The next morning, I woke up to the sun beaming into the wagon, and I grunted. Yeah, I definitely need something there. I think as I blink my eyes open and turn around so the sun doesn’t burn my retinas when I finally fully open them. It takes me a few minutes to fully come to consciousness, and I look out over my bench to see Betsy staring at me.

  I smile and wave at her and tell her good morning. The only thing I get in return is an image in my mind of the ox pointing at her belly. Another sigh and a nod before I climbed over and sat on the bench.

  “I know, I know. It was an oversight Betsy. We’ll make sure we stock up on supplies better before we leave Yoshino. Let’s just get there, make some cash, and then we’ll pig out,” I promise Betsy. “Or, actually, I have plenty of money. If we pass by an inn or something, we’ll definitely stop.” My stomach gave a loud gurgle in agreement.

  We were back on the road faster than ever before. Betsy rarely seemed to really mind being bound up in the yoke, but she didn’t normally help much. Today she was ready and raring to go. The grass in the little spot we parked must not have been very good.

  “Maybe we’ll see the Lying Lily again. Now that I have a better grasp of things, I wouldn’t mind really being able to check it out,” I said hopefully.

  A mental eye roll enters my head, and I frown and shrug.

  “It could happen,” I said defensively.

  We rode for a few hours, and I glared up at the sun. I had never put my outer robe on, but now I even rolled down the upper part of my inner robe, exposing my chest. Glancing at my hairy man breasts and gut, I sighed. I was so pale that the way this sun was beating down on me, I’d turn into a lobster in no time.

  The breeze on my bare slightly sweaty skin felt so nice I wondered if a cultivator could get skin burn. Surely they’d be able to heal as they burned or something? Isn’t that one of the perks? Fast healing? Then there was skin cancer, though, and I didn’t want to look like the guy in the black and red suit.

  I rolled my inner robe back up over my shoulders, but I left it a little open, showing off my chest hair. The breeze still felt very nice from the way Betsy was moving. She was moving quickly, much quicker than usual, to try to get us somewhere to eat. I was bumping around roughly and was getting rocked back and forth as she plodded along.

  When I tried to complain, she just turned her head and glared back at me. I just tried to ignore the other people on the road who cursed and shouted at me as we blew their doors off. At least at this rate, it shouldn’t take us too long to get to Yoshino and get this stuff delivered. I couldn’t remember if we were supposed to be there by a certain time or day or anything, but I was positive we’d be there before they expected us again.

  It did, in fact, not take very much time at all. Before I realized it, the road got nicer. The Royal Road was known to have a cobbled road throughout the Empire, which, in itself, was astounding. Now, while the road was still cobbled, it seemed they used wider stones and took better care to even them out. My ass was no longer bouncing in the seat.

  The surrounding area, while it used to be open fields, grew more congested as we got closer to the city as well. I didn’t think we were in the city proper yet. That was up ahead, still judging from the walls I saw. Still, we were in the outer areas. The suburbs, if you will. The road was still as wide as before, but there were more obstacles in it as we got closer.

  There were carts parked in front of tiered buildings, as well as horses and other creatures, to pull them. There were some carts on a large sidewalk manned by people selling things. The smells of grilled meats and food wafted through the air and it took me coaxing Betsy some to keep moving.

  “We’ll find food at the delivery, I promise,” I promised. Or “This place we’re going to is supposed to be pretty high brow. They’ll have better food,” I assured them.

  Though Betsy gave me a doubtful look and I think I agreed with her. I was a bit of a foodie back home, and while there was something to say about the white table cloth five starred restaurant, nothing beat some delicious street food. Still, I urged her to press on through the ever crowding street.

  Eventually, the buildings gave way to walls. The road continued on and I felt like we were going down a highway with the walls up to help stop noise affecting the houses near it. You could probably still fit four carts wide going down the road and sometimes there were. They didn’t really have rules like they did on a highway, just carts and groups of people or other wagons traveling in whichever direction they were going, wherever on the road they had room.

  We stuck close to the right wall. The slow lane on the highway, just like I was used to. If I looked up, I could see roofs of buildings poking up around over the high walls. We were heading towards a large arch that went over the whole road and connected the two walls together. I could see they had guards with polymers and swords, stopping people as they came and went.

  On a balcony in one particularly tall building, I watched someone lean over the railing and wretch on the street below.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Must be a good bar, I thought to myself as we traveled.

  “Hold up there.”

  The angry voice brought me from my inner monologue, and I looked down. He wore sleek armor that was a deep green and trimmed with gold. The half dozen soldiers who guarded this spot all wore the same colors. I figured it must be the colors of the emperor. I blinked and then focused in on the man’s glare as he inspected the wagon I rode.

  This guy might have been the first man I saw with brown hair instead of the jet black everyone else seemed to have, and his green eyes were dull but reflected the anger in the rest of his face. He still had the topknot, and he was the only one in the group that didn’t wear a helmet.

