Hard Work Will Never Betray Me

It was morning. But I was sleepy

Because I had stay up all night with her, with her ample chest rising and falling in time with her breathing, with her sleep-talking, though I couldn't understand what she was saying, and with her occasionally rolling over and hugging me, it was impossible for me to sleep properly. I finally fell asleep at dawn, just as the sky was getting whiter.

But as soon as the sun rise up, Lily came and woke me up. By the way, Lily had said yesterday that she was going to wake up early and come over here ....... I know  she is looking forward to it, but I'm going crazy with lark of sleep  　By the way, speaking  of  lark of sleep , I had a lot of trouble last night. There are no tissues in this world. What am I supposed to do?

I don't want to wipe with a towel, and if I flush it with water, it will harden. I had no choice but to stand there for a while and wash it off little by little with water. It seemed to be the same in this world, that it could be easily washed away after some time.

"What are you doing ? Wake up!　Let's eat breakfast!"

Lily woke me up by banging her ladle on the frying pa To be honest, I'm dying for her to stop because she's annoying Mei  and it's bothering my sleep-deprived head. 

"Nnnnnnnggggggg ......"

"Don't sound like a zombie!　

"Ice water shower!"

"It's cold!"

"You awake?

The cold water dropped  on my face  and  I  finally wakes up a little.

"Yes, breakfast is ready."

"Hmmm. Good morning, Lily.

"Good morning."

And then Meir Arendal, the source of my sleepiness, wakes up.

"Good morning. The bed was softer than I expected and I slept well!"

That's because you were sleeping peacefully without a care in the world!" I shouted inwardly, sipping on the cold water Lily served me without showing it. I can't have a good night's sleep unless I get a partition or something. I feel like I'm going to die of exhaustion before we reach  destination.

"For breakfast today, I made a sandwich with sautéed orc meat  and a Caesar salad on a bun. There's also consommé soup with oak bone broth.

"That's quite a feast for a morning. You look like an aristocrat."

"What are you talking about, the legitimate son of a great nobleman?

That's what I said. I think I may have been sleepwalking and I remembered past life  

"Itadakimasu"

We said "Itadakimasu" in the style of the Imperial Kingdom , and enjoyed our meal. She was a duchess who was never supposed to cook for herself, but surprisingly, Lily was a very good cook.

"Why is Lily such a good cook?

As with the with last night's dinner, the quality of the food was as good as that of a top chef. And she does it with ingredients that she has on hand. I wonder if Lily is blessed by the god of cooking?

"I like to cook. It's kind of fun, and I've gotten good at it by cooking every day at home .

She  could open a fancy restaurant in a prime location in the imperial capital right now. As a former Japanese gourmet, I can vouch for the taste.

"I'm so lucky to be able to eat such delicious food."

"Stop it, you're embarrassing me."

She said that, but she  seem happy about it.

And so we spent a leisurely and peaceful morning, despite the fact that we were on a road where demons were present.

✳︎

After finishing our breakfast and cleaning up, we got ready to leave. When we were ready, we checked our route for the day.

"If all goes well, we should reach our destination in about two hours, around noon today.

"We passed a lot yesterday, so we should have plenty of time today."

"I'll stay on the lookout with the sonar, Lily will fight monster off, and Mei will drive."

"Yes, ."

"Leave it to me I will deal with monsters !"

I also knew that my sleepiness was at its limit.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't sleep last night. I'll have the sonar respond automatically, so let me sleep until for a while . ......"

"I create the magic circle for the sonar on a piece of paper and stuck it to the ceiling of the Buffalo. I'll play with the shape of the magic circle and the arrangement of the runes, and modify the magic formula so that it will make a sound in response to living things even when I'm asleep. I'll have to remember to set an alarm to go off in my sleeping brain if a monster of ......B-rank or higher appears that Lily can't handle by herself.

"I don't think anything will happen, but ....... Good night, I'll take care of the rest. ......"

"I wonder why you're so sleepy?"

"Well?　Maybe Mei was talking too loud in her sleep."

As I listened to the two of them talking about it amd they were not far off from the truth, I fall asleep 

✳︎

"Are you awake?"

"Mei. What is it ?"

When I woke up, Mei, who had been resting with a glass of drink, looked at me and said, "We're  in an hour away from our destination.

"We're taking a break now."

"Hal, are you awake?"

Lily came over and called out to me.

"Yes, I feel much better."

Maybe it was the hour of sleep, but I feel fine now.

"Did you see any dangerous monsters?"

. No. They were all that type I could defeat."

"Maybe it's because the Buffalo is big and fast. A  monster with some intelligence and the ability to judge the situation would have been scare and run away.

"I see."

"If they see a buffalo and still come at you, they're either stupid enough to not sense the danger of the unknown, or they're chickenshit monster who are too scared to move.

Even on Earth, a deer would skare of the light of a car's headlights. The same thing seems to happen to weak  monsters .

"Here's your soup. It's delicious."

"Thank you."

As I drank the leftover consommé soup with oak bone broth from the morning, I stretched, cracking my spine.

"We better get going.

"Okay.

"Okay."

Mei launched the magic engine and Buffalo began to run. We almost arrived 

✳︎

"No, but we' re here pretty fast."

"It's a victory for the technology of our Arendelle workshop.

"Normally it would take a week, but we arrived in just two days.

It was a long journey of 350 kilometers, but by this world's standards, it had taken us only two days to reach our destination. This was the first time for the "Buffalo" to travel such a long distance.

By the way, it seems that the "Buffalo" can already be produced by the craftsmen in the workshop without Mei 's help. So, if she wanted to sell it on a large scale, she could do so .

However, if this kind of product were to go out into the world, it would ruin the business of the carriage , and the end result would be that some unknown workshop or other country would disassemble it and steal the technology. So, the current policy is to sell only to trusted and influential people in the territory, noblemen who are close to  us , and the royal family and those authorized by the royal family.

However, if  we didn't have the technology for a magic engine or a magic battery,  we wouldn't be able to imitate it. It's not the kind of thing that can be reproduced by a craftsman with natural talent who has to go through several years of special training.

"I see, that's why it's a black box.

In the event that you're not sure what to do, you'll be able to find out by yourself. I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I'm not the only one. Even though I've been watching her closely and know her better than anyone else, I still shudder at her talent when I look back.

Maybe Mei will even develop a space rocket someday. At the very least, she has advanced the scientific civilization of this world by at least a hundred years. It's not impossible, is it?

"Yes, it is. In the event that you have any questions regarding where and how to use the site, please feel free to contact us.

By the way, Mei made something when she was six years old that a blacksmith with natural talent would have to train for several years to make. When I think about it, I realize once again how amazing the woman known as Meir Arendelle is. Even though I've been watching her closely and know her better than anyone else, I still shudder at her talent when I glance back at her.

However, it would not be impossible for a blacksmith with a certain amount of knowledge and experience to understand these mechanisms and imitate them to create similar products. If this were to happen, it would be a huge loss for the Arendelle workshop, which has invested a huge amount of money in research and development and equipment. In the current situation where laws such as patents and copyrights have not yet caught up, they had no choice but to prevent the outflow of technology on their own.

"Hey!　What's that?"

"Lily?"

As we were talking, Lily, who had gotten out of the Buffalo earlier and was looking out at the scenery of the farming village, poked her head into the car, looking uncomfortable.

"There's a big, black thing flying towards us. Could that be a wyvern?"

I got out of the car and  used my "sonar" at the monster bird in the distance, and its silhouette became clear.

Long neck, broad wings, thick tail, sharp claws, and hard scales covering its surface.

It was ---- definitely a wyvern.