“You’re leaving the city?” The guard seemed a bit surprised when I showed up at the door to Twin Elms with fifteen extra people in tow.

  It was an unusual sight in Argos city. Most groups tended to be under ten people. Furthermore, I had come with Tom and the Roxford Caravan and was leaving only a day te without them. Then again, they hadn’t promised to take us home. Our only agreement was to reach Twin Elms. After that, I was on my own. The final oddity was the time of day. Most groups chose to leave early in the morning. Traveling at night in the wastend was considered suicide, so it was strange to see a rge group leaving in the evenings.

  As for the reason I was choosing to leave, it was pretty simple. My pce didn’t have enough room for fifteen servants, and I wasn’t going to pay to house all of them overnight in Twin Elms. Instead, I pnned to take them to a building and secure it. Ideally, it’d be the building that Raven and her group had already set up. That pce should be safe enough as long as we stayed close to Twin Elms.

  Furthermore, I knew things many other travelers might not have known. Particurly, the beasts had been wiped out by the revenant. Thus, the pressure on the merchant trail that was only being thinly protected by the hospital turrets had lightened up considerably. I also didn’t anticipate any problems with the revenants after everything. I wouldn’t say we were allies, but we did have an agreement to stay out of each other’s way.

  “You don’t even have any security detail.” The guard spoke suspiciously.

  I could tell he wasn’t trying to be difficult. He was worried about the safety of all these people. Even if they were debtors, they were still people from Twin Elms and he didn’t seem to want them to take unnecessary or foolish risks. Compared to the guards who had tried to extort the citizens, it was nice to see that there still could be some compassion in the wastend.

  “I’m meeting my guards outside the gate,” I assured him.

  “Even so…” The guard remained suspicious.

  “They’re with us!” A voice called out, and the group of us looked back to see a group of three security guards coming toward us.

  I had just been thinking about him, and he suddenly appeared. The corrupt security guard who had harassed Misty earlier was coming toward us with two of his cronies in tow. Misty’s mother immediately tensed, reaching out and grabbing her daughter’s hand. It looked like she had experience with this guy, and he had perhaps harassed her more than once. Had he also been involved in her fall? I wouldn’t hesitate to guess yes.

  These guards didn’t seem to have a better retionship even among their kind. Those at the gate immediately narrowed their eyes. Rather than alleviating their tension, the presence of these guys seemed to make them look even more uneasy. It wasn’t too hard to understand. The gate guards were the true protectors of the city. Every day, they sat on the wall and risked their lives to protect the people inside. Meanwhile, the inside force didn’t face danger, but they abused their power to extort money and bully their citizens. Even if there was no proof, the rumors of such a thing would be enough to sew disharmony between the two groups.

  “What are you doing here?” I tried to remain diplomatic even as the situation was tense.

  “Didn’t you offer us a job? Good food and money as long as we worked for you?” He raised an eyebrow.

  I let out a breath, not letting the smile on my face drop. “Oh, you wanted a job? You should have just said so. I’m a bit surprised though. You wish to guard us as we leave the gates of Twin Elms?”

  He wore a smile too, but I could see that his eyes were sharp. “Of course, I don’t pn to leave the area near Twin Elms. However, surely we can escort you to your friends, right? I wouldn’t want my future employer to get into an accident before reaching his guards.”

  As the pair of us were speaking, the gate guards and the indentured servants were looking back and forth between us. It was obvious by the look of these guys that they were up to no good. He knew that I had wealth and he knew that I had food. I had gotten the attention of the councilmen before he was able to do anything before, but now that we were leaving the town, he likely thought it’d be a good time to strike.

  “Oh, so that was it,” I responded, looking like I was considering his words. “In that case, please come along. I can more accurately set up your job.”

  Misty didn’t seem to think much of our exchange, but her mother was trying to subtly warn me against him. However, she was recently turned into my servant and she didn’t know me yet, so it seemed like she wasn’t comfortable speaking with me openly. As for the gate guards, their suspicion against me seemed to have been repced with their suspicion of the other guard. They now thought I was just a sap who was about to be taken advantage of by the other guys.

  “Are you sure?” The guard asked me.

  “Yeah, it’s fine. We’ll be heading out now.”

  The guard seemed to leave it with that. I was a stranger, after all. He wasn’t going to put himself out there for someone like me. On top of that, if I died, all of the indentured servants would be set free. Unlike what happens when they die, if I die their debt had been paid off, so unless I set up a next of kin, their contract would end. Since the colr made it so the indentured servant couldn’t harm me, it’s usually safe. Yet, there could always be an angry family member who wishes to murder the contract holder to free someone from a contract.

  Now that I thought about it, taking on fifteen contracts at once was a rather dangerous decision. Any one of them could have family members who wanted their family free and might be willing to kill to do it. It likely made a lot of sense to these people that I was leaving the city because staying was suicide. In general, though, someone rich enough to be able to buy people out of debt should have military strength so that they wouldn’t be knocked out by someone else too poor to pay off the debtor’s debt. It seemed my situation was a bit unique.

  Although they let out group leave the city, I was starting to feel like I might have a bullseye on my back. As soon as we were far enough away that I didn’t think we were being watched by the guards, I spun around.

  “Oops, I almost forgot.”

  The security guard and his men nearly fell on top of me. They had been keeping close behind, waiting for their moment to strike. They moved in such a way that they were blocking my path back to the city. It was clear by the panic on their faces that they thought I was going to return to the city, back to safety, and waste all of their time. Instead, I moved to the side, approaching a group of men among my indentured servants.

  “You guy’s can handle guns, right?” I asked them.

  I already knew the answer before they each nodded. After all, I had read their records before purchasing them. While everyone I bought might not have a useful skill, what Wastender hadn’t wielded a gun in their life? The ones I picked out were the ones who seemed to have the most gun experience based on what I read. After they nodded, I put my hand out, causing weapons to materialize. In only a few seconds, I handed each of the men a gun.

  “Keep us safe, alright?” I decred. “If you do, there will be a hot meal in it for you tonight.”

  “Y-yes…” The man in the lead seemed to mumble, a bit surprised at the gun.

  The only one who was more surprised were the three men who had been following me. They had bitter expressions like they had just eaten something unsavory. The reason they didn’t expect this was that by all accounts, I shouldn’t have had weapons. I had to give up my weapons upon exiting the city. Even though I hadn’t hidden my digitizer, they hadn’t been bright enough to realize that I had weapons on me. Suddenly, it was five armed servants against three, which was a far worse deal. It naturally caused them to hesitate as they reweighed the cost of forcefully mugging me.

  Yet, the indentured servants weren’t the best defense. After all, even though I ordered them to protect me and they’d be compelled to do so, they wouldn’t want to save my life. They could easily let me die. That’s why I didn’t put all my trust just in that. Only a moment ter, a voice called out as a group emerged from a nearby building. The men I had just handed weapons to raise them, but I immediately ordered them to stand down.

  “It’s about time you’ve shown up.” Raven decred. “You said you’d be there a single day.”

  “Sorry, it was my mistake.” I spoke sincerely, even though I was only over a day by a few hours.”

  She wasn’t used to me being sincere. Her face turned slightly red and she looked away, appearing almost cute.

  “J-just don’t do it again.”

  I had Cecelia send a message out for them to meet me. This was something else my would-be ambushers would never expect. Now, it was nine on three, and many of those were my people I was close with, not sves. The security guard’s expression turned even worse. I turned back to them and smiled.

  “Now, shall we discuss your future roles?”

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