Coming to a different world- Story of the [Grim Reaper]

Chapter 40 - They're just animals, no? (1)

I'll try to update once more before sunday evening. Emphasis on 'I'll try'
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Oooo~"

Maria's voice slipped out when she stared at a bright-green, lush forest in the distance with small hearts in her eyes.

"Maria, you like that forest?"

"Yep, yep, Daddy! When will we go there, when, when?!?"

Maria's enthusiasm easily lifted our spirits which had been rather low because of the carriage we were sitting in.
The main reason of our bad mood was that the carriage.... was so damn slow!

Right now, we were on our way towards our new home in the North. Yet, the king found it necessary to lend us a carriage and an escort. Because of the escorts I couldn't activate space magic.
That f*cking king!!
No one asked to lend us this sh*tty slow carriage!! There weren't even any suspensions, making the ride really bumpy.
My opinion of the king actually once again degraded.

Especially in the begin of the journey, was I quite pissed.
I almost coughed blood when I heard we had to ride a carriage for eight days to arrive at our destination. That was the king's last 'friendliness' before we left.
With space magic it would've take  half a day tops, because I don't know the exact location. Otherwise it'd take 1 minute.

Anyway, we were quite close right now.

"Rigier, how long till we arrive at our destination?", I asked while looking through the small window in the carriage at the soldier riding next to it.

Rigier was a young soldier of about 20 years old, with shiny blond hair.

"To answer your question, sir, we'll arrive in another half a day"

"Thank you"

The soldiers weren't always this friendly. In the beginning of the journey they were even hostile, but when I flaunted my cooking skills for the first time when we stopped to eat lunch on the very first day, their attitudes took a 180° turn. I guess it's difficult to find someone with the [Cooking Master] Skill.

A total of 20 royal guards had come to escort and guard us during the month before we leave for the front; although it's only a little more than 20 days right now.

After a half-an-hour break and another 4 hours, we arrived at what seemed to be a medium-sized village. The houses were simple and crude, existing of either wood or stone, although the necessary skill to properly utilize these materials was clearly absent. At a few locations, there were even some houses which seemed to be hit by a furious storm.

There were only two roads in the entire village; one leading from south to north (the one we rode on) and one coming from the west which merged with the other road.

When we stepped out of the carriage, there seemed to be no one around. But with my [Divine Eye], I could see all inhabitants of the village were hiding in their houses, not daring to come out. The guards didn't falter in the slightest though.

"Everyone, come out, there're important matters to speak about!!"

Suddenly, the captain of the guards who came with us, Hyver, yelled out loudly.

Then, one by one, small groups of frightened-looking beastmen came out of their houses and headed to our location. Tall men with wolf ears, a bushy tail and sharp canines; young women with bunny ears and tails; small children with cat ears; the entire area was filled with all sorts of beastmen.

Suddenly, an elderly-looking male stepped forward from the crowd and spoke towards Hyver, who he seemed to know:

"Sir Hyver, please give us a little more time, we haven't been able to collect all the products meant for our yearly payment..."