“Tek here, I had a part-time job during my final years of highschool, but I rarely had any money problems. I might have been lucky to avoid internship and the difficulties of no pay--and I was never a poor child who had to work just to live.”
There are a group of five people having heated a heated argument in front of the gate.
“That’s why I said that we should’ve asked for advance payment, since we wouldn’t be able to pay the tax for entering the city.”
“Why should we have to do something so annoying?”
“That’s right, who was the useless one who begged us to take him with us while saying that he would be useful.”
“Getting tired right after he began carrying the luggage, and drinking all of the water himself.”
“The worst part is how he incorrectly cut the fur of the Crimson Fox that we had used so much effort to defeat.”
The four women dismissed the rather stupid protest of the one-armed boy, while sneering at him.
He obviously didn’t know much if he didn’t want to make sure they had the money to come back into the town because it was ‘annoying’…They were probably right with their sneering at him.
If this was a story, this is the scene where we go to help the boy, but I wonder why. I definitely agree with the women--not only does he seem to object to getting money for entry in advance--he also seems to have been a drag.
“Then, by evening come to the purchasing counter in the bar. When you come, we’ll give you one sixth of the reward, that are three copper coins as promised.” One of the women said.
“Hey wait, I defeated four Goblins myself, didn’t I. You forgot that four copper coins is the commission, y’know?”
“You, you just killed Goblins that were already dying from our attacks, jumping in from the side, right?”
“How could you demand rewards for that? You’re really shameless.”
“I still did defeat them!”
While looking down on the overly stubborn boy, the tall girl who seems to be the leader shrugs her shoulders, and proposes a compromise, “Okay, okay. However, those four Goblins weren’t defeated by you alone--half. I’ll give you half the rewards, two copper coins. Come by the bar by evening--if you take too long, I will use that money to buy drinks.” She seems serious about drinking the money away.
The boy looks relieved--but he also seems to have the opinion that she would do as promised, so he begins to negotiate with the gatekeeper in a hurry.
***
“You heard our talk earlier, right? If you let us enter now, we’ll pay the fee properly later.”
“Humph, I’m not fit to be a gatekeeper if I believe what you Magic Hunters say. How about hunting beasts that you can use as payment before evening?”
“There’s no way we can catch beasts with traps or tools.”
“Then, give it up.”
Oh, so you can use payment in kind, I didn’t know that.
The gatekeeper, who has noticed our wagon coming closer, drives the boy to the side. The boy was going to take that as a chance and rush into the town, but another gatekeeper tripped him and pinned him down.
“Hey, welcome to Puta town. I’ve never seen you before, are you a merchant?”
I show the gatekeeper my ID, the silver plate.
“This is, excuse me--you are a noble,”
“Excuse me, noble, you’ve said that you’re on a trip, but Puta is the furthest town. Where in the world are you going? Don’t tell me that you’re going to the nest of the Wyverns beyond the mountain, to take their eggs?”
“Oy, Gatts!” The other gatekeeper shoots a glare at the man talking to me, he makes a strange, subtle, gesture with his hand.
Since the gatekeepers’ words, I check on the map--there certainly are Wyverns on the mountains along the way.
“I do want to cross the mountain, but I didn’t know about the Wyverns. Taking the eggs, you say. Do they taste good?”
“It might be delicious, but they sell handsomely. The rumour says that you can exchange them for gold coins, weight-for-weight, if you bring them to the Royal Capital, or the Silga Kingdom on the other side of the mountains--although I’ve never seen the real thing, I hear that they hatch the eggs, to make the Wyvern steeds for the Dragoons.”
Silga Kingdom seems to be a neighbouring, small, Kingdom beyond the mountain range to the east. By the way, the Bornean Forest, which is our destination, is over the mountain range to the southeast.
“Hey, noble!”
“Shut up, you.” The gatekeeper quickly covers the mouth of the boy, who had talked to me.
“It’s fine. What is it, boy?”
“Noble, I need it for entering the town. Lend me two copper coins! I will return it without fail.”
This boy is going to get himself killed…
He was lucky he spoke to me, since I don’t mind--but a normal noble would order his servants to execute the boy, someone really needs to teach him, or at least get him under control.
“At least be polite!” The guardsman says.
“I was.” He cast a fractious glance at the man restraining him.
However, if he borrows two copper coins from me, he’ll be left with three copper coins even if he paid me back without interest, is he alright with that?
“Okay, I’ll lend you some.” I think it was because he’s a kid, or because he is crippled in a world were that is usually a death sentence--I felt some pity for him.
