Chapter 29

Not what I expected

 

We spent several exhausting days walking, well, I didn't allow them to be so exhausting, but the truth is that traveling on foot escapes my parameters, especially considering the development of transport in my place of origin.

Meanwhile the influence exerted on the mercenaries showed its effects. They are now on my side as much as the captain and the other guards, not as much as Zera, but hey, that's almost too much. During our trip, Zera, who was the person with the most free time, was always looking to be close to me trying to find something to help me. Considering the books I intended to read, it was a nuisance, but I put his time to good use.

Our trip didn't bring major surprises and finally we visualized the city of Garush, or at least its walls.

Garush is a city on the edge of the territory of Jagheb, so it is far from the protection of the kingdom's knights, so its normal that they had to make their own wall. As I understand it, it was built by those who govern the city independently of the kingdom.

I don't know much about defensive walls, but hey, compared to Galia's natural defenses, they seems like a joke. The wall measures about 3 meters from what I can see, maybe 4, enough so that it cannot be climbed without the help of a rope, ladder or other gadget, but nothing impressive, considering that the walls of Edmund, another city of Jagheb, it's said to tower more than 15 meters tall.

As we approached I noticed that there were no watchtowers like in Galia, but you can see people walking on the walls, surely archers.

Unlike Galia, there is an active market here. There is a line at the doors, actually two. One is for cars, which are inspected before passing, the other for people arriving on foot. We go to the row of passersby.

"Welcome to the commercial city of Garush, the toll is 300 Ja per person and I need to confirm your status".

"Thank you for receiving us. I was wondering if you would know of a place to get maps, including one of the city".

When the guard met us, I approached to give him a couple of silver coins and ask him my question.

"If you keep walking down the street from the main entrance, you will reach a red-walled building, if you turn left on that street and continue straight, you will reach the commercial plaza, you can find what you are looking for there. You can leave".

Ahhh, that's what I was talking about, it's just what I needed, someone who understands. Not that Galia's guard wasn't helpful to me, but he was a very honest guy who was nervous when I gave him a much larger amount than he asked for. But this man understands, he knows the concept of bribery perfectly. I bet everyone here is like him, that will make things easier.

After passing through the door without having to check our belongings or status, I followed the instructions of the guard and arrived at the commercial plaza. Here I can "find what I am looking for".

I must say, that just by observing the eyes of these people, I can say that they are the type of people that I find the easiest to use.

"Ups, I'm sorry".

A guy in the crowd "collided" with me as I walked "distracted".

《What's mine, is mine has been activated, the theft of an item has been prevented》

Oh, it had been a while since I received information like this. It's like when I put on the monocle and received an alert about the evolution of my ability <<Analyze>>.

In any case, as I suspected, he tried to rob me. Of course I won't leave something like that without punishment.

"Captain, stop that man".

"Understood".

To the surprise of the guy who "collided" with me, some guys who seemed not to belong to my group covered his escape routes and my guard was able to retain him without problems. Although he looked more surprised to realize that he didn't have what for an instant he thought he took off, my item bag.

"For trying to rob me we will take you to the authorities".

This little show is to show all viewers that I am not an easy target. Something necessary if I plan to walk these streets wearing my elegant suit and a bag hanging from my waist.

As new to the city, it took us some time to find "the authorities" but once there, things went quickly. I accused the man of trying to rob me, with more than a dozen witnesses and when the man defended himself by saying that he didn't steal anything, I asked the "Justice officer" to punish him as he deserved, while handing him a silver coin. The officer locked him up immediately... I love this city.

After leaving we returned to the commercial plaza, which was only three streets away from the "Justice headquarters." Well, considering the amount of people and transactions that occur, it's necessary to maintain control, so its normal to be so close, that also helped us find it relatively quickly.

To clarify, while we were going to the square the first time I decided that the formation would be as follows: In front we find the captain and I, followed by Ryuuji, Ren, Zera and the two remaining guards, a little further behind are located the ex-mercenaries. It is this formation that makes it seem that we are different groups.

The formation also allows me to negotiate without them getting in the way too much, since the captain can simply stand behind me while I do my thing and it isn't annoying. Just think how inconvenient it can be to have 18 people behind while doing business, and considering the crowd in the square, it would become an obstruction in the road.

By the way, I was not kidding when I said that my first goal is to buy maps, if I get one from this city I can locate everything I need, although that depends on how accurate the map is. It will also help me to orient myself in the region, the maps I got from the academy are mostly very old, so I can't count on them except to get the idea of ​​physical geography.

Although my first objective are the maps, it doesn't mean that I will waste time while searching. I will buy everything that seems useful and let the merchants of this place know that a big fish has arrived.

One of my first acquisitions was the equipment for the new members of the Argent guard. I couldn't give them the same equipment as the others, first because they lacked the training to fight using full-body armor, second because they felt unworthy to wear them. Both problems will be solved over time if they train together with the others, when it happens I will give them new equipment, for now they will use some pieces of metal and leather gloves.

I also bought two changes of clothes for all. Always wear the same clothes is a NO NO. If there is something I can complain about and I haven't done yet, it's the smell. So far it didn't bother me because of the pure air that was in the way all along, but now that we are in the city, with little space between people, with buildings and also surrounded by walls, the air doesn't circulate freely to cancel the problem.

