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The Reincarnated Thirty-Something Woman’s Otherworldly Reform Life

[Let's Go for a Long Ride - Port Town Arc]

Translated by: ME

Treat me to a Ko-Fi to give me more motivation!!!

*****

「...It'sh beautiful...」

Magnolia murmured with a sigh.

「It is.」

Claude's gentle, low voice reached her ears.

「Down below is the port and the town. As expected, it's compact, and compared to the territorial capital, it has a more open atmosphere.」

Saying "We're going down," he urged the horse forward slowly this time.

As they proceeded along the rustic dirt road, a settlement gradually began to form, and the cries of black-tailed gulls in the distance mixed with the hustle and bustle of people, stroking their ears as they rode the sea breeze.

「There is a woodworking workshop just ahead, and a hardware workshop a little further on. The shipyard is near the port. Since it's a port town where ships from other countries come and go, there are many inns, taverns, and eateries.」

Shifting her gaze as told, she saw impressive iron signs, products in the making, and workshops with thick white smoke billowing from doors and windows—perhaps places where metal was heated and processed. It had a charm different from the craftsmen's district in the territorial capital.

「Sho you twade with other countwies?」

At Magnolia's question, he made a rare gesture of thinking, saying "Hmm."

「We do, but the scale isn't very large. Do you know why?」

「Hmm? Are there legal weshtrictions?」

Claude shook his head.

「No... The people of Azenda still have a fear of foreigners stepping into their territory, much more than the people of Ascald realize.」

「......」

I see...

Even if it looks like they have recovered and overcome it on the surface.

Wounds of the heart do not heal easily.

Some might say you can't say such things if you want to survive, but conversely, memories of being oppressed for hundreds of years probably don't disappear that easily.

「Ish that the shame weason why you don't make it a tourisht deshtination?」

"Yes," he answered, and continued.

「Also, Father does not wish to change this land very much.」

「Gwandfather doeshn't...」

Before she knew it, they had arrived near the port, and Magnolia was lifted by Claude and set down on the ground.

「Yeah. Father... wants to return this land to the people of Azenda someday, if the time comes when it is permitted. As it was, into their hands.」

...I see.

He actually fought during the invasion by other countries. He must have various thoughts and feelings about it.

She had wished he would be more enthusiastic about managing the territory, but perhaps he was daringly avoiding change.

As he tied his beloved horse to the hitching post, Claude continued.

「...Until then, the Gilmore family wishes to protect this land and its people as the Azenda Margrave family.」

...If he's already made up his mind like that, he probably won't listen easily even if I offer improvement plans.

(But is change only a bad thing? ...That can't be right.)

「Even if the Archduke's family shtill govewned Azenda today... I don't think it would have wemained exactly the same for decades. Shurely, they would have taken policies in line with the times so the people could live better.」

「......」

(At the end of the war, they didn't intend to make it part of Ascald, but they had no choice... They couldn't protect it, and it ended up becoming a territory. That's precisely why he's obsessed with 『returning it as it was』.)

「...There's no need to forshibly expand diplomatic relations, attwact tourishm, or deshtwoy nature. But making it sho people in twouble can shupport themshelves, doing iwwigation work to make agwiculture more efficient and eashier, and building embankments to pwevent dishashters are never bad things; I think the Archduke's family would judge them as necesshawy.」

Claude silently narrowed his eyes.

「What do you think, Big Bwother Claude?」

He placed his large hand on Magnolia's head with a pon.

「I think you are right. Magnolia looks like she will become a good ruler... When we talk like this, I really feel that you were an adult and lived with the spirit of a society different from here. However, while your argument is certainly correct, I can understand Father's feelings too.」

She squeezed Claude's large hand tightly.

Like Servas and Gerald, it was a large, hard hand with sword calluses, thicker than she expected.

A hand trained to protect someone.

「...I undershtand that too. Even if humans undershtand, there are many things they cannot do. But wegret comes too late, you know... Do you want to do your besht and wegret it, or hold back and wegret it?」

Claude smiled wryly with a small sigh and hoisted his niece onto his left shoulder again.

