On May 13, the day Jin arrived in Leuthart, the capital of the Shoro Kingdom, Licia and Pascoe had arrived in the town of Charles.

We are almost at the village of Kaina. If we stay at Toka village first and leave before dawn and hurry our horses, we can reach the village of Kaina before nightfall.

"You have been to Kayna once, haven't you, Licia?"

Yes, last fall, as a tax collector.

The taxation system in the Kingdom of Klein is somewhat unique.

Basically, citizens pay taxes to the government. It may be wheat, ore, or money.

The state then pays salaries to the nobility out of the taxes.

This is because there are new nobles, knights, and nobles without lands.

The nobles with lands are paid a stipend according to the size of their lands. Therefore, Count Walter, who had the village of Kaina taken away from him, received a smaller salary.

However, the reverse side of the argument is that no taxes other than those set by the state are paid out of the lands.

This means that the majority of the income from the harvest from the newly cultivated land and from the mines belongs to the lord.

The state buys the ore. Therefore, Count Walter's pockets were quite warm. Until the salt incident.

This is exactly the case of the Inard Mine, which is why the case of the forced labor offenders was not known to the central government.

"We were attacked by the golem of the Unifilers at that time.

Licia said, patting the sword at her waist.

"I heard that. But you fought it off, didn't you?"

Pascoe Rush was aware of this, as he had been begged by Jin to say so in order to hide his presence.

"No, actually, Jin-san fought them off.

But there was no need to hide it anymore. The leaders of the group already knew.

"Really?　A magecraftsman?　How?"

Pascoe found this hard to believe.

"At that time, he used water magic to slice through the golem, didn't he?

"That's exactly how it happened. ......"

It all makes no sense. Pascoe can use magic too. He was a wind magician, especially good at <.

Even with his wind magic, I have never heard of him cutting through a metal golem.

"<>, Jin-san called it, didn't he?

"<>"?　I've never heard of ....... ......"

Pascoe was beginning to sense that Jin was no ordinary magecraftsman.

There was still some time before dark, so Licia went to look around the town by herself. She sees a crowd of people in front of a certain store.

She overhears what is going on and finds that it is a dispute about the price of salt being too high.

I heard that we have enough stockpiles of salt.

As a relief knight, you are also responsible for the health care of the soldiers. In such cases, they were also in charge of inventory control and confirmation of the salt shortage, which is a serious problem.

This year, there was a sufficient stock of salt in the Kingdom of Klein, and the necessary amount was supposed to be released.

"Is someone buying up an unreasonable amount of salt?

But there was no reason to buy up all the salt in this area, no matter how much we thought about it. Salt was distributed normally, and buying up all of it would not bring in a large amount of profit.

In fact, it would only make the people suffer. It would only increase dissatisfaction with the lords and the state.

"Is that what this is all about?

Licia thought to herself, "Is that what this is all about?" but she dismissed the thought from her mind and returned to her lodgings, thinking that it made no sense.

The next day, the 14th, they set off early, hurried their horses, and managed to arrive at the village of Toka before sunset.

Here they found the soldiers' quarters. Licia and Pascoe stayed there.

Before dark, Licia feeds and waters her carrier pigeons.

"Oh, they're so cute!"

Licia's voice. The two pigeons were full and plump that day.

"Are they cold?"

When it's cold, birds puff up their feathers to store air between their feathers to insulate themselves from the cold. The two pigeons were puffing up their feathers just like that.

"Maybe I should feed them a little more food," Licia muttered.

Licia muttered and fed them a little more.

Then they washed their hands and ate their meal. A simple meal for the soldiers. It was not tasty, to say the least, but Licia and Pascoe, who had been on the battlefield before, did not mind.

At that time, they heard some disturbing information from the soldiers stationed in the village.

There was a shortage of salt in this village as well. Mysterious men and soldiers were buying up all the salt.

I heard such voices in Doppa and Racneau, too.

Pascoe said. Licia did not listen, but she knew intuitively that Pascoe was not lying.

"It's strange. ...... We'll fly the pigeons as soon as we get to Kaina."

Licia assured the soldiers. If we contact the kingdom leaders, they will take some countermeasures.

"But the narrow rocky area between Doppa and Lac Noh on the way was amazing, wasn't it?

The atmosphere became darker, so Pascoe talked about something else.

The narrow rocky area was the place where the golems of Horai Island had repaired the cliff collapse.

