Looking at the empty eyes of the bandit leader as he retrieved his sword from the bandit's frozen grasp Dax breathed a sigh as he looked at the destruction around him. Like some sort of monster had forcefully gone through them, there wasn't a single one of the bandit's corpses that were still intact and most of them could no longer be identified.

"All in a good day of work…"

Picking up some of the bandit's coin pouches that weren't too stained in blood, Dax prepared to leave hastily leave the scene of the crime when he was stopped. 

"Please wait a second!"

While Dax had collected his spoils of war the sole surviving knight had disabled the barrier he had erected around the horse drawn carriage and ran up to Dax to make sure he didn't leave.

"Please accept this reward for saving me and my lady!"

Bowing deeply in front of Dax the knight presented a pouch which Dax found filled with monster cores that he could sell next time he hit a town.

"Thanks, as a mercenary it is always nice being paid for jobs one weren't expected to be paid for."

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth Dax sincerely thanked the knight as he remembered he had left his backpack behind.

"s.h.i.+t…"

Without explanation, Dax jumped back towards his backpack.

"Off he goes…"

Being lost for a second the knight remembered what he was doing and started gathering his fallen comrades. When Dax returned to the horse drawn carriage he was once more met by the knight once more, this time he was kneeling down on the ground in a way that made Dax unable to just silently pa.s.s by him.

"... What is it?"

"You told me before that you are a mercenary, is that correct?"

"... It is."

Having a premonition about where the conversation was going Dax was slowly getting more annoyed.

"And would it be incorrect to say that you're currently searching for employment?"

"It would, bu-"

"Then please help me escort my lady to her destination, you will be paid handsomely on compet.i.tion of the job!"

(f.u.c.king let me finish before you place all your hopes and dreams on me…)

Sighing deeply Dax calmed down slightly as killing the knight would defeat the purpose for which he acted to save him in the first place.

"Listen here, I might be a mercenary and perhaps precisely because I am a mercenary I know a bad job when I see it. I'll have to decline."

"Bu!-"

"You really can't take no for an answer, can you!? Then allow me to spell it out: If I take this job I'll end up just as dead as you and your so called 'lady' will be in a few days."

"Eh?"

"These were not just simple bandits. 900 meters that way into the forest there's a long term camp, care to guess who's it was? That is not the behaviour bandits take, that's the behaviour of hired muscle waiting for their mark. Your lady has probably been marked for death in some sort of grand imperial power struggle and I am neither a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t or want to die, so good day to you and goodbye. Do not go gently into the night, rage against the dying of the light."

Leaving the flabergasted knight behind and effectively leaving him for death, Dax knew he had made the correct decision as he didn't have that much time to spare as he had a mission to do. People died every day and n.o.ble's get crushed in power struggles all the time, doing something about it or not people would still die therefore there was no reason to interfere in their conflicts when he had more pressing issues. Moving on from that imminent disaster waiting to befall him Dax reached a major city in the empire for the first time. 

(... That's really not what I would call a major city…)

Remembering what he had learned from the village elder Dax felt a little letdown, but then again their perspectives were quite different.

(Well, this might be the biggest city the elder knew of… And judging by the size alone I should be able to find some useable intel if dig around for a bit, but first I need to secure some funds…)

While Dax had ama.s.sed quite a fortune already, he knew from experience that he was going to need a lot more cash before seeking out an information broker.

(First stop would be the market I guess…)

Entering the city without issue Dax made his way to the market being guided by ICI. Finding what Dax a.s.sumed to a travelling merchant in the middle of the market Dax approached their large wagon home/shop that was being moved by a smaller land dragon, a type of powerful monster which could be used as a beast of burden.

"Oya?~ A customer, how rare~ What can I do for you?"

Sitting surrounded by all sorts of magical tools and trinkets, the salesperson and/or owner of the carriage was a beastkin woman which was smoking from a pipe while zoning out. She had long raven black hair that flowed all over her body in a quite disorganized fas.h.i.+on, on top of her head was a large blue and black 'wizard style' hat with holes in it for her long and slim ears which peaked out from it. Matching her hat, the merchant wore a type of magical robe with a blue and black pattern which seemed to gather the ambient mana around her.

"I've some monster cores to sell, are you interested?"

Placing the pouch with monster cores on the counter Dax allowed the merchant to inspect the cores, which she did with great interest as a long and thin black tail could be seen swaying in the air behind her.

"These sure are some interesting beast cores, my dear customer~"

"Are they really? I got those from a job so I'm not really familiar with their quality. If you're interested I also have some other cores from monsters I brought down myself."

