Following Captain Mild of the guard into the city, the sight of a “proper city” finally came into view.
The red brick road laid beneath my feet, and the straight alleys stretching out in neat lines.
At a glance, the city gave the impression that it had been deliberately planned and designed.
The fact that it possessed infrastructure on this scale meant this city must hold a fairly important position within the kingdom.
A fierce sea breeze swept past.
In the salt-laden wind, the hurried movements of people overlapped before my eyes.
Laborers carrying wooden crates onto ships.
Merchants calling out to customers while hawking fresh fish.
Residents haggling over prices in front of shops.
Even children weaving busily through the gaps between them.
The residents of this city did not feel like people who simply lived here, but like components moving as the cogs of the city itself.
A city that was, overall, lively, prosperous, and somehow even made one feel as if the inside of one’s chest had opened up.
I let out a sigh without thinking and looked at the vast sea revealed beyond the thin sea fog hanging in the sky.
‘Yeah. This much definitely counts as the civilized world.’
At some point, the captain of the guard stopped and quietly turned his gaze toward me.
“How does the city seem to you?”
After thinking for a moment, I answered honestly.
“It’s nice. Quite nice.”
His eyes narrowed, and he gave a subtle smile.
During the brief silence that followed, there was something like certainty in his gaze, as if he had thought, Just as expected.
A group moving together with a knight, and among them, someone with a calm air that seemed to imply there was more to him.
Perhaps this was the calculation behind that gaze.
‘I don’t know who he is, but at the very least, he can’t be of ordinary origins.’
But in truth, I was just an ordinary person.
Literally, truly nobody at all.
All I had was magic whose principles I didn’t even understand, a few fragments of memories from dying and coming back to life,
and a personality that, like a habit ingrained in my body, made me answer without lying.
Maybe that was why.
Even my impression of this city had become an awkward sort of sincerity.
We followed Mild and made our way toward the center of the city.
The inner part of the city was far busier than the outskirts.
Shops lined both sides, carts loaded with cargo came and went, and merchants, porters, and sailors tangled together to fill the streets.
The cries of seagulls, the ringing of bells, and the distinctive briny smell of the harbor tickled the tip of my nose.
I couldn’t shake the impression that the entire city was in motion.
“Have you eaten, by any chance?”
Mild asked as we walked.
“We had something simple a little while ago.”
“That is fortunate. At this hour, the lines in front of the harbor are rather long. It should be fine for you to look around lightly while you wait.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
After quietly watching us for a moment, Mild spoke again.
“Have you decided on lodging?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Then, on the right side near the entrance of the city, there is a place called the Sea Breeze Inn. It is close to the harbor, so trading merchants often stay there. As for the condition of the rooms… they are acceptable.”
“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Then I shall take my leave.”
The captain of the guard did not add anything more. He merely gave a light nod and turned away.
He showed no sign of going out of his way to guide us further or involve himself more deeply.
“…He let us go more cleanly than I expected.”
“At this point, isn’t he basically a town guide?”
Sairen let out a low whistle as he walked alongside the carriage, while Chad began looking around the street with interest.
I also turned my gaze, searching for the signboard of the inn Mild had mentioned.
Not far away, an inn sign painted with a pattern resembling blue seaweed swayed slightly in the sea breeze.
‘Sea Breeze Inn.’
Would we be able to stay here for the day?
“Then, let’s secure lodging first.”
***
As the captain of the guard had recommended, we got rooms at a place called the Sea Breeze Inn.
The inn, run by a middle-aged couple, was honestly not cheap.
But considering its close distance to the coastal road, the spacious open lot and carriage storage area, and even the fact that it had a separate manager… well, it was acceptable.
Exactly as the captain of the guard had said.
“Hmm. For the price, the stains on the walls are pretty bad, aren’t they?”
As soon as Sairen entered the room, he tapped the wall with his finger and said so.
“As long as we can sleep, that’s enough. What more do you want?”
