Rin IV
The walk to Re-Grawe was going quickly, especially since it was void of distractions such as conversation or breaks. Rin's feet hurt, as did Riku's and Jan's, but no one said a word in complaint.
From where Riku and Rin had first been dropped on this world. The terrain could not be more different. Whereas they were once upon a mountain, now they were on flat plains as far as the eye could see. The thick growth of the massive forest with multiple ecosystems within where they fought that first giant monster for those promised but undelivered coins grew thinner and thinner, until it broke entirely onto warm plains that rolled here and there covered with wheat, small hills that vied for place with the occasional tree above them that provided blessed shade to the hard-working peasantry. Upon these hills one could find flowers and green grass that glittered with morning dew.
Clouds far above their heads traveled through the sky, breaking and reforming and breaking apart again, but the sun shone with strength, and strength greater still with each hour, gradually turning up the heat and making the trek just a bit more unbearable.
The road took its toll upon their legs, tiring them, but it was at least paved and better kept the closer one went towards the city. Considering that the three of them were running low on water and food, this was a blessed boon, as it signaled that they could rejoin civilization and hopefully purchase some reprieve from the natural elements. But they had yet to reach Re-Grawe, and the sun was still lazily drifting through the sky.
Then, they crossed a small hill that was more of a mound than a hill, and they found Re-Grawe.
From the distance, it was a decent sight. Though they lacked binoculars, Rin was capable of the spell [Hawk Eye], which would enhance her natural eyesight and allow her to view distant objects with greater clarity.
She used it, and analyzed what she saw.
Far off in the distance, a massive mountain range with snow-covered peaks seemed to tear into the very sky. Even during this unbearable heat, the mountains were covered with snow. Perhaps it was simply that cold, or perhaps it was due to some hitherto unknown factor, likely magic, that contributed to their condition, but either way, the mountain range was impressive beyond comparison. Rin wondered what lied over yonder, but only for a fraction of a second.
Then, below the mountain range, she saw a forest gradually forming. One tree became two became three dozen became four hundred became five thousand. It was such a gradual change that one could say that it nearly crept up on you, but it happened. The forest sported massive trees, even from here Rin could see that, but what she could see was that it wasn't uniform, and there were irregularities here and there. Patches where it was thinner and thicker, gaps and passageways.
But the forest was not the only thing on the horizon. From within a massive gap in the forest's treeline, nearly thirty meters wide by her reckoning, she saw the glistening blue waters of a river, the sunlight reflecting off it even from such a distance. It flowed, no, it rushed forth from the mountaintop down into the plains, snaking and curving, moving left and right and left again, following the path of least resistance. The river's waters nourished the crops that would feed the city, and Rin could see what appeared to be minor houses and windmills scattered across the fields.
And then there was Re-Grawe. The river flowed left and then abruptly curved back right, touching the foot of some sort of hill where Rin could see a castle's towers scrape against the sky. The castle itself had various houses and buildings built beneath it, and several bridges that would connect it to a residential district that was then walled off.
This process repeated, with districts becoming bigger and wider albeit less affluent as they spread out from the water and from the castle on the hill. There were two sets of walls in total, an inner wall and an outer wall, and they were all reinforced by circular and quadrangular towers, more than a dozen in total, and more than a dozen bastions as well.
Outside the city proper, there was a moat, another layer of safety, with drawbridges that could clearly be lowered and raised as needed. With three gates that Rin could see and most likely another gate on the northern side that she could not, that made four gates in total. Two of them led to the mainland, one upon the eastern side and one upon the western, and it was the eastern side that was the one they would have to go through if they wished to enter the city, for the southern gate led to a small harbor on the outside of the city, one that was most likely used to rapidly ship goods downriver into the Sunrise Sea, as Frenja called it.
All the gates seemed well-fortified, with thick wood and iron chains, and they were manned by well-armed and armored men who would not hesitate to cut someone down if they were to threaten the safety and sanctity of their city.
At least, that was what it appeared like. In truth, Rin suspected that half the part of being a guard was merely appearing to be cool, calm, competent and collected. She doubted most people would keep to their training if their face was being eaten by acid.
