V3C66 (1/2)

(066) Town atop the bridge

Translator: Tseirp

“Sorry for keeping silent about it.”

Carol said but she didn’t look sorry, rather, she showed a smile like a delighted child who succeeded in a prank.

“Don’t worry, I was able to be genuinely surprised because you kept quiet about it. Thanks … so, why is there a town here?”

Town … right, it was a town.

Even though I called it a town, it didn’t have housing-type buildings but not only were there numerous stalls and shops lined up, there were also what looked like simple rest areas.

“Ichino-sama, this is not a town. It is not recognized as a town. The reason being, this place does not belong to neither Arundel nor Dakyat.”

That’s true, at the moment, I have left Arundel and have not entered Dakyat.

I see, this place certainly does not belong to either country’s territory.

“Living on the bridge is not recognized and securing buildings to the bridge is also not recognized but trade is recognized. Originally, this place was for the sake of transactions between Merchants from Arundel and Merchants from Dakyat. Using that system, children who came here to sell fishes they fished from the river appeared. From then on, bento shops, souvenir shops, general stores and many stalls opened shop one after the other and it reached to today’s state. There’s no need to pay taxes when doing business here so it’s a heavenly location for Merchants.”

“Wow … but, since you mentioned that living here is not recognized, where do the shopkeepers stay? If they have to pay the cross-border tax every time they return home, no matter how good it is to not have to pay taxes when doing business, won’t it be harsh for them?”

“Ichino-sama will understand if you look below the bridge.”

Listening to Carol, I peeked under the bridge.

Underneath the foot of the bridge, there were many raft-like structures with small huts built on them.

Rope ladders descended down from the bridge to those rafts.

A brown-skinned girl wearing T-shirt and shorts appeared from within one of the houses, grabbed the rope ladder and began climbing it.

So they take up residence there and do business on the bridge huh?

What indomitable merchants.

I confirmed that and returned to the carriage.

“Nevertheless, what an interesting town. I’d like to take a while and take a look.”

“Okay. Then, let’s stop the carriage and tour the place.”

“There’s even stables!?”

“Yes. But it’s slightly expensive though.”

No matter how I think about it, grass won’t grow around this area so won’t that just take up space?

The place Carol guided us to was after advancing just slightly into the bridge.

There, I entrusted Fuyun and the carriage to them.

With an additional fee, they would bring the carriage to the stable on Dakyat’s side so I requested for that.

The stable owner gave a wry smile when Haru firmly told Fuyun: “Listen to what this man says okay? But if he brings you to a strange place, please rampage when that happens.”

Tentatively, to prevent crime, I returned the goods into my item bag.

“That’s right, I’ll pass these to the 2 of you.”

I took out drawstring bags and passed them to the 2 of them.

“Master, this gold is for?”

“It’s gold to enjoy this place. 1000 sense a person.”

“It’s way too much.”

Yup, 10 silver coins, thinking in terms of Japanese yen, it would be 100 thousand yen after all.

There aren’t anybody who carries 100 thousand yen to walk around festival stalls.

It certainly feels like we’re touring as rich people.

“Look, thanks to Carol we were able to save 4500 sense cost price so it’s fine for you to use the money freely at times like this. If you don’t finish using it, it’s also good for you to save it. Also, Carol definitely has to be together with either me or Haru.”