When Black and White met with Isa, White invited the two to a meal for the night.

The three then proceed to go towards an inn. Finding some food and room that they could eat and sleep where they would spend their time waiting for tommorow to come.

The caravan which they are hired to guard happens to be leaving tomorrow so unlike their initial plan. They are now planning to stay.

As they eat, White started talking to Isa about what happened to the two of them when they separated.

From the gist of what happened when they separated to the plan to join a caravan, White explained everything.

Isa on the other hand made sure to listen as she eat. She made sure to understand everything and not leave any information behind.

She believed that this information might be helpful in the future so knowing every bit of detail is important for her.

"Mr. White is really trying hard to be in trouble isn't it?"

Joked by Isa as she continue to eat her food.

"Hahaha! You said it, kid!"

Black hearing what she said laughed and agreed with her.

"Don't put this on me. It's not me that wants to be in trouble but the world who wants me to be in trouble."

The three enjoyed their meal, joking and talking to each other.

For the three of them, this conversation brought them some of their past, back when the three of them are still working together.

After they eat, they chose to stay for some time to chat before finally deciding to go to their room and rest.

Instead of choosing to stay in separate rooms. The three of them decided to sleep in just one room.

This is because they are wary of being attacked in a city that they didn't know much about.

Being attacked inside their rooms isn't a common occurrence anywhere in the kingdom but it's not something unheard of.

There are those people who will steal while the customers are sleeping and there are even those who can and will kill if their victim suddenly woke up.

Or some ordinary burglars who saw a chance to get some money.

So for the three who don't even know much about the city, choosing to stay together is the best choice they have come up with.

Luckily for the three, they were able to sleep well without being having any problems.

After sleeping, the three immediately readied themselves before leaving their room and eating breakfast. They don't really have a lot of baggage anyway so it didn't take them long to get ready.

Before they head to the city center where the caravan's meeting place is going to be, they first head to the stables where they left their horse.

After getting their horses, they head towards the city center where they saw an open space almost empty of people.

This is totally opposite of what they saw a day before when the center was packed with people.

This is due to fact that it's still early that most people are still asleep.

Then suddenly, as they traverse the spacious center, a person called out to White.

"Oh, are you perhaps... White?"

"Yes. That's me... Mr?"

Answers White as he looks at the person who called for him.

It was a person that has an average look. Besides his dress which reeks of the look of a merchant, his looks are just like those of any other young adult that is of the same age as White.

He has brown hair that looks the same as Isa while its length reaches the shoulder. And like any other person, he has a pretty slim build that looks a bit smaller than White that can be easily noticed even with the dress covering him up.

"I'm glad to meet you, White. My name is Dray."

As he said that, he brought forward out his right hand, indicating for White to do the same.

"So you're the leader of the merchant that's going to be under my care? I'm honored."

White who answered briefly brought also his right hand forward then both of them hold hands for a second before calling it off.

This is a normal sign of greeting in the kingdom of Numero.

The history with the greeting dates back to the creation of the country as the founding people hold hands as a sign of alliance that created the kingdom.

After the small greeting, the merchant called out for the others to greet White and his companions.

The three also greet them and also to didn't forget to greet the guards.

As part of the guards, they also joined the general meeting of how the guarding is going to be before they proceed on their own businesses.

When all things are set and done, the caravan started moving, towards the exit of the walls.

...

As they line across the roads of the Kingdom, the three chose to position themselves in the second position of the caravan.

When asked why they positioned themselves as such. The only reason they gave is that one of their members (White) said that in the morning, the sun would set into his eyes so he chose the second position so that the cover of the first wagon would block the sun.

It's not like the third or any other positions other than the first is any different than the second in terms of the application of the reasoning that they used but as the guards of the Caravan, they also need to position themselves in such a way where they could defend the caravan easily.

Currently, the three of them are discussing something as they ride their wagon that is being pulled by the three horses which they were riding early on.

Before entering the city, they didn't have a wagon of their own. How they acquired it is when the captain offered them one when they met again for the second time.

White accepted the offer easily when he saw the size of the wagon which he thought could fit all three of them at the same time.

White also doesn't like riding horses too much which added to the factor.

"Looks like your hunch is right kid."

Said Black as he look at their surrounding like he's trying to look for something hidden.

"Maybe the merchants are just really rich. We still can't be sure you know!"

Denied by White as he sigh hearing what Black said.

"What are you two talking about?"

Asked Isa as he hold the reign of the horses that is pulling their caravan.

"It looks like that your master is right kid. He hit the jackpot!"

"What Jackpot?"

"That's still not sure I'm telling you. Also, watch your words old man, slave talk is taboo in the Kingdom."

One of the things Numero is famous for is that they don't tolerate slavery.

Out of all the countries on the continent, only a few such as the Kingdom dislikes the policy of slavery.

If you're from a foreign country entering the premises of Numero, the chances of you getting in trouble for owning a slave is pretty high.

This is why White is trying to be wary of them being heard. Though for Black, White is just making excuses and is trying to change the topic.

"Don't change the topic kid."

"I'm not!"

"What are you two talking about?"

As the two bicker about the caravan, Isa wasn't able to follow easily as her thoughts are filled at she's doing. Because of that, she asks the two to explain the situation in a much easier way to understand.

"Remember when White told you that this caravan might be involved with the City?"

"Yes, why?"

"Turns out it's true

"Ehh, how?"

"It can still have other reasons."

"Either way, we're still getting in trouble aren't we?"

As they talk about what they have discovered, White wasn't able to help himself but facepalm.

