Chapter 27: Outside the City Walls
After leaving the Adventurers’ Guild, Leo got into the car with Miss Camille.
“Since it’ll take some time before we reach the city walls, I will explain to you about monsters.” Miss Camille said to him.
“W-Wait… City walls?” Leo looked at her with raised eyebrows. There was no such thing in his old world.
“This city is surrounded by a massive wall. It prevents monsters from entering and makes it harder for vampires to sneak inside. There’s also a powerful magic barrier that protects the city from any magic attacks from the outside.” Miss Camille explained.
“I see… By the way, I have been wanting to ask this for a while but… where the hell did these monsters and vampires come from?” Leo asked.
“Vampires have existed since ancient times. There are records that suggest vampires have existed even before humans. As for monsters… this might come as a surprise, but we believe that they’d come from another world, just like you.”
“Seriously?” Leo was dumbfounded by this new information.
“Yes. Monsters didn’t exist until a thousand years ago. They suddenly appeared out of the blue and started terrorizing the world. They don’t care if you’re human or vampires— they will attack anything in sight.”
“Furthermore, no matter how many monsters we kill, they seem to keep coming back. Although the number of monsters today are far lower than a thousand years ago, we cannot get rid of them completely no matter how many of them we kill.”
“However, it’s not like nothing good came out of it. While monsters are a nuisance, they provide this world with mana cores.”
“Mana cores? Let me guess, it’s something monsters leave behind after they are killed, and they contain mana inside.” Leo said, recalling all of the video games he’s played in the past when he was only a child.
“Yes, that’s right. These mana cores are extremely useful to us, as they can be used to make potions and artifacts. It’s also how most Adventurers make a living nowadays.”
Sometime later, Miss Camille parked the car in a special area for Adventurers who are planning on leaving the city.
“So this is the city wall… It’s freaking massive…” Leo mumbled as he lifted his head all the way just to see the top of the walls.
“Just how tall is this wall?” He asked a moment later.
“A little over 1,000 meters or about 3,200 feet tall.”
“Here, wear this ring.” Miss Camille suddenly handed him a black ring.
After wearing it on his right ring finger, Leo asked, “Is this an artifact?”
“Yes, and it will protect you in case I cannot,” she calmly said.
The two of them approached the gates at the city wall, where multiple guards with heavy firearms stood.
One of them raised his hand and said, “Show us your ID.”
“Show him your Adventurer’s License.” Miss Camille said to him as she retrieved her own.
The guard checked Leo’s ID first.
“F-Rank Adventure? And you’re going outside with just the two of you?” The guard looked at them with raised eyebrows.
Although there are no regulations on how many people are required to leave the city, most F-Rank Adventurers only leave the city if there were at least four of them.
“I’m saying this for your own good, but you should probably come back once you have more people. It’s really dangerous outside, and the number of monsters roaming has increased significantly over the past few days.” The guard said to them, unaware of Miss Camille’s Adventurer Rank.
“Thank you for your concern, but we will be fine.” Miss Camille handed her Adventurer’s License to him the next moment.
“S…S-Rank?!” The guard was in disbelief when he saw Miss Camille’s Adventurer’s License.
Since it has been years since Miss Camille decided to leave the city, it was not weird for the guards there to not recognize her.
“Camille Light… You’re the Saintess!” The guard immediately recognized her after seeing her name.
“Please excuse my rudeness just now, Saintess. If it’s you, I have no doubt that everything will be fine.” The guard quickly returned their Adventurer’s License and took a step back.
“Don’t worry about it.” Miss Camille said in a nonchalant manner.
“A-Anyways, why are you guys leaving the city? And how long do you think you’ll be gone for?” The guard then asked.
“We’re going to subjugate monsters. We should return by tonight.”
“I understand. Enjoy yourselves out there.” The guard saluted them as they walked through the thick city walls.
‘Enjoy yourselves? That’s practically the opposite of what he was saying just a moment ago!’ Leo thought to himself.
“What the…?” Leo’s eyes widened with shock after seeing the scenery outside the city walls.
Unlike the bright and colorful scenery inside the city that could be seen throughout all hours of the day, the scenery outside the city was the complete opposite, being desolate and deserted with no greenery in sight.
