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Meeting the Town Mayor
The Abbot town was located southeast to the Graham village. Located to the east of it was a big mountain named Colora, and it seemed that high-quality jewels were mined from there.
Just when I was wondering what kind of mountain would it be—that made it possible to mine jewels from there—, I saw the mountain from afar.
“Aah, the Colora mountain can be seen from here.”
Ar-niisama pointed towards the mountain.
“Ar-niisama. The mountain is white!”
Ares kingdom is a country where there are only spring and summer seasons, but does the snow fall on top of the mountain?
But it’s not just the top of the mountain, why is it that even the middle of the mountain white?
“The jewels mined from Colora are white in color, after all. They’re called as marble.”
I see~. Even if it’s called as jewels, they were actually marble. That was why the surface of the mountain turned white. It wasn’t snow…
“The Abbot town is manufacturing the jewels from Colora. That’s why it’s said that the whole Abbot town was made from marble.”
Ooh~. It’s somehow amazing.
Beyond the gate, uniform buildings with white walls and orange roof were lined up, creating a scenery that was akin to a picture postcard.
Two gatekeepers were standing by in front of the gate, wearing their shining armour.
They approached us who were going down from the horses as they spoke, “Stop”.
“Take out your identification.”
In response to their words, Ar-niisama, Amanda-san, and Frank-san took out something that was similar to a necklace form the bottom of their necks.
Since we didn’t have to show it when we were entering Graham village, I thought about how strict things were over here. And then, I remembered about how recently there were missing children in the town.
No wonder they’d end up being on a high alert like this.
“Ooh. Aren’t you the knights from Izel fort? Thank you for coming here this early.”
A silver-colored plate was hanging at the tip of the necklace, and inside it seemed to be a writing that proved they were knights from Izel fort.
Ho~. That kind of thing existed, huh?
“No, we’re having a holiday right now and I’m heading with my friends towards the royal capital. During the way, we defeated a monster and we are thinking of selling the materials dropped by it in the Adventurer’s Guild, so we are stopping by. If you’ve requested a dispatch for Izel fort’s knights, I think it’s about time they’re settling down, and I think they should be heading here.”
“What, is that so…”
The gatekeepers seemed to drop their shoulders, and Ar-niisama gave them his refreshing smile.
Then, he continued his words, “Speaking of which…”
“Is it fine for my adventurer friend as well as the magical beast that’s carrying the material for us to come inside the town together?”
“Of course. Please do.”
“Then, we’ll gladly enter.”
Ar-niisama signalled with his eyes as Amanda-san nodded, they mounted on their horses again and returned to the direction they were from, heading towards Virna-san and the others.
After a while, we returned with everyone else, and the gatekeepers’ eyes were wide open as their jaws were open as well.
“Da-Dark Panther?!”
They pointed their fingers at the big-sized Noir.
However, Ar-niisama had properly explained that there would be a magical beast carrying the material. Perhaps the gatekeepers were thinking that the magical beast would be something close to a horse or a cow, but still, we didn’t tell any lie.
“Yeah. It’s this child’s pet. Contrary to its appearance, it’s docile.”
“This small child’s…?!”
Ar-niisama nodded at the gatekeepers who were even more surprised.
“It’s been together ever since it was this small, so it’s quite affectionate.”
When Ar-niisama mentioned ‘this small’, he tried to show Noir’s size when it was still a kitten using his hands.
We didn’t know whether or not it was true, but right now, there’s an incident in the Abbot town where children disappeared.
Thus, we had a talk about how, rather than keeping Noir in its kitten size just like how it was in Graham village, wouldn’t it be safer to have Noir in its big size and accompany me like that?
It was just, Noir was part of the renowned strong monster, Dark Panther, so we didn’t know if it could be let into the town if it were in its big size.
So, Ar-niisama devised a plan to talk and persuade the gatekeepers first.
…Although it might be more appropriate to call it as deceiving them with words.
“Please wait a bit. I’m going to confirm this with the higher-up.”
One of the gatekeepers ran towards the city in a fluster.
Oh, oh. We can’t enter the town that easily, huh? Too bad.
“Hum hum. The slimes around this area might be eating stones, but most likely they’re only eating marble. …Then, wouldn’t that mean that there is a new variety of slimes within the earth slimes?! Khukhukhukhu. …Hmm, I don’t particularly smell a new variety, though. Then, maybe there will be a new type of slimes if I were to go to the mining spot.”
Virna-san grabbed Karin-san’s scruff as she seemed about to head towards the mining spot right now.
Ooh. Despite the fact that the two of them are riding on their horses, Virna-san is so dextrous.
“What are you doing? Let go!”
“Virna. Grab her tightly, okay? If she were to run off towards the mining spot without any permission, she’d definitely get arrested.”
Frank-san told Virna-san, who responded by nodding and putting more power to the hand that was grabbing Karin-san.
“I see. Do we need a permit to enter the mining area?”
Ar-niisama asked the remaining gatekeeper, still with his refreshing smile on.
Being politely asked by Ar-niisama who was a knight, the gatekeeper smiled as if he was feeling much obliged.
“Yes. The feudal lord’s permission is necessary.”
“This town’s feudal lord is Viscount Willard, isn’t it? I don’t know the town mayor’s name, though.”
“The town mayor’s name is Bowan-sama.”
Immediately after the gatekeeper’s explanation, a man that was wearing a fine set of outfit showed up from inside the town along with the soldiers. Then, he gave a broad smile upon seeing Ar-niisama’s figure.
“Ooh, aren’t you the knights? We’ve been waiting for you.”
Hm?
“Well, since it’s immediately after the Monster Flood, I thought that I’d only be able to welcome the knights a little later, but to think that you’d arrive this quickly, you have my thanks. Now then, please come this way.”
Eh? Could it be that the town mayor thought that we were the knights that had been dispatched as per their request?
It couldn’t be, right? After all, a child like me was brought along. No way he could think that way, right?