The tavern's room was much cleaner than the last one that they stayed in. The bed was a little bigger, and the room size was mostly the same. This room even had a small opening in the far room that let in air.
The three men sat down on the end of the bed and waited for Sam to do something. The bed was hard, with only a thin layer of cloth separating the wood from them.
Sam picked up the bag that Xander put down to the side of the bed and placed it on his lap.
Xander went "Ahh," as he realized what Sam was talking about.
"Alright, since you've been so helpful, I guess you can touch for a little bit." Said Sam as he opened the bag up and lilted it so that Brandon could see what was inside.
From Brandon's angle, the first thing that he could see was a fluff of white and then the dark eyes of Straus peeking out.
"Oh my god," said Brandon as his jaw fell open.
The thing was that animals weren't common in cities. Rodents and insects aside, other animals, not including humans, did not survive in cities very well. The only explanation that other people could come up with is that animals were scared to death and got sick because of it. They weren't used to being around so many superior beings. It is a popular belief, and it was accepted by many as a fact.
"It's like a small horse and white," said Brandon as he was still stunned by what he was seeing. He reached out his hand towards Stratus. Stratus stayed still and let him touch him.
Sam didn't think that this was going to work this well. He remembered from Laina that Carbo's rarely ever came into the village, and in most cases, the village ended up killing all the albino culbs. So, he could guess that Brandon never saw a white Carbo before, and he was right.
Brandon lifted Stratus out of the bag and held it in front of his eyes. "So, what is this? Some type of animal from the forest?" asked Brandon.
"Yep, we found it while we were in the forest to the west, the villagers call them Carbo," said Sam.
"How much do you want for it?" asked Brandon. Brandon never saw anything like this before, and he wanted to keep it. It was so cute, and its fur was soft. Even the softest cloth that Brandon ever touched didn't come close.
"Well, it's not mine, so I can't say anything about that. You'll have to talk to Xander, but I think I already know the answer, that it's not up for sale," said Sam.
Brandon looked at Xander, and he confirmed what Sam just said.
Even though he said this, Sam started to consider it. He didn't want to give Stratus away, but he came with his problems. They had to feed him and look after him all the time, and he stuck out and drew a lot of attention. But in the end, Stratus was part of their little group, and Sam didn't want to give him away for such small reasons.
"What makes you think that you can stop me from doing whatever I want? Do you think that anyone is going to care if word gets out that I killed a few people?" said Brandon. He set Stratus down and looked between Sam and Xander.
The air in the room got tense. Xander moved his right-hand on top of the hilt of the sword.
"Nah, you wouldn't do it. If you were that type of person, you wouldn't be in this tavern beginning with or talked with us. Greed isn't what drives you, not yet at least," said Sam. He got up and added, "Plus, do you think that you can leave this room if you tried? We aren't so weak as we appear, you know."
"You're right, you got me." Brandon got up and headed towards the door. "Oh, and one last thing, before I go and consider it a gift for showing me something so beautiful. Lord Drogo doesn't have any kids, and his body is already declining. A blood bath will soon occur between the different nobles in the city, all of them trying to take over the city. That will be the time the city is the weakest."
Brandon finished what he was saying and left the room. A few seconds later, Laina walked in.
"So I hope everything went well," she asked.
"Yeah, we showed him Stratus, and he threatened for a little then left. Seemed like a good guy," said Xander.
Laina sat down on the bed and looked at Sam. "Where are we going from here Sam?"
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Sam started to lay out their issues, "So, we got a few problems. The Red Nation wouldn't just sit still if we forcefully took over Carthage. This city is too precious for that to happen. They'll keep attacking us until Carthage is theirs again. The second problem, we don't have enough power to forcefully take over Carthage. We just don't have enough support for that."
Xander and Laina started to think about how they could fix these issues.
"Do we have to forcefully take over the city though? I mean, couldn't we just somehow still be under the Red Nation so that they don't attack us?" asked Laina.
"But how in the world would other people accept us as their Lord, we aren't of noble blood," replied Sam.
They all stopped taking for a few seconds to focus on thinking. From their room, they could still hear the people talking in the tavern. The walls weren't very thick, and so they didn't block the noise very well.
"What if we said that we were?" Xander suddenly broke the silence.
"What if we said what?" asked Laina, unsure of what Xander was talking about.
