Chapter 17: Along The Holy Sword Highway

Translator: Pielord Miniman
Editor & Proofreader : King of the End

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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Part 1

Time flew by and our 10 day stay passed in the blink of an eye.


The first day was a visit to the cathedral.
We took Zenith to the Miko and she used her power to hear what she had to say.
Claire was with us too, and half way she broke down into tears.
I almost did as well, bud seeing that Zenith was happy as always, I held it in.

While we were doing that the children seemed quite bored waiting outside, but we still had to meet with the Pope together with the Miko so we ended up taking quite a while.
The Miko kept bragging about her daily training routine and how slim she’d gotten and just wouldn’t stop…
The kids must really have been bored out there.
Apparently Aisha took Ars, Lara, and Sieg to see the Adventurers Guild HQ.
Going by the fact that they go back so late and Ars’s face when he got back, it looked like some problem had occurred…
But Aisha had probably already dealt with it.

But it didn’t seem that Lucy was mad at being left behind.
She and Clive were probably satisfied looking around the Cathedral together.
She might have liked the gardens or maybe Clive’s tour was quite entertaining.
And seeing that Lucy wouldn’t tell me the details it was probably the latter.
If I pressed it I might have gotten it out of her, but I held back.
In any case, I’d like for Clive-kun to continue to be sincere.


The second, third, and fourth days were spent giving various greetings.
Letting people know that the Dragon God’s subordinate was in Millishion.
The Holy Knight Captain.
Various members of the Latrea family. And of course among them was my aunt Therese. She’s unfortunately still unmarried.
After that was the formal audience with the Pope…

I met with the Millis Royal Family.
The 5th Royal Prince. And although he was a price he was over forty.
It was a real pain, but I eventually managed to secure an audience with the King in several days time.
For a greeting as the representative of the Dragon God.
Orsted had said, “It’s fine if you put off making relations with the Millis Royal Family,” but I asked him before and a simple greeting was fine.

I don’t know why he said that after hearing that we were going there for a holiday, but the original purpose was show the kids different parts of society.
I myself didn’t see any problem.

On the fifth day we delivered the doll to Cliff.

When we got there he had some good news for us.
In the last five years he seemed to be evaluated quite highly and they were considering his promotion to Bishop.
Normally that would be impossible as young as he is, but I’m sure there’s some kind of ulterior motive.

The parish Cliff is in charge of is in a particularly special location.
The southernmost point of the Great Forest.
When I went through it while traveling, it wasn’t a particularly important place.
But it seems that in the last 10 years the scope of the place has increases along with the number of people.

The city isn’t affiliated with any particular country or race, but when places get larger like that, people are bound to be interested.
And so, various representatives of different races have gathered there to decide all kinds of things.

The Millis Church’s representative is an Archbishop known as the Cardinals’ Dagger and part of the Demon Expulsion Faction.
He follows the Human Supremacy Doctrine, so not only is he against the Magic Races, but the Beast Races too. He’s a disdainful man, but he’s good at his job.
I’m sure he’s working to assure all kinds of things are in his interests.
But considering his personality, putting him there could cause problems with their relationship with the Great Forest.
But there are some especially extreme groups among the Demon Expulsion faction that welcome such a turn of events.

And so that’s why Cliff was chosen.
Because of his relationship with the Rudo Mercenaries who employ a number of beast races and one of the Beast Race Princesses.
He was well connected, possessed no prejudice and he was of the pope faction.
So they raised his rank and gave him the job of overseer.

Cliff seemed disappointed that he wasn’t chosen purely for his ability.
But regardless, after he finishes his work in the city, he’ll be a Bishop in both name and rank.
Once he becomes a bishop, his influence will increase, and if he can gain favour with the Elves of the Great Forest, the church may stand for him taking one as a wife.
If that happens he’ll be able to invite Elinalise and Clive to Millis.

And after hearing that much I was like “Then here’s your promotion gift!”
And took out the doll, but he got super mad.
Apparently if they knew he was with a woman at this time, it would be a big fuss.

That said, he didn’t completely outlaw the doll, so I think he might have been happy with the idea.
He seemed quite curious as to the details of its Magic Formation.

Well if it comes down to it we can always put some sunglasses on it and dress it as a man, like Sylphy suggested.
It has the strength to act as a bodyguard so I’m sure it would be helpful for Cliff in his line of work.
There’s no guarantee that that Archbishop won’t try to assassinate him.


Incidentally, when I returned that day, Claire was in quite a good mood.
Apparently Lara found her locket that she had lost a year ago.
It’s a good story.
A parent loves to boast about their kids.
…Although Leo was probably the one doing the searching.

And Roxy’s child raising motivation seemed to have increased.
“All the children will be at school soon, so I’m going to have to properly watch over them,” she said.
Roxy’s cute but she’s the type to worry too much when she’s enthusiastic about something so I’m a little worried.


Also, apparently Sylphy and Norn took Lucy and Clive to the Adventurers Guild.
Lucy talked about how wonderful their lunch was with a massive smile plastered over her face.
It seemed like she wasn’t that interested in the guild itself.


On the sixth and seventh days we walked around with no particular goal.
We went shopping and took the kids sightseeing.
We took a carriage out of the city to look around, we stopped at a nearby farm, we let the kids play in the river we came across.
We basically just did whatever we felt like.


The ninth day was the audience with the King.
The Millis King was a mild old man.
In Millis the Church holds most of the power so the Royal family is comparatively weak.
And because of my connections with the church, the meeting was simply a formality.
I would have liked to show the castle to the children, but I held myself back on that one.
…Well it couldn’t be helped.


Because we could say that we enjoyed Millishion to the limit.

Part 2

It’s now the tenth day.
Time for us to leave Millishion.
We’ll head north through the Blue Dragon Mountain Range towards the hot springs.

“There aren’t any monsters until we reach the entrance to the Great Forest, but I hear there are a lot of ruffians near the town stops.
Just you alone would be one thing, but to bring children along too, you’ll should be a bit more careful…”

Right before we left, Claire gave us a good mouthful.
When I was here last, she was reprimanding me for all kinds of things, but when we first arrived she didn’t say much, now, by the tenth day, she seems to have no problem scolding us.
Although she’s not unpleasant about it.
She probably finally managed to get a feel of the distance between us.

But right before we left, she turned to face Norn.

“Norn-san, this time around we didn’t talk all that much, but would it be alright if I said just one thing to you?”
“…Yes.”

Norn had “Here it comes,” written all over her face.
She’s been trying her best to avoid Claire these past 10 days.
Even in spite of Ruijerd telling her to treasure her relatives…
But Norn couldn’t be blamed.
If they were to talk, Claire might end up bad mouthing Ruijerd.
And if that happened, I’m sure Norn would fight back in turn.
Claire’s quite stubborn, so I’m sure she wouldn’t take back anything she said and it’s quite possible it could turn into a massive ordeal.

“You are no longer a Latrea or a Greyrat.”
“Yes.”

In that instant, Norn’s expression was extremely aggressive.
She probably expected something unfavourable about being a Demon’s wife.
That’s just how sharp Claire’s words were.
Even I had a premonition that something bad was going to happen.

“You are now the wife and mother of the Sperdia Family. Be aware of that and work yourself to the bone for your husband.”
“Eh?”

But what Claire followed up with was something quite sensible.
It did sound somewhat like an order though…

“I am not knowledgeable of Demon customs but is it a wife’s duty to protect their children and house, I’m sure that hasn’t changed.”
“…”
“Do you understand?”
“Ah… Yes!”

Norn looked quite shocked but she eventually meekly nodded.

Claire then nodded in satisfaction.
As if a weight was lifted from her shoulders.

I feel like Claire has changed in these last 10 days.
Maybe because of that, Roxy and Lillia could spend their last few days here relaxing.
Something probably happened in the time I was away.
Especially Claire and Roxy. They seem much closer compared to when they just met.

