Chapter 41: LEAVING
Sage spent the day sampling all sorts of food in the city. She visited eateries that prepared fine cuisine, eateries that had bad food and eateries whose stock was just downright horrible. For the latter kind she only took take a single bite before quitting and leaving without paying.
Food was the one thing that should not be stolen; at least most of the time. Swiping an apple or orange from a vendor was fine, but stealing a freshly prepared meal was out of the question. If one did that, what would happen is they would be chased down with a passion. Even if one manages to escape the pursuers in the end, by the time they had done so the food have gone through countless disasters, courtesy of the ups and downs of fleeing, and would have turned cold by then. If the purpose of visiting an eatery was to sample nice hot food then, with such an outcome, everything would have been a wasted effort.
Of course if Sage truly wanted to she could grab the plate and {Blink} away, putting distance between her and any would be pursuers and killing the chase in its conception. But she had standards. Fleeing from a restaurant while holding plate of food was beneath her. Maybe if she were in desperate need of food and lacked the coin to pay for it. The former was highly unlikely though, so it did not look like there would come a day when she would have to stoop to such a level.
So in the end she paid for the food.
Not with her own money though. That was a last resort for situations where she had no choice. The types of cuisines she sampled were paid for through the generous donations of all the individuals who let her stick her fingers in their pockets.
And so, on more than one occasion, she sat under the shade with her food and watched overbearing guards and tense citizens pass by.
Her "shopping" spree the previous night must have really stirred some upper ranks in the city because the City Guard was everywhere. As they sloppily searched for the culprit, they would stop every individual on the street who look even a little out of place. There were even some who looked more like crooks than guards; these ones singled out individuals and beat them up when said individuals failed to give them the information they desired even when it was clear the individuals did not possess the knowledge.
Sage avoided all this by keeping her head low and sticking to the shadows. She only came out where there were no guards, always made sure to keep her hood up and only ate in the most deserted places. Some of her actions obviously drew attention; in which case she would quickly leave before some suspicious party came close. Her face was not one what would be associated with the affluent person she appeared to be whenever she purchased food. She chose to flee before the suspicious party came close.
Most of the day was spent walking around the city sampling foods. She even visited the poor districts to check out their living conditions. This time she did not hesitate to do so because she was confident in her disguise. Apart from her hooded coat she had also changed into a black turtleneck jersey with a collar long enough for her to cover her face up to the bridge of her nose.
It went without saying that this appearance made her look even more suspicious, but that was a good thing in the poor districts. It ensured that no children "tripped" and bump into her like she witnessed them do to others a couple of times. In her experience, in poor neighbourhoods being shady was synonymous with being dangerous which made everyone keep their distance.
When night came she returned to the main road, which she had avoided all day, and found it teeming with guards. Here she even caught a glimpse of the bastard Guard Captain. Isaac he was called, she had learned his name while traversing the city. As someone who had crawled out of poverty to get to his current station, he was popular with the masses; less popular with the nobility, not that they could do a thing about it since he had the support of the mercenaries, the church and most of the merchants in town. Though, the previous night's events must have dampened some of the support he got from the merchants.
But that was no concern of hers. The only thing she cared about when it came to the bastard was pummelling him into the ground as payment for cutting off her arm. At the moment she felt confident enough to take him, but still stayed her hand. Chances were that he was related to the summoner of the elemental, whose strength Sage did not have a clue about. If she attacked him now she would no doubt alert that entity. For now she could only grit her teeth and glare at his back, fantasising about the day when she would be able to get him back.
It calmed her down a little.
With the Guard on the street a curfew seemed to have been issued because the civilians looked to be fleeing for their lives. Within minutes their numbers had dwindled to the point where the remaining citizens were outnumbered by the patrolling guards.
To avoid the bastard and his cronies, Sage spent the night on the roof of an inn reading some of her newly acquired books. It was not the inn which Kaylee boarded, that one was too close to the Mercenary Guild for her liking.
She did not know the overall strength of the mercenaries associated with the Guild, but considering the Scarlet Quartet were somewhat decent fighters, she did not look down on it. There was a great possibility of there being mercenaries who could beat her so it was wise to keep her distance
And so the night passed as she finished a couple of books. It was only with the arrival of dawn that she stood and put the books away.
It was time to leave the city. Her destination was the Yshian capital Yshta.
Unfortunately, even though she had a map of Ysh somewhere in Nyx's Space, one thing she had always sucked at was reading maps. She also happened to have a terrible sense of direction. If she climbed into the {Void Space} and ordered Nyx to fly her to the capital, the Familiar would no doubt get them lost. Of course she did not believe she would get lost if she travelled along the road, but that would require walking and she refused to do that when there were better modes of transportation.
