Volume 2 Chapter 2
With feeding as my primary objective, I set out into the forest, eager to see more of this new world. To do so, I had changed out of my ornate Gothic Lolita dress.
Standing out was a terrible idea. I’d learned that the hard way back in the Strip Empire, when the villagers of Colin Village mistook me for a noble and caused quite a bit of trouble.
I used magic to observe the attire of the nearby Winton Empire villagers, then used a transformation spell on my clothes. In an instant, I was wearing a simple, patched dress that fit my size and a pair of traveler’s boots with the laces tied in bows. My disguise was complete.
Nia was accompanying me on this trip as well.
As for the reason—Bard’s armor and Angus’s black coat were far too conspicuous. Elio looked more like a brothel worker, and Oberth’s hulking frame would make any human suspicious. Nia, on the other hand, wore a simple white dress. With her silver-white twin-tails, her hair color was similar to mine. Once she hid her beastly eyes and ears, we could easily pass for sisters. Unfortunately, due to our height difference, Nia had to play the older sister, “Laura,” while I was the younger sister, “Alice.” Getting Nia to call me ‘Alice’ was going to be a challenge. She was so used to addressing me as ‘My Lord’ that subconsciously, she just couldn’t bring herself to use my fake name.
I could only hope for the best… One slip of the tongue from her, and everyone would become suspicious of us…
After leaving the forest, we could see the Winton Empire’s border fortress-city in the distance. I had checked the map carefully; its name was Lukapodi.
We weren’t walking on the main road, with its well-worn wheel ruts. Instead, we stuck to the smaller paths, doing our best to avoid the attention of other travelers and magical beasts.
Lukapodi… This is my first time visiting a major city in another world…
The medieval walls and gate looked just like my own outer city’s, with battlements that were chipped and weathered from long exposure to the elements. There was no moat, only an iron portcullis. The path leading to the gate was lined with guards, who were inspecting the luggage of all sorts of travelers.
There were honest-looking farmers.
Travelers with greatswords slung across their backs.
Merchants decked out in gold and silver rode through the gate in carriages, followed by a retinue of armored bodyguards with longswords on their backs.
Most of the warriors entering and leaving the city carried swords, and many swordsmen had short magic wands hanging from their waists. Their bodies were covered in fearsome scars and tattoos—they were clearly veterans who had survived countless battles with magical beasts and other creatures.
As expected of a nation of Magic Swordsmen. The knowledge I’d gleaned from books was finally proving useful.
I’d also read that they had something like the Roman Colosseum here. The people were truly a fierce bunch…
But those kinds of duels were most likely gambles with life and limb—spectators in the stands would place bets while slaves down below fought each other to the death to determine a winner. To put it bluntly, it was a place where human life was treated as worthless.
Only a place like the Winton Empire would have a system of slavery. Everything was decided by strength and birth. The child of a slave was a slave for life. Those who lost a duel and lacked the coin to pay their bets would also become slaves, turned into ‘assets’ that could be traded at any time.
This was a country ruled completely by coin and strength.
Coin was your pass, and strength was the key that opened every door. In short, coin and strength were the law, dictating how everyone lived.
Here, between a noble and a merchant, whoever had more money was in charge. A noble’s status didn’t automatically put them above a merchant. If a merchant had enough coin, they could stand on equal footing with the aristocracy.
What happened next caught me completely off guard.
“Two young misses. The entrance fee is one gold coin.”
The city guard blocked our path.
