After carefully inspecting the books for more than an hour, he put everything away and called the second boat closer.

“I’m sorry, I missed some important information earlier.” Nick apologized, “Thanks to Clayton noticing the dolphins, I was reminded of few other possible dangers and had to check those. It is not as bad as I thought, but still we will have to be more careful in the future. Did you notice, how all the villages we see on the riverbanks are full of hunters and no one is fishing? Also, the locals almost don’t go swimming in these waters but only wash themselves. There is a type of aggressive predator fish here, that is basically inedible, but they live in large schools and within seconds can eat a horse clean to its bones if it tries to swim over. The fishes are not that big, but almost half of their body consists of large mouth with big teeth.”

“How is this … how is this ‘not as bad as you thought’?” Steven stuttered. The others had pale faces as well – they were freely washing and swimming in these waters just yesterday.

“Well,” Nick scratched his head, “I was expecting large predator reptiles to live in this region. But don’t worry, these fishes are only common after Susha. Up until now it was safe to swim … most of the time.”

He tried to smile, but no one could reply him the same way. The following evening instead of cooking, Nick was tasked with research and had to go through the books again in case he missed anything. They still had few days till Beliz and no one was interested to encounter an unnecessary accident.

Fortunately no other dangers existed besides the ‘regular’ jungle predators, but the girls previously didn’t think of those either. Thus their sleep was a little worse for the next few nights, but at least during the day dolphins brought some pleasure to their trip. On very early mornings, right after the sunrise, the group met few flocks of these amazing animals and sometimes they really did jump out of the water, just like Nick promised before.

Thus with few ups and downs they arrived in Beliz several days later. The whole route from Olava took them seventeen days, but mostly they could relax and enjoy the scenery. The morning and evening practices were already routine for all of them and in some way even the girls were looking forward to those.

The group left their boats a couple of kilometers outside the city and made the final preparations. Their plan was simple – first enter Beliz, scout out the situation and decide on how to proceed later. Nick, accompanied by YunYun, would go to the Mercenary guild to look for information while the other five would hang out together in taverns while listening to conversations of other patrons.

Beliz turned out to be similar to Berin, only larger. They still had to pay the entrance toll at the gates and it was still dirty and poor on the outskirts while cleaner and richer near the center. Everyone wore their ‘Southern mercenary group’s’ uniforms with head covers hiding their faces and swords at their sides. Nick carried his steel dagger and YunYun had her ‘ugly’ sword on her back, but they didn’t stand out on the busy streets filled with sailors, mercenaries and busy merchants.

The city had a booming slave trade, similar to the other places and this time the girls could see this ugly trade from the outside. They were prepared for this morally, but still had to clench their fists trying to ignore the nightmare around them.

Before entering the city, Nick made them clear on multiple occasions that there was no way for them to help anyone without a high risk of getting found out, therefore they could only choose between their own lives and those of random strangers. And no matter how they pitied those who suffered, the had no right to endanger their loved ones. Thus, after few painful lectures, the ‘progressive’ young ladies from the Mainland continent had to carry their inner burden and ignore suffering surrounding them.

The local Mercenary guild was very close to the port and had quite a few taverns nearby, therefore everyone agreed to meet up after two hours and the bold duo quickly disappeared in the crowd.

Nick didn’t plan on using VIP privileges like in Berin therefore checked the mission listing boards first and then queued up to get more information at the counter. The Mercenary guild was as busy as always and they had to wait for over an hour to get greeted by a tired old clerk.

“Our mercenary group is interested in a long distance escort job, it might be to the west coast or to the south. The caravan size doesn’t really matter.” This was the first thing Nick wanted to probe. They already decided against going south by ship not only because of possible encounters with pirates, but of the increased risk of getting discovered in small quarters.

“If there is nothing on the boards, I can’t help you.” Clerk shrugged, “We put all the active offers there.”

“Alright, the next – we would like to purchase detailed map of the roads leading in those two directions. After we find the job we are looking for, we will need those anyway.” Nick nodded.

“You do understand you are asking for maps which should cover a distance of few thousand kilometers? That’s a lot of maps!” Clerk said in confusion. The little baldy was asking for a huge stack of papers. Even though he could prepare it, the job was tedious and quite pricey as well.

“Yes, our boss agreed for me to pay in advance if you need some time. How much is that?” Nick smiled. This was a bit different from the last time when he could almost put his legs on the table and order everyone around.

