"Sir Knight! We reached the Capital!"
"Tch..."
`It can´t be helped I guess...I can take a look at my status later I guess.´
"Sir Knight, is something wrong?"
"Nothing, something just crossed my mind. Let´s see the place that you told me about."
Stepping out of the door a stunning view appeared in front of me.
"As promised! We finally reached the capital of the kingdom of Berum! Named after the same name of the first king, Bernes!"
Walls reaching the height of 15 meters with some extreme artistic carving of shattered wings.
Just one look at this wings would even question if it took longer to build the wall or the art on the wall.
"I recognize you look, Sir Knight, I was just like you when I first came to this place! The wings on the walls should represent that of the immortal being, the Phonix! The story goes that the late king Bernes was a descendant from the phoenix bloodline and~"
While ignoring Oliver's rambling on how that king Bernes was awesome and vast this story was.
I currently was fully emerged with the view in front of me.
"That should be the second place..."I mumbled under my helm.
The first place that bought me such a feeling inside of me was when I emerged from the lake and got to see the beautiful lights from the crystals on the ceiling inside the cave.
And this sight would be the second one that I would consider beautiful.
"And when king Bernes wen-"
"Truly amazing."
"Huh? Did you say something, Sir?"
"I said that this sight is amazing."
Realizing that he was ignored through the whole process of this storytelling time, he felt this veins about to explode out of anger.
But he kept silent, knowing what best for this life is.
Shallowing this frustration he continued driving as he did before.
I obviously noticed that, but I didn´t say it out loud. Instead, I focused on the more important stuff.
Like my surroundings.
"Hmm, say Oliver. Is it usually so busy around here or why are so many people here?" I pointed in front of me. Although I did expect to see some at the gate by what Oliver had told me. The number of people with carriage and weapons on them still surprised me.
"This Sir, should be fellow merchants or adventurers who probably come from the same direction as us. since in Nexvarres whole forest got engulfed in fire, cause of this fire I and my crew decided to raid that village... Normally it shouldn´t be as busy as now..."
"I-I see..."
Upon hearing I froze.
`It can´t be that he is talking about the fire that my fight between that Rapha guy caused...right?´
Looking at the knight suddenly go silent he continued focusing on the road, which bought an awkward silence between this two.
When their turn came to go through the gate, an hour has already passed.
"Didn´t think it would take so long..." I said with my cold voice.
"Haha...that´s usually normal at the gates. Especially when a merchant is going through the gates..." Although he was used by this cold voice of this knight. Hearing talking to him made me always have some cold sweat behind my back.
"Hmm, is it a reason on why merchants take so lon-"
"Stop right there and show us your identity!" A sudden harsh voice came at them.
Looking at where the voice came from, were a middle-aged soldier which had some similar body armor to the guys that I killed when I left the gate with a spear in this hand.
"Wha-" Suddenly I was cut short by the bald head beside me.
"Demerik! My friend! how has it been!" Oliver said with a smile that I never saw before.
"Oh! Sir Oliver! What a pleasure to meet you on such a day! I see you got a new adventure behind you this time around. You guys coming from Nexvarres too like does guys behind you?"
"You sure do know me well, Demerik. We indeed come from Nexvarres but you got it wrong on your second guess. That guy beside me is no adventure but in fact a mercenary."
"Hmph, a mercenary you say? Why would you need those money crazy hooligans when you got adventures? I bet with the same money you bought him, you could even buy several commoner's adventures with the same worth as him, so why buy him?"
Seeing the soldier named Demerik snoring and looking cold at me out of nowhere I frown slightly (not like I could).
"Hahaha, actually that guy saved my life so..."
"I see..." Glancing at merchant getting awkward he sooks this head and asked.
"So...will it be the usual or..."
"Yes, of course, the usual like always..."
Putting this hand inside this robe, Oliver brought a small bag which he threw at the soldiers.
The soldier easily grabbed the bag and imminently took a look at it.
Taking a look inside the small bag he got surprised.
"This is..."
"It´s a little `bonus´ out of my generosity"
Seeing the merchant friendly face with the unusually extra weight on the small bag, he yelled towards this colleges
"Those guys are clear! let them him! Let the immortal flame shine upon you day, Sir Oliver!"
"Thanks as always Demerik, Let the immortal flame shine upon your day too!"
