On the front seat of the wagon, the merchant with a striking mustache is glancing at the mercenaries standing on the ground before displaying ostentatious movements.

 

“After the ancient past where the War God and the dark-born of which we call ‘Black Devourer’ fight against each other in a grand spectacle, we already know the outcome. The War God emerges in a total triumphant victory while the enemy falls in defeat. That is what is seen by the ancient people and is depicted in books and legends.”

 

Then, he halts his speech, stroking his magnificent mustache before folding his arms to his chest. He closes his eyes and looks downward in an imposing manner as the mercenaries feel unpleasant by the merchant’s own fantasy.

 

“However, there is a catch.”

 

As if the merchant is reminiscing his past even though it is plentily clear of his presence there being non-existent, he veers his head to look at the dusk sky in melancholy aura.

 

“Stripped from their names, influences and powers, the other nameless gods and goddesses who have lived alongside War God and before the fall of our almighty Fenas are set aside. Despite their great contributions towards the success of the grandiose battle, they are treated with such to this day. For that manner, the truth remains shrouded in the falsehood of an almighty god having defeated the dark-born creatures for the sake of compelling the War God’s omnipotence.”

 

“...so, what does that have to do with a silvery hair person?”

 

Even though Noriel feels disturbed and annoyed by the merchant’s unexpected behavior, she perturbs the merchant.

 

The merchant quickly replaces his melancholy aura to that of a menacing one before veering his body and head towards Noriel’s direction, making a thug pose while peering into Noriel’s eyes.

 

That inconceivable change of demeanor made Noriel and her other two friends tremble a little. Naturally, Borvon is unaffected being that he is eminently focused on the cutely sleeping girl in his bulging arms.

 

“Risen from the continuous death of these hidden gods is an infant from a mother’s womb, born from the amalgamation of a god’s corpse and a fragment of Black Devourer. Therefore consequently charting the world its first transcription of a human being possessing uniquely glossy silvery hair.”

 

After saying those words, the merchant returns to his enclosed-arms-and-eyes pose while eyes of bewilderment are fully exposed on the faces of the mercenaries, with the exception of Borvon who is making a heartwarming face while gently poking the abandoned girl’s soft cheeks.

 

“You see, she is not an ordinary girl, and it does not originate from her pristine silvery hair donning her. It is that she could not capitalize the mind-boggling heaps of preposterous mana she possesses within her, unfortunately making her a prime target for all researchers at the time and seen as a tool of domination in the eyes of wicked people. Even the gods are grossly fascinated by her.”

 

Immediately after saying that, one of the merchant’s eyes peeks through the slight opening of its eyelid.

 

The dazed faces near him raises an ecstatic feeling from his heart as a smirk flashes on his face. The thought of monetary value surfaces in his mind while he does that.

 

Noriel can be seen ruminating earnestly about something with her hand partially covering her mouth. The handsome man and the girl beside her are both in jaw-dropping state with their eyes expanded widely.

 

Regardless of that, when the merchant peeks at Borvon, he is immediately disappointed by Borvon’s seemingly uncaring attitude towards him despite what he has just said in a noble manner. Borvon did say he wanted to listen to his story, which has further discouraged the merchant.

 

Nevertheless, the merchant attempts to hide his displeasure before opening his eyelids and turning his gaze towards his preferred people.

 

“...so, what happened to that girl?”

 

At the same time as the merchant looks at them, Noriel synchronically asks him, causing a vision of gold coins to display in his eyes as he makes a business smile.

 

“My lady, do you not think that I have been very kind to give such valuable information for free?”

 

The merchant says that while repeatedly tapping the wagon's seat using his finger.

 

Noriel perceives that and is immediately annoyed at the merchant's gesture. In front of Noriel’s eyes, she can see the visibly greedy eyes from that merchant while the tapping of his finger makes it amply obvious that he is only waiting for a certain answer.

 

If only Noriel can resist the temptation from her intense curiosity, she would have been able to at least raise an argument. But it is also because of the merchant's obvious intention that she can think of the validity of the absurdness coming from the merchant’s mouth.

 

“First off, how did you even know those are what have happened instead of the words recorded in historical books? Or, are you saying those books are fakes?”

 

When Noriel says that, the merchant immediately responds with a swaying head while his face is covered in smiles. Naturally in response, Noriel seriously hates the demeanor of the merchant sitting highly on the wagon’s seat with her heart. Though the merchant does not inflict any physical damages to her, only mental damages are enough to disarray her composure.