She’s probably happy Claire wasn’t discriminating against her.
Roxy’s had more than enough of that in her time after all.

And thanks to that, Norn probably managed to get over a little of her ill feelings.
…Aisha is the same as ever though.

Part 3

After about half a day’s travel from Millishion, we arrived at the entrance to the Blue Dragon Mountain Range.
We stopped the carriage and got the children off.
And then we turned around.

“…”

A spectacle opened up before us.
You could see the City of Millishion in the distance.
The river flowing through the city, green as far as the eye can see.
We spent 10 days there.
The Brilliant white Royal Palace, the glittering gold Cathedral, and the Sparkling silver Adventurers Guild.

It’s the same view I saw together with Eris and Ruijerd 20 years ago.
Although the small building and the people living there might be different, seeing it like this makes it seem like nothing’s changed.

“What do you think?”

This kind of massive scenery is something you can see quite often in this world, but I would bet there’s no other place that you could walk around in and then look at it from a distance like this.
It gives a kind of indescribable feeling.

I stopped thinking to myself and turned around to check the children’s reactions.

“Wow~!”

They were quite varied.

Lucy had a smile of honest admiration.
She’s been acting more and more like the eldest sister lately, but she’s still quite childish in this aspect.

…Oh, Clive next to her seems to be debating to himself whether or not to grab her hand.
But he didn’t get far before Lucy turned and smiled at him. “It’s amazing!” she said, before Clive blushed and threw out “It’s not all that great.”

He’s so cute…
Just watching them makes me feel more relaxed.
I remember when I was doing things like that… Wait, did I? I have a feeling I didn’t.

Oh, and Cliff is with us this time around.
He’s going to be with us until we get to the post town where he’s going to be inspecting his new church.
Although that’s just the official excuse.
He had managed to convince the Pope to let him spend some time with Elinalise.

“…I wanna live here some day. It’s full of sweets.”

Lara stared sleepily for a couple seconds and said that.
I had heard from Roxy in the carriage just before, but apparently Claire was pampering Lara quite a bit.
Claire would prepare sweets for her every day, and she spent each one with a smile of bliss on her face.
She does seem somewhat more plump compared to when we got here.
It seems she was silently living in sweets paradise.

“Hey, Papa and Red Mama came here a while back right?”
“Yeah, but I was a little older than you are now.”
“Hmm…”

Ars nodded and clenched his fist.
He’s probably thinking of becoming an adventurer in the future.

“Hey, Hey, Mama! That’s the Nicholas River! And over there is the forest where the goblins live!”
“That’s right. Do you know what that one is?’
“That one… It’s the Gate of Triumph! The Gate of Triumph is where Saint Millis returned after the war!
That’s why it’s bigger than the rest!”
“That’s right. You sure do know a lot.”

Sieg was pointing at everything he could see, assaulting Roxy with one question after another.
Alek has been telling him stories of all kinds of adventurers so he’s oddly well informed.
He seems even more likely than Ars to get into adventuring.

“Papa, pick me up.”

Chris walked up to me and held her hands up.

“…Do you not understand them?”
“Yea…”

After I picked her up, as if she had no interest in the scenery, she buried her face in my shoulder.
Chris is cute as always.

“…”

Lily also got Sylphy to pick her up, and was playing with a Magic Tool we bought in the streets the other day.
She doesn’t seem all that interested either.
It’s probably a bit too early for these two.
I guess that’s pretty normal.
Or maybe Lucy and the others who can be honestly impressed with the scenery just mature faster.

“…It sure brings me back.”

Eris was next to me before I even realised.

“Back then, I never would have thought we’d end up like this.”

Eris looked over Millishion as if she were embracing it.
Her red hair was fluttering in the wind.
She’s still young, but she’d graduated from childhood into a beautiful woman.

“What did you think would happen?”
“…I thought, we’d end up with something more simple.”

Our lives really aren’t that simple.
Eris doesn’t think too hard about many things, but it’s not like she doesn’t put thought into anything.
Although she’s calmed down after giving birth to two children, time changes people.

