58 Vileta, Trika Empire...

"Master, why did you choose to come out here?!

We both know what can happen out here!!" screamed an apprentice at his Master who'd crashed their carriage, breaking the wheel as well as letting their so called 'tamed' beast free.

"Hari, calm down…

We cannot change what has happened… all we can do is wait, my child…" the middle-aged man said, covering his brown hair under his straw hat to keep away the blazing heat from the sun.

His name was Levas Ygritla, a merchant that'd been travelling through various towns and cities all across various empires and kingdoms, however he'd never found a place to settle since nothing ever caught his attention enough for him to settle down in one place.

Just as Hari was about to reprimand his master again for taking directions from the shady men waiting outside the gates of the small town Vileta, he noticed some shadows coming from the trail that led into the dense forest.

At first Hari thought it was bandits but seeing as they were taking their sweet time heading over, he ruled that thought out.

Once Levas saw the shadows heading in their direction, a small smile crept up on his face as he covered his face with the help of the straw hat.

.

In the other direction, Esmond riding atop Ace, was drenched in an assortment of multicolours of blood that dripped onto Aces armour.

They'd been on a rampage, taking out as many beasts as possible with the help of the bears.

For around 15 minutes, the bears, Ace, and Rath were working well together until the bears started to finally struggle from exhaustion, leaving Esmond to take on more of the work.

There were no problems with him taking on the extra load of work but seeing that the bears were heavily protecting the small bear, Esmond started thinking about taming them instead.

The Scorpion Bears were vicious beasts that could claw through anything.

In effect, they were maniacal monsters during combat.

.

Once everything was cleared up with the packs of beasts, leaving only their dead corpses littered across the ground, Esmond summoned some drones to start the clean-up and store things, as he expected the Adventurer Guild would have someone that might purchase the goods.

But more importantly, Esmond didn't want to attract any other packed right now as he planned to tame the bears.

Walking over to the tree they were guarding, Esmond brought out some of the meat from his Inventory that was spiritually infused because of the space.

Smelling the dense amount of flavour and protein from their heightened senses, the Scorpion Bears ate away at the food, allowing Esmond to get close enough to the larger bears to pat them.

He activated his taming skill as he made contact, shortly allowing him to form a connection with the first bear before he asked its help to connect with the others.

Soon, 4 Scorpion Bears and an infant Scorpion Bear were tamed by Esmond before he sent them to the space to be analysed for a second.

After that he left them to roam around freely and safely within the space as he continued on his journey to leave the forest.

Esmond thought about summoning the Scorpion Bears to travel along with him, but he waited for the time being to take such action, believing it would draw the attention of too many people.

Unfortunately, he didn't let them rest for long before they came back out to fight as more beasts appeared by the attraction of the smell.

…

..

.

While travelling with Ace, Rath started alerting Esmond of the broken carriage and the two men beside it.

Feeling curious, Esmond asked Ace to stop by the carriage as they neared.

"Everything ok…?" Esmond asked, unaware about how his bloody appearance was crippling Hari to the point he was finding it difficult to breath.

Thankfully, Levas found the situation perfect normal as he replied with a smile, pushing up his straw hat to show his light honey brown eyes.

"Naa not at all…

We've lost our beast that's escaped out into the forest.

Could ya help out an old fella as myself?"

"… Sure, why not.

I'm heading towards Vileta. Is that fine by you?"

"It's kindly appreciated…"

Esmond summoned a drone to help him with repairing part of the damage to the wheels of the carriage before tying it to Ace so he could drag it back onto the trail.

After turning the carriage around and setting it up for Ace to draw along, Esmond steered the carriage with Vileta beside him and Hari resting in the back of the carriage as he was frightened by the sight of Esmond.

Vileta understood it was a large shock for the innocent Hari that'd been shielded from the violence and degradation throughout the many empires on this god forsaken continent.

Seeing someone as bloodied and nonchalant as Esmond harming Haris' psychosis of the world made Vileta thankful it didn't happen when he wasn't around to protect him.

The kid was his dead sister's son so Levas felt obligated to keep his nephew as safe as possible throughout his lifetime but with him growing up and becoming more curious, Hari was beginning to search in places one mustn't go snooping.

On several occasions, Levas had lost great sums of his wealth to keep his nephew safe from deaths door so seeing Hari frightened by the barbarism of Esmonds appearance but enlightened by the grace of his voice, Levas prayed the child might finally understand the true horrors are in plain sight.

.

"So… what are you plans for Vileta, sir…?"

"Zars…. And I'm planning to visit the towns Adventurer Guild…."

"Oh… does that mean you wish to become an adventurer perhaps?"

