Birth of a Necromancer 033

The scenery changed a lot, as the cart was driven on by the tireless oxen, which were pulling it. The surroundings that had consisted of dense forest was now flatlands, after many days of moving. Uneventful, as the trip had been, there hadn't been lots of conversation between the two parties who were occupying the merchant's cart.

Rick and his brother were having a lively discussion about the prices of fish and what inns they would be visiting when they reached town. But although they did their part to liven up the atmosphere, they couldn't hide the fact that they had no idea how to approach their two passengers.

When Gayle had finally woken up, after the goblin attack, he had been more than surprised to see the two hooded men sitting next to him. Nevertheless, he had recovered quickly and moved on to attempting to ask them their names. Neither of the two had responded, and due to the fact that one of them was wearing a priest's robes, he hadn't attempted to pry any further. The two silent men in the back of the cart had kept their mouths shut, ever since the time they had saved Rick.

A particularly large bump in the dirt road made the eldest of the two merchant brothers, Gayle, yelp slightly.

"A-anyway, like I said, we have to visit The Golden Goose whenever we get to Roughensburg. The waitresses there are lovely." He said, slightly embarrassed at the girly sound he had made, seconds ago.

The younger brother, Rick, sighed. He was tired of listening to his brother talking about bars and inns. To be frank, he was also sick of discussing business. He had been stuck on the road for days, only surviving on cheap bread and the same type of wine to drink. The younger brother wasn't a massive fan of spending large sums of money on food. No, he would rather save and save, until he could buy something extraordinary. Something awe-inspiring.

"Brother, during this trip you've emptied an entire barrel of ale! I wasn't even aware that you could do that! Not to mention the countless furs on which you've spilled your ale. I think I'll be holding on to our money for a while, thank you very much."

Rick knew that his brother couldn't help it. He was a simple man who liked to spend money as soon as he had made it. Actually, it was a bit of a problem, seeing as he had drunk an entire one hundred gold coins worth of ale. A considerable sum of money that could've been in both of the brothers' purses, rather than one of their bellies.

The younger brother was actually surprised at himself for not being stricter with his brother. After all, Rick had told his brother to stop drinking, eating, and spoiling their wares, on multiple occasions.

That was when the pondering merchant got an idea. He turned around to watch his guards who were sitting in silence. Rick's gaze grazed a box that had the words 'wine samples' painted on the side. It wrote 'samples', but in reality, they were entire bottles of wine, meant to be pulled out when trying to convince high-profile customers to buy more than just a few bottles of their sublime alcohol.

"Priest, what would you say to a bit of wine? Your throat must be parched from all the riding we've been doing." The younger brother asked.

Still with the white hood drawn too far over his face to see his facial features the man, who Rick assumed was a priest, looked at the younger merchant.

"Don't waste pretty words on me. You told me to save your ass, whenever it's in trouble. That, I will do. Nothing more and nothing less." He said.

Surprised at the frankness with which the priest-like man spoke, the merchant held his tongue and wiped the pretentious smile, he was wearing, off of his face. Rick was slightly offended but wasn't in any position to voice his disgruntlement. After all, they would all soon be at the capital, and if the merchant wanted any hope of continuing to work with his newly acquired, monstrously strong bodyguards, he would have to stay on good terms with them.

With that being his resolve, the offended merchant smiled tiredly before turning away from his passengers.

'I suppose I'll have to endure the awkwardness.' He thought to himself, as he sighed once again.

More time passed and as the scenery changed more and more, other people riding horses, carts, and carriages came into view. The roads were populated with other people, and with the increase of people came a sense of security.

'Civilization... Finally.' Rick thought to himself, relieved to be surrounded by people once again.

Unlike before, bits of pieces of conversation could be picked up from all around. Listening to others was enjoyable, in the youngest merchant's opinion. He always wished he had been better at small talk, but alas, he wasn't. Wanting to simply enjoy the view, Rick handed his brother the reins for the oxen.

The cart moved along the road, attracting a few gazes, because of its motley crew. It wasn't every day you saw two merchants, a priest, and a man looking like the reaper, together. Even though he wasn't the one that attracted the most gazes, Rick couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed at all the looks they were attracting. He did his best to ignore it, but there was always the nagging feeling of being watched.

'We'll have to get these two some new clothes..." The youngest merchant thought to himself, whilst sighing internally.

Soon the four of them found themselves at a crossroad, which connected the no-named road they were currently on with The Roughensburg Royal Road. A road, which unlike many of the other roads in the kingdom, was paved with cobblestone. Lanterns mounted on lampposts covered the sides of the road, making it usable during the night.

Another big difference between the Royal Road and all the other roads was the fact that it was heavily guarded by provincial troops in partial plate mail, wearing the nation's colors, which were blue and white. They had swords by their sides and halberds in their hands, giving them quite an intimidating look.