Standing proudly above the filth and muck of the city was a magnificent cathedral with six towers. Each tower rose above the lesser buildings in the city as a noble lord atop a horse would rise above a dirty street urchin. Even from atop here, one could tell that the pristine white was blinding when it reflected the noon-day sun.
These six towers boldly dared to peer above the thick veil of stone and cement, separating themselves as unique, and smack dab right in the middle, was the cathedral, from which the bell could be heard.
It was tolling. With a gentle yet firm ring, it boomed, for what reason, Rin did not know. It tolled again, and again, and again, three times, before stopping.
Again, again, again, it tolled three times before it stopped, and it repeated this process a total of five times, thus making fifteen tolls. Then it tolled no more and it stopped.
What the reason for this tolling was, neither Rin, nor Riku, nor Jan knew.
With nary a thought, and nary a word, the leader of the party continued his grim march onward. The mage followed in his footsteps, and the young boy and his donkey did this as well.
At last. Re-Grawe was right there, so close that Rin could taste it.
The gate was wide open, yet none dared pass through on account of the multitude of guards armed with bows and crossbows from above, staring down at the people below. An itchy trigger finger would be all that was needed for a potential massacre to occur, but from what Rin could see, most guards had not knocked their bows, but were merely staring at them.
Two quadrangular towers flanked the open wooden gate that had been lowered from the walls, with flags above fluttering in the wind. The flags were situated on the very peaks of the towers, yet there were also a few that were placed in such a manner that they strutted outwards from the towers, due to the diagonal flagpoles they were placed upon.
Furthermore, there were banners, giant bolts of cloth, that were sprayed out across the walls, signaling to all with eyes to see, just who exactly it was that ruled this town.
A diagonally striped, from top left striking towards the bottom right with red-and-gold coloring upon a shield that had a rampant black-coated and golden-horned unicorn upon it. All of this again upon a faint gold background. Those parts combined together made up the sigil, the banner, that was ever-present upon the walls of Re-Grawe.
"Jan. What's that?" Riku asked the boy quietly as they walked to the back of the line.
"It's the sigil of House Van Drek. It's also the sigil of Re-Grawe." The boy answered as he pulled his donkey closer towards him.
"A sigil… So it's like a flag, like a coat of arms?" Rin asked from the side.
"Probably." Riku responded promptly.
Rin was still curious, so she asked again. "Is this just for this region, or is it for the kingdom entire?"
Jan itched his nose a bit before he tried to sneeze. The sneeze was killed in its cradle and he did not succeed at it, but the boy quickly purged the accident from his mind and answered. "Baratreia's sigil is of a red crowned griffin on a white field. You see it on the coins. It's the same sigil of the Royal Family."
"I see…"
When the party approached the eastern gate, they found that there was a bit of a checkpoint. The People and their goods were being inspected and questioned for their purpose of entering the city.
It was going slowly.
There were shouts and raised voices occasionally, and all the while they were under the scrutinous gaze of the guardsmen.
Strong though they were, neither Riku nor Rin had any delusions about being able to defeat this many men if something went wrong. And even if they did, they would not walk away unwounded. Their wounds would likely finish them off. And it also went without saying, but the collateral damage would be high. Assuming they were not simply peppered with arrows from afar.
'And that's without even considering what level these people are. Assuming they have levels. They probably do since we got EXP for killing them, but that may be due to our nature rather than theirs. Either way, if they ask for paperwork or anything like that, we are out of luck.'
Many things could go wrong.
Imprisonment, death, paperwork. All terrifying things.
All the same, from a first glance, they did not look too different from the other peasantry. Taller, better-looking, but just as shoddily dressed and clearly lacking in personal hygiene, just like the others. Perhaps they would not pay too close attention to them. They carried no weapons, as far as the guards knew. Just three peasants, probably all siblings, and a donkey of theirs. As inconspicuous as they come.
"Do we mention what happened in Taewe to the guards?" Riku asked.
"Are you dumb? Look around us." Rin vaguely pointed towards the armed men using only her eyes. The look she gave Riku afterwards was one of vaguely constrained paranoia. "Just keep quiet until we get inside." She stated coldly.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, they saw several groups of people being turned away. Some accepted this decision solemnly.
Others…
Thwack.
Did not.