"… Possibly… sir…?"

"Ahh, yes, I should have said that first…

I'm Levas…"

The rest of the trip till they arrived at the town remained in silence between the two with Hari asleep in the back of the carriage by the time they arrived.

Esmond noticed as they reached the first wall, which was divided between two mountains on either side, that it was lacking a sufficient number of guards.

Just from sight alone the wall seemed to be made to keep any beast hordes from reaching the town, but the degraded state of the wall made Esmond question if the two Lord of the town actually cared about the safety of his people.

Levas noticed Esmonds peculiar gaze towards the wall, much similar to his own when he first came across the desolate great wall that seemed roughly a kilometre or two in length.

'Tch, who knows what his expression will be like once he arrives at Vileta…'

.

Wide eyed, Esmond couldn't believe the poor state of the small town Vileta, with its ruined walls, muddled roads, and complete lack of filth and waste scattered across the streets.

The people represented their home and just like the town, they were also damaged, broken, but surviving with whatever little they could source to live another day.

"Welcome… to Vileta…

The most bordered town of the Trika Empire…" Levas said slowly while looking around the desolate town and its people.

"How has it come to this…?" Esmond asked Levas about the towns conditions since he could see a few buildings that seemed sparkling clean but also well maintained and built.

"*Sigh* Well… it'll have to do with both the political and noble landscape of this land…"

Levas went on to explain to Esmond while they travelled through the town, that it was governed by a former Duke, turned Baron who fell out of favour with the Church of Eternal Light which spread throughout the Empire and continent.

The Emperor of Trika was even helpless against them, since the Pope was considered his equal, if not, a greater status than his own.

Viletas new Lord, Baron Julius Mercer, while a former Duke, he'd lost all of his fortune and well to pay the debt he'd incurred by the Church for berating their beliefs.

It was a bogus charge to take away and wealth in his possession.

The Church even forced the Emperor to take away the Knights in the employ and service of the Duke.

Eventually, Julius left with his wife, daughter, and son for the borders of the Empire that led further into unexplored territory.

Without the means to do much for his family or the people he'd come to lead in Vileta, the Baron ended up joining the Adventurer Guild and started working so he could have enough to provide for his family at the very least.

The Church even sent one of their Bishops who was heavily aligned with the current Pope and his views on the Baron.

Along with the Bishop, the Emperor sent his own people to keep the grubby fingers of the Church away from the taxes they collected from the people, but the Noble family that was given the responsibility were old rivals of the Mercer household.

Since their people arrived, Julius had no ability or say in the management of Vileta.

Hearing everything from Levas, Esmond felt sorry for the Baron as he knew the power of religion and how easily it could topple order for the 'greater good' as they would say.

If there was time, he was actually interested in meeting the man himself, but Esmond was rather focused on reaching the Guild as soon as possible but he soon discovered that Levas had his owns plans…

.

"How far are we from your shop?" Esmond asked Levas, as he wanted to drop off the carriage and leave smoothly, unfortunately things wouldn't be so simple for Esmond.

"Eh? Shop?

Zars, do you honestly believe I would have a shop in this desolate place…

Actually, we're heading in the direction of a friend's home we were staying at before heading out for the forest."

Levas didn't say anything about his friend, other than he was a loveable fella with a heart of gold.

Not wanting to be rude, Esmond continued along with Levas while steering Ace.

Soon the arrived before a large estate with overgrown roots and bushes all around.

The manor seemed to be somewhat together, though it could do with some work in Esmonds opinion, but it was obvious that things weren't quite fortunate enough to allow for such a luxury.

.

"Huh? Levas! Your back dear friend!

I thought you were heading off towards the 'unknown' as you like to call it hahaa…" the bright blonde hair of the well-built man came into view as he rushed out the manors large doors.

The mans cheerful and bright attitude was a stark comparison to Esmonds bleak and dreary personality that's only worsened with Carters company.

Levas stepped off the front of the carriage driver seat and went over to the azure eyed, blonde haired gentlemen before giving him a hearty hug.

"You know…

I ended up meeting someone… unique, much like yourself…" Levas said as he pulled away from the hug and gestured in Esmond direction.

"This is my friend Zars.

Zars, I would like you to meet Julius…"

Esmond held back his shock, with his expression remaining as calm as ever before he stepped off the carriage and shook Julius hand.

"Its lovely to meet you, Julius."

"It's lovely to meet you as well, Zars.

Please come in!

Hey Levas, where's Hari?"

Levas remembered and went off to grab apprectince from the carriage.

Esmond was going to remove the carriage and let Ace free from the weight, but Julius insisted on having one of his family servants do it instead.

