FORCED INTO A LODGE

FORCED INTO A LODGE

With my Angel Affinity, I needed more magic for my templar development than anybody else. The best way to do that was by taking the hearts of magical creatures.

There wasn't much to hunt around the outer forests of Slowan, so I had to go deeper and deeper into the forest to hunt. But I had a logistic problem because I couldn't carry all the carcasses of my kills back with me. 

"Do you have anything that can carry lots of stuff, like a space amulet?" I asked Grammer, our town's main and only shopkeeper.

"Space amulet? What is that?" Grammer asked me.

In my previous life, he could transport a large number of inventories into a magical space that he could retrieve from at any time, anywhere. It was the most convenient tool ever for those who needed space to store stuff and also to carry them,

"Something that can carry stuff into a magical space?" I asked him.

"Ermm… I was told that in the more advanced kingdoms of the Ten-Kingdoms, they do sell something like that, they call it a Faberge egg, a magnificent artifact which could store goods", he told me.

"Can I have one of those Faberge eggs?" I asked him.

"Nope, at least not from me. I would keep it if I managed to get my hands on one of them eggs", he replied to me.

I was disappointed by his revelation and was about to leave the shop empty handed when Grammer spoke to me.

"We are making a caravan trip to Gaesov town soon, do you want to accompany us on the trip. Maybe you can find something suitable for you in the big shop in the big town", he told me.

"That is fantastic", I replied to him and took his offer immediately.

It so happened that Grammer, the village's shopkeeper had an errand to run in the town of Gaesov so he offered to take me there. Usually, he won't bring children with him, but I was after all the village's Young Templar, so he made an exception for me.

I was also one of his most promising suppliers of magical creature ivory and parts and he made plenty of profit from my hunts. This trip to Gaesov town was partly to sell some of the ivory that I sold to him.

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The trip to Gaesov town took more than a month of traveling on poor roads along the way. We were actually traveling through slightly cleared forests rather than on proper roads.

Slowan village or town wasn't an important village, so there was no effort made to improve the infrastructure to other towns or villages. However, when we were more than halfway to Gaesov the path was blocked by falling trees that were impossible to remove by us.

"It's quite common with this path. We'll take another route", Grammer told us referring to the fallen trees as we plotted on another lesser-known route.

It so happened there was another route nearby. There was also a sign here that said, "This way to Gaesov town".

It was surprising to me and also to the caravan that a sign would appear in the middle of the forest but it was the only route available to us, so we weren't choosy.

"There I told you there is another route", Grammer told us proudly and bragging about his forecast ability.

As we were moving on the new route we found a traveler's lodge along the way, so Grammer decided to stop at the lodge before we continued our journey. 

The services provided by the roadside lodge were unexpectedly professional and we were served a sumptuous meal together with plenty of mead for our merchant convoy.

"This place is newly built, it wasn't here when we last took this route, but what would I know? That was a long time ago", Grammer told us. 

"Is this a busy route?" I asked Grammer.

"Hardly, traders seldom come here through this route, and we only took it because the main road was blocked by fallen trees", Grammer said to us.

"That's strange", I told Grammer who was indifferent to my comment.

Grammer shared a room with me in the lodge because I was a kid while his guards and staff slept in nearby tents. Surprisingly Grammer fell asleep quickly and soon I heard rumblings around the lodge.

"They are all asleep now, go in and tie them up", I heard someone talking outside the room to my shock.

Obviously, Grammer and his men were all drugged except me. 

Perhaps it was because I was underage and wasn't permitted to drink the mead which saved me from being drugged as well. 

Suddenly some men were at our door, and I could hear keys opening into the room.

"Bang"

Someone slammed the door open and came to our room as they tied Grammer up and brought him away.

"I remembered there was a kid in the room", one of the men said to another.

"No one is here now we'll just go, the boss won't wait for us", the other man replied to him.

When the men were gone, I quickly climbed down from the ceiling. While the bandits rushed into our room, I cast a magical vine that pulled me to the ceiling that helped me escape their notice.

"Damnit what am I going to do now? Bandits took Grammer," I asked myself.

This lodge was a bandit lodge that was built to lure merchants and caravans to stopover here before they would drug the merchants and bring them away. The blocked road that diverted us here was probably done by the bandits as well together with the new sign to this alternate route.

I was left with choices since I wasn't taken by the bandits. 

I could return to Slowan village, or I could do something to help Grammer and the rest. I chose the latter.

"I must follow these bandits to their camp", I told myself as I secretly trailed the bandits all the way to their camp, leaving markings and trails along the way.

The bandit's camp wasn't that far from the lodge, but it was well defended. 

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