When I went to the witch's house, she told me it was done.
"The gauntlets?"
"Oh, those — just a little bit more."
"Then what is it that's done?"
"Hehe, hehe. What's finished is the 'Skia Coffin Ele.'"
"...?"
What even is that. I tilted my head, and the witch gave a wry smile.
"Well, well, it'll be quicker to just go see for yourself."
"...Where is it?"
"Well then, shall we head over now?"
The witch pulled a faintly glowing green orb from inside her robe.
That was, if I remembered correctly — right. A teleportation — and before I knew it, I was standing in a dim space.
All around, huge iron boxes were stacked like mountains.
It was like a warehouse. Dim, with red lights blinking here and there, and impossibly vast.
It wasn't just iron, either. There were boxes of wood, copper, silver, gold, and minerals I'd never seen before.
The shelves were arranged in a labyrinth-like pattern, with all sorts of boxes scattered about haphazardly.
A whole other world of boxes.
Oh, right — this was... Chaive's shop.
Walking forward, a lone semicircular counter appeared.
Boxes of all shapes and materials were piled up all around the counter as well.
A call bell sat in the corner. The witch rang it.
It gave a bright little *ding-a-ling*.
"Yes, hello—welcome—ugh, it's the witch."
A short figure wearing a deep-yellow robe and hood emerged from beneath the counter.
It let out a displeased noise upon seeing the witch.
"Oh my, what a warm welcome."
"Whoa—! Wof!"
"Long time no see."
"Ah, yeah. It's been a... while..."
Chaive waved her hand in an awkward little greeting.
The bracelet I'd given her glinted on her wrist.
The witch and the other kids too, but it always makes me happy when they keep wearing them.
Still, it's embarrassing.
"Well then, greetings out of the way. Chaive. I've come to see the finished 'Scar Coffin Ele.'"
"Ah, that one's, like, still before final adjustments, though."
"That's perfectly fine, perfectly fine."
"Then over this way, this way."
Chaive came out from behind the counter and started walking.
What even *is* "Scar Coffin Ele"?
"Oh right, oh right. Apparently there was some commotion at the Hydrangea Grand Hall yesterday."
"Huh, the arena's still broken, huh?"
"…………"
"Well, you know, there's no budget. Word is the Grand Guild and Arveld are willing to chip in for repairs though."
"Oh, uh, I—"
"Yeah, yeah, the Witch already put her share in."
"Huh? The Witch did?"
Nobody told me that. The Witch gave a small, wry smile.
"Ah, well, Wof-kun can't really pay, can he~ …And you're in debt too, you know~"
"Guh!"
My chest ached. Nearly 100 million. I still had no way to pay that back.
I was so sorry.
"By the way~ how much did the Witch pay~?"
"Let's see, let's see. If I recall, we split it three ways, so that would be 5 billion oro."
"5 billion…!?"
Huh? 5 billion? 5,000,000,000? Five. Billion?
"So that means 15 billion total, huh. For that scale, that's probably fair."
"Well, well, the funding's all accounted for now, but actually getting things moving is still a ways off."
They talked about it like idle neighborhood gossip, but the Witch paid 5 billion?!
"Ah, um, Witch… why did you go so far…"
The Witch looked at me blankly for a moment, then...
"Well, well, of course you would, dear. Settling a disciple's affairs is the master's job, you know. Besides, Con has some involvement and responsibility in this too."
"B-but—"
"Wof is feeling all responsible about this, aren't you?"
"Of course I am!"
"Then it's fine, dear! Wof can totally pay back something like 5 billion in no time!"
Chive smiled gently.
"Huh—wait, what? Me?"
"Wof can definitely do it."
Why was she so confident about this?
I had no idea how to even go about earning 5 billion.
Even summoning every memory from my past life, it was about as clear as how to make mayonnaise.
"Oh my, oh my. Even Chive's making that woman face now, dear."
"Hey!? What do you mean 'woman face'—I am a woman!"
Chive puffed up in a huff. The Witch deftly stroked her head with her tail.
It was petting in reverse. "Cut it out!" Chive protested while being buried in tail fur.
Watching those two get along so well, I decided to seal away the 5 billion in my head for now.
If I kept feeling sorry forever, even the Witch wouldn't be able to enjoy herself.
A massive, long, narrow black box appeared before my eyes.
What is this... I was completely overwhelmed.
A massive black box. And on top of it sat another box of roughly the same size, shifted slightly to one side.
The boxes were edged in gold, and right in the center was an enormous crest — a flower cross, boldly displayed.
It was conspicuous. Utterly, unavoidably conspicuous.
This crest was the witch's mark. Or, as my past-life memories would call it, a kaō.
Huh? Wait a second… This box had six enormous wheels attached to it.
Oh, I get it.
"A giant carriage?"
"Da-da-da-daaa!"
Chaib clapped her hands together.
"Giant…? No, this is bigger than the caravan's!"
I had spent one whole week aboard the caravan's giant carriage.
