Chapter 93

"Reason for visit?"

"Work."

The guard looked up and down at the man in front of him. He wore a long, dirty, and slightly torn cloak which covered rusted plate armor. The guard also eyed the man's weapons which included a sword in a sheath on his back, two daggers on a belt, and a morning star at his side.

"Hmm, another merc or adventurer trying to make ends meat huh? You better behave yourself and keep those weapons sheathed or we will have a problem. You understand?"

"Yes."

"Ok pay the entry fee and you may enter," said the guard with evident greed in his eyes.

The man handed the guard a few coins before stepping in through the large gateway into the large city.

Inside the city lay bustling streets, armed patrols, and large towers overlooking everything. Many of the people on the streets were armed and gruff. Hardly anyone looked wealthy or carefree. Almost no families or children were around. Merchants had set up stalls filled with goods that would mainly only be useful to warriors and hunters.

"Charming little place" commented Kane.

Kane had traveled several days to get to the Kingdom of Kokar. This place was apparently still in the forest's territory but no trees could be seen. Apparently, they had been cut down which is why it was barren for many square miles. The city was gloomy and vicious and it seemed as if they had been preparing for war for many, many years. Most buildings were made out of an unknown dark grey stone and everything seemed heavily guarded. Kane wondered what the sparrow kingdom looked like. Another interesting fact was despite the greedy guard the place seemed rather open to visitors. Kane found that funny due to how unfriendly the place seemed. Maybe because most of the visitors seemed to be mercenaries and adventurers and apparently that was a thriving business in some of these kingdoms.

"My Lord! You made it!" A hushed yell came from behind Kane.

"Hyatt Chan it is good to see you again," said Kane to the man behind him.

"As it is you, My Lord, I wish it was under better circumstances," said the tubby merchant.

"I am glad you were available. I hope this is not too much to ask."

"It's alright I owe all my success to you. Come I have a place for us to go and discuss everything."

Kane was pleased to see Chan again. It had been a while but Kane was happy with his progress as his success showed with the amount of gold that was brought into the Iron Rose Kingdom.

As Kane walked with Hyatt down a quiet and unpopulated alleyway he thought to himself about the past day's events. He had talked to Kellog who had a few ideas to increase Deus Belli's strength but would have to look more into most of them. He also had an idea that correlated with infiltrating the Kingdom of Kokar. Kellog and Skeg both agree it would be useful to not only get more information on their enemies but find some talent. Apparently, there was a lot of strength for hire and Kane could find some useful warriors. Kane sent Othes ahead with a couple of crusaders to go find Hyatt Chan. Kane hoped the merchant would have some connections that could help them out in Kokar. He also wanted to get some backup sent to meet him at the kingdom as well. After all, this new endeavor could be especially dangerous.

"We are coming towards our destination now," said Hyatt.

Kane walked into an old, seemingly abandoned store.

"Sorry about the mess. I plan to fix it up soon so it will make a better cover. Lucky for us this street has little to no foot traffic at the moment.

Looking around Kane saw a small assembly of familiar faces. Othes was present studying the Final Flight tome, Hyatt's guards were sitting around chatting, a few crusaders in sturdy unmarked merc armor, and all four Kazaki nomads were busy fixing up the place. All turned towards the group walking in and when they noticed Kane they immediately stood at attention and saluted.

Kane smiled at this rag-tag team. They would all be useful in infiltrating this hellhole.

"We have a lot of work to do men. Let's get to it!" said Kane.

"Yes sir!" responded the group. The Kazaki warriors who Kane deemed important enough to have joined him on this mission were doing some sort of bow that Kane did not recognize. Either way, everyone seemed ready to tackle this new challenge.