"At first, it wasn't so bad. Sometimes they would cut our resources in half, on the other occasions they would delay our wages for a few weeks."

Nullifier sighed softly while tilting his head.

"As the war erupted and quickly grew in scale, our officium was brought to the brink of bankruptcy. Right now, we are still sustaining ourselves with the generosity of the few citizens here and there, but I hope the situation will soon stabilise."

"I think the higher-ups though you would use your extensive influence and power to gather necessary supplies from the city inhabitants... If you didn't oppose their decision, they probably assumed that they were right!"

Mike stated his opinion. No matter where one went, this kind of thing was more than common.

"While that might be true, you should be careful with openly saying it. There are many people who could use those words to take an advantage on you!"

Nullifier warned.

"By the way, I'm Cyriel. Pleased to make your acquaintance!"

As man spoke those words, he extended his hand for usual greeting. This merchant just gave up about half of the profits he could expect to make from the spoils, only to appease his strange citizenship morals. Getting to call each other names was the minimum that Nullifier could offer to him.

"Then yet again, I'm Mike."

Young merchant smiled as he grabbed his counterpart hand and shaken it.

"Would you mind elaborating a bit more about the situation in the country right now? Knowing what to expect here or deeper into the Kingdom would be really helpful!"

While they continued to talk, Enforcers were slowly going through every single box on both carriages. Starting from moving it down to the plaza, they swiftly opened it to check its content, then put it on portable weight and stacked in back in the middle of the courtyard.

Surprisingly, Mike's cart was the first one to get checked. When one looked at it from the close point of view, it was strange as there was nothing wrong with his wares. All that should matter was the stuff formerly belonging to Verkel!

But according to the deal that Mike proposed, all the wares would be counted together, and only then the amount that exceed the allowed mass for two carriages would be confiscated. Since it was like that, it didn't really matter with whom wares did the Enforces start with and the young merchant stuff was already partially on the ground from sentries previous actions, making it easier for them to just finish it and move on to the other wagon.

"Northern raiders still pose a great danger while using that road. I would strongly advise against travelling there if you are not prepared to face the loss. In the worst-case scenario, your life might be even in danger!"

Cyriel pointed out with a worried face. Despite numerous efforts throughout the years, forest bandits were still a problem that the Altarcia could not tackle.

While there were a few roads passing through the dense woodlands, the father east one went, continent continued to spread north rapidly making the journey to the coast longer and longer. Up to this day, it was uncertain what the inner site of the jungle contained, as only the coast and shallow area on the continental side was explored.

"What about the southern passage? While it might not be as populated as the northern area, in terms of safety it should be way better! Especially if one takes into account that the southern part could still have some food reserves or charity help from the souther princedom."

Mike asked, while thinking out loud even before Cyriel had the chance to respond.

"While you might be right about the safety concerns, as you are trading mostly with food, the prices will be definitely lower in the south."

Nullifier twisted his mouth in a slightly displeased grin. As patriotic official in the Kingdom, it pained him to admit to the great problems that kept haunting the country.

"Earning less to spend it back for wine and women is better than earning more to feed the bandits!"

Mike answered with a common motto of every small merchant around the world.

"I believe that hitting the souther tract will benefit me the most, as I will visit both the southern villages and the central cities. And while I plan out really far ahead, I doubt my wares will last longer than two stops deep. Journeying further would force me to trade with miscellaneous stuff bought on the way, and in the starved country it's far more profitable to send it back to Empire instead of looking for an opportunity to sell it to famished people."

When Mike was explaining his ideas about future, Enforcers finally counted everything and wrote the detailed report down. After passing it down to the Cyriel, they orderly stood in three rows on the side of impressing pile of resources stacked in the middle of the courtyard.

"There is about thirty bags of grain more than the treaty allows. They even found a hidden compartment in the formerly Verkel's carriage, housing several bottles of high class firewine. If we go by the weight, I can settle with those, but if you want to use the worth instead, we would take two bags of fine flour, twenty bags of grain and the firewine. But considering how this situation came to be, I can spare you two bottles of the drinks!"

Cyriel explained possible options while looking curiously at Mike. It was true that he wilfully gave up all the ware Nullifier listed now, and he didn't even consider using more profitable, northern tract. But what choice would he make now?

Both fine flour and firewine were very expensive, and their price grew with every step taken to the east. To be honest, even a single bottle of the drink was worth close to three bags of fine flour! The only problem laid in finding someone capable of paying for it! That's why fine flour still held more worth, as it was easier to sell with a good price than the wine!

