Chapter 24 - Isolated Society

“It will be a waste of time. It is better not to do that and then check with Dad if he received any information. That will reveal if we still can keep trusting them. At the same time, talking with them will put their positions in jeopardy.”

Irlan nodded. Kaitrine also agreed since that would make them waste time… if the war was truly approaching sooner than expected, then she wanted to be back home when that happens. Her thoughts were easy to read since she was showing a serious face of someone imagining the next conflict.

“Since we won’t be welcomed anywhere, we will follow the straight route toward our destination. That usually would make us look weird, but it doesn’t matter when the people here are acting like this.”

That was probably for the best… Everyone wanted to complete the mission as soon as possible as well, for their own motives. In the end, the group was able to do that just fine… Some travelers saw them in the distance following those unusual routes, but they kept their distance. Two days later, they crossed the border between that territory and the next, and they should be only a day away from their destination. Things were looking up for them… the mission was looking to be a lot easier than expected.

After a couple of hours, they reached the first village in that territory and the people there looked completely fine with their presence. The only difference in that place was that Zelos saw some people wearing some hair ornaments that looked like they had been made of plants. Their clothes looked a bit tribal too… Some people even had their bodies painted with a white paint. Irlan was nodding to himself in satisfaction for some reason.

“This place is a lot calmer than I had expected… I heard that a certain group of people live here and they keep things under control in a very lax way.”

“A certain group? I thought that clans would keep things pretty tight to avoid problems down the road.”

“They are like a clan, but they also aren’t, Zelos. They are a group of people that prefer to live their own way… they are descendants of the first people that lived in this area and soon they gained their own territories, even though everything around was theirs to begin with.”

They were probably like an indigenous bunch that couldn’t talk the common tongue. In the past, some emperors tried to tame them since they could be useful, but none of them reason for it.”

The group had the chance to sleep in an inn, but soon they left the next morning in a hurry and reached their destination by noon. Still, they wasted some time since the town was walled, and a bunch of guards were checking all the carriages.

“Someone escaped from a prison near the capital and rumors say that he is trying to return home through here. If you want to move as soon as possible, cooperate.”

The group looked at each other and wondered if that was a coincidence… it was too messed up to be one. Still, they soon decided to put that aside for the sake of the mission. Before long, they began to cross the gate and arrived at the town. Despite the rumors of a dangerous prisoner escaping, the place looked lively enough. In the middle of all that, Kaitrine clicked her tongue.

“All that hard work on the mission for nothing…”

“Don’t talk about that now. We can’t look like we are related to it, and that will put us in a difficult spot. Let’s talk about this later.”

Everyone nodded at Heirina’s and then they decided to pay attention to the surroundings. The town was bustling with activity, and the place also looked pretty rich. All the houses were made of brick and they looked brand new. The sound of forges was common since in the distance, they could see some mountains were ores and crystals were mined. That part of the territory of the country was pretty rich. That was one of the reasons why the emperors of the past tried to subjugate the natives. They wanted full control over those resources.

While not as prominent as in the first village, they saw many people wearing tribal accessories and showing body paint. All of those people looked pretty strong, even though none of them actually had any weapons with them. In Hei’s territory, it was common even for ordinary people to have weapons with them, but that wasn’t the case. The people there either had too much faith in the guards or they didn’t have the need to have weapons with them.

Before anything, the group looked for an inn that they could use until noon and then they would negotiate with the merchant that had the ingots that they needed. Resting for a bit and having a warm meal will make them look better and also negotiate better. That truly happened at noon… when they finished their lunch, they got a bit relaxed, but Irlan seemed deep in thought.

“They didn’t try to take our weapons, nor did they warn us about using them. They are either used to travelers carrying them for self-defense or are confident that they can stop us before we use them to cause any real trouble.”

“What about it? This doesn’t make this place great?”

Zelos’s statement made sense so Irlan couldn’t say anything, but it was too different from what he was used to, so he couldn’t help but frown. At least, they didn’t have to worry too much as long as they stayed there… unless Elmer was around, but the odds of that being true were quite low.

“Let’s get going. I want to finish half of the deal today and then depart tomorrow at noon.”

“Captain, shouldn’t we wait a bit until this situation is solved? If you think about it, it is hard to imagine that Elmer escaped alone and crossed half of the country without some assistance.”

“That is true… but why would he come through here? If the bandits that disguised as merchants helped them, it would be wiser to use that territory instead.”