But an armored gauntlet to the jaw, a club to the belly or a spear pointed at their throats was enough of an incentive to silence all dissent.
For whatever reason, many were being turned away.
'Will that be us?' Rin wondered.
Rin and Riku and Jan and their donkey continued walking forward, one step at a time. The processing of those who would enter was going slowly, if at all. They waited in line like that for what must have been thirty minutes and only about a dozen people were processed, of which she saw about half walking towards her side of the road. Whatever reason had brought these people to Re-Grawe, they would not accomplish it today.
They continued to wait and trudge along.
The mage pulled at Riku's shirt slightly. He turned around. Rin leaned closer and whispered in his ear. "What if I just use magic to sneak in?"
"And what if you get caught doing so? Or you get discovered within? And how are we to get in? No, that's a last resort." Riku replied just as quietly.
Rin nodded grimly and then fell back into 'formation' swiftly.
Minutes later, she could not tell how many to be exact, she heard a sound.
Clip-clop. Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
An armored rider, a knight most likely, was making his way towards the gate.
"Make way! Make way! Make way!" The knight shouted from atop his horse.
Almost instinctively, the peasantry recoiled and parted to the side of the road, allowing the knight passage. It was so swift that Rin for a moment was stunned. The swiftness with which the common folk parted like the Red Sea before Moses stunned Rin.
'What are these idiots doing?'
When she looked around herself, she saw that most everyone had parted to the side and opened up the way.
The first thing she noticed was that it was much less smelly.
The second thing she noticed was that it was actually more quiet than before, as the peasants that had been whispering and talking and murmuring were all quiet.
The third thing she noticed was that it was only her and Riku who were in the middle of the road.
Still somewhat baffled, Rin looked at the knight and his armored warhorse. The castle-forged glistening white steel, the scabbard and longsword, the noble-bred warhorse, all combining to create a picture perfect display of a knight. Strong and terrifying.
'Does he expect me to move or something?'
The knight approached her and lifted his vizor. Blue eyes similar yet oh so different to her own peered down at her from atop the warhorse.
Rin felt a tug at her shoulder, and she turned around. She saw Riku pulling her to the side. He most likely wanted her to make way.
'Well… this guy is basically driving a car and I'm in the middle of the road. But sheesh, you don't have to be such an asshole about it.'
Reluctantly, Rin followed Riku and went to the side in two places where there were minor gaps. Somehow, she ended up sandwiched between a smelly and fat old woman and her much thinner bald-headed husband.
When she turned around and looked at the knight again, she saw that he was glaring daggers at her. But he made no further move. His stirrups struck his horse, and he rode onwards as he closed his vizor. The guards at the gate also parted before him and he was uninterrupted.
'What was that about?' Rin thought to herself.
She looked at Riku, who shot her a dangerous look as if to say 'Don't do that again'.
But Rin felt slighted by that man's behavior. It was much too arrogant.
'It's because I'm weak… For now. No matter. Soon enough that will change. Soon enough.' She promised herself, and took in a deep breath as she prepared herself for more standing in line.
Wordlessly, the column reformed and the people kept trudging on and on and on.
As they did, time passed.
A middle aged man with a receding hairline that just barely managed to hold on for dear life before he had to shave it was the guard-captain. He had gray eyes that looked droopy and downcast yet alert and observatory at the same time. Crow's feet adorned his face, and a silly little mustache shaded a stiff upper lip that was most likely permanently scowled. He wore armor of iron and leather like all those under his command, but instead of wearing leather or iron gauntlets his hands had no gloves at all, most likely for better grip on his quill.
"Step forward." The guard-captain emotionlessly recited while looking at them with blank eyes.
The young blonde-haired man did so. He was a youth, yet a mature one, likely in his early twenties, with curly golden hair cut somewhat short that framed a rather average-looking face. Average in the sense that he did not stand out from his countrymen. There was nothing special about this man.
The party of Rin, Riku, and Rin, who were in line just after this young man, paid close attention to the proceedings. Furthermore, they had agreed that Riku should be the one to answer questions, due to the nature of the society which they inhabited. Namely, that it was a bit more primitive and a bit more patriarchal, thus the guard-captain may take offense to having a woman speak to him as an equal.
