When Jema and Catherine returned, the line at the civil consultation window began to shorten rapidly.
Aila, holding her waiting ticket, counted how many were left.
“Alright, five people ahead.”
Each window had a crystal orb with a number displayed on it.
When the number on Aila’s ticket matched the number on the crystal orb, she led us to the window.
“Welcome. How can I assist you?”
“We’re here to apply for identification. There are three of us, but one is also applying for asylum.”
“Please take your documents and go to room 3 over there.”
Holding an envelope, we moved to room 3 as directed.
Inside the room, there were several desks and one person who appeared to be a staff member sitting at one of them.
“Please fill out the documents first.”
We each took a seat and began filling out the forms.
We needed to write our names, ages, and addresses, but Jema and I stopped as soon as we started writing.
“Um, I don’t have an address.”
“It’s fine if you’re not from this city.”
“That’s the thing, we don’t have a home.”
Unlike Jema and me, Catherine continued writing smoothly.
“Just leave it blank for now.”
After hearing the staff member, Jema quickly completed her form, but I had nothing to write except for my name.
I had no idea what age to put in the age field.
If I calculated based on my birth year, I’d only be four years old.
Since this wasn’t part of the consultation with the staff, I subtly called Aila.
“What should I do about this?”
“Well? What should we do?”
“Ah! What should I write here?”
As we dropped the formalities, Aila kindly smiled and took the pen to write in my age for me.
“This feels like it doesn’t match reality.”
“Should I write that you’re actually four years old?”
“Is it okay to lie?”
“It’s fine. Nive’s identification says she’s 10 years old. She’s actually several hundred years old.”
To others, the Demon King’s age would appear to be just that much.
Hearing that, I stared blankly at the number 12 written on the document.
After completing and submitting the form, the staff member took a moment to review it.
“Catherine? What’s the reason for your asylum? Did you commit a crime?”
Catherine, hesitant, couldn’t readily answer the staff member.
When coming over from Latnia, there was a conflict with their army.
After thinking for a moment, Catherine replied in a trembling voice.
“I’m trying to escape from slavery.”
“I see. Welcome.”
It was quite a lax method.
I questioned whether such a process could truly discern real criminals or spies from Latnia.
Filling out the forms took only a few minutes.
Compared to the waiting time, it felt incredibly short.
“Let’s head back now.”
“I have a question. Why does it take three days to get the identification?”
“I’ll explain it to you later. Just not here.”
Since we were still inside the office, Aila lowered her voice.
Once outside and on our way back to the hotel, Aila, surveying our surroundings, stepped towards a quiet, less crowded park.
Once we reached the park, she scanned the area, then sat on a bench.
“You were curious about why the identification takes three days, right?”
“Yeah.”
“They have to verify that the information filled out on the documents is correct.”
I had no idea how many people lived in this world, but it seemed impossible to check everyone.
“How do they do that?”
“You know they have informants deployed in Latnia, right?”
As I nodded, Aila lowered her voice even more.
“I don’t know the number of informants, but they investigate and report back.”
“What if someone fills it out falsely?”
“That would take longer than three days, but if discovered later, there would be consequences.”
In that moment, I thought about lying about my age.
“What about my age?”
“That part is no problem. And you guys are demonkin, so humans usually don’t know the ages of demonkin.”
It was surely quite difficult to distinguish the ages of demonkin.
Even someone with a middle-aged appearance could still be a minor, and a child could actually be an adult.
While it might not be appropriate to present the Demon King as an example, demonkin typically appeared younger than their actual ages.
“There was fighting when we crossed over…”
I brought up something that had been on Catherine’s mind since she heard the staff member’s question.
“It’s fine. I was there, so if there are any issues, I can testify.”
Only then did Catherine seem to feel a bit more at ease and let out a long sigh.
“What do we do about a house?”
“What about it?”
“They asked for an address, but we don’t have a home, so obviously, we can’t write one.”
Jema had only written her name and age on the form as well.
The address remained blank like mine.
“The Academy will provide it. There’s a dormitory. We just need to give them the address later.”
At the mention of a dormitory, Jema and I exchanged glances.
We hadn’t anticipated living in a dormitory even after coming this far.
“Of course, if you dislike the dormitory, you can find a house in this city. But finding a house won’t be easy.”
Surely there wouldn’t be any houses available for us in this large city.
“Finding a house shouldn’t be that hard.”
“Oh? You sound confident. Want to give it a try?”
In response to that, I answered brightly and cheerfully.
Afterward, Aila returned to the hotel while Jema, Catherine, and I decided to look around the city a bit more to find a place to live.
Living in a dormitory was fine, but I figured having an actual home would be better.
We headed to the location of the real estate Aila had mentioned earlier.
The real estate building was small and cramped, wedged between larger buildings around it.
As we entered, the owner, who appeared to be having a meal, looked at us with a puzzled expression.
“Welcome?”
“Um, I’d like to see some houses.”
“How many people will be living together?”
“Three of us. A small size is fine.”
