This wasn’t a surprise to Agatha, but traveling in a carriage was really comfortable. Her travels so far had been either on foot or in merchants’ carts, which couldn’t be said to be comfortable, especially after weeks. Her most recent form of travel, the Speed Control Anchor series platform, was far more comfortable, but it required too much presence of mind and mental power to keep up for sustained journeys.

  And it doesn’t help that it’s too slow at the moment, the dirty-blond girl pondered as she looked out of the carriage’s window. That should change when I reach the Fourth Stratum and I am able to put Amplify before Speed to give it more oomph, but who knows when I will do that… At least half a year, considering that the time seems to be getting longer and longer. Though Terráquea mentioned that it wasn’t strictly linear…

  Christie had unfortunately asked her to separate their hands as it was too hot, and she had complied. Agatha couldn’t deny that she gave a look or two at her own sweaty hand and thought about licking it, but she was far stronger than her intrusive thoughts. Most of the time, at least.

  They were only a handful of hours into their journey back home, and Agatha was already bored to death. I forgot how boring traveling was, she sighed softly. As she had her head out of the carriage, she looked backwards and looked at the cart the carriage was pulling. A recognizable monster resting on top.

  At first, she had ignored it, but curiosity was getting the best out of her, so without thinking it too much, Agatha jumped out of the window of the carriage, summoned her floating platform on her feet, and flew to the front of the carriage and sat next to the coachman.

  “Nice trick,” the old man chuckled amusedly, not even slightly surprised.

  The same couldn’t be said for her gorgeous and book-smart girlfriend who had been reading until now and only now did she notice the petite girl’s absence. “Agatha?” She asked in mild distress.

  “Here, Christie!” Agatha opened the small wooden panel behind the driver’s seat and waved at her. “I am here with Adrien, do not worry!” And closed the panel once the redhead sighed in relief.

  “So, why did’ya com’ere?” Adrien asked.

  “I was just wondering why you had Fran?ois resting at the back instead of pulling.”

  “Because I have horses here,” the man slightly raised his chin and pointed at the two horses pulling the road contraption with it.

  “Will they not get tired of pulling the carriage and the cart?”

  “Oh, sure they will,” the coachman chuckled. “Horses are way weaker than stoneshells, and they tire, but they are also way faster. So much so that they can pull both the diligence and Fran?ois there and still be twice as fast as him. I’ll know when they get tired, and at that moment we will stop to grab a bite and also change the horses for Fran?ois. This way we are constantly on the move, but it’s also way faster than just using Fran?ois.”

  “How long do you stop for the night with just Fran?ois?”

  “Not much, really. The big boy can go days without sleeping; it’s mostly because it’s me who needs to sleep. And I have no problem cutting a bit of sleep to keep moving.”

  “So we will only stop when you need to sleep?” Agatha asked with the subtlety of a behemoth. And now that she had seen one, she knew how hard that idiom hit.

  And the behemoth.

  “Wanna try?” Adrien offered her the reins without even needing to be asked.

  “Sure,” the seamstress-in-training grabbed them without appearing too overjoyed.

  “You don’t really need to do much, truth be told. This job is more about endurance and knowing where to go rather than skill. And fortunately for us, it’s just a straight road for the foreseeable future. Just keep your eyes forward. Good luck.”

  “Good what?” Agatha turned her face to the side as she nervously clutched the reins, only to see that the old man was sleeping. Motherfucker! She cursed, but was mostly surprised by the man’s ability to sleep on command.

  Her heart started beating out of her chest, but instead of fluttering like it did when she was around Christie, she felt as if it was puking. Whether because it was due to the recent events or her innate mental strength, Agatha maintained a serene state of mind and posture and took a deep breath.

  “I guess it can’t be that hard,” she shrugged and kept her gaze forward as the man had said.

  ***

  It wasn’t that hard. Sometimes the horses liked to wiggle around a bit, but these two were well-trained and didn’t do anything too egregious to alert her. In a way, Agatha preferred this to just not doing anything during the whole ride. Though it also surprised her how heavy a toll driving took on her mind. She wasn’t doing anything, yet she felt constantly exhausted. Could this be considered training? She pondered more than once during the couple of hours that she led the carriage forward.

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  It wasn’t that long of a time, but she ended up waking up Adrien as the horses were looking rather tired now.

  “And you can judge the state of the horses too!” The coachman chuckled when he woke up. “Depths, girl, you might even do a better job than this old sack of bones!”

  “I doubt it…” Agatha didn’t know why, but she found herself responding meekly and blushing.

  “But yeah, let’s switch the mounts around; these fellas need to rest.”

  Adrien jumped out of the driver's seat, and Agatha reciprocated by jumping from the other side of the carriage. As the old coachman freed the horses and guided them to the hay-laden cart, the petite girl entered the main carriage as she yawned.

  “So, how did the driving experience go?” Her serene and luscious girlfriend said with a book on her lap.

  “I enjoyed it,” Agatha sat next to her. “Far more entertaining than looking out the window.”

  Christie arched a brow. “You know that you could read, right?”

