Chapter 514: Border Checkpoint

「Sniff sniff」

「How is it, Urushi?」

「Woof…」

『No good huh?』

We were walking around while eating our meal in Didianne, looking for Zelos Reed with Urushi’s Nose. If he were in town, it would be next to impossible to escape from Urushi’s nose.

We had fought him so many times that Urushi remembered his smell after all.

However, we didn’t get any results. There was no trace of him, not even a hint of his scent, so it was safe to say that he was no longer hiding in this town.

『It’s no use. The information was uncertain after all』

「Nn」

As for Fran, she felt that it couldn’t be helped and she wasn’t that depressed. It’s like saying that she didn’t have high expectations to begin with, so she was doing this as a tour.

『So, what should we do now? We’ve stocked up on a lot of cheese, but should we stay here in town tonight?』

「It’s fine, let’s go to the next town」

『Are you sure? 』

「Nn. I’m tired of cheese」

Aah, now that she mentioned it, she was thinking earlier that we shouldn’t buy food that doesn’t have cheese, but it seems, she got tired of eating too much cheese. Well, cheese is not something you would eat in such large quantities after all.

『The next town is already in the Belios Kingdom. But before that, there’s the border. We must take the proper route into the country or it’ll be troublesome for us later』

「Okay」

In this world, countries’ borders were vague things. There are no lines drawn or walls to separate them. It was easy to ignore them if we wanted to.

I also heard that many countries that were on good terms with each other have no particular restrictions on traffic.

However, Belios Kingdom was different. It has one of the strictest immigration controls in this world.

All of the roads in the city are guarded by guards, and there are many security stations. If you are found to have entered the country without passing through the border checkpoint, you will be charged an entry tax. Not only that but if you had committed a crime without having gone through the entry procedures, even minor crimes often came with severe punishment.

This was a measure against spies and such from the neighboring Raidos Kingdom, and they won’t let you off with a bribe or something. Well, it’s a good thing that the soldiers were serious on their duty.

Besides, if we crossed the border properly, it shouldn’t be that bad, and we wouldn’t have to worry too much about it.

「Let’s go」

『Eh? Right now?』

「Nn」

She seems to be tired of cheese. Come to think of it. I rarely saw her request cheese as a topping for her curry. So, even Fran has something she likes and dislikes huh? But it’s not like she doesn’t like the cheese, it’s just she has her own ‘super like, really like, and normal like’ list of food.

『Let’s head to the border checkpoint then. With Urushi’s legs, I’m sure we’ll manage to get to the border by the end of the day』

「Nn!」

「Woof!」

After we finished our shopping and had reported our departure to the Adventurer’s Guild, we then arrived at the first border checkpoint one hour later.

『That seems to be the border checkpoint on Kranzel side』

「A fort?」

「Woof?」

『Well, that fort seems to be double as a border checkpoint』

But rather than functioning as a border checkpoint, that fort seems to be a measure to keep the Belios Kingdom in check.

Most of the borderline between the Kranzel Kingdom and the Belios Kingdom was separated by a river. However, this mountainous area seemed to be defined as its borderline.

In the middle of it, roads were set up to pass between the mountains, and the border checkpoint was located on the way to those roads. The reason why this checkpoint was not built on the borderline was probably that it also doubles as a fort.

Even if they were a friendly country, they wouldn’t let only one of them build a fort near their border. If one side builds a fort that doubles as a border checkpoint, the other side will do the same. And they also wanted to build their fort as close to the other country as possible.

However, if both sides think the same thing, it could mean that the two forts were adjacent to each other across the border.

So, in most cases, there was a treaty between the countries not to build any structures within a certain distance from the border. Well, I only heard about this from a guard at Didianne though.

『First, we’ll go through the exit procedures on the Kranzel Kingdom’s side. And then we’ll cross the pass and go through the entry procedures on Belios’s side』

「Understood」

『Let’s just go on like this for the time being. We’ll be misunderstood if we continue to ride on Urushi after all』

They might think that a dangerous magic beast was attacking them and will prolong our exit.

「Woof woof!」

We then headed for the border checkpoint, and the procedure went very smoothly. We were the only ones there, so we didn’t have to wait that long, and with her adventurer’s card, they didn’t take us into more complicated procedures. All she had done was answer with “an adventurer” and we were let out of the country.

They were a little skeptical that Fran was really a B-ranked adventurer, but once they found out that her adventurer’s card was real, they didn’t ask too many questions. Many adventurers don’t like to be questioned about their personal life, and if they were a real B-rank adventurer there was no way for them to afford to offend them.

Rather, it seemed to be more difficult for us to enter the Belios Kingdom.

『Let’s walk until we get over the pass. Urushi being here would only cause more confusion after all』

「Woof」

「Nn」

The pass was not that steep and it was said that an average person can get through it in about half a day.

Magic beasts are also said to appear around this area, but since the soldiers were hunting them down, those who might appear would only be a magic beast with a threat level of F at best.

Currently, the strongest magic beast that has been confirmed was said to have a threat level of D, but it is said that they were only witnessed once every few years.

Unless we encountered a magic beast with a threat level of D, it would take Fran and Urushi less than half a day to cross the pass. It was already evening, but even if they camped out, they should be able to reach the border checkpoint by tomorrow morning.

Well, that was what it was supposed to be, but――.

『Don’t tell me, did I just raise a flag?』(1)

「Nn?」

『No, it’s nothing. More importantly, let’s help them first!』

Near the peak of the mountain, we came across a traveller that was being attacked. Moreover, they were being attacked by a Storm Wyvern, a magic beast with a threat level of D.

「Urushi, let’s go!」

「Woof!」

Note:

(1) Raise a flag means “bring something to notice”. The phrase Raise a flag originated from “raise a red flag” which means to alert someone about potential danger or trouble ahead, the origin is that red flags are often literally used to warn people of possible peril.