The city was buzzing with all kinds of creatures. The valein were the most abundant, followed by pix, but there were snake-like creatures and a race of tree people walking among the crowds.

Silas looked down at the badge with his trade number. He noticed the soldiers' eyes in the walls were still looking at them.

"Let’s go look for shelter in the trade district. We need to keep their suspicions at a minimum."

"Roger that buddy."

They were still pretending to be merchants, so they had to act the part. There was no telling if the army was following them around the corners. It was better to be safe than let their guard down.

As the name suggests, the trade district was filled with stores and sellers trying to make a profit. All kinds of vendors sold food, gemstones, furniture, and clothes. They were looking for a place to stay.

"Needing a room for your traveler? We have plenty of rooms." A pix tried to get their attention, but Franco denied him with a stern look.

We can’t stay in an expensive place; we need to act like bottom of the food-chain merchants. A cheap place would be the best, but not so dirty that it would make us look stingy. Silas took the carriage back from the main streets and into the alleyways.

In the middle of some bars and low-quality food stands, he saw a sign. "The Sleeping Mole." open rooms. It was exactly what he was looking for.

"Let me and Jacob handle the price. Go park the geckos in the back." The two entered the inn and looked around.

The main room was made of old, creaking wood. There was dust in some of the lamps hanging on the wall, and some old furniture for sitting and waiting. In the back, at the reception, a mole-looking creature was making calculations in a book.

They went to the front desk and talked to the mole. "Hello, my companion here and I are traveling merchants. We have two whole wagons of things to sell, but we need a place to stay. How much for four rooms?"

The mole ignored him and kept writing in the book.

"Heh, did you hear us, partner? We said that—"

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time. You don’t need to tell me your whole life. You want four rooms. That’s about 1,000 credits for two nights."

Jacob took out the bag and grabbed some of the minerals.

"This should be good enough, right partner."

The mole looked at the stones and grabbed a piece of equipment. It was some sort of electronic balance, and he started to fill it while a number increased on the display. He was using it to gauge the current market value of the minerals in terms of credits. According to the employer they talked to, all stores must have a balance to exchange raw resources for credits. If a store refused or didn’t have the equipment, they could report it to the guards, and they would fine the owner or even close the store in the case of multiple violations.

They only had to use about half of the bag to pay for the 1,000 credits. The mole put them into a brown bag and then walked back to grab four keys.

"Numbers 30 to 33. We have a kitchen, but the food is going to cost you extra. You can leave the bag here, and I’ll give you some credits to use in the city."

"That would be helpful." They weren’t planning to go on a shopping spree, but having money was necessary to keep up appearances. He wanted to exchange everything here, but that would raise the mole's suspicion.

We can go later to another shop; the first thing is to find the place that is recruiting people for the mercenary job. The only clue we have is the medallion with the symbol.

"Do you have a stable for our carriage?"

"It is in the back; pass your badge in front of the detector, and it will automatically charge you for a whole day."

This place was proving to be crappier than he had previously thought, but there was no need to antagonize him. He swallowed his insults and complaints as he walked back outside. They only had to pass the badge like a credit card, and they left the geckos safe inside the stable.

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Once they went inside, Silvano opened a portal and walked inside Dawn’s base. He grabbed a couple of bags filled with their weapons. They saw some people walking around with swords or shields, so it wasn’t weird for them to carry some weapons, just enough for protection.

"Ok, I’m going with Jacob to look in shady places. If we all go together, it could be a trap. So it's better to move in pairs."

"I want to go see if there are magic items or other things to buy."

"I’m coming with you; I need to see if they have rare materials for my inventions." Nadine joined Emily; she knew she was planning to look for a way to regain her humanity but didn’t want to say it to the others.

"I would like to check the hospital or other stores to see what kinds of medicines they use."

"If you don’t mind going with me to the Street of Arts after the hospital, I can accompany you, Rebecca."

"Thanks."

