Something was not right in the city. At first, it felt like a normal city, one blooming with how many people were there?
But the guards were patrolling more often, and the nobles spoke with the soldiers in the dark alleys, whispering secrets.
Yula noticed the change too, and she didn't like it.
"This might be the start of what I feared the most," she said.
I had no idea what she talked about, as I had recently arrived on the planet.
"War."
Yeah, that was as terrible as she made it sound like. The village suffered from the eminent attack of a small tribe and it was already hard for me to help them, or protect myself, but a war? That was even worse.
We searched through the city, stopping in front of a small shop with the sign, 'Magic Trinkets'.
The shop belonged to the person Steward knew, and the one who should be able to help us fight against the tribe. At least that was what we hoped for.
We entered the shop. It was a mess inside. There were strange items on display everywhere, and the place was so dusty I felt it inside my nostrils.
"Excuse me," Yula said.
A person came out of nowhere to greet us. It was a young woman with silver hair wearing clothes that reminded me of wizards.
"Welcome, welcome," she said with a smile. "What do you need? I certainly have something that suit your needs."
She looked happy to see us. I could tell her shop didn't get many customers judging by how she acted.
"We actually came here for something else," Yula said. "Can we sit somewhere to talk in private?"
The girl frowned, not knowing what we were talking about. Yula said Steward sent us, and that changed how the girl acted. She walked over and placed a closed sign on the door.
"Not like I would get any costumers to begin with, but just in case," she said.
She led the way to the back part of her small shop, which was where she lived! It was like a tiny house. Not impossible to live there alone, but with the three of us? Well, it was getting hard to breathe there.
"I'm Julie. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Yula was the first to introduce herself, and when I did, Julie said. "Your accent is weird. Where are you from, again?"
I knew others could tell my accent was weird, but none of them said a word about it. Julie was the first one who did.
"We can talk about that in another time. There's more urgent stuff at our hands."
We explained everything to her, especially the part where Steward said she could help us.
It turned out that Julie lived in the village a long time ago. She lost her mother when she was little. Steward was a good friend of her father, and that's how the two knew each other.
Julie had left the village once she discovered she had an aptitude for magic. It would be impossible for her to learn something while living in the village.
Steward even helped her with some money, granting her the chance to study in a magic academy and learn more about magic. Well, at least that was the story Julie share to us.
I saw no reason for her to lie about such a thing, so we just accepted it as the truth.
"I don't get why this tribe is suddenly trying to attack the village. They had been there for a long time, and they didn't do a thing against us," Julie said.
She had a point. We guessed that the tribe wanted our supplies to survive the upcoming winter, but if that was truly the case, I saw no reason for them to not do that in other years as well.
Did this specific winter have something different? I didn't believe that was the case. The tribe had an interior motive.
"So, can you help us?" I asked.
Julie nodded. She got up from the chair and started packing some stuff. "I can. With my help, you'll have a greater chance of fighting against them. Think of me as your secret weapon."
My level was not high, and I didn't have a skill to check Julie's level or stats, but I could tell from her aura that she was someone strong.
She packed her stuff, and we left the shop together. But before leaving, we had to get some weapons Steward asked for, and to get that, we had to leave the city.
We were all inside the carriage when Julie asked, "Where are we going now?"
I looked at her and said. "Steward wants some new weapons, and his friend lives in a mansion outside of the city."
"I see…"
A cobblestone road led us to a mansion in the middle of the forest, a few minutes away from the city.
When we stood in front of the gate, I wondered who Steward was. The mansion was massive, certainly belonging to a rich merchant, a noble, or even both.
How did he know him? Was Steward hiding something from us and the rest of the village?
Anyway, a guard was near the gate, keeping strangers away.
"Who are you? What do you want here?" the guard said.
I was the one doing the talking. With a smile, I said. "Sorry to bother you, sir, but can you send a message to your boss? Steward sent us here."
Despite wanting to kick us out of there, the guard still did what I asked.
The guard couldn't know if we were important people, so he did exactly as I told him. It didn't take long for a slim man to meet us.
It was a man who looked to be around 35 years old, with a thick black beard and long hair. His clothes were similar to the ones the nobles were using inside the city.
"Come in, please," he said. "Someone will take care of your horses and your stuff."