## Chapter 186 – 186. Billen
#186. Billen
A full day had passed since we left Mayfield.
To cross the border as quickly as possible, we insisted on camping even when towns or cities appeared, hurrying on our way.
The coachman complained, but after a few doses of financial therapy, he even reduced his own sleep to drive the carriage.
Thanks to that, we were able to reach the County of Partal early in the morning.
Thump, thump!
Unlike the Marquisate of Gail, the County of Partal was a place with vast mountainous terrain.
Naturally, we had to take a mountain road to get to the border.
“Hyunwoo-niim…”
“My stomach…”
Perhaps because of the bumpy mountain road, Iris and Amelia complained of motion sickness. Both of them were slumped over, groaning and moaning.
Magic to alleviate the shocks didn’t work well on such rough roads.
More than anything, it was because they had been in the carriage for too long.
Iris clung to my arm as if it were a lifeline from heaven, leaning on my shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
Sss-
“Haa…”
When I placed my hand on her forehead and infused her with mana, Iris made a sweet moan as if she felt good.
Thanks to the divine power, her pale complexion gradually improved, and her breathing seemed to stabilize as if she felt more comfortable.
But this was only a temporary measure.
Above all, it had no effect on Amelia.
I kept noticing Amelia sitting by the window, groaning.
“We should rest for a while.”
It was almost lunchtime anyway, and unlike humans, horses need to rest periodically.
“I, I’m fine, so…”
“The only person who’s fine with blue lips is you.”
I took out a piece of candy and handed it to Amelia.
“This is…?”
“It will make you feel better if you eat it.”
“Ah… Th, thank you…”
Amelia blushed as she received the candy.
I wondered if she had a fever, so I tried to put my hand on her forehead.
“Hic?! I’m not ready yet…!”
She was startled and squeezed her eyes shut, running away backward.
My lost hand waved in the air.
“Do you need to prepare yourself to have your temperature taken?”
“…Ah.”
Soon, a red tide spread across Amelia’s face.
She desperately covered her face with her hands as if trying to hide her embarrassment, but her face, flushed red, was visible through the gaps in her fingers.
“I, I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay. In the first place, it’s against etiquette for a stranger to touch a noble lady without permission. It’s my carelessness, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
I picked up the candy that had fallen on the floor, unwrapped it, and handed it back to her.
Iris and Sylvia were horrified when they saw the yellow wrapper, but it was the only sour thing I had with me.
Amelia, perhaps out of her mind due to motion sickness, put the candy in her mouth without hesitation.
“Gasp?!”
Soon, Amelia, startled, wiggled her butt.
Ignoring Amelia’s gaze, which was filled with tears and seemed to resent me, I told the coachman to stop in a suitable place.
Although it was a rough mountain road, it wasn’t difficult to find an open space to rest for a while.
Iris and Amelia spread out a mat in a suitable place and enjoyed their rest. Sylvia was attending to Iris.
I approached the coachman.
“How much further to Billen?”
The place we were heading to was a small city called Billen, one of the cities in the rugged County of Partal where it was relatively easy to cross the border.
“It will take about two or three hours from now.”
“Then let’s leave in an hour.”
After handing the coachman some food, I returned to my seat and checked the plan for the future.
At this rate, we should be able to reach Billen before sunset, so we can cross the border early tomorrow morning.
Crossing the border shouldn’t be a problem since we have a letter of recommendation.
‘…That’s how it would have been originally.’
There was one problem that needed to be solved before crossing the border.
“Lady… Lady Amelia.”
“Yes?”
Amelia, who was talking to Iris with a much more comfortable complexion, looked at me.
Even though she was wearing clothes that commoners would wear, she was every inch the noble lady, not hiding her face.
“We will be crossing the border tomorrow. It should take about four days to reach the Principality of Orsia.”
“Ah…”
Amelia seemed happy to hear my words.
“Before that, there’s one thing I’d like to ask you, is that okay?”
“Yes?”
“Do you remember collapsing in the alley a few days ago?”
To cross the border from Billen, we had to be inspected by the border guards of the Veil Haven Republic and the Nivia Kingdom.
