Silvernode - No Peace.

*Knock Knock Knock*

"W-who is it?" Xiao Fu's nervous voice came from behind the wooden door of the carriage.

"It's Shu He, you can come out now" Shu He answered, standing on the other side.

With a click the carriage door slid open as the small moustached man peeked out from the side, he then saw Shu He casually standing there, unharmed as he waited for him to come out.

"Where are the bandits?" he asked, looking around on edge.

Shu He pointed over his shoulder, making Xiao Fu take a look, when he did he suddenly let out an uncharacteristic yelp.

Laying by the side of the road was all of the bandits lined up like fish on a plate, the four that had arrow wounds had been knocked out as well afterwards.

"Ah! Did you kill them?!" He flinched back, his face turning slightly pale.

"No, should I have?" Shu He questioned.

"N-no it doesn't matter, but what are you going to do with them?" The merchant patted his brow with a cloth.

Shu He held his chin as he pondered for a second "Can't we just leave them here? Someone else can come get them, we don't have enough room on the carriage to carry them."

"We can do that, I suppose… But what happens if they wake up, they'll just escape."

"Well, that's true" Shu He nodded in agreement.

In all honestly, Shu He wasn't to bothered, he had dealt them some heavy blows so they'll be out of commission for a while, but if they needed to prevent them escaping then…

"Got some rope?"

…

The carriage travelled along the dirt road once more, the occasional bump and rock in the road caused it to jump slightly, there was no suspension of the carriage so it made for a rough ride on these roads.

"You really did save me, Shu He, I can't believe that bastard was planning to betray me all along…"

"You didn't notice at all? It's uncommon for mercenaries to act alone in the first place, you said he was cheap as well, and he was surprisingly strong against bandits, together these are quite a few red flags" Shu He expressed his doubt as he laid back in the chair, the pillows were quite soft and were enough to lessen the impact of the bumps in the road.

"Looking back on it, it's true; The truth is I was rather desperate, the goods I'm delivering are rather valuable, but I needed to transport them discreetly… it would have been a disaster if I had it all taken".

"If it's that valuable, then I guess it's a good chunk of your wealth?" Shu He asked, thinking about all the gems and ores in the back, for a mortal what was there is a considerable amount of money.

"If that was the only problem, being robbed wouldn't be so bad… the goods don't belong to me but to the Merchants Association, I was tasked transporting and sales to Silvernode and then Silversmith, if I lost them not only would I be put in debt I'd lose all my reputation as a merchant…" He slammed his fist on his knee "That bastard, he must have put me up to this knowing what would happen."

"…" Shu He looked outside the window, he didn't inquire further, he felt like if he did he would become wrapped up in something he didn't want to be.

'A classic story of the senior crushing the junior and reaping the benefits, I guess' He thought as he watched the trees pass 'But really, what are the chances I'd encounter something like this within my first week outside the sect?'

"Shu He, is it possible for me to hire you for the rest of my journey?" Xiao Fu asked the exact question Shu He didn't want to hear.

Of course, Shu He shook his head.

"I don't want to take detours; I do have a reason to my travels and I'd rather not take more time than I need to" Shu He explained.

"Please! I'll make it worth the while!" He begged.

Shu He turned to face him and spoke "You have to deal with your problems yourself, I'm sure you'll be able to find some mercenaries hanging around the next village and they'll be plenty, I doubt whoever set this up for you expected you to get through it, there won't be another".

"I-…" Xiao Fu started to talk but then swallowed his words as his expression twisted for a second before it regained its calm "No, you're right, I need to deal with this myself" He leaned back in his chair and sighed "When we get to the village, you can pick something out of my goods as your reward".

Shu He nodded his head "Thanks".

The rest of the journey was quiet, the merchant clearly had too much on his mind to talk and Shu He didn't mind the silence as he listened to the clacking of horse hooves, it took another 2 hours before they arrived at the gates of Silvernode.

The guards stopped them, and they underwent a short inspection before the gates to the village were opened and the carriage was let through.

Silvernode is a village only slightly bigger than Green-gate was, the key feature was the large hole in the centre of the village that led down to the mines and there were multiple different plateaus elevated around the hole in a spiral pattern like a reverse drill with different buildings and mining equipment spread everywhere, just outside of the spiral was the actual living part of the town, but there were less than 100 residential buildings here, a lot of the miners lived in the shacks near the mines themselves.

*Clunk*

In a out of the way street, under the cover of shadows the back of the carriage was opened as Xiao Fu slotted his key in the hole, he then slid open the thick cover exposing all the expensive looking boxes inside.

"Pick any one you like; I assure you they're all well worth the work you did".

"Then, I won't hold back".

Shu He reached for one of the boxes as if he knew which one he wanted from the start and pulled it out, opening it up to take it a look, inside was filled with cloth to protect the item and in the centre was a crystal with an odd shape, it almost looked like it was a piece of flesh.

