For a simple folk, it took about one whole day to get to the city. Yui was able to do a round trip in one day, but she instead chose to slow down to a stroll, and even started humming whatever tune that came to mind. The errand wasn't particularly urgent, and she'd rather enjoy the nice sunny day in the early spring.
It's a bit past noon when she reached the midpoint of her trip. There was a small hill in front, and the terrain was all flat after that. Even if she took her time, she should be able to get to the city by dusk. A few traveling merchants were resting, with their wagon parked just off the road, and one of them started waving to Yui from afar.
Yui ran toward the merchants; they turned out to be people from her own town. The one waving to Yui was the son of the general store owner, and the wagons filled with new merchandise from the city.
"Going to the city by yourself, eh? May I tempt you with some of our bread?" The guy said, leading Yui into their circle. These people were just having their lunch. Their hard, dense bread rations, specially prepared for travelers, actually tasted quite good, attesting to the superior skill of the baker in the city. But Yui wasn't tempted by a least bit. She opened up her sack, and presented in front of the merchant a lacquer bento box.
"Thnaks, but I have the bento made by Ui!"
Ui's hand-made bento would beat the crap out of their dry bread any given day. The men were all very envious, but couldn't possibly bring themselves to ask for a single bite.
Speaking of Ui, ever since the Hirasawa sisters moved to the town, practically every single bachelor had been enchanted by the younger of the two. Beautiful and caring, wise and intelligent, with supreme martial art skill to boot, she was just a living goddess. But then, none of the young man had any luck in winning heart heart thus far. Well, it was perhaps no surprise that none of us country bumpkins stood any chance, right? The man all thought.
(Ui: I can't get married and leave Onne-chan alone!)
On the other hand, given the reputation of the sisters, they could have gotten themselves hired by any King, Grand Duke or Crowned Prince in the realm easily. Yet these Fuso girls chose instead to work in this little town in the far north, the job not esteemed, the pay not as handsome as it could have been. Well, life sure is full of surprises, isn't it?
(Ui: Onee-chan can't handle the politics of the high society! The environment has to be simple, so that I can better protect Onee-chan!)
(Ui: Besides, she can't take the summer heat...)
Yui? Well she's cute all right. As a possible wife? …... thanks, but no thanks.
After they had their stomachs filled, Yui and the merchants were about to resume their respective journeys in opposite directions. Just before they parted ways, one of the men advised Yui: "We saw some grizzly footprints up there. You should be careful, Yui-chan."
Another man gave him a shove and said, "Let's go dude. Yui is quite strong. There is no need for us to worry." The wagons were already moving away.
Yui waved to the leaving merchants, and started her climbing.
"Fuwa Fuwa time~~" Yui happily walked on the mountain path, humming all the while. Remember, the merchants had just gone this way with their wagons; the mountain path was evidently not too mountainous. It's practically flat ground for Yui.
There had been a band of highwaymen before, and Ui's first act as the new Town Patrol captain was to round them all up in the city jail.
(Come to think of it, I heard that there had already been several deaths in the town before we came here. Including the second son of the blacksmith, I think, and his brother was locked up at home by the folks, or else he would be out there killing himself avenging his brother. These young men trained for half a month under Ui, but then didn't Ui just steal all the actions? One bandit down for every strike, and using only the back of her katana! Ui was so cool!)
(It was kind of boring that I didn't get to do anything. But then Ui was right, her Onee-chan is just too strong. Those bandits couldn't possibly survive me, hahahaha! Sigh, life sure is tough if you are just too good...)
Completely lost in memory, Yui only noticed the grizzly bear in the middle of the path when she nearly walked into it.
