Waiting for hours in the queue sapped Mike's endurance dry. As soon as their number was called, he shook the reins and hurried his horse forward. To stay honest, his companions didn't let him leave them behind. With just slightly slower reaction time, Bern followed the young merchant footsteps, while Verkel took his sweet time. If not for his damned gift, someone would probably try to sneak in his spot!

With no one bothering them on their way, three merchants arrived at their destination. While it was called a "gate" it was actually just a wide, empty plot of land, separated from others by a simple wooden fence. With crowd left behind, nothing obstructed their sight on the east.

While the area was manned by quite a lot of guards, they didn't except for such a sight to appear deeper into the country!

With crowd left behind, nothing obstructed their eyes when looking east. If not for their knowledge about the circumstances, they would probably think that the Kingdom was preparing for war!

Rows upon rows of soldiers were marching in every possible direction. Several large units were working around their respective campsites, some others were doing drills in the open air.

'I have to admit, that view is impressive' Even Mike was amazed by the picture in front of his eyes to the point of losing himself for a moment. When the movement to his right forced him out of his daze, the young man noticed a smug smile on the faces of approaching people.

"Documents please."

As soon as the newcomers closed in, one of them stepped forward and extended his hand. From the slightly better uniform he was wearing, Mike reasoned that he had to be a local officer. While the outfit could be just a clue, a face that lost all of its emotions as soon as the man got into contact with Mike's group proved the young merchant's guess.

To make matters worse, by rushing forward, Mike's carriage ended up in the rightmost side of the gate, making him the first to be checked. Even if he tried to aproach the left side, it would look too unnatural for a trained eye to pass it off as some random action. He didn't even want to think if Verkel's position was due to his laziness or his blessing.

"While I would love to provide all of them at once, it seems that my companions don't trust me much. Here is my citizen card from the empire, travel and trade permit from the Imperial Market governor and golden page issued by the governor office. With that, there should be no need to bother my lovely companion on the back?"

Even the younger and less experienced guards didn't budge when he mentioned the golden page. If it was someone's first time hearing about it, they would probably rush to look for a well-known shine among Mike's documents. In reality, it was just a document serving as a claim to all kinds of benefits that the Empire provided for its merchants. Spanning from tax and customs reliefs, through the bodyguard application card and ending with insurance policy. While this was something unheard off outside Imperial borders, this great country didn't overlook this issue either when taking care for their retainers!

"Like you couldn't take care of your friends' papers beforehand…"

Staring daggers at the young merchant, an Altarcian officer took the documents and scanned them page by page. With the folder of papers being as thick as a finger, Mike understood what took the most of the control time.

As the last page was turned around, Officer passed them back to Mike, while keeping his extended hand. He didn't need to say a single word to force the young man to sigh from the bottom of his lungs and present yet another document. Compared to the official ones, this single piece of paper didn't have any looks of an elaborate government writing. With lines of short sentences, it listed out all the cargo that Mike was intending to carry over the border.

"We will now check your cargo. For this reason, I need your 'lovely' companion to step down from the trunk."

Accenting the adverb with a honest dose of irony, the officer moved closer to the back of the carriage, outright ignoring the merchant. Not willing to create any troubles in this crucial moment of their journey, Mike could only grith his teeth and endure all the pitying looks he received from the guards around.

With the stirc Mike's orders to keep her attitude to herself, Xyenna clicked her tongue and jumped down from the carriage. Not sparing the aggressive guards, she made sure to swing her bottom at their eyes before distancing herself and standing a bit farther, as if overlooking the entire situation. This way, there would be some delay between her taking action and actually doing something, giving Mike a window of opportunity to stop her in her tracks.

With his men working hard to unload the entire carriage on the ground, the officer went forward and repeated his actions with Bern. This time, his attitude was even harder to bear, possibly because of Xyenna unnecessary teasing. Compared to them, Verkel managed to get scot-free, taking only a few seconds of the important man's time.

Seeing the guards swarming all three carriages, Mike couldn't help but worry.

'I bet he could safely smuggle armour or even weapons for rebels, but he would still avoid facing any obstacles…'. Noticing the triumphant look on Verkel's face, the young man could only turn around to save himself from looking at the fatso's smug smile.

"Damn his luck…"

Unable to hold his anger anymore, Mike let it out by muttering some curses under his nose. It was infuriating how hard they had to work for things that Verkel didn't need to lift a finger to get!

"Don't bother yourself with him. That pig might be a child of fortune, but he will always remain the same pig that he is right now. Don't you think that my presence is worth far more than his pitiful blessing?"

With every word, Xyenna said, her voice was turning from the calm and distanced into a sweet one. Only at the end, a hint of sourness appeared as if she remembered something unpleasant.

With his men done with their work, the officer stopped his pointless wandering and came to the Mike's carriage. After receiving a short note passed to him by one of his subordinates, the unpleasant man started comparing the content.

'So that was the catch!' Mike thought as the realisation struck him. Most of the time he spent idling on the carriage, he was wondering what kind of method was implemented to catch the smugglers and other criminals. By comparing the list given by merchant himself and the count that his people prepared, he could easily spot any differences!

