207: The Border Town

The Border Town

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  1

With the abilities of the 'Champion's Chariot', it would be easy for the few of them to fool a loose check by careless guards, and even if the inspections were more thorough and included a spirit wave to dispel illusions, it would only appear as if Cecilia had tried to make herself look prettier, which wouldn't be very strange at all.

But the entry of Evelyn and her friends into the Lavinian border town was much easier than expected. In sharp contrast to the rigorous inspections they had expected, the only guard at the gate didn't even bother taking a second glance at the ordinary-looking carriage that passed by.

Although they were relieved to be able to avoid trouble, there was also a faint unease in Evelyn's heart, wondering if perhaps there was something strange going on.

Cecilia blinked in surprise after looking at the pink-haired girl's expression. "Do you think this might be a trap?"

Evelyn shrugged. "It's possible… but hopefully not."

None of them spotted any wanted posters or the like on the sides of the road, nor was there are sort of panic among the populace that indicated any sort of turmoil. 

Of course, this wasn't much of a surprise considering that the war with Terrazyme had never reached this remote corner of the empire, and even that had been put on hold after the Temple of Shinra made its move.

Evelyn silently breathed a sigh of relief in her heart. 'At the very least, there aren't people hunting for me in every single town of the continent as I was dreading… but I still have to be careful.'

Spotting an honest and helpful-looking young man carrying logs of wood on his back, Evelyn nudged Cecilia. "Can you go check if he knows a good place for us to stay?"

The carriage stopped by the side of the road as Cecilia jumped off, and the man almost dropped everything in shock when a young girl called him out of nowhere.

The ash blonde gave him a charming smile. "Hi, mister! Do you know a good place for me and my friends to stay? We're a bit tired from our journey, and need to rest for a few days."

The man tried his best to calm down his rapidly beating heart as he took a deep breath. "I almost thought I was attacked by a ghost! You're really fast, aren't you, young lady?"

Cecilia chuckled in embarrassment. "Ehehe, sorry… Anyway, do you know any place like that?"

The young man adjusted the weight of the logs on his back as he frowned. "To be honest… there used to be two, but the Bull's Head has been full ever since all these nutjobs started roaming around everywhere, that's where they stay. As for Riham's Inn… I guess that's the only place you can go, if you really have to."

Cecilia blinked. "Is there anything wrong with this 'Riham's Inn'?"

The young man looked embarrassed as his eyes shifted back and forth. "W-Well, you go straight ahead on this road until you see the black sign of the inn, can't go wrong. I-I'll take my leave, have to take these logs to their place and all, you know."

Without giving her a chance to speak, the young man dashed away in the opposite direction of where he had been headed to previously, making Cecilia frown in thought. 'Interesting…'

Returning to the carriage, the ash blonde quickly conveyed the information she had gathered to her 'wifeys'.

Evelyn rubbed her smooth chin thoughtfully. "Seems like he didn't want to tell you what was wrong with this Riham's Inn, but since there are supposedly only two places where we can stay at in this town, and one of them is full, I guess we'll have to head there anyway."

As for the 'nutjobs' the man referred to, Evelyn wasn't sure, but she expected them to be related to the Temple of Shinra. Of course, she would avoid them if she could.

Their carriage continued unimpeded towards the central part of the town before stopping in front of a rather prominent inn.

Evelyn motioned for Cecilia to follow her while giving the rest of them a smile. "You girls stay here for the time being, alright? If something goes wrong, we'll rush back and bolt out of here quickly."

A few of the patrons at the inn turned to stare at the two young girls who approached the innkeeper curiously, but none of them greeted or moved towards them. 

Of course, this wasn't much of a surprise considering that Cecilia was quite cute, and the fact that Evelyn's appearance was hidden behind her cloak was bound to attract a few curious eyes, but none of that mattered as long as Evelyn's real identity wasn't exposed.

As long as she had Aurora's cloak equipped, all anyone would be able to see would be her rough height and petite figure, which wasn't nearly enough to be able to infer much.

The innkeeper was an old lady with slightly muddy eyes who dealt with them impatiently, as if reluctant to take their business. "We only have one room left, and it will cost you ten gold per night!"

Considering that there was no way to be sure when the Lavinian princess will get here, Evelyn frowned as she hesitated. "I-Isn't this too much?"

Of course, ten gold was nothing to her, as she had more than enough to afford this price for years thanks to the fortune she obtained from Craig's spatial artifact, and this without ever converting any of her spirit stones or digging into Cecilia's Mister Chonkers.

However, Evelyn wasn't stupid enough to believe that a single night at this frankly cheap-looking inn was worth even a single gold coin for an entire month, let alone ten for a day. Exposing her inability to understand even this much would just attract malice and suspicion.

After all, the ancient academy's yearly fee was only a hundred gold coins, which was already considered a 'painful price' for most mortal families. How could a regular cheap inn be more expensive than that?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 

pqdm.com