Espionage in the Empire

We were in Sobana, a city on the border.

We were staying at the estate of the duke who ruled this region.

――The next morning. I woke up in a bed for the first time in a while. The princess had occupied my house the whole time.

When we got up, we all ate breakfast.

After breakfast, we practiced the formation combat we had discussed last night.

The beastfolk applied pressure from both sides with large polycarbonate shields, while I handled ranged attacks.

Anemone provided magical support from the rear and delivered the finishing blow.

While we were exercising after breakfast, the princess arrived wearing a white dress.

Maylen-san and the other maids accompanied her from behind.

"Good morning, Lilith-sama."

"Indeed."

"That is a rather splendid outfit."

"Ah, they forced me to wear it. More importantly, Kenichi..."

"What is it?"

"Do you have any food?"

"Huh?"

According to the princess, she had eaten breakfast, but...

"After eating your food, no other meal feels like a meal."

The beastfolk, who had been resting after training, reacted to the princess's words.

"That's right, Princess. We can't eat food outside anymore, either."

"Yeah, it's pointless paying money at restaurants in town now, nya."

I brought out some of Primula's soup and Anemone's bread.

"Oh, how soft and sweet this bread is! This is what bread should be!"

The princess looked satisfied as she ate, but then she held out a wooden plaque.

"What is this?"

"A permit to cross the border. You're being treated as a merchant."

"Well, I am actually a merchant... And I'm registered with the Commercial Guild too."

"You also need a guild certificate to pass through the border gate."

"Do I need to register with this city's guild too?"

"No, that will not be a problem. Apparently, they do not inspect the contents of the certificate."

But the princess, who had handed me the wooden plaque, looked dissatisfied.

"Lilith-sama—are you unhappy about something?"

"When I said I wanted to go to the Imperial side too, the duke strongly objected."

"Of course he did. If anything happened over there, the duke would be held responsible. If they found out you were royalty, there could be kidnapping, hostages, and all sorts of trouble..."

"Hmm..."

Well, if a huge scandal broke out, the duke taking his own life wouldn't be enough to settle it.

"Then I'll go over to the Imperial side. Everyone, take care of things here."

"I want to go too..."

"Anemone, there's only one permit. You stay here and behave."

"Mmm..."

Anemone did not seem convinced, but there was nothing we could do about it. Without a permit, it would count as illegal entry.

If they suspected me of being a spy or something, it would become a real nuisance.

I was trying to poach the mages who were this world's strategic weapons and help them defect, so this was practically espionage anyway.

Well, if necessary, I could use the scaffolding in my Item Box to climb over the border wall.

According to the princess, Kingdom gold coins could be used in the Empire too, so finding an inn should not be a problem.

It would be nice if I could camp outside on the Imperial side too, but I would have to see it for myself before deciding.

For now, I planned to be gone for about three days.

I brought out pouch meals, retort food, and bread. Raw meat would spoil if I took it out of my Item Box.

"You don't need that much."

"But, Primula, I'll be gone for three days, you know?"

"We can buy meat and vegetables at the market here."

Now that she mentioned it, that was true. I always took things out of my Item Box or bought them from Shangri-La.

"Then I'll leave the bread-baking pot and some flour here."

The beastfolk chuckled wryly at how worried I was.

"It's all right, Kenichi." "Yeah. We're always relying on you for everything, Boss."

"Is that so?"

"You trust us, don't you? You could leave more things to us."

"That's right, nya."

"Hmm... I've always been the sort of person who did everything alone, I suppose..."

"That sounds like you, Kenichi."

Primula thought so too?

"There are beastfolk like that too. People who are always alone instead of hanging around with others."

Nyamena said that, but this was where the drawbacks of always being a lone wolf showed up... Still, if they said everything would be fine, I supposed it would be fine.

They sold flour and such at the market too, so I gave Primula some money.

"I have money too, you know."

Primula looked exasperated—I seemed to be taking care of them too much. In that case, I decided to leave things to them.

I would leave them a backgammon set for something to do, and give Anemone a tablet.

She knew how to charge the tablet from a power bank when its battery ran out.

