Mage And Wolf
Chapter 71

Chapter 71: Chapter 71

Unknown POV

Using my Divine Sensing technique, I’ve found the perfect target for my trainees to do their final test on. Her cultivation is a bit low, not even half way through the fortification stage of the mortal realm, but her senses are sharp and she moves gracefully through the forest. She wears an oddly shaped sword like she knows how to use it, so she must not be a pacifist cultivator out for supplies.

"Boys, your target is a blonde haired woman in a leather coat and pants with a purple sash at her waist. Find her, kill her and bring me proof. The one who succeeds passes. If you try and do not manage to kill her, you fail. You all know the punishment for failure, correct?"

"Death" they all whisper with trepidation.

I love when recruits finally realize what it truly means to be a so called Devil Cultivator of an evil sect. Our Shadowed Blade Sect are the finest assassins in 3 continents, no mere mediocre cultivator will ever make it past the outer courtyards. The cultivators of the light sects all condemn us, but they can do nothing to stop us.

Normally the first tests of these weaklings in the Mortal Realm are of little interest to an Elder such as myself who has already stepped through the Immortal Realm and touched on the Divine, but something tells me to keep a close eye on this target, for she just might surprise me.

"Rupert, you’re up first. Make sure you get it right, and remember, to be caught is to suffer a fate worse than death."

"Yes Master. I hear and obey"

Kat’s POV

A merchant caravan is just now passing through the gates. Garish silks on fat merchants and dyed leathers on their guards show that I shouldn’t stand out too much, if you ignore that I’m a woman in pants. I hope that’s not an issue. Oh, no, I see a female among the guards in leather pants. I should be fine.

Just out of sight of the humans at the gate, I step out onto the road, first checking that there is nobody in sight. Once the coast is clear I start walking down the road with a purpose. Not too fast to draw attention, but not dawdling like I don’t know where I’m going.

The pace is perfect, the merchant caravan is just finishing up their wagon inspections and clearing the guard house when I catch up. The guard looks me over with a hint of lust, but nods me through without a question. He must not have realized I’m not with the merchants.

For their part, the merchants seem to have assumed I’m a local, since the Guard didn’t question me as he did them. Stage 1 of the plan is a success. Now to find that herb and get out of here.

I can smell a number of sweet perfumes already, but I don’t know the exact one I’m looking for. Best to head to an apothecary or herbalist.

There’s one not but fifty paces from the gate, right on the main road, I love when a plan works out right. At this pace I might even make it home for dinner.

"Greetings Guardian, how may I help you?" The herbalist asks.

"I’m looking for Eldorian Silverleaf. Raw is best, but I’ll take processed if you’ve got it."

"The branch in the Noble quarters has some, but you can’t go there without a pass. I can have it brought over in a few minutes, but the price will be steep." Ah, haggling, my favorite part of buying things. Okay, not so much, but the book listed pricing, so I should be alright.

"I’ll give you even weight, gold for unprocessed leaf." That’s about 10 percent low for the listed market price in the book, but should be a decent starting point.

"Buying such a popular herb away from the nobles is a delicate thing you see. I’ll need one and a half times gold to leaf"

"Even gold plus matching number of silver coins is reasonable for your trouble isn’t it? Certainly the nobles can always get more if it’s not even been made to perfume for them yet?"

"That plus 4 silver for delivery and you’ve got a deal"

That works for me. I just want to get out of here with the herb. I dig out a handful of gold and silver Dragon Coins "How much leaf do you have?"

"Foreign coins? No wonder you wanted to trade by weight. Now I’m not supposed to take those, this is a protected town you see, but I can for a price."

Now things are just getting annoying. "I’ll give you an extra silver on every gold for you to deal with the hassle of exchange."

The merchant nods his head and pulls 5 gold coins and 14 silver out of my palm. "5 coins worth of silverleaf is what they’ll sell." he tosses the coins on a scale and matches them with an equal number of local coins, perfectly balancing the beams.

"Good coins, on weight, just not local" he mutters to himself. "The goldsmith shouldn’t have a problem making jewelry out of these anyhow."

I guess the town is serious about local coinage only. I’ll not be staying the night then, no need to draw attention to my status as a foreigner if I can avoid it. Plus, home is home. I didn’t think I’d miss it this much until I was away.

A young page jogs in with a wooden box in his hands about fifteen minutes later and I step forward from my spot against the wall. The merchant opens the box and stacks the contents on the scale against local gold coins, before putting them away in the polished box that smells like cedar.

"Thanks for the trouble son" he tosses the page 3 silver coins. One off the top for the house. I guess no matter how honest a merchant is he’s still a merchant.

I tuck the box in my coat like I’m storing it in my pocket and not my storage ring. Don’t want to draw attention to having that bit of kit either. Those seem like they’d be valuable in any world.

"I’ll be off then, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you." He bows a polite goodbye and I start walking down the road back towards the gate.

So far, so good. I’ve got the herbs, the merchant didn’t give me too much trouble about the coins and now I’ve cleared the gates on my way out.

"One moment Miss" a guard shouts. Darn, so close. "You came not but an hour ago, might I ask what your business here was?"

"Just had to collect some medicinal herbs for an injured colleague. We left him with a farm family off that way this morning" I lie what I hope is smoothly.

"Alright, but best get back there quickly. These woods are dangerous at night".

Dangerous? I didn’t even scent any predators my entire trip here.

"I’ll keep that in mind, thank you"