And so we entered the Capital!
***
POV of Oliver.
Currently in the slums of the Capital Bernes
`Just a little more...´
"Do you always do this kind of stuff..."
`This bastard's voice again...'
The chilling like voice made him remember the hellish 2 weeks together with this monstrous knight.
After several observations of him, he already figured that this guy isn't a human!
Although he tried to hide it from me and the other trash back in the carriage he couldn't fool him!
He knows because if he were a human he would even have died!
Just the fact that he rarely has eaten though our whole travel is suspicious enough. I even tried to poison this food once he decided to eat it, but the next day I found the bowl empty with him being alright!
I did hear that the stronger of a rank that someone is the longer they can resist poison and without food.
But I can swear that this guy hasn't slept for this god damn 2 weeks!
This guy is definitely not a human!
"What do you mean, Sir knight?"
'For now, let's keep him happy and buy some time until we reach the headquarter.'
"I meant if you always bribe the guards...?"
"Haha, It's like some kind of tribute for the soldiers protecting the city after all. I also know him so giving him an extra coin is out of generosity."
'Generosity my a#s! I am a fricking slave trafficker! That tribute was not to get our a#ses caught! That with my money bastard!'
"I see...by the way this guy mentions something about adventures and mercenaries. You even called me a mercenary, so what's that about..?"
'This country pumpkin!'
"Well, adventures and mercenaries are both similar yet different. The main difference is that the kingdom controls the adventures with what kind of work they can do or outright a job into an army with a higher rank of a foot soldier. Mercenaries on the other hand aren't being controlled by anyone and are free to choose what kind of job to accept. They are being treated hardly cause they can easily be swayed with money, like you hire a mercenary to assassinated someone only for him to reveal the assassination target you aim for a higher price. Adventures just do the given job from the kingdom and they get the rewards out from it."
"I see...'
'Let's hope that he final shut u-'
"Do tell me, where are we going right now?"
'He finally asked it...Let's lie to him now.'
"Sir, you might not know but my business goes against the law, so running with a carriage full of 'products' will be bad for us"
"So... you are going to drop them off first then?"
"Yes~Yes, after I have done that, as promised I will guide you to the promised shop to get you whatever you want!
"Well, there would be no need for that..." Suddenly the voice became never so distant and colder than now.
"Huh, What do yo-" A sudden dark red light lighten up the wooden floor.
But before Oliver could see the blizzard light, an ice-cold hand grabbed this mouth.
And the next moment an ominous sword pierced through this stomach with the clear read blood of this glowing with the light that the sword was emitting.
"GHHHHH!"
An enormous pain came at Oliver's stomach, as if someone was burning these insides and drinking this blood out of this body.
He quickly lost the strength to yell and fell to the ground, looking directly at the knight's eyes.
"You think that I am an idiot, don't you?"
"Why..." was the only words that he could Oliver manage with this now weak body.
"Why you ask? And I thought you were smarter, but you really were an idiot." Looking at the confusion inside Oliver's eyes the knight said.
"It seems you forgot my reason for being here. My aim the whole time was just to replace my armor and nothing more. And seeing you and the soldier talking about the adventures and mercenaries brought me thinking..." Coming closer to my face I finally recognize the burning eyes inside of the knights this helm.
'Monster...'
"If some of the adventures and mercenaries are indeed commoners. From where did all them outside the gate get their weapons and armor from?"
"Ah..."
"In truth, there was no need to influence to get such things right?"
"Also, didn't say it at the very beginning...
Without letting him utter anything else, I pierced this heart with Veren and continued using the rune to drain him dry.
"That I was here to kill every single of you?"
Feeling death getting closer by the second, flashbacks of 2 weeks ago came into this mind.
And then a sudden realization came into this mind.
"You 've shown what you were from the very beginning..."
With the realization of the knight never planning to let him leave, he passed away.
[You received 800 XP]
"It should be around here..." With my past experience of searching bodies, I quickly found what I wanted.
"57 gold coins, huh? Should be quite a lot."
Putting the money inside my now upgraded self-made bag inside my body.
I stepped inside the carriage, looking at the remaining 10 exhausted slaves.
"Let's make it quick..."
Closing the door of the carriage.
Screams of the 10 slaves began to be heard inside the carriage.