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「Woahh! What’s with that big tower!?」
「It’s my first time, seeing a building that big.」
「Ahh. Lily, Urania, this is your first time visiting Gateskeep, right?」

After leaving the thieves behind at the village, we had a safe trip without any particular monster or thief encounter. It seems like there would generally be one or two monster attacks during a trip, but since there weren’t any encounters this time and there wasn’t really much of a fight with the thieves back then, it looks like this was an easy job for the mercenaries.

As we were near the end of our trip, we saw from the coach’s window a giant stone tower even piercing through the clouds. We were still a considerable distance away from it, yet it looked even thicker than the trees in the nearby forest. It seems like that tower is one of the four dungeons surrounding Gateskeep, the『Gate of God.』

No one has ever reached its peak even now and there were unconfirmed rumors saying the one who reaches the top would be granted immortality, immeasurable treasures, or anything they may desire. Due to that, a great number of adventurers enter it every day.

「Well, according to scholars, all of those rumors just tell about the side effects. They say that what really happens is that you can get an audience with the one that made that tower, the Creator God, you see?¹」
「That’s why it’s the 『Gate of God』 huh.」
「Yup, that’s it. There’s already nothing left of the stone monuments and murals that were on the lower floors but what they deciphered from those is that the tower was made by the god, who got tired of the many favors the humans in this world asked for. To sort those favors out, like, if you really want to ask a favor, then you could at least climb a tower, yeah?」

That’s a pretty grand story. In other words, that pig god made that gate of sloth so that he wouldn’t need to listen to every single favor the people asked. If just meeting god would give someone immortality and immeasurable treasures, then I’m already an immortal billionaire. Hm? Come to think of it, what happens to my lifespan now? Don’t tell me, I’m really immortal…? Wait, it’s not like I’m a billionaire or anything, so I shouldn’t be immortal too… right?²

「That’s nice, I want to go there at least once.」
「Hm? Why? You can just go now, can’t you?」
「Aah, it’s because there’s a request we need to do after the exam. We still have some plans after that, so we don’t really have the time.」
「Unfortunately.」

While Urania is an amazing scout, thanks to her diligent studying from her childhood, she actually has a real thirst for knowledge.³ She loves learning about the monsters and plants she doesn’t know, as well as about ancient ruins and history. Even epic tales and bedtime stories are within her range of interest. The 『Gate of God』 that was constructed in the distant past is like a mouth-watering research material for Urania.⁴

「If we get some time, I really want to climb at least once before we go.」
「Nh, with Lily, even if the top is impossible, we should be able to reach the upper floors.」
「Haha, that sounds great. Call me when that time comes, okay!」

Gerald, you already have your own party, don’t you…. One or two more people is fine, but we can’t bring along a whole crowd, you know?

「O~i! We’re about to reach the destination! Don’t forget your things!」

A mercenary outside yelled so. It seems like we’ve reached Gateskeep’s entrance while we were having a conversation. The coach itself was allowed through the gates, but us passengers needed to get off and present our identification cards. We can go in free of charge since we have guild cards but without anything for identification, it’ll cost 3 large silver coins to pass through.

It’s about 3000 yen in Japanese yen but this 3000 yen can already buy a three day stay at an inn. The inns on average go from 600-800 yen and dinner is at most about 300 yen, 3 silver coins. When economizing, staying in a big shared room worth 1 silver coin and a single meal for 5 large bronze coins should be enough.⁵

Rather, it seems like a lot of aspiring adventurers coming from desolated villages live that way. People like me who started at D-rank, complete requests and eat delicious food every day are practically a one in a hundred, I hear.⁶

Even so, as long as one is registered in the Adventurer’s Guild and isn’t picky with their work, starvation isn’t a problem. Even if one loses their limb in a fight against monsters, the Adventurer’s Guild would still arrange them some sort of work. I can’t really say for sure but this is probably why I haven’t seen any sort of slum district, a cliché in this kind of world, back in Motsi Town.

「This town is pretty clean too.」
「Hm? I guess. The orphanage children collect the town’s trash and things after all.」
「Is the collected trash bought by the town?」
「That’s right. It’s the same at Motsi but the kingdom’s towns generally go by that policy.」

Even without slums, orphans still exist. Naturally, children can’t just simply get work as adventurers and there’s a limit to how much the country can care for them free of charge. For those reasons, it’s decided that the children would work for a part of the orphanage operating expenses themselves. One work is the town’s trash collection.⁷

The town’s trash collection is something that needs to be done but requesting adventurers would cost too much money and there are no cleaning specialized businesses in this world. So by entrusting this to the orphans, they get used to working at an early age and would get recognized by the other townspeople as members of the town, killing two birds… No, including their income, three birds with one stone.

「So, what are you two doing after this? I’m going say hi at the guild, you?」
「Hmmm, find an inn first, I guess?」
「Lily, it’ll be wasted if the client prepared us a room.⁸」

Gerald asked us as we passed through the gates. Our goal is to go to the guild and take the rank up examination. Still, I wanted to set up our base before that. With that in mind, I prioritized the inn search but Urania stopped me.

「Ahh, I see. So the requestor first, then?」
「Nn, the sun’s still high, so that should be good.」
「Well, then I guess this is where we part ways.」
「Right. It was real fun! Treat me to some food again next time, okay!」
「Pay us! See you then.」
「Bye bye.⁹」

In the end, we decided to greet our requestor first, who should’ve prepared a place for us to stay. While we might not start working immediately today, in the one-in-a-million chance that we will, it would be a real waste if we already got an inn room.

Parting ways with Gerald, we decided to head to the largest residence in Gateskeep.¹⁰

1. Lyly: Ohh, nice, bring in more scholars that know more than the protagonist
2. Lyly: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
   Maybe you should climb and double check?
   Silva: and don’t forget to give him a good kick or two while you’re at it.
   Fire: …
3. Lyly: Curious Urania Doggo
   Silva: Curiosity kills the cat… uh, I mean dog…
   Fire: Eh, close enough
4. Lyly: Cute Urania
5. Lyly: Converting any money to Isekai money is a mess. The value of goods is different based on the resources and technology. Give up.
   Fire: True
6. Lyly: Richie rich
7. Lyly: World building~~
8. Lyly: Smart Urania
9. Lyly: Cute Urania
   Fire: This is return of Lyly describing people in 2 words
10. Lyly: The largest residence….. Excuse me?
    Fire: :shocked_pikachu: