Starlight Necromancer

Chapter 17 - George

Foster kept on eating the kira as he made his way to that place the carriage driver was talking about earlier. If they were able to bring him to that city, Arcadum, then Foster would be able to relax, at least. In this sort of world, he figured that it was close to impossible to actually find someone when they were actively trying to hide from you.

There was no technology here, so communication between far-away places must be rather hard. Sure, there were other ways to find people than just the internet or by texting around, Foster knew that. He himself had to work with information brokers quite a lot to find people, but it usually took a while to find his targets in the first place, at least that was so until he had constructed a proper network of brokers that he could freely access.

And before that was the case, it was often so that his targets ended up knowing about him already. Of course, Foster wasn't a hitman, so people didn't really care that he came to visit, but plenty of higher-ups at other syndicates or organizations would put on an 'I have expected you' show for him when he tried to invite them to the syndicate, or when he tried to come to them to set up particular deals.

So as long as Foster connected with the top layer of the criminal underworld in Arcadum, he should be able to be prepared even if Aaron and Joyce were to go so far as to hunt him down like that. By the time he reached the place he headed to, the building with the large sign of a star hanging in front of it, Foster had finished two of the kari. They were surprisingly tasty, and it's been a while since he ate anything as well.

Foster stepped into the entrance to the company, the large open, barn-like door, and looked around until he saw someone actively working here. It was a well-built, tall guy carrying a huge wooden barrel on his shoulder as if it was nothing. Even if it was empty, which it quite honestly didn't seem to be, that thing must weight a shitton.

"Hey, sorry, could you help me for a second?" Foster asked somewhat awkwardly, not wanting to interrupt this guy while he was working, but he simply turned toward this young man with a smile on his face, "Hm? Ah, of course! What can I do for ya?" He asked in a welcoming tone, simply holding the barrel on his shoulder like it weighed nothing.

"Erm, I'm looking for a 'George'?" Foster asked, and the man's face quickly turned into a frown, "And what do ya want with him?"

"I'm trying to get to Arcadum, I heard that George could bring me there?"

"And who told you that?" The man asked. Foster looked back surprised, since this guy suddenly seemed rather intense. Scratching his cheek, Foster replied, "His name is Christoph, he's a merch-"

"Oh, Christoph sent ya?!" Before Foster was even able to finish speaking, the man placed down the barrel that he was carrying, "Well in that case, you've come to the right place! I'm George!" With an energetic tone, he locked eyes with Foster.

"So, what can you do?" George asked curiously, "Ya look to be a fighter, so that means you could be an escort? Or just some regular muscle, if ya'd rather."

Foster looked down at his clothes, and let out a light sigh. He was glad that he was going to be able to get there, but he wasn't aware that he was supposed to help out while that was happening. Although, it did make sense, if he was honest. He couldn't expect to just be helped out for free all the time.

"I'm a decent fighter, but not when it comes to... erm, monsters? If you need someone, then it'd be great if I could help out by just carrying stuff when you need me to." Foster suggested, and George quickly thought about it, "Well, I honestly think we might have enough workers with us, but having more can never hurt. And really, just having more people with us that even look like they can fight is gonna help us avoid bandids, so... As long as ya don't mind being used as part of a deterrent, then you can tag along."

"Oh! Perfect! Yeah, that's totally fine, actually, I don't mind at all. So, when are we leaving?" Foster asked, eager to get out of this town as soon as possible before Aaron and Joyce somehow ended up here soon. They should have at least realized that he left the cabin by now, even if they had slept for a few hours after that conversation.

"We're leavin' tomorrow morning, around sunrise. But better be here an hour before sunrise, if ya can. Just to make sure we can really leave on time."

"Alright. Is there anything that I can help with already?"

"Quite eager, aren't'cha? I appreciate the thought, but there's no need to worry about that." George said, "We've got everything that we're taking from here already loaded up. But we are meeting with a caravan from our company in a town a few days away, so we'll be taking over a few of their things. You're probably mostly going to need to help out there. And of course, at night when we set up camp, or when we're givin' our barias a break."

While Foster had no idea what a 'Baria' was, he simply agreed to help out that way. Although, from the way that he was talking... "How long is it going to take us to reach Arcadum, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Hmm... Just five, maybe six weeks depending on the weather. Absolute worst case should be seven, no need to worry." George explained in a blunt tone, as if these numbers were absolutely normal. Although, maybe they were normal, and it was just that it seemed weird to Foster's standards.

"Alright... Well, seems like I've got pretty lucky timing, huh?" He pointed out, and George simply laughed for a moment, "Really does seem that way!"

"Do you know a good place where I can stay for the night, then? I'm honestly kind of exhausted."

"Ah, right. Well, walk back out through where you came from, then go left, and on the next main-street go right. Walk for a minute or so and you'll reach a decent inn to stay in for the night. They always have some open rooms, so you should be good to go right away." George explained. Foster took his advice and smiled back at him, "Great. Then I'll be heading off for now. Ah, although... Is there any way I can exchange some of my money with you guys here before then? I don't have the same currency as what you guys use."

George immediately nodded his head as he walked over to the side of the room. He grabbed a bag and then looked back at Foster, "I'm guessing you need just enough for a one-night stay in the inn, and some food?"

"Yup, exactly." Foster replied, pulling out some of the coins that he had, "Although I really don't know how much that costs..."

"Oh, you should be fine with 150 Val for a night at the Inn, so if you have that much, let's just exchange for 300, maybe 350?"

"Alright, perfect." Foster quickly handed George the coins that he had, and he took a quick look at the pieces of copper that were now laying in his hands, "Oh, they're kind of big... One of these should be worth about 20 Val."

"Wait, 20?" Foster replied with a wry smile, "But she told me it was worth 15... That goddamn..." Foster let out a loud groan as he realised one of his first interactions with people in this world was him getting scammed.

It felt familiar at least, but Foster was sure that this wasn't a great sign for what else he was going to experience in this world.