「Enough serious talk for now. Come, let's look at the town.」

***

It was a townscape where the word "port town" fit perfectly.

Blue sky and sea, white-walled buildings. A town that suited the dazzling light.

A plaza was built in a semicircle centering on a pier where several ships could dock. The town also expanded inward in a semicircle, with several large and small roads extending to divide the districts.

Various shops, large and small, lined the eaves near the plaza, and spirited voices echoed.

In the plaza, stalls were set up avoiding places where cargo was loaded/unloaded or people boarded, and it was very lively with people choosing souvenirs, browsing, and negotiating prices.

「Facing the sea, the right side has many residences of local nobles. On the left side, there is a shipyard in the back, and fishing boats and markets in the front.」

While checking Magnolia's gaze as she looked around restlessly, he explained the town.

「Is there a sandy beach?」

「Yeah. There are ones on both the left and right. A little way out of town, there's a place where you can go down to the beach.」

「Can we go later?」

「Understood. There are many foreign goods here that you don't see inland.」

When Claude turned his gaze to a stall, there were tropical fruits.

「!! Oh my, aren't thoshe bananas and kiwis, and over there is dwagon fwuit!? I wonder if there are mangoes and papayas too?」

「Have you eaten them before, Magnolia?」

Their unusual colors and shapes probably made people hesitate to reach for them.

However, seeing Magnolia talking excitedly on his left shoulder, Claude looked alternately at his niece's face and the colorful fruits.

「Yesh. I won't know if the tashte and name are the shame unlesh I check... but shinsh vegetables haven't been wildly different, I think they are shimilar things.」

「Hoh. Want to try one?」

「Then, anything other than the pseudo-dwagon fwuit is good. They don't wipen after picking, sho if they are plucked too early, the shweetnesh is weak. Ashuming it's the chame as Earth」

Claude looked at the fruits thoughtfully.

「Hmm...」

Perhaps he was curious after all, as he bought one of each fruit that caught his eye.

「VERY, DELICIOUS!」

The clerk gave a thumbs up with a nice smile.

With dark skin, it was obvious at a glance that he was a foreigner.

「Where did you come fwom?」

「Ah, A COUNTRY, WAY SOUTH! IT IS VERY HOT~!」

She thanked the smiling clerk and received the fruit.

Looking at the stalls while moving, there were many goods with an exotic atmosphere. Cloth with geometric patterns. Accessories shining in gold. Tiles depicting animals and patterns. Small mountains of spices with stimulating scents.

In between, there were shops selling local seafood, food stalls for eating while walking, and souvenirs.

(I wonder if there's miso or soy sauce. Sometimes I crave them uncontrollably...)

She looked around seriously, but couldn't find anything like them.

...But considering the seasoning of the skewers, she thought there must be seasonings with similar tastes somewhere.

「Was there something that caught your interest?」

「No... I was looking for any novel sheasonings.」

「You really are a glutton!」

「...I don't want to be told that by Big Bwother Claude who bought sho much fwuit!」

Claude smiled wryly, and Magnolia pouted.

They aimed for the coast, keeping the inns and eateries on the left side of the town in their sight.

On the way, they saw the shipyard from the outside and saw a wooden ship being assembled large. It seemed to be a quite large sailing ship.

She wanted to go inside, but if the lord's family suddenly showed up, it would be troublesome for them to welcome them.

Hearing loud shouts and the sounds of tools, she imagined them working busily.

Before long, they came out to the sandy beach, so they sat down on the step between the road in front and the beach and spread out the fruits from earlier. Since he seemingly bought everything that caught his eye, there were several kinds of fruit.

「Which one is good...」

「On Earth, this banana is eashy to eat. Nobles pwobably use a knife and fork, but we don't have plates wight now. Sho, you peel it like this and chomp.」

Watching her actually peel it and bring it to her mouth, Claude blinked his eyes rarely, but accepting the situation as valid, he did the same and brought it to his mouth.

