Book 2 Chapter 48 - Seaport Landium (1)

After several weeks of sailing, Woohyuk and his party finally arrived at their destination.

The port city, Landium.

It had a huge marina, packed with merchants that never stopped haggling. A city full of life, with several attractions and interesting places to visit

Lia laughed as she watched the crewmen unload a nearby ship.

“Mom, who are those people?”

“Huh? Oh, they are just sailors.”

Leifina was surprisingly good at raising kids. Although her cooking ability was atrocious, at least she wasn’t hopeless at other wifely duties.

“Wow, there are so many different races.”

Jung Sanghoon exclaimed as he admired the city’s diversity.

It went beyond just the skin color, as some people had very distinct physical features. As such, Woohyuk’s party didn’t even stand out.

“This city’s atmosphere seems to be one of freedom and diversity.”

By paying a tax to the crown, the city could enjoy certain freedoms. Although the law varied from country to country, in this city, if a slave managed to live here for 3 months without being caught, he was deemed to have earned his freedom.

Immigrants would flock to this city. There wasn't any authority that interfered in their everyday lives, so long as they did not infringe on the rights of others.

“What will you be doing now?”

“First, I’ll need to gather some information.”

In the past he hadn’t heard about anything special occurring in Landium.

His starting area had been a remote place in the Arpen kingdom, and it had taken him some time to make his way out.

40 years later he had naturally launched an investigation, but too much time had passed and they didn’t learn much.

“What should we do with these captives?”

“Bring them to the inn.”

Sending them to the labor camps would be the norm, but in such a case he would have to prove his identity, and he would rather keep a low profile.

Because there were so many criminals, their rules were very strict.

Woohyuk made sure his party managed to settle down at an inn, before striking out on his own.

‘Typically, in free cities such as this one the merchants would hold all the power.’

In Landium, Kaliss and Erica were the major powers. Although they had a partnership and ran the city together, they were also rivals.

For some reason, a dispute had arisen between them in the past, which led to a civil war that Kaliss’ side had won.

‘Isaac didn’t reveal everything.’

Even many years after the fact, he had been reluctant to speak publicly about the details that had occurred. No doubt because he had been involved in something shady.

Due to such a reason, he hadn’t been able to get the full picture. It was only later on, through his intelligence agency, that he was able to learn that Edward Teach had been involved.

“I’ll have a dark beer.”

Woohyuk had entered a tavern and placed his order with the middle-aged bartender.

The bartender took a look at his clothes, before handing him a beer mug and asking.

“You a mercenary?”

“Yes.”

Mercenaries were common in Landium, since there were a lot of opportunities with all the coming and going of merchants.

The bartender gave him a nod.

“It must be your day off.”

“My employer has been playing around in the red light district for the last few days.”

“Then he must be quite rich, since the prices in this city aren’t at all cheap.”

The bartender spoke with countless customers everyday, so he happened to know a lot. Woohyuk had struck up this conversation with him to find out if there was anything of use he could learn.

“Have you noticed an increase in suspicious looking people around here?”

“ Now that you mention it, there are more adventurers than usual which act strangely and have a weird accent.”

Considering the timing, they were most likely players that had just come out of the Canyon Battle and were exploring the city.

Still, he couldn’t jump to any conclusions.

From his past, he knew that it was sometime around now that the civil war had broken out in Landium.

“What about their appearances?”

“All different, some had worn out clothes like sailors, whereas others looked like high nobility, with colorful clothing.”

The problem was that they are all on the same side.

After learning all he could from the bartender, he placed a silver coin on the counter.

“I’d appreciate it if you keep today’s talk between just the two of us.”

Sooner or later someone would come searching for him.

The bartender gulped, then stealthily put the silver coin in his pocket.

He realised that Woohyuk wasn’t your everyday mercenary.

‘Edward Teach has no doubt already had his men infiltrate the city.’

Given the circumstances it felt like a safe assumption to make.

The pirate, better known as Blackbeard, was a cunning strategist that knew how to take advantage of the fear in men’s hearts.

No doubt, he would find a way to be hired by Kaliss or Erica.

As Woohyuk was taking a look around the tavern, an argument broke out among some of the clients.

“You bastard! What did you say?”

“Know your place, who do you think you are raising your voice at me?!”

Brawling in broad daylight.

The bartender glanced over and gave them a stern look.

“Just give it up, aren’t you a mercenary under merchant Erica? Somehow you look so weak. ”

“What are you talking about? Based on the bullshit you spew, you must work for Kaliss! ”

Clearly both factions were not on the friendliest of terms right now.

Ordering himself another beer, Woohyuk continued to listen in on the argument between these two mercenaries.

“Is it wrong? Erica’s faction is led by a young woman, so the mercenaries lack any military discipline.”

“Don’t speak such rubbish. Erica is much wiser than Sebastian, and has a good business sense.”

“Then why were your caravans raided not too long ago? And even by some no name bandits.”

Erica’s merchant caravan had been attacked by bandits and all of the goods were stolen.

Some of their employees had died and contracts were left unfulfilled. It had all been very damaging to their reputation.

“Those weren’t any ordinary bandits! Even our elite mercenaries were helpless before them!”

“Nothing but excuses. We are not afraid of you guys that follow a woman who has never even lifted a sword.”

Unable to retort, the mercenary that worked under Erica had reached his limit, and took a swing at the other guy.

As the fight began, spectators crowded around, betting on who would come out on top.

“Don’t you think blondie over there is the better fighter?”

No, I think I’ll pick the brown haired one.”

It was quite the pathetic showing since they were both rather drunk.

Eventually, the mercenary that served under Erica stumbled into a nearby table, as he attempted to duck an incoming swing.

