Soon after finishing eating, Earl advised Alice to sleep. It was still over an hour before she would normally sleep, and even in the past, Earl never set up bed times or anything similar.
In the past, Alice wouldn't have thought anything of it, especially when on a trip in an unfamiliar place.
But his words struck the memory of Hugo saying the same thing, then waking her up before sunrise.
Alice looked at him suspiciously, but decided to follow his advice, lying down on one of the beds.
The inn Earl had rented was one of the best in the city, and was free from bed bugs and other pests… but that was about it. The bed was packed with straw, not the most comfortable thing ever. Only the wealthy could afford feather beds like the ones back in the Graves mansion.
Lying on the bed, her thoughts drifted towards the future. It wouldn't be that long until she headed off for school.
The merchants school was held in the capital of Mol, and attracted young merchants from all around. Other countries had similar schools, but none of them quite compared to Mol's. Aside from the Vosnan Empire, Mol might just have the best merchant school on the continent.
Most of the students attending the school were descendants of current merchants, looking to inherit their parent's businesses- this was the case for Alice.
A few upstart merchants who gathered enough money to foot the tuition fee would attend as well, but they were in the minority.
'After school… I guess I will start helping Dad with the business. It'll be great working with Dad, and I'll get to meet a bunch of new people! I hope they are like the nice people in the city, then I'll have a ton of new friends!'
Time slowly crept past as she thought, and soon her eyelids began to fall., dragging her into a peaceful dream world.
It was the best possible dream, a heaven!
A chicken drumstick danced around tantalizingly, a delectable scent emanating from the meat.
All kinds of various foods were available for Alice to eat!
"Yes! This is heaven!"
Unfortunately, it seemed Alice wasn't fated to enjoy this heaven.
Her suspicion from before was confirmed as she opened her eyes. Earl stood over her in the darkness, a tired and annoyed look covering his face.
"Wakey wakey Alice."
If they had a clock, it would've read two AM.
"Apparently our business partner is having some troubles, and wants to wrap up our deal before sunrise. The guard is already bringing the carriages over, so we have to hurry over."
Listening to Earl, Roth's suspicions increased.
^See? I didn't think there was any way Earl could afford a small army just through trading, and a shady deal in the middle of the night only helps confirm it. Earl's a good dude though, so what would he get involved with that needs this kind of caution? He even brought Alice with, there is no way he would endanger Alice willingly.^
Outside, the crescent moon stood vigil over the city. The streets were completely bare of people, an eerie silence had settled over Ignar.
Amidst this silence, a line of carriages raced for the edge of the city. Once again heading for the less populated storage areas, the Graves' moved quickly.
A message had come in the middle of the night from their trading partner, asking to complete the trade in this isolated area.
Most of the Graves guard didn't know what they were trading, but they didn't ask any questions. The guard were completely loyal to Earl, and trusted in him just as much as he trusted them. Many of them had worked for him for years, and knew that they wouldn't receive better treatment anywhere else.
It didn't take long before they had arrived at the location specified by the mysterious trade partner. It wasn't far from where they traded the day before, a quiet warehouse district.
A man masked in pitch black clothing stepped out to meet the guards, and without saying a word, he pointed to the warehouse behind him.
The guard couldn't recognize this man, but he seemed familiar. Seeing the guard's blank faces, the man pulled out a white piece of paper, a poorly drawn picture of the flag of Mol inscribed on it. Once more, the man first pointed at the guard, then at the warehouse.
"Are you the dude we're trading with?"
Alex received a nod in return, and was a bit confused. Why was this dude being so secretive to cover his face and refuse to speak?
Earl hadn't arrived yet, so Alex took command of the guard, ordering them to load the carriages. At the Graves mansion, his primary job was organizing the workers, and was somewhat of a second in command to Earl.
Inside the warehouse lay Ignar's staple good- Iron.
More specifically, it was processed Iron ingots.
A huge heap of them were piled up on the dirt floor of the warehouse, even with the massive caravan of fifteen carriages, they would barely be able to carry all of it.
The problem wasn't with how much room was left in the carriages, but rather the weight.
The horses pulling the carriages were well fed and strong, but there was still a limit to what they could pull.
Furthermore… Iron was really expensive at this time. This amount of Iron was worth much more than the spices Earl brought here to sell… and this mysterious masked man was having the guard load it up before receiving payment? The man was alone, so how could he be sure Earl's men wouldn't just leave with the iron?
Loading up the iron would take a while, and soon Earl arrived with Alice and Ash. It was time to negotiate the price for all of this iron.