"Ah good sir! Would you mind lending a hand to a man caught within times of trouble?" the man by the side of the road was needlessly formal, he seemed rather distressed too.
But unlike how it had first appeared to Loimos, this man wasn't alone in the least, there was someone hidden inside of the carriage, their life force signature was simply faint and had been directly behind the more vibrant life of the man, concealing it from the undead, up until he got closer and got another angle of vision on the scene.
"You must be desperate to ask just anyone for help" Loimos didn't frighten him to death and used his imitation voice, then pointing at the broken wheel without allowing for the coachman to respond.
"Do you have a spare?" he questioned as the living rubbed the back of his neck, nodding his head.
"I do but the entire thing just shattered, the carriage has tipped over and I don't have the mean to lift it to replace the wheel" explained the man, most certainly feeling really stupid at the moment, he had never had any problem of this sort and had clearly never spared some time to think about the eventuality.
Loimos lacked the capacity to make fun of him, and didn't see the point in playing that sort of role at the moment, instead, he walked past the driver, took a good look at the two horses and then looked straight through the fabric covering the goods inside of the carriage.
"Why not ask for the miss inside for some assistance?" he coldly remarked.
Paling, the coachman forced out a wry smile, looking left and right as though this place saw a lot of passage this time of the year, the living, who had been holding out well under the extreme heat suddenly drenched in sweat, trying to come up with reasons but only silently moving his arms around.
Under Loimos's unmoving gaze, he yielded and begged for his secrecy as he did his best to explain the situation in terms that didn't make him look too bad.
"A slave for a mage to experiment on? So, you are heading for Weafewand, who else knows of this little trade, the magic-focused city would not miss a person being snuck into their walls" the living's shoulders eased, Loimos appeared to not care in the least about this.
Despite slavery and everything relating to the practice having been wholly left behind centuries ago across the entirety of the continent, only isolated tribes still practised it in the open, as the for the rest, it was only occurring in the black markets and even then, few criminals played into this much, it had become more than a forbidden practice, it was genuinely seen as something even a king would have trouble getting away with were it to be heard that they took part.
Tamaris in particular, with its way of handling economics and money, had never done any in its history.
But there were still a few who were willing to pay for slaves, such as researchers wanting to perform destructive tests and experiments on fellow human beings and other sapients.
"The guards at the gate have already been bribed heavily I was told, the client is rather influential in the city as well, he is a rare holy mage, I am not sure what that really means, but it's a big deal apparently, I hear he wants to experiment creating angel-like familiars" he spilled everything without hesitation, definitely a poor choice to carry such a sensitive package.
"Do the guards know to expect you in particular?"
"Well no, I never went to Weafewand ever! Haha, I am just supposed to mention that I am here to deliver something to this mage, with the guards mana sense, they'll notice the slave immediately too, so-"
"Very well then, I shall lift, and you shall replace the wheel" Loimos moved on instantly and the coachman almost jumped up in joy, he had been stuck here for hours now, and he was fearful of the reaction that would occur if he delivered with extreme tardiness.
Loimos walked up to the carriage, he had no problem lifting the carriage enough for the living to do what was needed, the undead wasn't holding up the entire weight of the carriage anyways, with one hundred percent strength usage in every part of his body and perfect posture, he could literally do this years, the carriage would decompose into nothingness without any strain put in the skeleton.
"Ah, thank the gods for you! What can I do to repay the favour, good sir?" the man offered, not only was it natural to do, but Loimos had just effortlessly done something impressive just before, he wouldn't want to get punched by someone with that sort of strength.
"I am also headed for Weafewand, and would like to learn how to operate a carriage as well as how to ride a horse" the living saw absolutely zero downside to this and readily agreed, starting to treat Loimos as though they were colleagues in his illegal ordeal.
Loimos had found a ride, but the distance separating them from the city of magic was still lengthy, and after showing the ropes of what the undead had wanted to learn about, the living began to speak and speak.
Even under the scorching heat, he had plenty of energy to spare to discuss anything, when they were moving, he talked, when they stopped and he went to check on the slave, he still wouldn't stop yapping.
"What do you think? It's a shame that such a cute girl is going to get dissected, heh?" he was making a topic out of everything and nothing, the undead could only try and push him into actually interesting topics or nod his head.
"Honestly, I didn't want to take this job, but I had to see to the future, everything is going wrong around me, and my life was honestly not going in the right direction either, with the money from this job, I'll totally be able to afford living a good life, build a nice house in front of a lake, find myself a good woman and have a bunch of kids, I would prefer a boy as my first but I can adapt…"