It was only natural that large houses were expensive wherever you went.
Finding a suitably sized house for three people was crucial.
“If three of you will be staying, and if a small size is okay, then there’s this one.”
The real estate owner showed us four documents.
“The rent is 5 silver, and the deposit is 3 gold.”
Upon hearing “rent,” I realized why Aila had suggested that we try to find a place.
Attending the Academy wouldn’t provide us with an income.
In other words, if we found a house, we’d be responsible for the monthly rent.
“Is there a cheaper option?”
“There is, but it’s far away, and it would be very cramped for three people.”
“How much is that one?”
“3 silver a month, and the deposit is 1 gold.”
Currently, I had about 80 silver in my possession.
Even if I chose the house the real estate owner first showed us, I could live there for approximately four months after paying the deposit.
But since I wouldn’t be attending the Academy for just four months, it was a considerable financial burden.
Without additional support, living in the dormitory would be a very wise choice.
We left the real estate behind and quietly returned to the hotel.
Upon returning to our hotel room, Aila waited for us with a subtle smile.
“You couldn’t find a place, could you?”
“We could have, but it costs more than we expected.”
“You had some money?”
“Yeah. The money I received back then.”
Aila recalled the time she had handed me some money.
“With that amount, you could have gotten a place to live for a few months.”
“But if it keeps costing money, it will eventually run out.”
“Unless I give you work.”
Only then did I remember the loan agreement I had previously made with the Demon King.
The condition was that if Aila provided me with work, I would receive 1 gold without fail.
With that thought, I realized that using all my funds for the deposit and rent was feasible.
“You’re going to have Ririan do the work?”
Jema questioned Aila with curiosity.
She already knew about the loan agreement.
However, since I hadn’t explained the specific details, it was natural for her to have questions about the current situation.
“That was the condition.”
“Condition? Wasn’t it a zero-interest loan indefinitely?”
“That’s right.”
“Then, doesn’t it matter when you repay it?”
When Jema asked, slightly challenging, Aila gave a somewhat uncomfortable expression.
“The money I lent to Ririan isn’t my money.”
“Whose money is it?”
“House.”
With that one sentence from Aila, everyone fell silent.
Now, considering the financial concept with a firm grasp, 5,000 gold was a staggering amount of money.
It was clearly beyond what someone like seventeen-year-old Aila could accumulate even while working for the Knight Order.
If that money was from the Carlos family, it made some sense.
“You can return it later. Anyway, someone who has that amount won’t be too concerned about it disappearing.”
The price we sold the car for on our way here was about 15 gold.
5,000 gold could allow you to buy roughly 300 such cars.
I began to understand why Dahlia had treated Aila in such a manner during the sale.
Other aspects were relatively normal, but their concept of money was vastly different from ours.
“Don’t you have to work a hundred years to earn 5,000 gold?”
As Dahlia mentioned the figure of a hundred years, Jema started glaring at Aila.
“Our calculations aren’t matching. I figured it would be ten years.”
“How the hell do you gather 5,000 gold in ten years? Based on the Knight Order’s salary, it would take a hundred years.”
“You can’t even save it working a lifetime with the Knight Order’s salary.”
“Then?”
Aila mentioned that she had a plan prepared.
For a regular wage earner, collecting 5,000 gold was impossible.
“Think of it like a business.”
“You mean you’re going to start a guild?”
“You caught on quickly.”
“That sounds easier said than done. Do you have any idea how fierce competition among guilds can be?”
When talking about guilds, the first one that comes to mind is the mercenary guild.
It was the primary guild that sustained Tolis, so that image was quite strong.
“What about the Knight Order?”
“The guild leader isn’t me.”
It appeared that she had already decided who would be the leader.
Claiming that they were still in the preparation phase, Aila said she would inform us when the time came.
Since we had three days, we each entered our respective training.
We received word that entrance exams were being held at the Academy.
It was a customary practice to determine class assignments based on the exam results.
In the park, I was out with Catherine and Dahlia.
Jema didn’t want to participate in the practice.
“Have you decided to enroll in the Academy?”
“No. I just want to give the entrance exam a try.”
With no understanding of the exam’s difficulty, there was little we could do aside from showcasing our abilities as best as we could.
Catherine mentioned that lately she had been practicing slashing in addition to stabbing.
It looked somewhat awkward, but there appeared to be no issues with the cuts.
Dahlia asked where Catherine had learned to use a sword after seeing her movements.
“I haven’t learned it from anyone specifically. I just feel like stabbing when I pick up a sword.”
Catherine’s independent swordsmanship was not learned from anyone.
As for me, I could perform up to the third chapter of the imperial swordsmanship from Latnia, which Jema had taught me.
Of course, the contents of these three chapters included only slicing, stabbing, and blocking.
In practice, since I used a dagger, the methods diverged significantly from conventional swordsmanship, so I rarely got to use them.
Throughout the two days, one day was spent on swordsmanship, another on magic, and the remaining day in a special lecture.
