Early TNG Vol. 15 Chapter 1 part 6 (Patreon)

Note: This part has not been TLCed yet, and might slightly differ from the public version.  If you found any typos/mistakes, pls write it in the comment. Thanks.    

Translator: Dario

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One week after leaving Erkunt, Shin and Schnee finally reached the elf village of Lanapacea. Thanks to their high stats, they managed to shorten one month of travel via horse carriage to only seven days. They could run through forests and crags, without the limitations a horse carriage would have, which too helped shorten the travel time.

The fact that Schnee had visited the village before also helped. If alone, Shin would have had to proceed while comparing the map and the environment, which would have been definitely troublesome. There was no navigation technology, after all.

“We’re finally here, but it sure doesn’t look like we’re welcome...everyone’s glaring.”

“That is strange. The last time I came, there wasn’t such exaggerated security.”

The outer edges of Lanapacea. The clearly defined line between forest and fields was the border of its territory, according to Schnee.

Similar to the “gardens” Pixies created, a magic barrier prevented monsters from entering. There were not any castle walls or the like, so it might look unprotected, but the entrances into the village were actually limited.

To be overconfident in such barriers, however, would be foolish. In the outer edges, where monsters could appear, soldiers with relatively high fighting prowess were always stationed.

Many of such troops were currently stationed near the entrance to the village, as gate guards. From another perspective, the normally invisible entrance was thus made visible, though.

“Elf, human. This is the entrance to our domain. If you have come upon this place by chance, retrace your steps and be on your way.”

One of the elves, with equipment superior to the others, shouted in Shin and Schnee’s direction.

Elves were a species that lived very long lives and always looked young. The male elf who spoke to Shin and Schnee looked around 40-50 years old, in human terms.

He had probably lived a fairly long life. His gaze was sharp, as if he could see right through Shin and Schnee. Even if the atmosphere was tense, he did not give off the impression that he would attack them.

-----Anaheit Luderia  Magic Archer  Level 233

【Analyze】 revealed the elf’s identity. His level was the highest among the elves. His job was magic archer, the archer version of the magic swordsman, so to speak. The job’s skills allowed the user to exterminate multiple targets at the same time: it was one of the most popular jobs in the game era.

“We have come to Lanapacea for a reason. We have no hostile intentions.” 

“You wish to enter, I see. Do you have any proof of identity?”

Shin took out his adventurer’s card, which he was told would work as proof of identity. He was also told that not all countries accepted it: in that case, he would ask Tiera to come meet them.

“Oh, an adventurer….what? Rank...A?”

The elf who checked the adventurer card frowned. Shin was used to seeing people surprised by it, but the elves showed surprise together with a sense of wariness similar to hostility. They probably checked Schnee’s card too, but did not show any reaction about it, maybe because her rank was C.

“Is there something wrong with my rank?”

“...my apologies. A human with your appearance must be still very young. I was of the impression that adventurers that reached rank A were all of advanced age.”

The male elf’s expression softened. His first warning had been intimidating, but he did not keep the same tone in conversation.

Shin thought of any adventurers that reached rank A despite being young, and could only come up with Wilhelm. He was a Chosen One, however. The others he could think of were all former players or support members, all clearly different from normal people.

Shin reflected than normally adventurers who reached rank A had to be of a certain age, like Bayreuth’s guildmaster Barlux - who was a Chosen One too, though.

“What would be the business of such a high rank adventurer in our country? There is no adventurers’ guild here, so even if you gather materials you would need to bring them to a neighboring country for them to be appraised, which is quite a hassle, you’ll understand.”

“Our reason is another. There isn’t a guild here, though? I thought they were present in all countries.”

The adventurers’ guild, an organization that transcended borders, was present in most countries and cities. As far as Shin had seen, all countries and cities of a certain size had a branch of the guild. It wasn’t present in small fishing villages though, naturally.

Despite the absence of the adventurers’ guild, however, Anaheit seemed to be aware of the significance of being an A rank adventurer.

“Our village does not have frequent contacts with the outside world, after all. As a country, it is quite small too. Because of that, we protect the populace from monsters with our fighting forces only. To be perfectly frank, very few people come from outside.”

It wasn’t a famous tourist location, nor was it a spot well known for rare materials or unique monsters. The presence of the World Tree was kept a secret too.

Shin knew about it because he had heard from Tiera and Schnee; he probably wouldn’t have ever visited Lanapacea if it wasn’t for them.

“Our reason for coming here is to meet an elf named Tiera. We have been informed that she is staying in the elf village called Lanapacea.”

It didn’t look like they would be let in without stating their purpose outright, so Shin mentioned Tiera’s name.

“Lady Tiera?”

“Lady?”

The elf’s response was slightly unexpected.

For Anaheit, Tiera was apparently someone that that had to be addressed with “Lady”. The male elf looked intently at Shin. Some of the elves behind him armed their bows with arrows.

“The atmosphere’s turning sour.”

Shin looked at the elves as he spoke to Anaheit. He very much doubted that Anaheit hadn’t noticed the movements of the elves behind him.

“The village is in a bit of a tense situation at the moment. If someone as powerful as you arrives, we fear that the situation might turn for the worse, you see.”

Anaheit spoke clearly. While not as much as the other elves, he didn’t seem to be very welcoming towards Shin. 

Shin and Schnee had not been targeted yet, so they were still quiet, but if the bows turned towards them they would respond appropriately. Judging from the situation, Tiera’s circumstances were much worse than what she wrote in the message.

“We have no intention of causing any trouble, so could you let us in?”

“My apologies, but we need some time. As I said before, your presence could instigate trouble. If you were a normal human, we wouldn’t react like this, though.”

Shin asked to be let in, but Anaheit maintained his stance of refusal. Neither was going to budge, and it wasn’t “yet” time to force his way in, so Shin decided to retreat for the moment.

“I guess it can’t be helped. I am sure that even if we persisted we would be just give you more work to do, so we’ll be back at another time.”

“Apologies for the trouble. As you have an elf with you I am sure you know already, but do not think of sneaking in. If you do, we will be forced to work even harder at our jobs.”

“Haha, who would do something so reckless?”

Both men smiled, but the topic of conversation wasn’t amusing at all. Shin, incidentally, did not say that sneaking inside would be impossible.

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