoon stressing over his unique skill, so it was only natural.

"Haah…" Shizu sighed lightly as she adjusted Igarashi, laying his head down.

—Few days later.

Honestly, the author has no idea of how many days it takes from Ruberios to Ingrassia, but it should take at least a few days to a week or even more.

The carriage approached Ingrassia, taking the carriage line. There was a line for people, another for important people, and a third line for carriages.

"Boy, miss, we've arrived." The coachman's voice broke through to the back of the carriage, prompting Igarashi to glance out the window.

"Oh?" Looking outside the window, Igarashi couldn't get a full view of the city from outside because of the tall walls, however, Shizu grabbed his right hand, tugging it. "let's go."

"Ah, alright." Igarashi nodded as they both hopped down. "Don't worry, have fun, whenever, you're ready, I'll be around the post."

The coachman called out to Igarashi and Shizu as they walked away, with Igarashi nodding with a smile as they approached the security checkpoint, where they lined up.

—After some minutes, it was finally their turn as Shizu presented her identification card to the guards. Who raised an eyebrow as he inspected it. "Wait, you are…"

"It can't be!"

"The conqueror of flames!"

"Shizue Izawa!" The guards exclaimed in unison, their eyes widening, drawing the attention of others nearby and behind them. "Did someone mention the conqueror of flames?"

"Where is she."

"Look. That black hair, it must be!"

Seeing this, Shizu glared at the guards, which of course, they couldn't see as she was wearing a mask, however, Igarashi got the message. "Excuse me, if you wouldn't mind. There are others behind us, and we'd like to catch up with our carriage."

With a stern gaze from Igarashi and a nod from Shizu, the guards quickly acquiesced. "Ah, we're sorry. You can head in."

With a nod, Igarashi and Shizu passed the security check then proceeded to passing a small like tunnel, with a bright light at the end.

Coming out from it, Igarashi's eyes widened, as he muttered. "Are you kidding me?"

Raising an eyebrow, he looked around, "yikes." Igarashi mumbled under his breath, covering his mouth in slight frustration.

"Tall story building, glass displays, and the main castle with the lord of the ring's vibes, there's no doubt about it."

"Yuuto, is there anything wrong." As usual, Shizu didn't understand what he was talking about. During their time together, she taught him all she knew and her knowledge of this world.

However, there were some times he mutters a strange thing like manipulating the Eidos and its Logs, oxygen, then using carbon-dioxide or carbon-monoxide, and some other things she couldn't wrap her brains around.

Of course, Igarashi slowly explained everything to her later, but now, he's doing the same thing again.

Igarashi on the other hand was smiling. 'This place is a gold—no, a diamond mine, muehehehe.'

Even Ruberios isn't as developed as developed as this place. Sure, Ruberios had its own impressive architectural buildings, especially with the Holy Temple. But Ingrassia overall was just better.

'There's no doubt about it. Coming here overall was a good idea.'