“I’ve slain those brutish trolls, saved a subsidiary of your kingdom, which was captured by one of your daughters by the way, and cleared your capital of most of its underground organizations, but you can’t fulfill my sole request?” A man in tattered armor demanded as he looked up at an old man who’s shirt’s frills surprisingly spoke who he was more than the throne he sat in.

The response rolled off the king’s tongue without a second of thought, “Well hero, while I must thank you for helping my kingdom in its multiple times of need, your request seems to elude what my men and I can do.”

There was no sincerity in these words, rather, the only thing that the man sensed was the king’s breath, which contained the warmth and smell of wine with an undertone of deceit.

With a sigh, the adventurer looks at the old potbelly ruler and dropped his act. “That sucks man, I guess I’ll take my leave then, I hope you can find help again in the near future.” Before he could turn around and take a step, however, what he said clicked in the king’s head, “What do you mean by find help?”

The hero explained with a gentle smile,“Oh, those trolls I fought seemed to be part of a small tribe part of a larger troll faction, they all seemed extremely intent on telling me this as if it would make me spare them. Or it might have been a way to buy time for their comrades to escape, as three or four did get too far for me to catch up, so I guess it worked.”

The king just looked at him after this explanation and broke out in laughter, he stopped enough to tell the hero, “I sent you alone and there are three other small kingdoms in the area, how would they trace that back here?”

His laughter rang out through the halls of the castle, as if outsmarting the hero was one of the most enjoyable things in the world.

So the man resumed his exit, but just as he reached the door, he stopped, turned back around, and hit his head lightly, “Ah, silly me! How could I be so stupid? I forgot one more tiny detail, first, this is the kingdom of Aellorah, yes?”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He was met with a blank stare, as if he asked the simplest question ever. So the hero continued, “Well right before I started the attack, I proudly announced to the trolls that I served the king of Aellorah. And before this armor was torn apart in the battle, it had your insignia skillfully handcrafted on the chest and each pauldron. And as you can see, most of my armor was pulled apart. It was a shame when I saw the leading escaping troll run away with my entire right arm, which still had its armor on.”

And with this, the warrior finally left the room and started heading his way out of the castle.

The king was still staring, yet this time, his gears were turning in his head, and when the story all came together, widened his eyes and hastily yelled after the shrinking figure, “WAIT! There’s something, a seer, he’s supposed to live at the edge of our kingdom that borders the forest of the elves, just come back and we’ll send you there on our finest carriages, just please! Come back!”

But it was too late; the man resolutely continued his departure from the castle, and after hearing about the seer and his location, he tuned out the king’s pleas and stepped out. He drew in a deep breath, letting the refreshing air wash out the stuffiness of the castle that had begun to set in his lungs. But this was no time to rest; the royal guard would be after him soon and bounties for his head will stretch across the kingdom if he didn’t act fast. And while none of them could kill him, they’d eventually capture him, and that’d just be a hassle to deal with. And so, he set for the one place that would be able to provide fast transport to the elven forest, the special market.

----

Some important background about the market: Originally it was known as the “black” or “dark” market, and it was frowned on by the citizens and royalty of Aellorah. But, as each generation of king cared less and less about the rest of the kingdom and provided less and less protection to its citizens; the people started to take that matter into their own hands, particularly, through the dark market. As people more openly made trade with the market, the market grew in popularity, to the point where the government could hardly subjugate it without a large pushback from the populace. So over the span of about 15 years the market had an almost one-eighty change in the eyes of the public, going from the “dark market” to the “special market”. And luckily for the warrior, it was right on the way to the forest.