According to Alicia, the information she found out was one that could be easily deduced from the situation. However, this just confirmed it.
Bandits weren’t the most tight-lipped people, and Alicia managed to extract the fact that Eisenbran’s knights had knowingly made a deal with the local bandits.
They allowed the bandits to pose as knights, armor and all, to collect ’entrance fees’. In exchange, the knights would receive a share of every coin taken.
On the surface, the deal made sense for what information Rian already knew about Eisenbran. Extorting the merchants would weaken them, and letting bandits do it meant the knights could be doing something else.
In all aspects but one, it was a perfect arrangement.
Almost.
There was only one problem.
’How the hell are the knights getting away with this as well?’
The roads leading into Eisenbran were among the busiest in the duchy. Countless merchants must have paid the false levy already. Even if most were too frightened to resist, surely someone would have reported it.
Yet the operation continued openly.
Regardless, there was only so much Rian could do with theorizing. The only thing he could do now was to find out about it himself.
Luckily for him, the massive city gates of Eisenbran loomed over the horizon, announcing itself proudly.
The closer Rian got to the city, the more a specific detail mentioned in the original novel started to emerge within his head.
’The Two-Sided City, huh? It certainly looks that way.’
A gigantic river descended from the nearby mountains and bisected Eisenbran before emptying into its famous port. Because of it, travelers approaching from the west had to enter through one of two gates standing on opposite banks.
The gates had once served a purely practical purpose. Though somewhere along the way, that purpose had been forgotten.
Now, both gates belonged to a different faction, and entering through either one meant announcing which side you were on.
Though Rian noticed an interesting detail.
The path on the left climbed gradually along raised earth. Its pale stones had been swept clean, with decorative trees lining either side and banners bearing Eisenbran’s iron sword insignia.
The path on the right, however, descended toward the river. It was wider and presumably built to accommodate several wagons at once. But years of use had driven deep grooves into the stone without anyone deciding to use money from their pockets to fix it.
"I’ve been here a few times..."
Charlotte muttered as they went down along the right path, encountering the many bumps on the road that made her almost throw up.
"Has...it always been...this atrocious?"
Rian steadied himself against the opposite seat. "Which gate did you use before?"
"The left one, obviously. A Lowenhardt carriage wouldn’t enter through the merchants’—"
Rian didn’t reply, looking through the window again.
There may have been a practical reason for building the merchant road on lower ground. Now, however, it felt like a reminder.
Merchants entered the city from below, and everyone else was permitted to look down upon them.
’Maybe the situation’s worse than I thought...’
Despite the number of wagons ahead of them, the procession moved surprisingly quickly. At first, Rian assumed the missing patrols had been reassigned to the gates, allowing them to process merchants more efficiently.
However, once he saw three wagons pass through without being inspected at all, the story was quite different.
As their carriage drew closer, Rian began paying particular attention to the knights. One looked like he was about to fall asleep while two others sat around a wooden crate, playing some kind of card game.
The only man performing his duty was lazily directing wagons toward whichever lane looked less crowded. He yawned before yelling out.
"Next!"
Charlotte, noticing the fact, decided to test them. She didn’t even bother taking out the documents Rosalia had prepared, simply greeting the knight.
"Purpose?"
"We’re transporting textiles and—"
"Head inside. Be quick."
Just like that, the inspection process was over.
Alicia tugged on the reins, guiding the horses forward at a leisurely pace. Before their carriage could pass completely beneath the gate, however, Charlotte leaned toward the window.
"Ahh, that new toll was quite expensive. Do you know when it was implemented? I hadn’t learned anything about it..."
"Huh? Toll?" The knight scratched his chin. "Oh, right. That. It was introduced recently. Orders from the higher-ups."
"Who did it?"
"How should I know?"
"Because we need a copy of the receipt for our accounts."
The knight released an irritated sigh, waving them along. "Ask someone in the city, I only inspect the wagons."
Rian glanced toward the untouched documents in Charlotte’s lap, sighing softly to himself.
’Inspect is pretty generous.’
Charlotte maintained her smile. "Will we be expected to pay it again when we leave? It’s quite expensive."
"Lady, do I look like a clerk? Either enter the city or turn your wagon around. You’re holding up the line."
Charlotte offered an apologetic bow before settling back into her seat. Alicia urged the horses onward, finally carrying them into the borders of Eisenbran.
Once they were safely out of earshot, Charlotte’s smile quickly vanished. "He had no idea what that toll was."
"Well, he knew enough to at least cover his own ass."
The more Rian thought about it, the less it made sense. Even if the guard covered for the story, every other action was quite suspicious. Any third-party noble worth their salt would figure that out immediately.
Yet...the noble entrance on the left was practically deserted, and merchant wagons were still being waved through the right without so much as a permit being examined.
"If a cold proxy war was being fought here by Felix and Rosalia, it certainly did not look the part."
"Mmm..." Charlotte agreed.
"If the guards worked for Baron Eisenbran, who is on Felix’s side...they should be inspecting every merchant and recording every crate," she muttered. "But they aren’t."
"Because they don’t think the merchants can threaten them anymore."
Charlotte looked toward him, eyes wide.
"Do you think...?"
"Yeah."
Rian watched another wagon pass through without inspection.
"Felix believes he’s already won."