RISE OF EROS

Andrew and the others continued their journey without caring what Castor and the others would do with the merchant called Spigas because, in the letter they sent with the falcon, they specified that they had complete freedom to do what they thought was right.

The reason why Andrew gave him complete freedom, is that, unlike before, he was no longer afraid of the problems that could arise. In the battle against the Vilotti family, they had shown their strength and it was not so easy to intimidate them.

On the other hand, Andrew thought that now that he has the support of the royal family and the Caltu family, eliminating a small wandering merchant like Spigas would not cause problems.

Lastly, Andrew had confidence in Castor. It should not be forgotten that Castor was the captain of the largest and most powerful gang in the city of Calci and although that is not very inspiring, it does suggest that, when it comes to dark matters like these, Castor is capable.

If you compare the gang Castor belonged to with some other organizations, it may not be very big and intimidating, but it was still the gang that ruled the underworld of an entire city, so to be the captain of an organization like that, you must have certain skills.

With complete trust in his brother from different parents, Andrew continued his journey with his companions. Since they had left before dawn, they had made quite a bit of progress, but not as much as if they had done it on horseback like on the other trips.

This time Andrew chose comfort, rather than speed. This may have been a worse choice considering how things were and the future that could await him, but Andrew believed it was more convenient.

Especially when they were going to travel by ship, where they could load their carriage and use it once they reached their destination. The place they were going to is not like the countries they had been to before.

The free republic of Comers is a merchant port and if there is one thing merchants value, it is presence and status. No merchant will take you seriously if you arrive in rags and without luxuries, so the carriage and everything they had in it was to support this status and facilitate negotiations when the time came.

Andrew and the others stopped around noon to eat. They had spent the whole morning traveling and had only eaten some strips of dried meat and needed a proper meal.

While it is true that for people of their level going a few days without eating was not a problem, Andrew enjoyed food, so he had to eat a good meal at least once a day.

To get to the country of Rios where they would take the ship to their destination, they had to pass the kingdom of Tampilla, so it would have been better to transport themselves to the Amazon forest and from there begin their journey or transport themselves to the capital of Tampilla itself, but Oliver recommended another route.

They had already had some problems in Tampilla and even the royalty of that country was paying attention to them, so they did not want to let them know their movements, so Oliver proposed that they go around this country.

Their idea was to go south of Dunnas to the kingdom of Catarea and from there enter the country of Ríos. Catarea is a small kingdom, but quite peculiar, as it is a country full of plains and grasslands, so it has the best human cavalry on the continent.

They are so strong that their neighbors do not dare to confront them because they are not only powerful but fast and it is very difficult to defeat them in their territory. Despite that, their strength is also their weakness when it comes to invading.

Most of their territory borders the sea, but they do not have beaches, but huge cliffs that make the sea violent and sailing in it impossible, so they have both a natural barrier to enter and to leave.

The other three countries they border are the country of Ríos, which, being a humid and soft territory due to its large number of wetlands, is the worst enemy for cavalry.

Their other neighbor is Dunnas, which being a desert country is not of interest to them as it is to Galicia and Dunnas has no intentions towards Catarea either. That does not mean that they do not keep an eye on each other, but they have not had any confrontations in centuries, so they have reasonable relations.

Finally, to the south, they border the southern mountain range which is the largest group of mountains in the south of the continent, where the kingdom of Axel is located or as everyone knows it the kingdom of the dwarves.

This mountain range is rich in metal minerals like the kingdom of Galicia, in fact, it is much richer, so the dwarves settled there and as they have no desire for grasslands, since they are inventors and miners, they prefer the mountains and there is no conflict with Catarea.

In short, this country was blessed and cursed at the same time, since it has good natural barriers everywhere with reasonable neighbors, but at the same time, it has no way to expand.

The reason Oliver suggested taking this route was not only to hide his movements from other people, as he knew they couldn't do it, as the spies of Cannaris and who knows what other countries were secretly watching them.

The main reason is that this route would be faster to travel. Obviously, if Andrew teleported them to the capital of Tampilla and from there they went to the country of Rios it would be faster, but it would cause some problems.

Catarea being mainly plains and grassland, was a beneficial territory to travel by carriage, so it was preferable. While they were having lunch, in the Dunnas Palace everyone had woken up a long time ago and were doing their tasks.

Spigas, who was waiting for news from the men he sent to kill Andrew, was now sweating buckets, as he had had time to investigate Andrew in greater detail and now knew that he had messed with someone he shouldn't have.

The Shadow agents sent by Vala to collect information had also done their job and were now notifying Castor about what they discovered. Andrew's wives hadn't asked about the matter, knowing that Castor would inform them if he needed anything, so they just went to do their business.

In the room used as a command center by Oliver, Castor met with Vala and Marie, as well as one of the Shadow agents sent to investigate Spigas.

Although inside the Dunnas Palace, everything is under control, Andrew's wives couldn't be unprotected, so Sansa kept them company. Well, she didn't accompany them personally, since each one was in a different place doing what they were supposed to do, but she kept an eye on them.

"So, what did you find?" asked Castor, showing his authority. Oliver was the one who always held this role, so they had never seen him this way, but now they understood that Castor wasn't someone to be trifled with and he was also very capable.

The Shadow agent was surprised by Castor's presence, he was a little scared since Castor's unfriendly expression was really scary. Vala, who noticed that her husband was unconsciously intimidating the agent, approached him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Honey, restrain your aura, you're scaring him," Vala said tenderly, and then Castor realized his mistake. It wasn't that Castor was nervous about taking command of security here, the problem was that he was upset.

When he heard that Andrew was attacked so soon, for some reason he felt helpless since he wasn't there to help. He knew it was foolish to think about it, but he still felt bad and wanted revenge, so that's why he was unwittingly letting out an intimidating aura even for his allies.

Realizing this thanks to Vala's words, he took a deep breath trying to calm down and when he did, he asked again, "Sorry, I'm just upset that Andrew was attacked in less than a day of travel. What did you find out?"

Shadow's agent relaxed as he watched Castor retain his aura and began to explain, "Spigas is a small merchant who travels between countries selling typical products from different countries."

The agent paused briefly and continued to explain, "This time he came from the kingdom of Catarea and so he is unaware of the events that have occurred in the past few days, I suppose that gave him the courage to attack the young master."

"He will soon find out that this will cost him his life," Castor said matter-of-factly and remained silent waiting for the agent to continue, "Being a wandering merchant, he does not have a base of operations in Dunnas or any other country, but he has a caravan that travels through the south of the continent."

"He does not have many experts and from what we discovered, the ones he sent to attack the young master were hired with money," the agent concluded. Castor nodded at this information and asked again, "How big is his caravan? How many men do he have at his disposal?"

"Their caravan consists of 5 large carts pulled by earth buffalos that can carry up to two tons of goods each. Their staff is about 50 people, of which 30 are warriors and 5 minor experts," the agent replied.

"Where are they staying?" Castor asked further and the agent instantly replied, "In a luxury inn, which is not very convenient to attack." At the agent's answer, the people present wrinkled their eyebrows and Marie could not help but ask, "Why?"

"The inn belongs to a noble and although of low rank, it would be problematic for our relations if we do so," the agent replied, and then everyone understood.

While they are not afraid of nobles, especially those of low rank, there is no need to get into unnecessary conflicts, so Castor said, "Continue to keep an eye on him. Inform me of any details of his movements, especially when he leaves, we will use that opportunity to attack him."

The agent nodded, understanding his orders and left immediately, leaving Castor, Vala, and Marie to discuss what their next move would be.