Chapter 7: A Sudden Air of Disquiet! The King who Knows Usato!
We had arrived at Samariarl, the Prayerlands. It had been a long and arduous journey; yet, for me, this was where my duties really began. Unlike at Luqvist, I wouldn’t have Welcie’s support. This time I was responsible for passing on the Llinger Kingdom’s letter.
Before entering Samariarl, we first had to speak with the guards at the outer gates. Amako of course had her hood up to hide her ears, and Nea was in her human form. We decided to introduce Blurin as my familiar.
The guards were naturally cautious at the sight of the grizzly, but once we convinced them that Blurin wasn’t going to do any harm, we were allowed entry. However, I couldn’t help feeling like there was something strange about the way the guards held themselves.
“You came from the Llinger Kingdom?” said one. “Ah! I see! Please, enter. Your familiar isn’t allowed into the city, but you can leave him in the stables just by the gates.”
That’s weird. They didn’t even ask us what we were here for.
We took Blurin to the stables, where Aruku and I started laying down some hay for the grizzly and our horse.
“It’s like they already know who I am,” I muttered.
“Well, it’s possible they’ve already heard of you,” said Aruku. “News of the Demon Lord’s army has spread across the lands, so it’s very likely that the work of the rescue team has too.”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone would just believe it. I mean, nobody thinks very much of healing magic in the first place. If news came in that a healer was running around the battlefield saving lives, would people just believe that?
“Well, I guess there’s no point worrying about it too much.”
After all, we’d made it into Samariarl, which was a relief in and of itself.
“And thankfully Nea didn’t get us into any trouble.”
“Don’t you think you might be a little too worried about her?” Aruku asked.
“Well, I’m the reason she’s here. It’s up to me to look out for her.”
Nea had almost ended her own life, but I’d saved her from that fate. As a member of the rescue team, I had to be responsible for not just my life, but the lives of others too. So now that I’d saved Nea, naturally I wanted to watch over her.
“She looks like she’s a barrel of excitable raw energy, but this is her first time away from the place she called home,” I said. “It’s her first trip into the outside world. I’m sure she’s as anxious as she is excited.”
“Yes, you raise a good point.”
The scenery that surrounded us, the city we had entered, Nea had never laid eyes on any of it before. Everything would be new.
“That’s why—” I started.
“Come on Usato! Pick it up!” shouted Nea.
She sounded as bright and carefree as always. I let out an exasperated sigh. Aruku laughed.
“Well, let’s finish up,” he said. “We don’t want to keep the other two waiting.”
“Okay.”
We shifted around some hay to make sure that Blurin had room to move, then led the grizzly and our horse into the stables. Blurin let out a lazy roar and slumped comfortably into his new bed of hay. He was asleep in seconds.
“Just take it nice and easy,” I said, patting him on the head.
“What now?” I asked, turning to Aruku. “Should we head straight for the castle?”
I figured we didn’t need to hurry to find lodgings. It wasn’t like we needed to prioritize seeing the sights. The castle struck me as our top priority. Aruku, however, shook his head.
“No. There’s one other thing we should do first,” he said.
“Oh? What’s that?”
“We should send word to Llinger that we’ve arrived here safely.”
Send word? But the Llinger Kingdom is so far away.
Aruku must have noticed my confusion, because he looked suddenly apologetic.
“Oh, I see. You never would have had a chance to use the service before. Welcie handled that when we were in Luqvist, so of course you don’t have any idea what I’m talking about.”
“Handled what?” I asked, even more confused.
I looked over at Amako and Nea. Amako was surprised I wasn’t following, but Nea looked just as stumped as I did.
Well, it’s no surprise that the vampire shut-in doesn’t know.
“It’ll be easier for you to just see it for yourself,” said Aruku. “Follow me.”
We gathered up the bags we needed and headed for the city. The tower really stood out. A silver bell hung mysteriously at its tip.
“That tower sure is something,” I said, looking up at it as we made our way into the city.
Unlike Llinger, where most shops sold fruits and vegetables, Samariarl was filled with shops selling a variety of different tools. The place was just as crowded as Llinger, and lively to boot. I told Amako and Nea to stay close as we made our way through the crowds.
“As you know, Samariarl is the Prayerlands,” said Aruku, “but it’s also famous for the magical items they produce here.”
“So most of the items we’re looking at are magical?” I asked.
“That’s right. Most of what you see here is for daily use and not particularly expensive.”
Having spent most of my time in this world in Llinger, I wasn’t very well versed in magical items, so it was a bit overwhelming to see so many of them. I wondered if there was a fire- lighting implement. If I ever got into another situation like the one with Inukami-senpai in the forest, that kind of tool would come in very handy.
“I’m always using the magical tools they make here,” Nea remarked. “They work for hours on the smallest amounts of magical energy.”
“But you never left Ieva, right? How did you buy anything?” I asked.
“Tetra had business in Samariarl, so I asked her to buy some stuff for me when she went.”
Like a kid begging their grandparents for gifts, probably.
Nea was looking every which way in wonder and excitement. That was when I felt Amako bump into me from behind. She stood close, clinging to my coat sleeve.
“Amako? What’s wrong?” I asked.
I couldn’t see Amako’s face, hidden under her hood, but I could sense that she was nervous. It wasn’t like her, so I looked around for the source of it, feeling suddenly cautious.
“Oh, it’s that boy,” I uttered.
The boy was dressed in neat clothes and sitting politely on a chair, but he wasn’t just an ordinary young child. That much was clear from the steel collar around his neck.
“He’s a slave.”
We had just come face to face with a reality of this world that we’d never seen in Llinger or Luqvist. I put a reassuring hand to Amako’s head. Slaves were humans bought by other humans. I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t move me. Nonetheless, it was a reality I had to come to terms with while I lived here.