“It seems I’ve forgotten my manners.” The chambermaid, now driving the carriage, looked over to me from where she sat and bowed slightly in introduction. “My name is Rita Farren, chambermaid to Madam Lauren Laraiya du Luvierte, of the Luvierte family.” Rita’s green eyes were locked on my helmet. She seemed to be waiting for me to introduce myself.
“Hm.” I cleared my throat once to give myself an air of importance. “They call me Arc. I’m but a simple wanderer.” Of course, I opted to use my in-game name. Clad completely in armor like this, I found it much easier to put on an act and play someone other than myself.
The girl in the carriage was apparently the daughter of some type of nobility. It seemed my plan to lie low had failed right out of the gate. If I didn’t get back on track soon, things could slide even farther downhill.
“What brings you to Rhoden, Master Arc?”
Rita’s question broke me out of the introspective train of thought I’d drifted into, lulled by the gentle sway of the horse. It also brought many more questions with it, which floated about inside my head.
Was Rhoden a region? Or maybe a kingdom? It certainly wasn’t a name I’d ever heard when playing online. My mind continued racing.
“I am simply wandering wherever my feet take me. I have no specific destination.”
It was an answer I came up with in the spur of the moment. However, considering my character’s backstory about traveling the land in search of a cure to his curse, it made sense for me to gloss over the specifics.
Looking ahead to the horizon, I could see that night had already settled into the hills, bringing with it a solemn atmosphere. Doubts were also rising from the darkest corners of my mind. What was going to happen to me? It wasn’t like I had a particularly strong attachment to my life in the real world, but it’d also be rather difficult to live as a skeleton in some world I knew nothing about.
I’d gotten caught up in all the magic manipulation and sword wielding, forgetting about the harsh reality of my situation. But with things beginning to calm down a bit, the fear of uncertainty edged its way in.
Thankfully, Rita didn’t seem to pick up on any of this. She simply nodded.
“Is that so? We’re currently on our way to the town of Luvierte, which is controlled by Miss Lauren’s father, Master Buckle. I’m confident he will be overjoyed to hear that you have done away with the bandits. I’d be honored if you would accompany us to his residence.”
She must have picked up on some of my uncertainty, because she punctuated her invitation with a warm smile.
Alas, this wasn’t an invitation I could accept. Meeting with someone of high status, like a land-owning noble, was simply out of the question.
First and foremost, I would have to take off my helmet; you can’t just meet nobility with your helmet still firmly on your head. In modern terms, that’d be like meeting with the prefectural governor while wearing a motorcycle helmet. Nowadays, you can’t even go into a convenience store with your face completely covered like that.
In any case, I needed to avoid that situation at all costs.
“I appreciate the offer. However, I do not need a reward. Your gratitude is enough.”
I tried ending the conversation there, but her face only clouded over as she continued insisting.
“After having saved Miss Lauren and myself like that, I couldn’t imagine not providing you with a reward. Perhaps you should speak with Master Buckle.”
Well, this was making things difficult. It didn’t look like refusing a reward was an option she was willing to accept. Maybe if I just told her something that I wanted, we could end it there. I wracked my skull as I tried thinking of something to request.
“Very well then. I’d appreciate it if you could provide me with something that would ease my passage as I continue my journey.”
Assuming I’d need some sort of papers to travel about freely, I tried suggesting that. I highly doubted they had anything as advanced as a passport in this world, but I figured they might have something similar.
In response to my request, Rita furrowed her brow and looked ahead at nothing in particular.
“Provide you with… Ah! I think I know just the thing. Please, take this. It is my copper travel pass. Only the noble family themselves possess silver passes. So long as you show this, you should be able to travel anywhere you like throughout the domain.”
She pulled a copper medallion, just slightly smaller than a business card, from her breast pocket and reached out from the driver’s seat to hand it to me.
I took the medallion and looked it over. In the center was a crest—the noble family’s crest?—as well as a number of symbols I’d never seen before etched onto its surface. It seemed well made, and could probably even be used as a decoration.
“Much appreciated.”
After thanking her, I put the travel pass into the burlap sack on the back of my horse, with all the goods I’d liberated from the bandits.
Rita called out to me again, this time with a more cheerful tone in her voice. “Up ahead is the town of Luvierte, Master Arc.”
I glanced ahead of the carriage, and, sure enough, I could see a town down the hill from us. The outskirts were marked by a moat approximately three meters across, filled with water from the river passing along its perimeter. An expanse of farmland surrounded the moat, grains rippling about as the wind blew across them. Beyond the farms was another moat, to provide an additional layer of protection.
The stone wall around the town was probably five meters in height and appeared to be well constructed. It would have been woefully short for a castle, but it seemed good enough for a town.
Luvierte appeared to be somewhat on the large side, considering the time period. Ahead of us on the road lay the town’s gate. Approximately five meters across, it was flanked on either side by guard towers built directly into the wall. I had no doubt the towers housed numerous guards keeping a lookout. Immediately in front of the gate, a stone bridge crossed the outer moat, quite a departure from the drawbridges usually found at in-game towns.