Death Mage 203 – In the city, as if nothing happened

Guards had a tough job, especially the fresh recruits. Kest thought that the hardest thing about it was having to watch the city’s gate during winter. Patrolling the city, mediating disagreements, investigating crimes and picking up drunkards who had fallen asleep on the streets at night were all easy tasks when compared to watching the gate during winter. As for watching the prison and doing paperwork – those jobs were heaven.

The reason why watching the gate was so tough was because guards could not afford to lose focus. That didn’t mean that guards lost their focus while doing other jobs, but… watching the gate forced a particularly large amount of tension upon the guards.

They had to check every single one of the many people entering and leaving the city, and they had to do so in a timely manner, but they also had to do it carefully. And yet if the guards worked too slowly, people would give them unpleasant looks, and there were even some adventurers who would click their tongues in frustration.

But the hardest thing about it was the cold. It was still relatively warm as it was still January, but Kest, who had been on duty from early in the morning, was chilled to the bone.

I want to go and eat lunch already,

he thought to himself.

Kest’s senpais from the night watch had been delayed because of a strange commotion that had occurred inside the city, but he knew that they should be coming to take over soon. Looking forward to that, he continued his duties. It was just after noon, a time of day where few adventurers and merchants left the city, so he wasn’t particularly busy.

But it really is cold if you don’t stay moving,

he thought, taking small steps on the spot to try and stay warm.

But his senpai Aggar soon reprimanded him.

“Kest, don’t fidget around in front of the gate! You’re a guard, so when nothing’s happening, just stay still like a statue and pay attention to your surroundings!” Aggar growled.

He was standing up straight, spear in hand, his gaze moving around the area around the city and beyond the highway. He was a senior guard who had extracted some small change as a bribe from a boy who had barely survived a bandit attack and chuckled, “This can pay for my drinks tonight.” But he was serious at times like this.

… With that said, it was only because it was difficult to cover up blunders on this job, so he could get fired if he didn’t do it properly.

“You’re a Beast-person, aren’t you? Use your own fur to keep warm, you cat bastard!” Aggar muttered, adding a racial insult and thinking nothing of it.

But Kest, knowing that this was his fate as a fresh recruit, simply endured the insult with a stiff smile. “Senpai, I’m a wolf-type Beast-person. And other than my ears and tail, there isn’t much fur on my body,” he said, protesting lightly.

“Don’t talk back! If you’re a dog then behave like one and stay quiet!”

…

This is part of the job, just part of the job. It won’t go on forever,

Kest told himself repeatedly in his head, suppressing his anger.

Finally calming down, he returned his gaze to the highway to see a woman approaching from the other side. She was wearing a hooded mantle and carrying some belongings on her back, walking towards the city with her head down. She was carrying too little to be a freshly-starting traveling merchant who couldn’t hire escorts, but also too poorly-equipped to be an adventurer.

On top of that, this was a strange time of day to be arriving at the city. She was certainly suspicious.

But if Kest deemed her to not be suspicious, then that would be the end of it. It was possible that she was just a rookie adventurer who couldn’t afford proper equipment and had overslept today.

“Your identification papers,” said Kest, just as he always did.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have any,” said the woman.

Her voice was kinder and prettier than Kest had expected, but that didn’t mean that he could let his guard down.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked in a business-like tone.

“Well, you see –” the woman began as she lowered her hood, revealing her face.

Kest’s eyes took in a chocolate-colored skin that didn’t look like it belonged in this cold winter air and long, pointed ears. The woman was a Dark Elf, and a very beautiful one at that.

“You see, I’ve only just left my village for the first time. I don’t belong to any Guild,” she continued.

A gentle voice and calm, purple eyes. Bewitchingly beautiful skin and a sweet fragrance that tickled the nose…

“Umm, Guard-san?” said the woman, her voice bringing Kest back to reality.

“Ah, I-I see,” Kest said hastily. “That can’t be helped.”

His senpai Aggar was still nearby. It was only through the efforts of Alda’s peaceful faction and Vida’s Church that a Beast-person like him could become a guard; he didn’t want to have his reputation damaged for being captivated by a beautiful woman.

Kest instinctively glanced in Aggar’s direction to see that Aggar was closer than he had thought, and wearing a difficult expression.

Crap, he’s going to get angry at me again,

Kest thought, but –

“I see. Then could I please have your name?” Aggar asked the Dark Elf woman.

… It turned out Kest had nothing to worry about. He realized that Aggar’s expression was not one of anger towards him, but (an attempt to) look serious and make a good impression on the woman.

“Yes. My name is Darcia,” the Dark Elf said.