One day such things would not matter, but not today. They knew just how much they did not know, and they knew just how much firepower they were lacking. Once attained, they could do as they pleased, but not a day sooner.
The guard-captain silently inspected the arrival before him.
"Name?"
"Bolan Bareare."
"I see. Place of birth?"
"Maeve Village."
"Occupation?"
"Blacksmith."
"Purpose for coming to the city?"
"Business deal."
The guard jotted all that down on a piece of yellow-ish paper with his feathered quill while looking at the young blonde-haired man with droopy yet alert eyes. Strangely enough, the quill seemed to not run out of ink no matter how much he wrote. Must have been an enchantment of some sort, Rin mused. But why waste magic, when a pen could do the job without any magic. Were pens not invented yet, or was magic the easier alternative? Questions for another time, she noted within her mind.
"Answer these next questions with yes or no. Do you understand?" The guard-captain asked.
"I do." The Bareare blacksmith replied.
"I said yes or no. Do you understand?" Almost emotionlessly, the guard-captain responded. Akin to a robot was his speech pattern, as he seemed to be exhausted physically and emotionally yet had to keep going until he was relieved.
Noticing this, the blacksmith seeking entrance into Re-Grawe instantly adjusted his posture, straightened up, and did as he was bid.
"Yes." The lad answered.
"Good. Do you have accommodations within the city?"
"No."
"Do you have friends or family within the city?"
"Yes."
Like this, the questions came quickly and the answers came quicker, with the guard-captain noting everything down on the sheet of paper with a wooden board behind it that ensured the necessary resistance to make writing feasible.
"Do you have money on your person?"
"Yes."
"Are you carrying any weapons?"
"Yes."
This answer prompted a raised eyebrow that was lost in the sea of forehead. The guard-captain curiously asked the blacksmith to show his weapon. What would happen if he did not was better left unsaid. Rin glanced up towards the top of the walls, and the numerous arrow slits within the walls.
'The walls must be at least fifteen meters high, and probably a third of that at the minimum deep. I could shoot a fireball at these walls and only blacken the bricks. If I were strong enough, I could ignore this whole checkpoint in at least a dozen ways. I need more power.'
"Show me." The guard-captain commanded, and the blacksmith obliged. He slowly took off his travel bag that was slung over his shoulder and handed it to one of the guards, who approached with a hand upon his sword. The guard opened the bag and inspected the contents within, before walking over towards his captain and handing the bag over.
He opened it and saw something, Rin did not know what, within. It seemed to not break the rules..
"Hmmm. I will allow it." The guard-captain commented. He handed the bag back towards the guard who in turn returned it towards its owner. "Are you a member of the Blacksmith's Guild?"
"No." The blacksmith shook his head.
"The Merchant's Guild?"
"No."
"Do you have any paperwork on your person confirming your identity?"
"No."
"Do you know how to read?"
"No."
"Well, can't say I am surprised." The guard–captain scribbled something on the paper, before taking out some sort of seal and stamping it on the paper. Afterwards, he tore off the sheet of paper and gave it to one of the guards. This guard in turn folded the paper two times and then handed the document towards the blacksmith. "You may enter the city, at any rate. Take this and go into the left tower next to the portcullis. And follow the instructions given to you by the guards within. Understood?" The guard-captain asked impatiently, anxious to get rid of the peasant blacksmith.
"Yes." Was the prompt reply, and Rin could see a smile on the man's face.
"Good. Off you go now. Next!" The guard-captain declared and raised his voice, shouting for all to hear.
It was Riku, Rin and Jan's turn now.
They walked forward until they reached an acceptable distance. Riku and Rin were at the front, with Jan somewhat sheepishly hiding behind them.
As for the guard-captain, even at a closer glance, he was physically unimpressive.
He was of average height, which meant that compared to Riku and Rin, he was tiny. Yet if that phased him, he did not show it.
"Huh, a group. I guess I can process all of you at once. Are you all related by chance?"
"Yes, we're all cousins." Riku replied to the question.
"I don't see much of a resemblance." One of the guards, a man armed with a pike, commented from the side.
Riku just shrugged.
