The sun rose over the hills of the coastal city of Merkor, it was located in the southeast of the kingdom and it was considered a major city thanks to its two hundred thousand inhabitants. The birds sang, and the air spread the smell of warm bread that the bakers were already producing. The brightness of the sun reflecting on the roofs generated a cheerful and bright atmosphere, the streets were beginning to fill with people along with the first rays of light, the noise increased gradually, and the merchants were already opening the doors of their stores.
One of these merchants was Jokell, he had come to the city eight years ago with a small fortune that enabled him a rapid rise in the market and he now competed with two other merchants to be the largest merchant in the city.
Jokell was a short man, his skin was white, and his eyes were blue, his hair was white, his face had rustic features and his lips were thick. Although he had the look of a man who did not have more than 30 years of age he was much older than this, the man had the incredible age of 260 years, thanks to the experience his age enabled the man had a great knowledge of how the merchant job works. Being a merchant was quite common in the Butant clan, not only the number of merchants in the Clan was big, but they were usually successful, thanks to it the Butant Clan was the richest clan in the kingdom.
Jokell had woken up a few hours ago in his mansion and made his daily routine, he went to the dining room where his breakfast was waiting still hot, he opened the paper and read the local news remembering to mark those of his interest. When he finished his meal, he went and changed his clothes for another day of work.
Jokell left the house and walked through the streets toward his shop, he arrived in time to open it with the first ray of sun. Due to the competition he faced the man could not afford to open his store later than that, at that time the port was opening and travelers who came from it would look in stores for the supplies they would require in the coming days.
Gradually Jokell's employees were coming to the service and soon after them the customers came. The merchant always spent the morning in his shop helping with sales and receiving the products he had ordered that arrived from the port.
In the afternoon he went out to lunch at the city merchants' association, although the food in the restaurant was not the best, the information he could exchange with other colleagues justified the choice of location.
Upon reaching the association's restaurant Jokell sat at his usual table and waited for the arrival of his two companions. The first to arrive was John Uhr, a local merchant who had excellent contacts outside the city that provided him useful information, he could not expand his shop due to lack of resources, so he had decided to become Jokell's ally to benefit from his influence.
John was born in a family that had little influence in the kingdom, but when he was little he was sent to the College of War and there he made connections with several heirs of influential families and learned to use them to improve his life. The man from the Uhr clan was tall and had black skin, his black eyes matched his long ebony hair.
"Hello Jokell, how are you?" asked John in a cheerful tone after seeing that his friend had arrived before him.
"I'm fine John, and you?" said Jokell with a smile.
"I'm fine too, you are aware of the dispute between the Magh and Jhug clans over land in which they border?" John said as he sat in one of the chairs around the table.
"I read in the newspaper this morning, the region is known for its breeding of sheep, and almost all the wool from the continent comes from there. I'm expecting the price of wool to increase a lot the coming months, so we should probably think of mass buying wool" Jokell said, his mind already focused on the possible profits that could be made.
"Better pay more attention to this matter, that war should only last a few days, it will not be worth buying wool this month, since the price will skyrocket but will soon fall again. My contacts in the center of the kingdom told me that the Magh clan hired a group of mercenaries who apparently have one hundred percent success in their contracts, and always conclude them in abysmal speed" Whispered John, so that the merchants at nearby tables could not listen, the more money the competition lost the better for them.
"I know your contacts never lie and are generally right, but a group of mercenaries with one hundred percent of success is a story hard to believe" Jokell said incredulous of the existence of such a group.
"I did not believe it when they told me, but apparently the leader of the pack is the newest King of Battle" John said with a serious tone.
The story was now possible. Jokell had learned never to doubt a King of Battle. Even when something would be impossible for a normal person, if one of those individuals was involved probably he could accomplish the feat that seemed impossible. A few years ago, two brothers who were Kings of Battle had battled against an army of the Queir clan alone for hours, they prevented the clan's army of invading a village, after some time an army arrived and together with the Kings of Battle they were able to prevent the village domination.
