Volume 4 - The Chijakor Empire
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Gale reached Persepolis City after a week of traveling on a fifth-rank fly beast. After he reached the city, the guard who accompanied him on the journey took the beast and returned to the Academy.
'I'm here, in the closest city to Nikkokuni. I only need to meet with the caravan the imperial family set up for me and I can be on my way to cross the borders. I wonder how many others the empire sent; I don't believe they only sent me and don't utilize the new technology as long they can.'
Gale spent the night in an inn and planned to go to the waiting spot of the caravan the following day. To his dismay, fourth-grade food was the best the inn had to offer.
'At least the imperial family gave me enough money to spend and will give me more once I cross the border.'
Before leaving, a representative of the imperial family gave him two magic bags with a few thousand IMG. One had the Amistrys Empire's currency and the other the Chijakor Empire's currency.
Overall, his stay in the inn cost 10 IMG, and most of it was for the food.
The next day he left the inn after breakfast and went to the meeting spot as described on the map he was given.
He found the caravan where it was supposed to be, and there were around 20 people overall, making it look like a group of merchants traveling together.
"Hello, I'm Gale Stormborn, I'm here to join you to cross the border."
Gale took out the token he was given for identification and the leader of the caravan nodded.
"Hello, Lord Gale, I'm Jack, the leader of this caravan. You can join us but don't cause any trouble and let us do all the talking when we cross the border. You can use this to hide your stage, you just need to let it stick into your back and it's extremely hard to notice it."
He gave Gale something that looked like a piece of paper in body color that had many complicated inscriptions on it.
Gale removed his shirt, eliciting a few gasps from the females in the caravan who were watching them, and used his mana to bring the paper to his back.
The paper slowly integrated into his back and disappeared. Without looking for it deliberately while sensing the mana, nobody would even notice it was there.
"Lord Gale, we couldn't prepare a separate wagon for you since it'd look suspicious when the soldiers at the borders check our caravan, so I hope you don't mind sharing a wagon with others."
"Don't worry about it. I also prefer not to take any risks."
"Lord Gale, please join my wagon!"
"Lord Gale, mine is the most spacious, you can ride on it!"
"But your wagon is full!"
"I will send the other two men to another wagon, so Lord Gale can ride only with me!"
Gale looked awkwardly at the group of thirsty women who jumped out of their wagons and invited him to join them.
"Since it's inconvenient for you to host me, I will just join one of the men."
Gale told the bickering women and turned away. He didn't lack sex and didn't want to choose one over the others.
The three women looked at each other decisively and had a silent agreement instantly after hearing his words.
"Lord Gale, how about you ride… with all three of us? We will bring the best food, the best wine, and the most spacious wagon."
The three women asked suggestively, and Gale smiled. He did have something for mature-looking women ever since his first time with Mira, so he agreed and entered the wagon after them.
Two men and one woman left the wagon under the women's instructions and joined the wagons the other two women left.
After 3 days of debauchery, the caravan reached the border, and Gale streamed mana into the inscriptions to hide his stage.
Luckily, every few hours Gale would refresh the air using a wind spell, burn their fluids using fire, and wash himself and the women with a water spell. Thus, there was no heavy stench in the wagon.
The four quickly dressed up and waited for the soldiers at the checkpoint to permit them to move.
After checking the merchandise of the caravan and making sure everything was fine with it, the soldiers led the wagons one by one into a magic circle.
Gale already knew about this magic circle; its role was to make sure there were no mages hidden somewhere in the wagon.
"All clear, move!"
The soldiers shouted and the caravan continued. Gale wasn't worried about this checkpoint; he didn't believe the imperial family didn't check his first obstacle before sending him to cross the border.
"Lord Gale, we crossed the border!"
One of the women, Miranda, said while removing her clothes and going on her knees in front of Gale.
"Girls, we should take a break, aren't we in the Chijakor Empire now?"
"So what? we still got an hour until we get to the mercenaries' checkpoint. Let us take your first time on foreign land."
Miranda licked her lips hungrily and the other women quickly joined her.
"Oh, we must not waste this hour then."
Gale smirked and groped a butt in each hand, continuing their activities from before the checkpoint.
The mercenaries' checkpoint was where caravans would hire guards to protect them until the Nobu City, the closest city to the border from Nikkokuni's side.
After negotiating the price, Jack hired a group of guards with 10 True Mages and one Advanced Mage, and the group continued their journey.
They traveled 2 more days until they finally reached Nobu City, and Gale went straight to the house of the spy he needed to contact.
"Hello Lord Gale, I'm Takeo Yoshikawa. You can ask me for anything you need while you stay here."
Yoshikawa was a True mage in his late fifties. He still had a chance to become an Advanced Mage in the future, but nothing beyond that.
"Hello, Yoshikawa. I'd like to know my background and have the necessary documents."
"Of course. Your new name is Urara Kisuke. You are the son of a local woman named Shirogane Kaguya with a foreign merchant who left the country after impregnating your mother. You've never seen your father, but unfortunately, your looks resemble him very much."
Gale understood that he had to have a foreign parent to explain his different features. He looked very different from the locals.
"And where is my mother now?"
"She is living in Oda City on the other side of the dynasty. She encouraged you to come here to improve yourself and bring her pride as her only son."
"Does she exist?"
"She does for now."
'They probably plan to kill this woman to destroy any suspicious evidence if someone tries to verify my background.'
But Gale didn't know her, so he didn't think about it too much.
"You need to move now to the capital, Heiankyo. The journey will take you two weeks by horse, and I will be there in three weeks."
Nothing exciting happened during his journey to Kyoto. He bought a horse and rations for the journey and traveled alone. There was a river by the road, so there was no lack of water, and he hunted for meat when he felt like it.
A few road bandits and magic beasts tried to block his way, thinking he was a lone magician traveler, but he just canceled his limitation for a few seconds and activated it again after he killed those.
When he reached the capital, he still had one week left until the assessment to join the imperial guard. The guards at the city gate let him in after checking his fake documents a few times.
'The means of the Amistrys Empire are impressive. The guards suspected me because of my foreign appearance yet couldn't find any fault with the documents despite checking them multiple times.'
He spent the next week traveling around the capital and enjoying the local cuisine and culture. He bought food from different stalls, played some games with a few kids that wanted to play with a foreigner, and enjoyed the local wine.
When the week finally passed, he left the small house he rented on the outskirts of the city and went to the designed place for the assessment.
As soon as he arrived, he found a large temporary stage in a spacious area with a few guards in official uniforms on it. He noticed immediately that all of them had swords on their backs or their waists.
Since people at the Amistrys Empire rarely used weapons, it was especially conspicuous in his eyes.
To his delight, the swords had the same design as the lighting sword he had obtained in the Miyena Kingdom, so he might finally have a chance to use those.
"We will start the assessment in 30 minutes. Anyone who won't be here at that time, will not be allowed to join later and will have to wait for next year."
One of the guards announced and everyone tensed up and chose to just sit on the ground and wait for the assessment to begin.
Gale looked around him and saw that everyone was young, and nobody seemed from a special background. He learned that there were no nobility titles in this dynasty. Other than the imperial family, everyone, theoretically, had the same status.
Instead of nobles, there were elite families. The elite families weren't much different from the nobles; they owned most of the property, enjoyed resources, and held power over the commoners in their area.
