Chapter 29 Departure
2014-11-28
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
A night passed quickly. When Soren woke up, ready to take Vivian to buy a mount, he immediately noticed that the guards in Amber City had significantly increased, and even the Ninth Legion, which had been stationed near Black Pig Forest, had been withdrawn. This was the top-tier legion of Amber City, consisting of one hundred twenty-six members, most of whom were warriors with a profession level of eight or above, along with a few rangers, priests, and barbarians. These were mid-level professionals, and any one of them could eliminate a gang with ease.
Among the twelve hundred soldiers in Amber City’s standing army, this was one of the elite legions!
“What’s going on?”
Soren scooped Vivian into his arms, looking at the visibly panicked crowd, and frowned, “Has something happened again?”
Just then.
In the distance, a dark-skinned young man suddenly waved his hand and shouted.
“Hey!”
He quickly pushed through the crowd and ran in front of Soren, panting, “I finally found you!”
“Fortunately, I heard you say yesterday that you’re going to buy mounts, so I’ve been waiting here at the Mule and Horse Market early in the morning. Otherwise, you’d probably miss it today.”
“Don’t ask me yet.”
“Follow me; I’ll explain on the way!” The young man before Soren looked quite familiar. After a moment of thought, he recalled that he had seen him among the caravan he was looking for when trying to head to White Horse City—he seemed to be a servant of the caravan owner.
How did he end up here waiting for him?
Wasn’t the departure supposed to be tomorrow? Have they changed their minds?
“What’s going on?”
Soren thought for a moment and then asked, “Why are you here waiting for us?”
“Master is leaving.”
The dark-skinned young man pushed through the crowd and said quickly, “This morning, the master said he was leaving immediately, and the steward has been sent to sell off the goods.”
“Since the master remembered the promise to take you along, he sent me to find you early this morning.”
“I’m telling you, the caravan is leaving at noon today!”
“Let’s go.”
“It’s just over there!”
The dark-skinned young man led Soren through several twists and turns, quickly arriving at a place near the northern gate of Amber City, where a considerable number of people had already gathered, and dozens of large carts were parked around. A team of fully armed guards were scattered around them, having followed the caravan for over three months, all from the merchants’ homeland. This was a standard northern caravan, but there was something particularly special about it—their leader was a woman, a woman from Tanara. —“Descendant of a witch!”
Soren could hear some northern merchants complaining, expressing that such a hurried sale of goods meant they would earn less than originally expected, possibly even losing quite a bit.
However.
Despite what these merchants were saying, they still ordered their hands to unload the goods.
The Northern Witch had an extremely high reputation!
In the eyes of the Northern People, she was incredibly noble, not only powerful and mysterious but also possessed the ability to foresee the future!
“This is it.”
The dark-skinned young man stopped, catching his breath: “The caravan will leave at noon today. I first brought you here to familiarize yourselves with the place.”
“There’s still half a day before departure.”
“If you’re planning to join, you should prepare your things now.”
“If you intend to wait until tomorrow to leave by yourselves, then the master said you could go find Steward Fordre. He will refund your deposit.”
Leave now?
Upon hearing this, Soren couldn’t help but furrow his brows, thinking: “Did the witch foresee that the skinning incidents would escalate further?”
“But why the rush?”
“It’s just one day! Could there really be some significant change happening within this day?”…
“Never mind.”
“It’s better to be cautious; departing a day early is better than waiting.”
Soren nodded immediately, reaching to carry Vivian’s small form on his back, and said solemnly, “I’ll go back to get my things now, and I’ll meet you at noon.”
“Okay.”
The dark-skinned young man nodded and said seriously, “You’d better come over early.”
“The master never goes back on his word!”
“If you’re late, the caravan will definitely not wait for you.”
Soren responded and headed toward the slums while carrying Vivian. There was still some time until noon, so he could make it back to grab his things, but he wouldn’t have time to choose a mount. Soren could only raise his price to about twenty Gind and acquire a sturdier traveling horse from other mule and horse merchants.