 

As of current, the handsome man and the side pony-tail girl are still in dazed throughout Noriel and the merchant’s conversations.

 

“Let us just say there is a lone bard singing the truth in the midst of gullible people, and I happened to be the only one interested.”

 

“What kind of reason is that!?”

 

“My lady, I am sure you too know that bards are travelers of the world. Every melody they sang had its foretold happen sooner than you think. Now, you have not stooped that low, have you?”

 

The merchant mockingly says that directly to Noriel’s demented face. The moment he does that, Noriel is rendered incapable of articulation and is only able to glower at the merchant. The merchant has perfectly hit the certain spot within Noriel’s heart, causing her to conspicuously showcases an amusing kettle with the added bonus of being silent.

 

The merchant already knows the embarrassment being felt by Noriel, but he voluntarily does not point that out from the amusement he gets over talking with a smart yet brainless person. Thus, he just smiles provokingly at her.

 

After a while of Noriel staring dagger at the merchant while the latter leisurely enjoys himself, Noriel eventually turns her attention to her dazing friends and wakes them up from their slumber while still furrowing from the merchant. Needless to say, Borvon is still attached to the cute girl in his arms, so he has been ignoring them the entire time.

 

“Helson, Aria… and Borvon, is it alright if we do this commission with less than what that guy promised?”

 

Noriel points his finger straight at the merchant’s annoyingly smiling head.

 

On that note, the handsome man is Helson and the girl with a side pony-tail is Aria.

 

After Noriel lets out that query, Helson and Aria gradually regain their senses before pondering about the matter while Borvon is still heartwarmingly poking the sleeping girl’s soft cheeks.

 

Soon, Aria looks at the merchant who seems to be earnestly waiting for an answer.

 

“Is 80% of it alright?”

 

Upon hearing that answer, the merchant’s face instantaneously turns dull, erasing the smiling nature of his smile he had before.

 

Seeing that, Aria feels a little hesitant when she needs to think of lowering the profits her party can get from the merchant’s commission.

 

“T-Then 50%?”

 

Even after lowering that much, the merchant’s expression only twists more and is now showing a slightly visible irritation on his face, causing Aria to stammer her words at the thought of further lowering the profits.

 

“...40%?”

 

“10%. Take it or leave it.”

 

At that perplexing answer, Aria, Helson and Noriel are instantaneously frozen. It is to the point that Aria and Helson resume their state of daze as Noriel immediately retaliates at the absurd amount suggested by the merchant, but Noriel is immediately interrupted by the merchant's swiftly stretching palm aiming straight at her face.

 

“You people, do you not appreciate that you do not have to pay more than you should be when receiving this information? Given that the sole existence of a silvery hair person is able to captivate even a wealthy empire's higher authorities, you would have to pay a lot more if an information broker is your method.”

 

As the merchant speaks of disappointment, he belittles Noriel’s childish judgment.

 

“But…”

 

“To be perfectly honest with you, I too am vying for such antiquity. If I get my hands on it, I only need a magic tool to absolutely dominate in every trade I make. But seeing the chances of me acquiring it is miserably low, I am passing this one-time offer to you should you be grossed in it.”

 

Aria, Helson, and Borvon do not seriously need to compromise the profits they can get in exchange to withhold that information from the merchant since they have no interest in getting themselves involved in something outside of their understanding. But for Noriel, she has been actively listening the merchant’s articulations despite hating him from her core, and despite the absurdness of the story.

 

Speaking of the believability of the story, bards do have a high-profile of being trustworthy by all people, but needless to say, that only applies to highly known bards.

 

Aria and Helson already know that Noriel is considering the merchant’s offer but they consciously do not stop her from doing so since most of their commissions have been a success because of Noriel’s suggestions and quick responses. Furthermore, the huge rewards that come after that aids to that fact. So, they put their trust in Noriel’s judgment of the matter.

 

Noriel deeply ruminates about it for a while and as she does that, she starts to wonder about the strange reaction from that merchant during the moment of the weird girl's appearance.

 

“Wait a second, if you say it like that, then why did you only stay silent about it when that same thing was standing in front you?”

 

The merchant looks a bit shocked from that sudden question, but he quickly overlays it with a tinge of annoyance.

