Chapter 74

"Thank you for the bookmark rating m(_ _)m"

"Hey, we can see the demon kingdom over there!"

While we were killing time, the lady called out to us.

"Wow..."

The demon kingdom, visible from a distance, was, well, just plain huge.

I guess it's probably about the same size as a capital city.

"There, that's the checkpoint."

The lady pointed and showed us where the checkpoint was.

"..."

The people standing at the checkpoint, visible in the distance, seemed somehow large, but I guess it's just because we were far away.

"..."

As we got closer to the checkpoint, I realized something.

There was a large suit of armor placed at the checkpoint.

Next to it, a person, probably in charge of the checkpoint, was checking people passing through.

"Well, we have to enter from a different place, so you two go ahead and wait for us."

"Understood."

Lily and I got off the carriage at the checkpoint as the lady instructed.

"Once we get through the checkpoint, wait for us, okay?"

The lady said this and headed towards the entrance for carriages.

"Well, let's go then."

"Okay!"

Since we couldn't stay here forever, I took Lily's hand and headed towards the checkpoint.

"Hmm, who are you?"

The person standing at the checkpoint noticed us and called out.

"Ah, well, we're here as envoys..."

I said this while showing the official documents from my luggage.

"Oh, you're envoys, I see. Let me check these, please."

"Sure."

I handed the documents to the person at the checkpoint and was told to wait in another room.

"By the way, what's that suit of armor next to the checkpoint?"

Since I had to wait for a while, I asked about something that had been on my mind.

"That? It's my familiar..."

"Familiar, you say?"

I hadn't heard that term before, so I couldn't help but ask again.

"Yes, it's my ogre familiar."

"Ogre!?"

An ogre, right? The one I defeated?

"An ogre, you mean the monster?"

I asked hesitantly.

"Yes, I have it wear armor to distinguish it from others."

"Wow..."

I never thought an ogre would be here...

"Ah, the envoy's verification is complete, you can go through now."

"Understood."

With the verification complete, we were able to pass through the checkpoint safely.

...Oh, I forgot to ask what a familiar actually is.

I'll ask Lily later, I guess.

"Hey, you took your time."

As we exited the checkpoint, the lady who had been waiting called out to us.

"Yes, it took some time to verify the documents, sorry."

I lowered my gaze to my luggage and apologized.

"No, no, I didn't wait that long."

After a brief chat, we headed towards the inn.

"By the way, everyone seems to have some kind of monster with them..."

As we walked down the street and looked around, sure enough, various monsters were accompanying the people walking by.

There were goblins I had often helped, and some squishy, gooey creatures I had never seen before.

Incidentally, the demons who had monsters with them had wings or tails, but I already knew this, so it didn't surprise me.

"Ah, those are familiars."

The lady, who apparently knew about familiars, casually informed me.

"Um, familiars...?"

I had intended to ask Lily later, but I couldn't help but ask now.

"Hmm? Familiars?"

"Yes, I'm not really familiar with such things..."

I should have studied more when I was in the village.

"Well, demons with an aptitude for dark magic can summon monsters and form a contract with them."

"So, that's what a 'familiar' is?"

"That's right. The ogre in armor at the checkpoint is apparently one of the more excellent ones, but usually, they're just goblins or slimes."

"Wow..."

The slimes must be those squishy creatures.

And the lady had recognized that the armor was an ogre.

"Ah, this is the inn where we'll be staying tonight."

The lady stopped in front of an inn.

Apparently, we'll be staying here tonight, and from tomorrow, we'll have rooms prepared at the castle.

Incidentally, the reason we're staying at this inn is that the food here is particularly delicious, according to the lady.

"Let's go in."

We followed the lady and opened the door to the inn.