Chapter 668 - v4c50 Long Road, Fragments of the Past (5) (1/2)

v4c50

Long Road, Fragments of the Past (5)

This is the same information that Brendel has learned: “What about the others, will they bother us? I can’t trust those mercenaries out there.”This is the same information that Brendel has learned: “What about the others, will they bother us? I can’t trust those mercenaries out there.”

“My Lord, you can be rest a.s.sured of that, there are very few people heading north to the forest, most of the mercenaries pa.s.sing through here are actually heading to Lantonilan.”

Brendel nodded, at least the guy had not lied so far, he narrowed his eyes and asked, “What about merchants, shouldn’t there be fur traders going into the forest this time of the year to collect goods from the hunters? Wouldn’t they hire mercenaries to get in?”

“Your Lords.h.i.+p knows in such detail.” The innkeeper had a few more fine beads of sweat on his balding head: “But there are only a few people at this time of year, which is not worth worrying about. Besides, most of them are law-abiding merchants.”

Merchants who keep their duty. If there were still any law-abiding merchants right now, Brendel reckoned that the only one besides himself was Romaine. Most of the people walking around Aouine’s territory were armed merchants, and these merchants would have more or less dirty hands.

But he did not mention it, instead, he just replied, “I know, but I don’t want to listen to your estimations. Just tell me what merchants have entered the forest recently and how I’m going to avoid them.”

He paused for a moment: “And get me a record of the merchant s.h.i.+ps that have recently entered and left the port. I know there will be records of these at your inn.”

“Understood,” the innkeeper wiped the oil on his balding head and replied in a sweaty manner, “I understand my Lord, I’ll bring them to you right away.”

……..

Brendel had apparently succeeded in convincing the innkeeper that they were a group of aristocratic children out hunting rare prey, ‘white stags’. With this kind of knowledge, there was naturally nothing to lose when doing things. But in less than half an hour, he had asked him about most of the things that had happened in Shallow Water Town, and the surrounding area, in the recent past.

Their matters ranged from trivial matters like a neighborhood conflict, to what s.h.i.+ps had left the port in the recent past, and he was asked about everything.

And unsurprisingly in an inn where the population density was high and information flow was abundant, the unattractive looking innkeeper had information that made both Filas and Laurenna widen their eyes; but Brendel just found it humorous. Seems like only newbies can fall for baseless rumors like these.

He asked for the notebook coated in a layer of oil and grime. In this era, the literacy rate was not high, so each innkeeper used their own respective methods to keep note of important details. While he may not be familiar with the methods used in places like Farnezain or Sanorso or Kirrlutz, he had no trouble interpreting the ‘language’ used by the innkeepers of Aouine.

In the eyes of others, he easily swept past the entire notebook, and then pulled out a map from his backpack onto the table. In reality, he did not bother to look at the s.h.i.+ps leaving the port. After all, if Duke Arreck was really on one of them, there was no way to distinguish which s.h.i.+p he was on.

What he really cared about was the merchant s.h.i.+ps leaving the Shallow Water Town.

And news about the recent appearance of the group of monsters.

“Were the things he said really true?”Filas asked in a seemingly confused manner. “He said that someone saw a cat turn into a fish. Is that really possible?”

Brendel retracted his gaze from the map—where markings of recent monster appearances could be seen——and looked at Filas as if he was an idiot. “Of course not. The information of inns around here is mostly false rumors. You gotta use your own brain to discern between the useful news from the rest.”

“I see. I never knew about such knowledge.” Filas said, enlightened.

But his fiance seemed to understand more than him, as she raised her head and asked, “So which of the information is useful though, My lord?”

How can there be such a gem among all that trash? She is truly a genius, to have picked all that up so quickly. He put the map aside and flipped the forked fish on this plate. “The pretty we’re looking for will not reveal his tracks, but there will be traces, like the hunters who went into the mountains…”

“My lord, are you suggesting that they were hired by Duke Arreck as a guide?” The Elf Princess put her fork down and asked softly.

“I’m just suspecting that to be the case,” Brendel replied. “But we’ll find out the truth soon enough.” He cut out a piece of the fish, its hard texture made him feel like he was cutting a piece of dragon meat, and put it in his mouth. The intense stench made him raise his eyebrows and he almost puked due to it.