The Free City of Himrave
The Free City of Himrave.
Belonging to no kingdom, Himrave was also known as a mercenary city—and it was the free city closest to Bramante Volcano.
The volcano harbored far more troublesome monsters than those found in ordinary terrain, and the nature of the place meant commissions came with hefty rewards. Mercenaries never stopped coming. On top of that, Himrave boasted rare stones and ores from the mines near Bramante Volcano, fruit grown in the fertile volcanic soil, and weapons forged from those same ores in the local smithies. Merchants flocked there just as eagerly. With mercenaries and traders from every corner of the continent constantly passing through, Himrave thrived in perpetual bustle.
Of course, where people gathered in numbers, trouble followed just as surely. As a free city, it drew plenty of criminals on the run, and with military strength weaker than a proper kingdom's cities, incidents broke out all the time.
Mercenaries picking fights with the hired companies or the militia. Fugitives who had fled other cities, unable to keep their impulses in check, committing sudden murders. Thieves snatching or wrecking merchants' goods. All manner of crimes flared up in Himrave—yet the citizens who lived there had long grown used to the chaos. The militia and mercenary companies, having dealt with such things endlessly, knew exactly how to handle each kind of trouble.
But today was different.
On this day, when winter's cold still bit hard, no one in Himrave could easily move against the crisis unfolding before them.
"Nobody move!! Or I'll set this whole place on fire right now?!"
"C-Calm down! We won't move—just stay calm first!"
In Himrave's central plaza, five rough-looking men and women who reeked of criminals stood locked in a standoff with the militia. At their backs, arranged to cover five directions, sat two freight wagons. More precisely, wagons packed full of Volcanium Ore—the ore that exploded violently on contact with fire.
"Get the hell out of here, you bastards!!"
The militia had responded to a report that two of a caravan's wagons had been stolen. Taking advantage of the terrain, they had quickly surrounded the criminals trying to flee with the carts. But the thieves had climbed down and were now holding the entire plaza hostage with the threat of detonating the Volcanium Ore inside.
Whoosh—
One of them conjured a fireball in his hand, ready to hurl it at any moment. Facing that sight, the militia leader could not help swallowing hard.
Damn it…
Two wagons large enough to hold six grown men, both stuffed with Volcanium Ore. If those went up, the entire central plaza would vanish in the blast. A single chunk did not pack much force, but when many gathered together the explosive power grew exponentially. And besides the one holding the fireball, the other four criminals each held a citizen from the plaza as a human shield.
If the ore exploded now, every building around the plaza would collapse, and the entire militia plus the hostages would die. The only choices left were to let the criminals walk free, or to hold the standoff and pray someone capable of resolving this nightmare would appear. Prolonging the confrontation only raised the danger, and the odds of a savior arriving were nearly zero. That left the militia leader with just one real option.
What idiot caravan loaded Volcanium Ore like that…!
Forced to consider releasing the criminals, the leader swallowed his fury and prepared to shout. Volcanium Ore was supposed to be wrapped individually in special cloth before loading—that was basic common sense. Dumping it in loose heaps like this went beyond greed; it was practically a crime in itself. As he cursed the unknown caravan and made to break the standoff—
"You bastards come any closer and we all die togeth—!"
"Earth."
Rumble———!!!
A soft, gentle voice cut cleanly through the criminal's threat. Small as it was, every person present heard it with perfect clarity. At the same instant the ground shook with a deafening roar. The earth beneath the wagons surged upward, forming solid walls that completely enclosed the carts.
"Huh?"
The criminal holding the fireball let out a dumbfounded sound at the instantaneous change. Still half in a daze, he pressed the flames against where the wagons had been—only to feel cold, unyielding stone. The other criminals, distracted by the sudden upheaval of the ground, momentarily loosened their grips on the hostages.
And the owner of that voice did not miss the opening.
"Wind."
Boom———!!
The voice rang out again, and a blast of wind erupted between the hostages and their captors.
"Wh-What?!"
"What the hell?!"
"Gaaah?!"
"Damn it!"
The criminals holding hostages went flying through the air on the exploding wind. The same residual gusts gently shoved the freed hostages toward the militia lines.
