Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn! 45 Money Isn't Everything 4

A group of nearly 200 riders were gathered at the site of the battle. Around 95% of them were dismounted and readying to setup camp at a distance away from where the carnage and decomposing bodies still lay rotting.

Despite the dreadful stench, the men merely held their breath slightly when too near a corpse. Each and every one of the cloaked and hooded bandits were veteran warriors who had seen many appalling sights in their lives.

However, they were still shaken by the spectacle before them.

It would not be so disturbing if there were some signs of struggle such as drawn and bloodied weapons, crumpled clothes or remnants of their enemies' blood. No marks on blades, no nicks, no torn clothes left behind from a scuffle.

It also would not be so disturbing if any of the men were in a fighting stance, whether offensive or defensive. None such was seen; each and every one appeared to have been fleeing for their lives.

And it would be less disturbing if not for every single man - except Raghu - dying from a single smooth pierce of a sword. From the wounds, it looked to be the exact same sword taking the life of all the deceased.

Snake Spear Lust, their most proficient tracker, held her head in her hands, desperately trying to envision how the battle had played out. But she could not.

The only thing she could glean from the evidence would be that the bandits faced either a Grandmaster Assassin or a similarly powerful Mage.

Their leader, Sand Crab Byrus knelt down beside Raghu's cold and decaying body. He ignored the pungent smell of death and the accompanying sour decaying taste that filled his mouth from the close proximity, then he touched the already dried blood and rotting corpse.

As a sign of his devotion to his fallen brother, he then raised the last vestiges of human body fluids to his mouth, decisively licking at the dried blood and swallowing.

"Brother..."

He stood up, a fire raging in his heart and his eyes flashing with vengeance.

"I shall avenge you!"

He turned and laid his cold-yet-smouldering gaze on Lust, his intent and question clear without words.

The Snake Spear King gaze a terse and succinct report, "From the directions of the wagon tracks and the hoof marks of the Sar'peh, the group came from the Arena of Valour. From the marks of the wheels on the road, they should have already covered the distance and arrived at Gorun city this morning."

"We ride through the evening. I'll give you 5 minutes to prepare. We will reach Gorun in 3 days..."

Then he swept his gaze over his men, causing whoever his vision passed over to shiver and tremble involuntarily at the overflowing killing intent found within.

The roughly 1.9 metre tall Lord Sand Crab then walked lightly over, belying the hulking weight of the thick wyvern-plate armour that gave him his names' sake, then mounted his Sar'peh in one smooth movement. He trotted off to wait in the south-eastern edge of the clearing, clearly impatient and more than willing to let his hands taste the blood of any stragglers to soothe his simmering fury.

As the men scrambled to pack and repack whatever they had taken out and frantically readied themselves to set off once more, Byrus gazed into the distant horizon in the exact direction of his prey's destination.

'Gorun city huh... I'll have to call on my master for a favour to sniff out the rat who dared kill my men... And my brother...'

The Grandmaster realm powerhouse sat as straight as a sword on his Sar'peh, raring and ready to go to exact his vengeance.

The most curious thing was that he looked exactly like the disguised form of Lars.

* * * * *

"Earth...? I'm sorry, I really have not heard of this name before. But the All-Heaven Divine Empire I have heard of! Please excuse me while I... Yes..."

Lars was standing before a considerably older man, though one whose hair was still mostly black. He stood before a service counter as he asked the man about hi home planet, Earth.

The mild-mannered man then dug through some files under the counter, searching around in the drawers and taking out one folder after another. He would then pore through the contents of the folder, squinting every now and then before shaking his head in disappointment, then rustling through the cabinets and drawers once again.

Despite feeling an itch in his throat at the dust and nearly coughing, Lars felt a pleasant and homely sensation. The musty smell of old paper felt nostalgic and quite... Pleasant, reminding him of his days in the Ipoh central library, one of his only places to hide away from the realities and cruelties of life.

Then after nearly 20 minutes of determined searching, on the 28th file, Mushana exclaimed softly in happiness. "Yes! Finally, finally, yes! I've found it! I knew I had laid eyes on this in my files before, I was pretty sure I'd heard the name once, long ago." He blew the dust off the file in his hands and turned it over to give Lars a look.

The young mage was very impressed with how helpful the Senior Manager had been; it was obvious that Jazir must be a close friend to elicit such a great and helpful response from such a highly placed manager!

He nodded as he read the title of the file: "Rocco Clan trade partners revision VII".

He looked up at the older man who nodded enthusiastically and explained, "Indeed there is a teleportation channel available to the All-Heaven Divine Empire's Planet South Heaven; it is controlled by the Rocco clan."

"Unfortunately, the Rocco clan are located on other side of the hemisphere, across two oceans and an entire continent! Fortunately for you, it *is* possible to teleport from Gorun directly to Raccoon city! Just... It's going to cost a hefty sum to go so far..."

He then pulled out a nearly 50 cm tall and 2 cm thick brochure labelled "Travel Cost & Schedule", flipping through it speedily then stopping somewhere near the end of the catalogue.

Continuing on without needing to hear Lars' response, the experienced manager explained the upcoming schedule and cost of traveling.

"18,000 platinum coins for a one way special journey, or else the next scheduled trip with the cost shared will be in... 9 months. There's a large group of traders that have a time-critical shipment then. If you join them, you'll probably only have to cover about 800 to 900 platinum!"

Seeing Lars stunned expression and gaping, wide-open mouth, the kindly older man furrowed his brows in thought, stroking the wispy beard on his chin.

"Well... There *is* another way if you can't afford to pay or to wait..."

A hopeful look flashed across the young mage's face at those words, "Really...? Is there another way to use the portal...?"

"Yes; yes!" Mushana smiled kindly and explained, "You just need to get permission from the de Caldis family! They're the ones in charge here in Gorun; all you need is the order to come from the Northpoint Duke Leanne de Caldis and you'll get to use the portal for absolutely no charge at all! Of course, that's usually even harder than gathering those coins; you'd need great merit *and* be a high noble to get such a favour!"

"As hard as that sounds, there's no need to despair my friend! You *could* distinguish yourself if you're lucky. Lucky and skillful enough! In four day's time, there'll be recruitment competition for the Duke's private guards. Mayhaps you could stand out at that time and find employ with the esteemed Northpoint Duke!"

'A duke, huh...? Same as Duke Silvan...?' He nodded, contemplating his choices, then thanked the very kind and very helpful government official.

"Well, my friend, if Jazir sent you, surely you've done him a big favour. If you see him anytime soon, tell him he owes me a drink! Haha!" With that, the eccentric but incredibly helpful gentleman returned to his own work, disappearing into the door he had emerged from.

For the umpteenth time today, Lars sighed. Looking at the money he had, even if he had not given anyway, he would still be impossibly far away from collecting 18,000 platinum coins.

He left and headed back to his lodgings; to change and then look for a way to earn money and plan for the next day before the sunset.

Looked like despite the old adage saying it wasn't true, money was still everything...

Chapter end