Walking in another world – Chapter 310 – Border

It’s been three days since we left Alconite.

Everywhere I look, all I see is wasteland. But by checking Map, I can see we’re right at the border between the Republic of Eldo and the Borsheil Empire.

And as we camp, I suddenly remember something important.

“Hey Mia, is it all right for you to go to the dark forest?”

“Why the sudden question? Are you telling me to stay behind? I-I don’t want to be left out.”

Mia doesn’t sound happy about my question, but I’m worried about something else.

“Well, we might end up meeting… Adonis, was it? The one that was disguised as a cardinal.”

The dark forest is the demons’ sphere of influence. I guess if they live in the demon king’s castle we can just avoid it, but there’s always the chance that we might bump into him.

Of course, if he attacks, I’ll do my best to protect Mia, and I’m not going to hesitate to eliminate him either if it comes to that.

Mia takes no notice of my worries, and goes ‘ah’ like she just remembered it too.

I know I also forgot about it, but she’s the one directly involved.

“T-that’s scary, but I’m also a little thankful for it. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be here now. And I believe that you’ll protect me!”

She says strongly as her cheeks turn red, and I blush too. Rurika and Sera grinning this way doesn’t help either. Please don’t play with me like that, it’s mentally exhausting.

We’re going to take turns keeping watch tonight. I’ll be with Hikari, Sera with Mia, and Rurika with Chris. That way each group has someone to supply magic energy to the golems.

I’ve actually made both smaller. I’m using them not for defense, but to warn us if monsters or suspicious people get near us.

But doesn’t that make them pointless right now? Kind of, but I’m increasing the proficiency of my skill, and they’re learning.

I made them smaller because if I left them as big as they were before, there was a chance that someone watching from a watchtower would notice them, and that’d be trouble.

I saw that monster tamer before, but I’ve never seen someone command golems. That means I might draw attention and cause a fuss.

I somehow feel like it would be all right in the republic side of the border, but I think I need to be especially careful here in the empire.

When I think about the empire, it’s those adventures from Light Sword that come to mind, but according to Sera, and Rurika and Chris, who have actually been in the empire before, it’s full of arrogant people. Especially the ones with power… Like nobles and other people of high status.

I don’t want to catch the attention of those people, get roped into trouble, and be forced to go fight in the dark forest.

Rurika in particular is making sure to warn me about that.

Once we reach the place Alzahak told us about, we’ll have to pass by two towns, Drous and Astous.

I was thinking it might be better if we avoided these towns altogether and went around them, but there’s a good chance that straying off the main road will lead them to think we’re suspicious, and detain us.

Apparently there are patrol squads going around the main roads of the empire.

These patrols aren’t there to protect travelers and merchants, they were put together to catch suspicious people.

I’ve heard that the empire was a place that believed in human supremacy, and was a nice place for humans to live. That’s true for people in positions of power or people with influence, but the ones further down the chain are just squeezed dry.

That means that there are quite a few people who get desperate and try to escape.

Apparently extolling human supremacy and looking down on other races is meant to be a way to suppress that dissatisfaction. And some say that the fights between slaves and against monsters in colosseums are at least in part for that reason too.

“Shouldn’t we move without actually entering the towns then?”

I ask as I look at Sera.

Without a doubt, in the empire… A beast person like her will be treated poorly. Maybe a special slave like Hikari won’t be treated very kindly either.

We stocked up on food in Margari and Alconite, so we can probably avoid going there.

“…I feel bad for Sera, but we should go through them. I think you should really get a feel for what kind of country the empire is. And since Drous is near the border, it’s not all that bad. Although it’s kind of a contradiction.”

But Rurika says it’s still enough to understand how the empire views other races.

I mention Light Sword, and she says there are a lot of groups like them.

“And we should check what information we can get in the adventurer guild. The empire is home to a lot of bandits, not just monsters.”

Incidentally, when Rurika and Chris traveled through the empire, they did it mostly on omnibuses, and sometimes by accepting escorting quests.

“Then should we travel by omnibus too?”

I ask, but stop. Not because of my skill, but because of Sera.

We could pay and board one, but the environment wouldn’t be good for Sera.

And then, three days later, we reach Drous.

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