Leo thought he’d been transported to another world again after leaving the city for the first time.
“What the heck happened out here? It’s almost as though a nuclear war had occurred.”
“This is the result of fighting monsters for a thousand years. What were you expecting?” Miss Camille said to him.
“I don’t know what I was expecting, but this is just… insane.”
“Welcome to our world.” Miss Camille said as she started walking forward.
Leo followed her from behind and looked around nervously.
“Calm down. Although we have left the city, we’re still in a safe zone. The Adventurer’s Guild had set a perimeter around the city that the monsters must pass first before they can reach for the city walls. It’ll be another 10 miles before we start encountering monsters.”
“T-Ten miles?! Don’t tell me we’re going to walk all the way?!” Leo exclaimed.
“Of course not. We can rent a bike at the border of the green zone.” Miss Camille said.
And she continued, “There are three different safe zones inside this 10-mile perimeter. The green zone is about a mile long starting from the city walls. Inside this zone, there are almost no risks of us encountering monsters. Past the green zone is the orange zone.”
“The orange zone is about four miles after the green zone. The guards and Adventurers that patrol this zone are significantly less than the green zone, so there is a higher chance of encountering a monster, but it’s still a relatively safe area.”
“The final zone is the red zone. While there are still people that patrol this area, it’s not enough to keep it completely safe, so there’s a decent chance that we might encounter a monster there.”
“As for the areas outside the safe zone… We call it the Wilderness.”
“What about the other cities?” Leo suddenly asked.
“Most of them are in a similar situation.”
“I see…”
About ten minutes later, Leo could see a building in the distance, and it looked like a car dealership with how many vehicles were there.
Once they arrived at this place, one of the workers there approached them.
“Are you looking to rent a vehicle?”
“Yes, and I want it for this entire week.” Miss Camille nodded.
“What kind of vehicle are you looking to rent?”
“A motorcycle.”
“I understand. Please, follow me. I will show you all we have in service.”
Miss Camille and Leo followed the worker to the back of the store, where over 20 motorcycles were available.
“I’ll take this one.” Miss Camille pointed to a red supersport motorcycle.
“Great eyes. This is the best one we have in stock right now. It will cost you 1,000 dollars per day, but we don’t cover any damages done to it, so you have to be careful with it.”
Miss Camille suddenly retrieved her Adventurer’s License and showed it to the man.
“S-Rank Adventurer!” The man was left speechless.
After a moment of silence, he snapped out of his daze and said with a smile on his face, “Since you’re an S-Rank Adventurer, you may borrow the vehicle for as long as you’d like with no fee or charges! Thank you for your service!”
After taking back her ID, Miss Camille jumped on the motorcycle and said to Leo, “Get on.”
Leo swallowed nervously before wearing a helmet and taking a seat right behind her.
After wearing her helmet, Miss Camille revved the engine.
“Hold still.”
“Whoa!” Leo shouted out loud when the motorcycle suddenly started shooting forward, and he instinctively embraced Miss Camille.
‘So soft!’ Leo thought to himself when he suddenly grabbed onto something incredibly soft but firm.
“If you don’t move your hands right this instant, I am going to throw you off and let the monsters feast on you!” Miss Camille spoke in a cold voice.
“S-Sorry!” Leo quickly realized what he was touching and immediately adjusted his hands.
A few minutes later, they reached the end of the red zone.
“All right, get off.” Miss Camille said to him.
“Already?”
“Since we’re only going to hunt F-Rank monsters, we don’t need to go any further.”
Once they both got off the motorcycle, Miss Camille parked the motorcycle at one of the guard posts there.
“Aren’t you afraid that someone might steal it?” Leo couldn’t help but ask her, who didn’t even bother to secure it.
“All vehicles out here are branded with magic and are not allowed to be brought inside the city. Even if they somehow manage to smuggle it inside the city, they won’t be able to sell it legally. It’s not worth the hassle for the amount you get out of it.”
“I see… That’s good to hear, I guess.”
“Let’s go. Stay alert and don’t leave my side until I say so. We’re entering the real Wilderness now.”
Leo nodded with a serious expression on his face and followed Miss Camille into the Wilderness.