Chapter 79: The Gatekeeper of a Declining Town

The Gatekeeper of a Declining Town

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“Welcome to Yoshanka. This is a town where ‘the wind is cold, but people’s hearts are warm.’ Please enjoy your stay.”

After casually reciting the town’s catchphrase and letting the peddler through the gate, the guard Sidelock picked his nose.

He was bored.

The job of a gatekeeper in a rural town was dull.

This town of Yoshanka borders the Aseto Bay to the north and the Kaise Forest to the south.

The Aseto Bay coastline is lined with sheer cliffs called the “Dragon’s Claw Marks,” while the Kaise Forest is the infamous demon realm, as everyone knows.

In the past, all traffic between the Demés country and the Teenidys Kingdom had to pass through Yoshanka, making it a lively town back then.

……Or so Sidelock had heard from his father, who also served as a town guard.

However, with alternative trade routes having been pioneered, the number of people visiting Yoshanka has drastically declined.

The only ones who bother coming to this town now are peddlers selling daily necessities like the one he just let through, or members of the Drogg Company coming to the Adventurer’s Guild branch to buy materials.

While some adventurers show up aiming for monster materials from the Kaise Forest or Togūdo bird eggs nesting on the cliffs, the town grows more desolate each year.

(Well……it can’t be helped. The wind here is strong and the weather is always cloudy. It’s not exactly a pleasant town to live in.)

Thinking about the town’s dwindling future sends a cold wind piercing into his chest.

Even so, Sidelock is just a lowly town guard.

He can’t think of any way to save the decaying town.

(They say the most fearsome “Ryu” surpasses even dragons, but what is it? It’s the “flow of time”.)

Mulling over such nonsense, Sidelock picked his other nostril as well.

“Mister.”

Then, it happened.

Sidelock was called from behind – from within the town.

A lovely girl’s voice.

“Hm? Ah, that brat who passed through earlier. So, were you able to become an adventurer?”

Turning around, he saw a expressionless child standing there with cloth wrapped around their head.

“Not yet. Can’t become adventurer without doing ‘task’.”

“……Hm? ……Huh? Well, I suppose there are cases like that?”

He had never heard of having to complete a “task” to become an adventurer.

Sidelock tilted his head quizzically, but noticing the black hair peeking from the child’s head wrapping, he understood the situation.

“So you want to go outside for this ‘task,’ huh. Very well, go ahead. If you go missing, I won’t go looking for you, and if you die, die freely.”

“It’ll be fine. I won’t die.”

The child toddled past Sidelock, who had shifted aside to clear the path.

“By the way, where are you headed?”

“The Kaise Forest.”

“……I see.”

After passing through the gate, the child broke into a run southward and was out of sight in an instant.

“……Can’t be helped I suppose, since that one’s a cursed child.”

Sidelock muttered to himself while picking his nose once more.

He had realized that child was a cursed child.

The moment they arrived in Yoshanka.

However, that child had been carrying a baron’s letter of recommendation.

If he had turned them away calling them a cursed child, and that led to repercussions later, it would be a hassle.

But then again, if word got out he had knowingly let a cursed child into town, the townsfolk would surely complain as well.

So he pretended not to notice the black hair peeking from the cloth wrapping.

He chose to turn a blind eye.

Being the kind of person Sidelock was, the idea of that child recklessly challenging the demon realm Kaise Forest and losing their life sounded like an acceptable outcome.

Rather, a desirable one, even.

So he had no intention of stopping them.

That child had likely been given an impossible “task” by the guild who didn’t want to register a cursed child as an adventurer.

A “task” of going to the Kaise Forest was something no child could accomplish.

The child probably didn’t even grasp how outrageously unreasonable that “task” was.

(But didn’t the Adventurer’s Guild used to have that famous black-haired, black-eyed adventurer? I thought they would register even cursed children as adventurers.)

However, that did not turn out to be the case.

Rather than refusing adventurer registration outright, they gave an impossible “task” with the intent to kill the cursed child.

(……Well, I suppose the guild’s policies changed over time.)

Time flows, and things change.

Yoshanka declined, and the Adventurer’s Guild’s policies changed too.

Sidelock found it tiresome to dwell on it further.

Since it was just a cursed child, he didn’t really care either way.

Whether that child lived or died had no bearing on him.

“……Hey! Hey, gatekeeper! Did that cursed child come through here!?”

As he pondered such thoughts while picking his nose, he was called from behind once again.

This time it was an arrogant-sounding boy’s voice.

Turning around, he saw a silver-haired youth carrying a sword.

The 4th rank adventurer Kamasse, who had arrived in Yoshanka recently.

“Yeah kid, just passed through a little while ago. Said they were headed to the Kaise Forest.”

“D-Don’t call me kid!”

When Sidelock teased him like that, Kamasse’s face turned beet red as he squirmed uncomfortably.

He really might just be a naive little kid after all.

“A-Anyway! Move aside! I’m headed to the forest too! Open the gate!”

“Sure, sure. Try not to get hurt out there.”

“As if I’d get hurt! Don’t underestimate Kamasse! Right then, thanks for your hard work!”

After Sidelock cleared the path, Kamasse stomped off angrily with a huff toward the Kaise Forest, shoulders bristling.

(Even a brat like that is supposed to be stronger than me though……)

Watching Kamasse’s retreating figure grow smaller, Sidelock recalled the drunken ramblings of his drinking buddy, the branch chief Dakkante.

“Kamasse is strong. Among the rookie upstarts his age, he stands out. However, his heart remains immature.”

If he remembered correctly, that’s what Dakkante had said.

(Well, it doesn’t really matter either way.)

But Kamasse’s affairs were just another person’s business to Sidelock.

It didn’t matter to him.

Standing before the quiet gatehouse, Sidelock began picking his nose again.