“I’m not entirely sure,” Veronica said. “Perhaps the Arcanists have some sort of deal to keep the royal officials away. Arcanists don’t tend to enjoy having much oversight, and they are definitely more frequent visitors to Brightwater than royal officials. In fact, look there!” She pointed upward, to where a red and yellow flag fluttered above one of the high turrets of the trading house.
“It’s the flag of the Arcanists,” said Amelia. “What does it mean?”
“It means,” replied Veronica, “that there’s an Arcanist visiting Brightwater at the moment and occupying the official quarters. The Arcanist must have arrived while I was out of town, hunting monsters.”
I wasn’t all that interested in royal officials or taxes, so I allowed the conversation that followed between the women to fade to the back of my mind. My focus was now on entering the trading house to sell my Beast Core.
“I’m going to head into the trading house now,” I said after I’d noticed a gap in their conversation.
“Not so fast,” Veronica said, and I pulled up short.
“What is it? We need coin for lodgings and food. And I could do with some new clothing.”
“I can lend you the coin for a meal and a night’s rest in the Sticks and Stones Tavern.”
“I’d rather not be in your debt,” I said as I began to make my way toward the trading house again.
Veronica put her hand on my chest this time. Despite the fact that she pushed me, I could barely feel the pressure on my chest.
I laughed. “You’re going to have to do a lot better than that to stop me going anywhere.”
“Is that a challenge?” she asked.
“Of course not,” I said with another chuckle. “Would you just explain why you’re so intent on me not going to the trading house to sell my Core?”
“I’d very much like to know as well,” Amelia said.
Veronica sighed. “You’re not a real mage, so you don’t have the documentation.”
“Surely Mages aren’t the only ones who turn in Beast Cores?” Amelia asked.
Veronica wore a conceited smile, obviously glad to be giving the explanations for once. “No, Mages aren’t the only ones who hunt and sell Cores. But William, you don’t exactly look like a seasoned soldier. Certainly not someone who can kill monsters single-handedly. Yes, you’re very handsome, strapping even, but you aren’t even carrying a weapon beside that ornate dagger and a rusty shortsword. And you’ve got tattoos on your arms; only thieves and vagabonds wear tattoos in these parts. The vendor wouldn’t believe you had earned the Core yourself, and he’d likely report you as a thief.”
“Right,” I said with a sigh. “Then I’ll take you up on your offer. But I’ll be paying you back as soon as I find a way to sell this Core.”
“You can give it to me,” she said nonchalantly. “Or don’t you trust me?”
I stared at the Mage for a few seconds. “I’ll see how I feel in the morning.”
I turned away from Veronica, leaving her gaping.
“You don’t trust her?” Amelia whispered to me.
“I trust her,” I replied. “I just want her to know she can’t order me around.”
Veronica returned, and she seemed a little perturbed at the way I’d spoken with her. I didn’t want her to think she could tell me what to do, but I also didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. I decided to ask her some questions, to show some interest in Brightwater and her knowledge of it.
“So, Veronica, are all those buildings all filled with crafters and merchants?” I gestured at the other, larger buildings. “The square doesn’t look that busy right now.”
There were a few people walking in and out of some of the structures, but if this was the major center of trade for the mines in the mountains, I would have expected a bit more traffic.
“There doesn’t tend to be that much trade all at once in this place,” Veronica replied. Her previous annoyance had vanished now that she had the opportunity to display her knowledge. She waved her hand over the square as she spoke, as if she were showing us her own property. “The trade here is more moderate, but steady. A lot of the merchants are out in the mountains at the moment.”
“What do they do there?” I asked. “Trade slaves?”
“Well, some of them do,” Veronica said, clenching her fists. “The fact is, slavers aren’t all that popular here either. Some of the population are former slaves. Most of the people living in the town are here because they value their freedom and want to get away from the heavy regulation of the big cities near the capital.”
“They sound similar to us,” I remarked. “So what else do the merchants do in the mountains?” At this point, I was now genuinely interested in the answers and not just feigning for Veronica’s benefit.
“They collect loot from the monsters killed in the mines,” Veronica said. “In exchange, they bring various supplies to the soldiers who fight up there. That’s the primary economic purpose of the mines, bringing the valuable items harvested from monsters down to the lowlands.”
“It makes sense that there would be more useful things in monsters than just their Cores,” I said. “Almost makes me wish I had skinned those bears and other monsters before we’d left them.”
“It’s not worth the trouble,” Veronica said. “Besides, there are teams of scavengers who operate out of Brightwater. If we give them the location of our battle at the ruined tower, they’ll go and collect anything useful from the corpses, and we’ll get a portion of their sale once they’re done. Whole caravans of furs, monster bones, Beast Cores, and other such things are transported out to the cities near Astros.”
“It seems quite odd that Brightwater isn’t more heavily watched and taxed then,” Amelia said. “The Arcanists must really have some influence if they can keep this place under wraps.”
Even though