Interestingly, the only ones who don't stink in the group are Ren, Zera and me. Surely since we are the ones who don't perform physical effort. But the others smell of sweat, so before getting where to stay, I must find out if it's possible for them to take a bath. One of the merchants told me that there is a "bath house" to do it. The next thing will be to wash the clothes they already own.

"For that reason, you can take a good bath in this place, I have already paid the price for everyone".

"Ohh, I didn't think that one day I would enter the" Bathhouse". My deepest thanks, Lord Argent".

"It's not a problem Estor, I think that after the trip everyone needs to relax and let the fatigue go away with the water".

"I don't know why, but I think there is wisdom in those words".

"I must go to fix the matter of our lodging, then I will go to the plaza once more. When you leave you can go to the bar opposite, when I finish I will meet you there".

"Wait, you won't think to go alone do you?"

"In fact no captain, Ren will accompany me. No problem, I have been told that she can bathe later".

"..."

"Do you think someone will try to rob me again?"

"Ah ... I think it's very presumptuous of me to think you needs us".

"Quiet, you really are useful to me, never think otherwise. But you deserve this rest, and now I know where the justice headquarters is, if something happens I will go back to them".

"I really don't feel that the trip has been so exhausting, we had many breaks every day, I have no problem in accompanying you, I can take a bath when Ren does it".

"Zera, I think it would be better to do what Lord Argent says. He may want to talk about something with Ren, remember that she feels uncomfortable near us".

Although the captain said that last thing whispering, I could hear it clearly. It's true that I have a reason to go alone with Ren. One of them is that I plan to rent the bathhouse tonight so that Ren can bathe without being discovered as a Siren. But more importantly, I'm thinking to use her ability to exert some influence on the people in the square.

It's interesting to see how much dedication Zera has to me, it reminds me of someone from my old company ... Although I prefer to not think about it.

Once in the square I was able to get some items that I would prefer the rest to not know about, I could also reach some friendly agreements with the locals. Among other things one of the merchants told me that he lives next to a really luxurious guest house, so I plan to spend the night there, luckily it is on a street of another establishment of a somewhat lower category, perfect for the bulk of our group. It's not that I don't want to spend more on them, as if that affected me, but the guest house has few rooms.

I also heard interesting rumors, such as that a famous blacksmith walks in the city, that there will be an auction of slaves in two days and that a commercial house caught fire in the rich district, apparently caused by the rebels, it is also said that they plan a large hit, taking advantage of a squad of Iren's soldiers in the city ...

DAMMIT!

I can't believe how damn my luck is. From everything I could find out, it seems that the city is currently in the middle of a civil war. Apparently today was one of the quiet days. Problems are expected to happen during the auction and possibly something big will happen soon with Iren's soldiers.

I can't believe the mistake I made coming to this place. Its natural when I think about it, all the information I had from this place was obtained in Galia, which is an isolated city, it's obvious that their information cannot be very updated. How could I not realize that.

The worst thing is that I could have got more information about Garush's status from the mercenaries, but I didn't, after all at first they said nothing because I seemed to know everything, and I never asked cause I didn't want them to know my intentions with this place.

What am I supposed to do now? Leaving here would be the best, but I already put my plans in motion with the merchants here, one even got me an encounter with one of the heads of the city, a man named Garonte, I can't plant him now, that would bring me trouble when I try to get out of here.

For now I must continue with everything as planned, but I must begin taking measures for my escape in case a revolution breaks out. I must also be careful, I came up with the idea of ​​gaining notoriety to get an audience with the powerful of the city, but if there are soldiers from Iren here, they could go after me, I must move with more caution.

DAMMIT! I already ruined it! If I had known, I wouldn't be in this problem, I would have gone unnoticed and keep going to the next city.

....

Fuuuuuuh. Easy, nothing has happened yet, I must think this better.

In the first place, its late to have a low profile after all the money I spend and the image that I make among the merchants, so I will earn nothing trying to reverse it. In any case, I should improve the image I have and make sure that these people keep my existence a secret. If I show how beneficial I can be to them, they won't let Iren know that I am here, talking with this Garonte will serve that purpose.

I can do it, I can still get out of this problem without being harmed, even keeping my plan going. However, I must avoid making more stupid mistakes, I will have to concentrate more, and of course, I cannot miss any chance of making a profit. I will not let profits that outweigh the risks pass.

And it was while walking towards the bath house thinking about this that I saw it. In all the time I've been in this world, or the time in TLO, I've never seen anything like that.

 

NAME:	Albert	RACE:	HUMAN			4
Guardian Spirit		Conrart
JOB:	Adventurer	RANK:	-	LEVEL:		4
VP:	37/38	RESISTANCE:	12	DEFENSE:		17
MP:	8/8	KNOWLEDGE:	44	INTELLECT:		92
ENERGY:	6/22	STRENGTH:	22	MIND:		23
AGILITY:	23	TALENT:	12	SPIRIT:		22
ITEMS▼	EQUIPMENT▼	SKILLS▼	TITLES▼	MONEY:	0G

 

TITLES▼

<< Legacy >>

Even if I ignore those ridiculous stats for a child his age, I had never heard of something like "Guardian Spirit" appearing in the status bar, not even in the spiritist class.

I don't know who that child is, but it is a finding, one that I will not let pass until I know what it is.

"... Whoever, please ... Help my sister".

"I will do it little one, I will help you".