After a brief rest, we set out again at dawn.
It wasn’t as if we had volunteered for a grueling march for no reason.
“Mm… I smell the sea.”
“About time.”
At Sailleon’s words, I lifted my head and saw thick fog and the tang of salt slowly rolling in beneath the dim sky.
It was a sign that our destination was near.
The place we were headed was Rimen, a port city on the western edge of the Kingdom of Luendel.
From there, we had to take a ship across to “Kron.”
“How much farther did you say?”
“We’ll be there soon.”
Because we had been moving since dawn without even a proper rest, we were already close to insensible.
Chad and Baldik had fallen dead asleep before I even noticed, and I, too, kept drifting off and waking up.
Only the jolting of the unpaved road kept my eyelids from closing completely.
‘…How are those two sleeping so well?’
It was a question that kept occurring to me.
They had to be just as tired.
…No, wait. Chad even had that relic, so why was he like that?
I was pretty sure someone had said that, in exchange for eating that much, he got tired less easily.
Just as that thought passed through my mind, a light but excited exclamation came from Sailleon up front.
When I turned my head and opened my view through the gap in the carriage’s canvas, the scenery spread out below the hill seized my gaze.
“Wow…”
Before my eyes, buildings with white brick walls and red wooden roofs stood densely packed along the coastline.
Between the roofs gleaming in the sunlight, people moved busily, carrying cargo back and forth.
The wind, mixed with the distinctive salty smell of a harbor, was already stinging the tip of my nose.
In the distance, large and small ships were moored in rows at the docks, and the sounds of sailors weaving between them and creaking masts blended together in a dizzying clamor.
Flocks of seagulls circled through the sky before flying off, and among the waves, I could see shapes of something floating here and there.
It was a scene steeped in the raw, dense life of a harbor—the kind that seemed like it would smell of rotting meat if you got too close.
The entire city felt somehow busy, damp, and alive.
“So this is a port city…”
At Sailleon’s words, I slowly nodded as well.
Honestly, I had never imagined that this one small dot on a scrap of map paper would be such a complex and massive city.
As we slowly descended along the hill, the entrance to the city finally came into view.
It was the kind of entrance fairly common in this world, making use of the natural terrain carved between cliffs like a fortress.
But this place was a proper trade city, one bordering the sea.
In front of the entrance, all sorts of people, carts, livestock, and carriages were lined up in a queue so long its end was nowhere in sight.
Between those trying to enter the city and the soldiers conducting inspections, a strange battle of tension and patience was already in the air.
As we joined the long line and waited, we could faintly hear the conversation of some people who seemed to be merchants up ahead.
“Haven’t the inspections been too strict lately?”
“You haven’t heard the news?”
“What news? Did something happen?”
One of them glanced around as though about to share a secret, then quietly brought his mouth to the other man’s ear.
Naturally, I couldn’t hear what he said.
And yet.
“Hmm, that’s an interesting story.”
Suddenly, Chad muttered while stroking the chin beneath his helmet.
“…You can hear that?”
“I can.”
Sailleon asked in puzzlement, and Chad shrugged as if it were nothing.
I thought he might leave it at that, but soon he added in a low voice.
“They say a whole group of people got dragged away during the last inspection.”
“…What?”
It wasn’t as light a story as I had expected.
“Why…?”
“How would I know? Anyway, according to the people up front, there was a large-scale arrest during the last inspection, and most of them never came back.”
“Most of them… means some people did come back, right? But if no one said anything even then, that’s a bit strange.”
Sailleon frowned.
I felt the same.
If even one person had returned,
there was no way rumors wouldn’t have spread about what had happened.
No matter how medieval this world’s level of civilization was, rumors still traveled fast enough in their own way.
And yet the information had been blocked.
That alone was already not a good sign.
It would be nice if we could dig up a little more…
Unfortunately, the merchants talking up ahead glanced sideways in our direction, then quickly changed the subject to ordinary daily matters.
It seemed they had noticed we were listening in.
“You don’t hear anything else?”
“Mm… not really? They just keep talking about buying this and selling that…
Ah, hearing them talk about food made me hungry again.”
Chad rubbed his stomach and glanced at the food crate. I deliberately ignored his gaze and went over the information we had heard so far.
Ranson had said before that inspections had gotten stricter recently because suspicious people were going around.
And now, what we had heard today.
During the inspections, groups of people had been taken away, and most of them had not returned.
In a way, the information fit together.
And yet something was strange.
Not just one or two things were strange.
Something was off.
Information was leaking out, but no one knew the core of it.
Who had been taken, why they had been taken, and for what reason they could not return—all of it was vague.
“Then we’ll need to be careful this time too.”
Sailleon murmured quietly.
“…Who knows.”
Chad shrugged, but I couldn’t laugh.
Could they be looking for someone?
A criminal moving while hiding their identity, perhaps.
Royalty who had defected to another country.
…Or maybe someone who, in this world, would be classified as an “abnormal existence.”
For example… someone like me.
I drew in a small breath.
The sweat on my forehead did not seem to be due solely to the temperature.
“Still, we’re just mercenaries riding in a transport carriage. It’ll be fine.”
At Sailleon’s words, I nodded, but one corner of my mind felt uneasy, like a thorn lodged there.
A little while later, the line began to move forward bit by bit.
Our turn was drawing closer and closer.
***
By the time the sun was sinking below the horizon, our turn finally came.
Ahead stood a wooden barricade and a single guard post, and beneath it, two soldiers holding spears stood on alert.