The guard captain paid no attention towards the comment and began his questioning. It seemed that he was devoted to finishing his quota or getting to the end of his shift as fast as possible. Rin didn't know which one it was, and she was past caring. She was certain that what she had experienced the past few days trumped the soreness in the baldie's feet.
"Names?"
"Riku. Rin. Jan." Riku pointed his finger towards each of them.
"No last names?" The guard captain asked, but not with a sense of curiosity that spoke as if he never heard of this occurrence before. It did not matter.
"No." Riku replied promptly.
The guard-captain exhaled. "Not surprising."
'What was that about?'
The guard-captain made two vertical lines on the sheet of paper, a move that even Rin could see from where she was standing.
"What is your place of birth?" Came the first question.
"Taewe Village." And came the first lie.
"What are your occupations?" Then came the second.
"We're all farmers." And came the second lie.
"He doesn't look like a farmer." One of the guards, one armed with a cudgel that he was resting on his shoulder, muttered from the sides.
Surprisingly enough even the guard-captain engaged in the idle talk. "A build like that is wasted on farm-work, we could make a proper soldier out of you… but it's your life, and far be it for me to tell you what to do with it."
Riku looked back at Rin with a look on his face. She could not read minds but she supposed that the thought in Riku's head went something like 'Does this dude know I can kick his ass?' or something. There was probably a mind-reading spell, and if so, Rin had to learn it, to learn just exactly what went through some people's skulls.
Would it be like connecting to a new device on a network, or would it be like plugging in an external hard drive into a machine? Or would it be like opening a cupboard and finding it empty.
Questions, questions.
"What is your purpose for coming to this city?"
"We have multiple reasons for visiting." Riku responded.
"I see." The evasive answer that was not an answer was not enough for the guard-captain, thus he pressed further. "Well, anything interesting among those reasons?"
Losing patience with these games and lies, Rin decided to just be blunt for once. "We're going to meet Count Zovran Van Drek. He owes us money."
Silence fell upon them. The three of them were silent, the guard-captain was silent, the guards themselves were silent. One could hear a pin drop. A fart would be as loud as a nuke.
Then it was broken by laughter. A hearty, raucous, loud and rambunctious laughter that began from one guard and then spread to another and another and another, like wildfire among a dry forest it spread until the laughter could be heard on the other side of the walls.
Rin raised an eyebrow, but didn't do anything further.
'Task failed successfully, I guess.'
"Hehehehe. Good jokes. Real funny. Now then, answer the next questions with yes or no. I assume you're capable of that much." The guard captain asked after taking a few deep breaths to compose himself.
Riku nodded and responded affirmatively.
"Yes."
"Good, you already know how this works. Now then, let's begin. Do you have accommodations within the city?"
"No."
"Do you have friends and family within the city?"
"No."
"Do you have any money on your persons?"
'Not on us, per se. We just keep it in a hole in reality, and we take it out as needed. Banks hate this one trick!'
Riku clearly debated how to answer this question, so Rin gave him a gentle kick from behind on his calf.
"Yes." Riku answered.
"Are you carrying any weapons?"
"No."
'It's the truth. We aren't carrying them right now.'
"Do you know how to read?"
'Not in your writing system. Which makes me functionally illiterate, I suppose.'
"...no." Riku responded as if reading her thoughts.
The answer did not bother the guard-captain.
"Not unexpected. Are you affiliated with any of the Guilds?"
"Which Guilds would those be?" Riku asked when he should have answered. To know which Guilds existed seemed like something they should have asked Jan beforehand, but hindsight was a bitch.
"Those would be the Merchant's, Blacksmith's, Magician's. Those are the only Guilds that exist. Speaking of Magicians, you clearly look like you don't have one among your member, and I am clearly the one in charge here, so the next time you speak out of turn I will have you beaten until you piss blood. Now then, answer the original question."
The calm with which the guard-captain answered their question while simultaneously threatening them displayed the sheer callous disregard for their well-being.
'We're just meat to him. Meat to be processed. He will give the order if he feels threatened.'
"...no."
"Very well. Your request to enter Re-Grawe has been denied."
"What." Rin blanked at the haphazard denial. But luckily she only blurted the word out with no traces of any venom or rage. There was only confusion.
The bald-headed man seemed to not notice or care that he was speaking to someone else other than Riku, as he kept scribbling on his paper without looking up. The cavalier attitude was getting on her nerves.
