In times of ancient lore, it is said that three heroes emerged from despair to defeat the one who was known as the King of Demons. When they returned as celebrated saints to their homelands, the world entered a period of unmitigated economic growth.
When once the land's highways were plagued with beasts too horrible for mere men to face, now they carried upon them the livelihoods of thousands each and every day. Cities with decades-long deficiencies in commodities became free to open their gates to a foaming tide of merchants who saw opportunity in a world devoid of Demons.
In the wake of a newfound freedom, laws were quickly implemented by many of the world's nations to punish acts of predatory commerce, and to limit the surge of traders desperate to make their fortunes on the wide-open road.
From rural hamlets to sprawling cities, there suddenly existed a rift in the amount of workers integral to their core operations--farmers most importantly, but also guardsmen, marketeers and landowners. Those who were wealthy enough to leave their homes often did, selling their businesses or livelihoods to younger, more inexperienced tradesmen.
Following the quick and provocative establishment of a coalition between the world's nations, legislation was drafted to introduce a governing body of commerce responsible for investigations into trade disputes, which would also act as a guild to more properly document the transactions and goings-on of traders.
When an alliance was brokered one year following the coalition--which would be called the 'Holy Alliance' by the world's five leading nations, the Merchant's Guild had established itself as the dominant authority within the import/export market. Traders who were not members of the guild themselves were sharply rejected by institutions around the world, as the guild had, as part of its guidelines, stated that a trader's goods must be of a harsh standardised quality, subject to official investigation at any time.
As a result, membership, and the coveted badge which accompanied it, became highly sought-after, possessed only by those who had dubbed themselves 'Trader Kings'.
Thick forests covered the majority of the eastern peninsula of Branda, which was known for its lively weather and inactive volcanoes. It was within these forests that the indigenous Elves, who, under the jurisdiction of the Holy Nation of Jinro, laid claim to many of those verdant sprawls.
Branda was first occupied in great numbers by humans, who originated from the nearby mainland, and for many decades were opposed by the Elves, who claimed the peninsula as their ancestral homeland. Though a treaty was agreed upon by the two races, the peace remains unsteady and likely to break any day.
It was through one such Elf enclave that a wagon trundled, large enough to be drawn by two horses but leashed by a single man. It could be deduced with little difficulty by an observer that the wagon was much too big to be travelling along an underdeveloped road. The horses, who seemed more accustomed to highways and flat plains, trotted with difficulty along the uneven slopes and undergrowth.
Even so, the driver seemed unperturbed by the situation, slow as his journey was. While he did not know it then, a pair of eyes, which appeared golden in the low light of the brush, followed his wagon with an intrigued look. When the unknown shadow vanished, its movements mixed with the sounds of the forest and its footfalls fell so lightly and graciously upon the ground that even an experienced hunter would have trouble distinguishing them from the beating of a butterfly's wings.
As a ray of light descended through the overhanging canopy, the glint of metal was reflected in the shadow's hand, who quickly manoeuvred around and behind the wagon. Between the billowing flaps of its rear were thick barrels arranged neatly, and as it looked on, the shadow flew towards a crooked tree, clambering upon its branches like an insect and stepping upon the thin branches above, apparently weightless, where the canopy formed. There, it moved like a spider to intercept the wagon from above, and falling at once, the silver glow of its dagger made a clean arc through the air, falling perfectly towards the driver's neck.
"Mm- Guh!?" A strange sound, choked and unbelieving, ushered forth from its throat. Where its dagger may have sunk deeply into the driver's flesh, there was instead a hexagonal pattern which manifested close to his skin, blocking the blow entirely.
Reacting quickly, the shadow pulled and extended its arm with monstrous dexterity as it continued to fall, stabbing again towards the collarbone. Once more, the hexagonal pattern appeared, and it was as if the dagger had met a wall of steel.
Only, before the shadow could again strike, the driver's hand was upon its wrist, and with a great heave it witnessed its world cartwheeling upside-down, before it landed with a seemingly impactful, but ultimately harmless, slam onto the passenger's seat.
Confused at first as to where it had ended up, the shadow blinked, and for a moment felt only the slight bumps and lifts of the wagon beneath it, before turning suddenly to face the driver, who still held its wrist in a vice grip.
"Hoh, an Elf?" He stared with interested eyes, "I thought you were a monster."
"Release me!" The shadow, whose true form had been revealed, shouted in response.
"Alright then." He answered immediately, and loosened his grip which the Elf quickly tore away from, cradling her wrist in one hand.
"What…" Ever more confused, the Elf glared, "Your body… are you protected by magic?"
"It's my tunic." The driver answered again, and pulled at his vest to show the olive shirt beneath, "I had it enchanted some time ago for a disagreeable sum of gold. It protects the wearer from harm--to an extent, of course. I'm glad it really works."
"That's interesting…" The Elf replied, "...Wait, no! How can you remain so calm after I just tried to kill you a second ago!?"
