Chapter 89 - Pretty Stars

Fort Togo was finally in sight. Their caravan was ahead of schedule so they didn't have to worry about paying extra fees on their wagon rentals. "A line? Looks like they're on lockdown. I wonder what happened." Annie was standing on the top of the wagon. Mimi's tentacles were wrapped around the bars so even if she fell she wouldn't fall off the wagon. "Gren, we've got a line up ahead! Tell the others behind you to put their weapons down!"

Gren was on the wagon behind hers. He traded places with Osmond to give Annie a break from driving. After following Annie's instructions, everybody laid their weapons down. The line was kinda long so Gren prepared to spend the night outside the walls.

"Hey, did the boss lady say what we can do with the animals we've hunted?" The person asking was Erling. He was a hunter by trade but moonlighted as a mercenary because he was desperate for money.

"No, but I'll give you permission to sell whatever you've killed. If she says anything then I'll take the blame." Gren learned a few tricks from Erling so he'd be willing to receive a scolding for him. Not only was he able to set up interesting traps that Gren hadn't thought of but his ability to cheat in cards was impressive. If Gren didn't have the system then he wouldn't have known that he had been cheated.

The line was slowly moving along as the soldiers searched each carriage and wagon. "Where did all of these people come from? We didn't pass this many on the way." They only passed maybe a dozen groups on the way while there were at least twenty wagons outside the gates.

"Fort Togo gets a lot of trade coming from this direction but the traders don't come back this way." Chase was the one that answered his question. "They'll trade their fresh goods here or have them processed and then bring everything to the capital. The only traders you'll see coming back this way are those returning to Adierton." He seemed pretty knowledgeable about the trade in this area. "The others will take goods from the capital south towards Baron Emmett's territory. The capital's goods aren't as popular in the Adier Duchy since Adierton produces mostly the same things. The only exception is magical devices but that's because of the magic academy there. That'll probably change when Duke Adier's daughter returns to Adierton."

He had heard that the Duke had two sons and a daughter but he didn't know much about them. One of the sons was a real asshole so Gren didn't expect much from the daughter. "Is she talented at making magical devices?"

"Yeah, her talent seems to be on par with the Goddess's daughter." Gren's eye twitched when he heard that. "Some say that the Goddess had twins and that the two were separated at birth since they're the same age. I'm not sure about that, to be honest."

"The Goddess doesn't have a daughter." The high priestess, Gabriella, already said that the woman in Doga was a fraud. "I have it on good authority that she gave birth to a son."

"Oh, who told you this?" Gren was tempted to tell Chase that he was the son of the Goddess but he wanted his mother to wake up before telling anybody.

"The high priestess in Adierton. She has met him in person." Gren decided to let her deal with any inquiries. Chase thought about it and decided not to continue the discussion. He would be heading back to Sekaton after this request but, the next time he headed to Adierton, he'd ask her about it.

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One of the soldiers from the gate approached their caravan and talked to Annie. There were plenty of people ahead of them so it was strange. After Annie showed him some papers, he saluted her. Annie then pointed towards the other vehicles in their caravan and the soldier nodded before jogging towards the gate.

With the soldier gone, Annie hopped of the wagon and walked towards Gren. "We've got permission to cut the line. Everybody get ready to go." Perhaps she knew that Gren would ask so she added one more thing. "The soldiers had been notified that we'd be heading this way to fulfill the request." That was good news. They'd get one night of rest and relaxation before heading out. The merchant wasn't allowed through early so he paid Annie for the request and waited to be let in.

Fort Togo was much smaller than Adierton and it lacked the infrastructure from the ruins so it was more old-fashioned. There were drainage ditches running along the roads that people dumped their waste water into. The buildings were all close together and had multiple stories to them. The base floors were made of stone with wooden huts built above them, similar to how the shanties looked in Adierton.

"Do you find it odd that people live in shacks like that? Most of the stone buildings were built long ago when we didn't have so many people. A lot of craftsmen died in the war against the demihumans and there are few who picked up the trade." Erling must have noticed that Gren was staring at the huts. "It's not all bad news. The capital has recently created a new academy for craftsmen so these little huts will all be gone in thirty years."