Being too intelligent could be troublesome too. She had wanted to learn all sorts of things since she was little, but she had been unable to do anything, so her thirst for knowledge was incredible.

As we were about to leave, a gatekeeper came running toward us, his armor clanking.

"Excuse me! Mage-sama! Some beastfolk have gathered in front of the main gate..."

"Why are there beastfolk there?"

"They said they want to meet the Forest Cat..."

Oh, no! Had the rumor spread because I had said I was staying at the ducal estate?

"I'm sorry about this—I'll talk to them."

"Please do."

I headed toward the ducal estate's main gate with Bell. The gatekeeper had said the beastfolk were at the main gate, but they were actually in front of the bridge over the moat.

There must have been around a thousand men and women.

With all those huge men standing in rows, they looked like a wall of flesh.

"Oh! It really is the Forest Cat-sama!" "Oh!" "It really is! Nyaa!" "Forest Cat-sama!"

When the beastfolk saw Bell, they all began prostrating themselves. Since the beastfolk living in the city had probably never seen a Forest Cat up close, had they deified her?

The beastfolk in Dalia and Astrantia had never been this reverent.

But then I got an idea and bought a wooden box costing about 1,000 yen from Shangri-La.

It was about the size of a beer crate.

"Ahem! The Forest Cat-sama says she would like to eat some delicious meat. If you could donate even a little spare change, I believe you would receive the Forest Cat-sama's blessing in return."

"Yes, of course!"

The beastfolk began putting their copper coins into the box. Occasionally, there were small square silver coins too.

Ha-ha—the word for "believer" could be read as "profit." Still, if I took this too far, people might label it a heretical religion.

But suddenly, someone tossed a silver coin into the box. The other beastfolk cried out in surprise.

"Wait a minute. A silver coin is going too far."

When I tried to take the silver coin out of the box, the beastfolk who had thrown it in prostrated himself in front of the box.

"We're about to have a baby! I thought the Forest Cat-sama's blessing might help, so I put it in!"

Bell went over to the beastfolk and gently placed a forepaw on his head.

"Ohhh!"

"Bell, you're so kind."

"Nyaa."

But I had to head into Imperial territory. I felt bad for the beastfolk, but I brought the gathering to an end after a reasonable amount of time.

I stored the offering box in my Item Box and stroked her.

"Good girl. Well then, Bell, I'm going to the Empire. Take care of everyone, all right?"

"Nyaa."

After watching Bell's back disappear through the gate, I walked a little farther and brought out the off-road motorcycle in a place where there weren't many people around.

Draisines were running through the city too, so I could probably pass it off as a draisine powered by magic.

Kaldon-san had actually made things that moved by magic, after all.

I put on the helmet I had taken out of my Item Box and set off on the motorcycle.

We had come down from the pass, turned left onto the main street, and reached the ducal estate. Apparently, if we continued straight ahead, we would reach the border gate.

I turned left at the intersection on the main street and continued for a while. Then I saw a large stone gate.

Beside it, a stone wall stretched into the distance, dividing the enormous city between the Kingdom and the Empire.

With just under 500,000 people between them, it was quite a large city.

When I reached the vicinity, I got off the motorcycle and stored it in my Item Box.

The people nearby began murmuring when they saw that. I was used to it by now, so I tried not to pay much attention.

"The wall is about five meters high..."

I could easily clear that with scaffolding. Of course, I had no intention of causing trouble. I planned to handle things as peacefully as possible.

I joined the line at the checkpoint in the gate. Two long lines stretched out, one for entering and one for leaving the country.

This was going to take a while. I took a stool out of my Item Box and read an e-book from Shangri-La.

Nobody could see what I was doing, so they probably had no idea. When the line moved, I moved along while carrying the stool.

But now that I looked more closely, there were children in line too... They were wearing shabby clothes and did not seem to be merchants.

When it was a child's turn at the checkpoint, they called for an adult.

"Ah, so that's their business."

In other words, they were line standers. They stood in line for others to earn some pocket money.

Apparently, some merchants had their own apprentices stand in line rather than having part-time workers do it.

The carriages also had their cargo inspected. I wondered whether handing over a bribe would make the inspection less strict.

