Gather Divine Coins and Gacha! - Chapter 79

 "…Oooou."

So high! The wind was strong! Scary!

I raised my altitude up to a height where I could overlook the village and, while I was at it, the forest too, but… about how many meters was this?

Was it about 50–60 meters?

It felt like it was over 100 meters, though…

It wasn’t attached, but it felt like something might go whoosh.

Now then, the village wasn’t that big.

Altogether, was it about twenty households?

The entire village was surrounded by a wooden fence.

There weren’t any fields nearby, so was hunting their main thing?

I turned around and looked toward the forest.

It was split by a river, but it was a fairly large forest.

Within what I could see, there were small animals, and animals that looked like deer.

There was something deeper in that looked like a monster, but… I couldn’t really tell.

"Alright, done!"

It was just a simple sketch from above, but it might come in handy for something.

It wasn’t very good, but I decided I’d blame it on the art supplies.

"Well then, shall we go."

I was getting used to the height, and I was calming down a lot.

I followed the road stretching out from the village and headed out onto the highway.

When I came here, I turned right, so my route was the opposite of that.

It didn’t look like the guys who went to catch me had come back yet, but how far did they go?

It was open grassland with a gentle slope and no cover.

And yet, I couldn’t see them.

They probably didn’t know about 【Hideout】, and they probably wouldn’t notice that I was riding 【Floating Orb】, so I thought their vigilance upward was thin, but…

Should I raise my altitude a little more…?

◇

Even with the light of the moon and stars, my view was almost entirely black.

And there, shining brilliantly, was the royal capital.

"Ooh… that’s the light of civilization…!"

Had it been about an hour and a half since I escaped?

Crossing the river, detouring around the forest—just following the highway still took a fair amount of effort, but once I spotted a regional capital somewhere along the way (I didn’t know where), it went fast.

The main gate of the lord’s manor was on the opposite side from the royal castle.

It was a tidbit I heard while helping clean at the mansion in the royal capital, and thanks to that I was able to safely reach the royal capital in about twenty minutes.

I should prepare some good liquor as thanks.

But it was dark.

This world is!

Well, lights cost money, after all.

At this late an hour, even the regional capital had most of its lights out.

And yet, even though it was midnight, the royal capital was this bright.

It was so different in class from everywhere else that it made me blurt out something stupid.

Now then, it was good that I’d returned to the royal capital, but what do I do now?

At this hour, the gates were probably closed, and even if I tried to explain the circumstances, normally I’d be in my usual outfit, but right now I was in a jinbei, so…

…Did I cross?

I heard that breaking through an inspection was punished, but whether they just overlooked it or not, in the end I still hadn’t seen the guys who went to catch me all the way here.

There were a few forks in the road, and it was possible they just had a base in some village along the way and were resting there, but if they gave up searching and switched to an ambush in this lower town, I might get found.

When I looked toward the lower town, there were not a few people still active even at this hour.

"I’ll do it."

Where did I cross from?

The west side with the commercial district would normally have the loosest vigilance, but this was where the hole was dug, and right now it had the most guards.

The south—the royal palace and noble district—was out of the question.

I didn’t know the details, but apparently that whole area had a security system built using magic tools set into the city walls and castle walls.

Even I used the gates properly when going in and out of there, so it was impossible.

The north side with the church and the foreigner residential district probably had a lot of important people too, so security should’ve been tight.

If that was the case, then the east—the adventurer district?

…Seriously?

I felt like I’d just get found normally…

Even if I got found, it felt like they’d understand if I talked, but before that I might get shot down.

When I saw the royal capital in the darkness, I felt relieved, but if I was going to break through, I hated this brightness…

If I raised my altitude, I might be able to do it, but was I going to raise it even more…?

No, no.

I was getting sleepy, and maybe I’d rest in 【Hideout】 for now and do it tomorrow.

It was probably best to return as soon as possible, but it wasn’t something worth pushing myself that far for.

"Hm?"

It wasn’t that I got scared, but as I gave up on breaking through and was looking around for a place that seemed good to activate 【Hideout】, the gate opened, and a carriage came out, along with what looked like a single mounted escort.

And the mounted rider, without hesitation, ran straight toward me as I floated there.

They were waving a light upward, so was that a signal to me?

"Hmm…? Wait, isn’t that Alec?"

I see… they noticed that I’d made it this far.

Then that meant the one in the carriage was Seriana, I guess?

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Sera・【Hideout】【Prayer】【Mira's Blessing】・【Floating Orb】【Shadow Sword】【Scarlet Bee Needle】・7 cards

Seriana・【Range Identification】・【】・19 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】・1 card

Alec・【】・【Red Shield】・2 cards