Chapter 142 - The Sylvamir Border

Chapter 142: 142 - The Sylvamir Border

Morning found them already moving toward the mountains.

The road had narrowed considerably during the night. Dense forest pressed closer on both sides, with trunks thick enough that even the long-distance vehicle looked small beside them. The farther they travelled, the more often Adrien felt concentrated pockets of mana scattered through the woods.

Elyndor had already shown him what an elven settlement inside a forest could look like, but this felt different.

There were no enormous inhabited trees or platforms hidden between the branches. This was simply wilderness stretching toward the border.

Eventually, the mountains swallowed most of the horizon.

Two enormous ridges rose on either side of the road, their slopes becoming progressively steeper until dense forest gave way to exposed stone farther above. The path continued directly between them through a natural gap barely wide enough for several vehicles to travel side by side.

Adrien leaned closer to the window.

"So that’s the border?"

"The pass is," Amelia said. "You can’t realistically cross those mountains with normal transport. There are smaller paths, but they’re dangerous, and none of them are suitable for moving people or cargo in any meaningful numbers."

Lucien looked toward the slopes.

"Which makes this the only route worth watching."

Adrien understood immediately.

Anyone wanting to enter Sylvamir from this side eventually had to pass through the same narrow corridor.

Several minutes later, the first structures appeared between the trees.

Adrien had expected walls.

Instead, the elves had built around the forest.

Tall pale structures stood between living trees without cutting them down, their curved roofs extending around trunks rather than replacing them.

Elevated walkways connected watchposts on both sides of the road, while thin formations carved into stone pillars emitted faint pulses of mana.

Dozens of soldiers were present.

Some stood beside the road in fitted armor built from dark metal and layered green material Adrien did not recognize. Others occupied the platforms above, carrying bows or other manifested Items while watching every vehicle entering the pass.

Several larger devices were positioned beside the inspection lanes. They looked closer to magical machinery than anything military: circular frames containing suspended crystals, arrays of runes rotating slowly around their interiors and smaller terminals operated by uniformed elves.

Adrien watched one merchant vehicle pass through a frame.

The crystals lit briefly.

"Identification?" he asked.

"Partly," Amelia replied. "It can detect manifested Items, unusually dense concentrations of mana and some concealed enchantments. The guards still inspect documents themselves."

Amelia closed the travel guide resting on her lap.

"Normally there isn’t anything like this here. A few guards, basic registration for merchants, and that’s about it."

Adrien looked again at the soldiers.

"What changed?"

"You know what changed."

He did.

Amelia’s expression became more serious.

"After what happened with Elowen, the trafficking network and everything that came out afterward, King Laurent ordered the main crossings reinforced. Someone operated close to these borders for years without either kingdom stopping them, and there were people actively trying to create a conflict between Sylvamir and Valleroy."

She glanced toward the inspection post.

"For now, everyone entering is identified. Where they came from, why they’re entering and where they’re going. Laurent doesn’t want another group moving people through this region without anyone knowing they were here."

Adrien nodded slowly.

That explained why there was no permanent fortress filling the pass. Much of what he was seeing looked recently installed, especially the temporary buildings and mana equipment arranged along the road.

There was another reason the border mattered.

Valleroy and Sylvamir had no direct teleportation connection.

Neither kingdom wanted a permanent portal allowing people to bypass physical checkpoints and appear deep inside the other’s territory. For normal travellers, crossing still meant roads, vehicles and places like this one.

Their driver slowed as they joined the short line ahead.

It moved quickly.

Most vehicles were stopped only for several minutes before continuing through the pass. When their turn came, two Sylvamir soldiers approached while another remained near one of the scanning formations.

The driver lowered the front window and handed over the travel documents.

"We’re travelling from Elyndor to the capital."

The first soldier glanced through the papers.

Then Amelia shifted into view.

The reaction was immediate.

The soldier looked up properly, studying her face for less than a second before his posture changed.

"Lady Amelia."

Another guard looked inside and recognized Lucien just as quickly.

"Lucien Edevane."

Lucien gave a small nod.

Nobody needed to explain who they were after that. The Edevane name already carried weight this close to Sylvamir, and Amelia’s connection to the royal bloodline made recognition even easier among soldiers assigned to the kingdom’s primary crossing.

Then their attention reached Adrien.

That took longer.

The first guard looked down at the documents again.

"Adrien Clairmont?"

"That’s me."

The elf’s eyes returned to him, and something in his expression suggested the name was familiar.

"House Clairmont of Valleroy?"

"Yes."

The guard glanced briefly toward Amelia before looking back at the document. Whatever questions he might have had disappeared after another officer approached and quietly confirmed something with him.

Their luggage was checked without being emptied completely. The vehicle passed through the mana frame, which reacted to the Items stored or present within but apparently found nothing requiring further inspection.

Less than ten minutes later, the barrier ahead opened.

Their driver moved forward.

Adrien looked through the side window as they crossed beneath the final elevated walkway and passed the marker dividing the territories.

At first, nothing changed.

Trees remained trees. The mountains still towered on both sides, and the same road continued beneath them.

Then the pass began to open.

The ridges gradually pulled apart until the narrow corridor became a vast green valley.

Rivers cut silver lines through the landscape below, fed by waterfalls descending from the mountains. Forest covered almost everything Adrien could see, broken by wide meadows and distant settlements built into the terrain rather than over it.

Even the roads looked different.

Smooth pale stone followed the natural curves of the land, bordered by low mana lights and formations integrated directly into trees and rock. Farther away, Adrien could make out vehicles moving silently along another route, their frames different from anything commonly used in Valleroy.

And everywhere he looked, there were elves.

Travellers. Soldiers. Merchants.

For perhaps the first time in this world, Adrien realized he was the unusual one.

In Valleroy, an elf could draw attention simply by walking through the wrong city.

Here, the human sitting beside Amelia and Lucien was the person people would notice.

Adrien settled back slightly as the border disappeared behind them.

They still had a long journey before reaching the capital.

But for the first time, he was no longer in Valleroy.

He had entered Sylvamir.