141. Ulmutt’s Entrance
It took us four days to get from Barbra to Ulmutt.
Nothing really happened along the way. The only event worth mentioning was us stumbling across a goblin’s nest containing 20 odd individuals, but cleaning that up took us less than half an hour, so it honestly was rather insignificant.
It turned out that Ulmutt was much smaller a city than I’d been expecting it to be. I mean, I knew for a fact that it’d be smaller than Barbra, but it turned out that it was actually way smaller than Alessa too. In fact, it was less than half Alessa’s size.
That said though, it’d still left quite an impression on me even from the very moment I first caught sight of it. Our approach included Urus.h.i.+ carrying us on his back while running through the sky as usual, so I ended up getting a birds eye view of the city. Said view allowed me to fully understand just how weird Ulmutt’s layout really was.
Most of the weirdness stemmed from the two large constructions that had immediately grabbed my attention. The first was the ma.s.sive wall that ran all around the city’s borders. It was just as tall as Barbra’s, but much wider. It honestly looked extremely out of place, and almost entirely unnecessary.
The second was the enormous cylindrical structure that almost seemed to loom over the city in its entirety. I mean, I totally could’ve rationalized it as a fortress meant for the sake of defense had it been located outside the city’s perimeter, but it wasn’t. Hence, I could only a.s.sume that it to be some sort of shelter or facility.
『Oh well, we’ll figure out what it is if we just head over or something later.』
「Nn」
「Woof.」
The only issue with said suggestion was that getting into the city seemed like a huge pain in the a.s.s in and of itself.
There were around a thousand people lined up before Ulmutt’s gates. It seemed that the city’s main entrance was being swarmed by adventurers, spectators, and merchants alike as a result of the upcoming martial arts tournament.
Honestly, I thought the crowd to be justified seeing how the tournament was known as one of the kingdom’s biggest events.
We got off Urus.h.i.+’s back at a spot a bit away from the crowd before moving towards the line and joining it — only to find out that the line basically wasn’t moving at all.
I overheard the merchants standing in front of us saying that it was a difficult to be admitted into the city if it was your first time there unless you were an adventurer. Ulmutt contained two different dungeons, so they’d pretty much interrogate everyone that wished to enter about their intentions at the admissions gate.
Anyone that’s been admitted once would then be granted a pa.s.s that’d allow them to freely enter and exit the city over the course of the next half year. It also allowed use of the less crowded non-admissions entrances. The martial arts compet.i.tion was an annual event, so people that came solely for its sake would end up having to sit through the line every single year.
The people that came every year more or less regarded lining up as an annual tradition. Some of the more aggressive merchants would even intentionally target those waiting in line through the sale of refreshments. Some of these refreshments had come in the form of booze; several groups of people had already sat themselves down in order to engage in drinking contests and the like.
Seeing these sights reminded me of comiket and the other conventions we had back in j.a.pan. As a result, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the event would end up starting before we actually managed to get ourselves admitted. [1]
It seemed I wasn’t the only one that felt that way, as some of the other individuals in line appeared simply incapable of waiting any longer. Most of these individuals were commoners or adventurers like us who were visiting the city for the first time.
The most agitated group of all was composed specifically of adventurers with a less than refined appearance. They were getting into arguments here and there. There’d yet to be any violence, but I felt as if a brawl could break out at any given moment.
G.o.ddammit. Do those idiots not realize that they’re just making this whole line move even more slowly than usual?
Our gazes turned cold as we continued to observe them while patiently awaiting our turn.
『Goblin.』
（Ogre.）
『Hmmn.. Dragon.』
（Kobald.）
『Uhhh one sec… Uhhhhhh, demon.』
（Chimera.）
『Hmmmm』
Fran and I were killing time by engaging ourselves in games that could be played anywhere at any time. Specifically, we were currently taking turns listing off monsters whilst trying to be the last one to be able to name one.
However, said game of ours was ultimately brought to an abrupt end. And annoyingly enough, not because it’d finally become our turn.
「Hey you, brat. Get over here.」
A bearded adventurer called us over in a c.o.c.ky tone. I took a quick glance at his stats, only to find that they were abysmal. He was probably an E ranker at best.
