Crisis

To prevent Heka from jumping out of the window to escape, his room faced the courtyard. It was far from the street, but being high enough, it offered a meager view of the opposite street scene.

Heka walked over to the bed. Dense footsteps rang in his ears, along with a heavy atmosphere pressing down beneath that dullness.

There were no airtight walls in the world. The Black Mountain Merchants were already at odds with some of the local lineages. Upon learning that they were harboring the key to knowing the gold coin's whereabouts, several opponents had united with lineages that had originally been neutral, attacking a small external stronghold of the Black Mountain Merchants overnight.

Heka lowered his body, scanning the plaza below with his peripheral vision. Corpses were being carried off carriages one by one there, most of them bearing obvious external injuries. The smell of blood must have originated from there.

The people of the Black Mountain Merchants had already put on their armor; a few had even pulled on chainmail while bare-assed.

The leader, wearing that black hunting outfit, walked among the corpses, seemingly identifying each person.

"The pressure is too high. We shouldn't have trusted that bunch of scoundrels from the Marnie Lineage in the first place. They were the ones who told us to come and compete with the Deya Lineage, and kept blabbering on about how they would help us.

Now look at this. We haven't even seen a shadow of the Deyas, and we've already lost so many of our men just by seeing a bunch of dogs raised by the Deya Lineage.

If you ask me, we should just agree to their demands and throw that brat out. At least that could make those mad dogs of the Blood Sparrow quiet down..."

A thin rapier slid out of its scabbard, stopping steadily in front of the speaker's eyes. This was a small sword whose thickest part was no wider than an adult's little finger.

Although its length had barely escaped the category of an embroidery needle.

Yet that slender blade still formed a comical contrast with the leader's bulky body.

It was as if an elephant had put on a pair of pink ballet shoes and then spun around on its tiptoes.

"Black Mountain people never have to look at other people's faces.

We didn't come here to be dogs for any lineage. They are using us, but we are using them just the same. Heka is important right now—that is my judgment.

And you do not yet have the qualifications to negate my judgment."

The small sword was retracted once more, the blade brushing against the metal ring at the edge of the scabbard and emitting a hum.

Having finished viewing the corpses of all his men, the man abruptly raised his head and locked his gaze instantly onto Heka on the windowsill. Heka immediately lowered his body, avoiding the other man's eyes.

All morning, an indescribable smell of blood permeated the grounds below. Heka, for his part, very sensibly stayed inside the room, only occasionally casting sideways glances toward the location below.

Before lunch, just as Heka was hesitating whether to skip a meal, Deko directly pushed open the door and barged in.

At that moment, Tuft of Hair was wiping the floor. The boy stuck his rear end out and pushed hard as he moved a rag that was a bit too large for his palms across the floor.

"He's really diligent."

Deko stood in the doorway, avoiding stepping on the floor that had already been cleaned.

Most of the people within the Black Mountain Merchants were warriors; there were almost no the old, weak, women, or children, and only the leader and a few respected elders had personal servants.

The chores of the others were completed by themselves and their roommates.

As for the cooks and grooms, they had side jobs, and even the Carpenter was no exception.

Only professionals requiring technical skills, such as the doctor, were hired from the outside.

Deko knew about Heka's situation here. He had never seen Heka do any work, as the vast majority of chores were handled by the other's little lackey.

"Is the doctor here?"

Heka stood up from in front of the desk. The desk inside the room was very narrow, so he had previously used the Carpenter's workshop, borrowing that large table to complete his drafting work.

"No, the doctor's matter might need to be postponed, but don't worry too much. Since the boss promised, he definitely won't break his word.

A guest is coming tonight, and the boss hopes you can prepare to meet him. It will be good for you, so you guys shouldn't go out this afternoon."

Deko gathered his thoughts, his gaze evading Heka's eyes as he spoke.

Heka raised an eyebrow, then took a slight step back, glanced at the empty hallway behind him, and only then targeted his gaze back at the man before him.

"Are you going to see your partners in Seapeak Port? Can you guys not handle the pressure anymore?"

Heka recalled the corpses he had seen in the morning.

Although he was somewhat bad at recognizing the faces of Black Mountain people, after diligent observation over these past days, Heka had more or less calculated their headcount.

The Black Mountain people who had currently come to this core stronghold numbered a little over a hundred.

With seven people killed just yesterday alone, it really could be considered a heavy blow to their foundations. He had previously heard the thugs of the Graytooth Gang chatting idly about how most of the people in the Black Mountain Merchants could take three men on by themselves.

Even if they injured the other party, the enemy could still retreat unscathed relying on tight coordination and excellent weapons.

The boss of the Graytooth Gang had even made a declaration: whoever could take down the armed personnel of the Black Mountain Merchants would be made a minor leader.

Heka's words caused Deko to take a step back, directly blocking the door for leaving. As for the window ahead, jumping out of there would only land one in a heavily guarded courtyard.

"Don't look at me like that. I can't read minds."

Heka looked at Deko's complicated expression and shrugged.

"And you still say you can't."

Deko's palm was already pressing against the hilt of the sword at his waist. The damned thing was that this brat had either been playing the pig to eat the tiger all along, or had been replaced by some monster at some point.

"The Black Mountain Duchy and Seapeak Port aren't adjacent. You guys only came over a little over a year ago, right around the time when the Wealth Church also entered. I even ate the small biscuits they distributed for a period of time."

"Yeah, the small biscuits were delicious."

Tuft of Hair, who was wiping the floor, raised his head and looked with burning eyes at the two people currently talking.

"I'll take you to eat them later."

Heka sat on the bed and waved his hand to signal Deko not to be too nervous.

Deko took a slight step forward. Although standing in this position probably wouldn't let him evade the other's attack, if the other was some kind of monster residing within a human body, his blade could at least strike the other's neck.

"You guys must have been invited here, right? Whose side are you on—the Wealth Church, or one of the local lineages?"