BXBX NOVEL Chapter 280: By Wire (4)
Chapter 280: By Wire (4)
The gaze towards our party continued throughout the carriage ride.
The stares that were staring at me, wondering if I could see the face hidden under the hood, were enough to be burdensome even for me who was used to being stared at.
It was fortunate that I just looked to see if pervert's help was effective and didn't try to do anything more.
What would have happened if someone had tried to do something insidious?
Would he have accepted it as if he didn't know it was a joke, or would have turned it over on the spot... It was something I was quite curious about.
If it were me, I would have accepted it to some extent. Wouldn't Flora be similar?
I don't know what it's like.
If it were the old days, we would have definitely gotten into a fight, but I couldn't imagine what it would be like if it were Asil these days.
"Hey."
While I was letting my imagination run wild for a moment, pervert approached me.
I thought 'pretending to know' was enough, but is he trying to drive a wedge one last time?
"Are you guys also planning to go to the front lines?"
But the words that came out of his mouth were unexpected.
Since it wasn't something to hide, he decided to answer honestly.
"What. That's right."
He couldn't hide it even if he tried, since he came in the same carriage from the previous city anyway. The only people coming to this city from the rear are those heading to the front lines.
Ah. In this city, which was not on the front line, there were cases where nobles who had nothing to do but had a lot of time came for sightseeing.
Since we don't look like nobles wearing hoods, it was natural for him to expect that we would head to the front lines.
The irony is that among us there are people who are more noble and royal than anyone else.
"It seemed like it. So that's it. From the looks of it, there doesn't seem to be any particular mercenary group that you belong to. If that's okay, how about our mercenary group?"
Pervert has recommended that.
From what I heard, it was said to be a mercenary group with a good name.
I didn't hear the name of what kind of mercenary group it was, but no matter where it was, there was no way we would join it.
As a mercenary group, the goal would ultimately be to fight on the front lines, but our goal was elsewhere.
"No. "We have separate things to do."
When he immediately refused, Pervert ate his mouth with regret.
I understand that you are disappointed, but the structure of a large man smacking his lips in front of three women was a good structure to cause misunderstandings among those around him.
"Eek. If this continues, I think I'll get some strange misunderstandings. There's nothing we can do if you don't have any ideas. If you ever change your mind, come to the 'Fox of the Moonlit Night' inn. "Our mercenary group stays there."
As the surrounding noise gradually grew louder, pervert sensed the atmosphere and quickly finished what he had to say and disappeared into the crowd.
"Soira. Are you going?"
"Well, that's fine. I have no intention of going now... Still, just in case, let's remember the name of the inn. "I don't know if I could get involved in some way."
It was called the fox inn on a moonlit night.
If Flora couldn't find her sister, it would be okay to ask for her help at least once.
Since they are a mercenary group, they probably know more about other mercenary groups.
If that happened, she didn't know what she would ask for in return for the information... Hey, it will work out somehow.
Even though the pervert was a pervert, his personality didn't seem bad, so a mercenary group with such a pervert as an executive wouldn't ask for something outrageous.
"Then shall we go too?"
In the short time she spent talking with pervert, Asil finished stretching and slung her backpack over her shoulder.
Her backpack contained personal items that Asil did not want to show to others and emergency supplies that she needed to use immediately when needed.
Of course, since I came to this city by carriage immediately after repairs in the previous city, my backpack was just as full as when I first packed it.
The same thing happened to Soira and Flora when the luggage left, and since there was originally no need for maintenance, it would have been okay to head straight to the front line without stopping in this city.
Since the purpose was to gather information and explore rather than participate in the front line, she decided to take the time to stay in this city for a day.
It was slowly getting closer to the horizon, and the moon was vaguely appearing on the other side of the sky.
And once you arrive at the front line, even if it wasn't your purpose to participate in the battle, you couldn't help but participate in the battle, so you needed some time to rest and strengthen your resolve.
With all these reasons in mind, the first thing I did when I arrived in the city was...
