"Oh, a shipment of steel from that dungeon? Have the adventurers finally begun to do their job again?" a guard standing in the open gate to the city spoke as he wrote down a few things on some paper.
"Not quite, I just had some reserves, you know, just in case, heheh" the merchant laughed a bit, making the guard shake his head, motioning for him to move in.
The line of people waiting to get in was rather lengthy, be it people on foot, on horses or with carriages, they all had to go through the checkpoint and the guards there, though, mostly only the carriages were checked extensively, and that was only really for those driven by faces they didn't recognise.
After being on this post for so many years, the man standing at the front knew many merchants, he would just exchange a few words with them and let them through without verifications, today was just another day for him.
"By the way, there is a weird guy in a mask prowling around-" the merchant warned him as he went by., but the guard just waved his hand dismissively.
"I know, everyone has already told me about him, I saw him in the distance too, don't worry" he found himself yawning, the man was quite surprised actually, everyone seemed to think that this random guy was suspicious and should be mentioned, it wasn't his first time having weirdos roaming.
The next person in line was on foot, wearing a big cloak with the hood on, raising an eyebrow, the guard spoke first.
"Aren't you warm in that?" the twin suns were hitting hard, it was noon too, it was like standing in a sauna, the guard was keeping it together well from experience, but he felt like he was a rotisserie chicken inside of his armour.
"Armond! We need to talk '' raising his hood up a slight bit, the cloaked man revealed his face, Armond's face scrunched up reflexively.
"Miqi?! What the hell are you-" he coughed a bit and turned back to some others guards in the distance "someone take my spot real quick, I need to set something clear with this fellow here"
Grabbing Miqi by the shoulder he pulled him a distance away from everyone else as a young guard walked up and began doing the check-ups, which was of course much slower since this youngster didn't know the regulars like Armond did.
"Explain, what are you doing here?" the experienced guard turned his back to the crowd, his face pale with worry.
Knowing that actions spoke louder than words, Miqi showed Armond his right hand, or rather, the lack thereof of his limb, grimacing he didn't let him get surprised and ask.
"I am doing you a favour by telling you, take your wife and kids, get the hell away, go to another country, those bitches from Alizé are going fucking mental, the money isn't worth getting pieced up!" Miqi's wrist and bandaged and still bloody, clearly, he had gotten this gruesome injury recently.
"You probably heard of what they have been up to with their newest drug as well, it isn't as simple as some aphrodisiacs and hallucinogens sold on the street anymore, they're building up troops, we can get tortured and killed for that sort of thing!" failing his stump madly, he still did his best to keep his voice as low as possible, throwing glances at the waiting line behind him.
"Alright, I understand that part, and I agree, but what happened to your hand? Surely, had they gotten word of your intention to leave everything, they would have done more than this, unless-!" Miqi quickly stopped him right in his tracks.
"They don't know that I am betraying them, and I am not ratting you out either!
Listen, not only are those four making moves that classify as high treason, they are just completely insane to begin with, whatever number she goes by, the vampire chick just walked up to me and cut off my hand for no reason, I could put up with the crazed antics before, but now that I know what they are really after, I am not getting close to any of them, they are madwomen!" Miqi stepped away, pointing his stump at Armond.
"Hold a second Miqi, shouldn't we report them? The king would be willing to forgive us if we spoke up about a conspiracy or whatever it is that they are brewing!" he tried to reason but Miqi was already moving away, running off toward the woods in fact.
Keeping his cool, Armond returned to his post like nothing happened and resumed work, watching as the figure of his friend disappeared amongst the trees.
Unaware that as soon as he was out of sight of everyone, Loimos accosted him, grabbing him by the wrist that still led to a hand.
Miqi had been too focused on what was in front of him to notice the undead intercepting him, speaking with his imitation of a voice, Loimos squeezed enough to make it hurt whilst simultaneously reassuring the living.
"I could not help but notice you mentioned Alizé, and that one of them was a vampire, elaborate"
"H-How the hell could you hear that? Are you one of their goons?" Miqi didn't dare to yell, he knew all too well what would happen if he raised his voice.
"Do not be afraid, do you not recognise this mask? I am a death hunter, I simply want to know more about this group housing a vampire, I only want the good of lifekind" speaking unnaturally clearly and deliberately, Miqi was getting more and more put off the more Loimos spoke.
"You- So you will let me go if I tell you everything?" he asked carefully, feeling himself sweating even more than when he was right under the light of the suns.
"You can trust me on this"
Catching his breath, the man with a missing hand couldn't help but notice the fact that the 'death hunter' wasn't letting go of his wrist in the least, in fact, it was quite worrying how perfectly stable the strength of his grip was, actually, the man hadn't moved at all since he had grabbed onto him, still like a statue, knowing that his current position was perfect and didn't allow Miqi to do anything.
"A-Alright, I, hum, I have met with all four of the leaders at least once…"