In front of a wide and decent looking stable was Carl.
In front of him was a short man with fair skin and long dark brown hair, his body packed with muscle.
His name, as Carl had been told, was Vidic.
As one could infer, he was definitely not from around here, but surprisingly, his Nitonian was very fluent.
"That'll be 22 silver"
Carl was flabbergasted. This was a downright robbery. But once he looked around once more, he immediately understood why.
'It's a horse station'
As the name implied, it meant that this stable was a place for travelers to switch horses when on a journey.
Did you think that a merchant traveling for three months with items for nobles would have time to wait for his horses to rest every two days?!
Of course not.
And so, the horse station was formed.
You head to the station to have your tired, exhausted, parched and sometimes even wounded horse exchanged for a healthy, clean and well fed one.
Of course, for a sufficient amount, that is.
You'll find them in virtually every town, especially those in remote places or before a monster region.
In a place where your life is at risk, a mount not in top condition is one more factor increasing your chances of dying.
Imagine, you just finished a monster hunting trip and you're besieged by more monsters on your way back.
And because of your mount's accumulated fatigue, you die.
Now, that is a very sick joke, one that had cost too many adventurers their lives.
Which was why most capable adventurers today had learned to examine horses.
"Oh? I'm not exchanging horses"
"That'll be 8 silver"
"There's no need to feed him"
This time it was Vidic's turn to be amazed as his mouth curved into a scowl.
Looking at Carl's eyes, he was sure this fellow lacked sleep. For him to say such a thing, there could only be a few reasons.
And like some Alchemists, Vidic assumed and incorrectly took that as the answer…without knowing anything too.
"Huh? Seriously? What's a cheap bastard like you doing in a place like this?!"
He assumed Carl was one of those spendthrift adventurers that had wasted all his money on girls and booze.
"I doubt that's any of your business. Now, how much will it be?" Carl said with a glare.
"Tch, that'll be 4 silver"
Carl: "2 silver"
Vidic: "4 silver"
Carl: "3 silver"
Vidic: "Ugh, fine! Now get your poor ass out of here before I change my mind!"
He hollered and Carl quickly handed him the money, before going in the direction of a hotel.
Thankfully, most of the gazes from earlier had faded.
Although, some still remained.
'These guys are persistent' Carl thought, before casually ignoring them.
'Right, next is the hotel. Finally, I can get a decent sleep'
Carl's black eyes brightened a little as he thought of this.
And without further ado, he quickly moved to find a place to sleep for the night.
Meanwhile…
—----------------------------
The two guards were currently seated beside the town's entrance when the tall one abruptly lunged forward, before speaking.
"Oi, Marius, that guy from earlier, he's gone in, right?"
"Huh? What the heck are you on about?"
The short guard, Marius, couldn't understand what his partner had started babbling about.
"The guy with the horse who passed here a little while ago.He went inside, didn't he?"
"What the? Lloyd, have you drunk too much again?!"
"No, you fool. Look over there!" Lloyd said with anger as he pointed forward.
"Huh? What are you-"
Marius mumbled, before halting his words as he strained his small eyes and ears to look a bit farther than the light illuminated.
And on cue, a sound rang out.
A very familiar sound.
*Bugguum*Bugguum*Bugguum*Bugguum*
The sound of sprinting hooves.
"Stop there!" he hastily yelled.
The sound of hooves gradually lessened as the riders entered the range of the light.
A party of twelve.
Like the adventurer that arrived moments ago, they were all riding horses with no armor whatsoever and only swords strapped to their thighs.
But unlike the last adventurer-
"Yes?!"
-these guys didn't give off the vibe of a greenhorn.
Both Marius and Lloyd saw the shocking similarities, but the attitude was different.
Marius didn't know if these bastards were just posing or the real thing.
But, how could they let the chance to rip these guys off pass them by?
And so he uttered…
"Sirs, the entrance fee is three silver"
The result though, was not as expected.
