Chapter 54 Out Of The Spotlight.

  “This trip has been really quiet.” Isaac commented once they had finished packing up and were back on the road again. They were on the final stretch and only had between five and seven hours to go, depending on how hard they felt like pushing the horses.

  “Isaac, don’t jinx these poor people.” Lenna scolded him with a sigh.

  “Yeah!” Their driver exclaimed. “A jinx is the last thing we need!”

  “I’m just saying, I expected to get ambushed by something at least once. What kind of caravan trip doesn’t get ambushed by undead, Ori-Masa, undead Ori-Masa, wolves or their variants, bandits, drow assassins, basilisks, dragons, or even just some snakes?” Isaac demanded. “I signed up for an ‘Adventurer Bounty’ not a ride-along.”

  Their driver had turned almost deathly pale. “If any of those things happened to most caravans, they would be entirely wiped out.” She whispered in disbelief. “Just what level of the hells are you from?”

  “Not even that far down, just the basement of the world.” Isaac replied. “Huh, maybe that’s why there are so many spiders.”

  Lenna just shook her head at his antics. “You know, your reputation as a terrifying heartless death elemental has been actively dropping to rock bottom.” She reminded him. “It is situations like these that are doing it.”

  It only took them another five and a half hours to reach their destination. The port city of Vespera was wide and sprawling with large and open thoroughfares and a spiked fence where an outer wall should have been. Almost all of the buildings were made of stone for only most of the first floor and were made of wood for the rest. It looked almost as if someone had started building a city of cobbled stone only for them to run out of it as soon as they got to a height of three to nine feet. It appeared that the city continued to grow faster than the builders or city planners could keep up, either that, or someone really didn’t care about what happened to the outer two thirds of the population, maybe both.

  The caravan passed through a checkpoint to enter the city at a much faster rate than the duo had expected. The guards hadn’t even glanced inside the wagons and just took the drivers at their word. Some of the guards had enchanted gear that no guard would be able to afford on their salary. Some of the roads had divots that were filled in with gravel instead of being releveled. The divots looked like they were from underground erosion but could have been from tunnels that collapsed underground. There were beggars sitting openly on the street and people in brightly colored clothes only a few feet from them. Everything about the city screamed bustling commerce and proverbial buckets of money slipping through the cracks.

  “I think we are in the right place.” Isaac commented to Lenna as they passed an alleyway where a homeless man was being shaken down for loose change. “Yay, another city that looks bright on the surface but is a cesspit underneath.”

  “Agreed.” Lenna replied.

  “Some parts of town are pretty bad.” Their driver agreed. “I’d stick to where the people are the thickest if you want a safe stay. Just watch your pockets.” She warned them. “And don’t think that Bottomless Bag will be enough to keep your money safe. The street rats here are smart enough to target you just because you have one. They know that there are platinum coins in there.”

  “We’ll keep that in mind.” Isaac assured her. “Should we stay with you until you finish unloading?”

  She shook her head. “No.” She replied. “Just until we get to the Vespera Merchants Association’s Inbound Warehouse.” She explained. “The VMA keep our goods safe for a small fee per day, that’s one of the reasons it’s better to arrive in the afternoon instead of at night.”

  Isaac nodded in understanding. “Alright. What can you tell me about this association? How do they keep your stuff safe from the criminal factions in the city?”

  She shook her head. “I have no idea. They just do.” She replied.

  “Isaac,” Lenna began. “what if we end up bringing one of the largest cities in Altia to its knees while we are here?”

  Isaac shrugged. “Then it crumbles like a sandcastle.” He replied. “I don’t see how that’s our problem. We are just after the CSC, anyone that happens to be reliant on them, or in their pocket, is just going to have to deal with the fallout.”

  —

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  After leaving their merchant friend, the pair headed to the local branch of the Adventurers’ Guild. After their last guild related fiasco, the pair decided to start at the guild and work their way out from there. If they were sure that the Guild Master wasn’t in anyone’s pocket, then they would have a solid place to work outwards from and hopefully a way to get some reinforcements as needed.

  Upon entering the Guild Hall of the Vespera branch of the Adventurers’ Guild, the pair were met with a familiar layout but a mostly empty building. The receptionist was a tired looking elderly man whose glasses were thick and looked much too heavy for his slender nose. He was nearly completely bald on the top of his head and his shoulders slumped forwards as if the entire weight of his considerable age lay upon them.

  Isaac and Lenna walked up to the elderly man and gave him a moment to acknowledge them. When he hadn’t for around half a minute, Isaac leaned against his desk and cleared his throat. The man glanced up at him and then back down to his work. “I sees ya.” He told Isaac. “Imma bit busy at the moment.”

  “Is the Guild Master here?” Isaac questioned the man directly. “I need to speak with him.”

  “You’ll have to wait fer an appointment.” The old receptionist replied.

  “No, I haven’t had very good experiences with that recently.” Isaac countered. “Is he in the building?”

  The receptionist looked back up at Isaac again and Isaac set his double platinum tags on the desk between them. The old man gave them a look for a moment before he looked back up and met Isaac’s unyielding gaze. “Yous gotta wait like ev’ry one else.” He told Isaac flatly.

  “Listen, gramps, if he is here, then tell me so I can go talk to him for a few minutes. I don’t care if he is buried under eight million pieces of parchment or in a meeting with the king himself. Is. He. Here?” Isaac demanded.