Annie directed all of the wagons to stop in front of a building with a horseshoe and carriage symbol above its doors. "I'll go tell them that their horses and wagons are here to be picked up. Make sure that they only take the wagons that have their logo on them. Afterwards, I need to check for any place that can hold us for a night before the rest of those outside the gate get in."

Shortly after Annie entered the building, a few kids came from inside and looked at the wagons. After looking at the wagons, they checked the horses. "Can you bring the horses and wagons around to the back of the building?" The oldest of the kids, a boy that was maybe Gren's age, spoke to his group. The rest of the mercenaries grabbed their luggage and hopped off except those that knew how to drive them.

After the mercenary were done bringing them around, Gren helped to detach his own wagons. The other two belong to you so we'll just be bringing these away. Gren tried pulling the metal wagon which made him remember how heavy they were. "Um, Troels, Ahk. Can you two lend me a hand?" Ahk was able to pull the metal wagon singlehandedly while Troels was strapped in and pulled the wooden one like a draft horse.

The place that Annie found was an old stable that had been changed into a lodging. Actual horses weren't allowed but it had room for everybody and they could pull the wagons inside. "It seems kinda appropriate that we're staying in a stable with Troels here." Dill, the man that had a death wish, decided to make an idiotic comment.

Troels kicked Dill lightly, only sending him back a few feet. "I'm not a horse." He seemed a bit offended but it wasn't a surprise, really.

"Nothing wrong with being compared to a horse. I wish I had legs like that." Osmond added himself to the conversation. "You can reach high speeds compared to us with two legs. It has to be great to be a centaur."

"It's not as good as you're imagining it. Everything is built for people with two legs and I have to walk everywhere. Turning around is a pain and I can't even wash my own ass." That did sound like an annoyance. "Then there are the women; they flirt and act interested but most of them don't even go through with the sex because they're too scared."

"That sounds like a nice problem to have." Gren could imagine that Dill was crying tears of blood under his helmet. "In my case they're just not interested."

"That's because you're terrible at flirting. Maybe you shouldn't start a conversation by telling women that you can't wait to fuck them." Annie wanted to tell Gren something and overheard what they were talking about. "I've never told anybody this and I can't believe I'm saying it, but you should be more like Gren." Hey! "He's a bit silly at times but he has managed to get three wives and attract the attention of at least one more woman."

"You have three wives? Life isn't fair, man." Dill was shaking his head. "How do you do it?"

"That's a bit complicated and it was really down to luck. I only found out about it later but hobgoblins go into heat when around the same male for an extended period of time." He felt bad for taking advantage of her biology but he didn't know at the time that he was doing it. "Then the mother of my second wife walked in and saw me having sex with my first wife and asked me to marry her daughter."

"That doesn't sound at all realistic. Are you sure that you're actually married and that this wasn't some dream?" Dill couldn't be blamed for not believing Gren. "What kind of woman just asks some guy to marry their daughter after seeing him balls deep in another woman?"

"The guild master does. She told me about it and, to be honest, I can't blame her for making that decision." Annie decided to tell him what Jessica told her. "Her daughter's that half-draconoid in that wagon over there. Gren wasn't prejudiced against demihumans and she wanted her daughter to be happy. He seemed to be a good choice and, in the end, the guild master was right. The two of them are good together."

That was the first time that Annie had said something nice about him without teasing him but the conversation soon became awkward. Dill had a perfectly reasonable question that couldn't be answered. "Well, as long as they're happy, I guess. But who is your third wife?"

"The stars are pretty tonight." Gren decided to ignore Dill.

"It's cloudy out and the sun hasn't set fully. There are no stars. Come on, just tell me who it is." Dill really wanted to know now. "Annie, you know who it is, right?"

"The stars really are pretty tonight." The stars might not have been shining in the sky but Annie also decided to ignore Dill.

Unfortunately, Annie was not the only one who knew the answer to that question. "It's the guild master. I only saw it through his memories but it was kinda hot seeing a mother and daughter having sex with the same man." Mimi knew why Annie and Gren were trying to hide it but felt that it'd be funnier to watch them try to explain it.

Dill, Osmond, and Troels decided not to ask Gren for an explanation, to Mimi's disappointment. They all looked up to the sky. While there were no stars, none of them would mention that right now. In their hearts they could see the stars that Gren and Annie could see.