"Franco and I can help you look for the symbol." Nora wasn't looking for anything particular; just seeing and learning about the Valein Empire way of life was enough to satisfy her curiosity.

"Hey, I’m the only one who doesn’t have a pair." Nathan raised his hand.

"Just choose a pair to join."

"I'm going to go with Silvano because I want to see how proud they are of their arts."

With that, they were ready to go and explore the city.

Silas went to two other stores to sell the rest of the materials and split the money with the other pairs. It was a very convenient system to use; the badge could divide itself into smaller ones that kept the respective number of trade and credits.

After taking a walk to the darker corner of the city, despite walking openly, they didn’t notice anyone looking at them in the wrong way.

"They must be scared of the soldiers. They can’t do crime openly in the streets, even far away from patrols."

"Then we should go looking inside the buildings and bars to find anyone looking to hire mercenaries."

"Yes, but there should be a place with more open information. I remember the captain telling me, the empire uses mercenaries and a bounty system."

"If it were me, I would put the bounty close to my headquarters. "I don't want people bought with money running around the city."

"The military district."

They got the same idea; they walked to the north and followed the direction of the signs into a street full of fortified buildings and soldiers. In the center, there was a sign pointing to mercenaries and independent contractors to the left.

There were several languages written on the display, including English. It was the bounty office. The inside was filled with all kinds of warriors; the only thing they had in common was their thirst for money.

Above the central desk, there was a holographic screen displaying rewards from all the worlds.

"Do you see the pentagon symbol?"

"No, it's better we ask directly about how the bounty system works." He talked to the pix in front. "Excuse me, can I ask you to tell me how that star system works? Is my first time in one of these offices."

"The star reward system indicates the danger and reward expected by arresting those groups or individuals; if you bring them here alive, you'll get the full reward, but only half if they're deceased. You can see the specifics if you get close to one of the totems on the side." The girl pointed to the left, where the small screens were standing.

Just as she said the first star was for criminals that were too troublesome for regular guards and soldiers. They only caused problems in the area, so the screen only showed groups of the mountain world and some beasts. Most of them average around 100,000 credits.

He scanned the bounties quickly, but there was nothing similar to the pentagon or the medallion.

"Let’s see the two stars bounties, maybe it is a group that works in multiple worlds." Jacob pushed the button and was greeted by a familiar name.

The Crimson Caravan: two stars. Reward: 500,000 credits. A group of thieves and slave traffickers that have attacked empire cities in several worlds. Their organization is divided into small groups called "Caravans" The caravans report to a leader known as the Crimson Baron. The reward is only effective for the Crimson Baron and the first caravan leaders.

"I knew those guys were trouble; even the empire is looking to stop them. Aren’t you glad that we keep our distance from those thieves."

"Why are they only asking for the first caravan?"

"The Baron would just replace them. You saw their attitude toward a fight. If we ended up killing them in the desert, it wouldn’t hurt them too much. He could just rebuild the caravan with new people."

Jacob's logic was correct, but he felt like there was more hiding in plain sight.

"Could it be that they are testing the bounty hunters?"

"What does that mean?"

He thought about Sesius’s words: how the army looks for bounty hunters with talent and offers them positions in the army.

"It makes sense; they tell you only the leaders have value, but if you go and defeat a whole caravan, they will notice and offer you to join them with a permanent position. That way they can have strong people be part of the army and then arrest the baron without having to pay the reward to anyone."

"It sounds true, but we should focus on the symbol."

They looked at the two- and three-star bounties. They couldn’t look for the four- or five-star bounties; those needed permission to display. It was to prevent rookies from ending up dying in a pointless way trying to make it big in one job.

They couldn’t find anything, so right before leaving the building, Silas looked out of the window; it pointed to a bar in the other district. There he saw it—a pentagon engraved in wood.

He ran outside and went to the bar. It was the same symbol.

"I see, it wasn’t a public offer, but they only had to hide nearby, just like the value of the metals they used for the medallion. This is the place; the client is inside."