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Chapter 89: The Gatekeeper of the Bustling Town

1. The Gatekeeper of the Bustling Town

The Yoshanka guard Sidelock continued rapidly and carelessly reciting the town’s catchphrase while ushering the steady stream of incoming merchants and adventurers into the town.

“Those with identification, please line up here! Those without, over there! …Eh!? You lost your adventurer’s certification!? I don’t know about that! No cutting in line, get in line first, in line!”

Sidelock’s junior Yoza (the young guard who had tossed the sleeping Emi out of the park into the town’s outskirts) was also frantically dealing with the influx of travelers.

This mysterious Yoshanka boom that had suddenly arrived was an overwhelming emergency for the guards, whose numbers had dwindled from the town’s population decline.

Desperately juggling their limited personnel’s deployment, they worked relentlessly with no respite to even pick their noses.

It was Sidelock’s first experience being this busy at work.

“Senpai! It’s my turn for the catchphrase duty already! Let me take a break too!!”

Yoza’s whining fell on deaf ears as Sidelock ignored him.

Addressing the visiting travelers, reciting this catchphrase was paramount.

It was a publicity rule enacted a few years ago as part of the town’s revitalization efforts.

For the guards, this catchphrase held sacred significance akin to holy scripture.

It could not be taken lightly.

(Yoza…you still lack the experience to fulfill this vital duty…!)

“Senpai! Senpai! …Ah~ you’re ignoring me again~! Yes, sorry, my apologies! Those with identification, please line up here, right here! …Hey you there! No cutting the line!!”

(This is a trial, Yoza! Overcome this trial admirably, and show me your growth as a guard who has shed their skin…!)

Making such excuses in his mind, Sidelock had no intention of relinquishing the catchphrase duty.

Truthfully, he was getting on in years himself.

Unlike the spry youngster Yoza, he could no longer nimbly move about.

His back ached.

It couldn’t be helped.

Yoza, you just push through it.

“Haaah~ I’m exhausted~”

Around noon, the flow of people entering and exiting the town finally settled down.

Sidelock and Yoza were taking a break at the guardhouse.

Yoza was sprawled face-down on the desk in a napping posture.

As for Sidelock, he was going through the entry log reports while picking his nose.

Quickly checking if any dangerous individuals had entered town, or anyone else requiring special monitoring.

Knock knock!

A forceful knocking echoed through.

Yoshanka’s residents pound on doors with gusto to overcome the powerful sea winds.

Known as the “Yoshanka Knock”, it’s said to be one of the first cultural differences young people face when leaving town.

In any case.

“…Come in.”

It was a visitor.

Wishing to rest his body, Sidelock suppressed his vexation and maintained an expressionless front as the guest entered.

The one who creaked through the door was the stately innkeeper Harinna of the Sea Breeze Inn.

“I’ll be disturbing you, Side-chan.”

“If you’re going to disturb me, then please don’t come at all, Haa-chan.”

Sidelock and Harinna exchanged casual greetings befitting childhood friends.

“What’s this, what’s this? Did you bring a snack? Some Togūdo egg sandwiches perhaps?”

“Sorry, I didn’t bring anything today. My bad for being inconsiderate.”

“Then what’s your business here?”

“I’m here on behalf of the Trade Association.”

Harinna’s Sea Breeze Inn was a member of the Yoshanka Trade Association.

With a “Well then,” she plopped herself down on a guardhouse chair and freely began brewing her own tea.

“A complaint, or rather a request, from the Association.”

“Huh? A complaint?”

Sidelock furrowed his brow at the unexpected words.

Harinna also wore a sullen expression.

“You’re aware a black-haired, black-eyed cursed child recently came to this town, aren’t you?”

“…Well, yeah.”

(Seeing as I was the one who let that thing into town.)

With a premonition that this would become troublesome, Sidelock couldn’t help but sigh.

He had to be careful not to say anything unnecessary.

“That thing’s been wandering around town occasionally, causing a nuisance! Just looking at it is unpleasant, and customers flee whenever it approaches! Say, can’t you do something to drive it out of this town?”

There it was, another bothersome issue.

Sidelock held his head in his hands.

Cursed children were considered ominous.

Townsfolk didn’t want them around.

However, the guards couldn’t simply expel a cursed child from town just for being cursed.

There was no such law permitting that.

Whenever something inconvenient happened, Harinna and the other townsfolk would just dump it on the guards.

But the guards had their own rules to follow.

They wished the people would understand.

“Eh? That can’t be right, granny. You’re saying that cursed child is still in town? That can’t be.”

It was then that Yoza, who had been lying face-down on the desk, abruptly sat up and joined the conversation.

He had apparently been eavesdropping rather than napping.

“Because I found that thing sleeping in the park and tossed it out of town myself.”

“Wha-!? You…!”

You did what on what grounds!?

As a guard obligated to follow the law, what were you doing!?

…Sidelock nearly blurted that out, but it was Yoza who had committed the lawless act.

If anyone was to be held accountable, it would be Yoza.

It had nothing to do with Sidelock himself.

In that case, he didn’t particularly mind.

“Well, even so, that thing has still been wandering around town! You two have just been stuck at the gate recently, so you might not have noticed.”

“Eh? That can’t be right…?”

Ignoring the bickering between Harinna and Yoza, Sidelock flipped through the town entry log.

According to these records, after Yoza expelled the cursed child, there were no subsequent entries of it returning to town.

There was only one gate allowing entry to this town.

If it wasn’t recorded here, then that thing shouldn’t have come back inside.

And yet, it was still around supposedly?

…Just what was going on?

“…For now, I’ll look into it.”

With those words, Sidelock saw Harinna off for the time being.

Quite a bit of the tea snacks had been depleted too.