The Water Magician

"I was told to go to Wingston, but... it feels a bit tense?"

"Yeah... there are a lot of patrolling soldiers... right?"

"That’s probably the knight order."

"And there are also regular city guards."

The swordsman Hector, spear warrior Aizeiya, scout Oriana, and priest Tarlow exchanged their thoughts while looking around the city.

Hearing their words, Kenji, the earth magic user, nodded silently.

They were five members of the former c-rank party "Morning Star."

Currently, they were working as adventurers affiliated with the city of Acre in the Marquisate of Heinlein.

Although they were officially a c-rank party, they were often hired for jobs by Marquis Heinlein himself, or his son Phelps A. Heinlein, who managed most of the marquisate’s affairs.

These jobs were not counted towards their guild request completion numbers since they did not go through the adventurers' guild, so they remained c-rank...

Of course, being c-rank adventurers meant they were top-class adventurers and wouldn’t be looked down upon.

After all, requests from the House of Heinlein came with exorbitantly high rewards...

However, the tasks were often quite dangerous...

Moreover, they frequently had to travel even outside the country...

But they received plenty of money!

"Well then, let’s get ready."

"Yeah."

Swordsman Hector said, and scout Oriana responded.

The other three nodded.

This request was particularly dangerous...

They needed to make thorough preparations.

"Hey, Scotty. Are you sure it’s okay for both of us to come out here?"

"Well, even if you say that... only Zack can confirm it, but I’m basically a bodyguard, right? Besides, it's not like we could refuse when the commander Dantan himself ordered it and even the squad captain came to take care of us. We have no choice but to go, right?"

Squad Captain Zack Cooler and his fellow squad captain Scotty Kobuck had reached a point where they could see the castle gates of Wingston.

It was impossible to turn back now.

Yes, it was too late, but... Zack had been asking similar questions over and over since they left the City of Hafrina.

It was unusual for Zack, who was generally seen as bold and carefree, to repeat the same question multiple times.

However, Scotty, who had known him for a long time, understood.

Zack may not be concerned about himself, but he was very attentive to his subordinates and juniors.

It was a bit different from being a big brother figure...

One should not judge a person by appearance alone.

As they were talking, the two of them passed through the castle gates of Wingston.

There were guards standing, but they were not particularly checking the baggage or identities of those entering or exiting.

It was the capital of a ducal territory and also the largest city in the Eastern Kingdom.

Moreover, as it was still in the process of recovering from the War of Kingdom Liberation, there was an extraordinary amount of foot traffic.

To check every single person wasn’t realistic.

"Good thing, Zack. Even though we’re supposed to be merchants, if we were checked, it would have been immediately obvious that it was a lie."

"There's nothing we can do about that. Entering as members of the Royal Knight Order would be too dangerous. So, entering as adventurers makes the most sense, but that guild card is impossible to forge. Even if it looks fine, if they check it, it would be clear it’s a fake."

It was said that the adventurers' guild card from the Central Nations was impossible to forge.

It was created using highly advanced alchemy, and there was even a legend that it was created by King Richard, the restorer of the kingdom.

Well, when they say "highly advanced alchemy," they usually say, "created by King Richard..." so whether it’s true or not is something no one can really know now.

However, it was true that forgery was impossible, so the two disguised themselves as merchants.

There was also a merchants' guild, and those who belonged to it had merchants' guild cards, but in reality, most merchants did not belong to the guild.