Chapter 11: We've reached Town
「Woah, it’s huge……」
As I reflexively said while looking up at the town’s walls, the girls look at me with a pleasant smile. I finally reached the Kingdom’s east most town, Motsi. What was waiting for us there was a really tall rampart with a really large gate that even dragons or giants could probably fit through.
The stone rampart and the old gate with rust here and there seems to speak of the town’s profound history, while its firmness shows that it’s still going strong even now.
「Motsi is a town that existed even before the Kingdom and the Empire joined together, and in the several wars it had been through, not even once did it fall. In those days, they say it was called the Impregnable Motsi, it seems.」
While dazedly staring at the walls with my mouth open, Grimhart explained to me. Rather, they’re on good terms now but look like they were at war in the past, huh. Well, even Japan’s on good terms with the others beyond the sea now, but there were some wars happening too, right? It’s probably just like that.
「Well, there were those times too, but since they’re currently on good terms, these large gates are now left open. Though in exchange, there are smaller gates installed in the town, making it look quite bizarre.」
As Mozes said, the iron gates are certainly left open. And if you look closely, you can see that inside the wide-open entrance, there’s a wall with three gates on it. Well, it does look a bit bizarre. Won’t it be better to just close the gate properly? I thought so, but it’s probably a bit insensitive to point that out, right?
「By the way, from right to left are the gate for adventurer and civilian, the noble and the foreign guest of honor, and the merchants respectively. Grimhart and the others are adventurers, but since this time they’re entering as the Breut Company’s escorts, they’ll be using the leftmost gate. However, Lily is……」 「Not affiliated with either guild nor do I have the Kingdom’s Certificate of Residency. Which means that I can’t enter, right?」 「I’m sorry to say this, but that’s how it is. Ah, but don’t worry about it. Matt.」 「Yes, master.」
Mozes called out to the employee Matt. Matt respectfully took one step forward, faced me, and bowed. What’s going on? As I tilt my head confused, Mozes explains to me the situation.
「Matt will accompany you. I’m not trying to boast, but my Breut Company has quite the influence in this town. They can’t treat you wrongly if Matt is with you.」 「I’m thankful for that, but……」 「Haha, don’t think too much of it, Lily. If you stay in Motsi town, then it would be beneficial for us down the line. Considering that, this is just an investment for the future.」
So in other words, he’s calling dibs on me, huh. Well, it’s true that after all that I received, I’ll need to pay him back somehow. And with my cheat-level ability, I can even pay him back with something big. Very well, then let me thankfully accept this so-called investment of yours.
「I understand. Honestly, that really helps.」 「It’s nothing much. Well then,Miss Lily, let us meet again later. Matt, I’m counting on you.」 「Yes, master. Understood.」 「Well then. Lily, see you later. I’ll guide you around the guild later.」 「I’m thankful for that, but no hugging m’kay, Arisa?」 「Ugh…」 「I’ll be making sure of that.」 「Thanks, Grimhart.」
And after going our separate ways, Matt and I head for the rightmost gate. I’m really lucky to have come across these good people. If I find the chance, I’ll make sure to return the favor.
◆◇◆◇◆「Hmm, if it’s by the Breut Company’s recommendation, then there’s no problem, I guess. Do you have money for the provisional registration? Yup, that’s perfect. Well then, here’s your Simple Certificate of Residency. When you leave town it’ll turn invalid. So while you’re here, make sure to either register to a guild or have a proper Certificate of Residency made, okay?」
Today, for the second time, my jaw dropped open in shock. It’s not because the certificate’s processing was surprisingly fast. But because the soldier (he’s a soldier right?) before me was a bear.
Arriving at the rightmost gate, we immediately joined the line and waited for our turn. When our turn came, Matt told the gatekeeper something and we were immediately led to a separate room, where we were asked to fill in some documents. By the way, I can write in this world’s language. Before I died, I couldn’t even write decent English, but this is probably the angel or Pig God’s doing, I think. Since I can also speak the language too.
And then, what came out next was a large armored bear. No, seriously. His fur’s black, but instead of a certain honey-loving bear wearing a T-shirt, imagine one that is wearing armor. Yup, it’s more or less something like that.
「Hmm? Is there a problem, Miss Lily?」 「Ah, no… Umm…」 「Ahh, is it your first time meeting a Moon Bear kin? It’s all right, they are very much proper demi-humans. Same as us, they are humanoids with intellect and reason.」
Yup, this bear seems like a demi-human called Moon Bear kin. Considering that he’s a demi-human, I feel like there’s too much bear in him, but he is waking on two legs and he does understand human speech. He did fill the needed entries in the documents with the quill pen I passed to him and if I’m forced to say, he probably has bad eyesight since he took out a monocle and is wearing it. Are you serious!? That’s amazing, world!!
「Haha, well, there’s only three of us Moon Bear kin here in Motsi, after all. It’s pretty normal to be surprised.」 「Are your people rare?」 「That’s right. We have a settlement in the northern part of the Kingdom, but people seldom leave from there, you see. We may look like this, but most of us are pretty friendly, so if you see any, don’t be afraid. Just try talking to them.」
Even if you say that, if you take your armor off I can’t tell you apart from a normal bear, you know? No, maybe it’s just that all those five to six meter tall bears are this world’s normal bears and all two-meter tall bears are Moon Bear kin?
At any rate, it’s the first non-human race I encountered since coming to this world. Meeting a bear-man before I ever see cat-eared girls and elves is pretty unexpected, but I’m getting really excited now!