"Hah, yeah. I guess you're right. Isa."

"What, Mr. White?"

"Did you notice anything weird?"

"Nothing much-..."

Isa was about to say that she didn't notice anything weird but she suddenly remembered something that she stopped talking to process her memory.

"Did you remember something?"

Asked White as he noticed that Isa suddenly stopped talking.

"Now that I think about it. I noticed that besides some of them, most of them look weak."

When they greet the people in the caravan. Isa didn't forget to measure their strength.

It's a habit for her to do it as in the past, people that look strong tend to do something suspicious and because of that, she developed a habit of measuring people up.

It's not to the point that she can measure their real strength but through experience, she's at least able to distinguish which are threats from not.

"It's the opposite Isa."

"Kid, the thing you should focus on is that how many of them looks strong."

To what Black said, Isa found it weird.

"But this is a caravan. How can they deal with the wild monsters if they're all weak."

"Monsters aren't fools. They don't attack unless they are sure to win."

"Yeah, unlike those bandits who gamble their life, wild monsters are more cautious."

Wild monsters are known to attack humans since forever.

Reports, gossips, and other types of news spread throughout villages that it already became common sense.

What many people don't know is why such things occur.

In the case of Isa, she thought that it can happen anytime, anywhere and because of that, for her, the only way to not be killed by such an attack is to be strong enough to defend against it.

This is why she thought that people from a caravan that travels the wilderness a lot need to be strong by default to defend against the wild monsters.

She's not exactly wrong to have that belief. From time to time, monsters acting not on their instincts happen which although odd and rare, still happen.

"So wild monsters don't attack just anytime?"

"That's impossible."

"Yeah, listen to this Isa. Monster attack by instinct. They don't exactly learn the same way as us so they usually don't learn how weak humans really are. Although some do. Those cases are rare."

"Even a weak person could scare them off because of that."

"But being ready is alright. I only read about this so I'm not sure but, I heard that there's a monster that can stalk for days before attacking."

"Like assassins?"

"Yeah, like that."

"Oh, I never heard of that White."

"Well, if the old man never encountered it, then maybe it's just some lore."

...

The three continued to talk to each other and as they talk, their topic has continued to go into a tangent until Isa finally noticed it.

"Wait, aren't we talking about something important just early on?"

"Oh yeah, we were talking about the people on this caravan."

"I'm amazed how you can deflect this White, you're really sly aren't you."

"It's not my fault okay?"

...

"I admit that this caravan is indeed weird."

Said by White

"How are they weird?"

Asked by Isa as she continue to drive the caravan.

"I'm not that familiar with caravans myself but there's no way that the people here are ordinary merchants."

The one who answered that is Black.

Black himself as a general did travel a lot. But those travel are different from caravans which Black recognizes himself.

His suspicion over the caravan only came from the information that came from White himself and his natural instinct kicking in.

"I agree. All of the merchants I saw in this Kingdom should look more something like Dray but from what I see, they obviously don't."

Different from Black though, White deals a lot with the merchants of the Kingdom.

As a person tasked to manage the army of Numero, White made sure to have a stable supply coming. Due to this, dealing with merchants became normal as food coming from the Kingdom itself isn't exactly sufficient as he is readying to fight against the Empire.

"The first guy that greeted you?"

Asked by Isa as she tries to remember the person that White mentioned.

"Yeah, that guy."

"Hmmm. If I understand it right, what you mean is that the merchant shouldn't be able to have that much of guards but they do."

"Yup. What they have done in the first place is impractical."

"And besides the actual guards that they hired, some of the merchants look like they aren't exactly merchants and because of that, you think they are hiding something from us?"

"Yep."

"So that means that the merchants are at least either rich enough to be able to buy hire that much guards or the funds are coming from the Orene itself."

"Yep, you got it all right."

"How can we be sure that they aren't exactly merchants though?"

Even though the three are suspicious about the identity of the people in the caravan. They can never be really sure of it until they give such information themselves.

"We can go investigate later on but for now, well, nothing is concrete."

As Isa talks about what she understands so far, Black decided to talk about his thoughts about their journey ahead.

"I'm not a war freak myself. I did agree to protect this caravan, but you know, fighting Nobles are completely different than fighting some bandits."

Completely different from his statement just a day before, Black now wants to back out.

"Me too, dealing with assassins and stuff are annoying."

"So how about this. How about we just leave this caravan on the next village?"

"Negative. Even I have my pride. I can't easily back out from contracts and It's not like there aren't any benefits by having this much bodyguards."

"So you're allowed to fill your pride but not me? What a selfish kid."

What Black is being angry about is that White wants to fulfill the contract even with the danger just for pride and honor but he didn't even let Black have his.

White didn't pay much attention though and continued on his point. Even trying to mock Black in the process.

"Don't be grumpy now old man, it's not like this is the Empire you know?"

What White is pointing at is that the Kingdom that is at peace for a long time shouldn't be much more of a threat than what the Empire has.

For him, the Empire which experienced a lot of infighting should be more dangerous than what the Kingdom could offer.

"Aren't you being careful? Why take the risk now?"

"The answer is simple. I don't want to stay in this Kingdom any longer. And like I said, it isn't exactly all negative as now. For one, we're now in the most secured merchant caravan there is."

"Oh, If what Mr. White said about Caravan is true then I think what he also says now is indeed true."

Because of the persuasion of White and the agreement of Isa, Black finally decided to give up.

"Cheh, just do what you want."

"Even if we are attacked by other nobles, it shouldn't be that bad anyway."