Some merchants were chatting with the checkpoint officials, so they appeared to be acquaintances.

If they were always standing in line, it was only natural they would get to know one another.

I asked the merchant standing beside me. He was a young man wearing colorful clothes from head to toe and carrying a large pack frame on his back.

"Hey, can I ask you something—is a bribe effective here?"

"I can't say it loudly, but apparently they take quite a bit."

"I see."

Then it was my turn.

"Thank you."

Under the dark shadow of the gate, I presented my guild certificate and the wooden permit plaque.

"I don't recognize you... What?! This is a permit issued directly by the ducal family!"

The official's words caused murmuring all around us.

"Is there a problem?"

"Y-you don't seem to be carrying any luggage."

"I'm an Item Box holder."

The people nearby began murmuring again when they heard that. The official looked suspicious, but there was no reason for anything to be wrong.

Especially since I was carrying a permit from the ducal family. If he rashly accused me, the official's own head might be at risk.

Apparently, such permits were normally issued by the Commercial Guild based on one's achievements. They were not something a beginner could receive.

People in this world began working at twelve or thirteen, so even young merchants could have quite a lot of experience.

"May I pass through?"

"You may pass! But don't bring in anything troublesome!"

"Understood."

I passed through the gate and came out on the Imperial side. But the scenery changed completely.

The roads were paved with stone, and neat rows of three- and four-story stone buildings lined them.

Many of the roofs were painted red—or rather, from here, red was all I could see.

There might have been shacks on the outskirts of the city, but this area had been carefully planned and looked extremely modern.

The Empire might be more advanced than the Kingdom.

On the other hand, I imagined a place where orders were absolute and rules were everywhere.

"Now, what should I do...?"

There was a small street stall, so I paid the owner and asked him some questions.

He was an old man with a beard, wearing navy-blue clothes.

"I heard a rumor that the Dragon Slayer has come to this city—have you heard anything about it?"

"Ah, I heard a little something about that."

"Have you heard where they live?"

"Hmm...?"

While I was at it, I asked where to find an item shop. I figured a mage would visit one to purchase magic-related items.

"If you want an item shop, there should be one near the market."

"Tell me where the market is."

The market was to the right of the border gate, toward the southeast.

To avoid trouble, I refrained from using the motorcycle or a car and walked to the market.

I took a compass out of my Item Box and checked the direction while asking for directions along the way. Eventually, I reached the market.

The market was chaotic and overflowing with people, not much different from the Kingdom. Covered stalls stood packed together, and there seemed to be a wide variety of goods.

The merchants wore flashy clothes here too. The main difference from the Kingdom was that even the market was paved with stone.

I bought some grilled skewers from a stall. In Japan, skewers like these would be bamboo, but here they used fairly thick wooden skewers.

The seasoning was salt and mayonnaise, apparently. One cost about 1,000 yen, but the mayonnaise added around 500 yen. That was unavoidable, since oil and eggs were expensive.

Kingdom currency could apparently be used as-is, and it seemed to circulate widely. Conversely, Imperial currency could also be used in the Kingdom.

Imperial currency was measured in units called sen or yen, but apparently exchanging large amounts was forbidden. Well, that made sense.

I paid with a copper coin and bought one flavored with mayonnaise. When I tried it, it was fatty and quite delicious.

I assumed it was pork or boar, but I could not be sure. Perhaps I was too used to eating monsters and other extraordinary meats.

While buying the skewers, I asked where to find the item shop. Apparently, it was around the outer edge of the market.

I also asked the stall owner about the Dragon Slayer. He was a bald middle-aged man wearing a white apron.

"I've heard stories like that, but I've never seen them..."

"I see. Thanks."

After slipping the man some spare change, I walked around the outer edge of the market looking for the item shop.

Just then, a bell rang. When I asked a passerby, I learned that the bells rang at six, nine, twelve, fifteen, and eighteen o'clock.

The people of the Empire seemed to arrange their activities around those bells.

That had been the noon bell, apparently.

"Is this it?"

I found a building that looked like an item shop. It had white stone walls coated with plaster. I went inside.

Various items were displayed in a jumble, but there seemed to be more household goods such as pots and plates.