Everyone nodded. Most likely, that was just a rumor to make people look for him in the wrong places, allowing Elmer to escape through another route more easily. It made sense… it made sense, but the group couldn’t help but worry. They got involved in something big that was already escalating.

In the end, Zelos asked for another meal set from the inn and he studied Edea a bit while he was eating. She was supposed to be the most concerned path since Elmer was kept under control thanks to her powers. Now that Zelos thought about it, it was also quite suspicious that he managed to escape as soon as he was moved from that prison… as if she was thinking about that, Edea watched the blue sky through the window of the inn.

Once Zelos finished his meal, the group left the inn toward the working place of the merchant they were supposed to negotiate. Finding the place was easy, it was this huge warehouse in the middle of the town, it stood out like a sore thumb as well since it had some guards patrolling around, the place was closed, though.

“Excuse me, we would like to talk with Mister Rattay. I am an envoy of the Hei clan who wants to buy some metals.”

“... Mister Rattay isn’t receiving anyone right now.”

The guards looked at the group like one of them had just stepped on their feet. They sure looked pissed… maybe they didn’t have breakfast and lunch yet. While they were tall and strong-looking, they didn’t have weapons, though. So it seemed that they were used to scaring people with their eyes alone.

“... When will he receive us?”

“When he wishes to do so.”

“...... Please tell him that someone from the Hei clan is here to do business with him urgently.”

The guard didn’t say anything, so it was clear that he wouldn’t pass the message. That was the downside of sending a young group to do that kind of job. As such, when they reached the corner of the block, Heirina was stepping on the ground hard.

“The never… The nerve!”

“It seems that you aren’t used to not being treated with the utmost respect.”

“Don’t start, Zelos. I am not in the mood.”

“Anyway, they don’t seem bright enough to realize that they might make their boss lose some money… or maybe he doesn’t need any more money for some reason. His business should be booming now that another battle is approaching on the horizon.”

Irlan nodded… while that was hard to believe since merchants always wanted more money, there were some explanations for that.

“Maybe some other clan leaders also realized that the next battle is fast approaching, and they bought some of his metals. Mining and processing ores is a time-consuming task, after all.”

“Dad wouldn’t have sent us here without knowing that we could obtain the ingots… he always sends a message beforehand asking about his supply. He never tells when he is coming, though, for safety reasons… we will have to walk around and find where this merchant lives.”

Zelos felt like rolling his eyes… The mission that was supposed to be easier was slowly becoming a pain and that wasn’t a good sign. In the end, they decided to split up to do the job faster. Heirina wanted to split everyone, but Irlan convinced her to split them into two groups. Still, that had been hard since he didn’t want to make it look like he wanted to be alone with someone. He truly tended to think too much sometimes. In the end, Zelos began to around on the western side of the town with Edea where Rattay lived and asked around. People knew his name, but not his house.

“Sorry for bothering you.”

“No worries. I apologize if I am saying too much, but you shouldn’t let your little brother carry that kind of weapon, even if he wants to show off or make you feel safe.”

Edea had a hard time holding her laugh, so she just kept her smile after hearing that whisper. When she turned around, she saw Zelos with his arms crossed looking to the side. It seemed that he didn’t hear that, and that was good since she could tell that he would become a bit annoyed in his own way.

After looking in the same direction that he was looking, Edea was able to see a wagon carrying something in the direction of the warehouse. A massive canvas was covering the whole thing, but it was clear by the shape of the things inside the wagons that they were ingots.

“... It seems this fellow wants to stack up his ingots instead of selling them for now.”

“They certainly will become more valuable as the news about war starts to spread… he will get on the bad side of a lot of people, but it seems that he doesn’t care. The captain won’t like this.”

Eventually, the group reunited a bit before sunset and both of them learned where Rattay lived. They immediately headed there. Zelos didn’t hide from Heirina what he had assumed and that had made a lot of sense in her mind as well. 

“People are dying in these endless wars and some people still can’t stop talking about their asses for half a second… this pisses me off so much.”

Zelos felt like sighing… She had to learn how to control her emotions better. At that rate, she will never succeed in Hei's position unless she was forced to. In any case, Zelos decided to give her a hand.”

“Getting angry won’t change a thing, it will only make him realize that he has you in the palm of his hands. Keep a calm smile on your face the whole time and try to be logical as well. That will make you convince him.”