Chapter 400 - New Place

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When the ship finally landed, Zaos noticed that things were a bit different from what he had expected. Aside from the temperature, the port town in which they stopped seemed pretty normal… even though Zaos imagined that he would see people fighting everywhere.

The houses of that town were made of wood, but most of them didn't have actual doors or windows. Instead of that, the inhabitants used some clothing to keep those more or less closed. Zaos imagined that it was to let air flow since the temperature was too damn high for his tastes. The people were either using as little clothes as possible to do their daily chores and work, or they were using some long and light cloaks to protect them from the sun.

"While this place seems peaceful enough, we can't forget that we are in the mercenaries' country," Zaos said. "Trying to pass for merchants and buy a map as soon as possible won't do us any good."

"So, what is the plan?" Aleni asked.

"It shouldn't be weird to be secretive around these parts, so let's just do that while we ask for directions," Zaos replied. "Using the excuse that we are looking for some mercenary work, it should be good enough for us to find the right direction."

"How is that going to work while we have a three years old girl with us?" Aleni asked.

"Relax, most mercenaries judge each other by their appearances, so I will do that," Zaos replied once again. "You just need to act like usual."

That was starting to feel uncomfortable for Aleni… doing nothing during the day but pretending that she was really Zaos's wife. Still, it made sense since she was strong-looking. And a blind woman slicing up mercenaries on a battlefield would draw too much attention to them.

After looking around town for a while, Zaos found a shop that sells those rapid-fire crossbows. As expected, that weapon really had been developed in that country… but Zaos wasn't looking for that. He wanted a new weapon that wasn't a sword and that he could use with only one hand. Using Guardian's Heart also would be problematic, after all. With a single glance, anyone could see that it was a weapon like no other. For the time being, he had to mix in as much as possible without letting rumors spread.

With that in mind, Zaos ended up buying a rapier. A sword that wasn't anywhere close to the type of weapon he liked. It was thin, frail-looking, and probably couldn't be used to block attacks. Still, Zaos could solve all those problems with magic without letting anyone notice it.

"You have a lot of these," Zaos said to the owner of that shop, who was a short, bearded man who had tanned skin.

"They are getting popular nowadays… among girls," The merchant said while looking at Zaos' size. "There is a certain female mercenary who uses a rapier as a weapon and many young girls look up to her."

"Is that so… anyway, I am looking for work," Zaos said. "Do you know anyone hiring who isn't a pain in the ass and pays well?"

"You are joking, right?" The merchant asked. "You may be a foreigner, but there is a limit to one's naivety."

"Just tell me a few names and if one of them is just a little bit decent, I will return to buy more things from you," Zaos said.

"I am sure you will…" The merchant frowned.

Despite his words, the merchant told Zaos a few names of mercenary leaders of that region. There were many of them… it seemed that Zaos got lucky. Since there were many, it means that the region wasn't being controlled by a single perosn. So, information about him won't spread that easily. At the same time, though, Zaos won't get information easily.

The merchant also told to Zaos which direction he should go and how many days of travel it would take for him to arrive at their camps. Since he was given detailed information, Zaos was pretty sure that he didn't hear any lies.

"Daddy… why did you buy that?" Milliendra asked.

"Well… you see… just in case we find some dangerous animals," Zaos replied while he forced a smile.

Zaos had shown countless prototypes of weapons to Milliendra, but he avoided showing her weapons like swords. She was a curious kid, so he had to be careful and hide them well. Still, now that Zaos thought about it, perhaps teaching Milliendra how to use a rapier might be a good idea. Zaos could see that she was going to stay on the short size since she looked so much like her mother, so a weapon with a long reach, light, and that could be used with a single hand would be the best weapon for her. Still, he had to wait for a few years, and he also had to learn the ins and outs of that weapon.

After buying some food and water, Zaos decided to depart from the port town. For the better or for the worse, those three stand out together, so it would be better if they don't stay in such a place for so long. They managed to escape the encirclement of the Sairus kingdom's soldiers, but they couldn't get lax now.

"Do you have any idea where we might find any clue about the guys who trained you?" Zaos asked.

"Are we going to start from there?" Aleni frowned.

"Again, it will be better if we prevent any information leaking as soon as possible," Zaos explained. "I am not going to exactly hold back in this country, so rumors will spread quickly."

"To prevent their bases to be found, they use different ones to train each group of recruits and once a group graduates, they abandon that place," Aleni said. "I also can't say where we might find the island in which we stayed in the beginning. My senses can't do a thing while we are in the ocean."

"Well, I already knew this wouldn't be easy…" Zaos shrugged.

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