So I knew what a giant carriage looked like. This one was twice the size.
"Now, now, young Wof. Shall we step inside and take a look?"
The witch's three tails shoved me forward, and I stumbled into the carriage.
The entrance was a single door on the front right. The emergency exit was on the back left.
It opened upward like a gull-wing door, and the opened panel doubled as a staircase.
We entered from the right side of the front. The first thing that struck me was the sheer space.
The caravan's giant carriage had a decent amount of floor area, but this was on another level entirely.
The first thing I spotted was the kitchen on the left.
It was a state-of-the-art system kitchen, straight out of my past-life memories.
And a food storage room.
Next to the kitchen was a dining room — it was just like a house.
The dining room occupied the front section. From there, a staircase and various rooms branched off.
There were six rooms in total.
They were all on the left side, with a corridor running along the right. Just like a passenger car.
Each room had a bed, a desk, a window, and a closet. Basically a train compartment.
Near the back of the corridor, there was a storage room and a toilet.
The very back of the first floor housed the bathroom.
There was a changing room, and a spacious bath.
To my surprise, this giant horse-drawn carriage had proper plumbing — both water supply and drainage pipes running through it.
The water supply had a tank at the very top.
The drainage was processed through a special waste tank at the lowest central point.
Apparently, it was a special tank that used a slime's dissolving fluid.
It would take about a day to dissolve all the accumulated waste.
The dissolving fluid was replaced once a month.
A tiny boiler sat beneath the bath, providing hot water.
In my past-life memories, this was just standard stuff, but in this world, it was incredible technology.
Then I moved to the second floor. The front of the second floor held the driver's cabin.
The interior was narrower than I'd expected, with just a pedestal and a stone placed inside.
"What's this?"
"Ah, a relay parent stone."
If I remembered right, it was a stone that could transmit words.
There were parent stones and child stones — you use the parent stone to send your voice to the child stone.
The kind they use to place orders in the VIP room at Cider-tei.
"Is that it? What about reins and such?"
"Those aren't necessary, dear."
"They're not?"
It's a horse-drawn carriage, so horses should be pulling it. The giant carriage is pulled by monster horses.
Naturally, harnesses are essential. What's going on here?
Setting that aside for now, you could exit from the driver's cabin to the topmost level.
Up here there was a round railing, making it a simple lookout platform.
The second floor had a corridor on the left, and on the right were the witch's workshop, bedroom, and guest room.
It was the mirror opposite of the first floor. At the back on the right side were a storage room and a toilet.
The toilet was in the same position on both the first and second floors.
And the very back of the second floor was a panoramic viewing room with glass windows across the front.
"Whoa… that's amazing."
The viewing room was arranged in three concentric tiers, with sofas built right in.
You could sit and take in the stunning view. How wonderful.
"This part, well, I really had to work hard for it — the glass panels and all that."
"Mm, mm. Nice, nice. Just what I asked for."
And on both sides of the glass panels there were doors, making it into a sort of small balcony.
"...This is a moving house!"
"Right? It's finally done."
"Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It took a long time, didn't it? Almost eight years to finish."
"That long, huh?"
"Yeah... It really was tough. Tough, but, well..."
"..."
Right. I'd realized partway through too.
Couldn't you just put a transfer gate on a regular carriage and call it done?
Or hire a caravan or merchant heading to Hydrangea to carry a transfer gate along.
That thought had crossed my mind, but I shook my head slightly.
Sure, it would be convenient. Sure, it would be the most cost-effective option. But that wasn't what I was after.
I didn't want to make life easy. I wanted to travel.
"Well then, young Wof. Did it meet your expectations?"
"Y-yes. It's amazing."
Even the camping vehicles I remembered from my past life didn't have anything like this.
"So then, we can ride this all the way to Hydrangea."
"Huh? We're using this?"
"That's right. Kon's coming along too."
"W-wait, what!? The witch is coming with us!?"
I was shocked. Flabbergasted, even. Of course I was. That witch, going on a trip!?
The witch adopted a somewhat sulky attitude.
"What, what? Hey, hey, does little Wof not want to travel with Kon? Come to think of it, I wasn't even invited, was I?"
She was clearly dejected. Wait, hold on.
"No, it's not that I don't want to. The reason I didn't invite you is that last time I mentioned wanting to go somewhere on a trip, you made an obviously displeased face and gave me the cold shoulder. So I figured you'd rather stay cooped up at home."
"A-ah, w-well, that's—"
"Aah, that's—the witch's fault."
Chaibe shot a sharp glance at the witch.
The witch swayed her body in distress, her fox ears and three tails flustering about.
"U-uh, I—right now, Kon really, really wants to go on a trip!"
"All right. Let's all go together."
I smiled softly at the childlike witch.
"Mm-hmm!"
The witch beamed with a radiant grin.
We set off from Skia Coffin El.
Apparently, all that remained were minor adjustments, and everything would be ready by the day after tomorrow.
Traveling aboard something this enormous.
Man, I'm getting excited.
A trip.