Even if we leave out the Veil Haven Republic, the Nivia Kingdom is a neighboring country of the Principality of Orsia.
Could there really be no one cooperating with the rebels?
If there were collaborators in the border guard, there was a high probability that they would know Amelia’s appearance.
“At that time, I was going to cast a spell on Lady Amelia. Because you have a striking appearance that would stand out anywhere. But it was useless.”
“Magic…? Weren’t you a knight, Hyunwoo-nim…?”
“I’m doing both.”
When I created a small fireball on my palm, Amelia’s eyes widened.
“If there are guys cooperating with the rebels during the inspection, it will become a big problem. Do you perhaps have an artifact with you?”
“…Yes.”
Amelia carefully took out a necklace hidden inside her shirt.
It was a necklace with a beautifully crafted sapphire that stood out.
“It’s Arca, an artifact that has been passed down from generation to generation only to the heirs of the Orsia Grand Duchy.”
“Inherited? Is it perhaps a subordinate artifact?”
Amelia nodded.
According to her, the fact that she teleported to the middle of the Veil Haven Republic and that she was able to meet me in Mayfield were all thanks to the artifact.
It was becoming clear why she insisted on me as her escort.
Moreover, the abilities of the artifact called Arca that Amelia told me about were not limited to the two mentioned above.
“Magic enhancement and anti-magic…”
Not only did it have multiple abilities, but each one was extraordinary.
The long-distance teleportation was probably one-time use, but even considering that, the ability to have perfect sight in the dark and the enhancement ability that allowed ordinary people to use magic were amazing.
Above all, the anti-magic that gave resistance to all kinds of magic and mana was the most absurd.
It was said that an ordinary person could block the magic of a 4th circle mage, so it was no ordinary object.
“As I thought… this necklace is from the mythical era.”
Iris, who was examining the necklace, said with a confident look.
“Mythical era?”
“It refers to the time when gods and humans coexisted and achieved a civilization that cannot even be compared to the present. I’ve heard that magic tools and artifacts from the mythical era are sometimes found in old dungeons, and this necklace seems to be one of those.”
I received the necklace from Iris and looked at it from side to side, but I didn’t feel anything in particular.
It had several powerful abilities, but I couldn’t feel anything.
‘Isn’t it too much?’
If it were a weapon like a sword or a bow instead of a necklace, the opponent would have died as it is because they were careless.
Because Amelia was just an ordinary person on the surface.
“Can’t you temporarily disable that anti-magic?”
If I could just cast invisibility magic on Amelia, crossing the border wouldn’t be a problem.
But.
“I don’t think that’s possible. I can’t fully control Arca yet…”
It seemed that going easily was impossible in my fate.
Of course, I didn’t expect it, so I wasn’t disappointed.
‘Have I ever gone comfortably in the first place?’
But unlike me, who was indifferent, Amelia didn’t seem to be.
“I’m sorry…”
Her voice was slightly cracked, and guilt was read in her expression before her words.
Amelia couldn’t even look me straight in the eye. Her fingertips were trembling anxiously.
“You don’t need to apologize. We can just find another way.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the talent to comfort women.
All I could do was throw out words of comfort to make them feel less important.
I was about to habitually stroke Amelia’s head for a moment, but I quickly withdrew my hand when I remembered what had happened earlier.
Amelia, who had met my eyes for a moment, lowered her head again.
“It’s not like there’s no way at all…”
“Is that really true?”
Amelia nodded slowly.
It was said that there was a way even in a dead end, and that was exactly right.
“Th, that’s…”
Amelia wiggled her fingers.
She fixed her gaze on the floor and hesitated for a long time before finally opening her mouth.
“C, can I tell you later…?”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry…”
I didn’t understand her words for a moment, but I decided to move on, thinking that there must be some circumstances.
For now, it was enough that there was a way.
***
That afternoon, as planned, we were able to reach Billen before sunset.
According to the contract, we paid the coachman the balance and parted ways, then we wandered around the city to find accommodation to stay until tomorrow.
As we did so, we learned that not all border cities are at the same level.
Billen only had walls, and the interior was so shabby that it was embarrassing to even compare it to Wavele.
