"Um, are you sure that’s necessary?" I asked the guard while trying to hint at Gennady that I was indeed carrying ‘illicit goods’.
The guard shrugged. "It’s the law, Miss. I’m just doing my job."
"Of course you are," I said, trying to sound like I understood his situation. "But we paid the fee for entry, didn’t we? And we’re not even traders. This just seems like an unnecessary hassle."
"It would be less of a problem if you didn’t argue, Miss," the guard said, and I knew he was right.
I quickly glanced over at my travel companion with panic in my eyes, and he finally seemed to get my message. He got off his bike, and approached the guard. "Sir," he started, reaching for his pockets. "It’s a troublesome job, ain’t it?"
The guard eyed the Dwarf warily, but didn’t say anything.
Gennady continued. "I wanna help you out, but we also want to be helped out. So how about this?" He pulled out two glistening silver coins from his pocket. "A tip. For your troubles. And for our ‘troubles’."
The guard hesitated, before quickly looking around; when he saw no one was looking, he quickly snatched the coin out of the Dwarf’s hand, and pocketed it. "Go," he said, waving us off. "You’re all clear. I found nothing in your bags."
"Good lad," Gennady said, smacking him in the back, before hopping back on his bike. Then he winked at me. "Problem solved."
I sighed in relief as we finally entered the city, and drove away from the guardpost at the gates; the guard did not look through our belongings, which was a good thing considering I had a dozen books containing heretical contents inside of it. Not all of them were books on spells— that made up slightly less than half of my personal library— but I was pretty sure most of the others were illegal to own as well.
I probably should throw some of them away, since I had finished reading pretty much everything of note in those books. And the fact that a majority of them were hand-me-downs from Victor, my former friend and a rapist, urged me towards that course of action. However, not only have I simply never found the time to do it, a side of me felt like I could potentially find a use for them in the future.
I was not sure how accurate or trustworthy that side of me was, but I listened to it for now. It was risky, however perhaps I could maybe sell these books on the black market if the situation ever arised. Not that I knew how to access the sale of illegal goods: I did not even think of bribing the gate guard to Luke!
"How’d you know he’d accept it?" I asked Gennady as we were driving down the streets of the city, drawing some attention because of how much gas was being puffed out of the Dwarf’s vehicle. "The bribe," I specified.
He raised his shoulders in a shrug. "The country has been in hard times, lassie. Corruption is not uncommon when people just want to earn a living."
"But what if he reported us to a superior?" I asked, frowning. "We’d be in a lot more trouble."
"Then we bribe him instead," Gennady answered simply.
"I… but…" I paused, considering his possible responses to any further questioning I might have. Eventually, I acquiesced on the issue. It worked out without a problem, I told myself. Why are you complaining?
It was a nonsensical part of myself that worried over possible scenarios that never came to fruition; it usually was a longing for what could have been better, but sometimes it was a fear for what could have gone wrong.
Gennady and I continued down the haphazard streets of Luke, before finding ourselves at an inn. It was a more luxurious inn compared to the ones we had been staying in for the past week— all of which were fancy compared to the inns I had been staying in by myself before I started traveling with the Dwarf.
He insisted on finding comfortable lodgings most of the time, even if it were not necessary. I understood the concept of treating oneself once in a while, but it seemed as though he took it a step further and lived life on the edge in exchange for always getting what he wanted. That was why he left the Taw Kingdom in the first place: he was dissatisfied with how things were going with him there and took a leave even if it had no long term benefits.
Plus, Gennady warned me that we were probably going to be staying in Luke for a while; it was difficult to find transportation out of the port city due to all of the hazards with pirates infesting the waters right outside of it. We had to find a ship willing to bring us out of Laxis— possibly all the way to Taw— which required a significant amount of protection in the form of Mercenaries, as well as Hunters if a sea Monster decided to attack the ship.
And while the former was a problem endemic to Laxis for almost a decade, it seemed the latter was simply a seasonal issue. The stormy weather supposedly attracted creatures of the deep to gather closer to coastal settlements, lying in wait to sink unguarded ships and feast on its crew.
It was not the wisest idea to go on a seaway voyage at the current time, and while I was not in a rush to get to Taw, I would prefer to find myself in a physically and financially secure position as soon as possible.
"Remind me again, why can’t we travel to Taw through land?" I asked the Dwarf as we settled into our room.
"It’s not that we can’t
