"······Did you catch them all?"
Since staying still like this felt awkward, I cautiously asked.
"No. Unfortunately, one got away."
Two severed heads hung before the checkpoint.
Then, did that mean there had been three powerful experts of that caliber that day?
But the thought crossed my mind—had that bastard been caught too?
Of course, since he had been wearing a mask, there was no way to know for sure.
Even the severed heads were clearly carved with the agony they had suffered before death.
Though they were corpses, their twisted expressions made the viewer imagine their final moments.
'But, were those guys really that strong?'
The Silver Mask we had fought was definitely a powerful expert.
It was hard to put into words, but he had at least fought evenly with Chad for a while.
He had fled in the end, but he wasn't someone who would go down that easily.
And yet his neck had been severed like that among them.
No matter how much they had overwhelmed them with numbers, this was hard to accept.
Who could have imagined that people dressed no differently from mercenaries on the outside could be that strong?
'As expected, the world is vast indeed.'
The world is wide, and the strong are many.
It was an opportunity to remind myself of humility once more.
Anyway, if the matter was resolved, it was a good thing for me.
I had been worried about getting tangled up in some strange affair and wasting time again.
But it seemed I wouldn't get screwed over that badly after all.
······Of course, if Chad hadn't called out to me, I might really have been screwed.
'Should I be thankful for this······.'
In the end, Chad's choice had been the right one, but when it came to admitting it, his irresponsible attitude came to mind.
"Tch, your taste for the macabre hasn't changed."
"As if you're one to talk."
Maltis immediately refuted Chad's words.
I blinked upon hearing their conversation.
······Hadn't changed?
Could it be that he had done such things even during his mercenary days?
Did he have a penchant for cutting off people's heads and hanging them up that dated back to then?
"I'm glad I didn't say I was in the Black Forest too. I don't really want to get close to him,"
Sailon, who had been listening from behind, whispered.
"Hmm, so that's what it takes to be a heresy inquisitor."
"No, I know they aren't all like that, but······"
Ranson calmly refuted Baldik's muttering, but a bitter expression was clearly visible on his face as well.
"But they've really started the inspection now."
"Yeah. I can see the ships too······ Are we finally crossing over?"
Since we were leaving the inn anyway, we had packed all our belongings and come out.
There was no reason to linger.
We had already wasted too much time on this island from the start.
"······Shall we go right away?"
"We didn't leave anything behind, right?"
"Of course not."
And so we headed straight for the checkpoint and took our place in the queued column.
After a long wait, the moment to finally leave the island was drawing near.
It was just as we were standing in line, waiting patiently—
Several soldiers approached and blocked our path.
"Why are you here?"
"Huh?"
"Acting Commander Jackson has instructed you to cross over immediately."
"Ah."
In an instant, the people around us glanced our way in unison.
The gazes watching us leave the line were mixed with envy and bewilderment.
Following the soldiers' guidance, we left the line and headed inside the checkpoint.
The stares from those around us were stinging, but it couldn't be helped.
Shortly after, Staff Sergeant Jackson, who had taken temporary command, appeared.
He too seemed to bear wounds from battle, his left arm wrapped in bandages and his face showing clear exhaustion.
"You've come."
Jackson greeted us with a brief, crisp salute.
And then immediately continued with a concerned gaze.
"Have you been safe? Was there anything inconvenient?"
"Yes, well······."
Though I answered evasively, Jackson's gaze soon turned to me.
"······You've been through a lot."
His voice was laden with fatigue, yet at the same time, it held respect.
Jackson caught his breath for a moment, then signaled to the soldiers.
"If you stand in the regular line, you'll only draw unnecessary attention. It would be better for you to cross immediately."
"That works for us."
Maltis walked over to us one last time and stopped.
"It seems our acquaintance here ends at this point."
He politely bowed his head.
"Please take care as well, Maltis."
When I replied, Maltis smiled faintly and answered.
"You as well, Liv. I hope we only ever meet on good terms."
It was a brief but weighty farewell.
The inquisitors and soldiers standing beside him also quietly nodded.
He exchanged brief greetings with Chad as well before leaving the checkpoint.
Guided by Staff Sergeant Jackson, we passed through the checkpoint without trouble.
The gazes of those in the long line followed us, but no one could say a word.
The moment we crossed the threshold, the air changed.
Once past the stone gate marking the border, the scenery that unfolded was distinctly different.
'So this is······ the Kingdom of Gradran.'
The smell of the sea breeze was the same, but the scenery was completely different.
The flags flew with the image of black birds, and the soldiers' uniforms were clearly different from before.
We completely left the checkpoint and truly set foot on the land of the Kingdom of Gradran.
"It's nice to see a different landscape after so long,"
Sailon said in an admiring voice.
"Right? I was starting to go crazy cooped up in the same place all day."
Baldik also nodded and smiled bitterly.
With the tension that had weighed on us finally lifting, light conversation flowed between us for the first time in a while.
It was a moment where we truly felt that the time spent trapped on the island had finally ended.
After completing the simple inspection procedures, we had finally crossed the border.
"It looks like they were attacked here too."
"Well, it wasn't an ordinary scale."
Baldik nodded.
Traces of battle remained here and there on the Gradran side of the beach as well.
Broken palisades, sand still stained red with blood that hadn't yet faded.
There was no way to know how this place had been cleaned up, but it was clear that a fierce battle had taken place here too.
'······They must have had a hard time here too.'
