novel(2)
| ← Ch.143 | Ch.145 → |
One of the messenger hawks raised by the Crow Tribe flew towards Bloody's mansion. Catching sight of it, Mac went out to the terrace and whistled to get the bird to come to him.
"Who is it from?" Leisha asked.
"He's a private hawk of the leader, " Mac answered as the hawk perched on his arm.
Leisha wondered when he said 'leader'. Although Hestia was often in contact, it was the first time that Gawain had sent a letter.
"What does it say?"
At Leisha's urging, Mac opened the message on its leg and checked its contents.
"Oh, it says that the leader is in the Demon Territory right now."
"Oppa is?" Leisha asked in surprise.
But Mac did not hear because he was so focused on the letter. He folded the letter and put it into his breast pocket with a serious face and said, "I'll go see Bloody-nim for a little while."
"What's the matter?"
"That's... Iyaa! Oh, I can't forgive the leader for training to get stronger just by himself." Mac smiled and roughly evaded it.
When he had jumped off the terrace, Lancelot, who was making tea in the room, asked Leisha, "Where is the vice-captain going?"
"I don't know, after receiving a letter from Little Brother, he said he was going to see Uncle." Without knowing the contents of the letter, she could only shrug.
"How unexpected to receive a letter from Leader-nim."
"I know, right?" Leisha nodded and received a cup of tea that the diplomat poured.
"Thanks."
"Well, if it's something big that we should know, then they'll tell us." Lancelot smiled.
Leisha also smiled and drank the black tea in a carefree manner."They will, right?"
While enjoying the refreshments peacefully, they heard a knock. Lancelot put down his teacup and opened the door. Bloody's butler, Saintess Hillis, and Hillis's escort, Albatoss were standing in the hallway.
"Hello!"
Standing next to her, Albatoss sighed as she greeted brightly.
"I'm sorry to barge in. Saintess-nim is—"
Albatoss closed his mouth when Hillis glared at him slightly.
"Isn't it fine? Leisha did say that we could come visit anytime."
Albatoss was flustered when Hillis pouted as if she were sulking."No, I just thought we should notify them before visiting... I'm sorry." He gave up trying to explain himself, just bowed his head and remained silent.
Not long ago, because Hillis had run away to an underground casino, she was half forced into quarantine. But she regained her freedom under the condition of having an escort always stick with her, instead of having secret escorts.
For Hillis, who hated cumbersome things, she found having a close escort unpleasant, but she could endure it as long as there was only one escort on her at a time.
"No, you are always welcome!" Leisha held and shook Hillis's hand.
For Leisha, Hillis was a more welcome friend than anyone else because there were no girls of her age around.
"Oh, I think it's going to take some more time to find your younger brother." Hillis apologized with a sorry face.
Leisha shook her head, saying it was okay."It can't be helped since that brat, Denburg, wants to hide the fact that he is freely roaming around."
The reason she was unable to help with a massive search for Denburg was because of pressure from the emperor and the prime minister. It was the aftermath of the plans for blessing the imperial family at the New Year's Festival being overturned. There was no reason to do favors for the Saintess in an empire where imperial power was overwhelmingly ahead of religious power.
Rather, the capital was like the home ground of the imperial family, so Hillis had to be wary of the imperial family and be cautious of her actions. Despite that, she remained in the capital because she had promised to help find Denburg Blade and because she wanted to return as late as possible to the Holy City Percival.
Percival was like a giant birdcage for her.
"Come to think of it, you weren't able to get around properly, were you?"
Leisha nodded ardently at Hillis's question.
It was probably because of the minor accidents that Bloody had caused when he had first arrived in the empire. As a result, Arcanta earnestly asked them to not go out and about as much as possible, so she was unable to sightsee the capital properly.
Even though the accidents caused by Bloody were little cute acts compared to those that Doomstone caused, there were people whose lives bordered between life and death from those cute acts. It would have been nice to see the capital with Bloody, but many incidents suddenly cropped up, so his daily life became very busy.
As soon as they arrived in the capital, out of the blue, the magic tower collapsed and a mysterious person targeting the Saintess appeared in the middle of the capital. It was not an ordinary level of busy. Especially during the shift change between William and Orphina, he could not leave the palace as the emperor's guard.
Nevertheless, she felt sorry asking the butler, who she didn't really know, and servants to act as her guide through the capital.
"Where are you going to go?" Leisha asked.
Hillis smiled like a mischievous kid."The Adventurers' Guild."
Albatoss narrowed his eyes for a moment at Hillis's answer.
"I made a new friend since coming to the capital."
Hillis led Leisha and Lancelot to the Adventurers' Guild where Den was absent.
-o-
It wasn't until the sun was completely down and in the night that the carriage entered Lotten.
"Wow, wasn't it really close?"
"Yes, it was."
The carriage went through the castle gates just before 10 p. m. , just before it really closed.
In all the cities with fortresses, there was a set entrance time for the gates. If they had arrived past that time, they would have had to sleep in front of the gate or go to a nearby village.
Dane Walker spoke as he tipped the horseman who drove the carriage through the gate by a narrow margin. 𝙛𝙧e𝒆𝘸𝚎𝙗noν𝙚𝙡 - 🅽🅽novel
"Normally, in the vicinity of where ruins are found, passage during night time is prohibited, not to mention, sleeping out in the open."
