22 - The new capital

The next few days passed rather quickly, either Merlin was chatting with the usual adventure group or laying in the sun atop of the King tiger's turret, and then finally 11 days after they had joined the merchant convoy they reached the capital, Geographically the capital was placed in the south-east of the country, it had been moved due to its sudden proximity of the old capital to the theocratic empire of Helga, the new capital city was undergoing rapid development, merchant convoys were entering and leaving the city from all 4 gates like flowing water, the Edwardo merchant convoy stopped a few hundred meters from the walls where Merlin was talking with the merchant Erik that just had returned form chatting with the guards of the new capital

"I am sorry Merlin, they don't allow the tanks within the walls… If you would wait out here I'll deliver payment within the next 24 hours without fail"

Merlin narrowed his eyes slightly before he nodded, he decided to trust Erik for the time being, though he had already received a written receipt for his services and more importantly due payment, after saying his goodbyes to the rest of the adventures Merlin sighed before he climbed up onto one of the Centurions before he commanded the tanks to park off the road, then he sat down on the turret and watched the convoys pass by, the tanks drew some attention but it wasn't overwhelming soon Geo walked over and called out from below the ground beside the tank

"Merlin, do you mind if I go shopping for some necessities?"

Merlin shook his head

"Not at all, buy some blankets too… Here"

Merlin threw a dragon scale to Geo that nodded and spoke

"Will do"

Then he blended into the crowd and soon passed the gate and walked into the new capital city, Merlin sighed, he wanted very much to explore the different world's city, but he was deeply afraid of benign away from the tanks for too long, after all he was only human, a single knife in the dark was all it took to end his life, so he sat on the top of the turret and gazed at the crowds moving

"Hey…"

"Hmm?"

Merlin looked to his side, unknowingly Jane had appeared next to him, she spoke

"What is the plan for the future?"

Merlin sighed before he looked back at the crowds moving past, then after a bit of arranging his thoughts he spoke

"Well… The ideal would be to get noticed by the king and receive a title after serving for a bit while growing the tank convoy with more and more modern and powerful tanks, at the same time establish contact with a merchant company that would supply us with magic beast cores"

"I see… Then we got a long road ahead of us"

Merlin nodded

"Yeah that's for sure, but I'm not rolling over and showing my belly, if the king shows us bad terms I'll leave for a nearby country"

Jane showed a smile and laid her hand over his as she watched the crowds too as she spoke

"You mean we will"

Merlin nodded and felt a little warm inside

"Sure"

In the evening Geo returned with a bunch of blankets and pillows as well as some camping gear, firestarters, and other necessary things, he climbed up and sat down next to Merlin before he spoke in a low voice as he passed a water skin to him

"I was followed as soon as I left from here"

Merlin nodded and showed a slight smile and spoke after he took a swig from the water skin

"I've felt some gazes too, perhaps it's due to the dragon blood, but I've been a whole lot more sensitive to gazes… What do you think Jane?"

Jane shrugged and received the water skin from Merlin

"I think they're after the dragon parts… We ought to pawn those off as soon as possible, they'll only invite chaos and unnecessary attention to us"

Geo nodded and spoke

"I agree, can't you fit them into your inventory like the dragon scales?"

Merlin shook his head before he explained

"The scales are counted as some sort of currency so they fit… but the bones and skin are just that"

At that moment Merlin suddenly received a notification from the system

[Ding! Quest completed]

He showed a smile before he muttered

"Show me the rest of the requirements for the Mk. 2 androids"

[Ding! required components: 1 x grade 5 magic beast core, 50 x grade 1 tank spare parts, 1 x ??? magic beast component]

Merlin nodded, then he decided to begin rolling the gatcha

'How many points do I have left?'

[Ding! 4371 points are available]

"Okay… Roll the 5 point gatcha 100 times"

[Ding! The reward for rolling 5 point gatcha 100 times: 52 x grade 1 tank spare parts, 48 x self-heating MRE, new point balance: 3871]

"Great, add the 50 grade 1 tank spare parts to the assembly of the blueprint"

[Ding! Reaming items needed for blueprint competition: 1 x grade 5 magic beast core, 1 x ??? magic beast component]

"When can I see what that magic beast component is?"

[Ding! When there are no other items left but that component]

"...Okay then"

"Hey Merlin"

"Hmm?"

Jane pointed towards the front, a group of people was approaching the tanks from the main road, Merlin noticed that there was a mage in between and narrowed his eyes, from his conversation with Ken he knew that there were a few factions of mages and that they didn't see eye to eye, though the one in the middle of that group seemed to be bad news as he was the same faction as the 3 mages they had killed in the border city of Jera, The faction named the Harmony faction, in reality, they weren't really about harmony but more about human supremacy, Merlin showed a smile and spoke

"That's close enough"

The group approaching stopped walking, from there the mage gazed at Merlin, though he wasn't the leader of the group so he didn't speak up, instead, a merchant besides him spoke up

"You seem to have picked up some interesting stuff, I am willing to take it off your hands"

Merlin narrowed his eyes slightly before he spread his arms and spoke

"I already have a contract with another merchant company"

The merchant showed a toothy grin as he clearly didn't believe Merlin and tried to entice him

"Come on now, I'll give you a good price kid"

Merlin sighed then he asked

"So you're confident that you can compete with the merchant company I've signed a contract with?"

"Of course! I'll give you a better price"

"Really, because the Edwardo merchant company have given me a pretty good price already"

When Merlin mentioned what company he had made a deal with the merchant looked like he suddenly had swallowed a bitter bug and repeated

"Edwardo… Merchant… Company… Shit…"

From there he simply turned and walked away along with his group, as they neared the main road the mage from the Harmony faction spoke up

"They have stolen those dragon parts"

The merchant wasn't surprised by that statement and simply asked

"Your reason?"

"The kid's jacket is enchanted, the big metal carriages, they all smell of a ruin site… Possibly with the connection of a wanderer"

"And you think those 3 have stumbled over that ruin site and taken the loot here to the capital to sell?"

"Yes, besides that there's the death mark of 3 of my senior brothers, they recently went to the city of Jera near the border of civilized lands, the marks are on the woman and the old man, the kid is obviously the lesser threat, that's why they gave him the enchanted jacket, he's nothing more than arrow fodder"

The merchant nodded before he spoke

"That sounds reasonable… But the part about the Edwardo merchant company worries me, have our spy there confirm that they actually have a deal, then let's appropriate the parts and sell them to the Edwardo merchant company in their place, they won't care where the parts come from as long as they get them… Simon, prepare for a night raid"

A burly man walking next to the merchant nodded before he broke off from the main group and walked down an alley, he walked quickly and soon arrived in a less savory part of the city, the outer district, where crime ran rampant and gangs ran the day to day security, Simon walked into a warehouse and opened a trapdoor before he climbed down a ladder and arrived in an underground complex, where he opened a door before he called out

"We got a job, get ready for a night raid!"

Silence greeted him, he quickly sensed something was wrong and when he smelled the faint smell of blood he quickly reached for the sword on his hip, as he did a crossbow bolt hit his neck from the side passing straight through his arteries, he coughed blood once, horror clear in his eyes as he collapsed on the ground, from there his body grew cold his wide-open eyes would never see who his killer was, but the last thing he heard was a voice that mattered

"Thinking of crossing the crown with this amount of strength, laughable"