William stood frozen, unsure of what to do. If he got any closer to the soldiers, they'd recognize him instantly.
The only reason they hadn't noticed yet was because he was still a bit too far. But that would soon change.
He turned to Rena and whispered, "Look at the wall. The wanted poster. Do it discreetly."
Rena glanced toward the wall as subtly as she could. When her eyes landed on the poster and she saw William's face, her body tensed.
"What now?" she asked. "How are we supposed to get through if your face is right there? And how the hell is your wanted poster already here? That doesn't even make sense!"
Neither of them could figure it out. It was too soon — they had flown nearly non-stop. How had the poster already made it to this kingdom?
They stood in silence, unsure of what to do next.
"There's no way to walk past them without them realizing who you are," Rena murmured.
"I'll go first," she said. "I'll try to see if there are more posters inside the city, or if it's just that one by the gate. If it's only there, maybe I can get rid of them for you."
William nodded. It was the best idea they had.
He turned around and headed back toward the forest, taking the magical dove with him while Rena approached the soldiers at the gate.
Crossing a kingdom's border was no quick task, so William started looking for a place to lie low while he waited.
At the gate, the soldiers greeted Rena with respect — anyone who had a flying beast clearly had status.
"Why is your friend turning back?" one of the soldiers asked as soon as she approached.
"He went to grab so of our luggage. I think he'll be back tomorrow," she said smoothly.
The soldiers didn't seem suspicious. They proceeded with the usual routine — asking questions about why she was entering the kingdom and how long she planned to stay. They also searched her to make sure she wasn't smuggling anything illegal.
The entire process took about 30 minutes.
Afterward, they handed her a docunt proving she was allowed to stay within the kingdom without trouble.
Rena thanked them and walked through the gate.
Now inside the border town, she took in her surroundings. It was busy and chaotic — people constantly flowed in and out of the city. The streets were paved with stone, but many of the buildings were still made of wood. Dozens of rchants shouted from behind their stalls, selling all sorts of goods unique to the region.
Clearly, they wanted to cash in on travelers crossing the border.
Rena ignored all of it. She had a mission.
She wandered through the city, keeping an eye out for any more wanted posters with William's face on them.
She found only a few — three, to be exact — and it seed that most people didn't pay much attention to them.
The real problem was the one by the gate. The soldiers there would notice. They'd look at William's face… and then at the poster right next to them.
She had to remove it. But doing so in broad daylight was impossible. She'd have to wait for nightfall — and hope luck was on her side.
*
Rena stayed at one of the many taverns in the city. As night fell, she slipped out and moved toward the gate.
At night, the security didn't necessarily weaken in numbers — but many of the guards were tired, waiting for the next shift to arrive and relieve them.
That was exactly the mont she chose to move.
Just before the guard rotation, when fatigue was at its highest.
The guards were so exhausted that the one guarding the back entrance to the immigration building was asleep, slumped in his chair.
Rena slipped past him silently, doing her best not to make a single sound.
Once inside the building, she looked for the spot where William's wanted poster had been pinned up.It wasn't hard to find—it was exactly where she rembered. And luck really was on her side…
Right when she went to remove the poster, the nearby guards had stepped away to do sothing—probably to use the bathroom.
That gave her just enough ti to take the poster down unnoticed and leave the building the sa way she ca in.
She returned to the tavern she was staying at and slept until the next day.
The following morning, she walked around the city to see if anyone was talking about the missing posters. No one said a word.
There were still other wanted posters up, for people being hunted in neighboring kingdoms. They'd probably been posted there to stop those people from crossing the border.
But with so many faces to keep track of, William's poster? They just replaced it with another one and didn't even rember what the last one looked like…
Apparently, it wasn't unusual for posters to disappear, and no one really cared anymore. The security in that place was honestly kind of sloppy.
Anyway, William went to the gate to enter the kingdom later that afternoon. He showed up with his flying mount.
The soldiers looked a little uneasy with the magical creature so close, but none of them said anything.
After the usual round of questions and the approval paper granting him permission to stay in the kingdom, one of the guards said, "I don't know… your face looks kind of familiar for so reason."
William smiled. "Yeah, I was here yesterday, but I had to go back and grab a few things. I guess that's why."
"Ah, right, true. You can go in. Enjoy your stay here."
Once he passed the guards, William let out a breath of relief.
"That was close," he thought.
William thought the guards were going to recognize him, but apparently, that wasn't the case. At least not for now.
He walked through the city with his magical mount by his side. That alone drew a lot of attention from the people around, especially the children, who had never seen anything like it before.
Because of the mount—and also because the city was small—it was easy for him to find Rena again. She ca up to him with a look of relief on her face.
"Looks like everything went fine," she said.
William nodded. "Yeah, thankfully. But I think we should leave this city."
Soone had already brought their wanted posters there, which ant staying in that place wasn't a good idea. Soone who knew they were wanted might be lurking around.
"I agree," Rena said.
They left the city through the other side before climbing onto the mount and flying away. From up there, it was easy to see that most of the area surrounding the city was nothing but wild vegetation.
In other words, there was nothing out there. If they wanted to find out more about where the portal to exit that floor was, they'd have to reach the next city, which was a bit far.
They had no idea where they were even going. They just flew, scanning the land in every direction, hoping to spot sothing useful.
The magical dove was fast—really fast—so they could cover a lot of ground in a short ti. In less than an hour, they had reached the next city!
This city was located near the mountains, and even from a distance, William could see that there were several mines dug into them, with people working there to collect minerals and other resources.
For a mont, he rembered his ti at Jonas's mansion, collecting mana stones inside that mine. That hadn't been fun at all.
"This region's known for its magical ores and mana stones too," Rena comnted. "The soldiers back at the fortress always said the weapons forged here were the best."
"Oh?"
That explained the mines.
Anyway, William and Rena decided to land before being seen from the city, and William commanded his mount to find a spot to stay nearby.
He didn't want to enter the city riding it, since it would draw way too much attention! Everyone would start talking about him from the very first day, and that could lead to trouble.
He wanted to enter quietly and gather information about the portal in a more discreet way.
When they walked up to the city gate, the change in treatnt was imdiately noticeable. The guards hadn't seen the flying mount, so to them, they were just regular people.
The good thing was that since they had already crossed the border, the guards in this city—and in the ones they would visit later—only did a quick check to make sure they weren't carrying anything illegal, then let them through. It was much faster.
As soon as they entered the city, the sll of coal hit their noses, and the smoke hanging in the air was hard to miss.
William quickly noticed sothing. He spotted a group of three people. From the way they moved and behaved, well… they looked like other adventurers exploring this floor of the dungeon.
He was almost certain—he could feel the power they carried. A decent level of power.
So, he walked over to them, hoping he might be able to get so useful information sohow.
Reviews
All reviews (0)