At first glance, it might have looked like a simple structure, but atop the natural rock walls extending to either side, armored soldiers were slowly patrolling.
In other words, unless one was quite skilled, avoiding this checkpoint was impossible.
And right now, we were standing before that very checkpoint.
“Hmm. Name.”
“Sailleon.”
“Purpose?”
“We’re crossing the border.”
The inspection proceeded more smoothly than expected.
Sailleon gave the usual answers to the usual questions.
The problem came next.
“Number of people?”
“Four… ah, six.”
The soldier glanced behind us, then asked in a slightly sharp tone.
“Is the carriage in the rear with your party as well?”
“That’s right.”
At those words, one soldier nodded silently and walked toward the carriage.
Without even saying he was going to inspect it, he suddenly moved into action first.
We were carrying no problematic goods and no unauthorized cargo, so of course we had nothing to hide.
Even so, some unidentifiable tension made my head slowly turn toward the direction of the carriage.
As the soldier checked the luggage, he also carefully scrutinized each of our faces.
Was he looking for a wanted criminal?
He examined every expression, every set of eyes, for a long time, as if comparing them to something.
I turned my gaze away, pretending to be indifferent, while Chad still yawned and scratched beneath his helmet.
After rummaging for quite some time and ultimately finding nothing, the soldier covered the luggage again and quietly stepped back.
Then he nodded to the soldier in charge of the inspection.
The words that came next were completely unexpected.
“…Arrest them!”
“……What?”
My breath caught in my throat.
Sailleon hurriedly stepped forward.
“What! On what grounds are you arresting us?”
“You refused to cooperate with the investigation! You showed suspicious reactions and failed to comply with a soldier’s orders. You insolent bastards!”
It made no sense.
We had not resisted in any way, nor had we told any lies.
And yet their tone was already thick with the poison of a verdict decided in advance.
Then the soldiers raised their spears high and approached us threateningly.
Just as my head began to spin from the blatant absurdity I was experiencing for the first time in this world—
“That’s far enough, isn’t it?”
Chad stepped forward.
“What?”
“No, I’m saying you should only do what you can handle. Anything beyond that… can you take responsibility for it?”
The soldier holding the spear faltered for an instant, then narrowed his eyes at Chad’s luxurious helmet.
A slight hesitation flashed through his gaze.
But once he seemed to notice the stained gambeson Chad wore beneath it, he regained his confidence and raised his spear high again, approaching the carriage.
“You’re nobody special. Come quietly.”
Chad let out a short sigh, then lightly stepped out of the carriage.
And then—
Boom.
In that instant, the tip of his foot struck the ground just once.
It was no grand technique, nor any refined skill.
Just a single step, carrying his thick, solid weight.
But that one step split the dirt ground between the soldier and us as if it had been struck by a wedge.
Crumbled gravel and dust billowed into the air.
The soldier’s footsteps froze in place.
“……!”
Chad tilted his head toward the soldier holding the spear.
I could not see his eyes beyond the helmet, but his voice was low and clear.
“Come one step closer, and we’re seeing this through to the end.”
Only then did true wariness and fear finally surface on the soldier’s face.
“W-what are you, bastard…! Do you think you can handle—”
“Handle it?”
Chad raised his right hand and slowly pushed aside the inside of his coat.
There, a brooch bearing a circular rose crest of silver and purple gleamed clearly in the light.
What was that?
“…A s-seal?”
The soldiers watching from behind began to murmur, and the soldier holding the spear hurriedly stepped back.
It was then.
“What is this commotion?”
A calm, low voice.
From beyond the checkpoint, a man approached, wearing chain mail beneath an iron breastplate.
Over his shoulders hung a deep purple shawl, and on them were fixed gold epaulettes engraved with the symbols of the sea and an anchor.
Anyone could tell he was a high-ranking person in charge of this port city.
“I was told… this checkpoint was peaceful. Yet this looks as though a battle is about to break out.”
His casual yet low voice somehow sounded even more threatening.
“C-Captain!”
One of the soldiers called out in panic, and only then did the newly arrived man slowly turn his gaze.
His eyes briefly swept over the soldiers before moving to Chad’s helmet.
“I am Mild, captain of the Rimen Guard.”
He removed his helmet and bowed his head with a soldier’s concise, courteous movement.
“May I confirm your identity?”
Chad did not remove his helmet even then.
He merely raised his right hand in silence.
At his fingertips, the same circular seal of silver and purple as before glinted in the light.
“Knight-errant Chad Cavalini. I complied with the inspection. I merely drew a polite line at your soldier’s excessive interrogation.”
At those words, the officer’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“…A knight-errant?”
“That’s right. I currently have no affiliation.”
“Hmm…”
The officer gave a small nod, then lightly looked over our entire party.
“And the rest?”
Sailleon stepped forward and answered briefly.
“We’re mercenaries. We’re on our way to Gradran through the border island of Kron.”
After hearing that, the officer quietly looked at Chad once more.
“If they are companions traveling with a knight… then there is no reason for suspicion.”
He turned his head and spoke calmly to the soldier.
“Summarize the situation up to now and submit a report. Until then, do not lay a hand on this party.”
“…Understood.”
The thoroughly cowed soldier stepped back and opened the way.
Finally, the officer gave Chad a brief bow.
“I apologize for inconveniencing you with this unpleasant incident.”
“That much, I can overlook.”
Chad gave a short nod, and we drove the carriage on again, entering the port city of Rimen.