Chapter 9: Chapter 8.0 – War Loomes

At the sight of the war horses, I felt the already strained atmosphere of the caravan become tense. I turned to my scout Fresia and whispered. “Is it the chiefdom’s cavalry?”

“I’m not sure to be honest.” Her voice wasn’t the most discreet and more than one person turned around to face her, who had broken the tension. She got the message and got a bit closer and spoke a bit quieter. “I was around to eight to ten when they came so I don’t know much. But I don’t think it can be anyone else.”

 I didn’t like this development. It would hinder my plans. However, I’d have to make do with what was given to me.

We slowly approached the village and the figures of men and women in thick brown leather armour came into view. They all had the same dark brown bows and quivers slung on their backs, with a short sword on their waists. They were currently in the town square buying food. And the village guards cleared the way for the soldiers preventing the citizens from getting too close. It was obvious many wanted to ask them questions.

Although we were supposed to be unloading the cargo. The young master still hadn’t gotten off his camel. He was clearly pondering something, and that something didn’t seem easy nor lawful as seen per his frown.

“Everyone, wait here,” he said. “I’ll go check and see what’s going on.” The young man left with the guard leader in toe.

When the young master came back, he told us to start unloading the goods. He still hadn’t said anything, however, while I carried a bag of blue dye off a camel to a cart, he passed me and whispered into my ears.

“Don’t leave I will pay you in gold.”

I didn’t say anything and nodded. When everything had been unloaded the remaining guards including me received our pay. For the month-long journey, we received twenty silvers and a gold coin. Which was pennies compared to what I needed. However, if what the young master had said earlier occurred, I might soon be much richer. Things were looking up.

I went and bought a leather coin pouch for five silvers. The soldiers were all concentrated in the food section of the market so there weren’t any problems. Next, I went and booked a room in the same inn which I stayed at when I had come here. By this time the sun had already set. And when I was about to go to sleep, I heard a knock on my door, and someone entered my room.

I drew the sword which was in its scabbard next to my bed and got ready to engage. However, the person who entered was a small child. The kid, no older than fifteen wore a thick hoody and robe. His cheeks were sunk in, his skin pale, and his eyes swollen. My memory started to jog to figure out who this kid was, and my previous excitement disappeared. I wanted to curse and yell at the gods. My precious Cassira had probably died. I still decided to ask to make sure.

“Who are you?” I asked.

The boy extended his hands out of the robe and presented me a wooden box. “This is Cassira’s dagger. She told me to give the dagger to you and to follow you.”

Although obvious, I was still shaken. I took a deep breath and asked one last question. “Where are the others?”

 “They decided to go fight against the invaders. They say that it’s the invaders’ fault for the state of the religion.”

I wanted to break a table. To slam my fist into wood and watch it snap. Plus, with these flimsy benches, and my enhanced bone density it wouldn’t be hard. Who would carry the loot I would steal? Who would guide the camels filled with silver? How would this kid pay for the losses? Well, at the very least I would drain him of all information. That’s the least he could do.

However, seeing how attached this child was to Cassira I had to at least act the part. I stepped forwards, got on one knee, and hugged him. “It’s going to be OK I’ll fulfill my promise and guide you. After all I was her fiancé.”

The child started to cry. I caught the wooden box with the knife before it fell to the ground as he moved his hands to cover his face. While I patted his back, I heard the jingle of coins on his waist. She must have saved up a few coins by working for the chief. Especially since she didn't have to provide for family.

When the child stopped crying, I looked him in his eyes and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Yoruze,” he answered.

“Don’t worry.” I gave him another hug, “we’ll leave the village soon enough? For now, sleep. I pointed to the bed, and he stumbled into the wool stuffed bed, but a few seconds later he spoke up again. “She also told me to give you this.” He placed a leather bag on the floor. “This is the money of those who went to fight without a family and her own money.”

“Thank you.” I grabbed it and Yoruze went to sleep. He cried for an hour and when I heard him to snore, I undid the leather strap and started to count my newfound wealth.

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There were five gold coins, and eight silver coins. If I added the ceremonial silver knife which could probably be sold for a gold coin. It was still nothing. I needed a few thousand gold coins at the very least. This plan was a useless waste of time.

I distributed my coins between the pouch I bought and the one which belonged to Cassira. I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring so I laid on the wooden floor and used my brain implant to forcefully put me to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up when the sun started to shine. Yoruze had yet to wake up, so I went out and bought four flatbreads for four coppers, and two silvers worth of dried fish. When I came back up to my room, the kid was still sleeping. I sat down next to him and shook him awake. He stirred for a few seconds and slightly jumped up when he saw me. However, when his drowsiness disappeared, he fell back into the soft bed.

“Eat this,” I said and handed him a rolled-up flatbread with fish inside. He managed to eat half of it before putting it on the floor.

“Thanks for the meal. You can have the rest.”

When he said this, I was just about done with my first flatbread fish roll. I stuffed down the last bits of bread, took his bread and put it back in his hands. “Finish it. You’re going to starve yourself if you don’t.”

He looked dejectedly to his food, however, under my pressure he caved in and finished the food. In that time, I had already finished eating the three other flatbreads. If I was to question this kid, I would need him to be at least barely functional. Although I didn’t know when Cassira had died. Probably hadn’t eaten in a couple of days.

When he finished the bread I asked him, “What’s your class and status?”

“I’m not sixteen yet so it hasn’t appeared yet.”

Although this was a bit of a disappointment, I wasn’t expecting them to fight so I didn’t care. “How old are you?”

“Fifteen. I’ll turn sixteen in three months or so.”

“As you can see, I’m not from around here. I was a warrior for the Dakota chiefdom beyond the sand. That’s why I’m wondering how different things are here.” I sat down on a wooden bench and leaned against the room’s wall. “What are the average skill points for warriors and mages in this region?”

“Well, maybe thirty to forty skill points in endurance, strength, and agility for high-end grade 3 warriors. I heard grade four warriors can get as high as fifty. However, their intelligence, perception, and charisma are in the low teens. But mages I don’t really know. They’re quite rare. All I’ve heard is that they are intelligent. Like one hundred points intelligent and they can create towers of ice on a whim.”

I nodded. That last part about mages was probably an exaggeration so I could ignore it. “What about charisma?” Since this may be my strongest power, I wanted to know as much as possible about this subject.

“Well, at grade 1 people have between eight and fifteen charisma points, and each grade you gain you automatically gain one point in charisma.”

That made sense. The stronger you are, the more people will respect you. “And what about people with jobs such as chief, or merchant?”

“Well, those are the ones with noncombat related classes. They level up through different means such as buying and selling stuff. Their skill points are different as well. Like they don’t have strength and agility, but stuff like influence, and trust. But their charisma is high, maybe thirty for a grade four merchants. But they don’t talk about that stuff a lot so I’m not sure.”

Looking back to the chief, even I had some respect for him when he spoke. He probably had charisma in the sixties. This whole non-combat and combat-related jobs made it so that a good leader would turn his soldiers into slaves. However, a new ruler with less charisma could be easily overthrown by a high-ranking soldier with a lot of resistance. It made for a rather reasonable, and easily abused the system.

For the rest of the day, we did nothing but have small talk while I continued to ask him questions. He was a good kid, who had been raised by Cassira since he was ten. His parents had died due to an unknown disease and Cassira probably wanted to raise a child to fill the void in her heart.

Anyhow I would keep him with me for now. I could drop him off at a large city with a few coins when he felt a bit better.

I looked out the window and saw a half-moon high in the sky. It was time to sleep. I didn’t know what that merchant boy had planned. However, as my vision faded to black, I heard a quiet knock on my door.

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