Chapter 194 – Arrival! It's Austria!

Wе mаinlу flеw over сitiеs аnd rоаds, so it was a zigzаgging rоute.

It toоk a fair аmоunt оf timе, but wе’vе arrived in Еastern Еurоpе!

Frоm thеrе, it wаs a lеisurelу cruising spееd tо inlаnd Austria.

Still, wе werе going at Mасh 1!

At this speed…

“Wе сan easily avоid mоuntains!”

“At the speеd wе were gоing befоrе, mу dуnamic visual aсuity cоuldn’t kееp up. Ву thе way, thеre arе spells for seаrсhing things like this and tаking оver flight mаnagemеnt… but they’re tоo niсhе to use without the Grimoirе of Соlоrs.”

“What?! Nоw that yоu mеntiоn it, I think I heard thе Grimoirе оf Соlоrs is a sресialist in а widе variety of General Magic…”

“That’s right! Things like Mana Perception during the Witch of the Mind battle are prime examples!”

“That Mana Perception was quite skillful. And the previous generation’s body became the foundation for creating President Coral… Rest in peace in hell, previous generation.”

“Hmm, speaking of hell, ah, our Freya is probably headed for purgatory too. Evil Witches never get a decent death. There hasn’t been a single one who died in their bed so far!”

“That’s so true. Even though they all know they’ll meet a miserable end, for some reason they short-sightedly become Evil Witches.”

The Grimoires were chattering noisily inside the bag.

They’re a bunch who’ve been through various owners over the generations.

From what they’ve seen, good Witches die as humans, and bad Witches either get exterminated or are betrayed and killed, it seems.

Apparently, all bad Witches make their Witch form their main one and stop returning to being human, so they no longer die of old age.

“But their human sensibilities wear down, so they gradually go strange, and when their humanity completely disappears, they become monsters. At that point, they can no longer handle Grimoires, so they power down and get exterminated as monsters. Karma! That’s the Witch’s lifespan!”

“Eek! Such a dark story!! Spice will meet his end in bed as a human!”

“Our Master should be fine, I think.”

While we were saying such things, we crossed the Austrian border.

Floppy informed me of that.

Now then…

We’ve landed in the town of Sankt Gotthard, on the border with Austria!

The express train from Budapest passes through here on its way to Graz.

From here, it’s an elegant train journey!

…That said, by this point, if a little girl is traveling alone, people get worried and won’t let her on the train.

I’ll revert to Shogo at an appropriate point.

“Master! I have a good idea!”

“Oh? What is it, Flota? Speak!”

“Metamorphose into a lady about as grown-up as Spice!!”

“Huh, you can do that!?”

“We caaan!! Or rather, since Master is transforming into Spice, if you wish, you could even have an adult body. You just naturally became a little girl, that’s all.”

“So that’s how it is. Alrighty! Then let’s transform!”

The scene of a little girl in an apron dress who had landed on a street corner chattering away with a book floating in mid-air.

An old man passed by, then came back, staring with his mouth agape.

“Metamorphose! Adult Spice! Ah, make the clothing something safe!”

Spice was enveloped in light…

And transformed into a woman around her late twenties.

Checked in a mirror.

Oho, a neat and pretty beauty!

Wearing a black coat, not too curvaceous.

The tall, slender build feels like it inherited from the original Shogo.

So this is what Spice looks like grown up.

The old man watching was so shocked he lost strength in his legs.

“Using Magic will be restricted, so please release the adult form each time!”

“Okay. Huh, my mind is still Spice’s.”

“It’s just Spice-like Master wearing a Shell, after all.”

And so.

Using the passport and credit card I prepared in advance, I purchased an express ticket!

The express seems to be running a bit late.

Trains in Eastern Europe are apparently fairly accurate, with being slightly late being the norm, like in Japan?

Being Spice, I had Mentaris use something called Translation Magic on me and pricked up my ears to the conversations around me.

“They say the next train is 6 minutes late.”

“Well then, it’s on time.”

Six minutes late is on time!!

Incidentally, an old man who had brought someone from abroad was boasting, “Our country’s trains are accurate, you know. A full 65% of them come exactly on time.”

Thirty percent are late!?

A country that seems strict but is relaxed…

And so Spice boarded the train, a Regional Express, heading from Sankt Gotthard to Graz.

From the Eastern European train window!

The quaint townscapes flow by…

An old lady who sat down next to me started talking to me.

“Are you from China?”

“I’m from Japan.”

“Japan! My, you’ve come from far away. Sightseeing in Austria? That’s nice. Our country has very deep history, so there are lots of sights. Are you staying in Graz? I’ll tell you about the tourist spots.”

She was a chatty, kind old lady.

Well, Spice’s adult form seems to give people a sense of security.

By the way, the train I boarded, which I thought was an express, turned out to be a rapid train.

“In the old days, if you were heading east, there were like eight trains a day. They’ve reduced it to five, it’s inconvenient.”

“Is that so. Everywhere, the economy is bad, isn’t it.”

Enjoying the chat, I gathered information from the old lady’s small talk!

That aside, the Eastern European scenery is delightful.

Old rows of houses flow by.

Just as I thought that, it turned into rural scenery, and the rapid train runs on while viewing blue mountains in the distance.

I feel the travel mood~!

And the firm bread with ham from my boxed lunch is delicious!

The juice I don’t quite recognize is also delicious.

“If this trip were just sightseeing, it’d be the best!”

The train continued on its way, heading straight for Graz.