On the other side, if he wanted to get as much as he could from the journey east, Mike would need as much grain as physically possible. Its price would grow exponentially if sold in the starved eastern cities!

"I think I will go with the firewine. Just before this situation occurred, we struck a great deal, and now we are discussing how we are supposed to split the cargo that I never ever thought of gaining. in the end, the brew will find a better use as a crown of the party rather than just another ware. We might be merchants but we are still humans!"

Mike replied, as he threw quick and covert looks at the glistering red liquid shining through the bottles on the side. Even this slight eye sweep was enough to make his face melt into a comfortable smile.

"So be it!"

Cyriel smiled sympathetically, as he ordered the Enforcers to tidy up the area. Freed from the care about specific details, troops orderly moved several bags aside and loaded the rest equally on the two carriages.

"I hope you will enjoy their taste!"

Nullifier smiled again as he passed carefully two intricate bottles with shiny, red liquid blasting against glass walls of the container.

"On my side, I hope You will visit us tonight as we will celebrate!"

Mike responded full of honest smiles, not even bothered to try hiding the joy he experienced upon touching the bottles. As one of the best common wine available for commoners on the market, its flavour, strength, and even packagings were insane. All of it resulted in a kind of mythical effect, making everyone in proximity focus solely on the bottle.

After sorting the wares out and biding their farewells, Enforcers and the Nullifier with his company swiftly took their new belongings and left the area. Unbothered by the pain and injuries that Verkel would sustain, they dragged him by his foot as they moved towards the Enforcers quarters.

With all said and done, Mike turned around to see stupefied looks on his companions faces. All these events were so strange and nonlinear that they weren't able to follow the reasoning behind the actions of any party except the Verkels! How could the situation develop to the point where they could only understand the Villain actions!

Before moving back to the Inn with his friends, Mike sent a short look to the Horien. This burly man still stood in the same place as if his whole body was set in stone. Only when the former bodyguard of the fatso noticed young merchant look, he flinched. After that, he calmly nodded his head in thanks and left the area via one of the small alleys.

When they got back to the Inn, they became the centre of everyone's attention. Most probably during the events that took place on the courtyard, some quests obviously hid around the streets to observe the proceedings. Most probably, everyone here already knew about all the hardships they just went through!

Bothered the awkward silence and some kind of reverence that the guest showed him, Mike swiftly found a free table spacious enough to fit whole company and finally sat down. Yrwa only needed to look at his face to dash to the kitchen to hurry to cook and prepare some simple wine for them herself.

"At first, let me explain the situation for a bit."

Mike went for the most burning problem right from the beginning.

"I know that you might believe that i had some sort of connection with the Cyriel guy, but that's not actually what happened."

Young merchant opened his arms as if trying to show that he is innocent.

"What mattered there was his function and blessing. Xyenna might be proficient in swords and daggers, I might be able to stall the spoiling of the foodstuff. But those guys that arrived at the end can block everyone else's blessing or proficiency from taking any effect."

Mike explained the obvious, while looking at the three faces that started right back at him with anticipation.

"While this was rather obvious from the way the action unfolded back then, I wonder if any of you have noticed they way that this Cyriel guy's companions positioned themselves!"

"All three of them stood at the angle points of the perfect triangle, that enclosed both Verkel and our group. Does that mean…?"

Xyenna was going to ask something when the realisation struck her, making her unable to even finish her sentence.

"Yes, Cyriel was just a simple, low class official, serving as the helper for the Nullifiers!"

Mike answered joyfully with a wide smile.

"Why was he the one leading his group then?!"

Bern shouted, his eyes wide open in surprise.

"I have two ideas about the reasons. I think that using their blessing might be very taxing on their minds, making them unable to use the opportunity they create to observe and actually judge the situation properly. On the other side, they might just try to save resources by dividing the tasks. Why make one person do everything, if you can divide the tasks and have two people that will all together cost you less to train and support than one highly competent one?"

Mike asked rhetorically with a slight grin forming on his face. While it sounded bad for the outsiders, filling the government jobs with geniuses only was just an utopian idea.

"This would actually make sense then…"

Bern brushed his beard while thinking about the matter at hand.

"I think both of the options could be true at the same time."

Shrugging slightly, an old merchant put his hands on the table. His eyes turned serious now, he looked back at Mike and asked

"About our cooperation. You mentioned back in the courtyard that you will go deeper into the county? How is that supposed to happen when you are supposed to take care of our deal?"