T/N: This is an extra story that took place between the “Borderland Palace” and the “Three Siblings Goes to the Academy” arc, before the Stuart family moved to the Royal Capital.
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Extra Story – To the Royal Capital [Part 1]
“Emma-sama, it has finally been completed. This time, this time for sure, you will definitely be satisfied with it.”
The thing Joshua presented in House Stuart’s garden with his pride and dignity as a merchant on the line was a carriage, which would be indispensable for their journey to the Royal Capital.
The family had sent an order to the company to make a new carriage that could make the arduous 15 days of long-distance travel from Palace to the Royal Capital more bearable.
The ready-made ultra-deluxe traveling carriages would suffice for the family of five and servants. The problem lay with the dedicated carriage for Emma’s insects and the cat carriage for the four Stuart cats.
Emma intended to continue her research on silkworms even after moving to the Royal Capital, so to bring the silkworms safely with them, they were very thorough in preparing their move, even more so than the preparations for humans.
To reduce the shaking, they tried attaching the skin of hippopotamals, a monster similar to hippopotamus, to the wheel and it had been proven to be able to absorb the shock.
The insect carriage had been designed in a way that made it possible to be used as an insect shed just by removing the wheels after the family arrived in the Royal Capital.
The cat carriage also had hippopotamals skin wheels, and the inside was covered by one-horned rabbit fur. Although its descriptions already sounded fantastic, the cats’ reactions toward it were not so good.
“Koumei-san, you don’t want to ride in it?”
The carriage interior looked very fluffy and comfortable, but every cat turned their faces in dislike at the mere sniff of its smell.
“Meooww… Oomew.”
“Eh? You don’t like it because it’s too fluffy and hot?”
“Mew.”
“Meooww… Oomew.”
“Eh? The snugness is different from what you’re expecting?”
“Meow.”
“Meoow… Mew.”
“Eh? The door is too big, s-so it’s not… fun?”
“Meow.”
It had already been three times when Joshua had to return home dispiritedly after the prototypes he brought were rejected one after another. Today, he brought a new cat carriage again with the optimism that this day would finally be the day he got an ‘OK’ from the cats.
This prototype’s exterior only looked like a box with wheels, a minimalistic design that was completely different from the previous prototypes. There were no light-permitting windows, and the door was of a width that wouldn’t make you think a cat could pass through. Joshua and his design team had also changed the one-horned rabbit fur from the ones hunted in winter to the ones hunted in summer.
“Come on, Koumei-san. Try getting inside first… Wha— You don’t want to?!”
Koumei sniffed the carriage and stuck her head inside the door, but she didn’t want to get inside the carriage till the end.
“…Why? I have switched the fur, made the carriage body one size smaller, and have also narrowed the door, you know?”
Do I have to discuss it with the designer again… Joshua held his head.
“Meowww… Oomew…”
“Joshua, I’m so sorry… but Koumei-san said she hates the smell…”
Emma interpreted and apologized.
“Uuughhh… S-Smell?”
“Meow.”
Joshua stuck his face into the (prototype no. 4) cat carriage’s door and checked the smell inside, but he still couldn’t tell what smell Koumei was referring to.
“W-What sort of countermeasure should I do to fend off the smell? One-horned rabbit fur is also used in House Stuart, so that shouldn’t be the problem. The carriage body is also made of wood, so it shouldn’t be because of the body too… Hmm, is it the iron smell from the nails? But iron is commonly used everywhere for furniture, right… Koumei-san seems to sleep together with Emma-sama on her bed every day too… Ugh, I’m so jealous. …Ah, wait, don’t stray from the main topic, Joshua-…”
While Joshua was busily muttering something to himself, George, who had just returned from hunting, suddenly shouted at him from afar.
“Joshuaaa. Several hippopotamals appeared, so you better hurry to the market to take a look!”
