While holstering the pistol, I checked out the vicinity. There was one beautiful grey horse tied to a tree trunk, which was pretty shaken up from the current situation. That mid aged guy may have left it here, while cowering away.
Apart from that, there was a palanquin devoid of it's bearers. They have ran away after seeing their master's horrible condition.
The palanquin was filled with pouches, packs of copper & silver coins, without wasting any time I stored all of it inside my storage. Currency is always in demand, the more the merrier.
The leather armour's of the guards were pretty badly damaged, I was unsure of it's future use.
So, rest of the things that I got from the corpses using assessment skills were,
4x sword
2x lance
1x bow (29 arrows)
1x double barrel shotgun (20 buckshot rounds)
From palanquin, corpses and the money pouch of the accountant a total of 97 copper coins, 229 silver coins & 77 gold coins were acquired.
While I was busy checking the loots that I could scrape up, that ravaged women was sitting on the ground with her arms held tight on that semi rusted cleaver & her eyes locked on me. Out of some unknown fear & it was natural for her to be scared of someone who did something unimaginable, at this scale.
On the other hand, these guards had turbans, dhotis & kurtas as apparel & I was wearing jeans, t-shirt. So, it was kind of alien to her knowledge and senses. I was the odd one here...
But someone had to break the ice, so...
"What is your name?"
"Ehh.."
She made a peculiar sound with her blank face & I wouldn't lie, damn it was pretty funny and cute, the way she reacted...
I said again,
"Miss, my name is Rahul. What's your name?"
"I.. I'm Revatibala Munda, widow of Bhandari Munda"
She stuttered a bit, while responding.
"Nice to meet you Mrs. Munda. Please, don't be afraid of me. I am new here so I would be needing some of your assistance, that's all."
Her answer was affirmative in nature.
It took another hour for her to ease up, from the devastation that had been poured on her.
--------------------
After so long, I was very happy to interact with another human being. It was like the best feeling in the world.
Revatibala was a simple girl, with beautiful features. So making eye contact was getting troublesome in times.
I asked her about the time and place. She confirmed it was Bengal, but the date or year couldn't be confirmed. The year she told me was from a bengali calendar and they are basically a bit different from normal english/International calendars.
She spoke of some foreigners in inland & on the coastal regions too. The way she described them, they were not the redcoats or company soldiers. But, they were colonists for sure. They had big forts, cannon ships sailing on the sea. Even the king's gazed at awe when they face them.
Moreover I became sure of one thing, I was not in the time of Brits rule in India. It was a different time and I would have to find everything about it, pretty soon.
She identified the guys that I had killed, the one that was injured and also reminded me about the upcoming repercussions from my deed.
After semi confirming the landlord's logistical support, I was bit relieved.
According to her, they had these kinds of weapons mostly.
So I may be outgunned by them at extreme, but will never be outmaneuvered.
Disposing these bodies became an issue, I asked her a place for dumping them.
She said, "Half a klick from here, there's a place to dump these bodies..."
Fuck that's a long hike and a tedious job if I do it on foot, arranging a cart and then taking the corpses to the dumping zone is also a risky factor. Other's may know of it and somehow it's also time consuming.
Revati was not like an npc character of any game, who would be having a blunt personality with some fixed dialogues for the player. No, she was much more than that.
In this place, I had a A.I. interface/gaming system which was helping me out. Still this place felt real, like a breathing world.
Revati was no different to this cause, she may have seen the silhouettes on my forehead about these contradictions.
"There's a..."
She took a pause and looked at my face like a scared kid, who was confused about finishing the sentence or not.
"There's what?"
In a timid tone she said,
"Kalidas Murmu can take care of these bodies, he will even pay for them."
Wow, organ trafficking or necrophilia, what was it? A question ran through my mind. But, organ trafficking can't be done in this era. Necrophilia maybe, who knows.
I thought for a while about these bodies, even if they get defiled after death, let them be. Their wrong doings were infinite while they lived, so now it shouldn't matter much.
"Is it safe?"
I inquired,
"Yes, it's his business to buy dead bodies & all stuffs that are sellable."
"Ok then, call him."
Half an hour later, Kalidas came with Revati.
He was a tall fellow, with fair complexion. An average built, inscribed with some scars on his face and bodies as a memento of those forgotten clashes.
With a suave smile on his face,
"Hello, sir. My name is Kalidas. I buy, sell everything and all thing that is humanly possible."
Nice catchphrase, I chuckled in my mind.
"Ok then, I have these bodies, weapons and that palanquin to sell."
Kalidas caught hold of everything with his eyesight as my fingers were pointed towards the stuffs, that I was about to sell.
"Sure sir, let me estimate them a bit, what about that horse?"
"That's not for sale."
Kalidas's face said, he was a bit
disappointed from my answer.
But, nevertheless as a businessman one should never get demotivated. It's always bad for business. He continued,
"One with chest cavity breached, serious internal organ damage. Second one with a shattered backbone. Another one with a deformed lower section of the face, while wounds in neck and upper chest region so deadly, almost nearing to decapitation of the head. The last one, had holes in it's bodies destroying the blood vessels and even damaging the lung."
Like an expert forensic investigator he was examining the bodies...
"Sir, how did you do these kinds of damages to a human body!"
I was bit annoyed with his question,
"You said, you buy all kinds of stuffs even dead bodies. Have I asked you what are you going to do with them, after you have bought them from me?"
Kalidas, was not a fool. He understood my underlaid meaning, from my cross questioning.
"I beg your pardon for my intrusiveness."
I assured him it's ok, with a hand gesture.
"Sir, 4 silver coins for the bodies, the armour's will need some serious repairs before proper use again, a total of 1 silver coin for all these damaged armour's. 35 silver coins for the palanquin and those weapons are tier 2 weapons. For swords, it'll be 8 silver, 2 silver for the lances. Bow & arrows will be 1 silver and 50 copper coins."
"It'll be 53 silver coins & 50 copper coins in total."
"Can you send me one sturdy horse driven cart, I need one for rent."
"Sure, sir. One horse cart normally costs 4 silver coins in market, as one month's rent. But, as a new customer. I'll give you a discount of 50 copper coins."
A whopping amount of 50 silver coins were earned again. The currency system was not so complicated here, 100 copper coins would make 1 silver and it's same for silver and gold coins. Beyond, gold coins there is some other currency that's only used in main kingdom.
This was the outskirt of the kingdom, so basically beyond gold coins no one has even seen anything. Plus, gold coins were also a big thing here.
The place was wiped clean, which reeked of misery and death.
Now it was time to have my plans sorted with Revatibala.
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