"Now the story has become believable. Okay, I'll follow your advice and keep away from business with products from sheep in the coming months." Jokell was now thinking of all the merchants who would invest in buying sheep products in the hope that a long war would decrease their presence in the market thus increasing their prices. At this time the third member of the table entered the restaurant, he was Huppert Hoff, he was one of the most successful local merchants, but as John he did not have the financial capability to join the competition for the title of best merchant in the region, he also had joined Jokell taking into account the advantages he would receive if the man from Butant clan acquired the symbolic title.
Huppert joined the conversation and the three asked for their usual dishes. After the meal the three continued at the table talking in a distracted way for a while and the laughter from the table could be heard throughout the restaurant. Huppert waited for the end of the laughter and drew the attention of his colleagues to a subject that was of their interest.
"My contact in the city guard informed me that a series of murders have been happening in nearby villages, and every day they are getting closer to the city. You should consider increasing the security of your shops and hire some bodyguards to walk with you through the streets. Mostly you Jokell, as one of the most influential men of the city you can be targeted" spoke the man from the Hoff clan with an apprehensive voice.
"I agree with you, if there is a series of murders happening we better protect ourselves, tomorrow I will look through the city mercenaries to look for some men who can do this job. Now if you excuse me gentlemen I must go, I will go back to the store" Jokell said as he rose from his chair. After saying his goodbyes to his companions, he walked the streets back to the store wondering about what Huppert had said with an apprehensive look on his face.
In the afternoon he met some customers and soon the night arrived. All employees with the exception of Martha, the manager who always stayed late helping Jokell to calculate the profits of the day, had gone to their homes.
"Martha, I'll put today's profit in the safe, when I come back you can go home" spoke the man; the woman was blonde and had a lean and curvy body, her face was elegant, and her blue eyes transmitted a calm atmosphere. The man then opened a trap door behind the counter that was hidden on the floor under a piece of carpet that could be removed. He closed the trap door behind him and came down the stairs, he now was under the shop's floor, he looked around, at his side was the safe where he kept the money from the daily profit of the store, once a month he went to the bank to deposit the money, but right now the vault was full of it. At his side was a tunnel that connected directly to the port of the city, once Jokell arrived at the city eight years ago he had made it in the case of his worst fear coming true, but it seemed that his concerns were unfounded.
Suddenly he heard the shop door open and looking up he could see through the floor cracks that three hooded figures had entered.
"Sorry gentlemen, but the store has closed. If you want, you can come back tomorrow and do your shopping" Martha said as the three figures approached the counter.
"No problem. We just want some information" said the hooded figure standing in the middle.
"And what is the information you want? I'm sure one of the guards could answer your questions better than me" Martha said.
"It's not you who we want information from; we want to talk to your boss Jokell Butant" said the figure.
"I'm sorry but Mr. Jokell has already gone home and will not be back till tomorrow. Maybe I can answer for him" said Martha a little apprehensive.
"Let's see, can you tell us about the location of a baby and his mother which your boss helped escape twelve years ago?" said the hooded man as he approached the counter.
"I do not know what you're..." Even before Martha could finish talking the figure pulled out a sword and thrust the blade into her neck. After he pulled it out the woman fell on the floor making a dull sound. Turning to the other figures he started laughing, his laughter was euphoric.
"I figured she would not know anything, it seems we will have to wait for him here."
Jokell watched the whole scene through the floor cracks, he was paralyzed by fear. A drop of a viscous substance dripped on his hand. That made him come out of the trance. Looking at his hand the man almost let a little cry escape, it was the fresh blood of Martha that had spread through the ground and now dripped through the cracks. The man looked at his safe that was still open, he took all the money he could carry and ran away through the tunnel that existed in the hidden room.
Jokell's biggest fear had become true. They had found him.