“Wow, your brother was right. There are no threats whatsoever in this path,” I told Puella, who was walking behind me.

“Well, brother is usually right in regards to a lot of stuff,” she replied, puffing her chest.

“Then why don’t you follow him whenever he advises you on how to spend mo-“

“Except for matters regarding money! I’m in control there,” she interrupted me.

Figures…

“I don’t travel often on other roads, but are they really that dangerous?” she asked.

“Considering we’re travelling on neutral territory? This place is amazing!” I exclaimed, “Usually by now, we would have to fight monsters or bandits.”

My eyes were wide open in disbelief and excitement. I lifted the Staff of Erebus in glee. To think that traveling could be this safe! There was the matter of theft, but that aside… I clasped my hands together and silently thanked Puella’s father for this gift.

“I can’t quite believe that. Roads have always been safe for me.”

Just how sheltered is this girl? Or is she just messing with me?

“Then I suppose you wouldn’t believe me if I told you that the worse roads only give you a few steps leeway between each encounter with an enemy,” I sighed, “You better change that way of thinking soon if you want to survive outside of the inn’s milieu.”

“Hehe, it’s not like I’m going to leave the inn anytime soon,” she said as she smirked playfully.

And thus, the journey to Shimamoto, the trade city of the Demon Oligarchy, was underway.

---

“Maps,” I declared, “Therein lies the answer to our problem.”

“What? You were taking my suggestion of using magic to emphasize the routes seriously?” a wide-eyed Puella asked me, “Fufufu, I guess my plan was brilliant all along.”

“Yeah… That isn’t my plan,” I disdainfully burst her bubble, “We’re going to produce new maps with our route highlighted.”

“Then you can still use magic to do so!” she said, her eyes practically glowing.

“That would be very impractical.”

“And why not?” the girl wouldn’t give up.

“Because it would inefficient to make detailed drawings using magic,” Puer came to my rescue, “Remember what father said? Even a skilled magician would take quite some time to produce the fine detail needed in a map.”

“Ohh… If brother says so…” Puella looked sad as she stepped down.

“And I suppose you have an alternative way to solve that conundrum?” Puer asked me.

“I have an idea, but I need to travel to Shimamoto for that.”

“Wait! You’re not just thinking of leaving like that, are you? You’re just planning to run away, right?” she accused me.

“Relax Puella, he’s not going to just leave,” Puer reassured her,” I can vouch for him.”

“Brother, what happened to YOUR suspicious demeanor?!” Puella looked shocked at her brother’s complacence.

What happened to YOUR “I’ll trust my brother” attitude?

“Argent seems to be a trustworthy enough person,” Puer drew a circle in the air while looking sideways.

He was definitely bringing up the medallion. I nodded to signal him that I got what he meant.

“We can’t be too sure. I’ll go with him to Shimamoto!” Puella declared.

“Uhh… I can handle this by myself, you know?” I rebutted.

“Nevertheless!”

“It’s going to be a waste of resources.”

“We have lots of money anyway!”

“You’ll be leaving your brother alone to manage the inn?” I gave one last argument.

“He can handle it on his own, not that we have people visiting here, anyway,” Puella spoke confidently.

I walked up to Puer and whispered to him.

“She just wants to go to the city, doesn’t she?” I spoke as I rolled my eyes.

My statement was met with a quick nod and a reply of “pretty much”. Puella, of course, heard the exchange and began to leer us both. I merely shrugged at her.

“Either way, I’m coming!” she put her foot down, “Else you probably won’t have anything to spend.”

A mischievous smile rose on her face. I then realized that the one who held the money indeed had the final say. Unable to defeat such an opponent, I had to yield.

“Fine, but we’re going to follow my itinerary,” I declared, “We leave in a few days time once we get our supplies ready.”

“Sir, yes sir!” she saluted me.

Puer coughed before speaking.

“So now that that matter of business is finished, can you tell me what exactly are the contents of your idea?”

“It’s simple actually. We merely need to acquire a single machine. After some modifications, we can probably mass-produce the maps.”

“And what object is this?” Puer looked surprised at the mention of the somewhat miraculous machine.

"When I was in Shimamoto before the river incident , I happened to hear about it. Now that we have a use for it, we should acquire it before someone else does.”

“So, what exactly is this machine?” Puella asked, her hands clenched and her figure coiled like a spring.

“It’s a printing press!”

