CH 4

“Oh, we can see it now.”

About an hour had passed since we started walking down the road. Marius was slightly ahead of me, and was the first to see the city. Despite continuing down the road, I still could not see anything.

“I don’t see anything though…”

“You can see the city walls right?”

“What–… Marius, is your vision exceptional?” It took several more minutes of walking before I saw anything.

“It’s really there…”

“See, I told you.”

Soon after, the road we were walking on merged with other roads. The foot traffic also increased, with other people walking down the road as well. It seemed like the road we were on had not been the main road. We had not met anyone on that road, but now there were other people heading to the city as well. There were even people coming to and from the city on horse carriages.

“Everyone’s outfits fit a fantasy setting…”

I had only seen Marius’ clothes until now, but everyone on the road was wearing clothes that seemed to come straight out of a game or movie.

It was a slightly upsetting realization, but I guess Marius wasn’t wrong when he called my clothes weird.

At the same time, it kind of felt like I’d come to a theme park, so I was getting slightly excited. I was looking around at all of the people who were on the road when suddenly Marius stopped.

“ngu-,” I wasn’t looking ahead so I bumped forcefully into Marius’ back.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Sorry! … have we arrived?”

While rubbing my cheek, I looked up. In front of Marius, taller than him by around three meters, there was a tall stone gate.

“It’s an amazing city, isn’t it…”

“The city is called Ainsbach. It’s the biggest city in the region.”

It seemed like they did a light inspection at the gate. The travelers were all lined up in a queue.

“What are they doing?” I asked. “Checking our belongings?”

I had the image of an airport’s baggage check in mind. It wouldn’t be high tech like X-ray scans, but I figured they could still do a light examination of our bags.

“Well, maybe they will for people who are here for commerce. For everyone else, they either confirm if you have a pass or you have to pay a toll.”

“Huh!? I don’t have a pass! Without it I need to pay? How much? Like ten thousand yen?”

“Yen? What’s that?”

“Yen is money. It’s this,” I said while pulling out my wallet from my backpack. I took out a ten thousand yen bill from my wallet and showed it to him.

“Wow, this picture is amazing! It’s so detailed!”

“Uh, I guess so… Wait, that’s not the point, this is ten thousand yen! It’s currency!”

“What? This is money!? Money is supposed to be like copper or silver coins, right?”

Saying that, Marius took out his own money pouch from his bag. Making the sounds of clinking metal, he took out a few coins from the pouch and showed me. There were a few small copper coins and one big copper coin on his hand.

“This one is a marka,” he said pointing at the small coin, “and this one is ten markas,” pointing at the large one. “You need ten markas for the entry fee.”

“I don’t have this kind of money though!”

The only things I had were whatever I was in my bag for when I was going home from my part time job. Obviously, I didn’t have anything belonging to this world…

If I couldn’t use Japanese currency, there was only one option remaining for me. I cupped my hands out in front of me.

“Marius please, let me borrow some money. I’ll definitely pay you back! If you want, I’ll even make more clothes for you!”

I could only rely on his help. If I couldn’t get inside the city, I’d have to sleep outdoors. But if there was a possibility that those slimes would appear, I would definitely not be able to sleep.

With my hands out in front of me, I took a fleeting glance at him. He had a shocked expression, and let out a sigh.

“Well, I figured this would be the case. I’ll lend you money.”

“Hahaha,” I sheepishly laughed. “I’m sorry…”

It was kind of pathetic to take a loan from a boy like Marius, but I had to make some sacrifices in this situation.

As we were conversing, we had reached the front of the queue.

“Next up, two of you?” There were two warrior-looking men guarding the gate, one of whom spoke to us.

“Yes, both of us.”

“Reason for entering?”

“I’m here to register as an adventurer.”

“You as well?” he asked, directed towards me.

“Y– yes!” I blurted out. I didn’t actually plan on becoming an adventurer, I just answered reflexively.

Marius gave me a dubious look which was somewhat painful. He didn’t say anything though, probably since he didn’t want to slow down the inspection.

“If you’re here for adventurer registration, the toll will be ten markas.”

In response, Marius took out two of the big copper coins from his pouch and handed them over.

Taking the money, the guard explained, “to get to the adventurer’s guild, continue down the path from the gate, and then turn left once you pass the river.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Yeah, good luck.” 

Perhaps he was the type to cheer young people on. He gave Marius some encouragements.

Marius nodded his head in a small bow before continuing on, so I also quickly bobbed my head down before following after him.

Instead of entering through the large gate meant for horse carriages, we entered the city through a smaller side gate meant for pedestrians.

“Ohhh….”

The cityscape really looked like it was a theme park stretching out in front of us. Buildings with triangular roofs lined up on both sides of a road paved with stones. The walls of the buildings had latticed windows, and there were signboards hanging under the eaves.

It seemed like a scene familiar in foreign countries, giving me a lighthearted feeling.

“Oi, let’s go.”

“Yes~!”

Marius waved at me while waiting ahead. I did a light sprint to catch up, and walked beside him.

“So, you’re also going to register as an adventurer?”

“Well, I was kind of just going with the flow when I answered earlier…”

“That was it after all. However, the adventurer card can be used as an identity card, so I think it might be convenient to register as one.”

“Is that so?”

“You should be able to take some easy requests, and you’ll have the guild support as well.”

“That makes sense! Well then, I guess I could also register.”

“Got it. It’ll also cost ten markas, by the way.”

“Eh!? That also costs money!?”

“Obviously. Since they need to do an inspection when you register, and since they provide you with an identity card as well, it can’t be free.”

“… I guess so.”

It doesn’t matter which world you’re in, money is always essential…

“That should be the river,” Marius muttered. We couldn’t see the river in our line of sight, but there was an opening in the buildings.

I thought based on the guards words that it would be a small river, but as we approached it I saw that it was a proper river with a width of ten meters.

“Speaking of which, didn’t you say you were looking for the Sanzu river? Could it be this one?”

“No… That should be wrong.”

The Sanzu river probably shouldn’t have a fashionable stone bridge spanning its width.

“It’s wrong, huh? Then, should we just continue heading towards the guild?”

“Yeah…”

Crossing the stone bridge, we took a left on the first path. Following Marius, who was walking at a brisk pace, I also continued forward.