Meanwhile.
In the center of the caravan, inside a large cart, a standard northern bearded merchant entered respectfully, kneeling on the ground, and said, “Master.”
“All the goods have been sold.”
“However, due to the tight schedule, our profits are less than thirty percent of what we should have earned.”
“At the same time, since we didn’t have enough time to acquire goods, we will lose even more profit at our next stop.”
“The merchants below are starting to complain.”
The inside of the cart was draped with a veil, appearing very spacious, and there was enough room for a table.
Intricate rugs and fabrics were spread on all sides, with strange patterns on the walls, and directly opposite, one could vaguely see the silhouette of a graceful woman, lazily lying on a couch, her face partially covered by a light veil, her azure eyes fixed on a card pinned between her fingers, the back displaying a mysterious swirling magic pattern.
“I smell the scent of d*ath.”
The mysterious woman tossed the card away, casually picked up a deck of tarot cards, drew one, revealing a menacing skeleton knight, and coldly said, “If anyone intends to stay, let them leave the caravan on their own.”
“Otherwise.”
“Let them shut up!”
Hearing this, the bearded merchant nodded. He got up from the floor and respectfully said, “I will convey your will to them.”
With a weary sigh.
The mysterious woman lazily leaned over the long table, supporting her head with one hand in contemplation, and casually waved her hand, “You can go.”
“Tell them not to delay.”
“After departing, keep going until the moon is high in the sky, then look for a place with water to camp.”
Outside, a respectful voice responded, and the bearded merchant conveyed the original words to the chief of the caravan guards, who nodded seriously and began instructing other guards to prepare their things. If they didn’t stop at all along the way, then everyone must bring their rations. This situation was relatively rare, as caravans usually rested after walking a certain distance.
If they kept walking, the oxen and horses pulling the carts would not be able to take it!
By the next day, they would be exhausted, possibly even dying from fatigue; such an order would only be issued under extremely special circumstances.
Walking for twelve hours until the moon is high in the sky without a break was not a simple matter.
………………
Soren quickly returned to the slums.
After he packed his things, he took Vivian to the mule and horse market, intending to buy a traveling horse at a price thirty percent higher.
Originally, he planned to bid farewell to the priestess girl at the Temple of Dawn this afternoon, but with things happening so suddenly, there was no time to worry about such matters.
He could only hope they would have a chance to meet again in the future!
From organizing his belongings to purchasing the traveling horse, Soren’s time was tight—he arrived just in time before the caravan’s departure at noon.
A bearded caravan steward briefed him briefly and then ordered the others to set off.
What he said was quite simple; the caravan would be traveling at full speed today and would only stop when the moon was high in the sky, so if they couldn’t keep up, arrangements would be made for them to find a cart to ride in, as many of the goods aboard had sold cheaply. Even when leaving, a northern merchant was complaining, saying he had only received two-thirds of the payment for goods that he had already sold at a discount.
Leaving in such a hurry, they wouldn’t be receiving a third of their payment!
No one paid him any mind.
When the time came, the entire caravan began to operate quickly, with the hands climbing onto the carts and starting to drive the oxen and horses forward.
The caravan guards had begun to scout the road.
Their job wasn’t just to follow the caravan; only experienced adventurers could serve as caravan guards, as they acted somewhat like scouts during travels. They had to check for any monster activity nearby, assess potential dangers, determine if they needed to change paths, and even whether the road conditions were suitable for the carts, deciding whether to arrange for hands to clear the way and fill in the pits that might impede the carts.
These were all tasks that the caravan guards had to handle!
Simply following along and drawing blades to fight back during enemy attacks was something out of a third-rate tale.
It served purely to highlight the main characters who wished to show off their skills; thus, caravan guards were portrayed so ineptly!
Having spent years traversing the dangerous wilderness.
Even a fool, as long as they could survive, would be trained into a competent individual!
The profession levels of these caravan guards were undoubtedly not low.
………………
