Arena Chapter 117:

Chapter 117 – To the Aman Empire (Part 2)

 

 

Moving along the royal main road, we could see the border’s checkpoint .

The border’s checkpoint that the soldiers were guarding had one small door and one large door .

In front of the small door was a long line of people, and the large door was vacant .

Our carriage headed towards the large door .

“Excuse me . Please present your identification . ”

Odin opened the carriage door and showed them his identification .

The soldiers looked at the I . D . and looked surprised .

They returned the I . D . and assumed respectful positions .

“It is an honor to meet the great military man of Arend, the count of Wolfenbrooke . ”

For reference, this continent is called the Arend Kingdom .

And Odin was one of the strongest people among those in the Arend Kingdom .

The carriage started up again .

Past the border’s checkpoint was the neutral zone between the two countries, and the condition of the road became awful and the carriage clunked along .

“Won’t this break the carriage?”

“It’s got magic spell on it so it won’t break from most things . ”

“Ah, magic sure makes things easier . ”

“Do not look down on this world’s civilization . I have heard they even developed the four wheels maneuver height so even racing on an unpaved road they will maintain evenness . ”*

(TN: Literally says four wheels maneuver height . I’m just going to assume that it means something like the shocks on a car . )

I was once again awed by the mysteries of magic .

This world reminded me of the Dark Ages of our humanity’s history so it was true that I looked down on the civilization in the Arena .

Without human equality and civil rights, it was definitely inferior .

But their skillful use of magic, that I had to give them credit for .

Even what is impossible on earth with science was sometimes possible here with magic .

Even the different entities from various groups on earth that have entered the Arena business are playing to that point .

We passed through the neutral zone and once again arrived at a border checkpoint .

This time it wasn’t the Arend kingdom border checkpoint .

It had already been 30 days since we started .

We had finally arrived at the Aman kingdom .

***

The Aman kingdom was a nation with a damp tropical climate .

Perhaps that was why everyone’s attire was so open and refreshing .

We got to the commercial district, Galen, and we were barely able to navigate through the bustling streets .

‘Wow this is like a beach resort!’

Seeing everyone wearing barely anything, I couldn’t hide my surprise .

Of course, the surprise was due to the young ladies .

Walking confidently showing off their skin bronzed by the sun, in their short dresses and tops barely covering their breasts, my eyes naturally followed them .

“Hyun-ho!”

“Huh?”

Marie called my name and I finally peeled my eyes away from the women on the streets .

With hurt eyes, Marie stared at me .

“Um, what?”

“You’re bad . ”

“What do you mean?”

“Bad . ”

“I think you have misunderstood, I am not a bad guy . ”

Rather, a bit of a pushover actually .

Marie looked sullen and she opened the door and jumped out the carriage .

“Huh? Where are you going?!”

“Leave her be . She’ll find us soon enough . ”

Odin stopped me .

‘I really can’t get a read on her . ’

A crazy girl is definitely hard to deal with . My baby sister Hyun-ji is the best representation of that .

The city of Galen is the first city once you passed the border checkpoint .

I was told it was busy year-round with traveling brokers, businessmen, and vacationers .

Because of that there were lots of various hotels at different price points .

There were cheap boarding houses for mercenaries/hired soldiers and travelers, and for well to do merchants there were luxury inns and top of the line hotels for nobles .

We, of course, headed to the noblemen’s hotel .

Befitting of a hotel used solely by nobles, it was large and luxurious .

There was a place to park carriages and separate lodgings for the servants as well .

“I have lots of money so there is no need to be frugal . We will each get a room . ”

Everyone agreed with Odin . Odin paid the money, including the room for the absent Marie, for 4 rooms .

A fat middle-aged man who looked to be the inn owner gave us each a wooden tag .

On the wooden tag was a number, mine said 401 .

“These are your room keys . It opens and closes with magic . ”

“Incredible . ”

It might look very analog but this was comparable to our world’s key cards .

We headed into our rooms .

I put down my luggage in room 401 and looked around the room .

“Whew, I can properly rest here . ”

Properly stretching my arms and legs and lying down on a bed, the exhaustion finally started to seep in .

All that time spent scrunched into the carriage was uncomfortable . It did beat sleeping on the floor though .

But then .

“Hyun-ho!”

“Uack!”

At the sudden voice I shouted in surprise and bolted up .

… . . Marie was hanging on the window outside .

From an inside pocket she took out what looked like a pin set and she instantly broke through the locked window .

Chul kuk!

The window opened in a few seconds .

“What do you think?”

Having come inside, Marie spun around .

“Hul……”

I didn’t even realize I made the sound .

She was wearing exactly what the women of Aman were wearing .

A short skirt and a shirt that’s basically just a bra .

Every time she spun around, the skirt moved up and down showing peeks of white **** . With her glowing pale skin, it made me dizzy .

“Um, what about your synthetic muscle suit?”

“I put it away . ”

“Why?”

Marie tilted her head to the side .

