CH 27

After greeting all the people I knew, I left the town of Laresta immediately.

I had planned to stay a little longer in Laresta, but I had to leave a little earlier than I had planned. Misana, Marian...... farewell to all the beauties.

Leaving Laresta with a sense of reluctance, I used the magic to strengthen my body, and hurried on to the next town.

As I was leaving the town, I spoke with a soldier guarding the gate, who told me that there was a town called Rendark, the capital of the Raganfeed territory, about six days away by carriage from the town of Laresta.

It was developed further than Laresta and was the largest town in the Raganfeed territory.

Naturally, the Viscount Raganfeed, the lord who ruled Raganfeed's territory, was also living there, but if possible, I wouldn't want to get too close to him, so I would refrain from any conspicuous behavior.

“Alright, let's hurry this up a little bit.”

No matter how much physical strengthening magic I could use, I would run out of supplies for the journey if I had to travel slowly over a distance of six days by wagon and ten days on foot.

Even if I were to proceed slowly on foot, I would still be able to secure drinking water with water magic, and I could use earth magic to build earthen walls to prevent monsters and bandits from attacking the encampment itself.

When the food I had prepared ran out, I could use my appraisal to gather edible fruits and mushrooms, and even cook them with fire magic. Incidentally, salt was already available in the town of Laresta.

After running for about two hours, I found a nice place under the shade of a tree and decided to take a short break.

Since I was running at some distance from the road, I didn't have to worry about other people seeing me.

“No ni saku ~ hananoyōni ~, fun fun fun, fun fun fun fuun. No ni saku ~ hananoyōni ~”

I eat the preserved food while humming the opening song of a popular TV drama about a wandering painter who had a characteristic habit of saying, "What's that?”. [1]

The food wasn't very tasty, but I was grateful to be able to eat it since I was in the middle of a trip with no satisfactory restaurants. Maybe I'll get cooking tools and do some cooking at some point.

After that, while taking frequent breaks and enjoying the scenery of another world, the sun began to set and the sky grew dark.

There was no way I could make it through the 10-day journey on foot in a single day, so I decided to camp out for the day.

The earthen walls were put out on all sides with the earth magic described before, and the ceilings were sealed with earthen walls with small holes, thus a safe zone was completed, where no one could enter.

In the center of the zone, I set up a simple tent that I had purchased in the town of Laresta, and spent the night there.

Under normal circumstances, I would have kept watch over the place without sleeping, but since no one could get inside the wall, I was able to get a good night's sleep, of course.

The next day, after cleaning up the earthen walls and everything, filling my stomach with preserved food for breakfast and fruit that grew wild nearby, I activated the body strengthening system and was ready to go!

As I proceeded, leaving the surrounding scene behind, I saw a group of several wagons ahead of me.

It seemed to be under attack by monsters, but the monsters were being killed by the escorting adventurers without my help. Template evasion succeeded. [2]

After twelve hours of following the road, the walls of Rendark finally came into view.

Although it was only a few kilometers away, the walls that protected the town were so large and magnificent that even from this distance one could tell its presence.

Deciding that it was time to stop the sprinting mode, I walked on foot from an area where there was no one else, as I had done before.

After walking for about 30 minutes, I was able to reach the gates of Rendark, which was a good thing, but the line of people trying to enter the town was very long, as it was the capital of the territory.

At any rate, I had to wait in line to get in, so I quietly got in line at the end of the line.

The security checks were long. Usually it took only a few minutes, but this time it took more than five minutes.

“Next.”

After about an hour and a half of standing in line like that, it was finally my turn.

I felt a little uncomfortable as the memory of the unusually long wait at the hospital came back to me. [3]

The soldiers who were handling me were almost the same as those in Laresta, but their eyes were stronger as if they were looking at me with an eye to see my value.

When asked for identification, I presented my guild card, which I had obtained from the Adventurers' Guild.

“You're a fledgling adventurer, what's your purpose in town?”