“Let’s see … The grand route to Guran in the south and the grand route to Ulun on the west coast. I can’t say for sure, but you’ll have to leave twenty ... no ... thirty gold collateral. Mercenary guild will return the surplus after making the final calculations.” Old clerk tried to calculate but gave up.

“Alright. Here you are.” Nick took out thirty gold and put on table. Then it looked like he was hesitating about something and after another minute finally spoke, “Sir, may be you can help me out a bit. This is a test for us, but we lack the necessary knowledge. According to your experience, what are the things we should pay attention to on these routes? I … I have almost fifty silver of my own and am willing to spend all of it. It is great opportunity and I just have to pass this test!”

The clerk thought for a while, then glanced around.

“I can’t help you in that way, but I can give you a tip on where to find the job you are looking for. It is available in Beliz only two times a year and is not listed in the Mercenary guild.”

“Please, Sir! You might save my life!” Nick got visibly agitated.

“But it will cost you fifty silver.” The old man grinned at the impatient youth.

Nick took ‘his last’ fifty silvers from the bag and helplessly looked at them while holding in his shaky hands. Then sighed and put on the table and pushed over to the old man.

“Sir, if you can, please add more information to our first request as well.”

“Agreed, seeing your honesty reminds me of myself back in the day.” Clerk grinned and quickly hid the fifty silver after confirming there was no one looking his way, “One of the biggest caravans traveling around the golden triangle arrived from Guran five days ago. Usually they stay for fifteen days before departing and it means they will proceed to Ulun in about ten days. While here, they are always looking for guards, but the owner doesn’t like the Mercenary guild and does not agree to pay the large commission for the listing of the convoy advertisement, therefore you did not see it on our boards. They don’t enter the city either and have their fair outside the southern gates, therefore you haven’t noticed their presence. This lesson for you is well worth your fifty silver pieces – you can look for information in other places, not only the Mercenary guild!”

Nick looked at the arrogant face dispirited, but then stuttered in reply, “T … thank you, Sir. When … when will our maps be ready?”

“Come tomorrow, after noon.” Old clerk passed the receipt for the thirty gold and angrily waived at youth to shoo him away, “Now, off with you! Go and gather a bit of experience before coming here next time!”

Nick sighed and bowed and then left looking really depressed.

When they got outside on the street, YunYun whispered in confusion, “What just happened?”

She was absolutely certain Nick had tons of gold. He probably could buy this building with all the people inside as well, but for some reason he almost cried for loosing fifty silver. It was not like him at all!

“Do you think an official that has taken a bribe while tricking a naive youth will tell anyone about what happened?” Nick whispered back and grinned.

‘How cheeky! How did he think of this?’ YunYun was shocked once again. Her fiancee never ceased to impress her.

Some time later they met their friends.

“We couldn’t find out much, but there are some people in the city who …” Clayton started to whisper, but Steven interrupted him.

“Shhh!”

And suddenly started to openly wave around his hands and point at the buildings around him saying some random words like ‘there’, ‘here’, ‘over there’. Others looked in confusion at him, when three men in black uniforms appeared seemingly from nowhere.

“Who are you?” One of them interrogated right away in a strict tone.

The seven from ‘Southern mercenary group’ were wearing head covers and had covered their faces almost fully, therefore only their eyes could be seen.

“We are from Southern mercenary group! Who the hell are you and how dare to speak to our boss like that?” Nick immediately fake ‘exploded’, but he, of course, recognized the uniforms. The Qi master on duty in the castle who stopped him before he left to the city after midnight wore similar clothing – these three most likely were castle’s or some special force’s Qi masters and probably highly skilled as well!

“Hmpf!” The man snorted, took out a token that in a way looked similar to the one Nick got in castle, “Show me your faces!”

“My apologies!” Nick enthusiastically shouted, “Right away!”

And then showed his own face and pulled off the headdresses of others. In front of the Qi master in black were few tanned youths and five of them had some kind of runes painted on their heads. Two awkwardly smiled at him showing ugly yellow teeth, while their ‘boss’ who looked around fifty was furrowing his brows, obviously unhappy with the current event.

The three men didn’t say anything, turned around and left while the seven people covered their heads and faces again.

“That is why I’m telling you, we should rent a boat and check them from the seaside! Only then we can see the whole picture!” Steven continued with his previous theatrics and Clayton nodded.

Ten minutes later they where paddling away from docks towards the anchored ships in the distance while Steven continued to play his role energetically pointing at the port buildings as if explaining something to his companions.

This time it was his quick reaction that saved them and he also was the one who thought of renting a boat so they could leave the crowd and talk without fear of being overheard.