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WE walk along the path until eventually a town comes into view, just as Kazuya predicted. There’s a queue of people lined up in front of a towering gate. I guess it’s a checkpoint.
“See that gatekeeper? He’s interrogating everyone passing through the gate. I hope we don’t need a passport or bill of passage.” Kazuya peers at the gate from our spot hiding in the bushes.
I cautiously check out the gate as well. Huh. For some reason, I can see things super clearly even when they’re far away. The gatekeeper is just inspecting people’s baggage and talking to them before letting them through. Nobody’s showing passports.
“It’s fine. It doesn’t look like they’re showing any passports or papers. He’s only checking their bags after chatting with them,” I tell Kazuya.
“What? You can see that? All the way over there?!”
“Yeah, it’s strange, but I can see really far.”
“You had good eyesight to begin with… Is this another skill?” Kazuya pulls a handful of clear jewels out of his pocket. “There’s also the issue of what we’re carrying.”
After I beat the owl-faced monster, we stumbled upon a few other little monsters. Sometimes, after we defeated them, they vanished and left crystals in their place. I say sometimes, because other times they just kept lying there…
My hand flies to my mouth to stop me from throwing up as I recall the gory sight of their bodies. I didn’t mind the monsters that looked like bugs, but the ones that looked humanoid were a bit gross for my liking.
They were all trying to hurt us, and I have to protect Kazuya, so I couldn’t just let them go. But I’ve found that my punches are, well, a bit stronger in this world, and they all exploded and died when I hit them. It was hard to avoid being splashed with blood.
The teddy bear said monsters are above humans in the food chain, but that wasn’t my experience with them. Maybe the monsters we’ve encountered so far happened to be weak?
“This stone is the only one that’s different from the rest in size and color.” Kazuya holds up the transparent yellow crystal the owl monster left behind. It’s about as big as a 500-yen coin, whereas the other stones are as big as the tip of my little finger.
“You should take this just in case, Sakurako.” Kazuya hands it to me. “We can probably exchange it for money, but it’s so big that we probably shouldn’t flash it around.”
I put it in my skirt pocket.
Kazuya wraps the others back up in his handkerchief. “All right. That’ll do. Let’s go line up. I want to get into the town quick, since the sun might go down soon.”
“Yeah. But does it matter that we don’t know what the gatekeeper might ask us?”
“I’ll come up with something,” Kazuya says. “When we get near the front, we should be able to hear what the people ahead of us say and we can just mimic them. No problem.”
Kazuya’s so confident that I line up like he says. He’s so reliable. Even before coming here, I always thought he’s the kind of guy you can depend on.
Standing in line is all well and good, but I can feel people’s eyes boring into me from all sides thanks to our clothes. Everyone else is wearing loose, simple clothes, while the two of us are in school uniforms. I smile and bear it as we shuffle along in the line until it’s finally our turn. Kazuya said all I have to do is nod and he’ll do the talking, but I’m worried.
“Hey, you two. Those are some outfits you’ve got there. Let’s start with your names, okay?” the gatekeeper asks us.
“I’m Kazuya and this is Sakurako.”
“Kazuya and Sakurako? Your clothes are one thing, but your names are strange, too. Whereabouts are you from?” the gatekeeper asks while scribbling notes on a piece of paper.
Kazuya gives a bright smile, which is suspiciously out of character for him. “We come from a very faraway place, a small village called Sienna that’s deep in the mountains. I doubt you’ll have heard of it. It’s quite isolated, and this is the first time we’ve ever left.”
“Hmm, Sienna? First I’ve heard of it. What are you doing down here, then?”
“My sister’s getting married, so we came down to find a wedding present for her. This is a beautiful town. I bet we’ll find a gift my sister will love here,” Kazuya rambles, his smile so glorious I can almost see flowers blooming in the background behind him.
The gatekeeper’s chest swells with pride when Kazuya compliments the town. “Yes, this is the biggest town around these parts. So your sister’s getting married! Congratulations. And the woman behind you?”
“That’s Sakurako. She’s my fiancée—mph!”
I clamp my hand over Kazuya’s mouth. What is he doing?! “Stop, Kazuya! What are you saying?! I’m not your fiancée!” I turn to the gatekeeper and explain, while Kazuya groans in pain, “Um, we’re not engaged! We’re just childhood friends; we’re like brother and sister!”
The gatekeeper nods with a knowing smile. “Got it. Sure. It’s charming to see how well you two get along.”
Excuse me? He’s definitely got the wrong impression. I shrug it off and take my hand off Kazuya’s mouth.
“All right, mind giving me a look at what you’re carrying?” the gatekeeper asks.
Kazuya gives the guy puppy dog eyes, putting on an Oscar-winning performance. I never knew this side of him.
“The thing is, monsters attacked us on our way here, so we lost most of our luggage. We managed to defeat some smaller ones and gather these, but this is all we have.” Kazuya takes the handkerchief out of his pocket and unfurls it to show the gatekeeper the jewels the small monsters dropped.
The gatekeeper’s brow furrows in sympathy at our pitiful tale.
Oh, no. Now I feel bad. We’re basically tricking him! I’m so sorry!
The kindly gatekeeper nods, his expression somber. “Is that so? It’s been quite hairy around these parts lately. Word down at the Guild is that there’s a B-class monster called an owl demon running around out there. Still, can’t complain when you make it out with your lives, right?”
“An owl demon, huh? Sounds dangerous,” Kazuya says, pretending not to know anything.
“Well, rest assured. If you take these magic jewels to the Guild, you should get enough gaul for a few days’ stay. As for the monster, the Guild’s recruiting folk to go deal with it, so I expect things will be right as rain in the woods again in a week or so.”
“Uh, okay. But we also need some gaul to buy a gift for my sister, so do you know of any good jobs?” Kazuya asks. “Her wedding’s not for a while, so we’re hoping to stay here in town until then.”
“You are? In that case, you could try the Adventurer’s Guild. Considering you managed to get this many magic stones even after getting attacked and losing your luggage, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a job through them.”
“Got it! Thanks for all your help! I’m so glad we got to meet someone as nice as you as soon as we got here!” Kazuya says cheerily.
“Don’t mention it! Go on, get in there! Welcome to the town of Rosettebern!” The nice gatekeeper lets us pass with a smile.
Thank you, sir. No, really, thank you. I shoot Kazuya a look.
His lips quirk up on one side in a cheeky lopsided smile, as if to say, What did you expect?
It’s not like we’ve snuck in here to do anything bad, but it feels like we’ve done something wrong when he smiles like that. As his big sister, I worry about his future!