Chapter 370

Activities in the City
After observing the Kiblinki Saltas working in the pioneer village, I decided to stay the night and check on the ones remaining in the city before heading back the next day.
Marquis Vardmoi and his group, on the other hand, would be departing for Vardmoi in the morning.
Even though we’d be leaving later, it seems we’ll actually arrive home first, since the Marquis plans to stop and greet some nobles along the way.
Being a noble sounds like a lot of work.

Once Marquis Vardmoi and his entourage had left, we headed into the city to check on the Kiblinki Saltas stationed here.
I wonder if they’re working properly?
… Actually, they’re pretty hard to find.

"Isn’t that to be expected? There are only three of them in the city, aren’t there? One is guarding Conniette, so that leaves just two. It wouldn’t be easy to run into them."

… Frustrating, but Plum is probably right.
Galette City is quite a large.
With only two of them covering the entire area, it’s no wonder we can’t find them easily.
I thought about secretly following them when they left the estate in the morning, but—
Yeah, they’d catch me with their mind-reading.
These spiders sure make it hard to observe them discreetly.

In the end, we didn’t manage to find them all morning.
We returned to the estate for lunch, then headed back out into the city in the afternoon.
Would we have better luck this time?

"Oh my, you’re walking around with a spider monster too? But you don’t look like one of the city guards. Where are you from?"

"Huh? I’m from Vardmoi."

As we walked through the streets, an elderly woman suddenly called out to us.
Apparently, a city guard accompanied by a spider monster had helped her earlier in the morning.
I decided to ask for more details.

"Hmm. I was struggling to carry my luggage when they offered to help. At first, I was startled to see a monster wandering around the city, but then the guard arrived and explained the situation. Once we started talking, I realized the spider was actually quite kind and approachable."

"Grandmother, do you know where the spider went after that?"

"After carrying my things home, they said they were resuming their patrol. They should still be somewhere in the city."

"Understood. Thank you very much."

It looks like the Kiblinki Saltas are doing their jobs properly.
As we continued gathering information, we heard multiple reports of sightings throughout the city.
It seems they’ve already started blending in quite well on their first day.

(Hm? Isn’t that my Contractor? What are you doing here?)

Following the witness reports, we finally managed to track down one of the Kiblinki Saltas.
It was patrolling the city alongside a guard.

"Ah, I was looking for you. I wanted to see if you were managing your work properly."

(We learned how to do city patrols in Vardmoi. You worry too much, Contractor.)

"Well, I can’t help it. Spiders like you are rare outside of Vardmoi. I just wanted to check if you were fitting in."

(One does not integrate into a new place in a single day. That takes time.)

Oof, a solid argument.
But at least they’re making an effort to adapt.
Looks like I don’t have anything to worry about.

What do you think about this chapter?