Retranslated by Nigel
Proofed/Edited by Deus Ex Machina
Part 3
As the name implied, the Fortress City E-Rantel was surrounded by three concentric rings of fortified walls. Of the gates set into those walls, those on the outermost walls were the thickest and most solid of them all, and they radiated an air of strength and weightiness.
It was a common sight to see travellers on the street staring open-mouthed at the gates of the city that was said to be able to repulse any invasion the Empire made. And the people on the streets had surely made similar expressions in the past.
Besides these gates were customs inspection posts, manned by several soldiers who were relaxing just out of the direct sunlight.
Although some people might have asked if it was all right for the soldiers of a city near the frontline to be so relaxed, the truth was that the troops at the inspection posts were there to vet travellers. Their job was to uncover contraband and spies from other countries, so they had nothing to do when nobody was entering the city.
As a result, the currently idle soldiers ― though they maintained discipline instead of passing their time by playing cards ― could not resist the urge to yawn.
Though they looked slack for the moment, but when they were busy, they were very busy. In particular, the sheer amount of work they had to do in the morning, just after the gates opened, practically defied description.
With the sun at its highest point in the sky, the travellers began appearing on the streets in small groups, scattered sparsely among the other pedestrians. It was only natural that people would travel in numbers, given that this was a world inhabited by monsters.
When they show up, they show up in force; we’re going to be busy soon, thought the guard who was idly contemplating the streets from his window. His eyes rested on a wagon about to enter the street, waiting for some pedestrians to pass.
A woman sat on the driver’s seat. He could not see anyone else on the uncovered wagon bed. She was travelling alone.
She was unarmed and unarmored. From that, the guard’s concluded that–
She’s just a village girl.
–Even as he thought that, the soldier tilted his head as he promptly second-guessed himself.
People from the nearby villages were hardly a rare sight here. However, a woman travelling by herself was a different matter entirely. Even the area surrounding E-Rantel was not completely free of bandits and monsters. Thanks to the efforts of the legendary adventurer team “Darkness”, most of the dangerous monsters and bandits had been wiped out. But “most” did not mean “all”, and there were still mundane beasts like wolves and the like to look out for.
This situation was not unique to E-Rantel; it applied to all of the other cities as well. And come to think of it, could girls travel by themselves?
Perhaps she had outrun a bandit encounter, but he did not sense any tension or nervousness from her at all. She looked to be at ease, as though she knew her journey would be a safe one.
What kind of girl was she?
The soldier shifted his now-suspicious gaze to her horse, and that was when his confusion deepened.
The horse was exceptional, not something a mere village girl would have. Its condition and coat reminded him of a warhorse.
Warhorses were extremely valuable. Even if one could actually raise the money to buy one, a normal person would not be able to acquire one easily. Leaving aside monstrous mounts like Wyverns and Griffins, warhorses were the pinnacle of steeds.
A normal person would need money and connections to obtain such a warhorse, and a simple village girl would not have either.
It was also possible that she had stolen the horse from its original owner, but anyone who stole such a valuable item would be hotly pursued and targeted for retribution. This was why bandits did not dare attack people mounted on warhorses.
In short, after considering all the visible evidence, the chances that she really was a simple village girl were very low. So who was this person posing as a village girl?
The fact that she was travelling alone hinted at her true identity. In other words, she was very confident in her abilities, and those abilities were not limited by the fact that she chose to dress as a village girl — by her gear, or lack thereof. With that in mind, it was likely that she was a magic caster, since their equipment and power rarely matched their appearance.
That was an answer he could accept. If pressed for the reason, it was because magic casters, or adventurers in general, were wealthy and connected, so obtaining a warhorse would be easy.
“Is that a magic caster?”
His partner beside him had gone through the same thought process.
“Might be,” the soldier furrowed his brow and answered.
Magic casters were very irritating people to inspect.
To begin with, their primary weapon, magic, was an internal thing which was invisible to the naked eye. In other words, the guards could not tell what weapons magic casters were armed with.
Secondly, they might be smuggling dangerous items with their magic and finding those was hard.
Thirdly, they usually had a lot of specialist baggage, so checking them all was troublesome.
Honestly speaking, he hated dealing with them. Because of that, theyhad a man on loan from from the Magician’s Guild — after paying a suitable fee, of course — to help them out. However…
“Do we have to bring that guy out? I don’t want to.”
“It can’t be helped. If we clear her through and anything happens, it’ll be troublesome.”
“It would be nice if she’d just dressed like a magic caster to begin with.”
“Carrying a weird staff, wearing a weird robe?”
“Yup. At least you’d know someone was a magic caster. Either that, or we force everyone in the Magician’s Guild to carry some proof of membership, like adventurers..”
The two soldiers got up as one, laughing to each other. This was to welcome the girl who might be a magic caster.
Under the watchful eyes of the soldiers, the wagon rolled up to the door and stopped.
The girl disembarked. Her forehead was slick with sweat, but she seemed used to travelling under the sun. Her sleeves and slacks were long to ward off sunburn. Her clothes did not seem expensive or well-tailored. No matter how you looked at her, she was a simple village girl.
However, one could not judge a book by its cover. She could be hiding something. Their job was to find out what that was.
The soldiers carefully approached the girl.
“We’d like to ask you a few questions. Could you come with us to the checkpoint?”
They spoke with gentle tones and expressions. They were trying to send the message that they were not wary of her, so she could lower her guard.
“Sure, I don’t mind.”
The soldiers escorted the girl to the checkpoint.
In order to protect against the use of [Charm] spells and other forms of mental manipulation, two more soldiers followed at a distance of several meters. The others watched her carefully, wary of any suspicious movements.
The girl tilted her head several times, as though sensing the tension in the air.
“…What’s wrong?”
“Eh? Ah, no, nothing’s wrong.”
Someone who could notice the minute changes in the air could not possibly be an ordinary person. The guards brought her into the checkpoint with that in mind.
“Then, could you sit down there?”
“Yes.”
The girl sat in one of the chairs provided in the small blockhouse.
“Let’s start with your name and place of birth.”
“Yes. My name is Enri Emmot. I come from Carne Village, near the Great Forest of Tob.”
The soldiers exchanged looks, and one of them stepped out of the blockhouse. He was going to check the register for any matching records.
In order to manage its residents, the Kingdom kept records of them in the form of registers. That being said, the registers were crude affairs, and the relevant details of birth and death were updated very slowly, if at all. Someone had once estimated that there were tens of thousands of mistakes in them. As a result, relying too heavily on the registers would be a bad idea, but even so, they had their uses.
This register was muddled, but it had a lot of entries, so searching it would take a long time. The soldiers understood this, and decided to try and take care of something else in the meantime.
“Then, in place of the toll, could I see your permit?”
Normally speaking, everyone who entered a city had to pay a toll ― something like a walking tax. However, charging residents this money would cause trade to grind to a halt, and as a result every village was issued travel permits with which they could enter the city free of charge. Of course, as there were different nobles in each region, there were different rules for each region too.
“Hmmm, let me see… here it is.”
The soldier stopped Enri from fishing through her bag.
“Ah, we’ll do that. Could you give us your bag?”
Enri handed it over without protest. The soldiers carefully searched the insides, and found a parchment.
They unrolled it on the table so everyone could see. Although the literacy rate amongst Kingdom citizens was very low, it was a given that every soldier stationed at a checkpoint could read and write. Or rather, they were here precisely because they were literate.
“I see. Well, it looks all right. This is definitely the permit issued to Carne Village. I have confirmed this.”
The soldier rolled the parchment back up and returned it to the bag.