Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Merchant City

Lapis City, Also known as The Merchant City.

Mainly a port city that specializes in trade with other countries and the nearby Island Nations. They say if you become a successful merchant here, you can be as rich as the nobility, which is true. Merchants started getting so rich that the royal family allowed them to buy their way into nobility for a yearly price. The Empire grows economically, and merchants get their own private land. Everybody wins, right? Wrong. Where there is money involved, corruption is sure to follow. There have been rumors of illegal trading for decades now, but the royal family can't find hard proof. The merchants protect each other. Honor among thieves after all.

Although, if you believe the rumors, there is nothing honorable going on at all. You have your normal imports: food, materials, weapons, and jewelry, which seems normal, but if the rumors are to be believed, that's not all being traded. Slaves, Children, Spies from other countries, drugs—you name it, there's a good chance someone is moving it to and from these ports.

While the royal family does know about these rumors and have sent people to investigate them, almost nothing has come up; either the investigators are getting paid off or worse.

Of course, there are five major noble families in the city—the ones who truly run this place and more than likely are the ones also trading in the dark side of the business—and if it wasn't obvious, one of these families is the Tarren Family. While not the biggest house, they do have significant influence in the city.

The Tarren family is headed by Duncan Tarren. A man who came up from being a smalltime merchant and is now one of the most influential of the families. More than likely, he didn't reach his high status without getting his hands dirty, if you ask me. He would marry the oldest daughter of a smaller house, Ellen Tarren. While not being from a big family, she was known to have a great business sense, making her a prime marriage target for Duncan. The couple would have two kids together, Oliver and Randall Tarren. While Oliver is learning about merchant business, Randall is training to go to one of the royal academies to be a knight. At least Randall seems to be the cleanest among the Tarren family, but that's a pretty low bar. And of course, Oliver Tarren would be the guy who was engaged to my sister, Raven, but, like hell, I would let that happen.

"The ocean looks so pretty!" Eve said, staring at the waters from the port.

When Alex, Kaede, Anna, and Eve arrived in Lapis City, they started to walk around to get the lay of the land. However, Eve, being as childlike as ever, stopped and started to look at the ocean. She was born in the middle of the eastern territory. The most ocean-like thing she had seen up to this point were lakes, so this was a brand new sight to her. The crystal-clear waters of the ocean, seeing Eve this happy, made Alex want to one day take her and everyone else out to the beach together.

A real family vacation.

The group was walking down the streets, and Alex asked Kaede a question he was curious about.

"Hey Kaede, you said you were from the Western Island Nations, right? How come you don't look any different from anyone in the Empire?"

Kaede smiled and explained "While yes, I was born in the Islands, my blood was still half Imperial after all. It seems I resemble my father more than my mother, although I do have my mother's personality.

Alex wanted to get to know her a little more. He had been getting closer to Kaede since she revealed her story, and she was interesting to him. However, there were more pressing matters to attend to first. Raven's wedding. Alex needed to stop it no matter what, but he couldn't exactly break into the Tarren mansion. After all, that's where he first went; he asked a local for directions and went to scope the place out. However, it was guarded to the teeth. Not only were there the black armored guards from the Blackwood household, but there were also the troops from the Tarren household.

While not impossible to take, it would be a challenge, so Alex had to wait it out for a better opportunity. However, he did hear an interesting little bit of information from the locals.

"Did you know Oliver Tarren is getting married in the cathedral on Saturday? It's supposed to be a big event with a parade and everything!" One of the local women said this while gossiping with her friends.

"Oh really? We should go!" Another of the women said.

So the marriage was at a cathedral, and the event was supposed to be very public, meaning tons of people, which would spread the guards thin. While most of them would no doubt be near the cathedral, it gave Alex a better chance to interrupt the ceremony rather than just storming the mansion.

So he and the girls rented out two rooms at an Inn. The girls had one room, while Alex had his own. He felt safe leaving them in the care of Kaede in case of any emergencies.

Since the wedding wasn't for a few days, Alex decided to take a small job at the local mercenary guild. These guilds exist for people to be able to take on all types of jobs. From delivery jobs, monster elimination, and even being a bodyguard for a set amount of time.

Alex went into the guild hall alone and went to the front desk to sign up.

"Welcome to the Lapis City Mercenary Guild; my name is Danielle. It's nice to meet you." The girl behind the counter said.

Danielle was in her early 20s with light brown hair and green eyes. She was extremely pretty and had a gorgeous smile.

"What is a girl that pretty working behind a guild desk?" Alex thought to himself.

"Well, hello Danielle, I would like to sign up as a mercenary." Alex said.

"You look fairly young; how old are you?" Dannielle asked.

"I just turned 18 last week." Alex stated.

A little lie won't hurt; it's not like I'll stay here long after all.

"Oh, ok, well, since you're a new signee, here's some papers, and once you fill those out, you can take any of the D-Rank starting jobs." Danielle said.

Signups for the mercenary guild are typically given the rank of D. The lowest ranks take mainly low-risk jobs or assist the C ranks for jobs that they need a party for. The Ranks go as follows: D Rank, C Rank, B Rank, A Rank, S Rank, and lastly, SS Rank. There is a SSS rank, but it may as well not exist since nobody lives long enough to reach it.

Alex signed all of the papers and is now a registered guild member, at least for the time being.

Alex then took a look at the jobs available for D Class members and found an easy enough job: just kill a pack of wolves that have been killing local farm animals. It was a perfect job, easy enough to complete, and not too far away. He should be there and back by midnight.

"Hey Danielle, I accept this quest." Alex said.

"Wolves? Don't you think you should start with something easier since you're new?" Danielle tried to warn Alex, but he wasn't hearing it.

"I've already fought off a goblin attack; I'm not exactly a rookie to combat." Alex said.

"Oh well, in that case, The job is yours; just come back safe, ok?" Danielle said it worriedly.

"I will; I may get back late tonight. When do you close up shop?" Alex asked.

"Our doors close at about ten at night, then we open back up at six in the morning." Danielle explained.

"I more than likely won't be back tonight then; I'll see you in the morning, Danielle." Alex said.

"Stay safe and good luck, Alex!" Danielle said.

Now Alex had a job to pass the time with: kill some wolves, get some money, and save Raven. Everything was coming together slowly but surely.

*Meanwhile*

In a fancy room at the Tarren mansion, there was a lone girl sitting in a chair. She was looking out of her window, just staring at the beautiful city below. The sun was going down, and it gave a beautiful orange hue to the sky.

*Sigh*

Raven has been at the mansion for about two days now. She refused to talk to anyone and locked herself in her room. She only ate the food that she brought with her on the trip and didn't eat anything the Tarren family made her. She didn't trust them not to put something in the food and poison her, and she didn't even trust the maid she was given by Edward either.

"Alex, where are you?" She thought to herself.

She had been waiting for Alex to save her since she arrived in the city.

"You made me a promise; please keep it, Alex."

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