After a few minutes, Sota and Shinya headed to the north of the illuminated city. The markets were extremely crowded, filled with common people of the middle class or slightly below, while the city's wealthy and most arrogant moved in luxury carriages pulled by elegant white horses.
Among that dense crowd were thieves claiming to be mere ordinary passersby who came to look at the goods sold by traders and buy what they liked in terms of quality and price, waiting for the right time to steal from the right person.
But what hindered them were the policemen distributed throughout the place; they wore black uniforms covered by a regular dark blue cloak, pinned with a single gold star indicating their rank, where the more stars one had, the higher the rank. Under their blue cloak was either a solid black baton made of painted wood, a small sword that could be drawn quickly, or a light rifle, which was not very common and was rare—if an ordinary merchant offered it for sale, they would sell it for an astronomical price.
Their attire was somewhat similar to that of the Royal Skull gang, with a difference in color and the shape of the badge. The policemen in this city, which teemed with criminals, were negligent in their work, not even attempting to chase a single unarmed thief.
Therefore, the general public had to be wary of everything surrounding them, especially at night, as did the merchants, many of whom, for some reason, wore uniforms: a long brown winter jacket that almost reached the knees, accompanied by a thick hat made of pure white sheep's wool.
Others wore tattered, torn clothes, especially the younger ones, and the rest had varied clothing. There were those who wore luxury clothes indicating nobility and generosity to attract everyone's eyes, and those who wore ordinary clothes trying to sell their modest goods.
Those wearing a uniform worked for one person who headed them, especially the owners of the brown jackets who were headed by someone nicknamed "The Snake," while those wearing old clothes worn out by time were headed by "The Scorpion," who was also Sota's employer. This explains why he possessed ragged clothes and a small carriage.
The Scorpion was always characterized by his anger toward those working under his command, as he treated them like slaves indirectly, since slavery was strictly forbidden in the Autumn Lands, "Orival."
This could be confirmed by the voice of a frustrated man in his forties erupting from the middle of the crowded market; it was the voice of The Scorpion.
All eyes were directed toward that spot, not because of The Scorpion's shouting, which all shoppers were used to, but because of the intensity of his rage. In the middle of the crowd was a small, nearly destroyed carriage, its wheels worn out, its roof broken, and straw leaking from it all along the road it had come from.
It was the carriage of the small trader, Sota, who was standing before The Scorpion, receiving his constant reprimand.
"Is this the reward for my trust in you!!"
The exhausted Sota thought of that cursed travel journey before responding.
'Since when did you start trusting me?'
Sota raised his hand, placed it over his mouth, and coughed, saying:
"We were chased by a group of Rivarg monsters on the road—"
"Liar! Do you think I'll believe that those monsters appeared on the road considered the safest in that forest?!"
Sota opened his hands, trying to control his tone and anger.
"Why won't you believe me!? In your opinion, how did the carriage end up in this state, my dear sir? And let me add more to that: we met slave traders in Eldra village, and do you know who was leading them? It was the Great Slave Trader!"
Sota didn't even know who Korsh was fundamentally, but he had heard about him from the slave traders who surrounded him that day, as well as from the village people. But The Scorpion wasn't going to believe a word he said at all.
"Then how did someone like you manage to survive slave traders instead of being sold, or evil monsters instead of being eaten?"
Sota pointed his finger at the carriage without moving his gaze, saying:
"Thanks to him! He is the one who faced the slave traders and faced the Rivarg monsters and saved us from death twice!"
Takeshi emerged from behind the carriage, both of his arms excessively wrapped in bandages. Indeed, The Scorpion had seen him as soon as the carriage arrived, and this gave him another reason to scold Sota. Takeshi raised his hand, casting his gaze toward The Scorpion.
"Hello."
The Scorpion ground his teeth hard. He would have believed that they had indeed met slave traders during their journey because of the widespread news in the south, which had begun to spread to the rest of the country like ash in the middle of a permanent corpse fire.
The news had reached Galleon City first as it was the major city in the south. There are four major cities in Orival in each of the four directions that manage the affairs of their respective regions, and one of these affairs is disseminating news. Each village has carrier pigeons to transport messages to neighboring villages or the major city in its region. Therefore, the elder of Eldra village was able to send news of the appearance of slave traders and the appearance of two heroes who saved them, along with some other details.
