The Smuggler's town

The long line of carriages exited the fox town and entered the dark forest.

Alex peeked out of the window and saw the familiar forest full of tall trees and shadows. The carriage moved along the dirt road was full of grass, gravel, and pits.

Hearing the powerful beast roars, which sounded as if they were few meters away, Alex felt nervous and restrained. The guard on the wind horse beside the carriage gave him some comfort.

To distract himself, Alex once again immersed himself in the book 'Adventure guide to Rookies.' The book mainly describes the common ways to stay alive if you are weak. Ironically, it recommends you to get strong if you wished to live.

One of its main suggestions is to maintain the peak strength of the current rank. The maximum strength of a commoner is 300kg, while the maximum strength of a Rookie is 600Kg. Practice hard to achieve and maintain peak strength.

Learn the skills of Trap making and archery. Make groups with other adventurers and enter only the outer region of the forest.

Before every adventure, gather the latest information about the dangerous beast activities and Beast tides in the Adventure Guild.

The book also describes how to bait and deal with the Earth bear and Wind wolves, which are the most common beasts in the outer regions.

After four hours of reading, just as Alex felt his legs numb, the carriage began to slow down. He looked out of the window and saw the usual tree trunks and the shadows.

"Ah, we are here," said Cletus, suddenly.

"Where?" asked both Kyzer and Alex.

"The Spirit Rabbit tribe," said Cletus, while opening the carriage door with his one good arm and getting out.

Alex jumped out along with Kyzer. At the start of the caravan, Alex saw a small village protected by a three-meter strong fence.

Alex saw the demi-humans with rabbit ears talking with the fat leader and carrying stuff in and out. They reminded him of Lily, the receptionist in the adventure guild. He looked around as he asked.

"How can they stay safe with just a fence?"

"The fence is made of one of Ironwood. Even without magic inscriptions, It can withstand attacks from Alpha. Not to mention, the fence will be inscribed with magic arrays for defense and alarm."

"What about during the Beast tides?" asked Alex.

"They go to the Fox town. As long as they pay a yearly tribute, they can stay for two weeks freely," said Cletus, his face getting dark.

Seeing his expression, Alex stopped talking and looked in the sky only to notice a bluebird with two feathers on its head, sitting on top of a tree.

[Varis, how is everything from up there, buddy?] asked Alex.

[Fine.] said Varis.

[Good, can you see the end of the forest?]

[Yep. It will take two hours based on your caravan speed.]

Alex sighed in relief. Soon, the caravan started moving, and Alex quickly got in. After two hours, just as the evening breeze began to blow, the caravan exited the Dark forest.

After a stretch of vacant land, farms and farmers started to appear. Alex saw other travelers on the wind horses or great wolves quickly passing by them.

Soon, Alex saw the town walls in the distance with his eagle vision. The square-shaped town was surrounded by eight meters tall and three meters wide walls stretching few kilometers on each side.

Alex saw few hundred soldiers in shining armor manning the town walls. Even more shocking were the cannons inscribed with magic arrays which were arranged at regular intervals.

Magic cannons!

After looking at such a strong defense, Alex immediately raised a question.

"Grandpa Cletus, Why is this called the Smugglers town? With such a strong army and defense, can't they just kill all the smugglers?"

Cletus looked at Alex and started laughing. Looking at his happy smile, Alex relaxed a little.

"When the town was first built, it was called Border town. In those times, the beast tides happened every few months, and the humans were afraid the town will be breached, so they built many escape routes for emergencies. Some rich families and mercenaries also built their own private escape tunnels. Slowly, as the humans lost their fear of extinction and dominated the region, the nobles began to use these tunnels to smuggle the riches of the dark forest. Gradually the town was inhabited by smugglers and criminals. So the name Smuggler's town is more popular among the crowds."

Alex opened his eyes wide. He knew with enough profits, the nobles will not allow the tunnels to be closed, so he asked:

"What if the beasts enter the town through a tunnel?"

"It happened few times. As long as the incident is not out of control, the noble families will be fined, nothing major."

Alex was speechless.

Soon the long line of caravan stopped outside the town wall. Alex felt the carriage stop and a caravan guard knocked on the carriage.

"Sir, The town guards will come to check your Id and belongings. If you carry any contraband, you have to pay a minimum of 5 gold to bring it with you," said the caravan guard straightforwardly.

Alex panicked, not because he was carrying any contraband, cause he had a lousy Id from fox town. Alex stepped outside and saw a group of guards checking the carriages ahead.

Many of the fellow travelers did not even open their doors to let the guards check. They just gave five gold through the window, and the guards walked away.

Alex sighed in relief. 5 gold coins is not a problem to him. As he got back in, Alex saw the two also take out 5 gold each.

There was a knock at the window. Cletus slid the window opened and gave the fully armored soldier 5 gold. So did Alex and Kyzer. The guard glanced at the three of them through his helmet before moving on. After a while, the caravan started moving.

Alex looked at the eight-meter tall steel gates, which were as high as a three-story building exuding strength and majesty. Yet inside the walls, the town looked more desolate. Dilapidated buildings were everywhere, while the majority of people wore shabby clothes. Alex saw many homeless people on the roadside asking for a buck.

The fox town was lively and bright on the surface, yet dark inside. However, this place was filled with darkness in the open and inside.

As the caravan moved to the hotel, one of the homeless people in a ragged cloak raised his head, showing a fair young face. He raised his silver pearl bracelet to his face, which started to shine as he spoke into it:

"Young Master, the caravan from fox town arrived. Hmm... yes, it seems he is here," said the young man looking up at the sky.

"Should I follow them... Ok, I will follow and keep you posted," said the young man as the grey pearl slowly dimmed. The young man with the ragged cloak tailed the caravan.