Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (36 page)

Sierra was overwhelmed by her acquired Hidden Job. She wasn't expecting something like this. She was originally hoping for something more battle oriented, but immediately dismissed the thought as this was exactly what she needed.
A Job that could truly help others. Her abilities from her Acolyte Job remained with her, but she wondered if she could still equip a mace.
Thankfully, she was still able to use her mace. She confirmed her theory that the Druids were variations of the Acolytes.
Yet, the mace looked foreign to her now.
Then, the altar of roots glowed a white light. She got closer to her and inspected it. A staff composed of intertwined roots sprang out of it.
 

After seeing all the notification windows and now getting a new item, she felt like a little girl again, from when her mother made her open dozens of gifts on Christmas morning. She hurriedly inspected the staff with her name on it.
 

Sierra was already overwhelmed with all the abilities of her new Job, and now she even had a special weapon specifically for her.
While she was still admiring her staff, the altar of roots created another one. Sierra tried to grab the staff but instantly released it as thorns sprang out of it.
A notification window then popped up immediately after.
 

"Rear, I think this one is for you," said Sierra while she used Cure on herself.
Right after Rear got her staff, the altar of roots gave out another one. Without knowing who the staff was for, she took a deep breath as she prepared herself to be struck by thorns once more.
"Phen, this one's yours," winced Sierra in pain.
She then looked at all her private army members. 'Only two-hundred-seventy-eight left to go,' thought Sierra to herself and grit her teeth.