“But the only person that can retrieve electronics without breaking them is me . ”

Then Marie was surprised and summoned her item bag and took out the synthetic muscle suit .

She took off her clothes down to her undergarments and she frantically put on the synthetic muscle suit .

Don’t change in front of me!

… . Although, thanks .

She moved her body this way and that way and Marie let out a sigh of relief .

“It’s not broken . ”

“Thank goodness . ”

Thankfully, the synthetic muscle suit didn’t break and looked to be working properly .

‘As long as it doesn’t go through the exam door, it looks like it won’t break . ’

But without me, when we return to our world, we will have to store the synthetic muscle suits and radios somewhere here in the Arena .

I took out my radio and called Odin .

On our way over, we placed the transmission receiver somewhere discrete and transmissions worked here too .

-I already made such arrangements before the exam .

“Oh? Really?”

-Of course . It is expensive equipment we finally got into the Arena, we cannot have them break .

But of course .

No way the Nordic exam group would be careless .

-As long as Marie was careful, there won’t be an examinee who will screw up .

“…… . Sounds right . ”

Marie must have been feeling shy, she was giggling . She eventually gave up the Aman attire and returned to her normal fashion .

***

We lived in the hotel for a while as we gathered data .

Truthfully, Marie investigated the area very quickly, gathering rumors .

All we did was go around to pubs and listened in on drunken conversations .

I was able to put Sylph to very good use here .

“Look around and words like massacre, slaughter, wipe out, death en masse, and annihilate, and deliver those conversations to me . ”

After reaching intermediate level 2, Sylph’s recon distance had increased to 3 km .

Sylph allowed me to listen to any conversations with those key words within a 3 km distance .

Pubs and restaurants, the chatter and stories were relayed clearly to my ears .

Amongst those, I wrote the useful information as memos on my phone .

Thanks to the guider skill, I could chase after John Omento or Lee Chang-wee but the reason we were gathering data this way was to be cautious .

‘It wouldn’t be good to just barge into the ultimate boss room . ’

A fortnight passed and we were able to determine our final destination .

“The Deport area seems most plausible . The rumors coming in from there are all about how chaotic it is . ”

“Yes . ”

Marie, who was cuddling my back, agreed .

The Deport area was to the west of Aman, a region that hugged the coast .

John Omento was also to the west .

In the western region, I picked an area with the worst rumors and that was the Deport area .

“Lee Chang-wee is also in that direction . ”

Added Cha Ji-hye .

Odin nodded his head too .

“Then it is definitely there . We will set out tomorrow . Lee Chang-wee will be there too, we must be careful . ”

In order to be discrete, we decided to leave our carriage here and make the trip there and back on horseback .

We got three horses and set out .

Odin and Cha Ji-hye each rode a horse, and I rode one with Marie behind me, who had become like a piece of gum that wouldn’t come off .

***

Deport was a coastal area in western Aman, and the Deport port and its namesake was due that that .

The Deport port had an abundant fishing industry and an abundance of seafood that were so rare and precious that you could lay them at a sultan’s feet .

The only downside was there were lots of pirates who wreaked havoc .

The Aman Empire’s public order weakened and, using that opportunity, the pirates grew strong in that interim and they took control of the entire western coast of the continent .

It was a given that they attacked the ports on the coast but now they were brazen enough to penetrate deeper inland to attack and plunder more places .

Aman tried and failed many times to eradicate the pirates .

That was because even though they boasted the largest army in the world, the Aman Empire had a laughably weak naval presence .

“Like always, they are obsessed with taking over all the land so they just focus on training the army only . ”

Said Odin .

“They want to repossess the glory they once had when they owned the entire continent . If it were me, I would make peace with my neighboring countries and restore national public order and focus my energy on getting rid of the pirates to restore safety . ”

“Even so, these pirates are extremely strong . It sounds like it’s not just the Aman Empire but all the nations with ports on the western coast who are having a hard time with them . ”

“Well, the reason they can’t eradiate them is obvious . ”

“The royalty is probably making money off the pirates . ”

Said Cha Ji-hye .

Odin nodded his head .

“That’s it . The pirates have backdoor relations with the nobles, delivering them precious treasures . The nobles work to prevent the eradication of the pirates or give them information to avoid danger . ”

‘Rotten . ’

Even a democracy like Korea has corruption, so how would it be in the Arena’s barbarous system?

I thought it over then said,

“Do you think the leader of this pirate power is a corrupt examinee?”

“I am thinking that too . Even if not, I am sure he/she is conspiring with the pirate power . ”

Let’s collect all this info .

Corrupt examinees Black magic organization Pirate power The rotten nobles that back them

This was an atrocious criminal cartel alliance .

With this much, it’s not just a worry for the Aman Empire but the entire Arena world .

There are even so many monsters that make living difficult and to add on top of it all, humans were quarreling like this!

I felt pity for the people living in the Arena that had to suffer through this **** .

‘It might be that the final mission is to restore this rotten world . ’

After many days passed since leaving the city of Galen .

We finally arrived at Deport .