After leaving the inn I found myself in one of my colleagues.
"What happened?"
"What did that guy want?"
"No need to get high, I'll tell you later. Let's get out of town first."
Gloria still wanted a better answer, but when she saw that Hilda had retreated and the others were going to mount their mounts that were ready to leave town, her will was suppressed by her logical side and she didn't continue to try to interrogate me.
It didn't take long for us to gain distance from the city, and I clearly felt my companions' eyes on me. Now that we've moved away from any prying eyes or ears, we can converse without worrying about being spied on.
Stopping on the side of the road I turn to my companions who have also not dismounted from their mounts. To my surprise, it wasn't Gloria who interrupted me, it was Alice.
"What did that suspicious mage want to talk to you about and how it's going to screw up our mission."
"Suspicious mage?"
"I've met many types of people, that wizard and a criminal and a salesman. And since we got out of town without being attacked, you must have signed a contract with you."
Alice is really impressive; it looks like she has experiences in various business arias. Unlike Alice, who seems calm when she exposes my suspicious gestures and they're irritated, Zephyrus is neutral as usual.
"You're completely right, Alice. Impressive, although I don't have as much experience as you seem to have in this area of negotiation the contract was very complete and restrictive for both parties so don't worry about being attacked by them."
"What have you done, Ulric?"
"I saved our lives, as Alice said before we were under the crosshairs of a group of criminals. The smugglers mission is a big problem, these smugglers who are stationed in this area of the border are being targeted by another group of smugglers, the wizard who approached me before and one of the leaders or founders of that group and they were responsible for this mission."
"They were probably the ones who leaked the information about the group of smugglers that is on the border now to the city officials and they must also have bribed some people so that an investigation or elimination request could be made to get rid of the smugglers they want. to replace."
"Are you agreed to help them? They are criminals!"
Gloria seems to be against the idea of working with criminals, that could be a problem.
"We didn't have much of a choice, Gloria. If I had retreated, they would have attacked us in the city or later, maybe they would even warn the border smugglers that our group is going there to investigate them, there are many ways they can harm us and the only way to be really safe would be to run back to the camp, but if we did that, we would have failed missions and would likely be branded as enemies of this criminal group."
"I don't think Ulric is wrong, Gloria. These types of people are hard to deal with because they tend to disappear when they're reported and only come back for revenge when your off guard. But I would like to know what exactly you agreed to do, Ulric? I don't want to get into a trap"
"I don't want us to be ambushed or trapped by these criminals either, Alice, but as I didn't have many options, I tried to do my best."
"I agreed to continue with the mission to eliminate the smugglers from the border in the way they had planned. They want to replace the current smugglers and trick the border guards into thinking that there are no more smugglers on this part of the border."
"The plan will be carried out in four days; they have given me the location of the smugglers and the route they take this side of the border and they have a group of warriors and mages that are waiting near the border to join us to eliminate the smugglers. "
When I said that we would have help to kill the smugglers he was very happy and relieved as this is going to be a tough fight and all help is welcome, apart from Gloria who doesn't like the idea of working with criminals, the rest of the team is happy, but Hilda still noticed that I didn't say everything.
"Is there anything else we have to do? I doubt there is nothing else in the contract."
"Yeah, you're right about a few more things we have to do. We will have to lie in our reports about some points of the mission, all the smugglers of that group who have this side of the border will die, but their base should not be damaged and should not be reported, our new friends have set up a fake base destroyed to serve as a base for smugglers."
"Because they're going to so much trouble to cover up the smugglers' base."
"Hilda building a base is not a simple thing, their base must have a tunnel that goes under the border that is used to smuggle the goods. It might seem simple to make this tunnel, but it's not, that tunnel not only has to be extremely deep and well-constructed but it also has a massive number of runic arrangements in it to prevent border barriers and border guards from discovering the tunnel. "
"I don't know the process of building the smugglers' base and tunnel is as complicated and expensive as Alice seems to know, but the point is that our friends want to get the structure ready for them to start their own operation. So, we're going to have to put on little theatrics so that kingdom officials can think there are no more smugglers in this area of the kingdom."
"I don't see much of a problem with that. In the end, the main part of the mission is to kill the current smugglers and not stop more smuggling in this area of the kingdom."
"I don't like that kind of excuse mora, Hilda. Compromising our honor once is the first step towards committing even greater crimes in the future."
"I think you're exaggerating a little."
I don't think so, but saying that will be a point against my current actions and will declare that I am a hypocrite to everyone. I understand Gloria's concern, avoiding committing a crime for fear that committing it will make it easier to commit crimes in the future is not crazy. Not even a corrupt noble was born that way, they became that after several small actions that allow them to do atrocities to the nobles' moral code when they reach a high level of corruption.
I better not tell her that if all goes well our new smuggler friends have extended their services to us. I think this will only make her even more nervous.
"Let's focus on now, our schedule has become very tight as I said before in four days, we will have to be at the border ready to ambush the smugglers. If we run straight to the place combined with these magical riding beasts, we can arrive in two days if we travel with minimal rest, but I believe that our best option is to try to do the mission and gather plants in the desert, if we are lucky, we can complete it. the mission in the way of the ambush."
"And if we're not lucky."
"We're just going to finish it later along with the cave quest, getting the minerals will take a lot of time so it's impossible to do it before ambushing the smugglers."
"You make it sound like it's all pretty simple, but I have a bad feeling about all of this."
"Your concern and position are noted Gloria. And not that I expect you to be wrong since honestly, I see you as a colleague almost a friend, but this time it's better for everyone that you're completely wrong."
I get a smile that isn't exactly a smile from Gloria who is quite annoyed with me and the situation. She even started to walk away from the group showing that she doesn't want to talk about it anymore and we should get back on our journey.
"You didn't have to make that last comment. Throwing salt in the wounds of others is not cool when that person is a member of your team."
"It was the truth Zephyrus; we are in a sticky situation she may not like the path we are taking but that doesn't change that the best for all of us is that she is completely wrong this time."
"I honestly don't like this situation either and would rather not have to partner with a bunch of smugglers, but we fell into their trap and the mission we took was planned, set up and executed the way they wanted. If I hadn't gotten some protection with the magic contract, I wouldn't accept being manipulated like that because being a criminal's chess piece is always a suicidal attitude."
"Ok, I believe in you. This test is being shit."
And so, our motivated team continued to travel through the increasingly dry savannah.