Baldik had already flopped onto the bed and let out a sigh as if this were his own home.
Chad merely set his luggage down in one corner of the room before heading back downstairs.
Judging by the smell of food drifting up, it seemed he had made his way toward the dining hall.
On one side of the corridor, a young man who appeared to be an employee was going up and down the stairs, changing the sheets.
From the kitchen, along with the irritated voice of an old woman, the faint sound of soup boiling could be heard.
It was definitely not a cheap inn. But it wasn’t very luxurious either.
Or maybe, come to think of it, this much might actually count as high-class.
I slowly took off my backpack and set it down beside the bed.
For today, at least, it seemed I would be able to rest properly.
‘By the way, when exactly is Gerangi planning to wake up?’
A blue lump bulging out beneath the backpack caught my eye.
I had roughly covered it with a piece of cloth, but because its color stood out, it still had a strong presence.
Since the last time Gerangi quietly entered hibernation, it had not opened its eyes even once.
‘It’s not dead, is it?’
Its squishy body held a subtle warmth, and very occasionally, it trembled faintly as if breathing, but…
I couldn’t tell whether that was a sign of life, or simply my imagination.
‘I don’t know anything about spirits…’
A spirit.
It was the strangest being I had encountered after coming to this other world, and it was still something I couldn’t understand.
Surely… it didn’t need some bizarre condition to wake up or anything like that, right?
All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind.
‘It’ll wake up. I’ll have to look for a method separately later.’
I quietly closed the opening of the backpack.
There was nothing else I could do right now.
Until this thing woke up, I had no choice but to wait.
After organizing my luggage and going down to the dining hall first, I was immediately greeted by a noisy atmosphere.
Bustle and clamor.
From a couple of tables, the sound of cups clinking, laughter, and the smell of grilled fish had already mingled and spread through the air.
‘…Business is surprisingly good here.’
There was a reason the captain of the guard had recommended this place.
Even I, suspicious as I was, had to accept it to some extent by now.
The dining hall inside the inn was wider than I had expected.
The walls of the dining hall were made of dark wood that seemed to have absorbed salt from the sea air, and instead of lanterns, several candles hung from the ceiling, giving off a soft glow.
A large brazier sat in the center, spreading enough warmth to thaw bodies chilled by the sea wind.
Most of those occupying the tables were merchants, long-distance travelers, and rough-faced men who were obviously mercenaries at a glance.
“Why don’t you lower the price on that item a little?”
“Come on, didn’t you hear about what happened yesterday? If it were me, I’d stay a night first and see how things go.”
Different voices flowed endlessly from every direction.
Between those voices were mixed the scraping of chairs, the clatter of spoons, and, every now and then, curses bursting out from the kitchen.
I scanned the dining hall here and there, then found Chad squatting in a corner seat, shoveling food into his mouth.
A man eating quite literally like a beast, not particularly suited to the pleasant atmosphere of the dining hall.
‘…Just how long was he starving?’
That bizarre appetite, with his mouth shut and only his hands moving.
The sight of him ignoring the perfectly fine utensils and using his hands to tear into bread was even drawing a few glances from those around him.
I quietly took a seat, pretending not to see.
I sat down quietly and took a spoonful of the soup that had been served first.
The taste of unfamiliar spices bothered me slightly, but that was not what mattered right now.
“Chad.”
“Hm?”
With his mouth stuffed full of meat, he rolled only his eyes to look at me.
If he couldn’t even answer, why did he fill his mouth first?
“About that inspection earlier. Didn’t it seem a bit strange?”
“…Which part?”
Chad slowly stopped chewing.
Then, after swallowing the fish, he properly turned his head toward me this time.
“To begin with, it was strange that they tried to arrest us without any proper reason. And the guard who stopped us seemed like he was trying to find fault with something only after the inspection was over.”
“Hmm… yeah. That’s true.”
