I opened the envelope and unfolded the letter.
The handwriting wasn't particularly pretty, and the writer had been in such a hurry that the strokes were messy. There were even several misspellings, but the meaning was still clear.
"Teacher Gauss, by the time you read this letter, I should have already left this country.
Please don't worry about me.
Mom said the people who came today seem to be from Grandma's family. They're taking us home.
To a very faraway place.
The adults said it's called the Kingdom of Roland.
I really don't want to leave. I want to wait for you to come back, Teacher, and keep learning magic from you.
I've already learned the tricks you taught me, and I've read several of those books, too.
But Mom says we have to go. She can't leave me alone in the village.
Teacher, do you think we'll see each other again?
But don't worry. Even if I'm somewhere else, I'll keep practicing hard. I'll become really, really strong, and then I'll come find you.
Missing you, Rhine."
The letter was short.
So she'd gone to the Kingdom of Roland?
Gauss folded the letter back up and put it away, but his thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.
The Kingdom of Roland lay to the northwest of their own Kingdom of Carlos.
It was a very long way from Goat Town.
For most ordinary people, traveling in this world was nowhere near as convenient as it had been in Gauss's previous life. Unless they lived near the border, leaving the country was something most people would never manage in their entire lives.
The same went for adventurers. Unless they had some special reason, they wouldn't casually leave their own country to seek their fortunes abroad.
He could easily imagine how bewildered