Gold for the City?

The wind blew as leaves flew off the trees; two figures walked the road toward the citadel of Alessa. The first figure wore an immaculately embellished robe, giant iron gauntlets, and a mask that looked like a demon's face grinning; he is known as Momonga, the supreme being of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

The second figure, Claire, is short in stature, around 5'3, and wears a puffy blue shirt with eight buttons lining up the center, with an opening at the chest. She also wore a short blue skirt with white frails lining the base.

Furthermore, she wore white thigh-highs to the edge of her skirt. She also has gorgeous green eyes, and her hair is blonde like the shining sun, but the most notable characteristic is her pointy ears signaling that she's an elf. She also wore a blue beret with a white outline at the bottom, which narrowly covered her ears.

Momonga took a close look and eventually noticed the elven elements he didn't see before.

'Oh? She's an elf; how Interesting; in Yggdrasil, elves were fairly prevalent. I didn't expect to encounter one so early, but thinking about it was probable, or maybe the city of Alessa is an elven settlement? Hmm... No, the probability of it being an elven settlement is scarce. Rather, there's most likely some high diversity which is somewhat good since it means I can blend in better.'

"You alright, Momonga?" Claire asked as she looked perplexed.

"Huh? Oh, yes, I am; why?" Momonga replied.

"You looked stuck in thought; something bugging you?" Claire asked, bothered about what could pester such a powerful man.

"Omu, I was thinking about what I should do after I finish my business in the citadel of Alessa. Nothing to stress about, so let's keep walking."

Momonga started to walk down the road getting just ahead of Claire.

"Alright!" Claire responded to Momonga as she strode behind him.

However, it only took a few minutes before they were in front of the citadel of Alessa. It stood upon a hill, and its walls glittered in the sunlight as its giant wooden gates remained open for visitors. However, this opened gate was occupied by two guards, which slightly concerned Momonga.

'Oh? It seems like they have a few guards stationed outside of the gate. Do they perhaps have an identification procedure to gain entrance to the city? Although they could be watching out for intruders, they could easily do that on the walls. So it's most likely the second one.'

Momonga let out a faint sigh.

'Well, I'll need to find a way to get passed them, but how should I do it? Hmm…'

At that moment, Claire, realizing that Momonga was hesitating, decided to walk up to the guards. Momonga seeing this, followed suit shortly after. However, as they approached the gate, one of the guards asked them to halt and started to speak.

"Do you have any form of official identification?" The guard asked in a stern tone as if he was trying to enforce authority.

'Official identification? So my previous speculation was correct. They are stationed here to maintain who goes in and out. But that is an issue as I don't have any official identification. It would also become a bigger problem if they asked me to take off my mask. Although I have illusion magic, it would be challenging to hide it from someone with countermeasures to it, particularly a player. So what should I do? Could I just wing it and hope for the best? It seems like that's the only current option. If worse comes to worst, I can always retreat.'

Claire gave the guard her identification card, which he examined; after a second or two passed, he handed her the identification card and gave her the green light to go into the city. However, after the guard handled Claire, he turned to Momonga requesting his identification card, which Momonga responded quickly to.

"I currently do not have a form of identification on me. Is there a feasible way that I can obtain one?" Momonga asked.

The guard let out a faint sigh, realizing this meant more work for the day but only a little bit.

"There is one way to get into the city: purchasing a temporary license. It cost 300G upfront. It'll last you three days. After that, you'll have to pay for an extension." the guard stated.

'300G? I wonder if Yggdrasil gold would work? No… I can't use Yggdrasil gold here; that would be openly stating that I come from someplace else. Then what should I do?'

From the corner of Momonga's non-existent eyes, he noticed Claire approaching as if she was about to say something.

"I'll pay for him," Claire said out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Momonga and the guard said, reacting in sync.

Claire then pulled out 300G and handed it to the guard.

"Here you are, 300G," Claire said.

The guard looked at the pouch of gold for a second as he was considering allowing this or not. Then, however, he decided not to argue against her paying for him as it would cause more bad than good.

"Thank You; I'll get his temporary license now; stay here." The guard said while he ordered the two to stay put.

"Why did you do that?" Momonga asked Claire as they walked through the gate.

Claire put one of her fingers up her mouth as if she were in thought.

"Don't know, you just seemed like you were in a pickle. Plus, you did save my life earlier, so it's the least I could do." Claire said.

Momonga took a second and recalled the goblin attack.

'I guess she has a point. She does owe me for saving her life. But I can't help but feel like there is an ulterior motive behind her action. Well, no matter, that's a problem for future Momonga.'

Claire then started to speak up, evidently wanting to change the topic at hand to something more relevant.

"Anyhow, I think we should head toward the town center. There's a tone of markets there. I think you'd find it interesting." Claire said as she recalled the few times she had visited the citadel of Alessa and the amount of money she blew on goods in the town center.

"Sounds rather interesting. Let's go then." Momonga responded, and Claire started to lead the way. However, they didn't expect to see such an afternoon rush once they reached the town center. Nevertheless, people were moving around carts, market stalls were almost sold out, shopping corners were packed with people, and kids were playing on the street. It was a true sign of a blossoming city, giving Momonga more hope for his current situation.