With the insane crowd at their gates, the pace at which they were working had to be fast. Some of the other officers probably were okay with diligently checking random carriages to pretend they are fulfilling their work properly, but the man in charge of their control still chosen to use this more time-consuming method, that could very well stop any smugglers from entering his country! Even if that meant a wasted time to Mike, he could understand the officer.

Kingdom's people, or to be more specific, officials and officers were deeply negative towards Imperial merchants! With multiple obligations placed on both sides by the peace treaty, if someone wanted to keep some people from the border, there was no way nothing illegal could be found. Just taking the weight of the cereals, they were dependant on the air humidity! If someone didn't take this into account, his wares could be confiscated by some overly attentive officer!

Observing the officer actions with an annoyance slowly arousing in his guts, Mike tried to look as calm as he was able to. Not willing to take any chances, he moved slightly closer to the Xyenna on his side, to the point where their legs touched. With the hateful gaze focusing him in an instant, he could forget about worrying if he wrote down every single piece of information correctly.

What surprised the young merchant the most was Xyenna's initial reaction!

While she stopped herself before the movement she made became visible to a naked eye, Mike was standing too close to her to miss her muscles tensing up as if she was going to instinctively rest her head on his arm.

"What do you think you are doing!"

While her voice sounded angry, the young merchant could hear some kind of… embarrassment!? She didn't move away either! Noticing the fun that this situation could offer, he took the most charming smile he could think of.

"Weren't you the one offering me your arm as a pillow a while back in the first place? Is this offer applying to your tights too?"

He replied while gently putting his right hand on the clothed part of her leg. When hearing those words and feeling his touch, her face instantly dyed in bright red as she shrugged uncomfortably while putting a fake smile on her face.

Noticing the events between the pair, the officer sighed deeply and put the papers down.

"You are free to go"

He announced with a formal voice and turned around.

"To hell with all those lovebirds..."

A soft whisper almost escaped young merchant ears. Seeing that his gambit paid off, he retracted his hand from Xyenna thigh.

"Spare me for that. As you can see, it worked"

The young man directed small, soft whisper to Xyenna's ear. As he was uttering those words, he noticed that even her earlobe took the color of roses. This sight immediately prompted him to nibble on it. Right before he fell for this trap, Xyenna's eyes overflowing with fury surfaced in his mind, making him stop everything he was doing and move two steps away

"I wonder how others will fare."

Mike quickly tried to change the previous topis. For some reason, it worked! On the other hand, Xyenna absolute focus on the ongoing control made him wonder whether there was some kind of bet going on.

While the peace treaty that created this whole opportunity was really generous in its terms, it still placed some restrictions on everyone. Officially it was made to prevent oversupplying the market and curbing out local competitors, but most of the Imperial merchants realized it was just a courtesy move towards the Altarcia kingdom.

Partially because of this knowledge, partially because of their own greed and hastiness, a lot of people still decided to try their luck, smuggling forbidden items like alcohol, drugs or weapons. There were various punishments for this kind of action, spanning from confiscation, fines, and even to imprisonment or the death penalty. What's more, even the amount of goods allowed to be transported through the border was officially set!

Despite that, people like Verkel were sure to try their luck! For the objective eye, his wagon was barely holding itself together, while made from fine materials! It was easy to understand that if he were to abide by the limitations, this situation couldn't have taken place!

Apparently, he relied on his damn blessing way too much! What if he finally crosses the threshold capacity of its power? Information about his gift would surely spread far and wide in a matter of days, making their journey way harder! Mike courtesly decided not to think about the Altarcian retribution that fatso's action could bring on their heads!

As both Mike with Xyenna and Bern with his bodyguard were closely watching how the events unfold, the customs officer started comparing Verkel papers with those from his subordinates. With every second he was taking, the fat merchant was sweating more and more while trying to maintain his fake smile.

'Its so damn infuriating!'

Mike could barely contain his frustration! While he risked separation of his manhood from the rest of his body by annoying both the officer and Xyenna, this damn guy couldn't even keep his composure! 'My own blessing might be useful, but he is way over the top! If they won't catch him now, I will never call myself a fortunate man!' he decided.

In the end, Mike's ways of self addressing had to be shortened by yet another phrase when an officer passed the papers back to the fat merchant with a pleased smile. On the other side, from Xyenna smug smile, the young man could guess that there was indeed some bet going on under the table.

As if their suffering was enough for today, Bern cart got a pass even quicker, allowing them all to finally move on. Contrary to Verkel expectations that he had voiced way in the past when they just formed their group, there was close to no guards in the proper border a few hundred meters away from the checkpoint. Swiftly riding through it, they could finally fill their lungs with foreign air.

"Let's get moving slackers!"

Lound Xyenna's shout broke them from the stupor they entered upon this mystical feeling of crossing the border.

"We still have a long way to go!"

The girl added as she looked at Mike with a hint of bloodlust lingering in the corner of her eyes

"And don't even dream that I will forget about what you did!"