“Isn’t it too strange?”
Chad thought for a moment, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and said,
“That bothered me too. Inspections usually get stricter when there’s been an incident, but this time, it felt like they were trying to ‘create’ an incident.”
“Right? How should I put it… It felt like they were deliberately trying to cause a problem, then use that as an excuse to drag us away.”
I carefully looked around.
Most of the people inside the inn were focused on their meals, but for some reason, I felt as though one or two of them might have their ears perked up.
“Could it have been that Mild person? Do you think he ordered it?”
“Who knows. I’ve never seen that man before either… but he didn’t particularly give off that impression.”
“Then did the soldiers under him overstep?”
“That’s possible. Or perhaps an order came down from above to strengthen inspections. Something along the lines of finding a specific ‘someone.’”
As Chad said that, he picked up his spoon again.
One bite, then another. He returned to his meal in silence.
I stirred my soup for a moment and muttered,
“An inspection to find someone… Don’t you think that someone could be us?”
“I did. That’s why I pressured them like that. Why, do you have something that might get you caught?”
“N-no, that’s not it.”
Chad’s face remained calm.
But his eyes were different.
They were eyes ready to move at any moment if necessary.
“But it’s not like we can do anything right now, is it? That’s why I let it pass peacefully too.”
That was not wrong.
In this world, especially as mere mercenaries inside a city, trying to change something was no different from throwing eggs at a rock.
Maybe it might be possible in a small village.
Only those who possessed the power to break injustice had the right to speak out against it.
That was the reality of this place.
‘…Of course, if I really set my mind to it, I feel like I could dismantle a building or two.’
But what meaning would that have?
“For now, let’s keep our heads down and move on quickly.”
At Chad’s words, I quietly nodded as well.
It wasn’t as if we were troubleshooters, and even if there was a problem here, it was not something we could solve entirely.
Problems that could be passed over were best passed over.
As I was talking about this and that with Chad, the others began coming down to the dining hall one by one.
“Oh, there’s fish. Is it smoked?”
Sairen, who entered first, turned his head this way and that as he looked over the table.
Ranson, following behind him, glanced at a bowl on a nearby seat and spoke as if impressed.
“It’s been a while since I smelled fish.”
“This is the kind of thing you only get because it’s a real harbor city.”
Then again, most of the seafood we had eaten so far had been little more than shriveled dried fish.
In that sense, the menu at this dining hall was quite fresh.
Barley porridge boiled in a large cauldron, with a salted and dried herring on the side.
And a few roughly chopped pieces of pickled onion that came along as an extra.
Chad was holding a herring the size of an index finger and crunching it down from head to tail, bones and all.
Crunch, crunch. Gulp.
The way he popped them into his mouth one after another, as if they were finger food, was even funnier.
Ranson ate his soup with admiration, while Sairen cut a piece of rye bread, dipped it deep into the porridge, and put it in his mouth.
A harbor city really was different.
As we were enjoying a peaceful meal,
Sairen, who had been chewing rye bread, carefully opened his mouth.
“But about that inspection earlier.”
Ranson raised his head. I also put my spoon down for a moment and listened to him.
“Didn’t something feel strange? They gave an arrest order even though nothing came up.”
“I thought so too.”
Ranson nodded as he spoke.
“I thought it would end with them just checking our luggage, but the mood suddenly turned cold.”
Since I had already said as much, I kept quiet for a moment.
It had definitely been excessive. They had acted as if we were criminals.
“They’re probably looking for something. Or… looking for people they can drag away without causing any trouble.”
Chad added as he tore off a piece of fish.
Though he said it while tearing into fish, there was a chilling meaning behind those words.
“Does that make any sense? No matter what, this is still within the kingdom.”
At Sairen’s words, Chad gave a sour laugh.
“Heh, how innocent.”
I quietly looked out the window.
Indeed, perhaps nothing would happen for now.
But that unpleasant feeling still remained.