Standing in front of the gates of Yarnold Town Ava couldn't help but be amazed by the prosperity in front of her eyes. This monstrosity of stone and metal was built by the same species as Shattered Creek Village? How many houses of stone would it take to build such a thing? Ava truly couldn't believe it. In the end, seeing was different from hearing.
She had always heard that towns were on a different scale from villages, but having seen how big Shattered Creek Village was, with its population nearing the six digits, Ava couldn't help but feel that no matter how large a town was, it would only be a bigger village right? At most with better security and buildings. Even if things were doubled in size… that wouldn't be too much right?
But the walls in front of her refreshed her understanding. Right now they were only on the outskirts and the walls were both taller and thicker then the church back in the village. Compared to this, the rich district was an absolute joke. Suddenly, Ava couldn't help but feel a little expectant towards the actual town. With such complicated and large structures, no one would be able to find her once she slipped into an alleyway right?
"Next!"
Following behind Ruth and Elly, Ava couldn't help but stare at the large procession in front of her waiting to pass the large stone gate that separated the town from the rest of the world. Two days ago the caravan had finally made it to Yarnold town and the dedicated traders who ran the caravan had ruthlessly abandoned the tag-alongs and ordinary civilians who made the journey with them and left to meet their people. Without any connections or wealth, they could only wait in this long line that stretched out for days, leaving many of the people in the line no choice to but bear the cold night lest they lose their spot.
These long nights had been rather hard on Ruth and Elly who were unused to bearing such hardship, as they didn't have the time or reason to set up a tent or sleeping bag lest they lose their spot and could only bear with the suffering, and over the last few days they had grown a weary look about them. Ava, who had always stood covered in dust and grime looked to be no better, but her bright eyes that couldn't help but wander revealed her vigor.
It was only after another half day of waiting that the three of them finally made it up to the front of the gate.
"Next!"
Stepping forward, Ruth hugged Elly by the shoulders and brought her forward, while Ava followed half a step behind.
Glancing over the three of them, a gruff looking guard with a half grown in beard quickly swept his eyes over Elly and Ava before training his eyes on Ruth, specifically her well endowed chest. "Name?"
Slightly blushing at the guard's unabashed looks, Ruth couldn't help but subconsciously look back for Bobby but only saw Ava behind her, coughing lightly she said, "I'm Ruth, this is Elly and that's Gale behind me."
Nodding, the guard gestured for Ruth to hand over the identification documents.
With a bit of reluctance, Ruth handed over three sheets of paper and a small bag of silver under it.
Feeling the weight of the papers in his hand, the guard let out a toothy smile before picking up the sack of coin and saying, "Lady, we don't accept bribes." While tossing the pouch of coin over to his buddy who was sitting in the guardhouse with practiced aim.
Flipping through the papers, the guard's eyes suddenly focused as he checked to confirm that the names were the same and the rough drawings and ages seemed to match. Seeing that everything seemed about in order, the guard returned the pages back to Ruth. "No husband?"
Taking back the pages, Ruth didn't dare to walk past the guard and simply answered with a slightly lost look, "He died on the way here." Thinking that wasn't enough information she added, "He drank too much and fell and cut himself and got infected."
Behind her, Ava couldn't help but want to bury her head. Ruth was indeed a stupid lady.
Letting out another toothy grin, the guard laughed and said, "Bet he tripped and fell on a sword while he was at it, eh? That's alright, nobody cares what happens out there. If ya feeling little feisty, head to the Red Lion in, room 304, won't have to pay a copper."
Then, turning his eyes away from Ruth, he hollered out in a loud voice, "Next!"
Blushing, Ruth led Elly and Ava through the gate and found that the other side of the gate was yet another dirt road, a little confused she looked over to a nearby guard but upon seeing his fierce expression quickly shied away and kept walking forward.
After they were some distance away from the gate Ruth almost fell over as she looked around nervously before looking over to Ava and whispering, "We, we should be fine now right? Can we go?"
Looking at Ruth, Ava let out a mirthless smile and said, "There's still a city gate. That was an outpost."
Realizing why both sides of the gate were dirt roads, Ruth let out a sheepish smile, "But once we're inside?"
Ava glanced at Ruth before continuing to walk forward.
Behind her, Ruth started panicking and could only quickly get up and grab Elly to catch up.
In front, Ava couldn't help but feel relieved, now that they had passed the outpost with no incident, the following checks should be much less stringent. After all, no matter how rich the town was, they still had to import food and open up trade, they couldn't be bothered to check every single person on a regular basis. The problem simply was that Shattered Creek Village lie on the outskirts of the Effuino Kingdom to the point that it was bordering the territory of the nearby kingdom and thus they weren't built inside the Kingdom's defense circle.
Due to the natural terrain allowing for this area to serve as a natural barrier, this massive stone wall and outpost had been set up. Their party had managed to get through relatively easily as they didn't have any men in the group.
Generally speaking these sorts of outposts knew that a large portion of the documents that came into their hands were illicit but had a policy of keeping one eye closed, even stepping forward to participate in the business at times. They had long since acknowledged this wasn't something they could prevent. Instead they served more like a censor and obstacle. All they really had to watch out for was an abnormally large amount of well built men passing through, as there was a possibility that the enemy was trying to sneak in an army.
But having passed the walls, none of this was Ava's problem anymore.