* * * * * * 

Smoke was gliding with Igniz through clear blue skies. After twelve hours and two quick breaks, he could finally see Mount Alouer.
From above, he saw multiple caravans coming in and out of the mountain trail. The Avendre Headquarters appeared to be a fort than a mountain.
It was surrounded by five walls which started from the foot of the mountain all the way to its peak. As he got closer, he saw several red flares aimed at him.
In the Vigilantez, this was a sign of distress. So, Smoke dove down at top speed towards the source of the flare.
However, this was not the case in Mount Alouer. The moment he got closer to the mountain, he was bombarded with arrows.
"Igniz, counter them," he said reflexively, while he hurriedly got out his white metallic staff.
As he expected, more arrows got past his symbiote's fireballs. Fortunately, he was able to create a concave Manatl before any of them hit him.
Smoke closed his cloak and dove straight down. He only opened it up again when he was a few meters from the ground.
Then, he sensed over a hundred hostile Zectians headed straight for him fast. He switched out his white staff for his Digger's Wand. He instantly dug a hole and hid in it before the hostiles could reach him.
He created breathing holes and a small peep hole where Igniz could see through. He used his Symbiote Vision to get a glimpse of who were coming.
He found that all of them were Avendre Commanders.
'They look like their on the same level as Jeter,' he surmised, and wondered if they would listen to reason if he were to step out right now.
While he was still deciding whether to reveal himself, another Mercenary riding on what looked like to be a thinner version of Laernea's stag moose arrived.
Smoke estimated that he must have been in his mid-thirties and was equipped in a uniform of a higher rank than the Mercenary Commanders.
"General Acheteur, we triangulated where he landed and have the area surrounded," explained one of the Avendre Commanders.
The one called General Acheteur then looked around the area. "I know you're here somewhere, Mister Intruder, why don't you make this easy on yourself and give up," he said creepily.
Smoke gambled on explaining to them why he was there, but the other reason he wanted to step out was because he was curious to see their levels and abilities.
He hurriedly hid Igniz in the metallic compartment in his chest, and then opened the hole he was hiding in. He stepped out with his hands in the air. "I'm unarmed, please don't attack me," said Smoke calmly.
"Restrain him, men. Make sure he can't escape," ordered Acheteur loudly. "We don't know where this flying intruder came from."
"Wait! I have a letter from Prosjak for Solliciter," said Smoke quickly and pulled out a parchment from his pocket.
Acheteur signaled for one of the Avendre Commanders to take the letter from Smoke's hand, while the rest of them still had their swords pointed at him.
"This looks to be authentic," said the Avendre General half alarmed.
"We shall escort you to the reception area," said Acheteur.
While walking towards the first wall of Mount Alouer, Smoke decided to do some small talk with Acheteur, in hopes of raising his Intimacy with him.
"So, is that a stag moose?" asked Smoke politely.
"What? Oh, my Monter,” replied Acheteur haughtily, while stroking the fur of his mount.
“She is a reindeer. Please don't compare her with those brutish stag moose!"
"I see," said Smoke awkwardly, as he scrambled to think of what else to say.
Then, they came upon the bronze gates of the Avendre's Headquarters. Smoke strained his neck as he looked up the tall wall. He estimated it to be at least thirty meters tall.
"And this wall circles around the entire mountain?" unintentionally asked Smoke out loud.
"Yes, and we have Mercenaries on watch all the time," said Acheteur proudly.
Behind the first wall, Smoke was surprised to see a village setting. There were houses, businesses, and a market. He thought that it would all be purely Mercenary training past the gates.
"This is where some of our Mercenaries have their families live," explained Acheteur. "Some of our Mercenaries were sold to us, while others come on their own volition. If they get to the higher ranks and keep on completing successful missions, then they'll get big rewards."
Smoke nodded as he continued to observe the people behind the first wall.
"That's my shop right there," said Acheteur proudly and pointed to the General Merchandise store.
"Acheteur and Vendeur?" asked Smoke as he read the store's name out loud.
Acheteur nodded with enthusiasm. "Yes, Vendeur is my wife's name."
They headed for Acheteur's shop, as he left his reindeer there. Afterwards, the two of them proceeded on foot towards the second wall.
"That was a great looking store. I think I'll visit there before I leave," said Smoke eagerly as he thought he found a soft spot in the Avendre General.
"You're most certainly welcome to shop there!" said a smiling Acheteur. "If you buy in bulk, I think I could give you a reasonable discount."
They continued speaking in an amiable manner until they reached the second wall. It was a simple wall of only six meters. From its plain appearance, it appeared to serve no tactical purpose at all.
Behind the second wall, Smoke saw a garden. It could easily rival the work of Centzo's Gardeners. Once again, Smoke was surprised as this was not something a Mercenary Headquarter would have.
"This is our reception area," explained Acheteur in a more cordial manner.
Smoke smiled back. He didn't need to inspect his Intimacy window with Acheteur to know that it had increased.
The Avendre General then led him to a shaded building without walls.
"Please wait here. Supreme Leader Solliciter will arrive shortly," said Acheteur and bade him farewell.
Smoke looked around the garden. Since it was situated in a higher elevation, he could see more of the village behind the first wall.
He used his Telefax Vision to get a better view of his surroundings.
'This place is really populated. I think it has even more people than Coatl and Centzo combined,' thought Smoke to himself.
He then looked at the side of the garden and saw that it did not circle the mountain completely. There were training grounds on either sides of it. Without his enhanced vision ability, he would have not seen this at all.
He could clearly see the Avendre Mercenaries training. They were sparring with each other, doing drills and carrying weights.
He then saw another building similar to this one which was closer to the training grounds of the Mercenaries.
'They must use this to showcase their Mercenaries' talents,' surmised Smoke.