In less than ten seconds the entire standoff had been dismantled. The situation still defied understanding, but the militia leader was not so incompetent that he failed to know his duty in the face of such a sudden turn.
"Everyone snap out of it and restrain the criminals!!"
"Y-Yes, sir!!"
"Kill those bastards!!"
"You're dead now!!!"
At their leader's shout the militia members recovered at once and charged the disabled criminals. Mercenary companies that had been lurking in alleys and between buildings seized the moment as well, pouring out to help beat the thieves into the ground.
"I'm glad it didn't escalate further."
"Ah…!"
Amid the rapid cleanup, the leader heard the voice once more and lifted his head toward its source—more precisely, straight up into the sky above him. Looking up, he saw a young girl flying through the air astride a wooden staff. White hair streaming in the winter wind and beautiful pink eyes that immediately captured the gaze. While the leader stood momentarily speechless, the girl slowly descended to land before him.
"I only just arrived in the city, so I was wondering if you could explain the situation to me?"
The girl who had resolved a hair-trigger crisis in an instant and then casually asked for an explanation. Naturally, the leader never even considered refusing her request.
"Normally something like this rarely happens… but those criminals today must have had guts the size of mountains."
"Ah, I see."
After parting from Camilla, I had left the kingdom and, using teleport gates along the way, flown all the way here to Himrave over the course of three full days. The moment I reached the city something rowdy caught my attention, so I flew over—and found criminals staging a hostage crisis. Naturally I helped the militia out right away.
What I learned from the man who appeared to be their leader turned out to be useful information for someone who had only just arrived. Details of today's incident, the usual state of security and atmosphere in Himrave, where to go for better information—all of it valuable for my first journey. I dipped my head slightly in thanks.
"I learned a lot thanks to you. I appreciate it."
"Ahaha, not at all. We're the ones who should be thanking you. Because of you we easily caught criminals we would otherwise have had to let go. I'll take personal responsibility for reporting this to our Himrave Guildmaster so you can receive a proper reward."
He meant he would pass word of me to the council and the guild that ran Himrave. The way he immediately used polite speech with someone who still looked like a young girl, and the fact that a man like him led the militia, suggested Himrave was a decent city. Even though I had barely begun to look around, a sense of satisfaction already settled over me as I turned to leave.
"Well then, I need to find lodging, so I'll be—"
"Ah, if you're looking for a place to stay, don't go that way—head over there instead! The best value lodging in Himrave is an inn called The Warm Hearth, right over that way."
"Oh, is that so? Thank you very much."
I hadn't expected him to recommend an inn as well. Money was hardly a problem, of course, but this was my first day in a new city. Spending a night in a modest inn here in Himrave had its own charm. Following his advice, I turned my steps once more.
Just as I was about to set off in search of the inn called The Warm Hearth—
"Ludrick, sir! It's an emergency!!"
"What is it?!"
A militia member came sprinting into the central plaza, shouting as he ran toward the leader—Ludrick. The way he was drenched in sweat on a winter day made it clear he had not stopped running. After catching his breath for a moment at Ludrick's question, the man forced the report out.
"R-Right now… the ore storage facility has been attacked!! Criminals stole Volcanium Ore and fled… The ones who staged the hostage situation with the wagons over here must have been the decoys!!"
"What did you say?!"
Ludrick's face went ice-cold at the report. The criminals here had also been trying to make off with Volcanium Ore, hadn't they?
And the ore stolen from the storage facility is Volcanium Ore as well…
Two situations that looked anything but coincidental. According to Ludrick, Himrave's criminals usually never formed organized groups—yet here they were, working with one mind to steal Volcanium Ore. No matter how I looked at it, the whole chain of events reeked of something suspicious. I halted the step I had been about to take and murmured to myself.
"Somehow I've got a bad feeling about this…"
There was no guarantee today's incidents had anything to do with me, yet I could not shake the premonition that I was going to get tangled up in them somehow. With a sigh at that ominous hunch, I started walking again.
"For now, let's unpack first and then think."
Rushing off right this second would not solve anything. Better to drop my luggage at the inn first. Worrying about a future that already looked exhausting, I set off toward The Warm Hearth.