The High Elf and the Sword Princess (1)

The royal capital of the Kingdom of Rudelia, Worfield, is about ten days from Vistcoat by carriage.

Vistcoat, which borders the Pulha Great Forest, lies on the westernmost frontier of the Kingdom of Rudelia, while Galaret, which I visited before, lies on the northern frontier.

And the royal capital, Worfield, lies roughly in the center of the Kingdom of Rudelia.

I don't know the exact figures, but if I assume a carriage travels about eighty to one hundred kilometers a day, the Kingdom of Rudelia must stretch roughly fifteen hundred to two thousand kilometers from end to end.

This is an extremely rough calculation, but I got the impression that although the Kingdom of Rudelia was not quite a great power, it was still a fairly large country.

Thus, as the capital—the hub where people and goods gathered from across the kingdom—it was naturally far more prosperous than the town of Vistcoat.

Though it should not have been necessary in the middle of the country, the capital was surrounded by tall defensive walls—several layers of them, in fact.

If an enemy ever managed to invade this far, the country would be doomed whether or not anyone defended the capital...

Well, that had nothing to do with me.

The citizens of the capital lived inside the defensive walls, while those too poor to obtain citizenship apparently built a slum outside them.

As befitted a royal capital, Worfield's slum district was the largest in the Kingdom of Rudelia, and I heard that security near the gates was not particularly bad.

However, if one ventured into the deepest parts of the slum, it supposedly became a lawless region where every kind of crime ran rampant.

I can't say I wasn't a little interested, but for now, I had another purpose.

I could try anything dangerous after I had gotten thoroughly used to the capital and grown bored with it.

In every town in the Kingdom of Rudelia, one had to pay a tax upon entering through its gates.

Yes, it was twenty copper coins if you had identification, and one silver coin if you did not.

I had lived in Vistcoat for a long time and continued paying taxes, so I held citizenship there.

Of course, it was only citizenship in Vistcoat, but it was more than enough to establish my identity.

There was one more fine piece of identification: the advanced smith's license given to me by my smithing master, Azvald, the Shitty Dwarf.

Either one alone would have been sufficient, but I intended to stay in the capital for a long time.

Since I wasn't planning to work as a smith right away, I presented my Vistcoat citizenship, complete with its record of tax payments.

But I did want to stand at a forge from time to time, and hiding that fact would only cause trouble later, so I presented my advanced smith's license as well.

After explaining why I intended to stay in the capital, I handed both documents to the guards protecting the gate.

The guard compared those documents with my face at least three times before saying,

"So, you're an elf who lives in a town and works as a smith... But you've come to the capital to learn swordsmanship and magic? Don't take this the wrong way, but you're a bit of an oddball. Ah... an odd elf, I mean."

He laughed as he spoke.

Or perhaps it was more of a wry chuckle, but I sensed no malice or hostility, so I let it pass.

Still, calling me an odd elf was going too far.

If I had to be saddled with such a bizarre expression, I wouldn't even have minded being called a weird elf.

A merchant I had met while working as a smith once told me that a town with respectable gatekeepers was a town one could feel safe in.

Conversely, if the gatekeepers demanded bribes, the security inside was probably in disarray as well, so one had to be careful.

A gatekeeper's attitude is a mirror reflecting the lord's rule and the disorder in the hearts of the citizens.

By that measure, the guards protecting this gate were among the very best.

Still, although he spoke amiably, he remained constantly watchful of me and his surroundings. That, in turn, suggested that dangers requiring vigilance were lurking nearby.

I didn't know whether he was on guard because there was a slum nearby, because many people tried to bring contraband into the capital, or because dangers lurked even inside the gates.

I probably shouldn't be too careless.

"Welcome to the royal capital, Worfield."

The guard returned my documents and said so with a smile.

Putting everything else aside, he was probably a good guy.

In a capital with so many people coming and going, the first thing I needed to look for was an inn.

Whatever I did here in Worfield, I would need somewhere to stay.

And this was rather important: if you were choosing an inn while unfamiliar with the area, you were better off avoiding cheap lodgings for the time being.

In fact, it would probably be safer to stay at an expensive inn at first.

The reason was that high room rates were the price one paid for service to guests.

Of course, that service included such things as good facilities and tasty meals.

But most importantly, it was more likely to include a sense of security.

This was not an absolute rule, of course, so one still had to inspect the inn's security measures and the character of its employees. Even so, compared with a cheap inn, an expensive one was unquestionably more likely to be safe in that respect.

I now understood a little better why Airena had persistently tried to make me stay at expensive inns when I had only just emerged from the forest into the outside world.

Besides, choosing one inn didn't mean I had to stay there.

Even if I started at an expensive inn, I could simply move elsewhere if I found a place with better service, greater security, or more reasonable prices.

As for my purposes—the sword dojo and magic academy—I would prefer them to be nearby if possible.

In other words, I would choose a proper base only after deciding how to spend my time in the capital.

But while searching for an inn, I saw something on the main street that strongly caught my interest.

It was a single street performer.

No... a swordswoman.

The sword in her hand wasn't exactly dull, but even being generous, it was hard to call it a good weapon.

Yet after concentrating for a while, the swordswoman swung the sword horizontally without hesitation and cleanly cut the fruit placed on the stand.

I simply couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Because of my experience as a smith, I knew that with a sword like that, even a proper swing would at best bash the fruit apart, and at worst crush it completely.

Ah, no. That's a poor way to put it.

Being able to smash it would have meant she was quite skilled.

Normally, the fruit should have gone flying like a home run.

And yet, it had been cut clean through.

I wanted to rush over and examine the sword, but I desperately restrained myself.

Even from a distance, I couldn't possibly have misjudged that weapon.

It would have been dishonest to doubt the swordswoman after she had shown me such a wonderful technique.

So I took a silver coin in hand and stood before her.

She had shown me something worthwhile.

Thinking that, I gave her the coin as a tip.

Her eyes widened for an instant at the gleam of the silver coin, and she bowed deeply to me.

Perhaps, unfortunately, it was a rather plain performance.

No one besides me seemed willing to give her a tip for it.

Nevertheless, I was satisfied.

On my first day in the capital, I had seen such fascinating swordplay. Surely there had to be many amazing swordsmen here, and I would be able to learn from them as well.

At the thought, my heart pounded so hard it would not stop.

I had originally planned to start by looking for the magic academy, but today I would settle for finding an inn; tomorrow, first thing, I would look for a dojo where I could learn swordsmanship.

With that decided, I left the place.