“I'm a migrant and also wanted to go sightseeing.”

“Sightseeing at ...... your age?”

“I've been in one place so long, I'm just curious to see different places.”

“......I see. Then touch this crystal before we finish this.”

After answering a few questions, I was instructed to touch a crystal that had been set up. When I casually place my hand on it, the crystal glowed blue.

Probably the crystal was used to check for a criminal record, but it seemed unlikely that they would answer my questions about the details, so I let it pass without asking any questions.

“It's all good. Now the procedure is complete.”

When the procedure was completed, the soldier announced it quietly and urged me to go to the gate. Although it was inevitable, since they had to see hundreds of people a day, I felt a little sad.

However, staying there and making small talk might cause trouble for the soldiers, so I followed their instructions and entered the town of Rendark.

Compared to Laresta, the city was naturally much larger, as one would expect from the capital of a territory, but there were fewer wooden buildings and more stone buildings.

The main street itself was wide enough to accommodate six or seven people standing in a row with their arms outstretched, so that two wagons could ride side by side without any problem.

If you continued along the road without going against the flow of people, you would see a large intersection at the crossroads.

There was a plaza there, with a large fountain in the center, which was a very conspicuous landmark. It’s a convenient place to meet.

“Which way is the Adventurers Guild?”

It was nice to walk around enjoying the scenery of the city, but one thing was troubling me.

The plaza where I was standing was at a crossroads, and I had no idea which direction the Adventurers' Guild was located.

I would know this if I were a resident of a town I knew well, but right now I was a newcomer to this town.

At any rate, there were people setting up stalls in the plaza, so I asked them where the Adventurers' Guild was located while filling my stomach.

“If you want to know the Guild's location, you can find it straight ahead at this crossroads. You'll see the sign with the sword and shield, so I think you'll be able to find it easily.”

“That helps. Thank you.”

I thanked the shopkeeper and headed for the Adventurers' Guild, stuffing my mouth with a skewer of some kind of meat I had purchased from a stall that had been roasted.

After walking along the main street for a while, I could see a building that looked like the one I was looking for. It was larger than the guild building I had seen in Laresta.

“Now, I hope there's no more templates.”

I walked into the Adventurers' Guild, muttering something that sounded like a flag was about to fall. Inside was spacious, with a reception counter lined up in the front.

To the left of the front desk was the dining room, which doubles as a bar and restaurant, where many adventurers were enjoying their meals and drinks, particularly as it was supper time.

To the right was a door leading to the exercise and dismantling area, plus a large staircase leading up to the second floor.

As I was admiring the interior of the guild with admiration, suddenly an angry voice rang out.

“What the hell, you b*****d! Say it again!”

“Ah, I'll say it over and over again. I said you're too much for me. If you're just a small fry, be a small fry and behave like one!”

“Fine! Let's go outside, you f****r!”

“Oh, let's go!”

I thought it was another template as soon as I arrived at the Adventurer's Guild, but apparently, it was another adventurer who was having a dispute, and the brunt of it was not directed at me. For a moment I thought it was me.

As I sneakily watch a dozen or so onlookers enter the training grounds with the adventurers involved, just as they did when I fought with Lovelace, I walked out of the now-quiet guild and headed for the reception counter.

TLN:

[1]: The name of the TV drama: Hadaka no Taisho Horoki (Travelog of Naked Artist).

The name of the Song: Nonisakuhananoyōni (野に咲く花のように) – By Da Capo. Link.

The name of the wandering painter: Kiyosi Yamashita. Back

[2]: Template (テンプレ) in Japanese is something like cliché in a movie. I’m still thinking if I should use template like in the raw or cliché. I might change it later or not. Back

[3]: Apparently in Japan (mostly in a small town) you need to wait for hours to see a doctor. Since in a small town there’s a few hospitals compared to big city like Tokyo. Back

By the way, thank you very much, again for the donation SeagleSilver!