Chapter 35 (1/2)

Volume 1

V2 chapter 12

「Hoban Visit」Part 1

The next day, I used 【Transfer Gate]to transfer from Raratoia to the large tree save point that I had set yet yesterday .

After that, there weren’t any problems and we managed to reach Hoban before noon .

In fact, there wasn’t much distance from the attack site I had stumbled upon yesterday .

The city of Hoban was located within a large plain between the Annette mountain to the north and the Parnassus mountain to the south . At the base of the each mountain, a forest opened up in the east and west respectively .

Hoban was at the at the center of the plain and was surrounded by square-shaped outer walls .

Yesterday’s rainfall had completely stopped and the afternoon sun was brilliantly shining down on the city, causing the stone wall give off a dazzling reflection .

Ponta sat on my head while the disguised Ariane and I walked the road between the rice fields towards Hoban . As the distance between us and the town gradually shorted, I started to notice a solemn atmosphere covered the area .

The city walls were around fifteen meters high and surrounded by a large moat . A gate tower was stationed on both sides of the moat and guards observed everyone that entered and left through the gate .

In front of the gate, a pair of guards were quickly inspecting people’s luggage before anyone was allowed to cross over the moat’s bridge . Thanks to the inspection, there was a large queue of people standing around with their luggage, waiting to enter the city .

The north gate wasn’t that large, maybe two carriages could pass through it at a time . Since Hoban’s main highway traveled east to west, perhaps those gates were larger than this one .

But the eastern and western gates must be crowded as well because the occasional cart would make their way over from one of those directions .

Just before we reached the gate, a guard jumped onto a cart and tore off a person’s cloak to get a good look at their face . The situation was so dire that even adventures had to relent and be inspected one by one .

This inspection felt more like they were looking for someone rather than a simple baggage search .

In any case, it would be impossible for us to slip into the town under such a heavy inspection .

I looked back at Ariane and the gray cloak she was wearing to hide the fact that she was a dark elf and her eyes .

While the treaty with the Rhoden Kingdom was supposed to prohibit the capture and selling of elves, it did not mean that it was properly enforced .

From what I’ve learned, dark elves would go for a higher price than regular elves, and there would certainly be potential buyers everywhere .

And if the sale contracts were to be believed, then it would certainly be the case in Ferris De Hoban’s territory . The feudal lord called Hoban, who was ignoring national law, would obviously try to buy an elf that had been exposed in his city .

There’s also the fact that I’m nothing but a skeleton under this armor . I also cannot relent and remove my helmet for the guard’s inspection .

“Seems like it is impossible for us to enter the city through the gate . ”

“Yeah . ”

From the depths of her gray cloak, Ariane’s golden eyes focused on the on the city as she nodded .

Still, we couldn’t simply leave without getting information on the elves that had been sold here, so we had no choice but to walk around the city and find a place to sneak in .

The road along this side of the moat had comparatively greater pedestrian traffic, and it seemed unlikely that we could transfer to the top of the outer wall from here . We might have to wait till dusk and used the cover of darkness to get in without the public’s attention .

Together with Ariane and Ponta, we walked along Hoban’s eastern wall in search for a place with fewer guards .

I noted that the town was considerably large as we walk along the path .

Before long we came upon the eastern gate, which was more than twice the size of the northern gate .

Needless to say that the bridge in front of the gate was overflowing with wagons and people .

Probably due to the number of guards carrying out the inspections, there seemed to be fewer guards standing watch atop the wall .

It would be easy to transfer over the gate now and enter the city, but there were too many people waiting for inspection who would spot us .

Leaving with Ariane, we sneak around to the southern side of the city .

The south gate wasn’t that large and it seemed that it was only used by farmers to come and go to the nearby farmland .

The small amount of pedestrian traffic consisted only of exhausted, empty-eyed farmers .

As I walked along the path, all the haggard looking Hoban farmers that saw me looked upon me with fear or tried to avoid direct eye contact .

They showed no reaction when they saw Ariane, so maybe the helmet was the problem .

The luxurious armor was covered by my black cloak, but the helmet couldn’t be completely concealed .

However, their avoidance of eye contact was rather convenient for our current situation .

“Ariane-dono, I can transfer inside from here . Grab on . ”

“Alright . ”

While confirming that there was no one watching, I knelt down and spoke with Ariane . She responded to me while placing her hand on my shoulder .

“【Dimensional Step]”

As the spell activated the scenery changed and now we stood on top of one of the city’s wall, so I lowered my gaze to look around .

Since we can’t stay on the wall forever I quickly looked for a suitable place inside Hoban to transfer to .

I found a location near some rundown houses around the south gate, no one too rich was probably living around there . Using 【Dimensional Step]once more, I transferred us behind one of the houses .

“We finally managed to enter Hoban……”

I mutter so as I looked back at the city wall from behind the house .

“First, we must find the man named Ferris De Hoban and his buyers . ”

Dressed in her gray cloak, Ariane stated our objective while observing our surroundings .

“Since his name is Hoban, he may be a part of the feudal lord’s family…… for now, let us look for the feudal lord’s castle . ”

If we simply asked about the illegal capture of elves in this city, I doubt that we would find any useful clues .

It’d be faster to just check out the feudal lord and his retinue

Since we were trying to find the lord’s castle we naturally decided to head for the center of Hoban .

With that in mind, we set out to leave this rundown district . The streets were lined with wooden buildings in similar states of disrepair and there were very few signs of life .

When the people in the area saw us, they would get a stiff expression before running off . There were so few people around it almost felt like a ghost town .

For some unknown reason, everyone reacts the same way whenever they notice my knight’s helmet . Where the knights of Hoban a bunch of rowdy people?

I thought about such things while we walked and after a while, we came to a place that was more lively . Merchant stands lined the streets, with hawkers and vendors loudly engaging in business . There seems to be a vigor to the city as the coming and going of carts and people created a lot of noise .

However, peoples with dangerous eyes are occasionally seen and guards were stationed everywhere, creating a rather unfriendly atmosphere .

The inspections at the gates and the weird atmosphere made me think that something must be happening in this city .