  “Oh sorry, hello there,” I say with a smile and give him a little wave, trying to put him at ease. Really, I just wanted the guy to calm down, he was so angry. Clearly, someone needed a vacation. “I was just trying to take in what I could of this beau -”

  “This wagon is way too long to bring into the city,” he barked, and interrupted me. He apparently wasn’t in the mood for flattery.

  I blinked.

  Seriously? Length requirements?! Come on, man.

  “Uh…” was all I could mutter out while I stared at him. “I’m going to the Karyu Teahouse? I have a delivery from Soma Hirasuke in Meguno. Very urgent supplies.”

  This only made the guard captain frown deeper. He crossed his thick arms across his chest and shook his head. “Is that supposed to make me let you through?”

  I blink. “No? I don’t know. I’m just trying to deliver this stuff,” I say with a shrug.

  He shook his head. “Well, you’re not going to be able to in this long of a wagon. Why the hell would you get one so long, anyway? How are you supposed to make turns in populated cities with this thing?”

  Well, he had a point. It was hard enough trying to make that corner back in Meguro and judging from what I’ve seen so far of this city, it’d only be harder here.

  “Any ideas then?” I ask him with a cocked brow.

  He snorted and shrugged. “I couldn't care less,” he said before he turned and walked away to deal with someone else trying to get into the city.

  I sat there and frowned a little, wondering what I should do. I looked back behind the bench. There were only four crates. Maybe me and Betsy could carry them?

  “Do you have any rope?”

  Why did people always interrupt me while I was thinking? I turn and look at an older man with a bald head and tired eyes. He gave me a big toothless grin when I looked at him and even waved at me. He wore the simple farmer's robe like they did back in Sunjin and I could see he didn’t have anything on underneath it.

  “I’m sorry?” I asked him.

  He stepped away from the pull cart he was pulling behind him and stepped up onto my wagon to look behind the bench. Ignoring the ideas of personal space or property, he climbed up to the wagon step. Since I was fairly certain I’d be able to take him, I just kind of leaned back and let him look in the back. He only stood on the step for a minute before he climbed back down and looked at me.

  “If you have rope, you can tie the crates together and sling them over your ox. It looks strong enough to be able to carry a few boxes without issue,” he said with a confident nod.

  I blinked and nodded my head. That made sense. I had seen that same sort of thing in movies before and honestly, I wasn’t sure why I didn’t think of it.

  “You’re right, thanks,” I said with a smile.

  The old man just gave a nod of his head and went back to his pull cart. “No worries, where would you kid be today if the older folk didn’t help ya out with some knowledge now and then,” he said with a chuckle before he picked up the handles to the cart and walked away.

  “Welcome to Yoshino City, youngin’!” was the last thing I heard him yell as he ran off with the cart with surprising speed.

  I blinked and watched him run and navigate the crowd with ease. There was clearly more to him than met the eye. I shook it off as I climbed down from the wagon and walked back over to the guard captain.

  “If I leave the wagon here, will you be able to make sure no one runs off with it?” I asked him seriously. “I need to get the delivery done so I’ll take the crates, but I wanna make sure the wagon doesn’t get stolen.”

  The captain looked indignant. “There won’t be any thefts as long as I’m here, boy,” he growled at me.

  I went wide eyed and clasped my hands together and bowed at the captain like I had seen Soga do with his elders. “Thank you, sir,” I said and backed away. I had seen enough movies and read enough books to know I should keep my head lowered while I backed away.

  I didn’t lift my head back until I was at my wagon. Then I looked at Betsy with a grin. She frowned and shook her head quickly.

  “Oh come on Betsy, what’s the difference between pulling the wagon or having some boxes hanging from your sides?”

  A loud huff was my only response, but she lowered her head.

  “I promise, right after we get this stuff there, we’re going to have a feast,” I promise the ox.

  Betsy looked at me, and my stomach gargled, but she nodded. It only took a few minutes for us to get her out of the yoke. A few more to get the crates tied up and around her, so there were two that hung on either side.

  “Try to walk carefully, you know? We don’t know what’s in there, and we’ll be in trouble if everything is broken when we arrive.

  She huffed, but nodded her head at me. I reached out and patted her on top of the head, softly ruffling the area between her horns. She preened when I did that and even gave what I thought was a soft smile and a soft noise of contentment.

  I grin at her and raise a finger at Betsy to have her wait a moment while I go back over to the guard captain.

  “Sir, if you don’t mind…” I had started to ask, but the man just glared and huffed at me. “Nevermind, thank you for your help. I’ll find the way.”

  I backed away from him once more with my head lowered, figuring if I said anything else to the guy, he was going to run me through with the sword on his hip.

  “Come on Betsy, how hard could it be to find an upper class teahouse?” I said as I reached towards my outer robe that was still sitting on the driver’s bench.

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  Hiroshi, Tale of a Sumotori

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