---

By noon on the third day, we had finally seen the walls of the city. I myself was shocked at how fast the transit was, considering that we were walking on foot. As the path was safe, we managed to walk even during night time without the fear of being attacked. This made our travel very efficient.

For merchants, being able to transfer goods like that would be a dream come true.

“We’re finally here! No more of that jerky for dinner,” Puella sighed in relief.

“You could have stayed in the inn if you wanted to eat like a king, you know?” I quipped.

“Hehe, I wanted to go to the city badly, so that’s ok!”

So she really did want to just go to the city…

We continued to walk until our dirt path merged with a much bigger cobblestone one. On the new path were swaths of walking demons. I could recognize a couple of humans on horseback and on carriages, merchants most likely. The cobblestone path led directly into a gigantic gate on the wall, the city entrance.

I glanced behind and saw that the path we came from was obscured by brush. Another strike for the inn unless we managed to clear it. For now though, we had to focus on the plan. Before long, we reached the gate, where we saw multiple queues.

“Do you have a visitor’s card?” I asked Puella.

“What’s that?” she didn’t know.

Honestly now, how could she have entered this place without knowing what a card was?

"You have been to this city, right?" I asked her.

"Yes, I did," her eyes glanced at me emptily.

She's lying...

“Anyway, it’s similar to this,” I spoke as I brought out a small green-colored card from my pocket, “This is a merchant’s card. Before they make you enter, they have to approve you. For humans, if you have a card like this, you can enter without that many questions being asked.”

I handed her the card. It was giving off a faint glow and had the emblem of the Demon Oligarchy. Other than that, it was a plain piece of colored paper. She immediately handed it back.

“Oh that!” she leaped, “Yeah, I do have one of those, hehe.”

She scratched her head and laughed with a high pitched voice.

She doesn’t have one… Not my problem.

“Anyway, you should probably line up over there,” I said as I pointed to a line specifically for visitors, “I have to queue on the merchant-only one. Remember that there are separate ones for card holders and non-card holders.”

“Alright then!” she spoke with her confidence back,” But still, you got to wonder why they set up such a system like this.”

“It’s simple, really. As a city, you want visitors to bring in money and trade, but at the same time, you don’t want any unwanted guests with possibly malicious motives. Inspecting people as they enter . Setting up a checkpoint in the entrance is a compromise between these two conflicting ideas.”

“Then why is there a card system?”

“That’s really just to expedite the process. Inspecting everyone who arrives meticulously would result in time-consuming queues, which would be tedious for everyone. By having a card, the sentinels at the gates would already know you’re somewhat trustworthy, so they can let you in with less questioning.”

“That does make sense,” Puella nodded, seemingly understanding my explanation, “Although I have to wonder why I don’t-“

“You two there!” a voice coming from above interrupted us.

A gray-skinned demon descended from above us and landed. He had two horns on his head and a set of bat-like wings. He wore a brown military cap with a matching vest and uniform. A stern look was projected on his rocky face.

“Are you planning to enter or what? Those with visas queue on the left; those without on the right! If you’re not planning to, don’t stand there loitering,” his voice commanded authority.

“I’m sorry sir. I was just explaining to my companion over here how entry works.” I bowed to the gargoyle.

“Understood, now quickly queue up,” after saying those words, he took off the ground and began to fly around again.

“Anyway, I suppose that’s all you need,” I addressed Puella, “Let’s meet by the central fountain plaza later. You just need to go straight after the checkpoint.”

I waved goodbye to her as I walked towards the merchant’s area. Merchants were given the special treatment, so they had their own entrance. After all, Shimamoto was a trade city. Merchants were now the life-blood of this place. The only problem was that the special entrance was a fair way off the main entrance…

Judging by the fact that Puella doesn’t have a card, I’ll probably get in first. Looks like I’ll have to wait for quite some time later.

I reached the merchant queue and immediately noticed something peculiar. It had surprisingly a low number of humans. Last time, even with a card, I had to wait an hour before I could get in, but at this rate I probably could get in with a fourth of the time. This was an odd occurrence.

“You, human. Visa holder?” I heard a gruff but familiar voice call me.

I nodded to which the owner of the voice signaled for me to move to a separate, empty line.

“That queue you got on was for merchants with no visas. Judging by how you explained it earlier to your friend, I think you have one, yes?” apparently the gargoyle from earlier was the one in charge for this line, “You have a staff, so I didn’t think you were a merchant.”

