Chapter 529: A Shortcut
In order to prove that Tauro was the real one, Tauro and his party decided to head for Suwen, the largest city near the northern border.
“From what Branch Chief Kai said, it looks like we can’t just go straight west across the land,” Tauro said, spreading out a map inside a hired carriage bound in the direction of Suwen and pointing things out to Aeris and the others.
“There’s a restricted zone in between because of the kingdom’s military facilities, right?” Aeris said, pointing at the map.
“In that case, the leader is an honorary viscount and has permission to enter and exit all facilities in the royal territory, so he can just go through, right?” Ankh pointed out, peering at the map from behind him.
“Oh, right! I had forgotten—they told me that a year ago. But can we really go through even military facility areas?” Tauro’s concern was understandable.
Military facilities were bound to be full of classified information.
Even if he had a royal permit that granted various permissions, it seemed too convenient to expect it to work so easily—
“…We got through…”
They couldn’t pass together with the carriage, but when Tauro showed his permit at the checkpoint, they were allowed to pass through.
“That was surprisingly easy…” Aeris said, slightly surprised at how smoothly the soldiers had waved them through.
“Still, that soldier said, ‘We’ve already been informed—please go ahead,’ didn’t he? What exactly was he talking about?” Ragune voiced her doubts about the checkpoint soldier’s response.
“That bothered me too. It sounded like this wasn’t the first time,” Ankh added.
“Right? I felt the same way. Their attitude made it seem like the notice from a year ago had just come in yesterday or today,” Tauro agreed, sharing their sense of unease.
“But this way we can take a shortcut straight to Suwen, so isn’t that good? If we take the detour it will take a week, but if we go straight it will only take four days!” Zion said optimistically.
“That’s true, but… wel, since I need to prove I’m the real one as soon as possible, I guess I should be glad about the shortcut.” Tauro replied.
“—Yeah. Right now, this isn’t the time for you to worry about small details,” Ankh said.
With the existence of a Tauro impostor being the biggest issue, reaching Suwen was the top priority for all of them.
The rest of the group nodded in agreement, and they pressed on, crossing the region that housed the military facilities.
The military zone was dotted with checkpoints everywhere.
At the third checkpoint, Tauro and the others once again showed the metal plate that served as a royal certificate to the soldiers.
“Y-yes, that seems correct… Hm, that’s strange. You are indeed adventurer team Black-Golden Wings led by an honorary viscount, right?”
“Yes. Is something wrong?”
“Ah, no… It’s just that you feel quite different from the last time you passed through. I only saw you from a distance then, but you were all wearing your hoods low, so I couldn’t clearly see your faces. This time, your atmosphere feels lighter—more relaxed, you could say…”
“““““Last time?”””””
Tauro and the others froze on the soldier’s words.
Of course they would—this was their first time here.
There’s no way we could have been seen before.
“Yes. I believe it was a few days ago—you toured the military facilities in their entirety. There were six of you at the time, but… hm? This time there are five…? Lord Tauro, could I ask you to spare a little time? If you don’t mind, I would like you to come to the guardhouse.”
Catching on to the discrepancy in their numbers, the soldier clearly grew suspicious, blocked their path, and requested their cooperation.
This was the pattern where you get detained at the guard post.
But resisting here would only lead to misunderstandings.
This likely meant that the fake Tauro’s group had already passed through this area first.
If that’s the case, then the reaction at the first checkpoint now made sense.
“…Everyone, let’s comply peacefully,” Tauro told the others, asking them not to resist.
They went to the guard post and were quietly detained.
“That’s a very well-made royal-issued certificate. Even my appraisal ability marks it as genuine,” said the soldier interrogating Tauro, pretending to be impressed as he held the certificate Tauro had presented.
“It’s genuine, so of course it would,” Tauro replied.
Several hours had passed since they were detained.
I had been subjected to the same line of questioning again and again.
“As if! The honorary viscount-led adventurer team Black-Golden Wings already visited us a few days ago. At that time, we confirmed that both their tags and insignia were genuine. Your tag is one that hastily issued by some backwater town, isn’t it? If we’re talking about which one looks more suspicious, it would have to be this one. And you expect me to believe that someone like you would have a real royal-issued certificate? Don’t be ridiculous!”
The soldier slammed his fist on the desk, seething.
Then he continued:
“Tch. I held back because you’re a kid, but I guess it can’t be helped. —Hey, we’re going to torture him. We’ll make him spill the truth. Anyone capable of preparing forgeries this refined might be connected to the Empire. Let’s get him to talk quickly.”
With a sigh, the soldier ordered his subordinate, clearly signaling how unpleasant he found the task.
“Why do you assume the ones who came first are the real ones? Couldn’t it be that they were the impostors, and that’s why they didn’t present a royal-issued certificate? And the fact that they toured around inside a highly classified military facility should make them the suspicious ones. We only tried to pass through the territory. Our objectives are completely different.”
Tauro made a perfectly reasonable argument.
“……My appraisal can’t determine much about either this royal-issued certificate or the kid’s identity. —Hey! Someone go fetch a senior appraiser from the research institute!”
Perhaps realizing Tauro had a point, the soldier ordered a higher-level appraisal.
“…Wait here. If that appraisal reveals you to be a fake, then we’ll make you talk properly.”
With a harsh expression, making it clear he wouldn’t go easy on Tauro, the soldier left the sterile room that contained nothing but a desk and chair bolted to the floor.
“So much for a shortcut—it looks like this has turned into a detour… I wonder if everyone else is okay,” Tauro muttered with a sigh, worried about the safety of the others.