"What if we said that we were Drogo's kids. It's not like they have [DNA] testing in this world, so how would they know that we were lying?" explained Xander.
Sam, after thinking about it for a few seconds, said, "But if it was that easy, wouldn't everyone just say that they were related to powerful people. Plus, even if people accepted that we were Drogo's kids, it's not like the other nobles would just sit still and let us take over."
They all went silent again. It would not be as easy as Sam and Xander imagined it to be.
"Whatever, I guess we can sleep over it and figure something out in the morning," said Xander as he started to get into a sleeping position. Laina said good night and left her room to catch some sleep.
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Brandon walked out of the tavern with his two guards and servants following behind him. He had a small smile on his face as he walked down the streets, which were starting to get dark.
"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, what did he show you?" asked Isla, unable to hold back her curiosity.
"Nothing too important, just a cute animal that I've never seen before. I don't know why but they sound like they aren't from anywhere near here. Maybe they aren't even from the Red Nation," said Bradon as he continued to walk.
"Do you think that they are from the Black Nation?" asked Isla.
"No, no, not the Black Nation. Somewhere a little farther away, maybe Serpentine. Who knows. Well, wherever they came doesn't matter. From what it looks like they don't exactly have the most peaceful intentions. Will they be successful, only time will tell," said Brandon.
They kept walking, and as they walked farther and farther, they entered the inner city. The streets were wider and cleaner. The houses started to gradually get bigger and gaudier.
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In the morning, it was decided that this will be their home for now. The prices were cheap, and the food was alright. Currently, they sat at one of the tables in the tavern while they ate their breakfast.
The tavern was empty in the morning, and so it was also much quieter than what it was last night. The few people that were in the tavern sat there in their seats and focused on eating.
"It's' getting warmer, isn't it?" commented Xander as they ate.
"Yep, the winter season is almost over, and spring is approaching soon. Give it a few more weeks, and the nights wouldn't be so cold anymore. The harvest would be ready by then as well," Laina sighed after she said that. She still had times when she couldn't believe that she wasn't in her village, farming. Talking about the crops brought a few memories out and reminded her what she did.
"How many days are there in a year?" Sam suddenly asked.
"Ah... a lot. I think it's roughly four hundred," Laina had to think about that question before she answered.
Hearing Laina, Xander had a doubt that he asked Sam. "Wait, so that woman said that we had a year before that game. Is it that year in this world?"
"Origin has a separate time that matches with Earth. I would assume that the year would be in that time. Otherwise, people on a planet with longer days and a year season cycle would get a big advantage." replied Sam.
Xander reminded Sam about the War games that were coming up in a year. Even thinking about it put more pressure on them to do something before a year was up.
Sam sighed and rubbed his eyes. He didn't get the greatest sleep last night. He went over their options, again and again, to try to figure what they should do. In the end, Sam could think of a few things that they could do, but he didn't think that it would work in the given time that they had.
"Let's brainstorm guys, did anyone come up with anything that we could use to take over Carthage?" asked Sam as he looked between Xander and Laina.
Laina shook her head, but Xander did have something that he thought about.
"I know this is going to sound crazy, but hear me out: what if we went into the forest and rounded up all of the Carbo, and we trained them. Then we use them and defeat anyone that comes in our way." Xander looked between Sam and Laina and waited for a reaction.
If Sam had to be honest with himself, this plan was better than everything else that he came up with last night.
"How did you come up with this?" asked Sam. He was curious about what allowed Xander to get to this point.
"I had a dream where I split up into a few thousand ants. Then I had to fight myself, except this me was human me. Maybe it's a sign that I'm going to be killed by tiny ants." replied Xander.
Laina and Sam blankly stared at him. Neither of them could figure out the link between the dream and his plan.
"Sure, okay. I guess that's our best plan." Sam thought for a few seconds.
The only major problem that Sam could think of right now was not getting killed by the Carbo. They were smart, training them should not be an issue. Their power was clear when one of them attacked Sam and Xander. Whether they could go up against an army was something that they could figure out another time.
"It's a pain, but I guess we're going all the way back," Sam sighed with just that thought.
"I mean you don't have to come. I'm pretty sure that I can handle it," said Xander.
Sam just looked at Xander for a few seconds. "You know what, sure. Laina, do you mind going with him?"
"I can do it," she replied.
"While you two do that, I can figure out what to do here."