Chapter 17

Deciding to do so, I immediately set out to explore the town.

It’s understandable not to know. It means there’s still something to learn. If you think positively, it means there’s still something to learn.

I can start studying now.

I stand at the boundary between the slums and the town.

Outside, the scenery changes completely, with proper buildings and roads. There are people, though not many. It’s a stark contrast to the desolate and rundown slums.

I take a step outside.

When I came here, I saw a man who couldn’t step into the slums. How different is it to take a step from here? I don’t know.

But I remember the excitement I felt when I came to this town. I can experience it again. Thinking about that, this step felt light.

Looking to the right and left, I see shops I’ve never seen before. Well, I have seen them, but only once, so it’s fair to say I’ve never seen them.

There was a shop where rolls of fabric were displayed vertically. At first, I thought they were selling fabric, but that wasn’t the case. Watching, I saw customers choosing colorful and patterned fabrics. Once they decided, they called a staff member, who took simple measurements on the spot. It was a custom clothing shop.

In the back, a staff member was cutting and sewing fabric with impressive skill. It seemed they couldn’t deliver it right away, as the customers left empty-handed. However, the staff member said, “See you tomorrow,” so it must be ready by today.

There was a shop with a sign that read “Rain Shop.” There were no products displayed at the front, and a person who looked like a staff member was sitting still. In front of them, a glass bottle was placed on a small table. The staff member kept looking at the bottle, which seemed to contain some liquid, and then looking up at the sky.

I couldn’t figure out what kind of shop it was, and no customers appeared for a while.

As I watched, the staff member suddenly took out something like a notebook and started writing with charcoal. I couldn’t get close to peek, so I still don’t know what they were doing. What kind of shop is this?

Finally, a customer entered, paid, and received what looked like a note.

What was that...?

There are various shops, but in addition, there are small resting places.

They serve as playgrounds for children who can’t work yet. There’s even a pond that seems to be fed by a stream from outside. Watching the children play tag and hide-and-seek, it looked fun.

Thinking about it, my appearance should be no different from the children playing there. However, the clothes they wear are all clean. They’re dirty with mud and dust but not damaged. If I weren’t wearing my exploration clothes, I would stand out.

I heard a loud shout, so I peeked into the building.

Inside, the guards were training. Their voices were loud and spirited.

I became a bit interested.

How skilled are the guards in this town?

I hid in the shadows, turned invisible, and walked in. No one noticed me.

Inside, a mock training exercise to subdue criminals was taking place.

It seemed they were simulating a scenario where a wanted person was discovered at a checkpoint and started causing trouble.

Several people playing the role of criminals took turns acting out different scenarios. Some suddenly drew weapons, others tried to escape, and some took hostages. It was a variety of scenarios.

It was somewhat staged, but it was still quite impressive. Some managed to break free after being subdued.

“Excuse me, could you come this way, please?”

“Huh?”

The guard politely guided the criminal to move out of line. The guard didn’t intervene until the criminal got out of hand.

“It won’t take long.”

The guard signaled to a nearby colleague with a hand gesture. The colleague subtly started to move the line away from the criminal.

“Hey, what the hell!”

The criminal revealed their true nature, brandishing a knife and threatening the surroundings. The imposing figure made the threat quite realistic.

“Urgent backup! One target! Armed!”

The guard closest to the criminal shouted in one breath, and soldiers quickly rushed from the designated station.

In no time, the criminal was subdued, crushed by shields and spears.

I watched the entire process, and it was quite interesting. It should be called arrest techniques, I suppose. The handling of weapons is completely different from martial arts like Siyum.

The spear is used as a stick with a blade, and the shield as a board to push against. They use weapons to subdue without killing. This showed one difference between explorers and guards.

Of course, if necessary, the shield can protect them, and the blade can easily tear flesh.

Watching the training, I thought their skill level was decent. While they couldn’t handle someone like Siyum or Den-A, they could easily subdue someone like Kiich, who is still inexperienced.

However, if they faced Siyum, the guards’ heads would fly off the moment they called for backup. The same would happen with Den-A, leaving the guards riddled with holes. I could easily imagine the scene.

Maybe Kiich and I were receiving quite luxurious training. Thinking about that, I felt a bit better.

The same training continued, so I left the training ground in that mood.

The shopping district smelled good.

The sweet scent of fruit and the fragrant smell of grilled sauce tickled my nose.

These scents were coming from food shops scattered around. These must be the things the stone shop owner mentioned.

Indeed, I’ve never seen this area. I either hunted for food myself or bought it from the stone shop. But there are places like this too.

I couldn’t resist the curiosity and wandered over to a small fruit shop that caught my eye.

On a small table, the same fruit was piled up like a mountain.

The shopkeeper was an elderly woman with yellow hair.

“Miss! How much is one of those?”

She looked around for the source of the voice, saw me a bit lower down, and smiled.

“Ah, are you shopping? This is two iron coins per cup. Do you have them?”

She answered with a wink, holding up a large fruit like a tangerine.

I handed over two iron coins.

“Here, please.”

“Ah, what a polite child.”

The shopkeeper cut the top of the fruit in a circular shape, scooped out the flesh in small pieces, and set it in a device like a juicer to turn it into a liquid.

She then filtered the liquid through a sieve and poured it back into the fruit’s skin.

“Here you go. Be careful not to spill it.”

“Thank you.”

When I took it, the skin was hard, more like a watermelon, and it held the juice firmly.

I thought it was a fruit shop, but it turned out to be a juice shop.

The taste was like tangerine juice. It was delicious.

I think it would be even better if it were cold.

It was quite sour, though.