  “I was not in a reading mood; my head is in a bit of a mess right now.”

  “How come? Do you have a lot in your head?”

  “Yes, it is filled with,” Agatha approached the redhead’s ear and then whispered softly, “you.”

  Her meek and breathtaking girlfriend blushed slightly and turned her head backward to look at Adrien leading Fran?ois to the front of the carriage and she sighed in relief.

  “Please,” she said softly, “do not do that. My heart might not take it.” If it was out of infatuation or fear of being detected, she didn’t specify.

  “I will not, I will not~” Agatha said in a tone that she couldn’t even believe herself. “But it is true that my head has been aching a bit as of late. Using all the Strata of an agate past the First Stratum takes a lot from a lithorist.”

  “I wish I could have that issue,” Christie’s soft prayer comforted her. Ah, her voice is lulling me into sleeping.

  “You and me,” the petite girl smiled, and for some reason, the tall one blushed. “It will be a sight seeing you with more than a single Stratum.”

  “Yes, one Stratum more will open me so many doors that my mouth waters with the sheer possibilities alone.”

  Agatha had very intrusive thoughts when Christie uttered the words ‘mouth waters’, but she didn’t let herself be pulled by it, instead, she just yawned again. Without asking for permission, she nuzzled on her lovely and huggable girlfriend’s lap until she moved the book away out of her own volition.

  “I…” Christie muttered softly, yet she didn’t finish the sentence. Not that she had even started one.

  “I doubt that Adrien will suspect anything if you just let me use your lap as a pillow.”

  “I… maybe not,” the girl responded defeatedly. “Though maybe he would get a bit angry because you are using me as a pillow when there are already ones here.”

  “Why would he get mad?” Agatha turned her upwards to look at the bicolored-eyed girl, and while she tried to hide her face with a book, the growing blush was easily observable.

  “Everyone in my estate tends to dote on me too much.”

  “Then that is their fault. It is your body, and you can use it however you please.”

  “How amusing you say that when you used my body however you pleased not that long ago,” Christie giggled, and now it was Agatha’s turn to blush.

  “I will sleep now,” the dirty-blond girl turned her head again and lay on her side so her mocking and playful girlfriend couldn’t see how she was both blushing and smiling.

  The carriage started moving soon after that, though at a far slower speed. It was clear that it was Fran?ois pulling it now, but it was also a far smoother ride. Not only because of the diminished speed, but because the stoneshell moved at a more constant pace than the horses.

  That smooth pace should have lulled Agatha into a dream, and yet, now she found herself far more awake than before. Christie also seemed to notice this as she felt the girl in a red dress shift around from the back of her head.

  “Are you awake, Agatha?” She asked softly. It’s maddening how everything this girl does is soft…

  “Yes,” the prone girl answered without making anything that hinted at her inner thoughts.

  “Did you not lie on my lap to sleep? How come you are not doing so?” The redhead recriminated her in an amused manner.

  “It is because your thighs are so good, Christie,” Agatha responded without a hint of shame or hesitation. “Not only are they soft, but they also perfectly lock my head and are warm. I cannot fall asleep because I find myself taking in the delicacy that are your thighs, and that requires my full concentration.”

  “M-mock sapphire…” Christie muttered with her characteristic nervousness.

  Agatha felt her bunny-like and squeamish girlfriend shift around again, which made her open her eyes.

  “Look up,” the girl with the green and red eyes whispered, and the azure-eyed girl obeyed.

  Christie was blushing. She was blushing savagely. There was almost no difference between the color of her cheeks and her hair. Her face was looking down at her, her long and fiery mane forming a cage that locked both of their heads in a realm only for them. It was one of the best sights Agatha had seen in her life. Though that was difficult to say when the rest of the spots were also taken up by Christie.

  “Mock sapphire,” Christie whispered again, only with far more confidence.

  “W-what?” It was now Agatha who found herself hesitating.

  Without any notice, the redhead descended upon her, her fleshy and red lips crashing against her thin ones in the sweetest of collisions. It was a short peck, but it was enough to completely eradicate the drowsiness out of Agatha.

  “D-did you not warn against doing anything that might make us get detected?” Agatha felt so hot and nauseous. If it wasn’t because Christie always made her feel like that, she would think she was suffering from cardiac arrest.

  “That I did,” her mocking and breathtaking girlfriend mouthed, “but those restrictions were only put on you. Not me.”

  “That seems hardly fair.” Her cheeks were hotter than a stove, as if they were commanded by Heat with her powerful sapphire.

  “Then maybe grow your hair a bit so we can hide like this in plain sight more often,” Christie said amusedly.

  “M-maybe I will do so,” Agatha said if just to get back at her, but she failed obstreperously at performing the act.

  Heh, obstreperously, the petite girl chuckled in the confines of her mind as she nuzzled on Christie’s lap looking for a comfortable position. This was just the start of their road trip, but Agatha felt awfully tired. She could only thank her pliable and cute girlfriend for being this cute.

  Agatha didn’t take long to fall asleep.

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