"Well, I imagine it was a case of mistaken identity. I'm aware that guardsmen aren't allowed to enter the Elven woods these days, so I wouldn't put it past you to assume I was ferrying soldiers around."
"This is a robbery! How can you be so dense!?"
"Oh. My apologies." He said honestly and without sarcasm, "Not a very good robbery, though, is it? You're just my passenger now. Hahaha!"
The Elf reached for her blade, but found the sheath empty, "Wh- my dagger…"
"You dropped it when you fell. It's a few paces back now, if you want to go grab it."
"Don't give me advice like you're trying to help me!"
"Hahaha!" The driver laughed again, "You Elves are a colourful sort."
That man, who was clearly a human, confounded the Elf with those words. She could do nothing but stare in a combination of intrigue and repulse at his carefree attitude. The thrill of the hunt, and the fabled woodstep of her people--that which she had cultivated over the course of her entire life, dissolved into a teeming incense at the sheer wistfulness of that man.
"Aren't you going to kill me?" She asked morbidly.
"Why the hell would I do that? I'm a trader, not a murderer."
"How do you expect me to act, then!? My plan was to take your entire wagon and now we're sharing a casual conversation like nothing even happened!"
"What do you want me to do? Turn you into the city?" The driver asked, "You'll live out the rest of your days as a slave if I did that."
"That's-"
"And more to the point, what were you planning on doing even if you did kill me? You've got no idea what I'm carrying in the back."
"I saw barrels."
"Barrels of what?"
She thought for a moment, and then shrugged, "Wine?"
"Maybe. But they could just as easily be barrels of water."
"Why would they be filled with water if you're travelling to a city?."
"That's a good assumption. Why indeed." He smirked, "You might have a good head for trading, you never know. It's quite the venture for someone with the knowledge."
"A more important question would be--why are you taking this huge wagon through an Elven forest when there's a perfectly good highway that leads straight to Shulm from the mainland?"
"I heard there had been some troubles on the highways recently, so I thought I'd take a back road. Evidently I misread my map, because I never planned to end up in an Elven forest."
"And now you won't leave." She ended, "Not without some help."
"Is that so? I'd like to think I'm a pretty competent navigator."
"We've already been turned around once while having this conversation."
"Eh?" The driver leaned over his seat to look behind him, "No way."
"Hahaha!" The Elven girl giggled to herself, "How typical for a human to lose himself in woods as thin as these. For an Elf, this may as well be an empty field."
"Sounds like we've both got something to gain here." The driver replied, collecting himself quickly, "How much do you want?"
"How- uh… excuse me?"
"How much gold do you want for showing me out of here?"
"Hmph." The Elf crossed her arms, "All of it, naturally."
"That's unreasonable. I'll give you 1,000 pieces. No more, no less."
"If you really want to-" The Elf started, then paused, "...1,000 pieces!?"
"Don't tell me it's not enough. You could buy a house for that much."
"That's exactly why I'm so surprised! Nobody can just hand out that much gold!"
"A trader's way is money. Even just a few successful trips can land you that much--if you know what you're doing, at least."
"How much gold do you have!?"
"To spend? Around 9,000 pieces, I think." He paused before continuing, "The rest of my wealth is all in assets, so there isn't a true answer, but… I would estimate that my entire business is worth around 300,000 total. That's in goods, property, and everything else."
"U-Unbelievable… a king's ransom--no, even more than that!"
"Anyway, is 1,000 gold enough?"
"Of course is it! I'll take it off your hands right this second!"
"I'd rather we did it in town. Splitting money up on the road just makes it harder to keep track of."
"That's sly. How do I know you aren't going to turn me in?"
"You don't. But I'm the one with the money, so I decide where it goes. And if you don't get me out of here, you aren't getting paid at all."
His words incensed her, but he spoke the truth. There didn't need to be a discussion of violence or murder, for it had already been established who between them had the upper hand in that regard. Elves did not charge greatly among one-another, and so 1,000 gold pieces would set her up for many years to come. The deal was simply too tempting to consider refusing, even if she felt strangely about the driver's true intentions, "Fine." She answered.
"Good to be working with you. I'm Barion."
"Hmph. Aren't you aware that Elves don't share their names with humans?"
"I have to call you something. What am I going to put in my log?"
"How droll." She sighed, "You may call me Din, in that case."
"Then, I'll leave our navigation in your capable hands, Din."
"We'll need to turn around first of all. This pathway is a false exit."
It wasn't a simple matter, turning Barion's wagon around, but after a fashion the two of them were on their way back. Din took the opportunity to recover her dagger as they retreated, and intrusively her thoughts drifted again to the possibility of robbing Barion for all that he was worth.
But though a thief she was, Din remained loyal to the codes and customs of Elvenkind--most importantly of all their dedication to seeing an agreement through to its end. So instead, she sheathed the dagger and made certain to point the wagon away from the forest's many dead-ends and false pathways designed to confound human hunters.
