After firmly finalizing their next destination, the group bid a warm farewell to Letty and returned to the hidden valley where their carriage was parked.
Although they had been happily playing up in the high peaks for several days, thanks to the thorough protective spells they had cast earlier, the vehicle was still flawlessly intact and hadn't been occupied by any curious woodland creatures. Even the sturdy Camel-beast pulling the carriage was casually and leisurely grazing on the frost-resistant grass nearby. It was abundantly clear from its sleek coat and relaxed posture that the beast had been thoroughly satisfied with its peaceful life over the past few days. Once everyone climbed back inside the wooden cabin, the wheels began to spin, and the carriage slowly drove toward the north.
High atop the snowy peak behind them, Letty stood quietly at the edge of the cliff, watching the small silhouette of the carriage depart into the distance.
"They are truly comfortable simply leaving you here all by yourself in a foreign land?" Kjeragandr asked curiously, her form quietly manifesting out of the swirling white mist right by Letty's side.
Letty spread her hands, a serene smile gracing her lips. "This was entirely my own choice to begin with. Besides, daily life here isn't exactly fraught with danger, is it?"
"True enough. For a spirit of your nature, there is almost no physical danger to be found within these borders." Kjeragandr nodded slowly. While she certainly possessed the raw power to forcibly expel Letty from her domain, doing so would consume a significant amount of her energy. Since the newcomer bore absolutely no ill will, had zero intention of disrupting the local human villages, and merely wished to live a quiet life of solitude in the high snows, why should she refuse such a peaceful arrangement?
Furthermore, the two powerful entities had just reached a highly mutually beneficial agreement: Letty would officially become her designated "Mountain Patroller." She would be responsible for roaming the dangerous, blizzard-swept high passes and helping lost human travelers find the correct path to safety. As the supreme master of Kjerag, Kjarr didn't even have to pay a single coin for this invaluable service.
In Letty's own words, she already felt quite uneasy about intruding so abruptly upon another deity's ancient domain; if she couldn't perform some meaningful duty to help out, she felt she didn't truly deserve to stay. The two of them had quickly finalized this pleasant arrangement, with both parties secretly feeling they had gotten the far better end of the deal.
On the other side of the mountains, Flandre's group headed due north after leaving the snowy valleys of Kjerag, and it wasn't long before they reached the busy frontier borders of Victoria. Since the entire traveling party completely lacked any official identification documents or modern passports, they relied smoothly on Patchouli's seamless Confusion Spell to completely bypass the border inspection guards and glide directly into Kazimierz territory.
"The local people here... are they supposed to be Umamusume?"
Remilia peered out of the glass window, scanning the busy thoroughfares before pointing her finger at the passing young Kuranta girl walking along the path.
Kurantas are ordinary humans who simply possessed elegant horse ears and long, sweeping horse tails. Aside from those two distinct animal features, the only other notable trait they shared with horses was an incredibly powerful, dense leg strength.
"Uh...they should be called Kurantas here." Flandre noted with a casual wave of her hand. The name "Umamusume" almost made Flandre's brain crash for a second before she realized that the literal translation of the word means "Horse Girl".
The carriage reached the outskirts of a small, vibrant town near the break of evening. As they had routinely done before, the companions first located a comfortable local inn to secure their rooms for the night. Afterward, they casually claimed to be wealthy foreign tourists visiting Kazimierz for the very first time and asked the staff what fun attractions were available.
"The most famous attraction in all of Kazimierz is naturally our grand Knight Tournament!" the inn's front desk clerk enthusiastically informed them, his eyes lighting up at the mention of the sport. "If you ladies truly wish to witness the most thrilling and high-stakes matches our country has to offer, I highly suggest heading straight to the Major Knight Territory, Kawalerielki. That is exactly where our largest, most prestigious tournaments are held, and it also happens to be our most prosperous commercial hub."