"Yes. When I passed by there before, it was a rougher rocky area, but when I passed by there today, it was cleaned up. The Nostalgia Party, I think, is doing a really good job.

The rocks that were about to collapse had all been cleared, and the stones had even been magically hardened.

"Nostalgia, huh? I wonder if there is a connection with a mysterious deus ex machina or something.

As she listened to Pascoe's words, which sounded like he was talking to himself halfway, Licia wondered vaguely if there was any connection with Jin.

Early in the morning of the 15th. Licia and Pascoe departed from Toka village. They had to reach the village of Kaina before the end of the day.

The horse they were riding was a good horse, and the other horse they were using to carry their luggage was still in good health.

The stars were still visible in the sky.

As they continued on their way, the stars disappeared. Then the eastern sky became brighter and the sun started to rise.

"The weather looks good again today, doesn't it?

At the break of dawn, the two of them were passing through a rocky area. It was the same rocky place where they had been attacked by the golem before.

"After crossing that bridge, you will come to a mountain path," Licia explained to Pascoe.

Licia explained to Pascoe.

"Then let's go to the river there and give the horses some water.

"Yes, that's right."

We have been out of the village of Toka for about two hours now. They lead the horses to the water and let them drink as much as they want.

We ate our own portable rations, which consisted of dry bread and dried meat. We ate our own portable rations, which consisted of dried bread and dried meat. It's hard to get through without water, but we have plenty of water with us, so it's not a problem.

After about 15 minutes, we set out again.

The sun is already rising and the temperature is warming up. Licia suddenly remembered to look at the birdcage on the back of the saddle, and saw that the two pigeons were still puffing out their feathers a little.

"It will be warm soon," she said to them.

Licia said to her horse and hurried him along.

The pace would naturally slow down as they reached the top of the climb, so she wanted to make up some distance before the climb.

Pascoe seemed to know this as well and followed her with his packhorse in tow.

"You're used to this, Licia. ......"

Pascoe wanted to continue with the horses side by side, but decided against it due to the width of the road.

On the way, a peddler came down the road. The other side was a wagon, so we could barely pass each other. Pascoe thought to himself that it was a good thing that they had decided not to ride side by side.

The peddler looked at Licia and seemed to say something to her, but Licia was looking down at that moment, so the two passed each other without exchanging any words.

The road turned into a ninety-nine folds, and when the horses began to sweat profusely, the slope finally eased and they reached the rest house. It was midday.

"We managed to arrive here on time, didn't we? Let's take a rest here.

Licia's face was a little red and her breathing was heavy.

"Licia?　Are you not feeling well?"

Pascoe asked, concerned. Licia shook her head.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired."

With that, she went to the water and washed her face and hands. Pascoe follows and finally gives the horses a drink of water.

Then they had lunch. As in the morning, it consisted of dried bread and dried meat.

Pascoe, who was hungry, ate it up in no time, but Licia seemed to have no appetite and kept chewing on it.

"Licia, are you all right?"

Pascoe asked, and Licia looked up with a start.

"No, I'm fine. I just don't have much of an appetite.

"You shouldn't force yourself not to eat at times like that," Pascoe said.

Licia nodded her head and forcibly swallowed the meat in her mouth with water and put the rest of it back in the bag.

"Now, just a little more work and we will be in the village of Kaina. I will rest there.

"We'll do that."

Pascoe was worried that Licia was pushing herself too hard, but he decided not to say anything for now, knowing that nothing could be done until they reached the village of Kaina.

The horses had eaten the surrounding grass and were no longer sweating, so we decided to pick up the pace a little more.

The road was no longer steep, and once we reached the Togo Pass, it was all downhill.

At our current pace, we would reach the village of Kaina around 4:30.

Pascoe followed behind. Licia, from his point of view, was looking very painful.

Her usually straightened back is curled up, and she looks very sick.

It is hard not to think that Licia is a master of healing magic, but there is a big difference between curing an injury and curing a disease.

So to speak, healing injuries is a surgical procedure and healing diseases is a medical procedure.

Licia was skilled in surgery, that is, in curing injuries, but she was not good at curing diseases.

"Licia, please hang in there a little longer.

Pascoe could only show his concern for Licia, who seemed to be getting worse and worse.

However, we managed to make it up to the Togo Pass. We are 30 minutes behind schedule, but there is still plenty of time.

All that was left was to descend.

The Herme River is now in sight.