Travelogue 1

The noise of the carriage is hard to ignore. The sight of a slightly-melted field of snow isn't exactly exciting. My first trip outside the village began in an underwhelming fashion.
My only distraction from the mundanity of it all sits opposite me, playing with an unfamiliar toy that looks to be made of metal. This is actually the first time I've seen a toy in this world, I think, and it's not one I recognise at all. Ms. Tsa focuses on the spinning top-shaped toy, pushing a thin thread through a hole in it, then retrieving it. I'm not sure what the goal of the game is. Maybe there's no objective; there are toys like that.

"I've never seen that before. What is it?"
"Ashviash..."
"...oh. Uh, what does it do?"
"Thread in, thread out."
"I see."

I'm starting to get the impression that Ms. Tsa doesn't know His universal language very well. She looks slightly too young to have gotten His memories. I wonder if she'd be more communicative if I knew how to speak in, uh... whatever language she grew up with.
At times like this, I wish I had brought some stuff from home with me. All I've got is...
My hands dig into my jacket pockets.
...oh! Of course! I had my phone on me! ...Well, it's out of charge now, but if I'd remembered I had it earlier, I could've taken some photos or something... Maybe written some notes with it.
I wonder if they have electricity in the capital? Even if they did, I need a cable if I want to recharge anything, and I don't know the first thing about how to make one of those. Maybe I could attach some copper to a battery and charge it that way? Would that work? I dunno, this might be too dangerous for me to experiment with. I don't want to get electrocuted...

If they did have electricity, we'd have better transport than this, wouldn't we? And instead of gathering snow to shove into ice boxes, the people in the village would've used fridges to keep things cool. But if people here have memories of Earth, surely they'd try to figure out things like electricity. Maybe it just hasn't reached the remote areas of the continent yet.
I continue to gaze out of the window, asking questions about the world beyond and coming up with my own answers, until signs of civilisation begin to fade into view.

"Are we there? That was fast."
"No."
"What's that ahead of us then?"

Sera, from her outdoor seat up front, raises her voice to respond.
"It's a checkpoint." She explains. "We're only carrying people and provisions, so we don't have to worry."
That so? Would we have run into problems here if Arya came with us...?
The carriage comes to a brief stop, then a minute or so later, a young-looking man opens the door to peer inside. I give him a little wave and he nods his head in acknowledgement, then he shuts the door and walks around to the back. A short, muffled conversation between the guard and Sera's mom reaches my ears, then before long, our journey continues. This time, however, Sera's mom joins us inside.

"We're travelling along a main transport route, so there are a few checkpoints along the way."
"You don't have to be on guard anymore?"
"Not for a while. These are safe roads."
"Were the previous roads dangerous?"
"Hmm... not really! A little bit."

I wonder what kind of dangers you might face while travelling... Bandits, probably. Are there monsters in this world? The creature pulling us along might be a monster, but it's not too far from a normal animal. If you told me it existed somewhere on Earth, I might believe you.
I look back over to Ms. Tsa to ask if there are any monsters in the wild, but my priorities quickly shift when I see what she's doing: from the spinning top she had been fiddling with, a patterned chunk of whatever material she was using as thread is beginning to form.
Is she... knitting? Weaving? What's the right word for this?

"Wow, that's impressive."
"Thanks..."
"What are you making?"
"...Armor."
"Huh? ...armor?"

She's knitting armor? That doesn't sound very effective...... Actually, how did they make chainmail on Earth? This can't be how they did it...
"Is that thread made of metal?" I ask.
She nods. Maybe it really is chainmail.

"Are you going to wear it?"
"No."
"What's it for then?"
"You."
"Oh... Uh, thank you."

She nods again. I hadn't thought about it, but maybe it's for the best that I have some protection. I hope it's comfortable. It'd probably get really cold if I wore it in the village. Brr, I shiver due to my own imagination. Or maybe it's cold. It might just be cold...
"I made my husband chainmail once!" Sera's mom begins. "He never wore it! ...That man, I swear."
"Not even once?" I humor her.
"Not even once!" She puffs. "I never even saw it after that! He probably sold it, that heartless merchant."
"You're calling your own husband heartless?" But Sera sounded pretty happy talking about her family. I thought they'd all get along.
"Any man who refuses to wear chainmail woven by a lady is hardly a man at all!" She asserts.
Meanwhile, Ms. Tsa is giving me a cold glare.
"Haha, right?" I nervously laugh. "If that were me, I'd wear it all the time."
Upon hearing this, Ms. Tsa hurriedly returns to her work.
I really hope it's comfortable...

"The men from this world need to use Earth as an example!" Sera's mom complains. "What was it He said? 'To go as far as one can go to save one woman, one girl, one child.'  - That's what our men need!"
"I think you'd have the same complaints if you were born on Earth." I laugh.
"Well, if you ever get married, you treat her well, understand?" She's not even my parent. Why am I getting the kind of talk a mother gives to her son?

"Understood!"
"Good~"

I didn't really know my mom, though. I wonder if we'd have had a talk like this if she'd lived to see me grow up? Would she have knitted gifts for me? Was she that kind of person?
It doesn't really matter, does it?
I won't get advice like this. I won't get gifts like this. Not in the real world... Not on Earth. Never.

"Thanks."

I whisper a word of appreciation to the two.
And ever so slowly, we reach our destination.