Finding the Lanthinus company’s encampment wasn’t difficult, it just took a while to walk the fifteen-or-so kilometers North along the Intercity road. The road was essentially a highway, though it was only four magicarriages wide and nothing more than a path of magically hardened earth. Only the wealthiest of countries could be bothered to pave highways that few would use on a daily basis. It was much simpler to get a group of Mages to clear a straight path and harden the dirt into a sheet of brown stone.

At the fifty-fifth kilometer mark, the group had turned off the highway and wandered off into the fields to the East. The scruffy tall grass was irritating, so Allen quickly used his inventory to switch out his casual shorts for his tough leather pants. On the other hand, the weather was nicer than it had been two days earlier, which made the somewhat boring and uneventful hike rather calming.

After walking over the crest of a hill nearly half an hour later, the encampment revealed itself in the valley a few hundred meters ahead of them. It was positioned in the middle of a relatively flat part of the plains and stretched nearly two-hundred meters in each direction. Everything was very temporary, from the large circular tents to the still-prepared wagons and magicarriages. There was a ring of vehicles roughly encircling the camp, creating a barrier of sorts.

Allen huffed to himself the moment it came into sight. “Wow,” he thought, looking over the dozens of tents of varying sizes strewn throughout the shallow valley. “Is the circus in town?” Allen glanced around at the others for a brief moment, noticing how none of them seemed to have any idea what their plan was. “So, what’s the approach?” he asked aloud.

Christopher grunted thoughtfully. “Well, I believe we should wait until dark to attempt any form of stealth. Still, I don’t know what detection capabilities they have, and only you would be able to bypass anything in the first place.” The professor turned to Allen and scratched the back of his head. “I also couldn’t say how close we would get before they detect us. Our only goal is to see if Kenneth is among them, right?”

Allen didn’t have anything to say to Christopher’s non-answer.

Ty sighed. “I guess I’d be okay with that,” he said, “but there’s still no proof that this company’s a den of vultures.”

“Who cares?” Camila snorted, getting half-hearted glares from Ty and Christopher.

“They’re already criminals,” Allen thought, not seeing the point in saying so out loud.

“It doesn’t look like their wearing anything special,” Amelia added, squinting off into the encampment. “I can’t tell

Allen strained his eyes as well; his perception allowed him to make out just a little more detail, given the distance. He estimated that there were about a hundred people, most of whom seemed less than friendly, even by the standards of Unnamed World. Overall, he would give them a solid B- for their cover. The camp just seemed too rough and unfocused to be a merchant guild or something of the like. It really did look like a circus, only there were stacks of crates and wares instead of animals.

“I wonder what they’ve got in the tents,” Allen thought. He had a few guesses, most of which were cynical at best.

“So… what are we gonna to do?” Camila asked, seeming aggravated. “Do we just walk in?”

“Yeah, that should work,” Allen said bluntly. He turned around and nudged Amelia off of Christopher’s wheelchair. He suppressed a grin with the knowledge that the other four were all staring at him like he was some sort of madman. “Madness is just one step beyond genius,” Allen told himself. Still, he knew all to well that grinning like a psychopath wasn’t a great look… depending on the company that is.

“W-What?” Christopher asked, stammering a little. It was uncharacteristic of him and actually quite concerning.

“Well, duh,” Allen began, taking hold of Christopher and pushing him down the hill towards the camp. “They’re a band of merry merchants traveling and selling their goods. They’ve already made our cover story for us. Of course, we’ll need just a little bit more.”

“Uhuh…” The professor still seemed skeptical, but he relented eventually.

“So, we’re a party of adventurers looking for illegal wares,” Allen said, pushing Christopher through the grass at a casual pace. “If anyone asks why Amelia and I look so young, we’ll be your grandkids or something,” he continued.

“I’m not that old,” muttered Christopher.

The others just chuckled a little before going silent. They reached the gate of the encampment a few minutes later, though calling it a gate was rather generous. It was really just a plank of wood laid across two wagons on either side.

A burly looking man was leaning on a wagon near the ‘gate’ with a forced expression. He’d been staring down the group from under his thick eyebrows ever since they had come into view. He didn’t seem immediately hostile though, so Allen continued forward. He was mostly worried that Ty would make a scene, but then again, this whole operation was his idea.

