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At noon of the fifth day, Stollar finally became visible.

Gadius had apparently opened a new inn there.

Stollar was a surprisingly big city, and at the same time as it being the capital for Stolla, it also had a high-grade academy too.

Donovan, who was my upperclassmen at the magic academy, was the lord of this region, and I heard he was acting as a lord while also attending that academy.

As expected, there were no giant buildings like Raum’s Magic Academy, but it was still an unbelievably developed city you wouldn’t expect from the countryside, with tall, strong walls surrounding it.

“Welcome to Stollar. Sorry, but let me see your documents before we let you inside.”

The gate guard with a pike in hand welcomed us with a tone that suggested he was not very welcoming.

I guess that’s how it would be when he had to repeat the same exact phrase over and over with hundreds of people going through the gate daily.

Temuru presented his identification documents from the Merchant’s Guild, while Leon’s party presented their Adventurer’s Guild IDs.

Naturally, we also imitated Leon and presented our own as well.

“Hmm, a fourth-rank and a bunch of first-ranks. That’s a strange combination.”
“Well, we were planning to educate these kids. In the end, they turned out to be so capable there was nothing to teach, however.”
“Oh? There seem to be minors with you… But they look quite promising. In various ways.”
“You better give up on meddling those girls. They are related to the Six Heroes.”

Leon warned the guard who muttered that with a lewd look on his face after checking Finia’s looks and Michelle’s boobs. Hearing that, the guard stiffened and became all proper.

“The Six Heroes! Which means you are staying at that Lord Gadius’ inn!?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan.”
“But…”

The guard paused with a troubled expression. It felt like he wanted to say something.

“What’s the matter?”
“Yeah, well, needless to say, the inn belongs to that Lord Gadius. The guests rushed in the moment it opened up. I heard that it’s fully occupied even now. I’m not sure you can rent rooms there…”
“I see… I mean, I guess that was to be expected. These kids aside, it’s probably impossible for us, huh.”
“Probably. There are so many Adventurers flooding towards that inn, that even I’m having trouble actually.”
“Well, my condolences for that. But it’s your work, so gotta keep it up.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard such half-hearted encouragement.”

When Gadius opened his inn, the Adventurers flooded the northern territory. And the majority of those were newbies who admired the Six Heroes or those with ambitions beyond their means. The results didn’t bring about the increase in population, and instead just worsened the public order.

But that was also a temporary thing, and those with no ability were being weeded out, and only those with actual skill remained. This was an unchanging fact even if it was Gadius’ inn.

“This city does not lose to Raum in size.”

After we parted with the guard and entered inside, we were greeted with noisy traffic.

The bustling we were seeing here and the number of people were mostly the same compared to Raum. It was enough for me to agree with Finia’s comment.

However, the nature of that tumult suddenly changed. Looking closely, there was a carriage with extravagant decorations speeding towards the gate.

“W-What’s going on!?”
“I wonder?”

Michelle answered back carefreely as I took a step back in shock. This girl might actually have a lot of guts.

The carriage eventually stopped before the gate, or rather, before us, and one person disembarked from it.

It was a man whose face I remembered.

“Welcome to Stollar, Lady Nicole!”
“Eek!? Oh, good day, Donovan. You look to be in good health?”

I ended up raising a stiff shriek at him suddenly jumping out like that.

I mean, everyone would react like that if someone clung to them all of a sudden. Donovan didn’t seem to consider my state and continued talking.

“Yes, with the Six Heroes backing, my problems got resolved in the blink of an eye. I really am indebted to you people!”

After graduating from the Magic Academy and starting to attend the one in this city, he seemed to have grown a bit plump compared to how I remembered him.

With his stress about the followers not obeying him gone, his appetite probably increased too.

“Oh my, it is tactless of me to stand around and talk! Please follow me. I shall guide you to Lord Gadius’s inn, Greatshield’s Protection!”
“No, we’re still working now.”
“Please don’t be so modest…”
“We are working!”

Ever since Donovan solved his dilemma before graduation thanks to my mediation, he started to revere me as his master.

He probably went to the trouble of coming here because Cortina and Maxwell contacted him beforehand. Since he arrived with a carriage, he probably had an estimate of our arrival time. Cortina should have easily managed that much.

That said, we couldn’t move while our commission wasn’t completed. This served as sort of an expedition practice for us. We had to see it properly to the end.

“We are currently in the middle of a commission, so please refrain from that.”
“Ugh, it would do no good to get in the way of Lady Nicole’s work. Understood, I shall wait at the inn ahead of time.”
“It’s fine, you don’t have to wait for us. We’re all tired after a long journey.”
“Ahh, that was insensitive of me. Then I shall send a messenger at a later date, so may we share a meal?”
“If I feel like it.”

Donovan sure has mellowed down. He used to be trash who looked down on commoners whenever he came across one.

I guess you could call this growth too. It was far better than him being a prejudiced and arrogant lord.

“Oh right, do you know of a good inn? Mr. Leon here was worried whether there would be an open inn for his party.”
“I have heard good rumors about Yamabiko inn near the western gate. However, it is on the pricier side.”
“Thank you, Lord, we shall definitely visit it.”

Leon answered with a somewhat tame attitude. He looked towards the crest on Donovan’s carriage.

Needless to say, it was the Serwa crest, in other words, of Donovan’s household.

Anyone familiar would instantly realize that he was the lord.

“Uhh, are you acquaintanced with the Lord, Nicole?”
“He was my upperclassman in the Magic Academy. Cortina also helped him resolve a troubling matter, so he seems to feel a debt to me too since I intermediated things.”
“So that’s the reason behind his attitude… Makes sense.”

Ellen secretly whispered into my ear.

It seemed that we would be able to spend a hectic time even in this city.