"Hey! Don't cut in line! The line is here, not there!"
"Ah. "I'm sorry."
It was a long line to enter the city.
◆
It was long.
The line was extremely, long.
Was it a problem that I had to spend time fighting monsters along the way?
When we arrived, there was already a pile of carriages from various places, and all the people riding in the carriages became part of the queue, making the long queue even longer.
Moreover, no matter what I was doing, the line wasn't moving fast enough.
Still, it steadily decreased, and finally it was our turn.
"Do you have a resident card?"
The soldier blocking the crowd at the entrance asked that as soon as he saw us.
When I shook my head, he gestured with his chin and pointed to a building next to the entrance, as if he had expected that to happen.
The building had the word 'checkpoint' written in rough scrawl.
Should they just let the residents in or do they need to be inspected?
For a city right in front of the front line, it was an understandable measure.
I calmly turned towards the checkpoint.
On the way, I gave Flora a quick glance.
Flora, who sensed my signal, muttered a low incantation, and a very weak amount of magic spread so that it could not be detected by others.
The instructions to Flora were to change her hair color.
According to the story she heard from the saint, there were only rumors about the pink-haired mercenary leader, and no one had seen him in person.
However, after a thorough investigation by Seongguk, the rumors turned out to be true.
This meant that the mercenary leader was hiding his identity.
The current front line is where the capital of the Kingdom of Vale was located.
There would be no more legitimate and easy way to gather influence than being a member of the Vale royal family, so why try to hide your identity?
Since I didn't know the reason, I thought it would be better to hide Flora's identity for now.
Due to the effect of the magic, Flora's pink hair turned black.
Maybe it's because the world is so colorful that one can prove one's family lineage just by hair color, but dyeing magic requires a difficult catalyst even though all it does is change the color.
It might have been the sentiment of selling hair dye for cash in old games.
After receiving the signal that he had successfully dyed his hair, he entered the checkpoint.
The checkpoint had several rooms. At least the three of us could each be inspected at the same time.
When I entered the room, rather than the soldier standing at the gate, I saw a more comfortably dressed soldier sitting at a desk, looking bored with the world.
"Uh. Also? "Please show me your bag."
There was also a lot of annoyance in his voice.
The soldier who roughly sifted through the bag I handed him returned it. It was questionable whether there was any intention to properly conduct the inspection.
"It's okay. Just go."
Is this really any good?
However, if nothing bothersome happens, that's fine, so I tried to pass by the soldier and head to the door on the other side.
When passing by the soldier, the soldier spoke as if something suddenly occurred to him.
"Ah. Right. Hood, please excuse me. "There's someone who's a bit noisy these days."
The soldier muttered, "It's so annoying, but I need to check it first, so I don't get scolded later." He reached out and pulled back the hood I was wearing.
The hood that was covering his face by pressing deeply was lifted, and he made eye contact with the soldier.
A soldier whose pupils suddenly widen.
For a moment, I thought he couldn't breathe, and then he suddenly got up from his seat.
"Wait, wait. Now that I think about it, the inspection can't be this simple. Stop there."
Ha.
As soon as I found out it was a woman, my attitude changed.
For a moment, surprise flashed through my eyes, which had been filled with boredom, but now they were filled with lust.
Even the tone of speech changed. Or maybe this is the original way of speaking.
"Take that off too. Are you hiding something?"
He also told me to take off the thick robe that went down to my ankles.
Of course, this is normal when it comes to inspections, but the soldier's appearance was so different from what he had shown so far, and his intentions were very transparent.
Still, I had to enter the city, so I quietly took off my robe and put it down.
I felt the soldier's gaze as it scanned my body.
As if he had done something like this once or twice, his gaze was closer to comparing and evaluating rather than admiring.
As I stayed still and received the sticky gaze, the soldier urged me.
"What are you doing? "I would have told you to take it off, right?"
"You took it off."
"I see that there are still a lot of places to hide. "I guess you don't want to go into the city."
"..."
The soldier emphasized his position and made threats.
Everything was welcome.