 

“That is just my memory of dealing with tricky bandits. And a doubtful mind.”

 

“Tricky bandits, huh…”

 

With a daze-like state, Noriel says those words as if reminiscing about the past. But she quickly regains her current reality and looks at the merchant with partially believed eyes.

 

“Fine. We will only get 10% of it.”

 

As the echoes of the desired words enter the merchant’s ears, he smiles elatedly and continues the story.

 

“While the poor girl is mercilessly being hunted down, one powerful god feels pity at her, leading that god to help her escape from the clutches of the new-born evils clouding the world. By doing that, that same god indirectly seeds anger among the remaining immortal entities and is ultimately killed by them alongside that powerful god’s devout followers. But its death and hundreds of innocent lives gives the poor girl a haven to live, untouchable and concealed from the outside dangers. Furthermore, two new lives are created in her womb.”

 

The merchant shows disconsolate motions as he makes that speech, all the while the sun has veiled more than half of its area.

 

“Did that god… and two of them…”

 

Noriel senses an oddity in that story, leading her to inquisitively ask the merchant.

 

“That, I do not know.”

 

The merchant heaves a sigh while saying so, facing his head downward and closing his eyes.

 

“No matter how much I jab at that bard, he does not say anything after we have reached that point in the story. After that, he just leaves me there and travels somewhere alone without a parting word. Of course, before we reach that end, he only says several beings like her step into this world and it is extremely unlikely to find one naive enough to get out of their home. So, having found one is really doubtful.”

 

After that, Noriel starts to deeply ruminate again and it is now regarding the believability of the clashing information between that and her current understanding.

 

It is understandable that Noriel feels wrong to believe the words from a recently met man. Since she has grown up to be fed with the common knowledge of this world, all the more having almost all of the populace of this world accepting it, Noriel feels betrayed of having been lied to by the world itself. The feeling of dread from that stutters her mind and Noriel instinctively tries to seek comfort.

 

Aria and Helson are also of the same but paces away from Noriel's hypothetical speed, so the impact from it is considerably lessened.

 

And thus, Noriel naturally arrives at the topic of a certain bard.

 

“Do you know that bard?”

 

The merchant is a bit surprised to hear that question from Noriel. His movements are stunned for a minute, but he eventually retakes his consciousness and answers Noriel’s question with truthful intent.

 

“Frankly, it is my first time seeing that bard, so I do not know much about him, let alone his name. I did ask for it but he would stay silent whenever I did that.”

 

Then, the merchant strokes his chin instead of his mustache as he contemplates.

 

“If you want descriptions of him, he wears an average looking gray hooded-cloak while bringing a standard lute. He possesses black hair, sharp eyes and a normal face. One thing that separates him from others though is his hat shaped like a ring above his head. It is similar to that girl’s ring.”

 

“Ring?”

 

The moment Noriel hears that certain word, her mind instantaneously displays the vision of the weird girl’s appearance that has also an abnormal shimmering ring floating above her head.

 

Noriel’s mind is instantly brimmed with the theoretical connection between that girl and the bard, entirely absorbing herself in her thoughts as she starts folding her arms with her hand holding her chin again.

 

The merchant knows the cause for Noriel to behave like so for he also saw it from that silvery hair girl. However, there is a stark difference between the bard and the girl and it is that the bard’s ring is purely cosmetic. His version of the ring does not shimmer in light and is plainly a ring rather than intricately decorated. Additionally, it might be obvious but the bard’s ring does not float.

 

Above all, the merchant does not hold any sort of knowledge about the ring’s existence and its meaning. He is not a heavy thinker like Noriel and certainly does not have the interest to partake in such a task, so he merely ignores it.

 

Throughout the time, Helson and Aria have only been listening to their conversations. Due to their absence during the silvery hair girl appearance, they do not know much about what is transpiring and silently listening to Noriel and the merchant’s conversations is all that they can do.

 

After the merchant reminds the mercenaries of their jobs, some of the mercenaries gloomily resume their journey in sharp contrast to the cheerful merchant. The girl that has been sleeping in Borvon’s sizeable arms is also brought along with them after they have agreed to accommodate her.

 

Along the journey to a town, Noriel can not stop her mind from contemplating about the weird girl, the bard and the cute girl they bring along with them, all the while Borvon keeps poking the cutely sleeping girl’s small cheeks in smiles.