"Welcome~"

A middle-aged man of average build wearing a navy-blue outfit came out to greet me.

"Do you have any magic items or spellbooks?"

"You're from the Kingdom, aren't you?"

"How can you tell?"

"I just can."

According to the shopkeeper, mages could not do business in the Empire. Since non-mages could not understand the value of magic items and spellbooks, item shops could not sell them.

"Then what do you do when you want to buy things like that?"

"Mages buy and sell them directly among themselves."

Apparently, spellbooks did not need to be registered in the Empire.

"I see."

Different countries had all sorts of troublesome systems. It was hard to say which was better; both were much the same.

But after giving the shopkeeper a small square silver coin, I got a clue about finding the person I was looking for.

"In that case, you should go to the Employment Placement Guild."

The Employment Placement Guild was the Imperial equivalent of Hello Work in Japan, or the Adventurers' Guild in the Kingdom.

Adventurers and all sorts of other people gathered there, so they might know something about a mage.

He also told me where to find the guild. Apparently, it was very close to the market.

I left the market and walked about 500 meters before entering a narrow stone-paved alley.

There it was—a four-story building with glass windows. The crowds going in and out made it easy to identify.

I opened the door and went inside. As expected of a place like Hello Work, it was packed with people of every age and gender, including beastfolk.

Since we were in the city, hardly anyone was wearing heavy armor. Light armor was about as far as it went.

For the time being, I went to the counter and spoke to an employee wearing a navy-blue uniform.

"I have something I'd like to ask you..."

"Yes? What is it?"

"I heard a rumor that the Dragon Slayer has come to this city. Have they ever come here?"

"...I cannot answer questions about personal information."

I see—the Imperial employees seemed to have much stricter compliance rules.

In that case, I would ask the people here.

"Everyone! Could you listen for a moment?"

Everyone in the guild turned to look at me at once.

"I heard a rumor that the Empire's Dragon Slayer has come to this city. Has anyone met them? I'll give one Kingdom silver coin (50,000 yen) to anyone who tells me an interesting story."

The customers looked at one another and began murmuring.

"Well, anyone?"

A young man with a cynical look raised his hand.

"Did you see the Dragon Slayer?"

"No, not the Dragon Slayer, but I saw Reiran of the Night Crow."

"What?!" "Seriously?!" "They're famous too!"

The customers around us cried out.

"Reiran of the Night Crow is famous too. I've heard of them."

So not only the Dragon Slayer, but Reiran of the Night Crow was in this city too.

"Are you sure?" "Is it true?"

When the customers called out their doubts, the man answered.

"Wet-looking black hair, a black dress, and those enormous breasts practically bursting out! There's no mistaking them!"

The man mimed a woman's bust with both hands. The customers seemed convinced by the part about her enormous breasts.

So Reiran of the Night Crow was a woman? And she was that well-endowed? I definitely wanted to meet her.

But that was all the information we had. It seemed that nobody had met the Dragon Slayer or knew anything about them.

Perhaps they were hiding their identity and lying low...

"Thanks. That was an interesting story."

I gave the man who had told me about Reiran of the Night Crow one silver coin.

"Heh heh, now I can drink my fill tonight."

The man was in a good mood, but there was no point in staying there any longer.

As I was about to leave Hello Work, one of the customers suggested that I make it an official request.

I see. That was another option... I went to the counter to ask about it.

"That is possible."

A receptionist in a navy-blue uniform answered matter-of-factly. Apparently, I did not need to register with the guild just to make a request.

"The fee for filing a request is one yen."

One yen was apparently equivalent to two small square silver coins (10,000 yen) in Kingdom currency. I had my request posted on the bulletin board.

'We will pay 10 yen (100,000 yen) to anyone with valuable information about the Empire's 【Dragon Slayer】.'

Ten yen was equivalent to two Kingdom silver coins. The deadline was three days from today. If I snooped around for too long, the Imperial authorities might start watching me.

If this failed, I would think of something else. Once the rumor spread from here, perhaps the Dragon Slayer would contact me.

I handed two Kingdom silver coins and two small square silver coins to the counter as the reward and filing fee.