The gatekeeper looks like he wants to say something--but he obviously knows about nobles, not that I would object, but he has met real nobles from this world. He releases the boy, allowing him to approach me, but keeping a close eye on him.
I give two copper coins to the boy, and speak, “You know, if I was like normal nobles…you would get killed for asking that. Please beware.”
The boy rolls his eyes when he hears my words, but he accepts the coins and almost throws them at the gatekeeper, “That’s right, noble! If you haven’t decided on an inn, I suggest you go to the gate inn that you can see from here. It’s really expensive, but it’s famous for their delicious food.”
After saying this, the boy walks through the gate and down the street while whistling and waving his arm.
The teammates look at me with apologetic gazes, the tall girl who leads them, approaches me cautiously. She stops a small distance away and bows her head, “I’m sorry, sir noble--he’s a good kid. Thank you for your advice, he wouldn’t thank you himself.”
It seems that she does value him.
“It’s alright, I’m a new noble, promoted from being a commoner--so I really don’t mind. But please, for his sake, try to keep some control. Or teach him something about normal nobles.”
She nodded at my words, relief flooding her face, “Thank you, sir noble. I will try.”, she and the other girls quickly entered the town, each one bowed their heads as they passed.
For the time being, it seems that there’s no problem with me entering the city--since I was a noble, I didn’t even have to pay.
Just as Lulu is about to start the wagon, the gatekeeper looks like he remembered something, and warns me, “There’s an insane foreign noble staying at the mansion of Baronet Poton, the governor here, so it’s better if you don’t go anywhere near there.”
When I quickly check the map for the governor’s mansion, the Fire Mage is there. His name is Dwot Dasles, and it looks like he’s a Marquis of a Kingdom called Makiwa.
Since the Kingdom’s name doesn’t appear in the Traveler’s Journal, I don’t know where it is. I think that it’s probably among the group of small countries near the Rumooku Kingdom or the Silga Kingdom, if it has something to do with the Tigerkin.
He has both Arson and Murder in his Rewards&Punishments, so why did they let him enter the town?
***
Puta is a small town, unlike most of the towns that we’ve been in until now. It’s only one kilometer wide at the most--and maybe twice as long. The city is roughly divided into four blocks around the small mansion where the governor lives.
We are currently in the west block, the north block is where the harbour is, the east block has a lot of shops--including the pleasure quarter, the south block is where the workers quarters and the slums are located.
Each block has a residential area.
The races inhibiting the town are composed of 70% Humans. Followed by Ratkin, Sea Lion Kin, and Rabbitkin for 20%, each with a similar ratio--then other races which compromise the last 10%. Around 10% of the combined races are slaves, but Human slaves are relatively numerous.
It looks like the only nobles in this town are the household of Baronet Poton, and Marquis Dasles. Being a noble myself, I should probably be visiting him, but there’s no need to deliberately get myself in trouble.
When the wagon has entered the inn’s courtyard, a girl who seems to be the helper comes running. I leave the wagon to Lulu and the others, following the girl into the inn--I only take Arisa and Nana along.
The innkeeper, who’s waiting inside changes changes his expression from bored into one that seems like he has found a source of income when he sees me. This is strange, since I don’t think my clothing is expensive-looking.
“Welcome young master, I have just the right room for you.” He leads us to the room while rubbing his hands on his big hairy arms. The room is on the third floor of a different wooden building, near the main inn, you can even pay more to hire guards during the night. If we stay for more than five days, the guards will be free.
The inn charges one silver coin per night--compared to the gate inn at Seryuu City, which charges one big copper coin for a night, which is very cheap from what I have experienced on my travels.
There’s a bathroom in this building, but there’s only a bathtub which only fits one person, and of course, there’s no hot water either. You can boil water, but it’ll take time, so they ask for us to do it anytime during meals if possible.
The innkeeper advises us to bring our luggage to the warehouse in the building, since thieves often to come in the night. There’s nothing inside the luggage, but not to draw unnecessary attention, I bring them all into the inn.
Since there’s still some time before dinner, I take Tama and Pochi, who are full of energy, on a walk. Just in case, both Tama and Pochi are wearing thin cloaks with hoods, leather armour, and wooden sword. Which is what they wore during our stay in the Duchy Capital.
I’m wearing simple clothes that are just a white shirt, and black long pants. I’m wearing these very plain clothes so that I hopefully won’t get entangled with some strange people.
