Chương 1266: [1182] - Y06.082 - Red Oak I

'Damn it.' Adam groaned, rubbing around his eyes with the knuckles of his thumbs.

'Hopefully I played it off properly like I'm some kind of idiot, but…' Jurot could feel Adam's self pity resonating out towards him, the Iyrman remaining silent as Adam continued to ponder on his mistakes, surely not to learn from it for at least another ten or twenty times, since it was Adam.

'I've got to be careful since we're leaving for Dunes,' Adam thought to himself, berating himself again and again.

'Why do I have to be such an idiot?'

'If he was born within the Iyr, he could hold his head with pride,' Jurot thought. He closed his eyes, thinking of his family's stories, and even the Gak family, which was a name all but forgotten within Aldland for a thousand years, could act so brazenly due to the fact they were Iyrmen. These complicated emotions swirled within Jurot's heart, but he killed each strand of emotion one by one.

'Adam will be fine, since he is Adam.'

"I hope my prayer managed to smooth things before we left," Dunes said, flashing a warm smile.

"Perhaps I should do the same for the upcoming fortresses?"

"Yeah, that was a great idea," Adam admitted, letting out another small sigh of annoyance, directed wholly towards himself for being a fool.

"For the rest of the forts, we… I guess? If you want to pray, who am I to stop you, and I won't stop someone who prays to Lady Arya either." Dunes smiled, for though Adam held a particular affinity for Lord Sozain, or Baktu as the Iyr would call him, the half elf was someone who dared to take shots at the Divine. However, Lady Arya was someone the half elf also held respect for, and in some ways, he treated her more respectfully than even Lord Sozain. The Priest beamed with a bright smile towards the half elf.

As the gates of Red Oak, a pair of guards stood, adorned in their chain and wielding their spears. Their faces were covered by their helmets, but there was no doubt they wore smiled upon their faces, for the sun rose in the east, and they were on duty at the West Gate, the best place for guard duty during noonval.

"Oh? What's this?" Marie called, eyeing up the carriages approaching Red Oak from the west.

"So many carriages?"

"From the west?" Mary asked, surprised.

"Looks like we'll be the ones to mark down a decent sum of silver!"

"If they're coming from the west, that means they didn't head to Eagle Wing? So will they even have enough silver?"

"Don't snuff my lantern like that!" Marie rolled her eyes, before they snapped upon the flags of the carriage, then down towards the drivers of the carriage.

"Iyrmen?"

"Are they sending people to help our their Chief?"

"Was it the Chief who went east?"

"Wasn't it?"

"I thought it was the other one. Elder… Peace?"

"Oh is that so? Oh that is so." Mary thought back to the serene woman she had seen.

"The Chief, he's the one with the sword, isn't he?"

"The one that's bone and steel?"

"Aye, that's the one," Mary stated, recalling seeing the beautifully horrifying blade up close when the Chief had made his way through previously. Marie stood a little taller as the carriage approached closer, her sister doing the same, and the carriage coming to a stop before them a short while later. Marie exchanged a look with Mary, who allowed the woman to step forward to inspect the carriages.

"Iyrmen, what's your business," Marie called out, stepping towards Tanagek, who hopped off the carriage, and reached into his cloak, holding out the noisy pouch. She accepted the pouch, noting the glint of silver, and she eyed up the steeds and carriages. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"Jurot," Tanagek called out, knocking upon the carriage.

"What's your business?" Marie asked as Jurot loomed over her.

"We of the United Kindom have business in Aswadasad."

"Aswadasad? What are you going to be doing there?"

"…" Jurot fell quiet for a moment in thought.

"We have business in Aswadasad as the United Kindom, and we have business there as Iyrmen."

"…" Marie slowly bowed her head.

"What are you carrying in all these carriages?"

"People, and goods to gift," Jurot replied.

"Who will you be gifting these goods to?" Marie asked, since she would need to write the report.