Apparently, request rewards were paid through the counter, with ten to twenty percent deducted as taxes.

But after finishing the request at the guild and going outside, I took a stool from my Item Box, sat down, and held my head in my hands.

If this did not work, where should I search next? I had absolutely no idea—hmm...

But there was no doubt that people gathered at this guild.

I put the stool back in my Item Box and walked toward the market again.

I bought a pile of linkers from a stall. Shangri-La did not sell them, and they were delicious.

Then I found some Kokka bird eggs—2,000 yen each.

Myaree had gathered them before and sold them at Primula's shop, but I had never eaten one.

Perhaps I should try making boiled eggs... When I bought three, the seller gave them to me for one small square silver coin (5,000 yen).

But 2,000 yen for one egg? That seemed unbelievably extravagant, though it was not exactly something a man who casually spent millions on spellbooks could complain about...

I also visited the shops around the outer edge of the market. According to the shopkeepers and others, a merchant's dream was to move up from a stall and open a shop around the market's perimeter.

Huh, so that was how business worked in the Empire.

I went into a jewelry shop too. But the processing and craftsmanship were mediocre, as expected. The things I bought from Shangri-La were several times more intricate.

Well, they were made with machines, so that was only natural.

Various stones were on display, but I had no idea what they were actually worth. Perhaps putting them in my Item Box would reveal their value, but I could not do that in the shop.

Then I spotted something interesting: a black manacle placed in the corner of a shelf. Why was there something like that in a jewelry shop?

I asked the man who appeared to be the owner. He was a fat man with a mustache who looked like a beer barrel and wore green clothes.

"What is that manacle? Why is it in a jewelry shop?"

"Oh! You have a discerning eye. That is an adamantite manacle."

Adamantite! At last! I see—since it was a rare metal, it was displayed in a jewelry shop.

It might be useful for something, and it also seemed like an excellent investment. Its value probably would not decline either.

"All right, I'll take it. How much?"

The shopkeeper seemed somewhat surprised that I had immediately asked to buy it after hearing it was adamantite.

"Three hundred yen."

Three hundred yen—that meant three million, right? In Kingdom gold, it was fifteen coins.

"Can I pay with Kingdom gold coins?"

"That would be sixteen Kingdom gold coins. Is that acceptable?"

Perhaps he was taking advantage of me, or perhaps it was a fee. Maybe that was simply the exchange rate. Well, whatever.

I took sixteen gold coins out of my Item Box.

"An Item Box?"

"Yes."

The merchant accepted the gold coins, compared their size with the coins he already had, and weighed them on a balance.

He was probably checking their specific gravity. Gold had the highest specific gravity in this world too.

If they were counterfeit or adulterated, they would be lighter than genuine coins of the same size.

But I had obtained adamantite.

The adamantite in the giant sword at the dwarves' shop might have come from the Empire too.

I see—coming to places like this changed the sorts of items I could obtain.

When I picked it up, it was light! Light and hard—the stuff of fantasy.

I put the manacle into my Item Box and had it appraised for its purchase value.

――【Appraisal Result: Purchase Unavailable】

What?! It really wouldn't work? I had hoped it would be assigned an outrageous value or something... What a shame.

I left the shop after obtaining a valuable mineral. There were some pretty interesting things around here.

The sun began to sink while I was making the rounds of the market.

I gave some money to a stall owner and asked where to find an inn. He said there was one near the guild.

But according to the bearded stall owner――

"Are you from the Kingdom? There seem to be a lot of inn robbers around, so be careful."

"Robbers? You mean thieves?"

"If it were just sleeping guests being robbed, that would be one thing, but apparently they sometimes murder every guest in the inn."

"That's rather dangerous..."

When I walked back to the guild, I found an inn diagonally across from it.

Some people probably stayed at the inn while going to the guild, while others probably came from the guild to eat there.

Come to think of it, that was what I had done when I first came to Dalia.

I stopped by the guild just in case, but they said no information about the Dragon Slayer had arrived.

I left the guild and headed for the inn.

The inn was a three-story building with a red triangular roof, counting the attic.

I climbed the small stairs and stepped into the inn.