Chapter 49 (1/2)
Volume 1
V3 Chapter 3
⌈The wasteland town Buranbeina⌋
Before long, a town built atop a small hill next to the highway came into view . A stone wall surrounded the town and I could see the roofs of several box-shaped buildings peeking over the wall from here . Unlike other cities I’ve been to there was almost no decoration to the city, but the impression it gave off was more sturdy than impoverished .
I’d say the town looked more like a fort than anything .
The only patch of greenery in the reddish landscape was around the hill . There was an area of farmland around the town and there were barely any people maintaining it . Compared to the size of the fields, there weren’t enough human silhouettes around to properly maintain them .
“Let’s stop for a bit and ask for some directions . ”
“Well, it looks like the road started to lead north before we noticed……”
I didn’t really notice until now, but the direction of the road had changed substantially . It was easy to lose sight of your direction when you follow a meandering road without a compass .
Without expressing a bit of my impatience, I turned off the road and headed towards the town .
The town walls were five meters high and made of clean stone, and atop the wall were the figures of guards .
The large front gate was wide open with only a single guard standing watch . When he noticed us the guard straightened his shoulders and stared in our direction .
When we reached the guard I extended my hand to him and began speaking .
“I know it sudden, but there’s something I need to ask you . We’re trying to get to a city called Lanbaltic, does the highway lead there?”
The guard looked puzzled at my question before turning to Ariane and looking her up and down . Ariane’s true form couldn’t be seen since she had hidden her face with her cloak’s hood .
When he was finished, the guard looked back at me and answered the question .
“No, I’ve never heard of a place called Lanbaltic around here . Of course, I’ve never left this town so I only know of nearby villages……”
The guard looked embarrassed by this and started scratch his head .
Even in the modern era, you couldn’t simply go to a foreign country and expect to immediately get directions a remote town .
“Hum, we’ll have to ask for directions in town then . How much is the entrance tax?”
I asked the guard that question as I reached for the leather pouch tied to my waist, however, the man just moved aside and urged us to pass .
“There is no entry tax for this town . Not enough people visit such a remote town to make an entrance tax profitable . Oh, but there a small fee for leaving . ”
The man chuckled a little and welcomed us inside .
“Welcome to Buranbeina . ”
We thanked the guard and set foot inside the town .
Despite being so early in the morning, there were a lot of people inside the city walls, completely different from outside . All the buildings were box-shaped and crowded together . The narrow gaps between the buildings created a complex maze of backstreets and alleyways . Thanks to the pieces of cloth hanging on the multiple clotheslines it was difficult to peer into the depths of the maze .
In the midst of this bustling town, multiple armed men with sleepy looking faces were walking around . Adventures were filtering into their respective inns while people with farming tool were coming out of private residents and heading towards the gate .
After walking against the flow of the crowd for a bit we came across an open marketplace . “Kyun!” After weaving through a group of housewives, Ponta caught the scent of something good and cried out, starting to wag her tail .
Ponta was staring at a street stall that was emitting the savory smell of roasted beans . Though not all that large, the beans looked similar to lentil, which needed to be roasted before eating .
She was probably hungry because she didn’t eat much in the capital . Because Ponta was crying out from atop my head the stall vendor noticed us in the middle of the noisy market and started to laugh .
“Hey, mister . How about it?”
“I’ll take two servings . ”
The vendor said “Anytime!” in a booming voice as he took a wooden cup in his hand and scooped the beans into the leather pouch .
When I was about to ask for directions to Lanbaltic the stall owner chimed brought up a topic of his own first .
“Mister, are you here to hunt the Sand Wyverns?”
The question caused me to remember the Wyvern attack for before .
“No, are Sand Wyverns appearing frequently in this area?”
“Oh yes . Recently they’ve started to stray from the wastelands in large numbers and carry off a number of cattle . ”
That must have been the Wyverns from before . Though their number must have been nearly halved…… However, instead of an atmosphere of crisis, there were many people walking around the town with smiles on their faces .
“The situation sounds serious, but it doesn’t seem that way……”
When I looked at the surrounding shoppers while speaking, the vendor started to laugh .
“They are sensitive to sunlight, so they usually don’t fly around that much around this time of day . It’s rare for them to attack between daybreak and sundown . Groups of adventurers have come here in pursuit of Sand Wyvern leather……”
“Ho, for a shopkeeper you seem well informed about monsters . ”
When I offered him a compliment, the vendor waved it off and handed over two pouches of beans while laughing .
“A monster researcher just happens to live in this town, that’s all . Thanks to his guidance the damage done to the town has been minimized . Ah, that’ll be three sok . ”
“Such a talented person live here-, oh, I only have silver coins . ”
I handed over a silver coin . The vendor handed me seven copper coins as change before resuming the conversation in a lower tone .
“Furthermore, the researcher is one of those rarely seen elves . ”