"We wish to gift these items to various leaders in the lands, to form good relations, and to assist against the Reavers." Marie inhaled sharply, gently nodding her head, since the Iyrman had spoken so firmly. If an Iyrman was telling her something, she believed it.

"It's a gold for the caravan, a silver per head."

"There is forty silver."

"How many people?"

"Over twenty."

"I'll have to check."

"Okay." Marie slipped her head into the carriages, noting the figure in purple, raising her brows since that was something which tickled the back of her brain, but upon seeing the holy symbols, she bowed her head, and nodded towards each of the other figures. She did the same within each of the carriages, and did her best to take into consideration everything out of the ordinary within the carriages, before they allowed the group within.

"Trouble?" Mary whispered.

"I don't think so… a lot of Iyrmen."

"How many?"

"At least half were Iyrmen, maybe more."

"That's a lot of Iyrmen…"

"They're just going about giving gifts, probably due to the…"

"Yeah." Marie narrowed her eyes, for while recalling what had happened in the previous year, she remembered mention of purple armour.

"I need to inform the Captain."

"Sure," Mary nodded to her sister, letting her step away, another guard quickly replacing her as the carriage made its way through the bustling town. The news of their arrival quickly made its way to the Countess, who left the group be that day, too busy with other matters to try and meet with them. The stone walls around the inn provided the group much comfort from the world outside, while the wooden buildings stood tall, easily five stories tall, with the corners at least six stories.

While the rooms were small cubes, they were well furnished, and provided a greater security from prying eyes, while the centre of the inn was spacious, a large garden in which they could enjoy the open air. It was almost like the shared estates of the Iyr, though bigger in many ways, and smaller in other ways. Plus, it was affordable.

'Thank the Divine,' Adam thought, for it was a reasonable price of a gold per head, though Adam spotted Jurot handing over a small gem easily worth an additional ten gold. He decided he didn't see the trading of the gem, though he didn't see what else they had traded as the Iyrman made his way out, travelling through Red Oak to complete his Iyrmanly business. The food was simple, plain, but the drinks, which were not including within the gold per head, were far greater.

"I did not expect us to stay here," Amokan admitted, catching Kitool's eyes.

"The rooms, fine. The food, fine. The drinks…"

"Fine," Timojin stated, but not in the same way one might state the word when they were feeling upset, but rather the way one might describe wine. Kitool placed down a gem, but not any gem, for this was an onyx. It was more than what she made monthly as an Executive, for the gem was worth fifty gold. The workers swiftly brought the group bottles of wine, one for each group.

Tagak poured Laygak a cup of wine, and offered the bottle to the Iyrman, who poured his younger sister her own cup of wine, while Taygak poured her elder cousin, Tagak, a cup. The trio raised their cups and sipped the sweet wine, Tagak and Laygak exchanging a look, while Taygak ruminated in the moment. This was the first time she had come out as a teen, and she was able to go out and adventure alongside her elder brother. Her elder brother who had slain giant pythons and had fought in a tournament!

This was the best! Her elder cousin and brother continued to eat and pour her wine, while Bael remained to one side, eating his potatoes, chicken, and vegetables. He wanted to drink the wine too, but since he had promised the Gaks to take watch in the night to allow them to eat and drink with Taygak, he kept his tongue dry.

'Is this what it means to have an older brother?' Bael thought, thinking to his own siblings. The lightning flashed in front of Bael's eyes, and the memory of the searing pain across his skin sobered his thoughts.

'If only my siblings had been so sweet…' Meanwhile, at another inn, Jurot dashed a cup of wine to the side after eating his meal.

"The wine is no good." A patron glared at the Iyrman, whose eyes darted to the side to meet hers. The woman stood, reaching for her blade, but the worker quickly bowed her head.

"Apologies, mister Iyrman, I shall call the owner!" the annoyance rose within the worker, but she fought it away, since the woman had stood up ready to fight an Iyrman on her behalf.

'How heroic!'