Risky, but looks convenient.

Karkassa is a town that exists out in the wilderness. I'm one of the gate guards here.

Karkassa has a dungeon. No, it's more accurate to say there's nothing here but the dungeon, and that the town sprang up because the dungeon was here. At first there were just traveling merchants setting up stalls; then inns and shops appeared, and eventually it developed into a town.

Because of that history, Karkassa gets a lot of merchant traffic and a lot of types trying to make dirty money. Inspections at the gate, both in and out, are fairly strict.

Today is particularly busy since the regular caravan arrived — that's the system where individuals traveling between towns band together and split the cost of hiring guards, departing on a fixed schedule — so there are many people to screen for entry.

 

 

"Next, please."

"Yee～es."

The next group to step up is a party of three. A busty traveling merchant woman, an elven kid who looks a bit unreliable as an adventurer bodyguard given his E-rank, and a slave apprentice tagging along… Ah, so the elf is a boy. Yeah, I wouldn't have been able to tell without checking his identification.

I check her Merchants' Guild Card and… hmm? The dates are strange. It does say she came from Solasidor, but she hasn't passed through any intermediate towns, and then there's the number of days.

She made it here from Solasidor to Karkassa in just five days?

If she used the regular caravan, it should take at least a month from Solasidor. And there's no way they wouldn't go through the towns along the way.

… Which means these three skipped the regular caravan and came straight here to Karkassa.

Could a group of nothing but women and children, hauling these big loads on their backs without resupplying at any town, really travel that fast? No, that's impossible. Even if they traded with merchants at makeshift camps along the way to restock, it still doesn't add up.

If they ignored fatigue entirely, used body reinforcement, marched without sleep, and never once got into a fight along the way… could they maybe make it in five days?

But even if they pushed themselves to that extreme, they look completely spotless…

In any case, it's suspicious.

"Uh, about this…"

"We used a special vehicle, so we got here super fast! It's special, so we even bypassed all the towns on the way!"

Just as I was about to press them on it, the merchant cut me off with that answer. She must have anticipated this would raise questions.

"A special vehicle? I don't see any carriage. Don't tell me you took turns pulling it yourselves?"

"It's faster if you see it for yourself. Want a look?"

"… Show me."

Surely she doesn't mean they rode here on a dragon's back. With that thought in mind, I leave the desk to another guard and accompany them outside.

"So where is this vehicle?"

"Right here… Wake up!"

When the merchant woman spoke the spell, the toy on her palm grew huge and turned into a wagon.

No, is that really a wagon? The shape is a bit odd. It's like a barrel with a door on the side and a window in the front. I can see a single wheel sticking out.

"Apparently it's a prototype Magic Tool that an incredible mage called 'Healer' lent us. It can change size like this, so it's really convenient to carry."

"What about a horse? Don't tell me you three took turns pulling it?"

"It's a Magic Tool, so it runs on its own. It's a bit dangerous, though."

It moves on its own? There's a Magic Tool like that?

"Think of it like a Golem."

"Ah, a Golem. I see."

Now that she mentions it, Golems can carry people inside them while walking. This is similar enough.

… This is convenient. It's basically a little hut; if they can rest inside, that saves them the trouble of setting up camp and makes night watch much easier.

And if it can move on its own, that would explain why they look so spotless.

That just leaves the matter of how many days the trip took.

"So is this thing really that fast?"

"Oh, absolutely. But it burns through Golem-grade magic stones like crazy, so it could never pay for itself."

"… You're a merchant, right? Why would you use something like that?"

"The Healer who lent it to us also provided the magic stones, asking us to report on how it handles. If I were spending my own money, I don't think I'd ever buy one."

I see. If she's not footing the bill, using it doesn't hurt her bottom line.

"Can you show me how it runs?"

"Sure thing. It's dangerous if you're not used to it, so I'll ride alone… Stand back a bit. I'll go to that big rock over there and come back."

"Right."

As she climbs into the Magic Tool, the merchant woman points at a boulder quite some distance away.

It's a few hundred meters out.

"Okay, here I go～!"

"Ah—"

The very next moment after I tried to respond, whoosh! The Magic Tool shot forward faster than a veteran mage's Fire Lance. It reached the target rock at incredible speed, made a wide turn, and came back just as fast—… Wait, is she going to stop?! H-hey!

I braced myself, but it ground to a halt like a horse being yanked by the reins, leaving deep gouges in the earth.

S-so it can stop. Good.

"And that's how it runs. Once it really gets up to speed, it's even faster."

"I see, I see. So that's how you managed it in five days."

"Yes, yes, exactly, Mr. Gate Guard."

It covered that distance literally in the blink of an eye. At that speed, shaking off monsters would be trivial — they could just barrel through. They could even cut across the wilderness as a shortcut, bypassing the highway entirely.

Still, five days, huh…

"… At that speed, it could probably be sold to the kingdom as a means for emergency dispatch, couldn't it?"

"Ah, no. Even a single collision would be fatal. We almost died a few times ourselves, so I don't think it'll be ready for sale any time soon."

"… You're lucky to be alive, then."

"Once we get used to it, I think we could travel even faster."

Come to think of it, crashing into a rock at that speed would be catastrophic. For simple messages, it would be much safer to have a Tamer send a bird.

When the merchant says "Shut down!", the vehicle Magic Tool shrinks. She picks it up and slips it into a pocket on her backpack.

I see. It's dangerous, but it looks awfully convenient.

Dangerous, but convenient.

"So, will there be any problem?"

"No. I don't see any. I'll check the rest of your luggage."

"Sure. It's mostly just honey after that."

"… Those jars survived the trip?"

"Fueh!? Ah, ah, yes, they were protected with magic. By Healer! And we were protected too, or we'd have died three times over by now."

This Magic Tool maker called Healer must be quite the terrifying mage.

No, if he couldn't do at least that much, he'd probably have died testing a Magic Tool like this long before he finished it. Yeah.

And that's how I got to see a rare vehicle today. Since there were no issues with the rest of their cargo, I granted them ordinary permission to enter.

And thus another day of work ended without incident.