I caught my breath for a moment, realizing that this place wasn't so different from the island we had passed through.
"Surely they aren't restricting passage here too, are they?"
Sailon asked anxiously.
"Hey, you. Can't you see the ships sailing around over there?"
Baldik snapped.
As he said, several ships were anchored in the harbor in the distance.
Merchant ships with furled sails, dockworkers bustling about as if preparing to depart—
It seemed that normal operations had resumed here as well.
I looked at that sight and let out a small sigh of relief inwardly.
'Finally······ I can really leave now.'
The moment we descended to the harbor, we immediately asked around for passage.
Fortunately, there was a ship departing today, and it didn't cost much either.
Without delay, we paid in silver and boarded the ship under the sailors' guidance.
Once on the deck, the checkpoint on Cron Island and the coastline visible across the sea came into view at a glance.
As the sails were set and the ship slowly slipped onto the sea, the tension in everyone's expressions eased.
The time spent being dragged around on the island was now being pushed completely behind us.
The sea breeze brushed across my face.
At last, freedom.
***
The ship proceeded smoothly along its course.
Everyone's shoulders, stiff with tension, gradually relaxed in the sea breeze.
As the night deepened, flickering lights appeared in the distance.
"That's······."
Sailon narrowed his eyes and muttered.
It was a harbor on the Gradran mainland.
Torches blazed in a row atop the city walls, and the lanterns stretching along the coastline sparkled with the starlight.
Unlike the gloom of Cron Island, a sense of stability could definitely be felt here.
As the vessel reached the harbor, workers busily tied the ropes, and soldiers patrolled with sharp eyes.
We could finally set foot on mainland soil.
"Ugh, now I can actually live a little."
Baldik rotated his shoulders and stretched widely.
"I still can't get used to ships."
"Still better than before."
As Sailon grumbled, scrunching up his face, Ranson added calmly.
"But this is Nevran, right?"
Nevran.
A port city in the Viscounty of Erdin, located at the western edge of the Kingdom of Gradran.
Nevran was a city that stood facing the sea breeze head-on.
Dozens of ships were already moored in a row at the harbor, and the flags hung from each mast fluttered in the wind.
The shouts of sailors and porters bustling to and fro echoed from all directions, and the thick smell of freshly caught fish hung heavily over the pier.
Even a short distance from the harbor, the scenery changed.
Shops and inns lined the large cobbled road, and street stalls were set up in rows at every corner.
There were merchants holding skewers of bright red grilled fish to attract customers, and vendors stacking piles of seashells freshly dredged from the shore.
'······The mainland really is different.'
Unlike the gloomy, damp atmosphere of Cron Island, this place was brimming with vitality and life.
A sense of leisure could be felt in the people's attire as well.
Their appearance—layered in thick furs and leather, adorned with metal accessories—seemed to display the unique prosperity of a port city.
In the distance atop a hill, stone ramparts could be seen.
That was probably the residence of the noble who governed this city.
That aside.
There was something far more eye-catching.
'Dwarves?'
Among the people walking the streets, dwarves like Baldik caught my eye with surprising frequency.
Roughly three or four out of every ten people were dwarves—a ratio unimaginable in other places.
Dockworkers carrying luggage at the harbor, merchants hawking wares in shops, even among the soldiers—dwarves were mixed in everywhere.
"Wow, there really are a lot."
Sailon muttered in surprise.
I nodded as well.
I had thought dwarves were a rare race, but in Nevran, it was the complete opposite.
"It was true."
When I muttered that, Baldik scratched his chin and smirked.
"Did you think I was lying?"
A strange sense of comfort was etched on his expression.
I recalled what Baldik had told me before about Gradran.
This was the kingdom where the largest number of dwarves on the continent lived.
The reason was deeply related to the Yellow Magic Tower.
As I had guessed, the Yellow Magic Tower was a place that researched magic dealing with earth and metal.
Naturally, it tended to be built in places with abundant underground resources, locations rich in ore veins and bedrock.
And Gradran was a country that perfectly met those conditions.
"This place is basically a homeland for dwarves,"
Baldik continued slowly.
"In other countries, a dwarf is treated like some exotic curiosity. But it's different in Gradran. There are veins that can't be mined without our blood mixing in, and countless techniques passed down through generations."
He raised his head and looked at the hill visible beyond the harbor.
There, small blast furnaces and chimneys were densely packed together.
Smoke rising from everywhere showed that this city was not merely a harbor, but also a massive forge.
"Those Yellow Tower bastards may be mad warmongers, but they had an eye for earth and ore. That's why the Tower was built on this land, and dwarves gathered here."
Baldik's voice carried a strange pride.
As if this were the only place where dwarves could breathe like true dwarves, even if it wasn't his homeland.
Prompted by his words, I naturally looked around.
Dwarf merchants and craftsmen overflowing the streets, the laughter of children.
A world completely different from the gloomy scenery seen on Cron Island was unfolding before my eyes.
"But it sure is hot······."
"······If that's a drawback, then it's a drawback."
Baldik grumbled.
The air was suffused with a strangely tropical heat.
It felt as if the heat weren't from the sunlight, but from hot air welling up and spreading from deep within the earth.
"If you know so much, please guide us."
"Honestly, I don't know it that well either. I just heard about it. I'm from Ruendel, after all."
Baldik shrugged.
"······Then let's try to find an inn at least. And someone please go grab Chad from that street stall over there."
I let out a sigh and looked around.