“I love you Rudeus.”

Eris suddenly looked me in the eyes and said that.
She’s making my heart race.
What do I do. Right now, My face is probably bright red.¹

“I love you too Eris.”

I managed to calm myself down and say that, and Eris leaned on me slightly.
This would be my chance to get my hands on Eris, but unfortunately, they’re holding something else important.
Instead I thought to just tickle Chris and she quickly began to giggle.

“Papa, no tickling.”
“Whoops, sorry.”
“You won't tickle?”
“I won't, I promise.”

Eris began to giggle at our exchange and kissed me on the cheek.
She then kissed Chris on the forehead and turned to the others.

“I guess it’s about time we got moving.”

After she said that, we headed back for the carriage.

Part 4

In the valley that divides the Blue Dragon Mountain Range.
On the proverbial ‘handle’ of the Holy Sword Highway.
The cliffs rise up straight from the ground, with only the occasional rock jutting out, producing a gloomy valley as far as the eye can see.

The children were quite excited when they first saw it.
Even Lara let one of her rare “Wow,”s slip.
The adventure has begun.
From here on out, we have no idea what we might come across.
Will we see monsters? I had heard that there was a Blue Dragon somewhere near here, but will we get a chance to see it…?


Our hopes were destroyed after a few days.

The scenery never changed.
Because it’s not the right season, there were no dragons.
And of course, we didn’t see any monsters.
The valley just continued on endlessly.
The children were over it within three days.

Lara didn’t even try to hide it and would just shout “I’m bored!” repeatedly. Occasionally she would say “I’m walking Leo,” leave the Carriage, and go off somewhere on top of him.
If she finds a gap she might even be able to climb the cliff.

Ars, Sieg and Clive didn’t say anything, but you could see the delight on their faces whenever the carriage stopped and they could practice their combat with Eris, or have mock battles with each other, or practice magic with Roxy.
We wasted our days away in the rocking carriage.

Chris was crying “We’re trapped!” and Lily had already disassembled the magic toy she had gotten only a few days prior.

The only quiet one was Lucy, who was still reading the book she had gotten from the Latrea house.
I hope she doesn’t get motion sick reading on a carriage.

The carriage was in constant pandemonium.
We all worked together to try to pacify the kids…
But this is the first time they’ve been out after all, so maybe we should have stopped by some more interesting places.
Although there is the matter of safety.


That said.
It’s precisely because they were so over it, that when we got to the post town, they were overwhelmed with excitement.

“We’re heeeeeeere!”

The second they saw the town at the end of the valley, Ars, Sieg, and Lara all jumped straight out of the carriage.

“Don’t go running off!”

Eris and Sylphy chased after them.
Ars and Sieg got caught by the scruff of the neck, but Leo managed to slip away and climb onto a rock some way up the cliff.
That said, there’s no reason to panic.
The Holy Sword Highway is a relatively safe place.

“Lara! We’re all sticking together until we get to the inn!”

Eris’s shout was oddly restless.
She was also quite bothered being cooped up in the carriage.
She’s much more mature and calm than she used to be, but you can't change a person’s true nature.
Eris has never been someone able to sit around for a long period of time.

Ars and Sieg reluctantly returned to the carriage.
But Lara didn’t.
She stared at the forest that opened up endlessly before her.

“Lara, come back.”

Lara turned around to look at Sylphy but Leo didn’t move.
She looked at both Sylphy and Leo, got off his back, and tapped him a couple times.
But seeing that he still didn’t move, she looked somewhat troubled.
Sylphy, no longer able to wait, began to walk up to them.
But the second she reached out to Leo, Lara stepped in between them.

“Wait.”
“You can look at it all you want tomorrow, so let’s go.”
“This is Leo’s first time seeing his home like this, wait a little.”
“I see…”

Sylphy looked like she didn’t know what to do and looked towards me.
I’d like to let him look, a little more, but right now we’re moving together.
I’d like to get going quickly to keep the children from exploding.
What to do… Even if Leo is with her, there’s no way I can let them catch up by themselves.
Sylphy’s probably thinking the same.
I got off the carriage and walked up to them.

