The first kind of step is the worst. As I am right now risking Ava, I have to walk through the woods right to the next town. My Amulet is showing and active, so I hope the whole Alliance is real. I am just one and they think of their city as a Country, so it could be thought of just erasing myself by you know, killing Ava, albeit they do not know, this would not end me.
Traveling the woods again I can see the full Damage the Miasma made. Trees got killed from inside out and dry up. They are standing corpses, luckily It had only a radius of half a Kilometer. The only living trees inside that place are nine fast growing trees.
My destination is called Kilt. A rather rough Town right near the Forest. Mercenaries travel there to get their hands on all kind of Potions and fight Monsters to bring back all their parts for a high price.
While it is not the most famous town near the Woods it is the second Town from the top. The first is the base of the Green Fire, and they just lost a bunch of Mages. Another expedition will not happen for a long time, as they have their hands full with the aftermath of losing those Members. At the same time they will be paranoid to no end and search for spies, traces, suspicious people and of course hidden caches of their former Members to plunder. Going there will end up in imprisonment by having Minks underwear.
…
The Body works fine and even far away it is still easy to work with. At the same time I am sometimes looking at the Crater and am able to just switch between one or the other. By luck I see a Root scout swiftly entering the Crater and after leaving a rolled up leaf, he ran away before Leafy could say anything. Taking the Letter she seems conflicted, but puts it in her barkskin pouch.
Let’s not forget the Letter, and see what will happen next.
While on the way I need to rest a few times, as this body is heavy and not enhanced with better muscles. For now I can take of the iron Mask and put it away, as I am far away from the Crater.
Resting a bit and drinking some water I start the second and hopefully last trek through the woods. While working on my cardio in this body, I make small rests and look at what is happening at home. Snow is happy to look at my presence and Leafy is still working on the Gazebo, ignoring the letter completely.
…
Finally I can see the town ramparts. Rather ugly for a Town, but the Ramparts are build for function and not aesthetics.
Approaching the Gate I can already see I am in the evening rush. So it will take a bit of time before entering.
“New here?”
Someone seems wanting to kill wait time for a while.
“More or less. It was a long time those bones entered this shithole. What about it?”
To blend in, I take note of the memories of Avas previous owner. Not my favorite way to speak, but it will do.
“Just asking. New faces might need to learn the ropes, so I thought of selling you info.”
“Keep your head low, never antagonize the Guards and definitely do not piss of Pedro.”
“Shit, nothing to gain from you.”
And that was it. Pedro is a rather famous bartender in the city. Former Mercenary and more dangerous as the guards, as he can crush a head inclusive steel helmet. Not that I have any Idea to go to him. I want to go to the self crowned peddler King.
“Name and reason for entering.”
I am finally at the front.
“Ava, Mercenary, selling herbs.”
“One copper, next.”
Yup, that was lax as it can get. The copper is officially not needed, but if you want to antagonize the Guards they will search your whole baggage and something will accidentally be broken.
The Magistrate is rather corrupt in that way, but for their flaws, they accept every race and anyone can make enough money to feed themselves. Unlike other Countries this one has nearly no slaves. So this shows how the Magistrate has both good aspects as bad aspects.
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Mages are the Nobles here and also the Lawmakers. If there is any dispute, you go to the underlings of the Mages to settle. If it is a rather big thing, the Mage himself might be the judge.
While reminiscing all the Information I have about this Country I am now in front of the peddler Kings shop. His name, nobody knows. Some think it is simply King and it is a play on words, but nobody is sure. He just says he is the peddler King. Rather pompous, but this gave him a rather wide reach in business.
Entering the establishment I am greeted by an enthusiastic assistant. A lanky beanstalk of a youth.
“Welcome to the Peddler King. How can I help you?”
“Selling in bulk. I have some herbs, pelts, cores and clothes.”
“Right this way please.”