「…」
「Oi! Listen to me, you G.o.dd.a.m.n brat!」
「…」
「b.a.s.t.a.r.d, think you’re tough s.h.i.+t for ignoring me, huh?」
「…」
Fran didn’t respond to the adventurer at all, as she was too busy trying to think up a monster to name. The man’s face had rapidly reddened as a result.
（Hmmmm…）
『Hey Fran.』
（Nn? Master, giving up?）
『Nah, it’s just that there’s someone trying to get your attention.』
「Nn?」
The adventurer immediately started yelling at Fran as if to intimidate her the moment she turned towards him.
「I was thinking of allowing you to pour me booze once we made our way over the wall, but there ain’t no forgiving you now, brat!」
「Shut up.」
「The f.u.c.k you say!? You trying mess with me!?」
Fran had flattened her ears and muttered under her breath because of how much of a pain in the a.s.s the guy was being, but, that only seemed to fuel his rage further.
「I’ll be making you pay for this!」
The bearded man immediately threw a punch in our direction. Is he stupid? Like, look at how many witnesses there are. Wait, does he have the ability to shut everyone up or something? Could he perhaps be related to one of Ulmutt’s more influential figures?
「Nn.」
I was a bit concerned about the man’s ident.i.ty, but Fran honestly couldn’t care less.
She slipped right by his attack and smashed her own fist straight into his solar plexus. The onlookers had probably initially thought it to be a rather insignificant action. In fact, many seemed to suspect that that the man wouldn’t suffered even the slightest bit of damage from the attack, but they were immediately proven wrong and forced to doubt their own eyes.
「Guah!」
The man flew five meters before finally landing back on the ground. The force of the impact had caused him to keep rolling even afterwards.
『Did you not hold back?』
（Enemy too weak so didn’t use Master.）
「Guueeeeee….」
The man lay twitching as both his blood and the contents of his last meal leaked from his throat. I mean, he did kind of deserve it given he just tried to hit a little girl. He’s lucky he didn’t get all sliced up and stuff instead.
But naturally, there existed opinions that differed from our own.
「Hey, Brulace, you alright!?」
「The h.e.l.l did you do to him you G.o.dd.a.m.n brat!?」
「Yo, that was way too over the top. The h.e.l.l man!?」
Brulace’s companions yelled at Fran in rage. It seemed that they wanted a go as well.
Their reddened faces gave way to the fact that they were all drunk. Brulace had been the same, hence his overly quick temper. That said, it wasn’t like we were planning to be all kind and forgiving just because they happened to be under the influence.
Fran immediately disarmed them and sent them flying in the exact same manner as she had Brulace.
「Ugeehh」
「Uuuueeeeee」
I mean, we were kind of the reason they ended up barfing, but I couldn’t help but feel that all four men looked way too gross for comfort. The other people in line seemed to feel the same, as they looked upon the men with eyes of disgust whilst taking a few steps away from them.
Whooops. Turned out we were the first to resort to violence.
Hmm, maybe we should clean all this up?
An older man approached us as we contemplated how we could best address the issue.
「Wow, that was impressive. You seem pretty strong.」
He was quite dandy looking, and probably a n.o.ble. The clothes he wore were gaudy; they were heavily embroidered and seemed luxurious even from a glance. His whitened hair was arranged in a swept back manner. His beard, which of course was of the same colour, had been cut to resemble something along the lines of a goatee. Though he seemed to be at least sixty years of age, his body was still so well balanced that it verged on being abnormal. All in all, he seemed to give off the air of an experienced warrior.
I found it a bit weird for him to be happily smiling at and talking to us given the status quo. My guess was that he either had b.a.l.l.s of steel or simply couldn’t read the mood.
「My name is Dias. What’s yours?」
「Fran.」
「Are you an adventurer?」
「Nn.」
「I see. You seem quite promising based on how cute and strong you are. I look forward to seeing how you’ll develop going forward.」
Hmmm, just who is this old man? He doesn’t seem to be hostile, and he doesn’t seem to be trying to evaluate Fran or anything like that either.
