117: Arriving in Kagura

We made it to the fifth day of using Wind Magic to accelerate the ship then we began to see land. We can barely see a city with signs of humans in it, not just endless sea or another uninhabited island. I can spot buildings that look to have tiled roofs lined up, and there are people walking around wearing loose clothes like kimonos on the beach and harbor. It feels like I’m watching a historical drama.

“There’s a lot of buildings with tiled roofs” Al

My parent’s house from my previous life had a tiled roof. I thought back to those nostalgic times and murmured vague but deep emotions. My parent’s house was located in the countryside and surrounded by rice fields.

In the sea around us, I can see many fishing boats, some are fishing while others are returning. In the rivers around the harbor, I can see wasen boats throwing and retrieving nets. It will be nice to go sightseeing in the Kagura cities while riding on a boat in the calm rivers.

I try to enjoy whatever place I visit, but I’m not used to sea voyages, and I missed the land. I miss the stable ground that doesn’t shake. I want to feel the stable ground and rest at an inn. Sightseeing can wait til the next day.

“Oh! This is Kagura! As you said, the cityscape is completely different!” Mark

“Unlike some kingdoms, the roofs are simple but unified. It looks nice.” Alisha

“They look like Alisha, most people have black hair?! Wouldn’t I stand out in that place?” Ilya

“What are you talking Ilya? Your pink hair stands out in every kingdom?” Irving

It seems this is the first time the members of Silver Wind have visited Kagura. Kagura is a pretty different environment for people who have never experienced a Japanese-style place. Must be very different.

That said, I lived in modern Japan, so this place resembles a historical drama more than what I know.

I look over the downtown area that was full of people. In the distance, I see a Japanese-style castle, a symbol of power and strength. It was a large castle with five layers, much higher than the other buildings and seemed to loom over the downtown area.

I would bet that Misfilt castle is larger in terms of size, but the Kagura castle looks larger due to the lower height of the surrounding buildings. It should be filled with generals, princesses, and other powerful people of Kagura, according to Triela.

“Solid Ground!” Irving, Mark, Rumba, & Al

When we anchored at the harbor, Irving, Mark, Rumba, and I jumped off the ship immediately. We jumped from the high deck and landed on our own two feet to enjoy the feel of the ground. I stretched and loosened up my stiff muscles, then exhaled slowly.

“Ah, it’s been a while since I got to stand on the ground, but it feels like I’m still swaying.” Al

“You can’t help it since you’ve been on the ship for that long. For a bad journey, you might be stuck on a ship for a few months, so this journey wasn’t that bad, right?” Irving replied.

“Staying on the sea for months… is that fun?” Rumba asks.

“… It wasn’t fun, but the money was good.” Irving

“Thanks to that, we made some good money when we needed it, but I don’t want to take that sort of job again.” Mark

The two of them look off to the horizon in a strained manner. Well, voyages can get into issues more often than land journeys, and weather has more power over the time spent as well.

“You four look like you’re having fun.” Alisha

“Alisha is getting off the boat pretty quick too, right?” Ilya

Alisha and Ilya got off the ship a little after us. Alisha was walking pretty quick when she left the ship.

After that, Triela and the sailors in charge of the luggage started to unload things one after another. Since we can’t go anywhere until Triela’s luggage is handled, we sit and chat about Kagura.

Before long, a harbor official arrived along with two guards. The guards were wearing armor that resembled Warring States period armor, not the medieval knight armor I’ve seen in Misfilt Kingdom. They have a long scabbard hanging from their waist, it often hits the armor and makes a rattling noise. It seems they’re called ‘swordsmen’ who work as guards in Kagura. Perhaps they have a katana in the scabbard instead of a Western-style sword.

“Are you the Triela group? I thought your No Earlier Than date was tomorrow?” Official

“Well, thanks to some good weather, we made it early. One of our escorts is a Wind magician.” Triela

“I thought the NET date was including that…” Official

Interestingly, the different kingdoms use essentially the same language, so you don’t need to learn a new language when you travel. It seems this was due to a powerful kingdom that spread their language all over their continent. You do have to be careful since there are some small areas that use their own language, and accents are still a thing. It’s nice that the language barrier is much lower here.

While Triela and the official work through the port entry procedure, we admire the silent guards with interest.

“They look completely different from knights.” Mark

“Hey, can you show off your sword? Is that unique to Kagura?” Irving

“Hey, stop! Don’t touch my armor without permission. Besides, the sword is part of a swordsman’s body. It’s not easy to show off.” Guard

Irving and Mark annoyed the guard, they’re like bad tourists. Well, it’s not that crazy then you think about it, they’re swordsmen themselves, but it backfired this time.

Despite Irving and Mark’s faux pas, we were allowed to enter the country after proving our identity at the checkpoint. I’d love to go sightseeing, but I’m exhausted after the long voyage, so I’ll head to the inn.

It won’t be very interesting to view the Kagura cityscape from a carriage, so I decided to walk to the inn on my feet. Luckily, the inn Triela reserved is close to the harbor, so that’s fine. We walk while admiring the Kagura scenery that’s so different from Misfilt Kingdom.

Most of the people around use wear kimonos and their hair color is black like Sarah. Occasionally I can see someone with brown hair, but the black color is overpowering. Did all the founding population of Kagura have black hair?

The faces are softer than the people I’ve seen in the kingdom. There are fewer strong people like Rumba, they seem more peaceful, like you can feel at ease by looking at them.

“Oh, we are pretty unusual.” Al

The people of Kagura were watching us at the same time we were observing them. We’ve got people with blonde, pink, indigo, and brown hair, we stand out as foreigners. It seems like brightly colored hair is rare in Kagura, so Ilya is attracting curious onlookers.

“Well, it can’t be helped. Our hair color is going to be unusual for these people. At least it will be hard to get lost.” Alisha quips.

Alisha is right, we’re easy to pick out from the citizens of Kagura. If we can’t see each other, asking someone nearby should work as well. While we walked down the busy road, I smelled some fragrant soy sauce.

“I smell soy sauce!” Al

When I looked around, I spotted a store selling various seasonings. There’s a big black jar in front of the store giving of a rich scent of soy sauce. I’m the first of my group to smell it.

The shopkeeper is confused at my desperate look, but I don’t care.

The soy sauce I’ve long been looking for! With this I’ll be able to make so many more dishes. Not only will I be able to recreate my favorites from my previous life, I’ll also be able to work on dishes that require ingredients only available in this world.

“You jumped out at a terrifying speed? There’s a lot of people on the road, so it’s dangerous to jump out like that!” Triela

“Hey, leave the shopping for tomorrow. Let’s relax at the inn today.” Irving

I agree with Irving, but I had an instinctual reaction to the smell of soy sauce.

“The soy sauce isn’t going to run away, right? There will be plenty of dishes with it at the inn.” Triela

Yeah, the soy sauce won’t run away, so I’ll take a rest at the inn before buying it. Plus, I’ll have to exchange money before I can buy it. That’s what I thought, until I saw yakitori at a food stall and ended up jumping over again.

Well, I think yakitori is special, the smell is intoxicating.

Translation

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