Ch.16Beyond the Line That Should Not Be Crossed

After leaving Oxville and reaching the hill, I blew my flute with all my might, and moments later, Seti emerged from the forest. At first, she seemed worried that something serious had happened since I had come looking for her so soon after entering Oxville, but when I explained what I had heard from Jonathan, her face quickly lit up with a beaming smile.

“Really? I can stay in the city and get a license?”

“Yeah, Jessica went to the sheriff’s office to apply for a city residence permit. But since the frontier business branch is closed today, we’ll have to check tomorrow if we can actually get the Frontier License.”

“Thank you! It’s like a dream to enter a pioneer city!”

“Hahaha, I hope we can complete the Frontier License acquisition in Oxville at this rate.”

“Yes!”

Seti couldn’t hide her excitement at the fact that her vague dream of becoming an adventurer was now within reach.

But our shared joy was short-lived. Seti’s sharp senses detected a presence, and as she turned to her left, a familiar voice reached our ears.

“I’m sorry, but you two aren’t going to Oxville.”

“!!”

In Seti’s line of sight stood Jonathan, whom we had met at the saloon, pointing a gun at us along with two unfamiliar men.

The man with a sports cut and burn scars on his face and Jonathan were both holding revolvers, while a fat bald man with a handlebar mustache was holding what appeared to be a sawed-off shotgun.

“You must have been quite excited to share the good news with your friend. You didn’t pay any attention to being followed on your way here.”

“…Did you follow me to find out where the beastfolk was?”

“Correct. Beastfolk slaves fetch a high price on the black market. Especially young girls.”

“I never mentioned that my beastfolk friend was near Oxville. How did you predict I would move so quickly?”

“Honestly, when I started following you as you left the inn, I didn’t expect you to move right away. But then you headed straight outside Oxville without even stopping by the sheriff’s office. That’s when it clicked. I figured you had entrusted the residence permit matter to someone on the second floor and were going to fetch the beastfolk waiting nearby.”

It seems I fell right into Jonathan’s trap. Getting excited about being able to bring Seti into the city, I made the fatal mistake of not noticing that Jonathan remained at the bar or that I was being followed from the moment I left the inn.

“Don’t worry too much. We don’t want to kill people unnecessarily. First, let’s move deeper into the forest where we won’t be seen.”

“Try anything funny and you’ll be full of holes. Move quickly.”

“…This is unexpected. I thought you’d shoot me dead right away since I’m useless if your goal is to capture the beastfolk.”

“Killing someone with a Frontier License is a hassle to clean up. Of course, if you resist, that’s a different story.”

No matter how skilled my quick draw might be, facing three armed men, especially one with a shotgun at this distance, is too risky. Deciding I had no choice but to follow their instructions for now, I obediently walked into the forest. After less than five minutes, Jonathan stopped us both.

“This should be far enough. Both of you, with your backs to us, slowly take out your weapons and throw them over that brush.”

“Make any sudden movements and we’ll shoot immediately. Move slowly.”

“If I discard my weapon, will you really spare my life?”

“I just told you earlier. Killing someone with a Frontier License is a hassle to clean up.”

“Being dragged deep into a forest like this makes me uneasy. If I don’t resist and let my friend be captured, you might decide I’m useless and BANG… Human psychology tends to consider worst-case scenarios, don’t you think?”

If I comply with their demands and throw away my weapon, it’s game over at that point. I don’t know about Seti’s combat abilities, but she can’t take down three gunmen unarmed, and without my gun, I’m just an ordinary person with no fighting skills. I need to stall for time and look for a way to improve the situation.

And the clue seems to be hidden in Jonathan’s remark about the hassle of cleaning up after killing someone “with a Frontier License.” Instead of using shorter terms like human or pioneer, he specifically mentioned the Frontier License, which suggests the license might have magical protection or functions that could preserve evidence of crimes.

“I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I’m a rookie adventurer of only four days. I don’t really understand how having a Frontier License guarantees my safety. If you could explain that part, it might be easier for me to accept that following your instructions is in my best interest.”

“…Alright. I’ll tell you, given your nerve. Have you ever heard the term ‘desperado’?”

“You mean outlaws?”

“Slightly different. Outlaws are literally people living outside the law. In a broader sense, even natives without licenses could be categorized as outlaws.”

“So the criterion is whether one is registered within the system, not whether one has a criminal record?”

“That’s right. Among such outlaws, those who live by committing crimes like robbery and murder are called desperados. While both outlaws and desperados exist outside the law, the risks they bear are as different as heaven and earth.”

“…So the boundary between outlaw and desperado is whether one has killed someone with a Frontier License?”

“You’re quick to understand, which makes explaining easier. The Frontier License card reads the owner’s magical energy to verify identity. It also has functions to preserve evidence related to various circumstances of the owner. It’s not difficult to identify a murderer by investigating the cause of death or the magical wavelength of people who had contact with the deceased at the time of death.”

So the Frontier License card is both an ID and something like a CCTV or body cam that records my activities.

“Even as outlaws, we want to avoid crossing the ‘line’ of becoming desperados by killing license holders. However, if your resistance threatens our lives or could lead to our arrest, we’d have no choice but to eliminate the threat, even if it means crossing that line. Understand?”

“Ah, I see. I get to keep my life, and you avoid becoming desperados. A kind of compromise.”

“Exactly. Now that you understand, please comply…”

“By the way, I don’t like that the Frontier License has functions to monitor my activities. Could you perhaps teach me some tips on living as an outlaw?”

“…What did you say?”

“The outside of the city is filled with black magical energy, so you guys must also find ways to enter the city every few days, right? Besides, Jonathan was drinking in Oxville without any issues despite being an outlaw. If there’s a way to solve this problem while living as an outlaw, I think that lifestyle might suit my temperament better.”

“Will! What are you saying?!”

“Are you out of your mind? You want to become an outlaw voluntarily when you haven’t even had your license revoked?”

Seti beside me raises her voice, and the fat bald man with the shotgun asks in disbelief. Most outlaws probably ended up that way after having their Frontier Licenses revoked due to criminal activities, and there would be very few people willing to kick away the qualification to stay within the safe system.

“I’m not a native of Grantis, and where I come from, equality and individual freedom were valued above all else. I became an adventurer because I thought Grantis, which I happened to cross into, was similar, but if its true nature is a repressive society that monitors its citizens, that’s a different story. I have no attachment to my mere four days as an adventurer.”

“Will… are you serious? What about Jessica?”

“I still appreciate Jessica. But for me, ‘freedom’ is something I can’t compromise on. Anyway, since you said you won’t take my life if I comply, I plan to talk things through with Jessica later and settle matters.”

“This can’t be…”

“For that reason, Jonathan and you gentlemen whose names I don’t know, I’m not going to make the absurd request to become your comrade by becoming an outlaw right here. Today’s situation is entirely the result of my carelessness. But if I’m going to keep my life anyway, isn’t it reasonable to ask for advice about the life I might choose afterward? It’s not like I can ask about this at the sheriff’s office or the frontier business branch.”

As I spoke, I slowly turned around to face the three outlaws, and none of them pulled their triggers. They had probably only planned to deceive an adventurer to capture a beastfolk girl as a slave, so they couldn’t have anticipated the adventurer’s attitude suddenly shifting to be friendly toward outlaws.

To drive the point home, I fixed my gaze on the bald man with the shotgun and asked:

“Can you help me out?”

Now, let’s start turning the situation around.