Chapter 171 - Ambush

Someone carrying a sword of that size was bound to attract the attention of many people. Still, in the end, once Zaos stopped and jumped from the carriage, his height surprised a lot of people. He wasn't exactly short, but he certainly wasn't the tallest soldier around. Regardless, Zaos couldn't care less about it. So, he just watched the carriage while Merkin entered the shop.

"Don't you want to see the magic books? The quality here isn't that bad," Merkin said.

"No, I am going to keep an eye on things here," Zaos replied. "Do you intend to stay here for long?"

"It will depend on my friend if he has prepared the merchandise," Merkin replied. "Why do you ask?"

"The more we stay in this city, the more people will learn about your business," Zaos said.

Merkin nodded. Leaving as soon as possible was something that he had considered. However, considering that it was already noon, they wouldn't reach the village they stayed on the previous night before sunset, and Merkin certainly didn't want to come.

In the end, even though it hadn't been his intention, Merkin didn't make things easier for Zaos. He spent a good part of the afternoon selecting magic books and trying to negotiate with better prices with his friend. They weren't actually selling and buying. They were just discussing how much he would gain for each sold copy… thanks to that, when he finally finished, there was no time to leave the town anymore.

"My apologies, I ended up needing a lot more time than I thought," Merkin said.

"Not a problem," Zaos said. "I am being paid here, so you can take as much time as you want as long as it doesn't break the contract of fourteen days."

It was a pain in the ass, but Zaos couldn't complain… once again. He was paid to work for fourteen days and to obey orders. That was still better than using his family's money and risking a lecture from his father and giving him more reasons to go on long trips like that.

After they found a suitable inn, Zaos transported the magic books to Merkin's room, and then he finally had the chance to relax in his own room. While he didn't do much aside from standing like a statue, it still was quite the training with a sword of that size on his back.

"Did your friend make an interesting discovery in the last few years regarding magic?" Zaos asked when they were having dinner.

"Yes, he discovered the right formula to cast an Earth Spear with three points," Merkin said. "Aside from that, he also discovered the formula to turn a Water Sphere into an arrow after it was flying toward the enemy in order to surprise them."

Those seemed pretty interesting, but not enough to make Zaos spend his gold coins on those magic books. Unless he finds a magic book with a real different breakthrough, he will only buy the simplest ones because they already have all the known magic symbols, and the customized spells only have a few fewer symbols or a mix of them.

The following day, they woke up early to gain time and return to the capital as soon as possible. Still, in the end, since they were in a town surrounded by mines, they failed at leaving without being noticed by many people. The people in Esdone sure woke up earlier than the people in the capital…

Things worked pretty well for two days. Zaos and Merkin didn't notice anything weird happening around them. Still, despite that, Merkin only grew more cautious and tired since he wasn't sleeping all that well at night. After all, he was carrying fifteen advanced magic books, and they were worthy of a fortune.

However, once they were away enough from any village and from the capital, Zaos noticed that the area they were in was quieter than before. Zaos clicked his tongue when he noticed why… It was noon, and because they hurried, they moved faster and missed the time to stop for lunch in a village. Usually, at that time, traveler's stop to rest for a couple of hours and to have a warm meal. In hundreds of meters in all directions, Zaos couldn't see a single living soul.

Despite that, Zaos kept his cool and continued to drive. Still, once they passed by a certain grove, he felt the presence of several individuals. He clicked his tongue and then made the horses speed up. The thieves hid in the grove and also accelerated in order to reach their targets, but they couldn't be fast enough and move faster than a carriage. Unfortunately, Zaos focused too much on speed, and then he only noticed in the last moment that there were two groups of thieves, and the second was blocking their path.

"Great…" Zaos said as he slowed down.

Before he could get too close, Zaos looked at them… Each group had eight ragtag-looking individuals. Their clothes weren't as dirty as Zaos imagined they would be, considering that they were thieves, but they were well-armed. Four of them even had some strange-looking weapons that resembled crossbows…

"Shit…" Merkin said with his heart filled with despair.

"Just focus on protecting yourself and play along," Zaos muttered.

Zaos also took a good look at the thieves that left the grove, and they didn't have those weird weapons, so the real difficult enemies were the ones in front of him. When the carriage finally stopped, and the enemies were just twenty meters away from him, Zaos suddenly summoned five Wind Swords and then aimed at the enemies with the weird-looking crossbows. In the next moment, five of their heads rolled on the ground.

Your Sorcery has reached level 58.

Your Sorcery has reached level 59.

Before the three remaining thieves could react to that, Zaos jumped from the carriage with his big sword in his hands and dashed toward them. With their swords in their hands, they prepared to fight, but then Zaos's speed suddenly increased, and then he got close enough to swing his sword. The thieves' swords were broken in pieces, and their lower halves were separated from their upper halves.