  “Leave yer-” The old man began again.

  “I’ve had enough of this nonsense.” Isaac cut him off and vanished.

  Lenna sighed heavily enough to draw the old man’s attention. “Order a new door for the Guild Master’s office, just in case.” Lenna told him and then started walking towards the door that led to the stairs to the second floor. “You should have just answered the question.”

  Isaac had shadow-stepped the entire way to the Guild Master’s office door. He pounded on it twice and then waited. He heard an exasperated sigh and a groan. “Ugh, what is it now?!” He called through the door. Isaac took that as his sign to enter and opened the door. Inside was a man no older than thirty with dark bags under his eyes. His blue hued skin only made them even more evident. His hair was a vibrant pure green and his eyes practically glowed with yellow mana. All around him were stacks of papers and only half of them looked organized. “What? You’re not old man Jenkins.” He said aloud while looking at Isaac questioningly. His eyes suddenly widened in horror. “No, don’t tell me that old bastard finally kicked the bucket…” He reached up and grabbed two handfuls of his hair. “No no no, please, I don’t have time to find someone else to run the desk.”

  “Hold on.” Isaac told him and raised his hands, his double platinum tags dangled and reflected the light from their position in his hand from earlier. “The zombie or whatever is running the desk down there is still breathing.” He told the Guild Master. “That’s not why I’m here.”

  The Guild Master sighed and relaxed back into his chair. “Oh, thank Halya.” He sighed and then refocused on Isaac. “If it is another complaint or problem, I am afraid you will have to add it to the list.” He told Isaac.

  Isaac shrugged. “I don’t think it’s either.” He replied. “My wife and I are following a lead from Sapphirestone and it’s led us here.”

  “Oh?” The Guild Master questioned. It was clear that he was trying not to be rude but his constant glances at the piles of work in front of him betrayed what was really on his mind.

  “The Civil Servant Company. We are going to invade their island off the coast and shut down their slave racket.” Isaac spoke plainly and directly while he still had the Guild Master’s attention. “I have reason to suspect that their leader may be a green dragon.”

  Those final two words yanked the Guild Master’s attention like a chained dog reaching the end of their tether. His eyes went wide and finally stopped glancing at the stacks of work that needed to be seen to. “I’m listening.” He told Isaac and focused in like a hunting falcon. After Isaac explained his reasoning and the information he had, the Guild Master leaned back in his chair. “I can see why you came to that conclusion. I’ll be honest, as a Guild Master, I hope you are dead wrong. That kind of monster so close to us would be a risk that the people of this city shouldn’t be exposed to. But as a man caught in the middle of this wretched city, gods I hope you are right.”

  “Why?” Isaac wondered. He had taken a seat across from the Guild Master while explaining things and was now sitting casually with his ankle resting on his other knee. He had heard, and felt, Lenna stop just outside the slightly ajar door to make sure that they weren’t disturbed. She had arrived around the time he had finished explaining everything to the Guild Master.

  “If it were as simple as one massively powerful creature pulling the strings from behind the scenes, then that means that once the head is removed, everything should come falling down in one fell swoop.” The Guild Master replied. “If you are wrong, then that means that all of these hundred tiny copper level bounties will need to be completed individually.” He gestured at nearly half of his untouched stacks of paperwork. “There are somewhere between fifty and two hundred copper tier bounties that all involve missing persons and petty crimes that the Guard can’t get around to. They are stretched too thin as it is so small scale stuff just gets ignored or thrown out, those people then come to us to pick up the slack. It’s good for business but not for my sanity. The rest involve people hearing things late at night and fearing that there are monsters in the sewers, or people trying to hire adventurers to fix the roads.”

  Isaac nodded in understanding. “I can see that.” He replied. “So, what can you tell me about the Marquess and Marchioness of your chaotic mess of a city?”

  “Marquess Flynn and Marchioness Beatrix Thronsen are both natives. It always feels like they aren’t doing enough below the surface. On the surface they do things like host charity banquets and fund orphanages. I feel like they are just trying to look good without actually doing any good but I honestly can’t see the reason for it. This is their home too, they should be trying to keep it in as best working order as possible. Maybe things are worse than it looks from my perspective but that is all I can tell you.” The Guild Master went on without any hesitation. “Why?”

  “I’ll get to the ‘why’ in a moment.” Isaac told him. “What about the Captain of the Guard, the Magistrate, and the Court Mage?”

  “The Captain of the Guard seems like a normal man who is trying his best but is underfunded and understaffed at all times. He is probably the only other person in the city who understands how awful I have it on the day-to-day.” He explained and then moved on: “The Magistrate is growing incredibly irritated at the large number of criminals that keep escaping right before trial. They used to escape right after but then he started executing them immediately if their crimes called for it. The last time I saw him, he looked like an overpressured jar of justice. I thought he was about to explode.” He then took a deep breath and sighed it out. “As for the Court Mage, I haven’t seen the woman, at all, ever. I hear about her from time to time but it always just seems to be people that are surprised that she is still alive. I am afraid that is all I know.”

  Isaac nodded in understanding and thanks. “I see. Well, let me recount a quick tale from Sapphirestone that needs to stay between us. Once I am done, you will know why I asked about everyone openly in power in the city. After that, we can move on to those that are a little more out of the spotlight.”