In the end, the only thing she could do was board a wagon or caravan headed to the capital.
Obviously that would be a bit difficult in her current getup, so she took momentary shelter in the {Void Space}, which was now filled with an array of items. Throwing off her current clothes, she quickly picked out a pair of silk underclothes and stockings. Then she put on leather gloves that covered her up to the elbows. For outward clothing she chose a long dress that too had a collar that could be pulled up until it covered most of her face; it was probably designed by the same person as the jersey. To finish off her dress code she took a sun hat from the pile and placed it on her head.
All these clothes, including the sandals she had not change out of, were black. If she had a mirror and looked into it she would see what appeared to be a widow from the Victorian age. No doubt the outfit was eye-catching, but it was less so than her previous wear and would definitely draw less attention than if she went around with her face uncovered.
She took one satisfied look at herself before leaving the cat's Space. With this she was ready to go.
Using {Blink}, {Invisibility}, {Lightfoot} and {Ghostwalk}, she quickly came to the city gate and bypassed all the restrictions placed around the gate to prevent the culprit from leaving. The ease with which she did it made her shake her head in distaste.
One would think, in a fantasy world with magic, individuals would come up with better means than trying to box the culprit in.
Outside the city she saw a line had already been formed by those who wanted to enter. She passed them and did not deactivate her abilities until she was certain there was not a human presence nearby.
With this she walked along the road to Yshta, waiting for someone to pass by.
It only took half an hour before a pair of wagons appeared. They probably belonged to a merchant, this was her guess as she watched them approach. There were half a dozen people surrounding the wagons, most likely mercenaries hired to escort merchant and his cargo.
Using the {index} she checked the stats of these hired guards.
The first mercenary had pale green skin with a build that was larger than even Marcus'. He had small tusks that extended from his lower lip past his top lip. This individual wore colourless chainmail with a double-bladed battle-axe hanging on his back. His horse was, a brown destrier, far dwarfed the other horses. It was probably the only kind of mount that could carry someone of his stature.
Race: Half-Orc (Human)
Physique: Grade 3
Mana: H (White)
From the way he carried himself, it was obvious he was in charge of the escort assignment.
Sage's eyes left him and checked out the others.
Race: Human (Human)
Physique: Grade 4
Mana: D (Purple)
This one's features she could not make out as he had covered up even more than she had. If not for his distinguishable body shape she would probably not even be able to tell he was male.
There were a pair of daggers strapped to his side, which he kept fingering constantly as his eyes wandered around. When the wagons got within tens of metres of Sage his gaze fixed onto her while his hand clutched the hilt of a dagger.
A cautious fellow.
Race: Half-Elf (Human)
Physique: Grade 4
Mana: C (Orange)
She was all dressed in black leather with a bow strapped to her back and a knife on the waist. She had been the first to be alerted of her presence, the same could be said vice-versa. As the wagons got close Sage could make out her malice.
She ignored this look and checked out the next person.
Race: Human (Human)
Physique: Grade 5
Mana: C (Purple)
This fellow was the youngest among the escort. His posture and mannerisms gave him away as a rookie. From the giddiness he displayed it was safe to assume this was his first assignment.
Unlike the others he did not have a weapon. Being a youth in his mid-teens, he probably believed his magic was enough of a weapon. Sage scoffed at this and turned to the next person.
Race: Human (Human)
Physique: Grade 5
Mana: D (Maroon)
An incredibly thin woman of advance age, her posture was hunched as she rode her horse and she appeared to have a grip so weak it looked like she would fall off and die any moment. This crone had a wooden staff resting across her back as she rode beside the wagons.
Race: Dwarf (Human)
Physique: Grade 3
Mana: D (Purple)
The final member of the escort squad was in full plate mail and looked a head shorter than everyone. He had a long beard that went all the way to his chest. On his back was a huge hammer strapped to his back. The thing looked incredibly heavy, which made her wonder how his mule was able to carry him. With his stout figure and equipment, he probably weighed as much the half-orc, if not more.
The people who sat on the front wagon were a fat man with a thick moustache and a middle-aged woman with a motherly face and shrewd eyes. On the second wagon sat a teenage boy and girl of roughly the same age who bore a resemblance to the moustached merchant and the woman. Their physiques were all Grade 5 and mana was white with an H aptitude like the average person.
Seeing her in the road, the man ordered the wagon to stop in front of her.
Sage took this opportunity to look at the half-elf. Of course she had felt her presence long before she could actually make her out in the distance. She was surprised to find her leaving the city so early after returning from a mission, even more so that she was not in the company of the other members of the Scarlet Quartet. Something probably happened after the last time she saw her.
She was curious to know what.
Weekly Power Status
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