Page 124

(Walson)

On the eighth day of our journey, we arrived at the Nonokuta Town, located three days' journey to the east of Sadin Village.

The reason for our arrival in this town is somewhat peculiar. Our journey this time is different from previous ones because the carriage has been modified and is now one size larger. The original road to Sadin Village is overgrown with weeds, and the only thing that can be called a road is the compressed earth formed by years of carriage travel.

However, the enlarged carriage would slow us down on this narrow path, so we had to choose a slightly longer route instead.

Well, it's not a big deal, really.

"Who goes there? Halt!" came a loud shout from outside the carriage, accompanied by commotion.

This is a rare opportunity for us to analyze the pros and cons of having Rifle drawn in our carriage.

The Pros are:

It looks hella handsome to have a huge wolf drawing our carriage instead of using a horse.

Thanks to Rifle, from the start of our journey, thieves, monsters, and wild beasts tend to keep their distance from our carriage.

And the most important thing is, Rifles are adorable.

The only con is that Rifle is too cool, to the point of causing trouble.

I looked out the window and saw a large group of soldiers wearing standard medival armor, holding metal swords, spears, and other weapons, surrounding us in front of the towering walls of Nonokuta town.

I turned my heads upward, Archers that are already standing by on the wall were ready to shoot, their bows were fully drawn.

It was quite a warm welcome... When we went to the capital city, we easily passed through the gates because the guards were members of the [$Eye of the Night Cat$] guild.

However, it seems that won't work in Nonokuta town.

I held up the merchant's certificate that Paul had applied for me, and Melon and Grace also held up the honorary medals they received after saving Teigitan City from the Aqua Titanus incident. We raised our hands high to show that we had no ill intentions.

According to Melon, originally, Teigitan XIX, the current king, intended to grant them noble titles, but they all unanimously refused, saying, "We don't have that kind of plan for now." In the end, the king only said, "If you think of any rewards in the future, just ask," and gave them these medals.

Since the medals were specially crafted for them, they should serve as a form of identification, I think.

But while they had no issues going inside the Town, I did.

Despite their efforts to vouch for me, I was escorted to the captain's office... Well, let's follow the rules for now. In my past life, working in government agencies often gave me headaches dealing with such privileges.

"So, is the Fenrir outside your subordinate monster?" The captain, with a long scar that crossed from his forehead through his left eye to his left cheek, squinted his left eye and spoke to me with a stern face.

Why do the guards in this world look so fierce? They don't seem very approachable!

"What?" Noticing my look, the scarred captain asked me with a frown.

"Never mind... What is Fenrir? Isn't it just an ordinary wolf?" I shook my head and asked.

"With its size, it definitely looks like a Fenrir-level wolf, right?"

"Maybe? I thought he just gained a little weight." Hooo.... So Rifle has evolved huh?... Maybe it's due to a significant increase in his level?

"...So, is that your monster? Where did you get it?" The Scarred captain asked me while writing all of my responses in his notebook, which was filled with countless meticulous regulations.

"Rifle was a stray I found when I was young. I raised him, and he turned out like this. He's not aggressive at all, rather, he tends to behave more like a dog." More than half of this statement is true. Indeed, I discovered him in a rock crevice.

"I see. . . in that case, then please sign this agreement."

And then, he handed me a regulation paper with a lot of writing in it that I had to sign. In essence, it stated that I would be responsible for any harm or damage caused by Rifle.

"First of all, I have some questions to ask, what would happen if someone tried to kill Rifle, failed, and got killed instead?"

"Should that happen, the security officer in that situation will make the judgment based on the information available, don't worry, our officers are all honest people, of course, if it's your wolf who started the attack, it would be a different story."

"That's good to hear. Okay, Rifle isn't just my pet; he's also the pet of Grace and the others, so should something bad happen to him, they would be unhappy about it." By saying this, I subtly implied that we aren't people to be messed with, considering he already saw the medals on Melon and Grace's hand, so he would probably know that those two are placed quite high on the king list of important people.

As for those regulations, they don't matter anyway. Rifle is both gentle and lazy, so there won't be any issues. I'll just sign the document.

Captain Scar picked up an identification stone tablet and touched it to my hand, checking the information in my data field. He looked slightly surprised at my level but didn't ask any further questions and let me go.

When I stepped out of the captain's office, I suddenly remembered the golden dagger that Derisha gave me, the dagger is still lying in my inventory... Damn, if I had taken it out from the start, I could have easily passed through, right!? I completely forgot about it!

Damn, this merchant permit is so useless!

...

...Anyway, let me introduce this city.

When the wolf cart started moving again, lunchtime had already passed, and we finally entered this city closer to Nonokuta Town.

This city is at least twice the size of Sadin Village. It serves as a hub for traveling merchants, and the economy is prosperous with well-developed facilities and amenities.

You can tell by the brick walls that the city has a robust defense system. It's much better than the run-down Sadin Village!

Sadin Village only has basic defenses like wooden fences that can be easily breached by bandits. This city, on the other hand, has a significantly larger defense force, there is also a large church, the orphans in this town also don't have to work hard tilling the land like in Sadin Village. The church's expenses and surplus are easily covered by the donations from believers alone.

Damn, big cities are truly different.

The girls were interested in the large public bathhouse in town. Well, after all, they've been bathing in wooden barrels these past few days, even though there was hot water, it was still quite inconvenient.

Under the curious gazes of onlookers, I parked the 'Dog House' in the public stable. And Rifle, wearing his registration collar, scared all the horses in the stable, and in the end, they had to move him to the rear warehouse.

We plan to stay here for three days to resupply and let the girls go shopping. After all, it's supposed to be an employee trip!

As for me, I think I'll pass. There are quite a few things I need to take care of... Let the girls enjoy themselves.

Later, I'll have to visit the Adventurer's Guild to catch up on the latest news. During our rush these past few days, we haven't had any contact with current events. There must have been a lot happening.

I hope there won't be a war.