「...It's sweet. It has a sticky texture...」

「Yesh. The tashte and shcent are the shame as Earth. If the nutwients are the shame, it's filling, sho it might be good to incorporate into the knights' meals.」

「Nutwients?」

Magnolia nodded while munching with small bites.

「Humans eat food becaush if they don't, they die, but that is to take in nutwition. By ingeshting various nutwients fwom food, such as nutwients that build the body or nutwients that impwove condition, we live.」

「They understand various things on Earth...」

Seeing him mutter with a sigh, she gave a small, ingratiating smile.

「It differs by era. It jusht happened that the era I lived in was an era like the future compared to now... Next, shall we twy this kiwi-like one?」

Since there were no plates, she had him cut it in half with his knife for the time being.

It must be quite juicy; fine droplets flew, followed by a sweet fragrance drifting in the air.

Splitting it in two, flesh slightly more transparent than the Earth version, but with the familiar black small seeds drawing a ring in the center, appeared.

...Though the color was a little different.

「Wah! It's blue!!」

「Is it normally different?」

「Over there, it's gween or yellow! I wonder if the tashte is the shame?」

No, did a knowledgeable colleague or someone say once, "Red ones have started to circulate recently, though they are very rare"?

Thinking that blue and purple might be bred eventually, she briefly cast her thoughts to her hazy memories of Japan.

Suddenly, she realized she had no spoon to eat it with.

「「......」」

They looked at each other for a moment, but Claude pointed to the small bag Sebastian had handed them before leaving.

「Isn't this the time to open that?」

The thing she was told to open if she was in trouble.

When Magnolia opened it excitedly, there were a knife, spoons, forks, and several handkerchiefs inside.

「He definitely saw thwough that we would buy and eat food at shtalls.」

Saying so, she gratefully took out a spoon, slid it along the skin as if drawing a circle, then scooped a small amount and put it in her mouth.

Claude, holding the other half, imitated her and slid his spoon.

「...This is sweet and sour. Surprisingly, they are all delicious...」

「Many are delishious, but depending on the fwuit, shome had tewwible shmells. I wonder if thoshe exisht here too?」

...Like snake fruit, jackfruit, or durian.

They say they taste good when eaten, but the smell comes first no matter what, so Magnolia in her Japan days couldn't eat them.

***

Since bread crumbs were sold at a shop near the sandy beach, they bought some.

When she shook the hard bread toward the sky from on top of Claude's shoulder, black-tailed gulls approached leisurely while crying.

Pecked at the bread by their beaks, Magnolia laughed loudly at the recoil, which was bigger than she expected.

「Big Bwother Claude, twy it too! It goes thud!」

Handed a piece of hard bread from a small hand, he extended his arm high.

A black-tailed gull that had been circling overhead waiting for food immediately came to peck.

「Fufufu. It feels like my fingers will be pecked too.」

「The beak hits shometimes, you know. It's pwetty stwong.」

Reluctantly handing the last piece of bread to a gull, as if they knew, they all flew off toward the open sea at once.

「...Calculating creatures, aren't they.」

Smiling wryly, Claude lowered her to the sandy beach, and she slowly looked for seashells on the sand.

She found a small crab walking at the water's edge, and thinking, "So there are crabs too..." she imagined a mountain of boiled crabs and smirked to herself.

(Let's eat crab next time. Salmon roe and fish eggs are hard to pass up too...)

How long had they been doing that?

Gradually, the sun began to dip, changing to a faint orange. It would be evening soon.

「Come, Magnolia. It will get cold soon, so let's go home. It takes about two hours to get to the mansion, so we won't make it for dinner.」

Urged by Claude, she hurriedly brushed the sand off her palms and skirt. Fun times always pass in the blink of an eye.

Since they wouldn't make it by walking, she was placed on his shoulder as usual, and stared at the sea where the water surface shone gold, illuminated by the setting sun.

*****

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