I mean, my first impression was that he was probably some sort of n.o.ble, but he didn’t give his family name when he introduced himself, so he probably either wasn’t one, or belonged to a family too famous for him to want to name himself.
I wanted to appraise him, but, didn’t actually get to. I was instead distracted by the fact that I happened to see a group of guards run over to us from the gate.
「Hey, you, kid.」
The guard’s tone was a rather threatening one. It seemed like we wouldn’t be able to get ourselves out of this one just by claiming self defense. It might work out if the people around us help testify though…
That said, it didn’t seem like anyone wanted to give us a hand. They all immediately averted their gazes the moment Fran looked towards them, as if to signify that they wanted to stay out of the situation given how troublesome it was.
「Geez, why’d you have to go and stir up trouble like that?」
「We’re already busy enough as is.」
「To the guard’s room with you. We’ll listen to what you have to say once we get there.」
「Come on, let’s go.」
We’d already spent an hour in line. It’d really suck if they sent us to the back again afterwards.
The guards sure did seem to be in a bad mood though. The glances they shot in Fran’s direction were totally cold. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up just locking us up without actually listening to us.
What I didn’t understand was why they only took us and not the people Fran had hit.
I really didn’t wanted to deal with all this, but it wasn’t like we could just say screw it and leave. Luckily, Dias stopped the guards right as Fran resigned herself to follow them.
「Hold on. None of what’d happened was actually her fault at all.」
「Okay and? Who the h.e.l.l are you?」
One of the guards glared at Dias in a rather stuck up manner.
『It looks like this might lead to even more trouble.』
Or so I thought, but apparently not.
「M-Master Dias!」
「W-Whatever might you be doing in a place like this?」
「Oh, you know, I just happened to be pa.s.sing by.」
Huh, looked like that old man had quite a bit of influence. Looks like he really might be a n.o.ble after all.
「Understood sir.」
「As I was saying, she wasn’t at fault at all. All the fault lies with the men collapsed over there, so if you want to be taking anyone away, it should be them. I know they’re filthy, and I do feel bad for you because of it, but you will be taking them in regardless, right?」
「Y-Yessir!」
Ah, I see now. The guards hadn’t wanted to carry off four dirty a.s.s men, so they’d decided to try targeting Fran instead. They might’ve even ended up wronging her as a result, so I do feel fairly thankful for Dias’ actions.
Dias’ words had inspired the guards to immediately bring all four men to their feet and take them away in earnest.
「Thanks.」
「Don’t sweat it. Seeing how promising an adventurer you are just happened to make me feel like keeping you out of trouble is all.」
「Why?」
「Hahaha. Anyways, I’ll be off now. See you around.」
Dias dipped after leaving us with a few words that seemed to be hinting at something. Just who the h.e.l.l was he? I guess we’ll probably end up finding out when get inside the city.
「Bored.」
『Me too.』
It looked like we’d still have to wait for quite some time before finally being allowed into the city’s walls.
『Whoops. I just realized I totally forgot to appraise him.』
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[1] I’m pretty sure most WN readers know this already, but comiket is comic market, a huge convention in which they sell all sorts of goodies and p.o.r.n. Mostly p.o.r.n. Think of it like a super crowded Anime Expo, but with ten thousand times as much p.o.r.n. Many of the more popular p.o.r.nographic artists end up having their stuff completely sold out by the time people in the middle of the line actually manage to enter the facility. Oh yeah, did I mention the p.o.r.n? That alone makes it worth going to j.a.pan.
[2] This note is cla.s.sified as legacy. It is no longer applicable, but will be left for those interested in the meaning of “sama”. Thanks to everyone for their answers regarding Dias’ ident.i.ty. Normally I don’t do honorifics, but I haven’t read ahead, so I have absolutely no idea what his actual t.i.tle is. If anyone’s read ahead and wants to tell me who Dias is, please do so and I’ll be able to get rid of sama and replace it with something appropriate. Anyway, when you append “-sama” to someone’s name, you’re typically doing so because you have great respect for the other party, or you’re just flat out completely subordinated in both mind and body. Individuals in servile positions, like maids and living s.e.x toys often use this to refer to their masters.