Ch 67 – Cluj

"..."

"What!?"

"Did you just scream?"

"..."

"I... did. You scared me!"

"By asking you out? What are you, a child?"

"Stop it!"

An odd conversation took place between Bid and Mary. the rest of the group, oddly enough, just stared in silence. Including the guard that was reviewing the documents Ace had given just a second ago. No fucks given

"Ahem!" Ace coughed, calling his attention back.

"Oh, sorry. Here's your documents."

"Thanks."

While Ace retrieved everything, Necro looked around.

Large fields surrounded the walled town. Rather, one could call Cluj a small city by this point. The walls weren't massive stone structures, but rather, pretty small. They were still quite tall though, around four meters. In the distance, Necro could see men atop a wooden structure, laying more stones.

'I guess they're still fortifying it...' She thought.

The fields were large, but only enough to feed the town itself. Instead, what called Necro's attention were the large buildings amidst them. Almost every field-patch had one such, where sheep were fenced in. Above all, Cluj was a town that grew from the shepherdry. The best wool, milk and cheese came from this region.

"Who's that girl though? You only provided documents for the six of you."

"Ah, she's a traveler we saved from wolves along the way. We'll take her to the guild to get her proper documentation."

"That'll be 2 silvers, you know we don't take undocumented people in town, little girl." The guard spoke in a soft voice, very close to Ace's face. Necro was only barely able to hear it from where she stood.

"I know, I know." Ace took a small pouch from her clothes, putting it back in with surprisingly fast movements, and laid two coins in the guard's hand as she retrieved the Guild tags.

"Come on people, move!"

Necro turned around as soon as she heard Ace's voice.

"Okay!" She said while happily hopping to Ace's side, holding her hand.

"Where are we going though?" She asked, looking back at the carts full of loot.

"Oh," Mary started talking as she approached the two. "we're going to the Commerce Guild first, see if we can sell this stuff for better money than at the other one."

"Things that are actually useful can be sold there, right?" Necro asked.

"Yeah, some people along the way said there's war approaching. Rations are probably on the rise." Mary's answer did not inspire any good feelings, but that's just how things are.

"I see..."

The gallop of a horse grew louder behind them. A fast paced one at that. There were few such animals in this region, let alone those who could go this fast. Necro turned back to see the horse, and his rider, dash through the open gates, unfazed by the people around.

A loud murmur could be heard as the people on the line and around the street inside talked to each other...

And Necro knew fairly well why.

The horse, foaming from his mouth, as well as the rider, wore familiar colors, those of the Szilágyi family, her mother's.

"Are you okay?" Ace asked, seeing Necro's expression darken.

"Yeah, it's nothing. Let's go."c She brushed her off, quickly turning back to normal. And thus, the carts started rolling as the group set foot into the town after over a week of travel.

Cluj, as it was now called, was a sprawling city with over six thousand residents. The cobblestone roads were reserved to the main paths, dirt alleys went deep into the sea of buildings. A church, in the very center, opened up to the central square, where the best shops and guilds were located. Near the walls, the less fortunate built with cheap materials, scraping for jobs and food every day. That's the kind of city it was, grown from shepherds and husbandry, a central place that held most of the commerce between the Transylvanian States and Ungri. With rough winters and boiling hot summers, the little nobility that lived in this region was heavily dependent on the populace, and much like Wallachians, the people did not care about who actually ruled the place, so long as taxes were not abusive. With the death of Pongrac, the territory passed from hand to hand, including Necro's Mother's before Corvinus decided to make it part of Ungri indefinitely, by making the Wallachian Voivode rule it as a buffer zone. Truth be told, this was his hometown, so it was to be expected. The Corvin family still owned a lot of land, and ruled from the shadows.

Necro watched in awe, as the streets bustled with people unlike anything she'd seen before. She had never gone to a large town, let alone a city. At the very most, she'd gone to the small village near her home, which already seemed pretty lively.

To Ace however, this was a very small place. And, truth be told, if Necro were to scavenge her memories, she'd gone to places far larger than this one, but again, that was Soleir, not Necro.

A myriad of styles of house were built very close the the streets themselves. The idea of sidewalks didn't catch as much, since people would just walk alongside the carts and carriages. Those were reserved to places where people would stand outside and wait, like the church and guilds.

And with the view of the city itself and all its people, the group arrived at the commerce guild after not so long.

"Suckerhal! You're back? Thought you died or something. What brings you here?"

And as soon as they walked through the doors, a lively and overly familiar deep voice called them out.

"Sup, pops. What's with the yelling? Slow day?" Hal answered in the same tone to the buff and hardened man who welcomed them.

"Ya bet. The sheps goinna take a full day more to bring the wool cause some asshat got their carts borrowed."

"I see… That asshat would be me, though."