Acting a tiny bit ignorant Dax fished out another bag of monster cores as if to test the merchant's greed. In really Dax knew exactly what quality the monster cores were, after gaining the ability to sense mana such a thing was easy with the help from ICI to process the data.

"So, how much would you be willing to pay for them? I'm a bit short on cash at the moment."

Pressing the merchant after he saw her clear interest for the cores he bought her, she snapped out of her focus on inspecting the cores and came with a rough estimation.

"10 A cla.s.s cores, 29 B cla.s.s and 10 minor cores…. How about 20 gold coins?"

"... Yeah, no. I can get more for them another place, have a go-"

"Then how does 35 gold coins sound?"

As Dax was withdrawing his offer the merchant seemed to panic slightly as her costumer unexpectedly knew the real value of the monster cores and offered a way more fair deal.

"... 45 gold coins."

Starting to haggle Dax's face remained completely expressionless, but internally he was grinning.

"That's too much, 35 gold is as high as I can go."

"... Really? just looking at your pa.s.sive mana control I would guess it will be easy for you to turn these cores into magic tools that would net over a 100 gold coins."

"..."

Remaining quiet as she had been seen through the merchant was just about to send Dax away when he offered her an olive branch.

"Then how about 35 gold coins and you throw some information into the bargain?"

"... Fine. What do you want to know?"

The second Dax mentioned information he felt a spell quietly being activated around him, form his own and ICI's a.n.a.lysis it seemed to have a few purposes. First of all, it blocked any sound from escaping the immediate area, but more importantly, it scanned Dax from head to toe.

(I guess it's just a safety measure… Well, here goes nothing."

As the merchant put away the monster cores she prepared a pouch with the gold coins and focused her attention solely on Dax once more as she relit her pipe and started smoking once more.

"How's the imperial capital after the new emperor came into power?"

"... Is that really all you want to know?"

"Nope, I have one more question after which I don't mind you not answering."

Looking with suspicion at Dax for a bit the merchant took a deep huff of her pipe before she started speaking.

"It is tense. A few months after he came into power, the emperor somehow gained an equal stance with the angels and seems to be on a path of war, but even after 5 years there's no information about who or what this grand enemy is and thus the market remains in a state of constant confusion which courses quite a few conflicts between merchant's, n.o.ble's and the state."

"So it's a powder keg?"

"Exactly. That's why I left and started travelling instead, at this point it is actually safer being a travelling merchant, even with all the monsters and bandits around these border regions. What's your second question?"

"What do you know about the development of artificial lifeforms?"

"Nothing at all, that area of research is restricted to the most powerful magic guilds. Good day."

Finis.h.i.+ng her short explanation the merchant closed up her shop as the magic spell which was around Dax sized to function.

(That really did rub her the wrong way… Still, I did learn something.)

Storing his new founds in his backpack Dax went on with his afternoon, or he tried to at least.

"You, demonkin! Stop right there!"

(What the f.u.c.k is it now?... Of course, it's another f.u.c.king knight…)

Turning around to see who was addressing him so rudely Dax came face to face with a younger looking female knight and immediately frowned in response. 

"What the f.u.c.k do you want?"

Returning rude behaviour with rude behaviour, Dax looked at the knightling while he clearly put his hand on his sword. The knightling wore almost s.h.i.+ning white plate armour which was decorated with all sorts of engravings and decorations, which gave Dax the clear impression it had never seen a real battle before. For some reason, she also didn't wear a helmet which allowed Dax to see the long golden blond hair which had been done up in a french style braid that ran quite a bit down her back. To pair with her hair and clear green eyes, the knightly held a strong sense of superiority and seemed to have taken Dax's response quite badly, judging from the anger clearly visible on her face as it became covered with a deep blush.

"How rude!"

"Yeah, you are. Now allow me to ask you once more: What the f.u.c.k do you want? Am I under arrest?"

Appearing like she was a bit taken back over the suggestion of arresting Dax, the knightling calmed down slightly.

"Y-you're not, no, b-"

"Then goodbye. I hope I'll never see you again."

"Eh?"

Initially quite flabbergasted by Dax's clear and rude rejection the young knight seemed to freeze up for a few moments, but as the wheels once more started turning she regained her earlier anger more than twofold of its initial intensity.

"I told you to stop right there!"

Flaring out her mana, the knightling drew her sword and made Dax unable to simply ignore her.

"So what is it? Get to the f.u.c.king point already, I'm busy."

"You demonkin are a mercenary right?"

"... That is correct."

Feeling his own anger also starting to get out of control Dax reluctantly answered the rude knightling.

"Then spar with me right here and now! It should be an honour for you!"

"Nah, p.i.s.s off and go back to your mom brat. Come back and ask me when you've learned how to request things of people."