It was an hour into their partnership when the woods gave way to a lush grassland, and onwards from that point Barion used his maps to estimate their location on the peninsula. It was not long before the wagon had re-joined a main thoroughfare forming one of the major routes connecting the seaside city of Shulm to the mainland.
While Barion was at ease on the open road, Din had only left the forests of Branda a handful of times. The long stretches of untouched land, while beautiful, left her feeling exposed and helpless, "Perhaps this isn't such a good idea after all…"
"Why's that?" Barion wondered.
"The guards won't just let an Elf pass through the city gates."
"That's a reasonable worry." He agreed, "I was thinking of calling you my servant so that we'd be able to enter."
"Wha- Servant!?" Din exclaimed, "I wouldn't consent to being named as such! I would die before becoming the slave of a human!"
"Relax. I meant 'servant' as in a worker. Slavery was outlawed by the Merchant's Guild almost 300 years ago. You couldn't smuggle a slave through a city on the mainland no matter how powerful you are nowadays."
"I take it this is your first time in Branda?" Din replied with a sort of scathing tone, "Elves are still treated like a commodity here. Slave auctions are just as common as day markets or fairs in Shulm."
"Shulm's still a member of the Holy Alliance, so it's subject to the same mandates as any other human city. The governor has full power to crack down on slavery, so why doesn't he do it?" Barion asked, "-Is what I would say, if the answer wasn't already obvious. Organised crime isn't such a simple thing to dismantle. Not only do slave traders operate underground, but they're usually lining the pockets of local administrations to keep themselves safe. I'd wager that the governor himself has dipped his fingers into the business at one point or another."
"Hrm…" Din grimaced, "My people are abducted in the dead of night. Men, women, children--anyone that tries to resist is murdered on the spot. Men are sold as indentured labourers, huddled into groups like cattle, and the women are placed on podiums, pawned off to the highest bidders as sex slaves for the nobility."
"The world is filled with many evils." He waxed unhelpfully, "Even with the Demon King gone, corruption and wickedness run amok. It almost seems like the more we try to suppress it, the harder it pushes back. That must be the way of the world, I suppose."
"I refuse to believe that. Do you really think it's not possible to change our ways?"
"On the contrary, it's the responsibility of people like me--those with power and influence, to make the changes people need to see." Damion explained, "But, it's the very same group who perpetuate these atrocities to begin with. How can one hope to fight against such strength? Redistribution of wealth? High taxation for the rich? Or perhaps an uprising of some sort? Only the latter can truly be accomplished by those who are oppressed, but only if they've overcome the fear of death which they seek to free themselves from."
"Is that what you are, then?" Din asked, "A crusader for goodness in the world?"
"If only that was the case." He smiled sadly, "I'm just a trader, at the end of the day."
"Hm." She looked down, "Then you're as worthless as the rest."
They travelled in silence from that point onward, and it would not be for another few hours, when the sun had begun to kiss the horizon, when the two of them at last spotted the grand stone walls of Shulm being lapped at by the foaming tides. The acrid scent of salt filled the air as they descended from the hilltops, where caravans and tradesmen wandered the roads more freely than in the wild.
As Barion's wagon joined with the queue of carriages seeking to enter the city, he leapt around to its rear and retrieved a strange tablet before returning to the driver's seat. Din looked upon it with interest as he swiped a finger across the fair stone, and a series of glowing letters sprung out as if by magic.
"Is that… a magical item?" She asked, watching the tablet carefully.
"It's an Information Tablet. During its establishment, the guild of merchants commissioned some of the world's finest wizards to create a method of recording information without having to use paper. It's quite useful for keeping track of my stock, and multiple people can link their tablets together to cross-reference their inventories if need be."
"How much did you pay for it?"
"My mentor passed it on to me when he retired. But I believe they generally go for around 20,000 gold pieces each."
"Ugh…" Din closed her eyes in grief, "That's a disgusting amount of money…"
When the wagon moved to the front of the queue, one of the two guards standing next to the gate's portcullis held out a hand, "Oi, oi. Stop right there."
Barion blinked, "Is there a problem?"
"No Elves are to enter the city, sir. Governor's orders." He nodded towards Din, "We've received reports of caravans being raided by Elf clans on Branda's highways."
"This cur…" Din whispered beneath her breath, "How can Elves be expected to fend for themselves when their families are taken from them?"
"Let me handle this." Barion muttered in reply, "That's understandable. But I have express permission to enter the city today."
"I'm going to need to see this 'permission' of yours, sir."
"Barion…" Din frowned, "Are you bluffing?"
He smirked, "No."
From his pouch he procured a kind of amulet--no, it was more like a badge. A badge which reflected the light of gold in that amber sunset. The colours of the five emperors were inlaid in the craftsmanship, cut to the perfectionist standards of a master jeweller. Upon the face of the badge was an emblem that appeared like a phoenix rising from an earthen sea of fire. The guardsman's expression changed at once from blind indifference to a supreme shock, as did the expressions of not only his cohort but all of those who stood alongside the wagon.
"T-That's…" The guard stammered immodestly.