Chapter 20

Despite his apprehension, Edward sat quietly in the cart, no matter his doubts, there was nothing he could do about it. When they were barely ten meters from the city, their carts suddenly stopped.

Intrigued, Edward reflexively placed his hand on the pommel of his sword, meanwhile, Gregore got out of the cart to observe the situation, Iza Glyn and Edward followed in turn a few moments later.

Their carts were clearly not the only ones stopped, the rest of the troop had also stopped in front of the village. Curious, Edward questioned out loud, "What's going on?"

Standing next to Edward, Glyn replied, "It sometimes happens that a merchant troop remains stranded for a while in front of cities due to checks put in place by the city lord, this is nothing unusual."

Edward nodded, he was not surprised that such measures were put in place to check the merchandise. He had even heard that some lords demanded bribes in exchange for the right to sell on their land.

"However, it's strange that this small town would carry out this kind of control, especially with a well-known merchant like Marius."

Glyn's words made Edward think, 'Maybe something happened in the town recently.'

As Edward remained in thought, he noticed Marius approaching them, his imposing beard looking slightly disheveled. Once in front of them, Marius, the leader of the troop, spoke with a hoarse voice.

"We can't go any further with the carts at the moment, I have to go discuss the taxes on the goods with the lord's steward and the head of the merchants' guild. You four, come with me."

Edward and the three members of the black rose nodded and moved towards the city with Marius. As the five walked, Marius spoke again, staring at the village in front of him.

"Oh, now that I think about it, could one of you go get Jacob, tell him we're not going any further with him...I don't want him with my troop any longer."

Marius' unexpected decision surprised Edward, however he did not disagree with this choice, for him Jacob was clearly a threat to the troop.

As Edward was about to offer to warn Jacob himself, Gregore didn't give him time to speak, "I'll warn him, I'll meet you in town later."

Without waiting any longer, Gregore walked away towards Jacob's carriage.

The four continued on their paths finally reaching the gates of the city where they were greeted by a man in copper armor, he was rather tall with black hair and eyes.

The man greeted Marius in a rather gruff manner, raising his hand "Welcome to Fortbune, my name is Bati, I am the head of the guard, I will guide you for now."

Marius did not seem to mind Bati's lack of politeness, he exchanged a few small talk with him before continuing to advance in the city under his direction.

Bati looked like an adventurer, he displayed a kind smile on his face while talking with Marius, he occasionally glanced in the direction of Edward and his two companions while displaying a kind smile.

"We are going to the Chamber of Commerce, we will be there in a few minutes at most"

As they walked through the streets of the city, a strange feeling came over Edward, the city was quiet, there were no civilians, no children playing in the street, no merchants... However despite this apparent calm, Edward felt eyes lingering on them from several directions.

Iza also seemed to perceive the strangeness of the city, her hand was on the sheath of her sword, she gestured to Glyn who quickly understood her intentions.

Taking advantage of the distance of a few meters which separated them from Bati and Marius, Iza whispered to Edward and Glyn "Don't do anything rash for the moment, let's wait for Gregore to return before acting, if the situation goes badly Glyn will take Marius and we flee towards the convoy. Is it clear?"

Edward nodded, he didn't see a problem with Iza's plan, plus he knew he had no experience, relying on a clear plan in this kind of situation was much more favorable for them if the things were going really bad.

The three moved closer to Marius, ready to activate their plans if the situation turned bad.

Finally they arrived in front of a large trade guild building in the city center without anything happening, Bati turned around with his usual smiling face "Here we are, they are waiting for us inside."

Scream!

Bati opened the door, however before entering he turned to Marius and nodded towards Edward and company.

 "I heard one of your guards was going to join you, why not leave one of them outside so they can find us more easily?"

Before Marius responded, Iza spoke "It's not a problem, Gregore will find us easily he knows that we are heading towards the trade guild."

Bati's smile faltered for a moment before returning to normal, as if it had never changed. "Alright, then let's go back."

In the building, two men were waiting quietly seated around a table, upon noticing Marius, they showed a complicated expression before smiling quietly.

The smaller of the two, stood up slowly with a tight smile "Hello Marius, it's been a long time since the last time… Let's not waste any more time, let's quickly resolve this matter of the location of your troop, I have to return to my lord ."

Marius stroked his beard gently and replied in his hoarse voice "Indeed Bob, it's been a long time…"

Edward frowned, just now the newly named Bob mentioned a location problem, however Marius had said that this meeting was to deal with taxes on merchandise!

Edward will hold the pommel of his sword stronger, out of the corner of his eye he saw Glyn bring his hand closer to his sword, he too had understood the strangeness!

Swouiish!

Suddenly, the sound of a sword's edge echoed in the room, Glyn quickly turned around but it was too late, a sword sliced ​​cleanly through his arm in a rush of blood.

Pock!

Glyn, the missing right arm, remained stunned for a moment before screaming in pain, falling heavily to the ground, his left hand putting pressure on his now severed right arm.

Aaaahhhh!

Edward widened his eyes and drew his sword in a second turning his gaze towards the attacker.

The latter let out a sigh of sadness "Damn Bob, I told you it was a tax problem, TAXES not location! Do you realize your mistake? Do you realize I'm going to have to kill you for this?! Do you realize I'm going to have to kill them for that?! Do you realize your betrayal!?"

The owner of this crazy sounding voice was none other than Bati, the guard who had accompanied them into the city earlier, he waved his sword filled with Glyn's blood while twisting his body in a strange way as if he was overcome with mad pleasure.

"Aaaah~ Now that I think about it, maybe I was the one who was wrong! Oh ! Now that I think about it it's not important, I was planning to kill you from the start!"

Clap !

Bati joins his hands as if he had just had a great realization "Oh done Marius, your mission was to bring us Jacob, why are you bringing us adventurers? Don't worry, you will still receive your money but I wonder… ANSWER WHY!?? Oh I got carried away, sorry! HAHAHAHA"

Edward swallowed hard, 'Bati seems completely crazy, his nice and calm behavior during their journey was just a facade? However, from what he had just said, he and Marius work together! We were fooled from the start!'

Knock Knock knock !

After the knock on the door, Bati seemed to come to his senses and spoke calmly, "What's the matter, I'm busy here."

A monotone voice responded from outside, "We captured Jacob and killed the adventurer who accompanied him as you asked us, however we were unable to recover the target, it seems that Jacob helped him to escape before we arrive…"

Edward gritted his teeth 'They killed Gregore!' Anger rose within him, however he didn't let his feelings take over, taking advantage of Bati's conversation with the man outside, he rushed towards Bati. sword in hand.