The River Town of Donsama (North Side)

  The River Town of Donsama. It was the second town after leaving Tsuia.

  After entering the aristocrat-only gate as we did back at Mikhan, there were a ton of uniform, stone brick buildings that looked basically. I guess buildings like that were common in the empire.

  That aside, its population was closer to Tsuia than to Mikhan.

  This town was at the junction between the paths that stretched to Tsuia, the capital, and Pavuera. It also seemed that it was the only safe route that headed to Tsuia, followed by Golen—which had the tunnel leading straight to Pavuera.

  “By the way, why’s it called a river town?”


  “Donsama is divided in two by a river. There’s North Donsama and South Donsama, both combined forming Donsama. The size of them combined is just a bit smaller than Tsuia.”


  “There’s two parts to it? Sounds troublesome.”


  By the way, the gate we’d just entered through headed into North Donsama. The gate for South Donsama heads out toward the imperial capital. You’d need to use the ferry to get from one side of the river that splits it in half to the other.

  … They don’t have a bridge?

  “Are there any differences between the north and south sides?”


  “Not from our point of view at least. But there is for people that actually live there.”


  “Oh, are the two sides hostile toward each other or something?”


  “The conflict isn’t as bad as that, but there are even two adventurer guilds. Let’s go greet the north one today.”


  We’d be staying two nights this time, too. One in North Donsama, one in South Donsama.

  I guess it’d be bad if we don’t do the greetings twice? Let’s leave that to Wataru.

  “Hey Ichika, is there any good food here?”


  Rokuko turned to Ichika.

  “They’ve got grilled fish, but nothin’ really stands out except it bein’ a fresh catch~”


  “Alright, let’s go buy some right now!”


  “Nope. We’ve got to leave the coach at the guild first.”


  Ichika went without saying, but it seemed that even Rokuko was all for the food while we’re out travelling.

  I seem to recall something about how Dungeon Cores didn’t need to eat, but she’d been in love with melon bread for ages by now I guess. Oh well, maybe she’s just enjoying herself.

  Even Meat’s tail was wagging back and forth.

  “Oh, we’re going to be keeping our coach at the inn this time. But how about we go drop off this delivery commission we picked up for here first?”


  “Aye, Gasho, if ye would.”


  By the way, it turned out that the coachman was called Gasho. Gozoh seemed to be getting along well with him, at least enough to be on a first-name basis with him.

  With that, Ichika and Rokuko hopped off to go buy some fish when we arrived at the guild. Along with being their escort, they brought Shikina with them to carry their bags.

  … I guess it was alright. I’d wanted her to help us with the luggage since there was so much of it this time… but at least buy us some fish too?

  Wataru and Gozoh entered the guild after shouldering the barrels they’d kept in [Storage].

  Meat, Roppu, and I were carrying wooden boxes… what were inside these things? Well, even if I was interested there was nothing to be done about it. It wasn’t fragile, at least.

  There was probably so much luggage to take since there was so much traffic through the area.

  “This is for our delivery commission. Please look over it all.”


  “Yes, I’ve confirmed that’s everything. Thank you for your work, Wataru-sama.”


  “We’ll be going to the south side tomorrow, followed by the capital after that. If you have a delivery commission for either—”


  “In that case, we—”


  After making the delivery, he received more luggage to deliver. Taking the single small wooden box, Wataru placed it into his [Storage].

  “You accepted it straight away this time?”


  “There’s not much to deliver to the south side from here, so I decided to put it in my [Storage]. That way, I won’t have to worry about it being stolen. The south side should have delivery commissions for the capital. Now we should be set to head to the south side.”


  Wataru spoke with a smile.

  I see, guess he didn’t accept a subjugation commission this time. Well, although we were here just as long as we were in Mikhan, one of those days would be us crossing the river.

  “I haven’t seen the river yet, but is it that big?”


  “It’s around fifteen meters deep and a hundred wide. We could probably just run over it.”


  No way. Pretty sure you’re the only one that could do that.

  “… I wonder if I could make it over?”


  “Don’t push yourself. Pretty sure running over water isn’t normal.”


  “Eh, that’s not true. Right, Roppu-san?”


  “Ten meters is my limit. What about you, Gozoh?”


  “Ye think I can run on water? I can jump three meters, that’s it.”


  Wait, what….? I guess that’s just how crazy adventurers’ physical abilities are.

  … Meat’s tail is wagging, did she take that as a challenge to see how far she can go?

  “… Wataru, you’d save us if we fall in, right?”


  “Oh, Kehma-san, you want to give it a shot too?”


  “No, I’m good. I’m asking for Kuro.”


  “It’s important to know how far you can push yourself if push comes to shove. Kehma-san, you should go for it!”


  He had a point, but I didn’t really feel like doing it. I was with Gozoh. Who’d want to run on water?

  Rokuko and the rest arrived, their shopping complete, just as we left the guild.

  “Good job, Kehma. Here’s your fish.”


  “Thanks.”


  She distributed some more to others after giving me mine first. It tasted like river sweetfish, but salty and on a skewer. It was probably salted before it was grilled.

  “Oh, they had some sweetfish? Thanks Jou-chan. It’ll go good with my alcohol.”


  “I love the flavor too. A lot of Pavueran peddlers come here too, so salt’s pretty cheap here.”


  So they have sweetfish here too, huh…? Guess it’s like that time with apples? Although it was a different thing, it had the same name—that kind of thing. I don’t get it.

  “It’s pretty big.”


  “Really? Isn’t it smaller than the fish I order at the inn?”


  The fish sold at the inn come from Pavuera and its sea, after all. So yeah, I guess it’d be smaller than a fish from the sea. It’s still pretty big for a sweetfish though.

  “Still though, the carts started selling cheaper when they saw Ichika and everyone looked bitter. Did you do something?”


  “It was a long time ago~”


  So you did?

  “Alright, let’s head to our inn for tonight. This one’s called [Northern Hero Pavilion], it’s an inn that North Donsama’s famous hero, Ortega-san, founded. It’s a good inn. As an aside, tomorrow’s is [Southern Hero Pavilion], Ortega-san’s son built it when he became self-dependent.”


  “Did Donsama split in half because of them…? Hey, is there really not going to be a fight between north and south?”


  “They’re not about to jump out and attack each other. I don’t know much about it, but you could try asking Ortega-san if you’re interested?”


  “Nope, don’t care that much.”


  Why would a traveler want to intervene in some fight between a parent and their child? Let’s leave that trouble aside.

  I’m not some main character, there’s no way I’d jump out and solve whatever problem I come across.