The first time we came to a city, we were so focused on setting up our lives that we didn’t have room to think about much else. Things only got easier when we managed to sell those pristine kills; we were small-time rich back then, and maybe a little overconfident about it.

“What’s the next big city west of here?” I asked as we reached the west gate, noting that no alarm seemed to have been raised about us yet.

“Huh? Oh, leaving town, are ya? Head straight west for about ten days, and you’ll reach the capital,” the gate guard replied.

“Is that so?”

“Yep. There are three rest stops along the way, so you won’t have to camp out too much.”

“What about the south gate? Where does that lead?”

“To the south is a farming region. Beyond that is the labyrinth city of Inbrand, and further south, you’ll find Aresgüte, the neighboring trade nation.”

A labyrinth city? That sounded intriguing—maybe they even had a dungeon or something similar.

“That sounds exciting too,” I said.

“Sure is. Plenty of adventurers head to the dungeon hoping to strike it rich. If I were younger, I’d give it a go myself.”

I chuckled. “Thanks for the info.”

“Be careful out there.”

After thanking the gate guard, I left the city on my own. A little misdirection never hurt, and I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to separate for now. Once I’d put some distance between myself and the city, I veered off the main road. Using my sense for Rio’s presence, I made my way through some bushes to where she was hiding.

“There you are,” I called out.

“Shu!” Rio ran toward me and practically leaped into my arms. I hugged her tightly, and I could feel the tension in her body ease as she let out a relieved sigh.

Rio had used an alleyway to slip out of sight and then flown over the city wall. While there was some risk of being spotted, she figured it was unlikely anyone would notice someone flying from inside the city.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said.

“Good. Not like they could’ve chased you in the air anyway,” I joked.

“True… I guess not,” she said with a small laugh.

“Well, let’s get moving. Ready to fly straight to the capital?”

“Yeah!”

With that, we took to the skies, flying at full speed toward the capital. We bypassed every rest stop along the way, choosing to camp out just once.

“It wasn’t as far as I expected,” I remarked as the capital came into view after two days of uneventful travel.

The size of the line at the gates, however, was another matter.

“It looks like it’ll take a while to get in,” Rio said, scanning the crowd.

“Yeah, but the line’s moving faster than I thought,” I replied.

Sure enough, the gate had multiple guards processing people simultaneously, speeding things along. Before long, it was our turn.

“Identification, please,” a guard said.

“Ah, sorry. We don’t have any,” I replied, spreading my hands to show I had nothing on me.

“Neither do I,” Rio added with a smile.

“I see. Step aside for a moment,” the guard instructed.

We had decided to avoid showing our adventurer IDs since they bore our real names. Instead, we planned to use aliases. I wasn’t entirely confident I wouldn’t slip up and reveal my real name, but we’d cross that bridge when we came to it.

We also agreed to lie about our professions. While I might pass as a novice, Rio’s magic-specialized skill set and abilities made her capable enough to pose as a frontliner if necessary.

“Name?” the guard asked as we were ushered into a small, standing-room-only side room.

“Ryu,” I replied.

“And I’m Shio,” Rio added.

“What’s your reason for coming to the capital?”

“We’re from the countryside, and we got tired of farming. We came here to become adventurers,” I said casually.

“I see. Where are you from?”

“A place called Japan. You’ve probably never heard of it; it’s pretty rural,” I said with a shrug.

The guard turned to Rio. “And you?”

“I’m from the same place as him,” she replied with a grin.

The guard gave us a skeptical once-over. “For country folk, you don’t look poor,” he remarked.

“Not all countryside folks are poor,” I countered. “Besides, I was the best in my village.”

“Is that so?”

The guard’s prejudice was almost palpable, but I didn’t let it bother me. All we needed was to get inside and secure adventurer IDs with our new names.

“Ryu is amazing,” Rio chimed in, her eyes sparkling as she smiled at me.

“A-alright, enough of that!” the guard said with an exaggerated cough. “That’ll be 1,000 Flons for the two of you. You’re clear to enter.”

Suppressing a grin, I handed over a silver coin, and the two of us walked through the gates into the bustling capital city.