“Who might you all be?” the guard said, having waited until Allen and the others stopped in front of him. The man wasn’t the stereotypical bumbling idiot that somebody who watches too much TV might have expected. He had a sharp look in his eyes, though there was nevertheless just as much boredom. He put a hand up to his beard and raised an eyebrow when Christopher waved from his wheelchair.

Name: [Unknown]

Human – Warrior – Level 245

“Hello sir,” the professor began. “I saw from the notices that this is where the Lanthinus company is camped.”

“Do you mean the same notices that said we were selling illegal imports?” the guard said flatly as his expression soured. “Why are you really here?” He hadn’t moved from his spot leaning against the wagon behind him. His stare only deepened when Christopher didn’t immediately respond.

“Oh boy. The fact that I look like a seventeen-year-old is why I wanted Christopher to handle this.” Allen sighed audibly. “It’s free advertisement really,” he began aloud with a chuckle, “We’re adventurers; that’s why we’re here. The ‘notices’ weren’t wrong, were they?”

The gatekeeper grumbled to himself as he pushed off the wagon. “Who’s asking?” he said in a gruff voice.

Allen smirked and pulled a gold coin out from his inventory and held it out between two fingers. It was one of many that he had gotten off Kenneth’s body. “Paying customers,” he said.

The man grinned from beneath his beard before reaching for the plank of wood barring their path. “Well in that case, follow me. I’ll take you to one of our sales associates. He’ll show you through our inventory.”

Allen held his calm smile as he pushed Christopher into the camp with the others following behind. “I guess I look older than I thought… or maybe its just the money? Sixteen is the age of majority in most of this world.” Allen also noticed the others glance at him with mixed expressions. Amelia seemed a bit repulsed while the others just looked confused or shocked. “Yeah, you can thank me later.”

The gatekeeper lead them to the large circular tent in the center of the camp and ushered them inside. The tent was sectioned off with flaps of canvas, forming a corridor that ended at a makeshift office of sorts.

“Dale, I’ve got customers for you; adventurers they say,” the man said, putting an obvious emphasis on the word ‘customers.’

Allen followed the guard into the sectioned off room in the tent, pushing Christopher along in front of him. Another man, presumably Dale, stood up from behind a desk just as the group entered.

Dale flashed a plastic smile before walking around his desk and holding out a hand for Christopher. “I see, welcome to the Lanthinus company,” he quickly turned to the guard and nodded, “You can return to your post, Bernard.”

“Yes, thank you for seeing us,” Christopher said. He was a lot more collected than before, in Allen’s opinion. Still, Allen couldn’t justify being skittish with people who weren’t even really their enemies. At least not yet.

Dale shook hands with Christopher before swiftly glancing over everyone else once the guard had left. “Right, my name is Dale and I’m a sales representative here at the Lanthinus company. Is there anything in particular that you’re interested in? We have an expansive selection of commodities as well as plenty of high-quality weapons and gear that you won’t find in any normal shop around here.”

“Andy really opened my eyes. Whereas before it would have been a joke, I can now actually say without much doubt that this guy really is a reincarnated crooked lawyer or something.” Allen’s calm smile deepened into a smirk, giving away his amusement. He noticed Dale’s inquisitive gaze fall upon him a moment later and he returned the look. “Do you have blood proxy totems or fate binding seals?” he asked casually. “Maybe sting potions or basilisk venom?”

Even Dale seemed surprised for a split second. The others looked horrified that he could list out so many very illegal items so nonchalantly, though thankfully they schooled their expressions before the salesman noticed anything.

Dale ran his tongue across his teeth, his smile reached his eyes, unlike before. “Indeed, we carry all of those in the… back, shall we say. There are multiple varieties of basilisk venom actually; we have petrifying, burning, and liquifying I believe. The petrifying is reaper class if I remember correctly.”

“Excellent,” Allen replied with a grin.

“Indeed, please lead us though your inventory,” Christopher said, voice firm.

Dale brushed down his expensive coat as he motioned out of his tent office. “Very well, please follow me.”