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And in our current situation, experience with basic survival and knowledge of human behavior was what mattered most. I’d been taught the basics of that by my previous-life guardian, *Captain*.

*In cases like this…*

“We circle around the city walls and… if we see a scruffy-looking kid foraging in the woods, we follow them.”
“Why?”
“There’s a tax on entering and leaving a city in this country, it’s called admission tax. Basically we have to pay every time we pass, Grandpa said so too… *cough*. But if we find a kid who looks dirty, there’s a good chance they’re from the slums. And I don’t think… *haah… haah…* kids like that are using the front gate to come and go…”

Even children have to pay to use the gate. If you have a licensed registration with the International Adventurers’ Guild, you’re exempt from the tax for comings and goings within the allowed period, but even then, the minimum age to receive a proper license is ten.

“*Huff… haah…* If it’s a kid around our age, they probably don’t… *cough…* have a proper license to waive the entrance tax. But if they’re out in the forest to gather something… *cough cough…*”

*—then that means there’s some kind of unlawful, alternative way in besides the main gate.*

“Is that… safe?”
“It’s not exactly safe, but…”

Even if we made it through the gate, we have no way to make a living, no means to immediately earn money. Just from what I’ve heard, it’s clear that child prostitution without any backing is far too dangerous a path.

If we can’t pay the entrance tax right away, then as minors, the city would take custody of us. And in a region like this, where beastfolk discrimination runs deep, there’s no telling what would happen to us if we lost our freedom.

On the other hand, if someone is caught sneaking in without paying the tax, the punishment is a fine that adds a certain multiplier to the normal tax. If they can’t pay that, they’re forced to sell themselves through the slavery system.

*“You have to pay the admission tax when you enter the city. If you don’t, you’ll regret it later.”* That’s what Grandpa used to say.

But conversely, if you can pay the fine right away, then the matter ends there. And if you come forward on your own, the fine is capped at triple the normal amount of the admission tax. I remember reading that in the Complete Law and Casebook of the Kingdom of Roud at Grandpa’s house.

So the plan would be: sneak into the city, find a base of operations, earn some money, then voluntarily report ourselves to the officials and pay the admission tax along with the fine to clear our records. If it seems like we’ll be caught before that, then we pack up and leave for the next city while we still can.

…It’s pretty illegal, to be honest. But my gut is telling me not to go through the main gate, and whenever I’ve ignored that gut feeling, whether in my past life or this one, it’s always ended badly.

“Hmm…”
“And also… I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”

Sufi is a straightlaced good girl, so I know doing this kind of thing weighs on her. But I really want her to understand and accept my point.

“…Remember that time we went into the forest to pick berries?”
“Yeah.”
“And we ran into that huge bear that came down from the mountains? It scared the life out of us.”
“…Yeah.”
“I kept saying I had a really bad feeling about it that whole time, remember?”

I think we were about five years old back then.

The bear lived on the far side of the forest, near the base of the mountain. It had apparently chased out an intruder and ended up wandering close to the village. If Sufi hadn’t picked up its scent beforehand, things could’ve gone really badly.

That day, the forest had felt strangely restless since morning, and I remember being overwhelmed by a bad feeling.

Today’s not quite as bad, but I still feel a faint sense of unease—like I really don’t want to go in that direction. Among the sounds of the commotion coming from where the gate probably is, I think I can hear a noise I recognize… something unpleasant.

“…Okay. Let’s do what you say, Alice.”
“Thanks, Sufi.”

I breathed a sigh of relief at her reluctant but genuine agreement.

“So, wanna go take a look around the wall?”
“Yeah. Sooner’s probably better.”

Right now I’m stable, but I have no idea when my condition might worsen again. I wanted to get as much done as I could while I was still able to move.

■■■■■

Holding Sufi’s hand, I walked along the outer wall. There weren’t many sentries posted on top of the wall, so as long as we stayed within the forest, moving forward without being spotted was easy.

So easy, in fact, that I found myself lost in thought as we walked.

