Mercy moved away slowly from Rush, his hands up in the air. A soldier came nearby to check his pockets and pants, and let him off.
"Take away the horse and put him to a stable, and bring the cart into my quarters after throwing some flower fragrance potions on it." The commanding soldier said in the open.
"Forgive me, Sir. But would you please tell me your name and rank, as a token of memory of course?" Mercy tried to act like an anxious merchant with a pressing band, a crookedness to the body and hands in search of gold.
"I won't give a dime about your name and token of memories, you should make that feeling mutual to keep your head where it is right now." The commander replied in a bit of anger and Mercy pulled back his fake persona and stood still like stone.
The soldiers walked right by him, their faces cringing from the foul smell, without any hassle they freed Rush from the hook on his second step and freed the cart. One of the soldiers tried to grab Rush by his reins, but the horse resisted.
Knighh…
Rush moved left and right, his enormous body making the soldier take a seat back to safety, "Traveller, calm your horse, or else there will be horse meat in today's stews." The soldier ordered with a hint of anger and his hand on his scrab.
"Rush. Sweet boy, calm down. You need to stay in place for a while." Mercy turned around and grabbed the moving reins, rubbing his skin over the leather hide he was wearing, "I need to stay in a while, okay. I'll come back soon." he whispered into Rush's ears.
The horse was calm in a second, "Sir, please talk to the horse without anger, he gets scared when surrounded by angry people." Mercy told the soldier as he handed him the reins.
"Enough time wasted. There is an important business that needs to happen, strangers follow me now. If you are done doing your side work." The commanding soldier spoke up and walked away.
Mercy nodded to Rush, before once more falling behind the soldier, the narrow way they walked was fixed with different stalls from all sides, into the sides, there were stone houses with narrow streets blocked using spiked foot traps and wires and not a soldier present. Through the broken windows, Mercy saw a wall of wood blocking the view from the outside.
"Sir, is it punishable to ask what happened at the Capitol, I was arriving for the feast," Mercy asked in the most polite tone. The commander gave him a side eye at first, but then he sighed and began speaking.
"Dwarfs happened. They poisoned the wine bottles of the people, since there were so many bottles arriving from the vineyard, we didn't have time to check each one and it all led to this." Commander answered with a hint of anger, maybe he had received an earful after the disaster and wanted to share it or maybe he drank some wine right now.
The narrow way ended at a small red tent, its colours worn or with time, there were scratches all over the tent's upper section. The commander stopped at its front.
"Enter." He said a word while pointing at the entrance to the tent, Mercy nodded at him with a smile and entered right into the tent.
"Very close." Rubbing against the sides, Mercy entered the tent and saw the person he was anticipating for a while.
"Hello, traveller. Nice meeting you." Sitting in the light of a few torches, with a wooden table in front of her, middle-aged women greeted Mercy. She was sitting with her straight raven hair, her eyes covered in black eyeliner, her fair skin and sharp chin embracing her matching green eyes and green lace over her black pants.
"Please have a seat, don't be standing right there." She cheerfully asked Mercy to sit on the chair right across the table, and he followed her instructions, sitting on the table with a nervous look.
Mercy tried to look in her eyes, but he met something else before, "A statue of absolute justice." He stared at the blindfolded woman holding weighing tools in her hand.
"It is still the same from 1500 years ago, maybe before that. How does this symbol survive all changes of time?" Mercy thought to himself, admiring the creation of a human mind surviving all the weight of changing times and cultures.
Tick..
"I see you admire the stone curvature more than me, which is a little painful for me. I have to say. Don't you know me?" The woman brought back the attention to herself with a whiff of sad expression, but Mercy could see right through it.
"My Lady, I am sorry, but I don't happen to remember and recognize your face. It would be a shame considering your unique look and style. Truth is, I have never been to the capital before in this life." Mercy mixed with words with courtesy and tease.
" Oh! really. This is your first time visiting our city?" Her left hand slid towards the statue of absolute justice, she slid it to the right, such a way that the weights were facing towards each person on the chairs.
"Repeat your words, say them just like you did before." She ordered.
Mercy took a light gulp, and repeated the words without a question, "I have never been to the capital city of Horizon in this life."
The weights on the hands of the statue began moving, and Mercy's side lowered while the lady had the weights higher for her. Mercy looked at the lady on the other side who was smiling with satisfaction.
"Does this statute measure that, someone is lying or telling the truth about something?" He asked.
She answered with a nod and leaned back on her chair, she didn't show but there was stress on her body and mind, small signs of the skin revealing the nerves loosening and the hand wrapping around her chest, a call for comfort. "Don't try to control me with your magic spells, they don't have a chance of working against me." She waved off her hand, and Mercy's aura trying to mix with hers got erased.
Mercy smiled, "Good enough to detect me, and not being consumed by my magic. It feels certain that I am talking to a lady warlord." The soldiers at the gate were already free of his magic, it was her doing.
"I think it's time we introduce ourselves. What is your name illusion master?' She asked without a care in the world.
"The name is Mercy Unsborn, a traveller or better said, thief born near the north side of Uro, the family shifted near the Dynasty later. I roam around the Uro is like a vulture scavenging and maybe stealing sometimes, in this life." When Mercy finished, there was a second of emptiness, and then the scales began to turn just like before.
The scale bent towards Mercy's side, and the lady sat straight and began to introduce herself, "I am Dia Mantha, daughter of Alna Matha and her husband Rona Mantha. I am one of the 10 council members who govern the Kingdom of Uro, and the people like to call me 'The Wisdom.'"
Mercy's eyes opened more than usual in surprise, "The Mantha family had changed by a lot from wearing clothes only formed from dead snake skin to this style used by the people of the forest of the forsaken."
"A lesser reaction than what I have been expecting. You truly don't know and understand me, I thought with newspapers, magic-enhanced horses and posters, information was everywhere. Maybe I was wrong." Dia said, muffling through her short hair, a bit of surprise. "I like people like you."
"I beg your pardon." The development was a bit weird, he wasn't using his illusionary magic so why was she so friendly.
"Nothing. Hey, why not catch me in one of your illusions. I want to see the desert of the Dynasty, I have never been there. Maybe add the deadly web scorpions into the mix, are they really the size of a human leg." She placed her feet right beside a justice.
"...." Mercy knew the desert a thousand years ago, spiders and scorpions were different things then and there were running birds, horses, camels, and lizards all roaming around the deserts. That happened to them while he slept.
"What happened? Are you okay?" Dia's voice brought her back, "Don't be scared, I won't kill you. I have reason to, as of now." She gave a malicious smile which immediately disappeared.
"I think we should change our place of conversation."
"What?" Mercy didn't react, Dia covered one of her eyes with her hand nearly hiding her entire face. The energy of the warlord came through her and Mercy knew what was happening.
「Realm: Invert Light.」
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