Proofreader: Xemul
After departing from the city of Kapha, the group traveled on a long stretch of road leading eastward in the carriage driven by Klaus. Although it took four days to reach the eastern border, the journey went smoothly without a single incident of trouble along the way.
The trip was intended to be an apology from Klaus to his party’s members. Loren’s party was taking full advantage of it; they had a very nice time, swaying in the carriage with nothing in particular to do, drinking with Leila and Angel from time to time, and tucking into the food they had brought fromKapha.
What was somewhat pathetic was that, since they departed, Klaus had been forced to play the role of a coachman, preparing for encampment, and taking lodging at the inn town. Loren had wanted to help him, but was gently told by the girls in Klaus’ party to not get involved, so he had quite a bit of free time on his hands.
“I heard that this town of Karlovy is in a neighboring country. What kind of country is it?”
Loren was very unfamiliar with geography. He had always been moving from place to place at all hours of the day, as was the usual for mercenary groups that did not have a base, and information such as the situation and geography of the surrounding countries were in the hands of the group’s leader and the executives. Since becoming an adventurer, he had been asking about information he didn’t know.
“Karlovy is located in the Republic of Jaloris. It is ruled by a governing council made up of elected representatives.”
Perhaps anticipating such a question from Loren in advance, Lapis, who was sitting next to Loren, answered while pulling out a cheat sheet of paper from her luggage.
“They have a republican system because there are a number of clans in the country. In fact, the country is like a collection of several regions ruled by these clans. There is no national monarch, but the councilors are supposed to be chiefs of the clans and their close relatives.”
Lorren’s face became puzzled at the mention of the word ‘clan’. Seeing his face, Lapis thought for a moment, then added.
“The Republic of Jaloris is a nation dominated by beastmen, who are divided into several clans based on their physical characteristics. The land is splitted and ruled amongst these clans.”
By ‘physical characteristics’, Lapis meant that the beastmen were a race that had the characteristics of beasts in some parts of their bodies. Clans were formed according to these characteristics. She said that the extent of their beastly characteristics of beasts varied from clan to clan, with some clans looking no different from humans at first glance while others looked like beasts walking upright.
“The stronger a clan’s beastly characteristics are, the closer to pure blood it is said to be. Those from so-called primitive clan have the appearance of a beast that walks almost completely upright.”
“Perhaps it’s because the clans are so closely knit, they don’t get out of the country very often. Even in Kapha, you hardly saw any beastmen. The only ones who leave the country are those who have some reason to do so, those who are curious, and those who have been exiled for some reason.”
Leila, who was drinking incessantly in the carriage, added. She seemed to enjoy drinking so much that she had been happily doing it in her spare time ever since they left Kapha. She was trying to keep a moderate pace though; she had never gone beyond having a red face, and she was still articulate.
“They are not bad people in terms of character, but many of them have a bit of a violent mindset. They also tend to boast about their strong blood, and the closer they are to the primitive clan, the more snooty they are. Also, beware of clans with the characteristics of foxes and rats; they are said to be cunning.”
“Then, won’t people like us, who have no beast characteristics, be looked down upon?”
Loren was worried that if that was the case, it would have been a huge mistake to choose that place as a vacation spot, but Leila shook her head.
“They recognize us as a completely different species. We’re not subject to that.”
“They don’t seem to like us very much either.”
It was Laure who joined the conversation. As a priest in the service of the water god, she was not very fond of anything with alcohol in it. She rarely drank, even when Leila urged her to, and in her spare time she would pull out a book from her luggage that seemed to contain the doctrines of the water god and read it over and over without getting tired of it.
“I heard that it is possible for humans and beastmen to mate, but since it will dilute the blood and such, it’s almost never done. And when it is about to be done, those around try to prevent it.”
“It has nothing to do with us though.”
Leila laughed pleasantly as she said this and poured the wine in her glass down her throat. Laure also laughed in agreement; watching her, Loren thought that they really had no intention to leave Klaus at all. Wondering if those words were intended for the other man, who was still playing the role of a coachman, he looked at his back.
