WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator: Abood
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Saviour Embarks on a Nameless Journey
Chapter 44: The Plate of the Gate
As we approached Terenoa, I gathered my hair, which I had tied up rather carelessly before, into a single braid and let it hang in front. The image seen in portraits and statues could be changed entirely with just a hairstyle, a simple trick but effective.
“Ah, right… Terenoa has a statue, doesn’t it,” Tain remarked.
Troublesome thing, that. Statues of the Hero’s Party can be found in nearly every town. The finer works, however, are only in the larger, wealthier places.
Terenoa’s statue is life-sized, which makes comparisons easier. If only it had been made smaller or larger, the impression might have been different.
For now, the plan was to keep from drawing attention until we located the monster likely lurking in this town. Still… could it be yet another case of one hiding in the lord’s manor?
When we arrived at Terenoa, several wagons stood waiting before the gate for their turn at the paperwork, the merchants chatting idly. For us, mere travelers, it was simple enough to dismount from our magic horse and pay the gatekeeper to enter.
Perhaps as a lesson learned from past suffering at the hands of monsters disguised as humans, the gates that controlled entry had a light ward placed on them by priests.
It was nothing that would bar passage, but if a monster or something akin to one tried to pass, a plate affixed to the top of the gate, a symbol of the town, would come crashing down and shatter.
Why it had to be a plate, I do not know. But down it came.
“Ah, sorry. Could it be that freshly hunted monster parts set it off?”
We all stepped aside to avoid the falling plate, and now shards lay scattered across the cobblestones.
“If the parts came from a fairly strong monster, then yes, they could trigger it.”
From the guardhouse emerged a man who seemed to be the officer in charge.
Two soldiers stood on each side of the gate, spears crossed, hemming us in. Beyond them were onlookers reacting as though an entertaining show were about to begin, and others keeping their distance, ready to flee at any moment.
High above the gate, where the plate had been, something like a magic circle was carved. It seemed the plate itself was not the barrier’s true form; that circle was.
“I’m sorry, Grandfather. I kept one of the fangs as a memento. Could it be my fault the plate fell?”
Alina looked up at me anxiously.
Most likely, they were from that swift-footed monster Alina and Io had slain not long ago.
“I have one as well.”
Io quietly held out a fang.
“No, even I didn’t think of the fangs until the plate fell.”
I stroked Alina’s head.
“I’ve heard it happens often enough. You needn’t worry so much,” Marius said with a smile.
“They always claim the plate won’t fall unless it’s a magic core, but I’ve heard plenty of complaints about it dropping just from hides or claws being brought in,” Tain added.
Just in case, I checked over our things for anything else that might cause trouble. We had delayed the town’s entry long enough, it was starting to feel discourteous.
“I’ll hold on to these.”
So saying, the officer took our belongings and handed them off to an attendant. The attendant gave a bow, then returned to the guardhouse built into the gate.
Some men were clearing away the broken shards, while others used a long pole-like tool to hang a new plate upon the gate. As Marius had said, it must not have been uncommon for plates to break, their work was carried out with remarkable efficiency.
“If you pass out through the gate and the other plate does not fall, then you are cleared of suspicion. At the right-side window, please collect your belongings and pay for the plate.”
So instructed, we passed through the gate under the soldiers’ watchful eyes. The plate fixed above the town-side entrance did not fall, and thus we were absolved.
At the guardhouse window we received back our belongings, paid the fee for the plate, and then led the magic horse toward the square.
“I’m relieved,” Alina said, pressing a hand to her chest.
“That plate costs far less than what they charge. I didn’t say it in front of the soldiers, but lately there’s been a rumor that when well-off travelers come through, they drop it on purpose,” Tain remarked.
“To think they would frighten Alina for such a reason… that deserves death a hundred times over.”
Curse them, to trouble my precious granddaughter so!
“Why a plate, though?” Io tilted her head in puzzlement.
“I don’t know.”
“Because it’s cheap?”
That was Tain and I.
“Originally, they tried to use a bell that would ring when shaken. But the formula didn’t function properly, and so it ended up being a plate that falls instead,” Marius explained.
“......”
He gave an explanation, but it still didn’t answer why it had to be a plate. At least I understood that it had started as a failed formula.
And really, Pya. You’re clinging to my back, yet of no help at all? Shouldn’t this be the sort of moment where a sacred beast keeps the barrier from reacting, or something of the sort? What are you doing as a sacred beast?
The square was bustling with people. Stalls lined the space, selling various goods, not only sundries, but flowers as well. A lively town indeed.
During the Demon King’s era, this town had suffered little in the way of flashy destruction from monsters, and so its recovery had been swift, its later development remarkable. Though there was little ruin, there had been many casualties.
With the increase in population afterward, half of the current residents are people who came here from elsewhere.
“It was once a gloomy town, where people quietly vanished. How it has changed,” Marius murmured.
Footnotes:
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