Tomb raiders appeared at the site of ruins, so guards frequently circulated throughout the area to block them.
"Then what happens if you can't get through the castle gates?"
"Of course the guards will take you to the detention center for the night, " he replied with a bitter smile.
In short, you would be treated as a tomb raider and arrested. Of course, since Flam and I were civil servants and Dane Walker was a platinum plate adventurer if arrested, we were likely to spend the night where the night duty officer would be, not the detention center.
Civil servants' identification cards and platinum plates were plastered with anti-forgery magic, making them basically impossible to forge. Well, it wasn't perfect. It seemed to me that you could forge it if you really wanted to, so I didn't know why they were so blindly trusting of it.
It was said that the anti-forging magic was jointly created by the Butterfly Tribe elders and imperial court magicians and that even a decent Butterfly Tribe member couldn't forge it. However, it sounded like a lie.
"It's a good thing that we made it through the castle gates on time." Flam breathed a sigh of relief.
We headed to the Lotten branch of the Adventurers' Guild where we would stay and work. Dano, who went on a business trip first, was most likely to be staying there and working as well.
"It's not even that late yet, but there are no people around."
If you looked around, all the doors were locked and the lights turned off.
"Because all sorts of people come here for the ruins. There's a wide diversity of people, from self-proclaimed treasure hunters to real treasure hunters, archaeologists hired by the empire, adventurers, and mercenaries who dream of making a fortune, to black merchants and businessmen who want to try to steal the treasure after it's discovered."
With a countless number of people pouring in, it was natural that public order would turn into chaos. It would be perfect for the city's economy if there were just spectators, but listening to Dane Walker, it wasn't only people with normal occupations that would be flocking here.
"Then I assume the imperial army and the knights will be sent here accordingly."
More than half of the people coming were illegal. In that case, public order would temporarily fall to the level of slums, so extra guards were needed to cope with it. However, it was hard to say that this territory or city had that much military power.
Dane Walker flicked his fingers and affirmed my speculation.
"That's right! Just as you were sent out to control the adventurers, the court magicians, the White Deer Knights, the Black Water Buffalo Knights, and the Red Dragon Knights likely sent people as well."
Flam had a serious face at Dane Walker's explanation.
"Then isn't it a bad thing that the ruins have been excavated?"
I sighed and spoke to Flam, who seemed to want to angrily destroy the ruins."No, we can't just say that the ruins are bad for the residents or the city here."
Dane Walker also affirmed while giving me an unexpected look."Right, you could even say that it's a good thing."
Flam looked at me oddly as if he didn't understand."Why is that? Didn't public order drastically get worse?"
"It's simple. Ruins can be a source for tourism."
Flam became engrossed in thought as he tried to understand."Source for tourism?"
"What do you mean by source for tourism?" Dane Walker also looked at me as if he had never heard of the phrase, "source for tourism".
It was a natural reaction when there was no word to define the concept even though the concept was already known. It was a familiar reaction from when I was in my hometown. It was the first time for this kind of reaction since I left my hometown, so I just felt a little nostalgic.
"So once the ruins have been completely excavated, those who covet the artifacts inside will pursue their goal and leave Lotten. Although there will be no artifacts left, they would still have historical value and rarity. Using that as a source, the city of Lotten will be able to attract tourists to boost its economy."
"I see. Then the ruins are beneficial in the long run." Flam nodded like he understood.
"It's an interesting way to express the value of ruins as a source for tourism." Dane Walker looked at me interestedly.
There was a concept of a source of tourism, but the lack of implementation was closely related to the historical situation of the empire.
Before it became an empire, it was the Holy Kingdom. The major cities and infrastructure of the past Holy Kingdom were located in the current Demon Territory. In other words, there were almost no ruins that could be used as sources of tourism in the empire.
A hundred and twenty years ago, before the creation of the Demon Territory, there might have been a saying like a source of tourism. However, if it had not been used for 120 years, it would not be strange if the word disappeared historically from the language.
As we walked and talked, we arrived at the Adventurers' Guild before I knew it. Naturally, the Lotten branch was much smaller than the headquarters in the capital. It was crowded with adventurers even though it was late.
"I don't know if there's going to be any room for us to sleep, " Flam remarked.
Dane Walker said something unlucky, "If things don't go smoothly, we might have to sleep crammed together in the night duty room."
"Don't say unlucky things."
I was already exhausted from having ridden in the not comfy second-class compartment, and then the shabby carriage that seemed like it would break at any moment. If we are going to have to sleep cramped together, camping outside with a tent would be more comfortable.
"Den, Flam! Mr. Dane Walker!"
A man of large stature came out from behind the counter and called our names.
"Mr. Dano?"
Dano welcomed us with a thin face, holding our hands.
"Welcome."
Dano was very taciturn before, but now he was very aggressively welcoming. In particular, he seemed to welcome the visit of Dane Walker.
Just how much work was there for this usually quiet, taciturn man to welcome us like this? Perhaps, I should have worried about myself rather than worrying about the people at the headquarters who would have more work from our absence.
| ← Ch. 143 | Ch. 145 → |