“Wait, so I’m the only one here with a card?” I asked, surprised at my surroundings.

The gargoyle merely nodded and grunted in a low voice. It appeared he wasn’t in the mood to explain the circumstances. He then reached out his hand, asking for my card. I gave him the green card, and he thoroughly inspected it. After a short time, he spoke up.

“The emblem and glow is still present. It doesn’t seem counterfeit. Very well, Mr. Merchant, you may enter after a few questions.”

“Go ahead.”

The exchange of questions and answers began.

“Please state your demon and human names.”

“My demon and human names are Human-273-Merchant and Argent, respectively.”

“Do you have any weapons to declare?”

“I only have this staff and a dagger,” I raised the Staff of Erebus and pulled out the dagger from my cloak’s pocket.

“What is your purpose of visit?”

“I wish to purchase a piece of equipment for an inn.”

“Interesting Mr. 273-Merchant, why do you not have a horse and carriage if you wish to purchase equipment?” the gargoyle asked.

“I plan on purchasing the horse and carriage here. I currently brought nothing to trade anyway, so bringing my own horse and carriage would be an extra hassle for me,” I replied.

The gargoyle snapped his clawed fingers and gave me a thumbs up.

“All seems in order, Mr. Argent. Very well, you may enter,” he answered, “Be reminded that you must abide by the laws and regulations of the city and the Demon Oligarchy.”

“Thank you, sir,” I bowed to him before entering the city.

That exchange was surprisingly lenient even for a visa holder.

I immediately headed towards the fountain plaza.

Perhaps I should grab myself a bite to eat first… Where was that cheap place again? I probably have to wait for Puella for quite some ti-

My thoughts were interrupted by what I saw. Sitting down on a bench next to the fountain was Puella. She apparently managed to arrive before me. As I stood there, she noticed me and began to walk towards me.

“Oh Argent, you were fast. Anyway, let’s go find an inn as soon as we can before they all fill up!” she spoke with a smile on her face.

“Ho-how did you get in this fast?” I was curious, extremely curious.

“Women’s appeal, I guess?” she shrugged and looked as clueless as I was,” Never mind that though, let’s go! I heard that there’s this certain inn here that actua-”

She quickly grabbed my hand and linked arms. She then dragged me off to a random direction. I tried to reason with her, but she refused to listen to me.

Damn it, I thought we were following MY itinerary. And what the hell is with this arm strength… I can’t even pull my arm away from her.

In the end, we got lost…

---

Three days before departing from the Neutral Inn:

“Any luck?” I addressed Puer.

The black-haired man dismounted from his horse and shook his head. He slowly walked to his wagon, slowly unloading the supplies he bought with his large hands.

“In regards to what you asked, no. There has been no word over there.” he replied gruffly.

I shook my head. Perhaps I would find better luck in the demon city?

"A shame, but thank you nonetheless for taking the trouble to check," I answered.

"No problem. Besides, with how you described what happened in your caravan, my curiosity would have gotten the better of me anyway."

Puer began to carry the multiple boxes on his shoulder. I offered my assistance, but he refused. We slowly walked to the entrance of the inn. Puella popped out of the door and greeted her brother.

“By the way, when you both found me, who was guarding the inn?” I asked, “I just realized that you technically would have left this place unsupervised if you did leave together.”

“Oh, we locked up and placed a sign saying that we’ll be back in a couple of days,” Puella clasped her hands together.

Once again I heard something outrageous from that girl.

I looked at Puer, asking for an explanation.

“What? I can’t just leave my sister unattended in the city! I’d rather lose business here than let her stay there alone and unsupervised,” he raised his hands, showing me his palms. The boxes on his shoulder wobbled and almost fell.

I raised my eyebrow, pondering what he meant. He replied by pointing to Puella then forming a circle with his thumb and second finger. I understood perfectly what he meant.

“Don’t worry, my friend. I’ll make sure we don’t go over the budget when we leave.”

“Good luck, my friend. She may be stubborn sometimes, but she does listen to reason… sometimes… well if you give a really good reason… actually maybe not really… yeah, actually I just wish you good luck and hope it’ll go well… probably… but knowing her, most likely it won’t.”

I really don’t feel confident after hearing that.

“Oh come on! A run-on sentence to emphasize that?” Puella shouted.

She puffed her cheeks and stomped away. The rest of the day at the inn became a comedy routine, the sister ignoring the brother and the brother, trying to appease the sister.

Not that I cared anyway.

---

||