It's Not a Festival...

"Mr. Calius, are we there yet?"

"Any moment now. Crest this ridge and you'll see it."

The highway from Silbaerin to the imperial capital, Belegrad, was in good repair. It wasn't paved like an expressway back home, of course, but if a modern man could endure three days in a carriage and still be standing, that counted as decent.

"Jinwoo, first time in the capital for you too?"

"Yes. Silbaerin and Nuardel are the only places I've been on this continent."

Eilenna, seated beside me, kept stealing glances out the window. I'd already thought it strange that she'd come along as a laborer on the construction job, and now here she was traveling all the way to the capital with us. I didn't mind. If I was being honest, I was glad of it. Calius would be tied up with guild business anyway, and wandering around by myself wouldn't have been much fun. It was simply surprising that an elf like Eilenna had decided on a trip to the capital on a whim. Calius had been puzzled too, but with no real objection to raise, he'd agreed readily enough.

Eilenna and I craned our necks this way and that, trying to catch sight of the walls. The horses, manes glossy with sweat, strained up the hill with everything they had. We fought the drag of the climb, topped the rise—and there they were.

"Whoa... that's absurdly huge."

Even outside the walls, the stone roads were well kept, with waystations showing up at regular intervals. The satellite villages we'd stopped at to rest and resupply had been neatly tended too, so I'd expected the capital to be grand. I just hadn't expected this.

Water that began at Lake Kalian gathered other streams along the way until it became a proper canal, and boats as well as carriages were nosing into the city. Even so, wagons were still the main artery of trade. Across the wide plain, great freight carts streamed toward the capital from every direction. With all due respect to Duke Kailan, a backwater like Silbaerin simply had no scale that could measure this.

The wall before us ran so far its ends blurred out of sight. Ten times Yeouido—that river island back in Seoul—at a guess? Eilenna and I were seeing the overwhelming sprawl of Belegrad for the first time, and both of us had gone wide-eyed.

"Heh heh! Aren't the two of you precious. We've got standing passes, so the formalities won't take long."

"It's our first time. What do we do?"

"You'll be fine. A bit of simple registration, and you can come in with us."

We were still about a kilometer from the walls, and already the entry line had split in two. The shorter one, sliding through like an express toll lane, had to be the standing-pass queue. Success really did have its privileges. If it weren't for Calius, we'd have been stuck in that insane wait—the temporary line already stretched so far behind us that the end of it was gone.

"J-Jinwoo. I'm shaking. What do I do?"

"What do you mean, what do you do? There's nothing to be nervous about."

"Still... it's been so long since I've seen a human city this big..."

If I thought about it, this was my first real metropolis in this world, so maybe I ought to be a little nervous too. But then again...

Feels like a trip to Italy or Greece.

Or the old quarters of Germany and France, maybe. Seen through a modern person's eyes, I could take it in without much fuss. Mediterranean cities and the inland cities of Central Europe were quite different in style, and yet the feel here was an odd blend of both. The canal running all the way into the capital gave it a Venetian air, while the architecture leaned Central European. That had to be why.

While I was sorting through my impressions, the queue shrank quickly.

"Pass, please."

"Guildmaster of the Calius Merchant Guild."

"Ah. The hardtack?"

A glint lit the eyes of the guard who had been working with a blank, dry expression. Hardtack, out of nowhere?

"The captain of the guard managed to get a little and let us try it. Ordinary hardtack feels like biting a brick next to that. Did you bring more?"

"Ha ha! Glad you liked it. We brought a fair amount this time, so you ought to be able ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to buy some."

"That's welcome news. Are the others with you guild members as well?"

"Ah, this is their first visit to the capital. Mind helping them with the paperwork?"

"Of course."

The hardtack effect, maybe. Contrary to his stern face, the guard brought the forms over with a much warmer air, and thanks to that we finished the entry registration without any trouble. I'd heard from Calius that the hardtack was popular, but I hadn't expected to feel its reach this soon.

"An Easterner and an elf... you keep rare company."

"Ha ha. It just sort of happened that way. Mind you, the black-haired fellow there is the cook who made the hardtack."

"Truly?"

When Calius revealed who I was, the guard looked me over as if he didn't believe a word of it.

"Yes. I made it. I've got some on me now, if you'd like a taste."

"Ah, thank you. I was only surprised because it was unexpected. Forgive me. Your paperwork's done—safe travels!"

I handed him a handful of the hardtack I'd been snacking on. He wasn't some nasty racist; he'd just been startled, so I didn't take it badly. And so we passed through walls thick enough to stop a cannon and entered the capital.

"Waaah... I had no idea human civilization had come this far."

"I didn't know the capital was this big either. Hey, is that a market?"

"Not an ordinary market. Wholesale market and auction house. Merchants usually unload their goods here, and the shops come to buy."

"Then where's a regular market?"

"A bit farther in, in the commercial district."

Hmm. More organized than I'd given them credit for. If people dumped trade goods in the busy streets, it would be chaos, so they'd simply planted the wholesale market out by the first wall. Being at the first wall also meant the guard was fully staffed, so any trouble in the middle of a deal could be handled fast.

"One silver for a crock of salted fish. How's that?"

"Do you have any idea what it costs to haul this up from the south? Two silver, or I'm not selling!"

"You think capital folk will pay that much for salted fish? Greedy, this one."

All through the wholesale market, retailers and merchants were deep in their haggling—chaotic as a dawn seafood auction, and just as full of fire. Admiring a system that made sense in more ways than one, we passed through the second wall. Only now did houses appear, along with shops large and small. This was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠proper commercial district.

I sat in the carriage and took in the streets at my leisure, and before I knew it we'd arrived at the Calius guild mansion. Finally. Three days out of Silbaerin. If we'd camped rough by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the roadside and pushed as hard as we could, we could have cut the time down plenty—but this wasn't a private trip. It was a merchant caravan, and with that many people, rushing hadn't been an option.

I climbed down and stretched long and hard.

"Uuugh! All I did was sit in a carriage, and I'm still wrecked."

"If you're not used to carriages, that's how it goes. We head to the Academy tomorrow, so rest today."

"I should. What about you, Lady Eilenna?"

"If you're not going anywhere, Jinwoo, I'll rest too."

It had been a long time since she'd seen human civilization. She could have looked around at her ease. Or maybe wandering the imperial capital alone, as an elf, felt like too much. That was entirely possible. When I'd gone to Nuardel, I think I would have been uneasy without Veila. It was still early afternoon anyway. A short rest, and then we could go see the capital.

"Mr. Calius. Anything I can help with?"

"Hmm, not particularly. The staff will handle setting out the goods. Make yourself comfortable."

"Then in a little while, Lady Eilenna and I will go have a look around the capital."

"Eh—huh? Yes. I'd like that!"

Eilenna flushed a little, as if embarrassed, but she couldn't quite avoid my eyes. Just as I thought. She'd wanted to sightsee all along. Thanks to her help, the construction had gone more smoothly than expected, so playing guide would be a fine way to repay the favor. The capital was new to me too, of course, and with my black hair I didn't exactly blend in. Still, I was human. Surely I'd draw fewer stares than an elf walking alone.

"We leave at nine tomorrow morning, so let's talk over the contract tonight. Don't come back too late."

"Got it. It's my first time in the capital anyway. I'm not about to go roaming off to the ends of the earth."

"Jinwoo, let's meet in the lobby in a bit, then. I'll get ready and come down!"

Eilenna and I headed for the spare rooms in the mansion. Unpack a little, rest a moment, and I'd have to head ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back out soon.

A soft rustle. When I'd been dragged off to Nuardel, I obviously hadn't prepared a thing. This time I'd come ready. I laid out the cooking tools I'd brought from home across the desk: my usual chef's knife and paring knife, a fine-mesh strainer, tongs, and the rest. Plates and chopsticks didn't matter, but knives, strainers, tongs—I was more comfortable with my own. Stainless steel didn't exist in this world, and tools this fine and sturdy were hard to come by. It was a real blessing that Mana Market had leveled up, so I didn't have to haul along fermented pastes like gochujang.

Not that I'd come to the capital to cook. Still, I could manage enough to feed myself while I stayed.

It's not as if I'm underestimating the Empire's market.

In a barter society of simple country palates like Nuardel, I could have opened a shop if I'd set my mind to it. But this was the imperial capital. Belegrad. I'd casually asked the guard earlier: counting the surrounding satellite villages, it was a metropolis of half a million. The densest gathering of humans on the continent, a market where people competed until they bled. There was no room in it for some black-haired nobody who'd rolled in from nowhere. The Academy might be a different story, but all I'd come to do was sign a bulk contract for hardtack. I had not the slightest desire to complicate things and grow the business.

Time to head down.

I'd unpacked and rested a bit. Eilenna would probably be ready around the same time. I left the room and went down to the first-floor lobby. Sure enough, she was sitting on the sofa with her back ramrod straight, ears pricked, scanning the room without pause. She looked like a meerkat. Cute.

"Lady Eilenna. Were you waiting long?"

"Oh, you're here. No. I just got here too."

Before we left the mansion, I stopped a passing staff member and got a rough sense of the nearby layout.

"Wow. What kind of school is that big? Thank you."

Run an MBTI test and Kang Jinwoo would come back a hundred percent P. No need to plan every step—a rough sense of the districts was enough. The Academy was bigger than I'd expected, but we weren't going to see all of it today, so I decided to take it easy.

"Alright, let's go!"

"Okay!"

Looking at the map, the central plaza was closer to us than the market. Route-wise, then, it made more sense to look around the plaza and the Academy a little first, then loop back. Eilenna and I headed out in light clothes. Coming down from the north, it felt a bit warmer, though nowhere near hot. The sky was clear, a breeze drifted in, and the walk was thoroughly pleasant.

We were making our way toward the plaza in high spirits when, the closer we got, the more we heard it. People. Loud.

"Is there some kind of festival today? It's awfully noisy."

"Right? Let's go see."

According to the map, the sound was coming from just off the plaza, toward the Academy's main gate. If the Academy was something like a university, maybe the students ran a school festival. Maybe we'd arrived right in the middle of it.

"The Acade—! —it!"

"—it!"

But the closer we got to the main gate, the faster that hope died. Eilenna's excited look slowly gave way to bewilderment. Before the gate, a crowd had gathered with furious faces, chanting in unison. Three hundred of them, give or take.

No... this wasn't a democracy. A feudal monarchy, and they were actually—? Thrown by the absurdity of it, I caught a middle-aged man at the back of the crowd who was shouting along.

"Excuse me, is this... some kind of festival?"

The answer had barely left his mouth before the chant thundered out again.

A roar went up. Ten people shouting is already loud. Three hundred? Their furious voices shot skyward so hard they seemed to strike the blue overhead. And using the protesters' fearsome momentum as cover, I muttered under my breath.

"This is a complete shitshow."

The Academy contract hadn't even started, and already a bad feeling was closing in.