NOVPUBSince Claire had been banned from riding a motorcycle, I wondered if she might want to buy a car with a convertible roof.
Honestly, I didn’t think it would be a big problem.
Usually, those kinds of cars are foreign brands, which of course makes them very expensive, and the insurance and repair costs are also high. In the long run, it wouldn’t be a good choice. I had only won the lottery, after all; I wasn’t someone who could earn hundreds of millions every year.
So, if I thought about outgoing and incoming costs, going into the negatives would be a major problem if we were planning to live here long-term... but we weren’t planning to stay. Even if we spent a bit more on a car, it wouldn’t be such a huge issue.
“How about this one?”
But, to my pleasant surprise, the car Claire showed me was a domestic SUV. And it wasn’t from an extremely expensive brand either. It was the kind of car a middle-class family might realistically consider buying.
“If you were thinking about buying something like this from the start, there’s no problem.”
When I nodded and said that, Claire’s face lit up with a bright smile.
“Can I be the one driving?”
“I don’t mind, but are you sure?”
Honestly, driving is fun at first, but it gets boring the more you do it.
Back when my friends and I first got our cars in our twenties, they used to drive all of us around eagerly. But about a year later, nobody really volunteered anymore. Even when we went out together, we’d split the costs except for the driver’s expenses.
Well, Claire seemed different. Thanks to her diligent personality, once she started something, she stuck with it for a long time. If she got bored easily, she wouldn’t have kept getting up at dawn every day to carry out missions.
And if that were the case, my life would’ve been a little easier, too.
“Actually, I was considering buying two cars, but if we get this one, there’s no need.”
It could easily fit the five of us.
“To be honest, I’m a little excited.”
Charlotte, who had been listening from the side, smiled as she spoke.
“I’ve ridden horses before, but it’s my first time thinking about going somewhere with friends like this.”
“Well, you are a princess. I bet whenever you tried to go somewhere, a bunch of people would follow you.”
“Exactly.”
“Um, are you sure it’s okay if I just ride along? I mean, do I really not have to learn how to drive?”
Even though she had said she wasn’t interested in driving, now that the rest of us were getting our licenses, Mia seemed a little uneasy and asked that.
Without saying a word, the three of us ruffled Mia’s hair.
“Wah!? Wait, wait!? Are you telling me to get a license too!? Aren’t you!?”
She was so cute when she panicked.
“But where’s Alice?”
“Hm? Oh, she was doing something in the streaming room earlier. I think she had something to do on the computer.”
At Claire’s words, I stood up.
I didn’t think Alice would object, but since it was a car for all of us, it was better to get everyone’s agreement. It would be too much to just buy it without telling her.
As I walked toward the streaming room where the computer was, I could hear the click-click of the mouse from inside, just like Claire said.
“Alice, what are you doing?”
When I stepped inside, Alice, who was leaning on her chin and staring seriously at the monitor, turned to me.
“Oh, you’re here? Wanna take a look at this for a second?”
She turned her chair slightly and showed me the monitor.
On it was a shopping mall website.
And what was displayed on the shopping site—
“A tent?”
That’s right. It was a tent.
And not just a tent. Several other tabs were open on the wide screen—one for lanterns, another for sleeping bags.
“Yeah.”
Alice nodded seriously.
“Well, up until now, every time we went out, it’s always been somewhere in the city. I’m not saying that’s bad. I loved it, it was really fun. But... now that we’re getting a car, I was wondering if we could go somewhere a little farther away, someplace that public transportation doesn’t easily reach.”
Ah, I see.
A classic dream of every car owner.
The camping videos you see online always looked so heartwarming and fun. Even streamers who complained about it being a hassle seemed to genuinely enjoy camping once they got there.
Honestly, when I first started working, I also looked up how to go camping for a while. But when I thought about setting up a tent alone, organizing everything, cooking, sleeping, and packing everything back up... it felt overwhelming and I gave up.
Even among families who go camping, many stop after a few trips.
But...
“Sounds good to me.”
Exactly.
The logic of living here was simple: we’re going back eventually.
Even if we bought a bunch of camping gear and only used it a few times before abandoning it, who cares? We’re leaving anyway.
Besides, everyone here is a noble, a royal, or both. If we didn’t enjoy this kind of thing now, we might never get to after returning. In the future, things like reputation and work would probably crush any chance for simple hobbies like this.
“Really?”
Alice’s eyes sparkled.
“Actually, Claire and I were just talking about what kind of car to get. Since she wants a big car too, space shouldn’t be an issue.”
We might even be able to buy a bunch of camping gear and enjoy it more spaciously.
Or... maybe a camping van...? No, that’s too much. Let’s just stick with regular camping gear.
“Camping, huh. You mean sleeping outside?”
Charlotte said, resting her hand on her chin.
“It’s not just sleeping outside. We’ll cook, too. Stuff like barbecue that’s hard to do indoors.” 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝒐𝒎
“Barbecue!”
At the word ‘barbecue,’ Mia reacted immediately.
“That sounds amazing.”
Claire murmured, gazing off dreamily into the distance.
“Since we’re going all in, let’s focus more on the experience than on efficiency. Aren’t there things like wood stoves?”
When I suggested going even further, Alice’s face lit up even more.
“Oh, I saw one! Wanna see? How about this?”
And just like that, we spent a long while debating what camping gear to buy.
“A vlog?”
Hmm.
Come to think of it, since we came here, we had only been doing real-time streaming for over two months.
We did have recordings—saved straight from the streams—but we hadn’t edited anything because, frankly, learning editing sounded like a pain.
We could hire an editor, but that felt awkward. I don’t know, the way things were now felt perfect. I wasn’t keen on bringing strangers into our circle just because of work. I didn’t know what the others thought about it yet, though.
“I could learn some basic editing, but even if we made a video, it wouldn’t be very long. We’re going to have fun, not ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) stream, after all.”
[I understand]
[You should rest when you need to]
[Still, if you make a video, it’ll be a good memory. I backed up videos I made with my family too.]
Ding.
While reading the chat, a donation came in.
Memories, huh.
Even if we brought smartphones back with us, we wouldn’t be able to use them for long. No matter how much we tried to conserve battery, they'd eventually run out—probably in less than two years.
But even if it wasn’t for two years—even if it was just one year, or a few months—if we could share memories during that time, wouldn’t it be worth it? We could bring a few backup batteries, or even a solar charger... I didn’t know exactly how much stuff we could carry back, but still.
Anyway, we could think about charging later. Just being able to share memories with friends who couldn’t be with us would be enough.
“In that case, I’ll seriously consider it. Though, whether we actually end up filming or not, I’m not sure yet.”
The chat reactions were mixed, but most were positive.
I glanced around at the others gathered in the room.
They didn’t seem to mind at all.
Hmm.
Maybe instead of a full-fledged vlog, I’ll just make short videos—like one or two minutes long.
...Maybe I should even buy a proper camera while I’m at it?
