Due to deal restructure text to speech player is currently unavailable. Will find a solution soon.

Chapter 118

Let’s go to the honey workshop

The next day, Edwy dragged away the reluctant Aeris . And so it was just Maki, Chiharu, and Aaron left at the castle .

“Can you believe that just yesterday morning, we were playing with the merfolk?”

Chiharu said to Aaron, but he shrugged his shoulders .

“I was more surprised by the fluff and the Mandragoras . They don’t have Mandragoras in Lowland, and so I found them so amusing when I first came here . I remember playing little tricks on them back then . But they just walk forward and do little else . I never saw them gather around a human like that before . ”

Ah, perhaps that’s what it was like seeing it from the outside . Chiharu had been shocked when the gazers turned out to be friendly . And so she didn’t think much when it happened with the cute Mandragoras . That’s why all the exercise she got at the beach had made a bigger impression on her .

“That’s true, Maki-chan . ”

“Hmm? What is?”

Unlike the gazers, she couldn’t communicate with Maki without saying anything . Chiharu realized that this was becoming easy to forget, which showed just how much she was getting used to this world .

“More importantly, we’re going to the honey workshop today!”

Maki shouted as her eyes shone .

“Oh, Maki . While the royal honey workshop is in the forest over there, it is still quite a distance away . So we must leave immediately!”

“Yes!”

Maki replied to the first princess . The two seemed to get along rather well now . Chiharu and the fifth princess looked at each other and chuckled .

The royal forest . In other words, the vast forest that surrounded the castle . However, the workshop was deep within this forest . Still, there was a stone path that led to it, and they would be heading to it by carriage . And four guards accompanied their carriage .

“Two are for us, and the two in the back are to protect you, Maki and Chiharu . ”

“Ah, it’s that security guy from yesterday . ”

“Hou? So you recognize him . ”

The guy who had remained calm even when the gazers came out, and Maki and Chiharu started turning them into magic stones . This man who was likely a commander, had made an impression on Maki . He had talked to them directly, after all .

“Hou is in charge of security at the royal palace . I suppose he would be called a captain of the guard in other countries?”

“Doesn’t that mean he’s really important?”

Maki was surprised as she looked at Hou from the carriage window . He had a serious expression and was watching his surroundings .

“Maki…”

Aila looked at her sympathetically .

“Wh-what?”

“You are irreplaceable Saintesses . In other words, you have a right to receive the highest level of security . ”

“I see!”

Maki and Chiharu were surprised .

“Well, we’ve been treated very well up until now . But I never really thought about it like that . ”

“Neither have I . It’s no wonder there was such a commotion when we left the castle . ”

It was a little late for them to feel bad about that .

“Left the castle?”

Rhea asked .

“Uh, nevermind . It’s nothing . ”

Chiharu said a little frantically . And she quickly changed the subject .

“Huh? Then why did the merfolk casually ask us to go on an investigation inland?”

“Chiharu . You finally realized, huh?”

Maki’s shoulders drooped .

“Inland? You two went inland?”

Rhea was quite sharp, which made her difficult to talk to .

“Huh? Yes, quite recently . ”

“So that’s why you were late in coming to the elf lands . But I haven’t heard anything about the inlands suffering from miasma . Maki, Chiharu . What is going on with your priorities?”

“Uhhh, Rhea . You’re quite harsh . We did have a reason . ”

While Maki was struggling to come up with an explanation, Aaron acted like he had nothing to do with it . Just then, they heard the sound of someone hitting the roof of the carriage .

“Oh, we’ve arrived . ”

Maki was saved by Aila’s voice . As they were not out in public, Maki and Chiharu quickly jumped out of the carriage . They were shocked at how unexpectedly large the facility was . After all, they had been traveling through a forest . But in front of them now was a series of buildings made of large red bricks .

There were large doors in each building where cargo was being carried out . And there were smaller doors for people to use . As each building had different kinds of windows, it was clear that they had different purposes .

“This one is the office . That one is the factory where the honey is packaged, and the large building over there is where they make honey wine . ”

Rhea explained .

“Honey wine!”

“Honey wine!”

This was it . Honey wine was the reason that they had wanted to come to the elf lands . It had been nearly four months since they came to this world . And now they were finally going to be able to drink honey wine! Rhea looked a little exasperated by how happy the two were .

“I see that you wish to go there immediately . However, we will save that for last . ”

She knew that if they drank that first, they wouldn’t even go to the other places .

“First, let’s go and meet the people who make it . ”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Maki and Chiharu raised their hands energetically . They knew that it was important to be able to see the faces of the producers .

“Maybe they’ll have work for us, like that time I gathered flowers . ”

“And perhaps they’ll serve honey wine during lunch . ”

“And honey cake for snack . ”

Aaron looked at them from behind with a sad expression .

They did not enter the office building, but walked right past it instead . There was a vast clearing here where a carriage was being loaded before setting off into the forest .

“Is it those people?”

“Are they moving the honey?”

As Maki and Chiharu talked, Rhea turned towards them .

“As there is still some distance to the hive, we should get on that carriage when it returns . ”

“Hive?”

“Yes . ”

“What hive?”

“The producers’s hive, of course . ”

Just then, there was a loud buzzing sound that came from the forest . It sounded like an old refrigerator, or the outdoor unit of an air condition .

“Oh, how unusual . The producers have come . And so many of them . ”

The things that buzzed as they came out of the forest, were a group of honey bees with beautiful black and yellow stripes .

“I see . ”

“I had a feeling, once I heard the buzzing . ”

Could Maki and Chiharu have said anything else?

“Princesses, Saintesses . There are so many of them . Please stand back . ”

Just then, Hou stepped forward and pushed them into the passage . Even then, the buzzing continued to get closer .

“The stripes are so pretty . Very pretty . But why can I see them so clearly? I can’t even see the sky . ”

Maki muttered out loud . Chiharu was so fixated on this scene that she couldn’t even blink . The stripes looked so clear? Of course, they were . Aeris had told them about this .

“They are so big . The same size as a circle you make with both hands . ”

“Aeris’s hands, that is . ”

And that didn’t include their wings . These curious producers of honey had come out in order to look at Maki and Chiharu .