Chapter 14: A Walk I
The next day just before noon.
Arthur headed towards the city centre and from there he wanted to take a public carriage which would take him to the Port district. His goal was fairly simple as he just wanted to know how the port in the city looked like and unfortunately he didn't get a chance to do so yesterday. Catrin city was quite big after all, only second to the capital of the Republic on the western side of the island called Moria.
Sadly, he couldn't just take a carriage from the Coln district because as it turns out there are no carriages with a route that would save him time at the moment and although he liked to explore he was far from loving this gloomy place.
He was forced to walk to the city centre and from there take the carriage.
It seemed a bit weird for him that the drivers did not take requests and stuck to a fixed route but Amon explained that most public carriages issued by the city were designed to hold eight people plus a driver and if every single person wanted to go somewhere else that would be a literal nightmare.
"Then wouldn't it make more sense to make smaller carriages that can hold for example two people and have them focus purely on such requests?"
Ah right Amon obviously tagged along, it would seem that the two of them were inseparable at this point. The weird part though was that he no longer wanted to 'hide' and just walked together with Arthur.
Anyway, Arthur proposed an interesting idea and even Amon was slightly surprised by his creativity but sadly all he could do was to shake his head on this.
"Your idea is not bad but was tried in the past. It simply never took off, don't ask why because I don't know"
Arthur seemed slightly disappointed that the idea he thought of as great turned out to be already implemented once and not only that but it also failed miserably. He wanted to know why that did not work out but Amon made it clear that he did not know. Maybe Renfri could tell him more about it? He decided to ask her when he gets back.
Right Renfri… She seemed like a good person to him but he could not help but realise a few problems with her. Didn't she work for Ouroboros? Amon said that this was no longer the case but it was clear as the sun that both of them hid something from him. He might be naive and stupid but not stupid stupid.
Something was fishy and he wanted to know what.
"Do you think Renfri would know more about it?"
He asked seemingly in order to continue the topic but how could that fool Amon who's middle name was the incarnation of horror who's name shall not be spoken the one that deceives and lies and brings about catastrophe wherever he steps? Okay, maybe that's not his middle name but that's how he would be referred to in what he would call his 'glory' days.
"Perhaps… You seem quite interested in her I noticed"
Amon teased Arthur once again but he did not budge.
"How long have you known her by the way? Didn't you say that she worked for Ouroboros?"
"I also said that's no longer the case"
Amon seemed reluctant to talk about Renfri for some reason.
"Then can you tell me anything? How can I trust you if you tell me nothing?"
When Arthur questioned the trust between the two Amon nodded slightly.
"You're right. It's just that I have a habit of keeping things a secret and I suppose it's unfair not to tell you anything"
"Then…?"
Amon smiled gently and patiently started to tell everything he knew about Renfri to Arthur.
"Let's start off with her relationship with Ouroboros. She was not a member per se but more or less a hired help and her main job was to gather information and protect their hideout inside of the city. Sometimes she would assist them with procuring certain items but that was basically the extent of her job description. Her already limited loyalty was solely in the paycheck but now her employers changed so don't worry"
Arthur's doubts slightly cleared up when he heard this.
Some questions were answered by this, for example he now had some idea about what they were talking about when mentioning a deal yesterday. Maybe Amon and Renfri reached some sort of agreement beforehand? He didn't know when that happened or even if that was actually the case but for him that was the only plausible explanation. It's not like he met Renfri just yesterday and through some tricks forced her to work for him, right?
Still, he was a bit concerned with the fact that they were the cause of her previous employer's death.
"Do you think she is trustworthy then? We are the reason that she lost her boss, no?"
Amon chuckled when he heard this.
"I am certain she is dependable. Didn't you witness her abilities yesterday? As for Ouroboros she was only interested in their coin not to mention she was working with them partially out of necessity. Someone like her can find better and safer ways to make money even though they paid her well. Basically we did her a favour by getting rid of them"
"Then what made her work for them?"
"At first she had no clue who she worked for and did simple jobs from time to time but by accident her secret was revealed to one of their members and from then on although they never said it out right she risked it being revealed and that would be like a death sentence. She was forced to work for them exclusively"
Arthur's curiosity was piqued with this and Amon was not the type to hold onto secrets anyway.
"So what's her secret?"
"It's that she is…"