The sounds of hoofs hitting the cobble stones echoed out, the ambient sounds of the crowd buying, selling and gossiping covered the area like a blanket of noise.
The carriage moved slowly through the tight paved streets of the Verbena district. This was the commercial district of the Calabar province, Hartley and company had moved through the odor riddled slums and shanty towns of the province earlier in the morning.
The locals had mistaken them for nobles who lost their way. Children ran along beside the carriage calling "young lord please bless us with thy mercy, give us anything you can spare."
Zhi Ruo had a face full of sympathy as she beckoned Hartley to give the kids a few coins, by the time they had exited the slums Hartley had given out silvers equivalent to 2 gold coins.
Zhi Ruo had a happy smile as the grateful kids in tattered robes ran to the broken down shops to buy bread and dried meat giving their thanks with grateful looks. "Thank you" whispered an emotional Zhi Ruo.
Hartley just hugged her with a smile. Even though the Waltham province had their share of poor commoners, there were no such ghetto regions. Hartley couldn't help but think that if he was born in this province he might have been one of those children. The comparison between the commercial district and the slums were truly an eye opener, the definition of the haves and have nots.
As their carriage trotted through the prosperous commercial district they saw a mid-sized compound with about a dozen heads suspended on spikes in the front yard.
A sign written with black letters read "Practitioners of the Dark Arts" people passing paid no mind to the grim scene as they went about their daily life. Hartley looked at the heads flanked by the single sign, remembering his encounter with the cloaked man.
The streets were flanked by sturdy stone buildings, shops, inns and drinking houses. The patrons went in and out with wide smiles, a stark difference between here and the slums.
Qin Li steered the carriage into the front of an inn, the stable boy, a youth about 12 with dirty knotted black hair, rushed out seeing what he thought were nobles. He said "sir are those thunder bulls?" Qin Li gave the boy a smile saying "quite right young man," the boy had the look of awe in his dark eyes, " I will take good care of them" Qin Li handed over 2 silvers to the boy.
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With shining eyes he looked from side to side surveying the surroundings for witnesses. Then carefully put the coins away in his robe like a precious treasure, hopped onto the carriage and steered it in the direction of the stables.
Qin Li honestly had no idea how to take care of horses or wild beast, he was a 2nd layer expert after all, when had he needed to preen and feed horses or beasts? He had made himself a coach driver for fear of not being able to accompany Hartley otherwise.
They checked into the inn, it was a nice big establishment with four floors called the Verbena inn, with expensive furniture and fittings. It had snobby well dressed people loitering around. Seeing the three, some people stared a little but nothing untoward was said. They clearly also had mistaken the trio as nobles. Zhi Ruo and Hartley had the same room on the second floor while Qin Li had a separate room across the hall.
Zhi Ruo had a long bath and changed into her beautiful body hugging blue dress, even though it was a little windy she would not miss a chance to wear her beloved dress. Hartley washed up, feeling refreshed he donned one of his new robes and took Zhi Ruo for a walk around the town, Qin Li opted to remain behind and cultivate, he had to take every opportunity he could to improve on this journey.
Hartley's hair was now cut neat and short above his ears, in the boredom of the carriage Zhi Ruo had resorted to grooming his hair, she was proud of her handy work and would sneak glances at him every now and then. Hartley dressed in a brand new dark color robe with gold embroidery cut a majestic figure with his stunning diamond blue eyes.
He walked beside the slim curvaceous redhead who wasn't to be outdone in her own right. They sauntered around the area, "lets go in there" Zhi Ruo pointed towards a shop. Hartley followed as Zhi Ruo dragged him forward while she clasped his right hand in hers. It was an armory shop..
Across the counter stood a man with not more than a couple dozens strands of hair left on his head, he was a plump middle aged man who had a permanent happy expression glued to his face. "Good morning youngsters, what can I do for you" the man said smiling, Zhi Ruo pointed out a piece in the shop and asked "is that a genuine rank 3 armor? what materials was used in the process of refining the metal, did you use the hundred strike hammer technique?" The man was shocked momentarily, smiled and started telling Zhi Ruo about the forging process.
Hartley stayed out of the way and let them converse while he looked around, he was happy to see her glow with excitement and was thinking about buying some materials for her to continue making her armors while they traveled and that was when a tall man dressed in a yellow robe pushed the door and entered the store along with two older looking white haired men, his eyes widened when he saw the striking figure of Zhi Ruo.