It was almost noon of the fourth day after their departure from Kapha when their group arrived at the border.
Basically, adventurers did not need to go through any complicated procedures to cross the border. This was because the Adventurers’ Guild had influence over a wide area of the continent, and with proof of registration with the Guild, they could pass through most borders without any problems.
“I must say, it seems odd to me that even Klaus and Leila could get through the checkpoint so easily.”
Loren whispered, as it was probably not something to say out loud even in a carriage. Leila asked him back.
“Why?”
Although he was just an adventurer, Klaus was an adventurer with a promising future in the country, and it was highly likely that he would enter the government circle in the near future. Leila, who was following Klaus, was also currently working as an adventurer, but if Klaus were to enter the government circle, it was almost certain that she would become a knight of the country. Loren wondered how such people could easily cross the border, but Laure answered his question.
“I guess the reason is that it is the same for every country, so they can’t say ‘You can’t’.”
“If a country does such a thing, adventurers operating in said country will be in trouble. They won’t be able to go to other countries.”
“If adventurers’ movement stalls, it will paralyze the parts of the business that adventurers are responsible for, such as maintaining public order and exterminating demons, which in turn will cost extra people and money.”
“As a result, they have to pretend they don’t know anything even though they do.”
Leila concluded the conversation by saying that it would be different during wars. Loren agreed to everything they said, but another question soon arose, and he tapped Lapis, who was sitting next to him, on the shoulder.
“What is it?”
“Somehow, the soldiers at the checkpoint are behaving very strangely, aren’t they?”
As part of the departure process, they were surrounded by human soldiers of the Kingdom of Wargenburg. After the process was complete, they would be allowed to pass through Wargenburg’s checkpoint, and would soon enter the Republic of Jaloris side customs gate to complete the entry procedures.
They had already presented their Adventurers’ Guild registration cards, so all they had to do was wait for their turn to leave the checkpoint. During the wait, Klaus, who was playing the role of a coachman, was talking with the soldiers at the gate, and Loren noticed that they gave Klaus and their carriage rather pitiful looks.
“Hey, Klaus!”
After watching the soldiers move away from the carriage, Loren opened a small window facing the driver’s bench and called out to Klaus.
“What’s going on? I’m curious about the soldiers’ eyes just now.”
“I don’t understand it either. I’ve noticed the way he looks at me.”
Ange, who was sitting next to Klaus, also nodded, indicating that she had also noticed. Leaving aside the question of which of them was more attentive, the fact that they both clearly recognized it suggested that the soldiers had looked at them very blatantly.
“I asked them about it, but they said that we would find out when we get there.”
If it was about something life-threatening, the soldiers would not have been so pretentious and would have told them what their looks meant. The fact that they did not tell them outright made Loren think that it was not life-threatening, but it still bothered him.
“I mean, there’s always the option of turning around, right?.”
“That’s a bit of a problem.”
Klaus’ reluctance was understandable. If they just drove for a few days, arrived at the border, and then drove back to Kapha for a few more days, they could hardly say that they enjoyed their vacation. Loren thought that Leila might have been satisfied with it because she was able to drink a lot, but the other members of the group might have said that they were just tired and had no fun.
“If it’s dangerous, they would at least do something to stop us, right?”
“That’s their job, too.”
“Then let’s just go. It’s not too late to think about it after we know what’s going on.”
Loren’s proposal, which was better than turning back, was accepted by all, and the carriage in which they were riding left the checkpoint on Wargenburg side. The checkpoint on Jaloris side was only a short distance away; they would reach it after passing through a buffer zone, which would take no time to do.
As the carriage ran through this short distance, Loren suddenly felt the greenness of their surroundings thicken.
“The land of the Republic of Jaloris is characterized by a lot of greenery like forests and such.”
Lapis said while looking out the carriage window.
“I heard that their woodworking technology is advanced, but on the other hand, there aren’t many stone buildings in the city.”
“It’s a country that burns very well.”
Just as Loren told Gula, who had just voiced some rather disturbing opinion, to be silent, the carriage entered the Jaloris checkpoint.
There, Loren was confronted with a sight rarely seen in the land of humans.