Although some people might question whether it was all right for the soldiers of a city near the frontline to be so relaxed, the truth was that the troops at the inspection posts were there to vet travellers. Their job was to uncover contraband and spies from other countries, so they had nothing to do when nobody was entering the city.

As a result, the currently idle soldiers ― though they maintained discipline instead of passing their time by playing cards ― couldn’t resist the urge to yawn.

They might look slack now, but when they were busy, they were extremely so. It was especially hard to describe the mornings in words, when the city had just opened its gates.

With the sun at its highest point in the sky, the travellers began appearing on the streets in small groups, scattered sparsely among the other pedestrians. It was only natural that people would travel in numbers, given that this was a world inhabited by monsters.

When they show up, they show up in force; we’re going to be busy soon, thought the guard who was idly contemplating the streets from his counter. His eyes rested on a wagon about to enter the street, waiting for some pedestrians to pass.

A woman was driving it. He couldn’t see anyone else on the uncovered wagon bed. She was travelling alone.

He couldn’t see any weapons on her either. His first guess was that she was some village girl.

As the soldier thought this, he tilted his head as he second-guessed himself.

It wasn’t anything rare to have people from the nearby villages coming here. However, a woman travelling by herself was a different matter entirely. The area surrounding E-Rantel wasn’t completely free of bandits and monsters. Thanks to the efforts of the legendary adventurer team “Darkness”, most of the dangerous monsters and bandits had been wiped out. But “most” didn’t mean “all”, and there were still mundane beasts like wolves and the like to look out for.

This wasn’t unique to E-Rantel; it applied to all of the other cities as well. And come to think of it, could women travel by themselves?

While the thought that she might have just outrun the bandits came to mind, he didn’t sense any tension or nervousness from her at all. It was as though she knew the journey was a safe one.

What kind of woman was she?

The soldier shifted his now-suspicious gaze to her horse, and that was when he did a double-take.

The horse was exceptional, not something a mere village girl would have. Its condition and coat reminded him of a warhorse.

Warhorses were extremely valuable. Even if you could actually raise the money to buy one, a normal person wouldn’t be able to get one easily. Leaving aside monstrous riding animals like wyverns and griffins, warhorses were some of the mightiest creatures which could serve as mounts.

A normal person would need money and connections to obtain such a warhorse, and a simple village girl wouldn’t have those connections.

It was also possible that she had stolen the horse from its original owner, but anyone who stole such a valuable item would be hotly pursued and targeted for retribution. This was why bandits wouldn’t steal horses or attack mounted soldiers.

In short, after considering all the visible evidence, the chances that she really was a simple village girl were very low. So what was this creature posing as a village girl?

The important thing was that she was travelling alone. That meant she was very confident in her abilities, and those abilities were not limited by the fact that she chose to dress as a village girl. With that in mind, it was likely that she was a magic caster, since their equipment and power rarely matched their appearance.

That was an answer he could accept. If pressed for the reason, it was because magic casters, or adventurers in general, were wealthy and connected, so obtaining a warhorse would be easy.

“Is that a magic caster?”

His partner beside him went through the same thought process.

“Might be.”

The soldier furrowed his brow and answered.

Magic casters were very irritating people to check and clear.

To begin with, their primary weapon, magic, was a thing that didn’t exist in a form that was visible to the naked eye. Which meant it was impossible to see what they were armed with.

Secondly, they might use dangerous items as part of their magic and finding those was hard.

Thirdly, magic casters usually had a lot of baggage, so checking them all was troublesome.

Honestly speaking, he hated dealing with them. Because of that, they’d hired a man from the Magician’s Association — after paying a suitable fee, of course — to help them out. However…

“Do we have to bring that guy out? I don’t want to.”

“It can’t be helped. If anything happens, it’s our asses.”

“It would be nice if she’d just dressed like a magic caster to begin with.”

“Carrying a weird staff, wearing a weird robe?”

“Yup. At least you’d know she was a magic caster. Then we’d forcibly enlist her into the Magician’s Association and make her carry the obligatory Adventurer’s Guild identification seal.”

The two soldiers got up as one, laughing to each other. This was to welcome the girl who might be a magic caster.

Under the watchful eyes of the soldiers, the wagon rolled up to the door and stopped.

The girl disembarked. Her forehead was slick with sweat, but she seemed used to travelling under the sun. Her sleeves were long, probably to ward off sunburn. Her clothes didn’t seem expensive or well-tailored. No matter how you looked at her, she was a simple village girl.

But you couldn’t judge a book by its cover. She could be hiding something. Their job was to find out what that was.

The soldiers warily approached the girl.

They spoke to her with kind and gentle tones. Something along the lines of, “We don’t want to spook you, so please calm down and relax.”

“Yes. No problem.”

The soldiers escorted the girl to the checkpoint.

In order to protect against the use of ‘Charm’ spells, two more soldiers followed at a distance of several meters. The others watched her carefully, wary of any suspicious movements.

The girl tilted her head several times, as though sensing the tension in the air.

“…What’s wrong?”

“Eh? Ah, no, nothing’s wrong.”