"Sir, do you know what that is…?" Xiao Fu was surprised, seeing what he chose and hesitated.

Shu He shut the lid with a snap and smiled "Yup" he said happily as he put it away in his backpack.

Xiao Fu frowned for a second, then his eyebrows rose in realisation "Could you be…!"

Shu He merely responded by placing his finger on his lip in silence "I'll trust you with that secret, but I'm going to get going now, I'll be in this village for a day and then I'll set off."

"…Okay, thank you for you help, really" The merchant bowed, expressing his sincerity.

"It's fine; Good luck with your troubles" Shu He waved to the man as he walked off.

Xiao Fu nodded as he closed the trunk "May our paths cross again in the future" he said quietly, hoping they would.

…

'First thing I should do is look for an inn, being on the road for a week reminded me of how nice it is to have a bed to sleep in…' He felt the urge to yawn, it was starting to get dark so it was almost time to go down to sleep.

He hadn't slept for 2 days after all, he could go for longer, but it would affect his concentration, such a thing while travelling alone is just asking for trouble.

"…This town is rather quiet; I was expecting it to be a bit noisier" He murmured as he looked around, there weren't many people on the streets with only one or two passerby's, even though it is getting late, for a busy mining town he found it unusual.

Eventually he found his way to the only inn in the village, he pushed the door aside as he walked in and was surprised to see the bottom floor filled with people, it seemed this inn served food and drink as a pub, that's why there were plenty of people here eating and drinking away.

Many of them were covered in soot, dirt, and all sorts of filth, it's clear they had made an attempt to wash it off but there was so much it stuck deep.

Other than that, there were regular townspeople speaking in whispers and a gathering of what Shu He presumed were town guards around a larger table.

As soon as he walked in he felt the stares of the entire room fixate on him.

'I guess I do look suspicious in this cloak and hat…' He thought as he tipped his head and hat in courtesy before casually walking towards the counter.

The stares only remained for a few seconds before the people returned to their own business.

"May I have a room for the night?" He asked politely to the elderly lady that was scrutinising him.

"We won't be able to feed ya', too many customers right now" She said as she leaned on the counter.

"That's fine, just need to place to close my eyes".

"…Alrite' it's a small silver for the night" she held her hand out, waiting.

'That's a bit expensive… not for me though'.

Shu He happily pulled out the silver coin and placed it in her hand, he didn't want to bother questioning the price.

The old woman happily took it and stored it away in a box before picking a key off a hook under the counter and handing it to Shu He "Room on the far right."

"…Before I go, might I ask why the village is on edge?" He asked, finding it painfully obvious that something had happened, everyone here was acting like they were walking anxious.

The old woman frowned at him before looking over into the crowd, matching eyes with some of the men there before she sighed and leaned in, getting closer to Shu He.

"Guessin' you just arrived? We were raided yesterday mornin', few of our men fell in the fight and other were taken".

"Bandits?" Shu He asked, surprised.

"Who damn else?!" She yelled, her elderly body shaking slightly.

"I'm guessing the village already put out a subjugation request?".

"Of course, but heavens knows when those lazy crones will approve it in send someone… they took our people, we don't know how long they'll last!" She said, with a hint of desperation behind her voice.

Then she shook her head "Never mind, forget I said anything, not like you can do anything".

Shu He turned around and looked at everyone in the room, their faces were a mixture of pale and red with anger, the whispering was a display of clear planning.

They were going to fight them themselves, unable to put their trust in the authorities to save their fellow villagers and families.

Shu He silently turned and walked up the stairs, the creaking of the wooden floorboards was obvious over the silent whispers that were covering the room.

But he ignored it, he reached his room and opened it with his key, as he walked in he put his backpack on the thin bed and sat down, cupping his hands together.

'What should I do?' Was the question he asked himself.

He had thought the bandits he had encountered earlier were the ones in the rumours, but apparently not; They were probably an entirely different group, maybe even taking advantage of the rumours to cover their tracks.

"Murder, kidnapping…" And, likely some other heinous crimes.

Bandit groups that engaged in killing were likely composed of degenerate individuals that had given up on living normally, they knew they were asking to be hunted but still did it anyway.

It was likely that, within a couple weeks, forces from the city lord's army would be sent over to deal with them, so Shu He really didn't need to do anything.

But, that was not thinking about the potential future casualties, or the captives in the bandit's hands.

'They'll get themselves killed' Images of the faces of the men sitting around that table, gripping their weapons, and whispering to formulate a plan appeared in his mind.

He doesn't know who the bandits were, or how many there were, but if they could invade a city, kill some of its guards and kidnap people then they were obviously a strong bunch.

Shu He took a deep breath, breathing in the cold evening air that was drifting through the window that was open an inch and then exhaled.

'Why can't I just travel peacefully?'