With the help of Garnett, who was struggling with the long skirt she was not used to wearing, she reached the general open area above the city walls.

　-- The scene seen from there is exactly what is worthy of being called a spectacular view.

　The vast expanse of land surrounding the royal capital.
　The vast expanse of land surrounding the royal capital, the great river flowing nearby and the long and wide bridge over it.

　A number of roads stretched out from the capital, repeatedly branching and intersecting with each other as they crossed the horizon.

　The number of carriages and people coming and going is too numerous to count.

　It's the same with the rivers: transports of all sizes pass through the great rivers and into the canals, stopping near the sluice gates of the city walls to await their turn at the checkpoint.

　The sight of so many ships lined up in a line is something that is rarely seen inland.

　The faint shadows on the horizon may be from neighboring cities.
　The next city seems to be quite large, as you can see despite the distance.

...... Great, huh?
Hey, white wolf. What are you looking at? Come on, come on.

　As I was stunned by the scenery outside the city walls, a voice called out to me from the other side in a dumbfounded voice.

　On the other side of the substandard city wall, which is about six or seven steps in my stride, or eight or nine steps thicker if it's Garnet's legs.

　In other words, at the edge of the King's Capital side of the general open area, Garnett is waving at me.

"There's no fun out there. If I want to see it, I'll definitely go this way.
You're the one in King's Landing--

　I gasped as I was invited to change places and I gasped.

　The city walls surrounding the capital reached beyond the horizon, and the highly developed urban area spread out within it.

　It's huge, far exceeding my expectations.
　I knew it was a huge city when I arrived, but now that I'm looking at it from a high vantage point, I'm reminded of that fact.

　The commercial district along the main street.
　The loading docks and warehouse district adjacent to the canal.
　Multiple residential areas that support a huge population.
　Parks and botanical gardens that add greenery to the interior of the city.

　Almost everything you can imagine as parts of a "city" is packed into the vast space inside the city walls without difficulty.

　The places I visited in the past few days must have been only a small part of the total.

That's the Temple of the Ten Thousand. It's tiny from here.
'The plaza where they did the street art was over there ...... oh no, no. That's another square?

　We stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the edge of the city walls, looking down at the cityscape, and I can't help but indulge in a childish exchange.

　No, I can't blame them for this.
　It would be rare to find someone who doesn't feel uplifted after having an entire view of the world's largest city.

'You can clearly see from here that the royal hill is pretty big too.
I can see that. It's the perfect location for a defense position, that's why they built the castle in such a bad spot.
...... I don't know much about the military, but in layman's terms, it sounds like you could use magic to directly attack the royal palace or something like that. ...... Are you sure it's been countered?
Of course. I'm just amazed at how meticulous they are.

　Garnett lifted the corners of her mouth and smiled.
　He laughed as if he had forgotten that he was now dressed pretty.

The details are supposed to be classified, but there is a triple-layered warding network around the city walls, the hill and the palace, and I've heard that just one of them can counteract most magic that can be used by humans in the flesh.
That's great.

　I'm going to speak my honest opinion.

　The magic power that makes up the wards is invisible, and I can't feel any sign of it, but in spite of that, a robust anti-magic defense is deployed over such a wide area - even I, a novice, can understand that an extremely high level of technology and a huge cost is invested in it.

　The wards that Noir has deployed in the White Wolf store are also so advanced that I wouldn't have noticed their existence if he hadn't said so, but those wards are limited in function to sensing and warning.

　It's a good idea to be able to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

And that's not all. It is said that the canal gates have wards that can detect each and every fish, and these days there are detectors that can detect remote controlled magic waves.
When you say remote control, you mean magic like Bran used to move the Mad Golem in the War of the Demons.
That's a classic example. If a surgeon is nearby, there are ways to deceive, but that doesn't make remote control any more effective. The only place to find this kind of thing is in the capital.

　Maybe it would have been easier if Green Hollow had that, but as expected, it's a guy who wants something that isn't there.

By the way, is that kind of talk right up my alley?
'What?　It's okay, everyone who lives in King's Landing knows that 'there are such things'.

　Garnett fluttered his hand with a smile.

'It's better for public safety if we dare to divulge the fact that it's no use trying to remotely manipulate the deviousness, or that they'll find you if you try to sneak in and out of the canal, or something like that.
'...... I see. I guess it's more efficient to discourage them than to catch them after they've done something.

　It's what's called a deterrent.

　For example, even if you have a concealed weapon to prevent a robbery, the probability of being attacked is exactly the same as if you didn't have one.

　The reason for this is that the attacker does not know that you have a weapon.

　If the focus is on avoiding robbery, carrying a concealed weapon is more effective than carrying a concealed weapon.

　Of course, this method is not a panacea either.

　Since it would be an open display of one's own strength, it would not eliminate the danger of being attacked after preparing more forces.

　That's a matter that should be countered with other self-defense measures, and that's probably how the peace of the royal capital is actually maintained.

　--even so.

　Swallowing the words that suddenly came to him, he looked at Garnett with a sideways glance.

''What's wrong?''
No. ......

　I was about to say it was nothing and then remind myself that I should still say it.

'...... I knew you'd enjoy talking about this stuff, you look like you're having fun. Did I bore you by any chance?
What?

　When I asked that with half-anxiety, I got the most serious denial I could imagine.

''There's no way!　That's because these things are so easy to talk about, it makes my tongue roll!　I'm not bored!　Not one bit of it!　If I'm boring, I'm leaving already!

　Garnett pointed the tip of her index finger vigorously at me and slapped my chest repeatedly and hard.

　The faint blush on her cheeks is probably not shame, but anger.
　It's a full-blown denial from the bottom of my stomach.

　So I decided to return the honest sentiment, too.

'I'm sorry, that was a strange thing to ask. To be honest, I was worried. But I'm glad you're not bored. Because if you're not having fun, then what's the point?
Oh, come on, have some confidence, man. You can't say you're mine, for f*ck's sake!

　The flush of anger was topped off with that of shame, and Garnett kicked me in the leg, as usual.