Wajangchangchang

Food, plates, glasses, everything fell on to the floor.

As the mercenary from Kaliss’ faction stood above him with a smile.

“That’s enough.”

Someone interfered.

“Who do you think you are!?”

Kaliss’ mercenary shouted angrily, his face red-hot.

The new opponent that interfered was a handsome young man, but it was all an illusion.

In fact it was Woohyuk, but he was wearing his Jester's Mask, which he had put on before even stepping into the tavern.

It was his reward from the Twilight Tower’s 99th floor.

Although it didn’t actually change his appearance, those around him would see him as a completely different person.

“I won’t repeat myself, get out and don’t make a scene.”

Woohyuk said confidently as he grabbed the mercenary by the collar.

His eyes glaring fiercely through the mask.

Kaliss’ mercenary was stunned as he swallowed down hard.

“Huhuk”

His drunkenness disappeared in a flash, as he felt an instinctive pressure coming from this young man. It had something inhuman about it.

He decided to run away, tripping over himself as he fled in fear.

“Are you okay?”

Woohyuk helped the groaning mercenary that worked for Erica to his feet.

“Who... who are you…”

“Let’s talk outside.”

He might have caught a break into what was going on in Erica’s faction. After leaving another silver coin with the bartender, Woohyuk made his way outside.

* * *

Ryan, a third rate mercenary.

That was his name. Born to a low class family, he had only learned some basic swordsmanship and had lived quite a hard life. The kind that you didn’t know when a dagger might find itself buried in your back, or whether you’d wake up to see the next day.

Somehow he had managed to join a large faction like Erica’s, but his situation hadn’t improved much.

As a third rate mercenary, he was the lowest of the low. Not to mention that he had to buy his own weapons and armor.

He’d been working there for two years now, and was hoping to climb up the ladder.

He had survived many dangerous crises, but this time he wasn’t so sure he’d make it. It was because recently Erica’s faction had run into trouble.

“Are you losing customers?”

“Yes, due to Kaliss’ interference, other than our longtime loyal clients, many are trying to avoid doing business with us.”

Because his main function was that of a caravan escort, Ryan was well aware of the difficulties that Erica’s faction was facing.

An economic system in which craftsmen in the city would produce goods, and they then rely on merchants to sell their wares abroad on their behalf.

Naturally being able to acquire and hold on to customers was a top priority.

“It’s because you are a new merchant group, your foundation is still weak.”

“Although it appears that we are losing to Kaliss’ faction, if we were to compete fairly they wouldn’t even be our match.”

Erica, the eldest daughter of a prominent long distance merchant, used her excellent business acumen and merged many small stores to create her faction.

Feeling threatened by this, the merchant Kaliss decided to play a bit dirty. There was no doubt that he had a hand in the recent bandit attacks.

“Did you take any countermeasures?”

“I’m not entirely sure because I’m far from the inner circle , but Erica probably won’t continue to take blows like this. She must be planning her revenge.”

It is said however that they won’t be able to solve this alone, and that external help would be required.

As Woohyuk walked along the back alley with Ryan, he pondered on what he had just learned.

‘Could Edward Teach be working together with Erica?’

He is a calculating man, so he wouldn’t bet on the losing horse. If it wasn’t the pirates, then who did Erica reach out to for help?

Where everyone's interests were aligned was quite complicated to unravel, and it was difficult to make an educated guess based solely on the information he currently had.

Just as he was about to ask Ryan another question.

Tahak!

“Sorry.”

A street urchin dressed in filthy rags that was running collided with Ryan.

Ryan however didn’t give it much thought and just shrugged it off.

“Give it back.”

His actions couldn’t escape Woohyuk’s sharp eyes. It was a common technique used by pickpockets and thieves. Pretending to run into your mark, while stealing their belongings.

The boy was quite nimble with his hands, so Ryan had never noticed. As the young thief tried to run off, Woohyuk acted quickly, grabbing on to his neck.

“Don’t you know what happens to thieves?”

“I’m sorry, please forgive me this once.”

He had acted because there was nothing for him to eat. Children abandoned by their parents, wandering around the city’s alleys, struggling to survive.

Although it was still true that what he did was wrong, he couldn’t bear to cut his hands off as punishment.

“Do you want to be given a chance?”

No doubt anything would be desirable when the alternative was to lose a limb, so the boy nodded back with a petrified look on his face.

“How well do you know this city?”

“Well… the merchant’s district is on the east side, the workshops on the west…”

Orphans like him would have to travel across the city, looking for any opportunity in order to survive. If put to good use, he might be a rather efficient means of obtaining information.

“If you do as I tell you, I’ll give you something to eat.”

He needed them to keep an eye out and try to identify any suspicious looking characters.

Even if there weren’t any results, he would still guarantee them some food. If they did find something, there would be a bonus. This applied to any orphans, not just the boys.

“Alright, I get it.”

The boy disappeared into the back alley with a baguette in his mouth.

Ryan scratched his head with an awkward expression.

“I’m in your debt once more.”

“Not to worry, I know how you can repay me.”

“What can I do for you…”

“Please get me a meeting with Erica.”

The quickest way to learn what he needed to know was to have a face to face meeting.

He also had the Jester’s Mask which hid his real face, so he had nothing to worry about.

“I don’t have that kind of pull.”

“You can simply pass along my message to her then.”

Since she was in a tough spot, she was more likely to grant an audience to one that offered an olive branch.

His next steps would be crucial. He needed to find out if he could obtain one of the materials for the Seven Colored Rainbow Ring by helping Erica.

He still didn’t know for certain where it was that Isaac had obtained it in the past. Since he no longer had much time, he had to make a judgement call.

Woohyuk followed behind Ryan, as he thought about how to confront Erica.

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