The clerk pointed toward the corner of the lobby, adding, "The modern televisions here have dedicated channels broadcasting the historic matches from the last few years twenty-four hours a day. If you wish to learn about the competitive rules and the famous knights in advance, you can easily watch them on the television screen first. Of course, besides the high-energy excitement of the Knight Tournament, our natural country scenery is also quite beautiful. If you happen to dislike places that are too crowded, or if you eventually get tired of the stadium noise, you can freely wander around our rural districts. I am entirely confident you will have a wonderful travel experience here."
After thoroughly listening to the detailed explanation, Remilia and Flandre held a quick discussion and decided to head straight toward Kawalerielki first. Firstly, as the grand capital of Kazimierz, it was bound to be the liveliest, most energetic city in the region, which perfectly suited Flandre's fun-loving, chaotic nature. Secondly, Patchouli deeply hoped to purchase a massive quantity of local books and academic journals there to help her properly understand the underlying laws and history of Terra. The smaller towns they had passed through previously simply weren't large enough to boast expansive bookstores, but as a famous nation built entirely on modern commerce, the trading atmosphere in Kawalerielki was bound to be incredibly thick. As long as they were willing to spend their gold lavishly, they could easily buy every single piece of literature Patchouli needed.
Having firmly decided on their direction, the group settled into their respective rooms. After enjoying a pleasant dinner, the companions went out for a night walk along the cobblestone paths and quickly noticed that Kazimierz felt entirely different from any place they had visited before.
In the various cities they had explored previously, the majority of ordinary citizens would basically return home to lock their doors immediately after dinner. Except for a few rowdy bars, the storefronts were generally closed tight, very few people walked the dark streets, and there was a severe lack of public street lighting. But here in Kazimierz, numerous commercial shops were still wide open late into the night, and bright, colorful electric lights beautifully guided the way along both sides of the bustling roads.
"As expected of a nation built entirely on commerce; at the very least, this vibrant level of nighttime liveliness is something you absolutely won't see in the rigid territories of Ursus or Victoria," the group couldn't help but remark to one another as they strolled down the illuminated paths.
Due to this rare, dazzling scenery, no one felt like returning to the inn immediately. Instead, they took their time, enjoying a full, leisurely lap around the vibrant town. It was already late into the night by the time they finally walked back through the inn's front doors.
Back inside their cozy rooms, absolutely no one felt tired enough to go to sleep; instead, they sat together, excitedly chatting about the unique shops and bright lights they had witnessed on the streets today. Flandre eagerly clicked on the television set in the corner to watch the knight matches.
Unfortunately, even here within the borders of Kazimierz, the matches broadcast on the standard public channels weren't the latest live events, but rather recorded broadcasts of past tournaments. In the greedy words of the ruling Commercial Federation, the latest, most relevant matches could only be legally viewed within the premium sectors of Kawalerielki. And the most perfect, jaw-dropping matches could only be truly experienced in person by buying an expensive ticket at the grand arena. This was a deliberate marketing strategy designed to entice wealthy tourists to enter Kawalerielki and the match venues so the corporations could extract as much money from their pockets as humanly possible. Of course, selling the official physical recordings of the matches also made the Commercial Federation a massive fortune every single year.
However, Flandre wasn't disappointed by these corporate restrictions in the slightest and watched the glowing screen with great interest. Coincidentally, the classic match currently playing on the television featured the famous Candle Knight.
After Remilia finished chatting with the other girls, she gracefully slid over and sat down right next to Flandre to watch the televised battle with her.
"My goodness, this fight looks way too fake and choreographed!" Remilia complained loudly after watching the exchange for a few minutes, turning her nose up at the screen.
"That's because this is a performance-based corporate competition, not a brutal battlefield slaughter," Flandre explained with a bright laugh, turning to share her knowledge of the tournament with her older sister. "It is actually just like our Danmaku games back home; since the primary goal is to entertain the audience without accidentally killing the opponent, the combatants naturally hold back their true, lethal power. Besides, this Candle Knight is explicitly known for attracting massive public attention with her beautiful appearance and incredibly flashy, artistic combat techniques."