A Well-Governed City

THE SOARING WHITE WALLS surrounding Lanchester looked down,

judging us from on high. Compared to Tetra and Seifort, this city had an icy

aura that extended to the buildings themselves, a feeling that anything

outside of the holy knights' rules and beliefs was rejected with prejudice. I

guessed that sort of strict attitude was to be expected of a city directly

governed by a holy knight.

The merchant wagon trundled through the city's colossal main gates.

Outside, the walls had towered. The gate had soared. Inside, the buildings

loomed. And there were so many of them. Even from the road, their size

was overwhelming; up close, those buildings were truly majestic to behold.

However, within the city itself, the same towering white walls

partitioned Lanchester into sections. Even Seifort, with its strict district

classifications, didn't go so far to demarcate spaces. On top of that, the

gates into each district of Lanchester were heavily guarded.

"This place… It's like everything is locked down," I said.

"Well, Lanchester's holy knights have a pretty strict class system in

place for residents," the merchant replied.

According to him, a person's skill decided their class, like so:

Holy Skills: Holy Knights

Attack Skills: Adventurers

Production and/or Commercial Skills: Artisans, Merchants, etc.

All Remaining Obscure and/or Unnecessary Skills: Servants

Because the holy knights ruled the city, they were, of course, at the

top of the food chain—just like in Seifort. Next in line were adventurers,

who had the ability to battle monsters, a constant problem for a territory so

close to Galia. After adventurers came the artisans, capable of designing

and forging weapons and armor for the top two classes, along with the

merchants who traded in such goods. Those three classes consisted of

people lucky enough to have been blessed with the right skills at birth.

At the bottom of this class system languished people with skills

deemed obscure or unnecessary: skills that had no real use, or that were

meaningless on their own. Stat-Boosting skills were one of those, since if

you had a Magic Boost (Low) but no magic skills for it to increase, the skill

was pointless. And, though Strength Boost (Low) enabled someone to battle

low-level monsters without a Sword or Spear Technique skill, the holy

knights restricted exactly which skills qualified a person to be an

adventurer. They wouldn't recognize anybody who failed to fit their mold

as such.

I was relieved from the very bottom of my heart that I hadn't been

born here, even though my village had been a special kind of latrine. At

least I'd been able to make it to Seifort, where people could—in theory—

work whatever job they liked. If I'd been born in Lanchester, my father

wouldn't have been able to protect me. The holy knights would've

discovered that my skill was simply being hungry, and I might not even

have qualified for the servant class. I'd have been driven out at as a child,

though I feared it would have been worse.

At any rate, I could easily imagine them saying an eternally hungry

child was a disgusting excuse for a citizen. The entire system reminded me

of my time working as a day-laborer, gatekeeping for the Vlerick family.

The difference between Lanchester and the Vlericks, however, was that the

city abused people on a much larger scale.

"Are travelers subject to the same class system?" I asked.

The merchant laughed. "No, not at all. If we were, nobody'd ever

come through, and trade would freeze up. That'd be real bad for

Lanchester's economy!"

"That makes sense… I have to admit, I'm relieved to hear it."

"Well, you and your scary little dozin' friend are both adventurers.

So, even if you decided to become citizens, you'd probably have it pretty

good."

At least Lanchester was kind to some. In the end, however, an

adventurer's whole job was fighting monsters. I had a feeling that, when it

came down to it, that job would include being part of a human wall at the

behest of Lanchester's holy knight commanders. After all, the holy knights

had created the entire class system in the first place. I doubted they spared

much care for any of the people below them.

"I'm just passing through, so I don't think I'll be here long," I said.

"Well, just don't forget what I told you! No bad-mouthing any holy

knights, you hear?"

"Yeah, I remember. Thanks for the warning."

When the wagon came to a halt, a few city officials approached,

probably to discuss trade conditions.

"Hey," said the merchant. "Don't forget your reward. Three silver

coins, as promised."

"Thanks. Perhaps we'll meet again somewhere down the road."

"If we do, I'll be counting on you for more bodyguard work."

I didn't exactly like the idea of taking money for doing nothing, but it

was the nature of the job. Guard work wasn't always fighting and protecting

—sometimes, being present was all that mattered. The important thing was

that the cargo arrived safely at its destination. On reflection, perhaps I'd

developed a skewed perspective on the adventurer's lifestyle, since I

constantly had to fight and kill to keep my Gluttony sated.

Anyway, it was time to wake up the still sleeping Myne.

"Hey, we're here," I said.

She mumbled back, but barely stirred. "Just need…one more day."

"One more day?! Just how much sleep do you need?! Hey, wake up!"

Just as I was about to lean over and shake Myne back to the land of

the living, Greed broke his long silence.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. She doesn't take kindly to having

her beauty sleep interrupted. Make her angry, and you'll be in deep

trouble."

"Deep trouble? Like what?"

"Oh—if she got really mad? She could raze this city to the ground.