The word ‘cores’ makes all of it way easier. If it is cores they are always in need. Mages use them in so many experiments, they go through them like they are water.
“Please put everything you want to sell on this table.”
Entering one of the private rooms I start unfolding everything in the backpack. First the Herbs on top. Some dried, some pristine. The looks I get for the fused specimen is encouraging. Then come the pelts as they are wrapped around the cores. Wolf Pelts, Mice pelts, Snake skins, even Rat pelts. Everything I have. No reaction from the assistant, as I suspected. They are rather mundane, but still worth a few copper.
The cores got looked at with a jewelers eye. I would say it has an enchantment for seeing the kind of core they are. Mice cores were rather small, but still worth a lot, as electric or lightning like they say it is hard to come by, while they are mostly from bigger creatures and often wasted in mundane experiments.
Finally the clothes. I take out every part of Minks prior garderobe.
“From where are those clothes from?”
“Don’t ask, won’t tell.”
That is the best part of the Peddler King. You sell whatever you want, you do not need to explain where it came from, but if something is a bit suspicious, you get docked a sizable chunk for not claiming the legality.
“This will be together one large Gold, three Gold, nine Silver. One Gold will be claimed.”
Rather a hefty sum. If a Gold is claimed, then it should be five Golds alone for the clothes. It is inlaid with spider silk, so understandable.
“I want to purchase, too.”
“Very well, we will put your Items together. What do you need?”
“A steel ingot, a book about basic Alchemy, Masonry and Metallurgy.”
“...this will cost together a whole lot. An Ingot costs just five silver, but the Books…”
“I know about the price. I made enough money to buy them, have I not?”
“Of course! It is just surprising for buying those in that range. One second… The book about Masonry will be two Gold as well as Metallurgy. The Alchemy will be six Gold, as it is under the higher knowledge and therefore pricier.”
“I understand.”
“Well then the end result will be two Gold, three Silver and five Copper.”
“Done Deal.”
“Thank you for your patronage! I will Order your Items right away. As it includes no exotic Items, we should be able to have everything for you tomorrow Morning.”
“Excellent.”
…
Leaving with my Note of purchase and my now bigger purse I search for the next goal, an information Center.
“I need Information.”
“How much and which.”
Information Centers are rather crude. They just collect rumors, happenings and Gossip. In short, the Newspaper of this World.
“A Silver. I want to travel North from here to Halk. But there is something off right now, so I rather ask before killing myself in some kind of Mage war.”
“You got lucky, there are rather disturbing news. One second.”
Going in and searching for the happenings of Halk, that rather bulky bearded man looks through the papers.
“Here it is. There is a rather massive upheaval in progress. Seldar of the Green Fire has traveled with a sizable party into the Woods. He took his Cousin Eldar and even Beryl the cursed witch with him. An apprentice was seen too, but no Name as of yet. They then vanished for now close to two Months. In one week they will be named missing and the border of the Forest will be searched for hints.
There are no noticeable reasons for the trip and the reasoning for their disappearance. Speculations tell about the sudden ebb in Miasma, the Starfall Mountains, Fungal bloom or a cure for Beryls curse, but no lead was found to what it really was.
Right now the whole place is in a rather strained period. If notice of Seldar comes back everything will be fine, but if not a lock down of the City might happen.
I suggest not going there, as it might not be easy to get out or even survive. Any suspicious person will be hunted and interrogated.”
Quite a bunch of Information. Well I paid the highest price, so I got everything.
“What the fuck. I nearly ran into a death trap. Is there anything else I should know?”
“Not directly, a reference is put on the Information about strange experiments of Beryl, as she bought more and more Slaves for her healing spells. Also some say they have seen ghosts in the treetops of the Forest. There is an increased request of spores of the Fungal Mountain, but no one is stupid enough to take the request for spores deeper out of the tunnel. This is all I’ve got.”
“It is enough. Money well spent, as I am turning right around and just search for other endeavors.”
“Good luck with that.”