He left Rath in their care as well who was resting on Aces back, spreading his wings out, laying across his buddy without a care in the world.

One of the stable hands was astonished at the sheer size of Ace and the relaxed manner of Rath, but neither made his work hard, even helping him when he struggled with the work.

.

"So, tell me, what's made you travel to Vileta, Zars?" Julius asked Esmond once they all settled down inside within the spotless and decorated manor.

Julius wife, Angela, a platinum haired beauty that was born of royalty.

Her eyes sparkled much like her air as she served them all mugs of mead.

If Esmond wasn't concealing his hair colour with the help of the Rian and colouring it deep jet black, his white toned hair with the charm of silvery waves through it would have made him and Angela seem like long distant cousins.

To his surprise, Angela seemed to be adjusting to her greater role with many more duties just from the scruffs on her hands.

It was obvious for anyone to see that Angela was doing her best in the dire situation they currently seemed to be in.

With the help of the Rian, Esmond also noticed Angela seemed to be ill but was concealing her pain and discomfort.

Not wanting to say anything about the matter for now, Esmond relaxed and drank a few large gulps before speaking.

.

"Actually… I came from a land on the far… far reaches of the forest beyond the desolate wall…

After surviving for so long in the forest, it was quite the sight to see some civilisation once again…

But more then that, I've come to join the Guild and sell some of my goods." Esmond said, much to the shock of Julius who'd never heard of someone coming from the forest, and Levas, who felt Esmond might have said some truth, but there were lies involved.

Levas wasn't going to call Esmond out on the matter, but rather he kept note of it in his mind.

But before he'd even pushed the topic to the back of his mind, Esmond suddenly spawned some of the dead beasts he'd collected to show the two.

Both Julius and Levas had to step back once they saw what beast was laying on the table.

"Y-you killed a Sabre-Toothed Buffalo?!" Julius screamed.

"M-motherfuc-"

"Levi!!" Angelas angelic voice came barrelling from the kitchen the second she heard Levas start to curse.

Julius and Angela had a young daughter and son.

Both were twins as young as 3 years old, however the son had a disease that was costly to heal and required the help of the Church that was against their family.

Up until now they were scrapping by and earning just enough to heal their son bit by bit, but it was making their lives difficult, including their other child.

.

"Yes, I killed this 'Sabre-Toothed Buffalo' and many more like it." Esmond was prepared to show them what he had in his Inventory, but Levas stopped him and asked him to store the Sabre-Toothed Buffalo on the table as well before they tried to settle their weary heads.

Only after a couple minutes had past and Angela came by again to fill their mugs with mead, did Julius finally decide to speak up.

"Y-you have spatial magic?!

D-do you know healing magic?!" Esmond could see the desperation in Julius eyes as he choked out the words.

Levas was also looked at Esmond in another light, wondering what sort of person he was.

For a moment, Esmond felt like saying yes, but he knew others wouldn't understand what he meant and might take it the wrong way.

"No…

But I could learn it…"

Julius was heartbroken when he heard Esmond say 'no' but the words that came after made his darkened eyes, lighten up with a spark that'd long died out in his mind.

He was about to get up and race for his room, but Julius remembered that their family heirlooms were long gone and taken by the Church.

Even the magic grimoires of the family were taken by the Imperial Royal Family.

Seeing the darkness return in Julius eyes, Esmond spoke up before the man fell into the deep depths of despair.

"Is it possible to learn magic from the Guild?"

.

To Esmonds surprise and eagerness, he left with Julius and Levas for the Guild immediately as they started to inform him about the situation the Mercer family and Vileta were facing.

Because of the arrival of a greed Bishop that wished to create a grand cathedral within the desolate town and the Emperors people also trying to gain a fair share of the proceeds, leaving nothing to be used for the common people.

Julius had administrative authority within the town, but without any guards in his control and the Emperors men not willing to provide their for the work, it left the town mostly unguarded and resting in the hands of the adventurers which weren't the most reliable bunch.

When they got talking with Esmond, he purposely let it slip that he had many other men and women waiting for him deeper in the forest where they had made camp, which brought a little light to Julius face as he told Esmond about his authoritative strengths.

Julius explained that he could install Esmond and his people as guards to protect the town and help him manage the affairs, but the Bishop and Pierpont Familys men would interfere somehow.

The only way to get around this was Esmond registering with the Guild and then creating a Clan which would be protected by the powers of the Guild but also meant they could gain some footing within the town against the church and empire.

Esmond knew he would somehow be involved in the political fight for the town once he saw the atrocious living conditions, but he held off for now, that was until he registered with the Guild.

After that he planned on establishing his empire here if he could.

'Kane… I need you to get working… on something different...'