Suddenly, a man dressed in a plain brown robe arrived in front of him. He was carrying garden tools.
"Hello, my name is Smoke," he said and offered to shake his hand. "I like your work. I've never seen such well maintained—"
"Soldiers?" finished the man in the brown robe. "I'm Solliciter. I'm sorry for my appearance. Today is my gardening day. And if you don't mind, would you accompany me while I trim my flowers?" said the supreme leader of the Avendre Mercenaries.
Smoke was slightly taken aback as he thought that he was only the Gardener.
"Is something wrong?" asked Solliciter. "Or were you going to say garden?"
"Honestly, I was going to," answered Smoke sheepishly.
Solliciter laughed. "That's fine. Almost everyone I meet thinks that I'm the Gardener." He then walked over to a rose bush and began trimming it.
"So, Prosjak tells me that I should give you a big discount on my men," said Solliciter bluntly. "I respect that man, but sometimes he just makes it hard to remember why I do so."
"Hm..." Smoke paused as he wasn't sure what to say.
"What exactly are you going to use my men for?" asked Solliciter.
"We are going to invade Coatl. Prosjak's suggestion was to hire your Mercenaries," began to explain Smoke. "He said with the discount that he could get for me, I could probably have an army strong enough to go against Coatl."
"Ha! That would put me in quite a predicament," said Solliciter. "You see, I also have a contract with Coatl."
"Now, don't get me wrong. My men our professionals. They are even trained to go against their own," explained Solliciter proudly. "But I’m afraid that I'd lose my contract with Duke Burmistrz if you do use my men against his city."
"Wait, didn't you send your Avendre Mercenaries to Prosjak to fight against Burmistrz men?" asked a confused Smoke.
"Yes, I did, but that was to defend Centzo, not attack Coatl," stated Solliciter flatly. "There are certain stipulations that would allow such contracts."
"Alright, then how much would you be losing if you pulled out all your men from Burmistrz?" asked Smoke directly.
"Eight-hundred-million zecs," answered Solliciter with a straight face.
Smoke gulped. The best he could offer was one-hundred-million.
"Are you giving up already?" asked Solliciter.
"Of course not. I'm just calculating how I can top that offer," replied Smoke, but his voice cracked as he spoke.
"Tell me something, Smoke. Do you think you can defeat Burmistrz?" asked Solliciter while intensely observing his face.
"I know I will," replied Smoke with utmost conviction.
Solliciter took a deep breath while trimming his rose bush. "How about this? I'll give you all of my fresh recruits, and you train them yourself from scratch. I expect only a thousand zecs a month for each one of them."
'That's really cheap. I wonder what kind of recruits he is giving me,' thought Smoke to himself. "How many recruits are we talking about here?"
"Fifty-thousand," briskly replied Solliciter.
'I can only afford to have them for two months at that rate,' thought a worried Smoke. "How about we drop that rate to two-hundred-fifty zecs a month for each one of them. Don't worry, their levels will be beyond that of your Commanders when you get them back."
"But you don't know how many of them you can return to me as Commanders," countered Solliciter. "On the other hand, I did hear of how you raised the levels of my Mercenaries during Centzo's defense."
"That's right. Also, we already have five hundred Avendre Mercenaries in Verbrannt, and their levels are already the same with the ones ranked as Commanders here," pointed out Smoke.
"Hm...So, you are consistent with training your subordinates to reach high levels," said the supreme leader of the Avendre Mercenaries. He then snipped one of his rose buds and offered it to Smoke. "You know, I was looking for someone to be a satellite of my Avendre Mercenaries. Would you be interested?"
Smoke did not accept the rose. "What exactly does that involve? Being a satellite of the Avendre Mercenaries?" he asked cautiously.
"You train the Mercenaries. Preferably to the level of 100. Also, you take on requests within your immediate area. I'll give you 25% of all the potential earnings if you take this on."
"What's to prevent me from doing their requests without your permission?" asked Smoke boldly.
"Well, for starters, you would lose my trust, and my men will come after you, your land and your people will be wiped out," stated Solliciter as if it were a matter of fact.
Smoke pondered on Solliciter's proposal.
"How about this, I'll also reduce their monthly contracts to four hundred zecs. Surely you can't say no to that?" said Solliciter with confidence.
"Deal!" said Smoke eagerly, and accepted the rose while shaking Solliciter's hand.
"Well, I'm glad that we've come to an agreement," said Solliciter cordially. "Now, why don't we take a look at the army you've procured."
The two of them walked over to the eastern side of the garden with the same wall-less building. After a few minutes, an army of scrawny teens marched out before the two of them.
Smoke thought that all of them were malnourished and had no experience in battle at all.
"Now, there's no going back on our deal," said Solliciter briskly.
"I wasn't thinking of anything like that," replied Smoke with a forced smile.
'I just want to take them permanently off your hands,' thought Smoke to himself.
"Let's say that one of the Mercenaries under my command wants to be free. How much would that cost?" asked Smoke innocently.
"I'd have to look at each one of their files. But I guess on average it would be something like ten million zecs?" answered Solliciter. "You're not planning on buying all of them are you?"
"Who would have that kind of money?" asked Smoke and laughed nervously.
He had never needed this much money in Zectas before, but now he wanted to gain an insane amount of it.
"I'll have them prepare their belongings. It should take about thirty minutes. In the meantime, you're welcome to explore our area behind the first wall if you like," said Solliciter.
The supreme leader of the Avendre placed his garden tools on the ground and took out a piece of paper and a pencil. "That reminds me, where should these army head out for? Are you going to lead the way or do you have specific coordinates?"
"May I?" Smoke asked for the pencil and paper. "Can you send them over to this location?" he asked as he wrote down coordinates that were some distance away from Verbrannt.
"Sure, that's not a problem," answered Solliciter pleasantly. "It should take them about two weeks to get there. Don't worry. I won't charge you until the day they arrive in your indicated area."