Chapter 23

  Contraband

  The carriage approaches the city gates with only the driver readily seen. Leuke is inside the carriage with Ayre and myself, with his horse tethered to the back to guide it along with us. When the carriage slows to a stop, however, I reach for the window before the driver has time to ring the bell.

  "Everything alright?" I ask.

  The man looks like he'd been worried about more of a, What now, and takes a moment to speak, in which time I can see closed iron gates and an approaching guard holding a spear.

  "The gates are shut, Madam," he informs me redundantly, though it's my own fault for asking something I could see with my own eyes. "A town guard is approaching us for some reason."

  By that point, the guard is close enough to overhear. "Just a standard inspection," he informs the driver. "Mayor's orders, gotta make sure you're not carrying any contraband."

  I turn to Leuke in confusion. "What constitutes contraband?"

  He blinks back and shrugs. "I don't know. We weren't checking for anything like that before I was summoned. The gates were kept open, too."

  The guard reaches the side of the carriage and knocks on the door. "Sorry, but I need to ask you to step out of the carriage. We'll be as quick as we can about it."

  To the guard's credit, he does sound genuinely apologetic for all of this trouble. The guards must consider whatever they're searching for to be more trouble than it's worth.

  We three look to each other for any objections and pass around a series of shrugs. I don't think any of us suspect something fishy is up, but even if it was, it isn't like a single town guard is going to do anything to two Heroes and a Silver-rank adventurer.

  "Alright," Leuke calls out, "watch the door, we're coming out." He gives a moment in case the guard needs it to step away, then opens the door, apparently intending to step out first.

  And then he pauses in the doorway. I obviously can't see his face from this angle, but if the guard's is any indication, it's likely in the same expression of recognition.

  "Leuke?!" the guard declares in disbelief. "Leuke Flamvel, is that you?!"

  "Prower!" Leuke declares back, holding his arms wide as he finishes hopping out of the carriage. "I was hoping the first face back would be a friendly one!"

  They embrace, Leuke's metal armor making muted clanking sounds as it claps against the guard's brigandine vest, and the guard calls back to his partner that stayed at the gate.

  "Hey, Collus! It's Leuke! Leuke's back!"

  The other guard only rolls his eyes, but Leuke takes the opportunity to hold his hand out and help Ayre and me out of the carriage.

  By the time Prower turns back, I'm out of the carriage and he's helping Ayre down, and the guard's eyes go wide.

  "Wow, Flamvel, I never had you figured for a womanizer, and you're bringing two of them home?! And what kind of carriage is that, anyway?"

  "It's not like that!" Leuke holds his hands up as his neck starts going as red as his hair. "We crossed paths on the way here! That's my horse in back! I know Remmi from the Capital, and since we were going the same direction, we decided to take the opportunity to catch up!"

  "The Capital?!" the guard repeats in disbelief. "When did you ever go to the Capital?"

  "Uh ..."

  Leuke falls back to rubbing the back of his head, clearly floundering under the teasing, so I step in.

  "We were both summoned there," I answer for him as I pull out the large coin with the imperial seal on it from my satchel. We each received one printed on the opposite side with a symbol representing our class when we were declared Heroes by the Imperial Throne. I pass it to him, seal up. "I'm Remmi Lee, the Gunslinger Hero. And you're talking to Leuke Flamvel, the Swordmaster Hero."

  The guard turns it over in his hand for a moment before turning his attention back to Leuke. "So that's your excuse for leaving the Captain without so much as a notice, eh? Went and became a Hero?" His grin returns. "Not sure how well that excuse will fly, but at least she'll be happy to know you didn't bring a couple Capital girls home with you!" But then his gaze goes to Ayre, who is already looking uncomfortable. "Unless ..."

  I put an arm out into the guard's field of vision between him and the elf. "Ayre's my teammate."

  He seems to realize he's crossed a line because he goes a similar red to what Leuke did. "Oh-oh, right. Didn't mean anything by it. Just puzzling out what our boy's been up to since he disappeared months ago."

  "I really did get back as soon as I could," Leuke insists. "The nobles and generals kept us so busy. I feel like I've seen half the empire since I was home last!"

  I nod in sympathy to that. "They've been sending me up and down the Western border. My next stop's Ogre's Grotto."

  The guard's face clinches up at that, as if into an overdramatic flinch, as he inhales sharply. "Yeah, that's going to be a problem. That's in the conflicted territory."

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  "Conflicted territory?" I repeat.

  Leuke seems to be better informed. "So it's true," he asks, "things have gotten that bad with the oni?"

  "Negotiations aren't going anywhere, as far as I've heard," Prower provides, "and, of course, the mayor insists on running them, himself, instead of calling for a diplomat."

  "And the inspections?" Ayre asks.

  The guard glances to the elf. "The mayor wants to make sure nobody's trying to slip through and trade with them. Figures they're land-bound that way and might fold sooner."

  I frown at that, crossing my arms. "Well, if you want a war, that sounds like a good way to start it."

  The guard can't do much but shrug. "That's just the gist that we get from the whole thing. If you want more, you're going to have to talk to the Captain. Ah, after I finish the inspection, of course."

  I look to the walls of the city as he gets started, wondering where in all of that the Captain I keep hearing mentioned is, and what they're like.

  The walls, themselves, are plastered, probably concealing stone or baked mud bricks. Since the walls are curved, I suspect that there's tactical reasoning for the plaster, beyond just a sleek finish. All of those turns would have left the wall with countless foot holds for would-be assailants to scale it without needing so much as a ladder.