"Your request to enter the city has been denied. We have enough useless peasants causing trouble inside the walls, eating all our food and being all around a burden to deal with. City's overpopulated and any more of you inside will mean the Guard won't be able to keep the peace." The man declared as if this one sentence would explain everything. But it didn't. In fact, it just made Rin want to rage and scream and shout into the bald man's shiny skull.
'Overpopulated!? Overpopulated!? The only thing overpopulated will be your graveyard if you don't prepare, you damn fools!'
"I see… anything we can do to enter the city?" Riku asked meekly.
"Yes. Come back when you can actually contribute. Next!" The guard-captain declared and waved them away.
Stunned by this event, Riku and Jan began to turn away. It did not occur to either of them, Rin included, that they might be straight up turned back at the gates during their entire journey to the city.
'What an asinine way of ending things. I can't let it end like this.' She thought impotently until a thought crossed through her head.
An idea, a stupid one, but it was the only one she had.
She turned around on her heel and started approaching the guard-captain, anxiously raising her voice without control and practically pleading for her words to be heard.
"Wait. Wait. We have important information. You need to let us into the city!"
"Why would I do that?"
"We bring word of Taewe Village. A swarm of giant insects attacked the town and killed everyone within. We are the only survivors."
Silence enveloped them again. This time however, there was no laughter.
One of the guards from the side mumbled to one of his friends.
"That's a new one."
The guard captain looked at Rin with those droopy eyes, yet it was clear they were full of skepticism. "And when did this occur?" He asked.
"Three days ago."
"Yes. Taewe Village. A village right in the middle of the Kingdom, hundreds of miles away from the border with the beastmen. And all its inhabitants were, as you say, slaughtered, three days ago. Did I get that right?" The guard captain repeated what Rin just said back to her as if she were a child. He expected some sort of answer, but when he got none, he continued speaking.
"Well, clearly not a regular peasant, but an insane one. Or a liar. Either way, get lost before I command my men to pepper you with arrows."
Boiling rage barely contained within, Rin walked away, silently hoping that if the bugs attacked, at least they'd rid her of this fool.
Bent but not broken, the party walked away together far from the gate. Night was close to falling, and dusk was but an hour or two away, based on the position of the sun in the sky.
"We need to enter the city." Rin declared.
"How?" Riku asked. He was open to ideas.
There were none. After a while, he said something rather obvious. Something simple yet not easy to execute.
"We sneak in." Riku stated.
"Yes, but how?" Rin replied while she paced around anxiously.
Then, the boy that had been ever so quiet spoke up as he pointed a finger towards a small hole in the walls. A hole that was situated above the water. A hole that was no hole at all, but the exit of a water drainage system.
"Through there." Jan pointed with his finger.
The reply from Rin was instant.
"That's disgusting."
But Riku seemed to not be so certain. He put his hand upon his chin for a while and paced around just like Rin. After a few seconds in which he muttered aloud the words of 'perhaps, maybe, possible' to himself, he decided to speak clearly.
"Yes, but it can be done."
Rin did not like that look upon Riku's face. "Can it?" She asked skeptically.
"Yes. You can help."
She gulped. This was a deeply uncomfortable plan. "Define help."
"Your magic can get us to that grate and open it. And it can make sure we see inside."
"Perhaps… but do you honestly expect us all to fit inside?" Rin replied.
This question prompted Riku to think for a moment. After a while, casually, he solved the equation.
"I can fit inside." Jan commented from the side.
Riku turned towards him and smiled… roguishly. Before turning back towards Rin, still smiling.
"I have a plan." Rin did not like that smile.
She nodded her head furiously. "I don't like it."
"You haven't even heard it." Riku raised a mischievous eyebrow.
"I repeat my previous statement."
"Mister Riku, do you truly have a plan?" Jan asked.
"I don't have just one, I have three." Riku declared.
The words entered Rin's brain, but they were not processed properly, so she just let out a dumbfounded response.
"Huh?"
"Come over here, both of you. You're going to love this."
The three of them huddled together away from the prying eyes of the crowd, debating Riku the burglar's master-plan. Surely everything would go according to plan. Surely.
