"Household registration card?"
What's that? It sounds so familiar. I was stunned. I'd never seen such a thing in other countries since coming to this world.
But no matter how strange it was, now wasn't the time to ask questions. I managed to hold my tongue. Adrian didn't seem worried at all. He replied very politely:
"So sorry, we're traders from Koromidos who came here specially to do big business. We don't have the household cards your country just started giving out. Can you please make an exception for us?"
Koromidos is southeast of Ilandra Dominion and directly south of Crestvale Republic. It's one of the small countries bordering the empire in the south. It's much smaller than its big neighbors, so it focuses on growing its economy. It does a lot of trade with other countries. Many traders on Eldoria Continent come from there.
To prove what he said was true, Adrian showed them a Koromidos trade license. He bought it for a lot of money a few years ago when he was an adventurer, mainly to make future travelling easier. Koromidos traders get special treatment in many places around the world. We didn't expect it to come in handy in this situation.
"Oh, you're foreigners? That's rare. No wonder you don't have household cards... But if you want to do business in this city, you must get permission from our lord in person. You can't do business in secret, okay?"
The empire is quite close to Koromidos, and this is a border area. The guards at the gate were nicer than we expected. When they heard about our "problem", they waved us through right away, letting us enter the town.
This town is called Sifur. It's a very typical small town. Unlike the poor areas in other countries, where the muddy streets are full of poop and smell terrible, this city has a stone road as the main street from the very start. It goes all the way from north to south. The place is kept very clean. We hardly smelled anything bad as our cart went down the street.
They say most towns in the empire are like this. Most houses along the street have at least two floors. In other countries, only the capital would be this nice. The empire's economy and infrastructure are clearly very good. They're way ahead of the Astralrealm Kingdom in taking care of people and building up the country.
"I heard from people on the street that if we keep going down this road, there's a tavern. Next to the tavern is the town's trade guild! If it's big business, we might get to meet the lord directly!"
Adrian was visiting here for the first time like us, but he clearly knew what to do next. After talking it over, we decided not to go to the trade guild right away. We'd stop by the tavern first to get some news.
It's common knowledge that you can hear all kinds of news in taverns. As we walked, everything else seemed normal, but we were surprised to see so many imperial soldiers in town. We saw a few almost every few steps. The magic lamp posts and walls were covered with army recruitment notices and reminders to register for household cards.
"This household system is a big policy that Emperor Reider has been pushing hard since he took power. They tested it in the capital Kyndrill a few years ago. Recently they started doing it all over the empire."
Adrian explained this to us, thinking we didn't understand. But he didn't seem to like this policy. "I think the number of people in a place isn't fixed. People are always moving in and out or disappearing. There are too many changes. This policy might not work!"
Of course, whether it works or not mainly depends on how they do it. We didn't need to pay too much attention to that. But after looking around and asking some more, we found out the army notices were mostly for a nearby military base. This confirmed some of our guesses about what was going on inside the base.
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The base wasn't so big before. It suddenly got bigger just a few days ago. Now they don't have enough people. That's why the imperial army has been working hard to recruit new soldiers in Sifur lately.
But the locals in Sifur don't seem to like these recruitment efforts much. Along the way, we heard quite a few people complaining about it.
Driving a cart takes skill, but I learned a few tricks from Karl before (the cart driver when we went to the holy capital in the third volume). With Adrian's help, we managed to get the cart to stop next to the tavern we were aiming for. We didn't do anything that looked too suspicious.
"Young master, wake up! Time to get off!"
After a long time, Cyra still hadn't come down from the cart. I finally couldn't help opening the back window to remind her. I found that this pig had fallen asleep. She really lives up to her name!
"Oh, is it time to eat? Did we get into the city safely?"
This annoying girl rubbed her sleepy eyes as she jumped down from the cart. She had no idea what happened in between. I really wanted to kick her, but my current role as a "servant" held me back. After all, it's not good for a "servant" to hit the "master". I could only hold it in for now.
This tavern didn't look very big. But before we even got to the door, we could hear very noisy sounds from far away. It seemed very lively.
"......"
Strangely, when the three of us pushed open the door and went in, all the noise suddenly stopped. Everyone in the room was looking at us. For a moment, you could hear a pin drop.
What's going on? Before I could figure it out, we heard some light whistling from the crowd. They seemed relieved. Someone immediately shouted to everyone:
"It's okay, they're not soldiers! Everyone carry on, carry on!"
Looks like they mistook us for someone else. The tavern quickly went back to being noisy and busy. People at different tables resumed drinking and talking again. But because of the false alarm just now, most of their talk was about that.
"So annoying! Those soldiers from the capital have been causing trouble for years. A few years ago they built a military base in the forest to fight Crestvale Republic. Now they've come to town to recruit soldiers and prepare for war. They come to my house every day to try to get me to join. They say if I don't follow the new laws, I'll be arrested! I don't care about their new laws. I can only run away from home to hide!"
A big burly man gulped down his drink in one go and complained loudly.
"But what's the use of coming here? If those imperial soldiers come and see you, won't you still get caught in the end?"
His friend at the next table heard this and sneered, mocking him rudely.
"What's there to be afraid of!"
The big man slammed the table when he heard this, sounding quite fearless. "You think I don't know? You're all here hiding just like me. If something really happens, none of us can escape! We might as well drink together while we can. There are lots of us. If one or two soldiers really come in, we're not afraid of them!"
That's real tough guy thinking! When he said this, everyone at the table went quiet. No one objected. They all raised their glasses and clinked them together very smoothly, then drank everything in one go.
This table made such a big fuss that it caught the attention of people around them. They all came to watch the excitement. But people at other tables didn't necessarily agree with this aggressive view.
"The army recruitment is okay, I guess. Even the lord's son went to fight on the front lines himself. We can't really complain about that. What I hate most are those officials who came from the capital! They knock on our doors every day, forcing us to register our households and do background checks on our family history. How can I remember all my relatives? Do they want to know everything about my family? What are they really trying to do?"
A young man who looked quite weak shared his opinion. The people at his table immediately agreed.
"That's right! I hope the lord will show his power and end the war quickly to send these soldiers away. They say even though he lost his military power, he still controls most things in his territory. So he doesn't need to be so polite to the capital!"
"You're right, the current Emperor Reider is going too far! He used to be just a bastard who inherited a local lord's title. But he suddenly rebelled and got the throne. Even though the country's name is still the same, he dared to dissolve the Senate. It looks like the Cedric royal family has been completely wiped out now. This never happened before. The future of the empire looks really worrying..."
They dare to talk about these things in public? These people are quite bold in their own way, no less than that big burly man earlier. I suddenly realized why they acted that way when we first came in.
I couldn't help exchanging a glance with Adrian. It looks like asking the lord for help might work! We didn't expect Emperor Reider to be so unpopular in his own country. He always says to other countries that his people strongly support him overthrowing the previous emperor. He claims his coup was what the people wanted and hoped for...