“You got everything? Clothes? How about money? Do you have enough?” Temma asked me as I packed my things.

“I think so... You’re too worried. I’ll be alright”, I told him.

“You’re from another world and to make things worse, you lost your memories. It’s dangerous for you to leave Westa.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m not traveling alone.”

My sword glowed and transformed into a little girl.

“Mikage’s right. He has me so there will be no problems!” Anya said.

I was actually talking about Amelia... But Anya was also here so I guess it was good enough.

“I would come along if possible. But...”

“You have responsibilities here. Westa’s peace is much more important as a knight. Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it”, I patted his shoulder.

I left the barracks carrying my bag and Anya walked beside me. When we arrived at the gates, Amelia was already there waiting for me.

“Anya’s coming along?” she asked.

“She’s my sword. Of course, she’s coming”, I answered.

“Oh yeah. I’ll just turn into a sword so that we won’t have to pay for extra seats. Just wake me up when you need something”, she glowed and turned into a kris sword.

“So... What should we do now?” I asked Amelia.

“First, we gotta hitch a ride to Pekoland. I already bought tickets for a caravan there. It should depart around 2 hours from now”, she said and began walking.

“Pekoland?”

“Remember the riddle? North of the land of the rabbit people. The only place that fits the bill is Pekoland, the kingdom of rabbit beastmen which was east of Westa. We’ll ride along a caravan on our way there.”

We walked until we reached Westa’s eastern gate. There were many people and carts there. Amelia talked to an old man and showed our tickets. The man pointed to a carriage and we dropped our bags there.

The world was a dangerous place. Traveling alone would attract bandits and fighting monsters would be difficult. That is why when traveling long distances, people join caravans. Caravans were protected by powerful adventurers and so bandits wouldn’t dare to attack them. Monsters wouldn’t attack large groups of people so caravans were a popular method of traveling.

After some time passed, the caravan began moving. A group of carriages moved in a line across the road. It was quite slow but that was to be expected when traveling in large groups. Adventurers were on their horses and were alert for any danger.

Amelia was looking at a map and I scooted towards her.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m trying to decode the rest of the message about the Hall of Memories”, she answered.

North of the land of the rabbit people

The valley of the red river

Pass through the black sandstorm

Head towards the blue cave

The Hall of Memories will be ahead of it

I recalled the riddle.

“There are two valleys near Pekoland. But there are no deserts near both valleys”, she said.

“Why look for a desert?” I asked.

“Well... The part with the “black sandstorm” says so. Sandstorms only happen on deserts so it’s logical to look for deserts. But there are no nearby deserts in Pekoland.”

“A black sandstorm... Maybe it doesn’t really talk about deserts. Maybe it’s about a black thing that obstructs your vision like a sandstorm.”

“There are too many unknown things... “Red river”, “black sandstorm”, and “blue cave.” Unless they are talking about their appearance, the colors must mean some other thing.... Could it be talking about a story involving those places?”

I left her alone since I couldn’t possibly help her out. The breeze felt great when I poked my head out of the window. The caravan continued traveling until night came.

They went to the side of the road and set up camp. The good thing with caravans was that our meals were already included. While waiting for the cooks to finish preparing the meals, I sat down on the ground after I put down my sleeping bag.

“Hey there”, Amelia approached me and put down her sleeping bag next to mine.

“So... How’s the riddle? Got any clues?” I asked her.

“Nope... The only thing I could do now is gather information in Pekoland.”

The meal arrived and we began eating. After eating, we were getting ready to sleep.

The stars above were really pretty. It was as if it was the first time I saw that many stars.

“Hey, Amelia”, I called out her name.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Why are you helping me out this much?”

“I told you already. It’s because you’re my friend.”

“But don’t you think this is already too much? I mean... You left Westa for me and even tried to solve a riddle.”

“Nah. It’s totally reasonable for friends to do this.”

“Really?”

“Yep. Besides, I owe you a lot. Think of this as my method of repaying you.”

“Thanks... We really gotta find the Hall of Memories.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll definitely find it and restore your memories. Now go to sleep, we have to wake up early tomorrow.”

I stared at the stars above me. It didn’t take long until I fell asleep.

###

It took us 3 days until we arrived in Pekoland. Nothing really happened during the trip so everything was fine. We departed from the caravan as we headed into Pekoria, the frontier town of Pekoland.

Pekoland was a rather large country. Amelia planned to go to Pekorias, the capital city and gather information.

We walked around the streets of Pekoria and tried to find a place to stay the night. It was almost time for lunch and we were about to eat at a restaurant when we saw her.

A blue-haired girl was lying on the ground. Two carrots were stuck on her braided hair and rabbit ears were growing out of her head.

“Hey.... Are you okay?” I asked her.

I heard a loud rumbling.

“Food...” she muttered.

She looked at me and said, “Please give me food, peko!”