Chapter 364 - Suspicions

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When Zaos looked at Alton, he noticed that the bag of coins had already disappeared, and the merchant had a smile on his face. It seemed that Zaos had paid a bit more than expected, but that was fine. He also needed some Intel.

"I just left the mercenaries' country, and I am new here," Zaos said. "I am tired of battles, and I want to live a peaceful life. Where do you think I should go if I don't want to be bothered by anyone?"

"A mercenary so young that got tired of the battlefield? That is weird…" Alton said. "Still, if you want to have peace here, you just have to stay away from the mines. Anywhere close to those will attract greedy fellows and their armies."

"Mines… those mines where they can find those stones?" Zaos pointed to the port.

"Yeah, that is right, they are magic stones," Alton said. "They can only be found here, and they are as valuable as gold."

If that is the case, why would they be exposed like that? Probably because they become worthless once they are put to some use, or criminals are heavily punished in those parts, even for small crimes.

"You look like a distinguished customer, so I can offer many more things to you," Alton said. "Just what you want, and if I don't have it, I will find it for you."

"If there aren't many of those mines around here, I would like to buy a house," Zaos said. "If you have some interesting books, I can also buy them."

"I never heard of educated mercenary," Alton frowned.

"You should be more careful when you say careless remarks like that," Zaos said. "Mercenaries take offense easily if you say things like that."

"Is that so? My apologies," Alton said and then went to the back of his shop again. "Those are the most valuable books that I have."

Zaos looked at the small pile that Alton brought, and he could only see encyclopedias. He already had read the one about herbs, there was another one regarding forging techniques, but in the end, he bought the one that listed several types of magic tools that had been created over the last few decades by using those magic stones for twenty gold coins.

"I will come back later," Zaos said and then left the shop.

"Thank you for your patronage," Alton said as he rubbed his hands together.

Zaos wanted to ask if he knew someone that could buy valuable magic weapons. Still, in the end, Zaos decided to look for the buyer himself to avoid trouble later.

While staying in the village for the night was an option, Zaos decided to leave because he had some other plans. First of all, he had to make everyone think that the foreigners were no longer there and see what they would say about them. He will leave that task in Aleni's hands. While the map would be useful, by hearing some rumors, they would save time by learning which regions were the most troublesome ones.

"I think we should spend a few days camping while you gather Intel. What do you think?" Zaos asked.

"Understood," Aleni said.

"I was asking you a question…" Zaos said and then sighed.

A few hours after leaving that town, they found a nice groove and decided to camp there since the sun was already setting. Once they finished unpacking some things, Aleni returned to the town to gather Intel. As for Zaos, he prepared the dinner of the animals and Milliendra. His dinner had been the few apples he found there. For the first time in a while, he also lit a campfire. He needed light that doesn't come from magic for a chance to read, and everyone would feel more comfortable as well.

"What a weird group of magic tools… they had those torches, boxes that used ice magic to preserve food, and even other boxes that cooks food…" Zaos frowned. "Why do they feel weirdly familiar?"

Combat-wise, there weren't many things in that encyclopedia, but that was fine. Zaos was trying to look for some tools that might help him on his task of freeing Milliendra from the curse. However, he didn't find anything that would help… he needed other encyclopedias of the same genre. One more complete and actualized.

"Buying a few of those and then studying them might be useful as well…" Zaos thought. "Wait a minute… why didn't they list a single magic weapon here?"

That was weird… those were published in different categories? That might be the cause, but Zaos imagined that the reason was more military than that. By holding back the information about the magic weapons they had, the kingdom would always have the surprise factor on their side. Still, if they have been doing that for a long time, why have they never used that against the Sairus kingdom? Zaos didn't find an answer to that question. Regardless, after a couple of hours, Aleni returned with some Intel.

"I didn't find anyone mentioning our passage through the town, not even that merchant," Aleni said. "However, it seems that there are some troublesome rumors around these parts. This group of bandits stole the cargo of a ship and managed to equip themselves with all sorts of magic weapons. Since then, they have been causing problems to travelers and merchants."

"This seems like a common occurrence all over the world…" Zaos said and then sighed.

"There is more," Aleni said. "You noticed that the number of guards in the town was small, didn't you? The same is happening everywhere. The kingdom is recruiting soldiers and calling those who already serve it for some kind of big expedition."

"That would explain why those bandits haven't been dealt with…" Zaos said. "Did you learn what this kingdom is preparing for?"

"Not yet," Aleni replied.

Even without a proper answer, Zaos could imagine what was about to happen… Ashiris kingdom was going to attack the Sairus kingdom…

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