Chapter 003: Escape the Imperial Capital via Stagecoach

Re – Translated by Gumihou

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After breakfast, I checked out from the inn and made my way towards the Stagecoach Station to verify the fares and time of departure.

The fee for the stagecoach was 1 gold coin, and the trip towards the town at the city border would take about four days’ travel.

Since there was still some time before the coach departs, I decided to do some shopping. I would need four days’ worth of food supplies for example, and some self-defence weapons, just in case. 

I’ve already decided that using the [Net Super] in public would bring bad attention to myself. The [Item Box] was also a rare skill that would only cause an unnecessary fuss, so I had better not carelessly show either skill.

Because of this, I armed myself with a leather bag of drinking water, dried meat, black bread and a fairly large knife. Yes, all my preparations were now done.

Next was to take the stagecoach and get out of the Imperial Capital.

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Within the stagecoach were other passengers apart from myself. There was a middle-aged uncle who looked like a peddler of some sort, a young couple with their two children, and a woman in her mid-thirties.

There were also four Adventurers escorting the stagecoach as guards.

“Excuse me, if you don’t mind my asking, what are you planning to sell at Kiels?” Let’s start a plain and inoffensive conversation to find out more about this world.

“Aa, I managed to get my hands on some good soap from a middleman and plan to sell it to an acquaintance at the Merchant’s Guild.”

Ooh, soap was it? Looks like they have this thing in this world. However, after some further subtle questioning, I found out that though this world had soap, it was mostly limited to the rich and aristocratic due to its price.

Apparently, a single piece of soap could be sold for 3 silver coins to aristocrats. As expected of the rich. I also tried asking for more information about the [Item Box] and found that aristocrats and large companies liked to hire people with this kind of skill.

Not only was it rare, about 1 in 1,000 people were naturally gifted with this skill, but the size of it seemed to depend on the person’s innate magical power. Aristocrats and large companies were only interested in people with a large capacity [Item Box].

“However, even the smallest capacity [Item Box] could carry three times the amount I have on my back. I’m quite envious of those with such a skill.” Uncle Peddler said with a laugh.

I see so people with [Item Boxes] do exist after all. Which meant I can use my [Item Box] in public so long as I passed it off as a low capacity skill.

“I suppose, skills like [Appraisal] would be very useful for merchants, right?” Now that I have managed to obtain information about the [Item Box], I might as well ask about the [Appraisal] skill.

“Ahh… to have a skill like that is a dream for all merchants, you know? Ah, but the [Appraisal] skill is kind of like a fairy tale, belonging only to Heroes Summoned from Another World. [Appraisal] is the number one skill that all merchants would like to have. Though it’s impossible to obtain the skill naturally, I do wish that the [Appraisal Tools] are more widely spread. Unfortunately, these are ancient relics that are so expensive that only countries or guilds would have the money to buy them.”

Oh, that’s good. In fact, that’s very excellent news for me. So, the [Appraisal] skill was only something that a Summoned Hero has?

I already knew that Magical Appraisal Tools exists, thanks to those people from the Imperial Kingdom, but I had not realised that they were that rare or precious. No wonder that Magical Tool Otaku was so excited… it looked like regular people can’t own these precious tools, which meant the chances of me being accidentally Appraised by someone was close to zero.

As we chatted along casually talking about different topics, I gathered that middle-aged Uncle Peddler was also attempting to reach the neighbouring country as well. Suddenly, the uncle leaned closer to whisper, “To be frank, this country has too many signs of impending war. As an unmarried person, I can leave easily with my identity as a merchant, but there are rumours that the borders of this country are about to be closed soon.”

Wait, the country would be closing its borders soon? This country was seriously going down the toilets! Well, luckily I found out now and can react accordingly.

On our way towards Kiels, we were attacked by Goblins, Wolves and other monsters. (Perhaps it’s because this is a ‘Sword & Magic Fantasy World’, the people here really seemed to hate monsters). At any rate, the guards did their jobs, successfully subjugating the monsters and allowing the stagecoach to proceed smoothly to its destination.

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Once we reached Kiels, I followed the directions given by the Uncle Peddler and made my way to the Stagecoach Station where the coach for the neighbouring country was supposed to stop.

“… please tell me this is a lie.”

I’ve reached the waiting station, only to be confronted by a sign that said [Stagecoach Service Temporarily Suspended].

What do you mean by ‘Suspended’?

Does it have anything to do with the border closing rumour the uncle told me about?

But, if the borders were really closed, would the people still be so carefree?

Anyway, let’s just go ahead and gather some information first. I’m hungry now, so let’s go to a restaurant where plenty of Adventurers gathered and see if I can find out anything useful.

I took a seat at the bar and happened to hear two Adventurers chatting right next to me.

“Excuse me, can I have a minute of your time?”

“Oh? Do you need us for something?”

“To be honest, I’ve just recently arrived in this town and there were a few things I’m not too sure about…”

The barman happened to be nearby, so I flagged the man down and ordered a meal set as well as two ales for the two Adventurers. With this, an understanding between us formed, and the mood became much friendlier. I took this opportunity asked after the information I needed.

“I see, so the stagecoach had been deliberately suspended to prevent people from leaving the country easily.”

“Yeah, as you know, if the population decreases, the number of soldiers and taxes collected would also decrease. For now, the border is still officially opened, but public transportation has been suspended and if the situation continues, the borders would eventually be closed. From what we can see, even though this kingdom was currently at war with the demon clan, they looked like they’re also on the verge of starting a war with the Kingdom of Marlbert.”

“That’s right, that’s right, war is happening soon. It’s only a matter of time now.”

The two Adventurers became quite talkative after a few drinks. Clearly, alcohol is a universal tongue loosener. The Demon Kingdom was located north of Reijseger, with Marlbert in the west. Therefore, my best choice was to head southeast, towards the Kingdom of Feenan.

“We intend to say our farewells to this place soon,”

“Rather than waging war, we prefer to go monster hunting instead. You best get out of this place soon.”

To be honest, I’d really like to get out of this place too. However, as someone who was only slightly stronger than the average human, I could not do much against a real monster. While I was pondering over this issue, my eyes travelled enviously towards these strong Adventurers and suddenly, an idea struck me.

That’s right, I could hire these strong Adventurers to protect me!

Wait, first, I should make a mission request at the Adventurer’s Guild. It would cost me some money, but this was not the time to be stingy. Before the border closes off, the priority here is to get out of this country.

Therefore, I decided to put in an Escort Mission at the Adventurer’s Guild for safe passage to the Kingdom of Feenan.

[Gumihou: Phew! Do your best to escape from this country Mukouda!]

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