  With all of the gaps filled in with plaster, however, they end up with a smooth, watertight surface that gives nowhere to grip and little to gain traction against. It's an impressive structure, especially compared to the palisades surrounding most villages. It's still not as thick or high as the walls around most cities, though.

  In short, nice walls, but I've seen better.

  The guard finds nothing that constitutes contraband, of course, but we're also traveling incredibly light. He even checks our bags, but there's little in mine and Ayre's but what you'd find in a hiker's bag: Food, water, rope and, for me, my coin, since it would be suspicious if it didn't show up there now that he'd seen it.

  "We restock foodstuffs in the nearest town before we go into a dungeon," I only partially lie when he asks about it. Our stockpile of food has dwindled quite a bit, especially after cooking for the pirates. I'm really itching for a return to Dabun so I can restock all of my Essence crops that I've spent, but that's a long way in the opposite direction without teleportation magic. "We're actually really low on meat and bread."

  The guard looks over the empty luggage rack again. "Um, excuse me, low, not out? Where is it now?"

  I grin and climb back up into the carriage. The way the seats were built left big spaces under them, so I did the obvious thing and converted the front into drawers. There's nothing in them now, but as I pull one out, I transfer packages of dried meat, granola and crusted bread into it from my storage space. The other, I transfer bundles of Ayre's arrows, oils and cloth for his bow maintenance and, for good measure, a gun-cleaning kit, not that I expect the guard to recognize that last one.

  With them both slid open, I beckon him in and watch him go slack-jawed.

  "I never would have guessed you had compartments there! Is this some sort of smuggling cart?"

  "Nah," I assure him, "it's just easier on long trips if we don't have to get out every time we want a snack. And the arrows are in case we're attacked. That way, Ayre can keep firing without having to get out."

  Prower nods slowly. "Yes, that makes more sense. Very much adventurer logic. Though this is still a very fancy carriage for a pair of adventurers, even if one of them is a Hero." He rubs the back of his head in a very Leuke gesture. "Uh, not that I really get what you're Heroes of."

  "Like the stories," Leuke puts in from the ground. "We're not heroes of anything in particular. We're big H Heroes! Like the legends!" He reaches back and grips the hilt of his massive sword. "I was gifted Ryutaiji Steel by the Throne, itself!"

  If I had to describe Prower's expression as anything, it would be restrained jealousy of the weapon. "Yeah, pretty sure that Captain's going to let you hear it over the nonstandard kit, Leuke."

  "If she wants me back in brigandine, she'll have it," he swears, "but you know I've never been good with polearms."

  "Whoa, hold on," I say as I climb back out. "There are weapons Leuke's bad with? I know his class is Swordmaster, but I always got the impression he was good with just about anything he picked up."

  "Disgustingly so, always was," Prower spills with a scowl. "Except his guard-issued spear. No matter how many times it gets drilled into him, the doofus ends up trying to whack his opponent with it sooner or later."

  I glance to the embarrassed Hero. "Well, look on the bright side, now you can just buy the proficiency."

  For some reason, that just makes the guard bust out laughing. He obviously doesn't know much about Heroes in general, so it must be something about the spear proficiency, itself. All I can do, though, is look to Leuke in confusion.

  He just gives an embarrassed grin and a shrug. "I, uh ... I already have the proficiency ... Acquiring it is one of the requirements for passing guard training."

  I frown back as I process that. "So you're saying you're trained in the spear, you know how to use it, you've drilled it enough for the System to consider you proficient in it, ... and you still treat it like a game of Whack-A-Mole?"

  That gets the guard laughing again. "I have no idea what that is, but it sounds exactly like Leuke!"

  The Swordmaster Hero just slumps his shoulders. "I can't help it! I get into the motions, and in the heat of the moment, I follow something up with a downward swing!"

  "Sounds like what you need is a halberd."

  At my words, something else clicks in his mind, and he snaps his attention back to me. "Oh, that's right! Rem, you're proficient in spears, too, aren't you?"

  My look of confusion is back again. "Me? What gave you that idea?"

  "Back at the test," he insists. "After your weapon broke, you picked up a golem spear. The way you gripped that shaft made you really look like you knew what you were doing!"

  I feel my face go red at that. "Jeeze, Leuke, phrasing!" I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it, and I can't even be sure innuendo translates cleanly. At least, I can't until I see Prower trying to keep from laughing.

  It's true, men are perpetual adolescents, regardless of the world ...

  I cross my arms, though, and focus on the question, itself. "But no, I don't really have proficiency with the spear. I've seen it used a lot, though, and heard a couple explanations in the process. I just tried to imitate that. I only picked it because it was either that or a sword, and I wanted reach."

  "You should give it a try while you're in town, then," he insists like he's recommending his favorite gym. "I'm sure old Geold wouldn't mind giving you some pointers! He's not nearly as mean as he acts!"

  Prower shakes his head in disagreement. "Immediately trying to throw her in with the old goat, and you expect me to believe you two are friends?"

  "Actually," I interrupt, "I think I'd rather speak to this Captain before anything. Sounds like they're in charge of enough that they're my key to getting into the Grotto." My arms are still crossed, but I shake my head for good measure. "I have a feeling I'll have plenty of time to play tourist waiting for that to shake out, so the sooner we get that ball rolling, the sooner Ayre and I can continue our own mission."

  Prower nods in agreement. "Meeting with the Captain can easily be arranged. She'll definitely want to see Leuke, at least, so you can get in with him. You'll have a harder time avoiding the Mayor if you're as important as you sound."

  "One step at a time, then," I agree. "Captain first, then I'll deal with the Mayor if I must."

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