However, the appearance of Rivarg monsters was something not yet confirmed, so The Scorpion forced himself to deny Sota's words entirely.
"Lies and fabrications! And how many times have I told you not to transport people on this fragile carriage?"
The Scorpion shifted his gaze toward the exhausted horse beside the carriage, which had become even more haggard than it was.
"And look at what you did to this horse! And I shouldn't have to feed it myself as usual!"
Sota grabbed his head and scratched his hair with his nails hard. Before he could try to say anything, Takeshi stepped forward with steady steps, saying:
"I am the one who asked him to give me a ride, and I am the one who broke part of the carriage, threw some straw, and exhausted the horse. But each of these matters has motives and positive results. If Sota hadn't given me a ride, we wouldn't have been able together to drive the slave traders out of Eldra village, and without my actions, we wouldn't have been able to flee and survive the Rivarg monsters—"
"So you confess to all your sins?!"
"How much does all this cost?!"
The features of anger faded from The Scorpion's face as soon as he began performing a calculation, but his anger soon returned after seeing Takeshi's clothes and critical condition, realizing that someone in this state wouldn't be able to pay the full amount.
"I'll make it easy for you: 8 gold pieces and 3 silvers."
Sota intervened in the middle of their dialogue, saying:
"We have 5 silver pieces and 30 silver pieces, which equals 8 gold pieces. As soon as you give me my wages, I will give you the last 3 silver pieces—"
The Scorpion gradually moved his gaze toward Sota, bared his teeth, and knitted his eyebrows, saying with indignation:
"Where did you get this money? Is it possible that you stole from me?"
Most of The Scorpion's money wasn't with him currently but elsewhere, and what he brought with him to spend a few weeks in Galleon City had been stolen by Koji. Therefore, when he realized that Sota possessed this amount, he thought he had conspired with Koji to steal.
"The elder of that village gave it to us!"
"Now the elder of that village gave it to you? Stop making up excuses!"
"I am telling the truth, but you insist on—"
The Scorpion's features grew more wrinkled and angry.
"I insist on what?"
Sota swallowed his saliva, realizing that a slip of the tongue might land him in big trouble. He was going to tell him (you insist on screaming like a madman to attract everyone's attention), but that would have been enough to get him fired from his only job. So, he cleared his tongue, saying:
"You insist on knowing all the details..."
During this tense discussion, Takeshi was thinking about something entirely different—something he had been ignoring since last night: his strength, which had increased over the last five years.
Takeshi had spent those years training his body. It was true that he was physically strong before his isolation and used to train constantly, but he had increased the intensity of his training excessively—extremely excessively.
But he didn't expect to reach this level of physical ability; he realized that if he had fallen from that cliff yesterday instead of hanging onto it using the dagger, he probably wouldn't have died and would have only suffered a minor fracture. He was also trying to deny that he had been killing Rivarg monsters with his bare hands.
'I undertake something and I'm surprised if I succeed at it...'
In the midst of this busy discussion, the sound of smooth wheels and elegant horse hooves erupted from the middle of the crowd. Spectators made way for the passage of a luxury carriage pulled by two white horses with pure blonde hair.
The carriage was pink, carrying fine designs and beautiful engravings on the outside. It had a small door with a circular window that did not show what was inside. At the front was the old carriage driver, who wore a black jacket embroidered in bright gold and a large hat that covered half of his wrinkled face.
"This carriage!"
The Scorpion said, calming his nerves. He soon ignored Sota and knelt to that carriage quickly. Suddenly, the old driver descended from his compartment and headed with calm, steady steps toward the small carriage door, pulling its handle to open the door slowly.
From inside, a young girl of about 15 years old emerged from the carriage. She was beautiful, with silky short brown hair reaching her shoulders, wearing a long white skirt that swept the ground and everything on it. The girl wasn't that tall, but she wasn't short either; nevertheless, her features looked very childish.
As soon as those nearby saw her, they quickly bowed and continued their way, while Sota knelt directly beside The Scorpion.
The only person who didn't understand anything and didn't show any reaction to this situation was Takeshi, who raised his finger, pointing toward that girl, saying:
"Who is this child?"
Everyone in the place froze because of Takeshi's stupid question, which neither Sota nor The Scorpion could answer until the girl spoke.
"I am a child? It seems you haven't recognized me well, you rat. I am Misaki, the daughter of the mayor of this city of Galleon, within whose walls you stand and upon whose ground you tread!"