Well-paved roads were only in the center of the city, and most of the rest were dirt roads with sparse weeds. In addition, dilapidated shacks were often seen everywhere.
It wasn’t like the lord was a corrupt official who exploited taxes, and the place that looked like the lord’s mansion didn’t look very good either.
Above all, the fact that there was no area exclusively for nobles indirectly told the development status of the city.
‘I can’t help it.’
No matter how much I use beds and meals brought from Earth, there is a minimum standard.
I couldn’t let my women stay in a dilapidated accommodation.
I’d rather camp out.
“Hyunwoo-nim, here…?”
“This is the accommodation we’re staying in today.”
The most decent building in this city was here.
“…I only see the lord’s mansion.”
Sylvia retorted as if dumbfounded.
Regardless, I approached the guard guarding the mansion.
“…Who are you? This is the mansion of Lord Reginald.”
I showed the guard, who was scanning me with a wary voice, the letter of recommendation.
The guard seemed flustered by the seal of the Hesler baronetcy, which was stamped in large letters.
“Ar, are you a noble…?”
“I’m a wizard. I stopped by Billen for a while on my journey, and I heard about Lord Reginald’s reputation, so I came to visit him.”
Of course, it was a lie.
I didn’t even know the lord’s name until the guard said it.
“Wizard?! Pl, please wait a moment!”
But with just one word, wizard, the guard was startled and ran straight into the mansion.
I felt a little better at the guard’s satisfactory reaction.
I forget every time I’m treated like a dog holding a sword, but I’m a 4th circle mage who is treated like a quasi-noble on Earth.
This treatment is natural.
“You have an unpleasant smile.”
“I can hear everything.”
It seems that Sylvia’s education is still not enough.
I’ll have to catch her soon and spank her in front of Iris.
“Oh, you’ve been waiting for a long time!”
The guard, who returned not long after, was accompanied by an old man who appeared to be a butler.
“May the blessings of mystery be with you, it is an honor to meet you. I am Willen, the butler of the Reginald baronetcy. Please follow me.”
I followed the butler into the mansion.
The interior of the mansion was shabby compared to other noble families’ mansions.
Still, it was far better than the accommodations on the street.
Following the butler’s guidance, we arrived at a place that looked like a reception room, where a middle-aged woman in a dress greeted us.
“May the blessings of mystery be with you, I am Lilla Sharen Reginald. It is an honor to meet a wizard who is a seeker of mystery.”
“I am Kang Hyunwoo.”
As expected, she was the lord’s wife.
She was alone in the reception room, and according to her, the lord was not in the city right now.
“Around this time of year, monsters come down from the mountains and attack the commoners. The lord goes out to exterminate the monsters periodically to reduce such damage.”
“The timing was not good.”
“Did you say you were leaving tomorrow morning?”
“Yes, I can’t afford to relax because I have a long way to go.”
I responded appropriately to her questions.
Anyway, the personality of wizards in this world is terrible, so I didn’t get frowned upon even if my etiquette was somewhat off.
Rather, they were just surprised as if it was the first time they had seen a polite wizard like me.
While talking, I put a pouch containing several gold coins on the table.
“I am indebted to you for today, so I would like to show you the appropriate courtesy.”
It was too much for a day’s accommodation, but I didn’t care because I had plenty of money anyway.
The baroness lifted the pouch slightly and showed a bright smile.
In fact, it’s not that difficult to distinguish between gold and silver coins. You can tell just by listening to the sound of the coins hitting each other.
“I will show you to your rooms.”
Thanks to the baroness’s consideration, who seemed to be in a better mood, we were able to be assigned rooms.
Dinner was quite luxurious, and chicken that looked like turkey stood out.
It was said to be the meat of a monster that was only caught in this area, and without exaggeration, it was the most delicious food I had eaten in this world.
After finishing dinner and returning to my room to rest for a while, there was a knock.
Knock, knock-
I heard someone knocking on the door.
At first, I thought the baroness had sent a maid with tact, but the presence felt beyond the door was that of someone quite familiar.
When I opened the door, I saw Amelia twisting her blue-gray hair with her hands.
“Can I… come in for a moment?”