She's top-class when it comes to Skills of Mortal Sin, you know. That's

blink-and-you'll-miss-it levels of instantaneous destructive power. You'll

have to carry her. And don't forget to bring her weapon, Sloth. Losing that

would be another great way to make her angry."

Just how terrifying was this girl's fury?! She was hells of daunting if

even Greed approached her with caution. At least he'd finally spoken to me

again.

"Hey, Greed," I said. "Do you and Myne know each other?"

"We go back a long way, though I wish we didn't. I was surprised to

see her still alive. Always was stubborn. Really, she should know better than

to try and get back what's already lost…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Hmph. I don't know. I don't care. It's got nothing to do with me. I

don't want any part of it."

Greed dropped back into grim silence. I guessed that, if I wanted to

know more, I'd have to ask Myne herself. But Greed's words also seemed

to hint that if I did know, I'd get pulled into a whole heap of other trouble I

couldn't even begin to imagine. Well, it was too late to worry about getting

into trouble. I'd already told Myne I'd help her out. And I owed her.

Did this trouble Greed was muttering about have to do with our Skills

of Mortal Sin? The way Myne spoke about the skills implied there were

more out there besides hers and mine. She had also mentioned that the

bearers of these skills could recognize each other. Maybe that was part of

what made it feel so right to travel with her.

Either way, I had to get to Galia. I didn't know what Myne was

looking for, or what she needed to accomplish, but I would only help her

out this once. After that, we'd go our separate ways; I had other priorities.

I hefted Myne onto my back. As I suspected, my Telepathy had no

effect on her. It had been the same when I tried to Identify her back at the

Hart family estate. My skills didn't work on this girl. I wondered if they

would work on Sloth, her weapon. Did the black axe have a soul like Greed

did?

I grabbed the black axe's handle and was pleased to discover my

Telepathy catching on something—some inner consciousness. But Sloth

was…asleep? I tried poking the sleeping weapon, like I'd planned to poke

Myne, but it didn't wake. I heard only the gentle snoring of its slumber. I

had no other ideas about how to wake it up. What a lazy weapon! Greed

could certainly be annoying, but the black axe Sloth seemed to have just as

bad an attitude in its own way.

I heard Greed laugh at me through my Telepathy. "Always and

forever sleeping," he said. "What a lazy piece of equipment."

"We can't wake it up? I'd like to talk to it."

"Impossible—for you. Only the weapon's wielder can wake it."

So, Sloth was a weapon with its own peculiarities, kind of like Greed.

That reminded me. "What are weapons like you and Sloth called, anyway?"

I asked. "Tell me that much, at least."

"Very well. We're the Weapons of Mortal Sin. And, for the record,

we're vastly superior to those brittle toys people call 'holy swords.'"

That much I had seen for myself when Greed snapped Hado Vlerick's

holy sword in half as if it were a twig. Greed could also wield new forms

and powers when I unlocked his weapon levels. The only reason I'd come

as far as I had was because of all the stats I'd fed the black sword.

Perhaps the sleeping Sloth hid a similar power. After all, it had

almost splintered the merchant's wagon with its sheer weight… But I had a

feeling there was more to the axe than heft. I'd know more as soon as I had

another chance to watch Myne in battle.

After the merchant and the city officials finished their talk, the cargo

was unloaded from the wagon. That was when I departed, so as not to get in

the way.

Carrying both Myne and her black axe kept my hands full, but

fortunately, I could use Sloth's handle to balance some of Myne's weight.

There was no way I could explore the city with Myne and Sloth in tow, so

my first task would be finding lodgings.

Past the loading docks, a stone path lit by lamps on either side led

farther into the city. Down the path sat a huge fountain, gushing with water.

The city had to have an impressive plumbing system for that to work. In

fact, from everything I'd seen so far, its infrastructure seemed wellmanaged. To say Lanchester rivaled Seifort was not an understatement; this

was no countryside town like Tetra. It was the complete opposite of the

pastoral settlements with houses scattered randomly across farmlands.

Lanchester's streets and buildings could only have been built on the

foundation of logical, meticulous planning.

As I headed down the street, a couple city guards stopped me. That

immediately put me on edge, especially since my hands were full with

Myne and her axe. I haven't done anything wrong. What do they want?

"You a traveler?" one asked.

"Yes. I'm looking for lodgings. Is there an inn?"

One guard pointed behind me.

"There're lodgings over that way. You can find the inn there. Only

district residents past this point!"

What? Guess they're serious about enforcing exactly where visitors

can travel within the city…

Both guards had black neck tattoos under their collars. Tentatively, I

asked about them.

"These identify us as citizens and adventurers," a guard replied.

"Do all Lanchester citizens have tattoos to mark their class?"

"That's right. It's the law. Now, head on back the way you came, or

we'll be lodging you in the dungeons."

I turned back and walked toward the inn. I'd barely set foot in

Lanchester, and already, this city was terrifyingly strict.