Year 2, Summer, Second Month, First Week.
Lew remembered the Algdum tribe, where Humans and Beastman lived in harmony, but the image of a girl driving a cart while happily talking with a bull Beastman was a little off. Because of the surprise, he almost failed to notice that the cart was being pulled by only one wind mount. The sight made him frown even more, how could the poor mount handle pulling the cart? Maybe it was empty? He had seen people using two or three mounts to pull carts, but that was highly inefficient and usually temporary. This type of beasts couldn’t handle the weight, but some people still try to use it because earth pulling beasts were very difficult to get in the Wind region. If they continued pulling the cart with only one mount, the beast would die from exhaustion
Strangely, the beast didn’t seem to be tired or unhealthy. Changing his sight back to bickering pair, he chose to believe the other mounted beast was also being used to pull the cart and that was probably the reason why the woman was yelling with the man. Lew clenched his teeth and endured his tiredness while pushing magic energy to his ears.
“Arthur, I’m not gonna tell you a second time, dismount and tie the beast back to cart, if the Guards see only one beast pulling it they could get suspicious…”
“Humph… That’s not what we agreed, I did my part and now you have to let me ride until the city…”
“Stop being stupid, look at the city walls, we’re practically inside the city… Argh, I can’t take it anymore, remember that you choose this…”
“What are you doing… Stop, Lana…”
Lew's eyes couldn’t open wider, he didn’t expect the elegantly dressed young woman would pull the man down and give him some kicks, before taking the beast back and tie it to the cart. He brushed off the disbelieve before dashing towards the group, he couldn’t lose this opportunity.
“Hello there, travelers, I saw you were having some problems with your, unusually strong mount. Do you need any help?”
Lana measured the dirty strong-looking man dressed in rags, before pondering his words. Her lips twitched and she couldn’t avoid sparing Arthur a hateful glare.
“Thank you, kind Sir! My empl… slave here is strong enough to solve any problem. Since you asked, can I help you if something?”
She looked confidently at Lew, considering with she should ask Tauron to beat him up. Lew smiled at her while evaluating the Beastman’s abilities. If he wasn’t in this poor state, he would neutralize him before he could become a threat, but he wasn’t sure he could do it now. Before things developed into a combat situation, he decided to take a more diplomatic approach.
“I could surely use the help of such a smart businesswoman… You see, I’m trying to get into the city, but I’m so poorly dressed that the Guards think I’m a beggar and won’t let me in. I have some money on me and I would gladly pay if you could let me go inside your cart… If you throw some extra money, they wouldn’t even check your cargo…”
“Hmm, I see… I can understand why they would mistake you for a beggar… Anyway, why didn’t you try to reason with them? I’m sure you could prove your stature with those extra coins.”
Lew sighed silently, she wasn’t the usual dumb and greedy Merchant. However, this wasn’t his first time playing.
“I tried, but they just said I robbed someone before chasing after me…”
“I see, and how much would the mistaken-by-a-bagger Sir compensate me with?”
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“How about 20 silvers?”
“That wouldn’t do, my cart would need disinfection after you jumped on it. I might even lose some goods… How about 50? Of course, if it wasn’t for the costs of cleaning the cart and probably losing some goods, I would help you without charging anything…”
He could only smile awkwardly before passing her the 50 silver coins. His doubts about the woman’s occupation were all cleared now, she was a true Merchant.
Lew entered the back of the cart before Lana covered him with a rough cloth. He didn’t hear any more talking between the group, they were probably wary of him. Since his initial approach wasn’t a friendly one, he risked being surprised by a heavy beating at any time, but he chose to bet on the woman scruples anyway. Merchants that didn’t keep their words wouldn’t survive long in the market.
Soon, the cart stopped and he heard the Guards talking with Lana.
“… You should be tired of working on this hot summer day. However, without you guys here, how could we feel so safe inside the city… I’m a little late for an appointment, so I can’t thank you properly for your work. Please accept these few coins as a sign of my appreciation for your work…”
“Thank you, Miss… The Miss don’t need to pass inspection and risk being late for your appointment…”
Lew silently thanked the Origin for the woman’s sweet month and craftiness. After moving for some minutes, the cloth was finally pulled, but what greeted him instead of the woman’s beautiful face, was the stern expression of the bull Beastman.
“You can go out now, Sir… I’m happy to do business with you…”
“Thank you for your help, Miss?”
“Lana.”
He took the dry response for her desire for no further communication and only stepped back nodding. After the group left, he checked his surroundings and moved towards Keller’s store, hopefully, he wouldn’t need to pass the alley’s attack again.
Before noon, the ragged Lew was already being escorted towards the store entrance. Fortunately, Keller’s Guards didn’t insist on a rematch, tired as he was, he wouldn’t resist long.
The door opened and the familiar simple-looking store entered his sight, surprisingly, Keller wasn’t behind the counter. Lew had to suppress the desire to just drop onto the ground and rest right there. As strange as it sounded, the store was the first place he felt safe in months. Not even the statue-like behavior of Keller’s security Fighter could affect his current mood.
“Where is Keller?”
Before the unresponsiveness of the Fighter could make Lew feel stupid, Keller’s voice appeared from the back store.
“Hello, my friend… What a pleasant and unexpected surprise to see you here… You’re stronger and bolder than I thought to have escaped from whoever hired you and still dare to show your face inside of a wind region city… The nobles seem to be eagerly looking for you… I guess you wouldn’t be your father’s son with they could get you that easily…”
The sudden appearance of a girl silhouette behind Keller made the tired Lew feel alert.
“So, that’s why you were looking for help to get into the city… You’re the reason why they tightened the security in the first place, ex-Captain Lew…”
“You… Lana… Miss Lana, why are you here?”
“What a strange coincidence, you know my niece?”
“Niece? Eh… Miss Lana helped me getting into the city…”
“Is that so? What a fortunate, encounter… At least you can be relieved that nobody besides us know that you’re inside the city. Anyway, how was your job? Did it ended up as bloody as we expected?”
“Eh… Yes… I think I was the only one that escaped, they took us by surprise. I was prepared to fight my way out of it, but I was lucky to escape. We never expected they would attack when we left the Tribal Lands…”
“Were they waiting for you there? How did they know about your exact exit location?”
“They didn’t. It was someone from the group…”
“I’m sorry, I made sure to vet all the Mages, all my contacts said they were legit…”
“It wasn’t bad information, the Mages were killed too. The attacker was the Fighter leading the expedition, who nobody cared to investigate… He was only pretending to be a Fighter, he was actually a Knight… He was alone… Somehow he poisoned the other Fighters and finished the Elemental Mages before they could do anything… He only had to fight in the open against me and the Enchanter… I suspect he had some kind of backup because the death crystals disappeared from the scene, but why they didn’t help him finish us is unknown… Long story short, we fight, he almost killed me, but the Enchanter killed him before dying too…”
“That’s an Originless grounds of a story… If they could afford to move this many pieces, it was probably one of the four PowerHouses. Do you think they know you’re alive? It’s better if they think you’re dead…”
“They should know… I wasn’t in any condition to get rid of the bodies, so they know that I’m not among the dead. That’s why I need your help to leave the Kingdom as fast as possible… I got some loot, so I can afford it…”
“Oh… That’s gonna be difficult…”