About four days had passed since the horse carriage carrying the four of us left Riruyo, and during that time we continued moving along the route shown on the map.
For nearly two days, we traveled along a large road whose sides were filled with trees, indicating that we were still within the Riruyo region.
Fortunately, the day before yesterday we had already passed the main area of Riruyo, and the only scenery we could see was an incredibly vast grassland.
We also found several small villages whose inhabitants were mostly humans and beast-men.
Some of them had ears on top of their hair, or perhaps tails behind their backs, even sharp claws on their hands like those of a tiger.
That meant we would soon arrive at Nakuso, the homeland of the beast-men. Surely, there I would meet many people I had never encountered before.
Of course, what would leave the strongest impression in my memory would probably be their physical forms that resembled animals, yet were wrapped in a human-shaped vessel.
I also kept thinking about the possibility of why Iris asked me and the others to go to Nakuso.
Unfortunately, everything I suspected sounded unreasonable, and there was no definite proof that those assumptions had a high chance of being true.
Well, if that was the case, I could only be patient until our party arrived in Nakuso. I would surely find the answer there.
I hoped so—
——
(One hour later)
At last, I could see a sight that indicated Nakuso truly existed before us.
A massive fortress with many people guarding it from above, and dozens of horse carriages lining up at its gate.
At last, the four of us had truly arrived in Nakuso. But from what I could see from here, the size of the city before me could not even be called a continent.
Ah! Did that mean Nakuso was also divided into several major cities? If so, then the layout of their continent was almost the same as Velmoria, right?
"Yukito, prepare your adventurer card," Luke said to remind me.
Ah, that was right. Every time we entered a new city, we had to show proof that we were not criminals. I had almost forgotten about that.
Fortunately, back then Lancer-san had already taken care of my adventurer identification card as well as Yuu-chan's.
——
"Their group is safe, there are no suspicious items or anything dangerous!"
"Let them pass, don't waste time, give way for the next carriage!"
The inspection was faster than I expected. The guards only asked for our adventurer cards and glanced inside the carriage for a few seconds.
I thought the procedure would be more complicated, but it turned out to be that simple. Hah... it was pointless for me to hope that I could linger at the gate.
I believed the guards were beast-men who closely resembled gray-furred wolves.
After we entered this place, almost everyone we saw was a beast-man, with only a small portion belonging to other races.
Those other races looked like an additional seasoning in a dish that was already complete; of course, the four of us were also in that position.
No one here should know that the four of us were the hero's party, since news would not spread that quickly.
But... why was our horse carriage stopped just after we left the main road?
These beast— beast-men pointed their long spears toward us.
Rather than causing trouble on our first day here, Luke and I immediately raised both our hands, a sign that we had no intention of fighting.
"What is inside?!" one of them asked.
Even the inside as well? There was no use lying, so I had to honestly give them information about us.
"Two girls, some furniture, and food supplies such as bread and potatoes," I replied.
They all fell silent for a moment before whispering among themselves, then one of them left to go somewhere.
I thought the one who had just left had the duty to report what he found to someone who was probably his superior.
(Damn! Not even ten minutes since we entered the city of Nakuso, and we were already being detained like this?!)
(Come on, at least let the four of us find a place to stay for the night first, why don't you?!)
"I will not repeat myself. Drive your carriage and follow us. Otherwise, we are obligated to eliminate you," one of them said.
Ah, were these people actually members of the city guard or what? I thought they were of the same kind as the wolves at the gate earlier.
Creak.
The window opened. Yuu-chan looked confused about why we had suddenly stopped.
"Yukito-sama, what is—... Our situation truly leaves us with no choice, doesn't it? I will leave it to the two of you," she said in a flat tone before closing the window.
Faintly, I heard Yuu-chan informing Hime about the current situation.
Hah... at least help a little. If it was like this, there was indeed nothing we could do for now.
"Move!"
Luke and I looked at each other before starting to drive the horse carriage to follow them.
One, two, three—their number did not even reach ten people, but judging from their behavior and clothing, they might truly be the city's guard forces.
For now, we could only wait to see where they intended to take our group.
If I wanted to, I could draw my sword and try to defeat them one by one so the four of us could escape their watch.
But... there were still many people passing through this road. If I caused a disturbance, I believed the situation would become even more chaotic.
People were also looking at Luke and me with strange gazes while whispering among themselves. I felt that something was not right here.
I had to find out in order to free us from this situation. If possible, I wanted to repay what they had done.
——
"Oi Luke, what do we do now?! We really can't just escape with them guarding us like this!" I whispered to Luke.
"I don't know either! Rather than causing trouble in this place, we can only follow them even though I actually don't want to do that!" he whispered back.
Even Luke himself did not know what to do. If it was like this, it was just as I had thought earlier—there was nothing I could do but be patient.
Damn it, would this world not allow me to have a pleasant day in a new place? I had just arrived and was already facing trouble.
And based on my instincts and experience, I felt that this problem would not end so easily.
It might become very prolonged until rumors spread throughout the entire city, or we might even have to deal with the leader of this city.
I was already quite fed up with dealing with them, but since they were beast-men, could it be that treatment in their government would be somewhat different compared to humans?
That was true, there was still that possibility. I must not lose hope because of assumptions without evidence.
"Stop your carriage here, and do not attempt to escape," one of them said as he walked into the building at the end of the road.
Our group was brought into a settlement that I could say was quite shabby, like the outskirts of a city.
Most of the people here had gloomy expressions and seemed to be in anger; very few could still smile and feel happy.
If they brought us here, did that mean we had to fight gang members like bandits? Come on, that couldn't be possible, right—
"Psst!"
Luke's hand touched my shoulder and he signaled for me to look at him.
He gestured with his hand—grab the thigh, draw it out, and point it—be prepared in case of an attack—
Ah, he was telling me to be ready to draw my sword if the situation worsened.
I understood, I understood. We must not let our guard down even for a moment. If that happened... could it be that our lives would be lost immediately?