I was on the right, Sufi on the left. Since she was left-handed and I was right-handed, this naturally became our default walking formation. Now that I think about it, it’s kind of funny how, even though we’re twins, our dominant hands and areas of strength are completely different.

Sufi’s specialty was, without a doubt, physical activity. She was basically a natural at everything, but her physical prowess was especially outstanding. Her stamina was incredible too. I mean, she’s only seven and she’d carried me on her back all through the forest and was still going strong even now. That should tell you something.

What’s more, though rare for a beastfolk, she possessed an immense amount of mana and a ridiculously high conversion rate. She could pick up magic spells intuitively and start using them almost immediately.

As far as I know, she had mastered every spell Grandpa had taught us. However, because she had too much mana, her control was lacking. There was a time when she accidentally blew me into the river with an uncontrolled wind spell while I was watching her practice. Ever since then, she’s avoided using offensive magic.

On the other hand, I had almost no aptitude for whatever this thing called *magic*. My mana reserves and conversion rate were slightly below average even among beastfolk. I couldn’t even manage basic physical enhancement, let alone projectile spells. My coordination wasn’t bad, but my stamina was so low it basically canceled everything out.

In fact, we hadn’t been walking for more than a few minutes at an absurdly slow pace, and already my legs were trembling with fatigue.

My weapons were… Grandpa’s alchemy teachings and the memories of my previous life. I was miles ahead of a normal child in terms of life experience, but really I was just a shut-in weeb at the core. My knowledge was only slightly better than Sufi’s.

The one thing that could probably be my greatest strength is alchemy, but it needed rare materials and tools to be of any use. And to get those, we needed money or time. Both of which we were critically lacking right now.

No matter what, a safe base of operations is our first priority.

“Alice…”
“Yeah, we might’ve gotten lucky.”

While I was catching my breath and listening to the sound I’d picked up mid-thought, I locked eyes with Sufi, who had been sniffing the air. Light footsteps, soft breathing, and the rustle of coarse fabric; someone was close by.

We crouched low to hide our presence and crept forward, carefully observing the area—then we saw *her*.

Her wavy cherry-blonde hair was dulled by dirt and grime. Two dusky gray rabbit-like ears stuck up from her head. Her tunic was no better than the rags we were wearing now.

She looked to be slightly older than us—*maybe around ten?* It was hard to tell with her crouching, but that’d be a fair guess.

Just as we’d hoped; An orphaned street kid with no place to go.

Sufi and I exchanged looks, weighing whether to approach or keep following.

…She seemed gentle. Not a single *bad sound* came from her. The profile of her face as she dug at the grass had none of the desperation or greed we’d come to expect from others.

*—”You can tell a person’s upbringing by their face, but don’t look head-on. Look at the side. Nobody expects their side profile to be watched. That’s where the mask slips.”*

It was a trick *Captain* taught me, one of many random bits of advice he gave for judging people. I had no idea if it was true, but right now, it was all I had to go on.

I nodded to Sufi to signal it was okay. She stood up to call out to the girl, and I tried to do the same—

“Kh-hup!”
“!?”

But my legs gave out from exhaustion. I lost my balance and fell to the ground with a loud thump.

Sufi looked down at me, her eyes wide in shock.

“Wh-Who are you!?”
“Alice! Are you okay!?”

Peeking up from where I’d fallen, I saw the rabbit-eared girl freeze at first, startled by our sudden appearance. But once she realized we were just two younger kids, she quickly relaxed.

“Uu… I’m sorry, Alice. I knew you were still recovering, but I was just so happy we could walk together again…”
“No, it’s okay. I followed you on my own.”
“Is she… alright?”

The rabbit-eared girl approached, worry was plain on her face. Still no bad sounds. She really seemed genuinely concerned. There was no doubt; she was a good person.

As the cold ground slowly sucked away my body heat, I quietly confirmed the success of our contact operation.

*…It worked out in the end, so let’s call that a win.*