“I see, so you’re Darcia-san,” Aggar repeated. “I believe you should have passed through numerous cities and villages on your way here; why have you not attempted to acquire some identification?”

“That’s –”

Aggar continued conversing with Darcia, ignoring Kest entirely. Perhaps he wanted to stop her for as long as possible; he was even asking questions that he did not normally ask.

If you want her to like you, I think it’ll have the opposite effect, though. And your eyes are too obvious,

Kest thought, watching Aggar’s gaze move between Darcia’s beautiful face to her plentiful chest so conspicuously that even he could see it from the side.

“So, what business do you have in our city?” Aggar asked.

“To see my son,” Darcia replied.

Aggar’s mood dropped visibly the moment he heard this answer. “I-I see. You have a son…”

“More importantly, you seem to be quite strict. Did something happen in the city?” Darcia asked, perhaps misunderstanding Aggar’s long questioning as the city having a strict security protocol, or perhaps having sensed that something was afoot.

But Aggar, now in a foul mood, seemed to have no intention to answer.

“It isn’t that there was an incident, but… the tome held by the statue of Alda-sama in the city’s Collective Church suddenly crumbled to pieces, and Alda’s Priest has lost consciousness and collapsed,” said Kest.

“Oh my♪… That’s quite troublesome,” said Darcia, raising a hand to her mouth in surprise.

For a moment, her voice sounded excited to hear this news, but Kest decided that he was just imagining it.

“Yes. Fortunately, it seems that the Priest has regained consciousness, but he is currently resting. Our senpais are going around and calming the public down so that everyone doesn’t panic,” Kest explained.

But in reality, the Priest was still unconscious. On top of that, he had screamed, “THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!” at the top of his lungs before collapsing.

That had caused a panic among everyone in the Collective Church, and the other clergymen and guards were working hard to calm the people down and stopping the panic from spreading across the city.

“I-I see. That really is very troublesome, isn’t it?” said Darcia.

“Yes. There was an incident several years ago where tears of blood came out of the eyes of the statue of Yupeon, the god of ice… I heard that was very troublesome as well,” said Kest.

“Is that so~?” Darcia murmured, her gaze wandering.

“Ah, I’m sorry for stopping you for so long,” said Kest as he stopped the conversation, thinking that she must be worried about her son who was in the city. “The toll fee for an adult with no identification will be ten Baums.”

“Yes, I understand,” said Darcia, taking out a ten-Baum coin from a pouch.

Before Kest could move, Aggar – having recovered from his shock – took the coin, going out of his way to hold Darcia’s hand in both of his in doing so.

“We have received your payment. Welcome to our fair city, the city of Morksi,” Aggar said.

“Y-yes, thank you,” said Darcia, a little bewildered as she left to enter the city.

“Senpai, don’t you think you overdid it? It won’t be my fault if the commanding officer yells at you,” said Kest.

“Shut the hell up,” Aggar growled at Kest. “Come to think of it, Dark Elves live pretty long lives. Her son probably became an adult long ago. And the fact that she didn’t mention anything about a husband means…” He trailed off, snickering to himself, apparently having impure thoughts.

Kest sighed. But with that said, Aggar hadn’t directly asked Darcia for a way to contact her or made any threats, so he couldn’t really be criticized for searching for Darcia and attempting to court her outside of work hours.

I’m sure even Aggar-senpai won’t do anything rash. Even though he’s like this, he’s still a guard, after all,

Kest thought, returning his gaze to the highway.

And then he suddenly realized something.

Are there even any other Dark Elves in this city?

In the Alcrem Duchy, which lay in the north, many of the humans and Dwarves had pale skin. Dark Elves would stand out among such a population, but Kest hadn’t heard of any living around here.

Ah, but it’s not for certain that her son is a Dark Elf. The father might be of another race, or the son could be adopted… Come to think of it, their pupils were the same color,

thought Kest, suddenly remembering the one-eyed boy with a purple eye who had passed through the gate just a few hours ago.

But he decided that the boy couldn’t be of any relation to Darcia and returned to work.

Alda, the god of law and fate, did not possess a physical body. It was not a simple matter for him to lose consciousness. Even a terrible pain that felt like a spear piercing his body from the inside would not cause him to faint.

But he groaned in pain now, having suffered significant damage due to a third of the special Dungeon created through his own power having been destroyed. This damage was far greater than the damage he had sustained when his divine authority was broken.

But he had managed to limit the effects that this had on Lambda’s surface more than when the spirit clone of Yupeon, the god of ice, was destroyed.

The damage he had sustained w