14 Aspirations

"I am going to Sunfall city to conduct trade and hopefully find some loyal hire some capable servants."

Henri was going to major cities to try and make money and find hopeless individuals she could mold into the perfect soldier.

She needed an army, and money. Lots of money. Skills, and resources. Henri had a lot to do still to reach her goals.

"Do you mean that your a merchant?" Alto asked with a little sparkle faintly popping up inside his amber irises.

"No." Replied Henri with one word.

Alto felt like this kid was trying to distance himself from him. But he just could be figure out why?

Was it...because his family is a rival of his? He didn't think so, he was pretty sure he knew all the families and their competent members.

"Do you have family in Sunfall city?" Alto asked, deciding to test the waters.

"No." Replied Henri.

'That's good, now I can extend my hand in a act of friendship.' Alto thought to himself.

Deciding to go through with his plan, he asked Henri if he would like to stay at his estate that was located in Sunfall city.

"I just happen to own a estate in Sunfall city, and since your trying to make money it would sense to save every bit you can. Therefore how about you spend your stay in Sunfall city at my home?"

A confused look appeared on Henri's face for about half a minute, before it dissappeared only to be replaced by a somewhat stiff smile.

"Mr., I just met you. Don't you think it's a little strange if a grown man invites a child to his home?" Henri said, putting her hand on her chin while rubbing it ever so subtlety.

'When its phrased like that, it does sound abit sketchy, huh?' Thought Alto.

'I gotta somehow turn this around!'

Altos very small Adam's apple moved, as he cleared his throat and retorted.

"Ah that is not what I meant, I meant I would like to invite you over to stay at my estate for business reasons. Purely business."

Henri thought for a moment, before replying " I guess I could take you up on a business offer but... you dont even know what kind of business I'm really going to the city for. Do you?"

Wiggling her eyebrows a little, Henri looked him in the eye, as if challenging him to continue this silly game of cat and mouse with her.

"I sort of assumed that your business had to do with Spirit Beasts." Alto said, getting slightly flushed in the face at the thought of him possibly being wrong and looking like an idiot in front of a child.

"Well you just happened to guess correct, yes that is the main ware that I sell. But I also sell a variety of other things. And I also need to stock up on alot of rare supplies. Smaller towns and cities dont have enough to keep me well stocked." Henri stated, as she began to wave her hands about to reiterate her meanings.

"Well my family and me mostly deal with medicine's and alchemy related products. But I know a very reputable family in the city that deals with Spirit Beasts and even some royals of this country go to them for business." Alto said, trying to bolster his image in this kids eyes.

Royal family members are very mysterious and envied among the common masses afterall.

Unfortunely, Henri wouldn't give a flying flaug unless you were a god.

But Alto didnt know this.

"Oh, so what your saying is that there is indeed a good market for my wares." Nodding her head in satisfaction Henri stated, a rather eager look flitting across her face.

"Well I wouldn't try to go against the Ashdale family directly if I were you, but I'm sure I could introduce you to them, and perhaps you could sell some of your product in there shops for a cut of the profit being taken by them." suggested Alto.

"I'll do that. Anyway, it looks like we've started moving already." Henri stated as she pulled back the lacey green curtain, and peered out at the changing scenery outside their carriage.

"I guess we have." replied Alto.

The next few minutes passed by in silence until their carriage slowed down and a roar was heard outside their carriage.

"Oh my. How unlucky it seems some beasts have targeted our convoy. I dont know if we'll be able to hold them off..." Alto said as he started to chew his right thumbnail as a nervous habit.

Henri looked at the "man" sat across from her in the carrriage, and was starting to wonder just how old he was. Why is it that she seemingly acted more mature than him?

"Savien can deal with any Spirit Beast that lives in this forest. Leave it to her. I'm sure she'll capture it as well. Might as well pad my stuck as much as possible. I just hope we didnt take to many Spirit Beasts from the population. As that would surely have some negative repercussions..." She said , her sentence beginning to trail off as she seemingly did some complex calculations in her head.

"I'm sure that's not possible, afterall, Sunfall city often hires adventurers to quell the population due to over population and reports of people being attacked when traveling through the forest." Alto began explaining, all along not knowing that these very words of his that were spoken just now, would undoubtedly cause a dire shortage in Spirit Beasts in Sunblade Forest's near future.

"Hmm. Well if you say so I suppose then I dont need to be worried about it. In fact, I'll tell the others that there's no need to restrain themselves so much now that it seems that my fears will not be proven." Henri said as she began to to rummage through her blue bag.

After about a half minute, she pulled out what appeared to be a white and somewhat eerie looking conical shaped seashell from her bag.

Putting it to her mouth, Henri whispered the following words into the small opening located at the bottom half of the shell.

"The merchant in the carriage with me, says there's plenty of prey in the forest, so there's no need to hold back. Gather as much as possible. Use your two minions covertly to help speed up the process and bolster our profits."

After about a minute the carriage they sat in started to move again and a small voice was emitted from the seashell saying "Orders shall be followed."

Alto gaped at Henri as she gracefully stowed the seashell back into her bag in one swift motion.

"So tell me, are there alot of beggars in this Sunfall City?" Henri inquired in the most childlike and innocent manner as she could muster without gagging.

This question certianly surprised Alto. After taking a moment to compose himself and his thoughts he answered her question abit hesitantly.

"Well every city has their problem citizens, but I assure you me and my family will see to it that you will not be pestered and hassled by those individuals."

This was not the type of answer Henri really wanted to hear, but she was prepared for such a guarded response anyway.

Afterall, who would try and speak badly of a city to a incoming visitor who could potentially be going to that city to do important business and trade. It would be imperative to the economy of the city that people would try to attract visitors and not have them be repulsed away by the poorer and less sightly denizens of said city.