"Hahahaha, that's the funniest joke I've heard in a long time"
The man who seemed to be the leader replied, before his voice took a drastic turn and became sinister.
"Do you take us for pushovers?"
'Shit' Marius thought, before hurriedly bowing.
"Apologies Sir"
No, Marius wasn't afraid of him, but those that might be behind him.
After all, there was no way to know if he was part of some C-rank, or worse, B-rank guild.
He wasn't wearing any fancy clothes, but his outfit was very decent.
It might be a guild member on a secret mission, especially considering the entourage behind him.
Should he antagonize him today, and later find out he was from such a guild, then the best case scenario was him leaving his entire livelihood behind and heading to another continent.
He could very well be killed or turned into a slave for spoiling the guild's name.
Either way, his life would automatically plunge into hell.
And with such knowledge-
*Cough*Cough*Clears throat*
"My mistake Sirs. You can head right in"
-he made his decision.
'I'll have them investigated later. Then I'll know what to do'
Yes! He would have them investigated and their origins uncovered.
If it was as he thought, then he would sigh in relief that he dodged a bullet, a very big one at that.
And If it wasn't…well…then, there were a lot of options!
Marius gave them free entry to the town as a token of apology.
And he heard…
"Hmph, good to know sensible people still exist in this world"
The man said as he went in on his horse.
-A few minutes later-
"Huff, huff, huff, I thought I was gonna die"
The same man from before said to the rest of the boys as they unmounted.
One hit him on the back with a praise.
"Eddy, you were a natural"
"You think so?" Eddy asked.
The guy looked over to the remaining ten as he asked…
"Guys, what do you think?"
"It was awesome" one replied.
"I was really good"
"It was…"
Like that, the rest gave similar answers, which put Eddy's mind at ease.
His thoughts went to the reason for all this as he muttered…
"Boss is seriously crazy to think of this stuff"
—---------------------
"Now, this is what you'll do" Cabrera said as he explained how they would enter the town.
"You have to watch out. The place is filled with posers, losers and the real deal"
"The posers are those bastards who'll come at you for some random shit and try to stir trouble. These guys wanna estimate your level"
"The losers are typically just that, losers. Mostly E-ranks and a couple of D-ranks. They come to steal your stuff because their stuff's been stolen or some shit"
"And then, the real deal. Like it says, these guys are the real big guns, but unless you're unlucky, these guys mind their own business more than half the time"
"But once you see a poser or a loser, it means shit's about to go down. Now, when you see these bastards, you gotta beat the shit out of them like never before. If you see the real deal though, better back off, even if you can kill the bastard"
"How do we differentiate a poser and a loser from the real deal?" someone asked.
Cabrera gave a clueless expression and said…
"You'll just know"
"Oh" the boy was dumbfounded, but nodded nonetheless.
"So, we're nineteen. I'm gonna split you guys and you'll go into the town separately. Try to keep a low profile the best you can. Can't have everyone looking into us. Got it?"
"Got it!" the boys shouted.
"Now, who'll go first?"
After Carl left, Cabrera took twelve of them and told them to go into the town as a group.
The rest would come soon after.
They cannot act like they know each other throughout their stay in the town. To make sure of that, Cabrera told them to go to a hotel at the east side of the city till he comes to get them tomorrow.
With no time to waste, the boys quickly headed towards the horse station and got themselves rooms, one per 2 people.
Their expressions of bliss were all that could be seen.
Marius and Lloyd kept getting visitors riding on horses arriving after each other.
Not that they were complaining though. They earned big by ripping these guys off.
Cabrera arrived last, alone too as he had sent the remaining boys earlier in two teams and had them go to the west and the north side of the city to sleep.
Without thinking too much, he paid the fees, put his horse in a stable and went to sleep.
Unknowingly, some powers in the town had gotten a whiff of the strange phenomenon.
The effects of this would become apparent in the near future.