The provincial troops of Kanburrough were renowned for the extreme training they lived through, when being trained in the ways of the soldier. Compared to other nations' soldiers, Kanburrough's were among the best of the best. In order to be accepted into the Military Academy of Roughensburg, one had to be a good fighter with experience in battle. Therefore, many adventurers who had reached the rank of 'silver' chose the path of the soldier, rather than that of the adventurer, as the former was far more profitable. To many, being an adventurer was simply a means of becoming a member of the State Army.

Rick stole a glance at the pair behind him. He didn't have to think twice to know that those two could easily make it into one of the Provincial Army's elite companies.

The elite companies were groups that consisted of the best provincial troops, mixing infantry, strategists, and mages, and combining them into groups in order to create unstoppable forces of mass-destruction.

His thinking, however, was interrupted, as Gayle proved that he was no natural at handling oxen.

"Give me that." Rick said, annoyed, as he accepted the reins for the oxen anew.

Not many hours passed, before the four people in the merchant's cart could see the town of Roughensburg. It was massive, and that was especially visible due to the fact that its location was at the bottom of a huge, crater-like hole.

Rick and the others held fast, as the cart took them on their way down the steep, paved slope, which the Royal Road was slowly turning into.

As more of the area that surrounded Roughensburg came into view, the fact that the town was built in the middle of a lake became apparent. That was also where the capital got its nickname, Groundwater City, from.

A rusteling noise came from the back of the cart, as if someone was moving themself. It was the priest man who had suddenly risen to his feet. He appeared astounded by the beauty of Roughensburg.

'Well, I suppose anyone would be awe-struck. It's a pretty capital we have.' The pondering merchant thought to himself, chuckling slightly at the surprised man in the back.

That was when Gayle decided to break the ice with their passengers. He patted his socially awkward brother on the shoulder, as to say "don't worry, I've got this."

"Welcome to Groundwater City, or well, Roughensburg - our capital. It looks like ye're both new here, so we'll show ye 'round if ye tell us yer names." The more socially adept merchant said.

Both of the two hooded men turned their gazes towards Gayle, who didn't appear intimidated by the oppressive aura that emanated from the two men.

The man, who Rick assumed was a priest, nodded to his companion before sighing. The hostile intent he had shown earlier appeared to have become weaker, if only a little bit.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you, however, I do have a condition." He said, sounding almost accommodating.

Both of the merchants looked at each other, confused. Rick became slightly worried as to the reason why the priest wouldn't give them his name that easily.

"Well... Lets's hear it." The less socially adept brother said.

"It's simple, really. Tell me whether or not you're followers of the Church." The priest said, subtedly revealing his hand which was placed on a knife.

Gayle started laughing heartily at the strange question.

"No, we're businessmen. I cannot think of anything more ungodly." He said.

"Well then, I suppose there's no reason to hide my face anymore. But you will have to forgive my servant, Zennereth, who will be keeping his hood on. As a child, he was horribly burnt by Fire Magic. Revealing his face would be rude to show to you." The white-robed man said, before removing his hood.

In an instant, it became clear that the before hooded man wasn't human. Long ears, black hair, but the most noticeable feature of his was the scars that covered his face. They looked like scars from a cat-o-nine-tails.

Once again, Gayle gave of a comforting, cheery laughter, which would make almost anyone trust him instantaneously. He just appeared too nice to have something like ulterior motives. This made him the perfect businessman.

"An elf, huh? It isn't every day we see yer kind here in Kanburrough. I can see why ye didn't want for us to know yer identity. Why are ye wearing a priest's robes, though? As far as I know, the Church doesn't take kindly too elves." The older brother said.

A slight smile spread across the scarred elf's face. Apparently it wasn't often that people took kindly to his appearance.

"My name is Ash. This over here is Zennereth, my servant." He said, and tapped the still-hooded man beside him on the shoulder.

"Well then, Ash, as thanks for saving us, my brother, Rick, will give ye yer reward for protecting us. My name is Gayle, by the way." The slightly fat merchant said, and stretched out his hand.

The elf looked at the outstretched hand for a few seconds, before finally taking it. Once again, he proved himself to be unfamiliar with kindness. Rick felt a little bad for him, as he watched the two men shake hands.

'He looks as socially awkward as I am. We might get along.' The younger merchant thought to himself, chuckling as he pulled out a small, yet heavy pouch of gold coins.

The elf's servant stretched out a gloved hand, so Rick placed the pouch in Zennereth's outstretched hand. Even though the pouch was heavy, the hooded man's arm didn't drop even an inch when the many, heavy gold coins were placed in his hand.

"There should be fifty gold coins in there. Feel free to count." Rick said, while attempting to smile in a friendly manner.

The socially inept merchant wasn't good at smiling. His smiles looked as pretentious as he felt while making them, which was why his brother did the talking during their  deal-making sessions. However, this time, Rick managed to pull off a somewhat convincing smile.

Unsure of what that meant, the smiling merchant continued to smile, while his brother showed their trade-certificate to the capital's gatekeepers.

The loaded cart then passed through the gates, into Roughensburg.

Chapter end