“I’ll bring them back, so you go on ahead.”
“…Ok. Come find us before it gets dark.”

Sylphy took me on my word, nodded, and headed back towards the carriage.

I sat down on the rock next to Leo.
And Lara sat down next to me.
The three of us in a line, overlooking the Great Forest.

Although it’s a relatively flat and straight road, because it passes through a mountain, we have a good view from above.
A brown line cuts through green as far as the eye can see.
It’s kind of magnificent.
Thinking back on it, last time I was here, I never even turned around to take a look…

“Lara?”
“Yeah?”
“Does Leo miss it?”
“…It doesn’t, seem like it.”

Doesn’t seem like it, huh.

“Huh…”
“…”

Then I wonder what he’s feeling.
Since I’m not Bowlingual I can’t tell, but the one that is, doesn’t speak all that much.²
I don’t want to ask her too much so I don’t make her feel like an interpretation machine.³
Whatever, I’ll change the topic.

“Lara?”
“Yeah?”
“I was going to tell you when you turned 10, but when you get older, you’re supposed to go to the Dorudia village for some kind of ritual at their Holy Tree.”
“I know, I heard.”
“From who?”
“Leo.”

From the Holy Beast himself huh.

“You know Pursena right?”
“Aisha-nee’s dog.”

That’s a harsh rating.
Although she’s not wrong.

“You’ll go together with her.”

Lara looked somewhat puzzled at that.

“…Papa won’t come too?”
“I’d like to, but it’s one of the Beast Race’s special rituals so Humans might not be allowed.”

Or is she thinking something else?
Does she not want her Papa to come because it’s embarrassing?
Although I think she’s still a bit young for her rebellious phase…

And then Leo looked at me.

“Woof.”
“…Leo says it’s not a problem.”

She’s probably talking about me coming along.
Since she took the trouble to translate for me… I guess that means she’s not against the idea.
That said, when she gets older, she’ll probably find every reason she can to dislike me.
Don’t wash my clothes with your underwear! Or something like that.
Chris is still saying things like “I’ll marry Papa when I grow up,” but i’m sure that’ll change when she gets a little older.

“Papa.”
“Hmm?”
“It’s alright, you can look forward to it.”
“…Thanks, I guess I will.”

I don’t know what I should be looking forward to, but for now I’ll agree.
Lara returned my nod looking satisfied and stood up.
Is it time to go now?
But right as I was about to get up,

“Whou…!”

Something suddenly landed on my shoulders.
But when I saw the tiny shoes in my field of vision, I knew that Lara had climbed onto me.

“Carry me.”
“…Am I Leo’s replacement now?”
“I want to be pampered by Papa.”

So it’s like that.
Well then, I guess I shall oblige.
Rudeus-san spoils his daughters.

“ARH-WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

As I stood up, Leo howled.
The sound rang far through the Great Forest.

―○●○―

Translator Notes and References

1. Ok, these lines sound way out of place in english.

But it's actually a joke on Rudeus's part.

"Doki Doki Shichau.
Doushimashou. Tabun, ima, atashi no kao, makka wa."

The is a super cliche line that a shoujo heroine would think to themselves after being confessed to.

The tone is super effeminate and he even uses 'Atashi' the most effeminate of pronouns.


2. This joke was legit there in the Japanese.

バウリンガル - Bowlingual (Bow wow the dog noise combined with Bilingual)

It refers to this gimmick product that claims to translate barks into Japanese and Rudy refers to Lara as one.

It literally says: "Since I don't have a Bowlingual I can tell, but ours doesn't really speak all that much."


3. Hey! What's wrong with that. I'm offended [Sarcasm]



While I'm here I'd like you guys to give the Editor, King of the End, a thank. He's been with me since nearly when I took over and he's saved me hours of having to read over my work multiple times. He's been doing (almost) thankless work for a while now and he's still always there ready and happy to help. So ket him know he's appreciated.

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