Lu hadn't just found a simple forest road with some gravel and wheel tracks. It was a proper road with dirt packed so hard it was like stone. As if that wasn't enough, a sign had taken up residence at a fork that Lu found as he followed the road.
'Miv…?'
"Well, Imaranda is the kingdom's capital, so I'm headed in the right direction, at least."
The sign pointed in three directions, out of which only two had names indicating cities. The third direction pointed at the Bahsi Mountain. By the process of elimination, Lu continued toward Miv. He wasn't sure if that was where he could find Raiva.
But, considering the other signs of habitation he had seen in Bahsi duchy were ruins, it was likely that this grand road led to the duchy's capital. Lu continued walking along it.
Before long, he arrived.
'If that's not a capital, I don't know what is.'
Thick and tall stone walls spread out like mountains around the city. There was even a moat and drawbridge. Lu couldn't imagine how much work it had been to dig that moat with how large the city was. He figured that almost, if not all of, the duchy's residents had to reside in Miv.
Lu strode up to the gate with a confident posture. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone else waiting to enter the city. He stopped in front of the pair of guards.
"Papers…—?"
"I'm here to meet Raiva."
Lu nodded and crossed his arms as if waiting for the guards to lead the way.
One of the guards yawned.
"Well, if you don't have anything to prove your identity, Raiva will have to come here to meet you—"
The two guards looked at each other as they realized what name Lu had used.
"Who are you to use the Duchess's given name?! Where are your manners?"
Lu scolded the guard with an angry face and a pointy finger. The guard shoved Lu's finger out of his face with an expression that showed he wasn't quite sure what to think about Lu. But he was skeptical.
"Are you crazy?"
The guard asked out of honest concern.
"Pardon me?"
The guards exchanged looks again.
"Well, you said you were here to see the Duchess, you know, the Bahsi Butcherer."
"Yes. What about it?"
"Sane people don't do that."
"Ptui."
Lu spat on the ground.
"What does that have to do with me? Are you going to let me in or not?"
The guard in charge of speaking looked at his comrade before looking back at Lu.
"Well, do you have any documentation or something to verify your identity?"
Lu looked down before pointing at his torn clothes.
"Does it look like I do? Just tell Raiva an ally has come to visit."
"..."
"What?"
Lu raised an eyebrow upon seeing none of them move.
"Well, we watch the gate."
"Fine, I'll do it."
The guards stopped Lu before he could take more than one and a half steps.
"That's not what I meant. We are ten ranks too low in the hierarchy to talk to the Duchess."
"Yeah, that's why I said I can do it."
"Excuse me, but who are you?"
"What does that matter?"
"Do you want to meet the duchess or not?"
"Look, Raiva knows who I am. Just tell her I'm here, okay?"
"Who are we going to say is here, though?"
"Me."
"But who are you?"
"...good point. How about you just bring me to her?"
"We can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Several reasons."
"Such as?"
"We have to watch the gate. We can't get close to the duchess. We don't want to. What if you're an unconventional assassin or some other threat to the Duchy?"
Lu nodded in understanding.
"I see. One of you stay here or both of you while letting me in. I'm sure one of you is resourceful enough to get me an audience. I'm also sure that one or two of these…" Lu fished out a gold coin from a pocket and held it up. "...Can motivate you. As for me being dangerous…Have you seen Raiva in action? She's hella strong. I'd rather kill myself than try something stupid in her city."
"See…Now, that's suspicious."
Lu made the gold coin vanish with a twist of his hand as he took a step back in response to one guard putting his hand on the pommel of his sword while the other grabbed the spear they had leaned against the wall.
Lu held up his hands, showing his lack of wish to engage in battle.
"Alright. That's on me. I shouldn't have tried to bribe you. I just wanted to see Raiva for the first time in a while. Oh, and a bath. A bath would be nice. With or without Raiva, of course. But preferably with. Hieek—!"
Lu jumped back to avoid the spear that flashed through the air like a crescent moon.
"Hey! I was still talking!"
"You were talking disrespectful bullshit. State your identity and purpose, or face the consequences!"
"Ugh, fine. My name's Leo. I'm here because I couldn't forget about the Duchess' incredible beauty when I saw her at Count Yennet's party. No, I guess it was his son's party? Whatever. I was hoping to get closer to her. But obviously, that didn't work. Still, I'm sure she knows who I am. If you can just somehow pass along a message, I'll wait right here."
Lu still had his hands up and was speaking with a much more respectful tone.
'Maybe that time in the forest wasn't as good for my socialization skills as it was for my…No, it sucked. I hope I never do something like that again.'
The guards lowered their weapons slightly as they noticed Lu's complete lack of hostility. He wasn't that strong, either. So, he wasn't a danger. He was just incredibly suspicious and unnecessarily rude.
"Fine. I'll stay and watch you."
The guard turned to his companion and asked him to pass on a message. He included the fact that Lu possessed at least one gold coin and hinted at the possibility he had more. Gold coins weren't something ordinary commoners, even suspicious ones, could get their hands on. That was the official reason they had for passing on the message.
Otherwise, it would be the guards' heads on the line if it turned out Lu was just another nutjob who didn't know fear.