The bastard child becomes the empires royal consort-Chapter 60: Kahl [2]

"Where are you dropping us off?" Alan asked, leaning toward the front.

Jack didn’t answer immediately, he took a long moment to navigate a sharp turn that nearly clipped a fruit stall before grunting, "The Main Plaza, the very centre of the city."

"Alright then." Alan settled back into the plush seat, crossing his arms and idly glancing out the window.

"The streets are quite busy," Lucian voiced Alan’s exact thoughts.

Indeed the streets were very active, the sound of vendors and stall markets and the loud bargains all naturally filtered to Alan’s ear.

Despite the disorderliness of the place, everything proceeded without an issue.

The variety of goods being sold was another fact that took Alan’s attention, with numerous markets selling fruits, others distributing accessories, and some selling fish.

"Look at that," Julia whispered, pointing to a massive marble fountain they were passing by, it was a clockwork kraken, whose tentacles moved in sync with the time. "I think I like this place more than the capital..."

"We literally just got here." Alan shook his head, though he said that, he too found the atmosphere of the city to be very nice.

As time passed while the group simply watched the environment of the city, the carriage slowed down, entering a sprawling, circular expanse.

It was the Main Plaza of Kahl.

The carriage finally came to a stop near a row of cafes.

"We’re here!" Jack called out, he climbed down from the driver’s seat and opened the carriage door. "This is as far as I’ll take you."

Alan stepped out first, his boots hitting the hard floor, the sudden scale of the city became more apparent to him after stepping out of the carriage.

The towering buildings, the mountain behind them, and the vast ocean ahead felt overwhelming after a week and a half in the woods.

"Yeah, yeah, just stay alive." Jack grumbled. "Don’t be like your brother, and you’ll be fine."

"Surely he can’t be that bad."

"He is that bad!"

"Alright, alright." Alan scoffed. "Anyway, do you know where we can get some identification?"

"Why on earth do you not have identification in the first place?" Jack sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Well, there isn’t a church in this city for you to go to... hmm, maybe the adventurers guild will work?"

"Oh, there’s an adventurers guild here?" Alan blinked, this was new information. "How would becoming an adventurer even help."

"Eh, I don’t know the details." Jack shrugged. "I’ve just seen those lots use their little copper or silver cards whenever the guards ask for some identification, so I’d say you could do the same thing."

"I see..." Alan rubbed his chin, considering it.

By the end of their conversation, everyone had already stepped out of the carriage, now looking around the Main Plaza in awe, well everyone except for Lucian, who was just blankly staring in some direction.

"Well, I’ll be going now." Jack gave Alan a final, firm pat on the shoulder as he turned around.

"Just curious, but where are you headed next?" Alan asked as Jack climbed back into the driver’s seat.

"Isn’t it obvious?" Jack chuckled. "To sell your information!"

"Huh...?"

"You think I’m going to pass up a chance to earn a hundred gold just for revealing your whereabouts?" He started laughing. "I’m a merchant, kid! You’re a moron if you thought I was doing this for the goodness of my heart! I’m going to be filthy rich!"

"I already gave you a lot of money, though."

"And I can get more!"

The carriage sped forward, speeding away into the streets, Alan and the others were left standing in a cloud of dust, the echoes of Jack’s laughter still ringing in their ears.

...

"Hmm~ Hmm~" Jack hummed his little happy tune as he passed through the busy streets of Kahl, seemingly in a good mood.

And he had a great reason for it, he just earned heaps of money just from escorting some people to somewhere he was already headed to, then found out he could earn even more money just for providing some information?"

It was definitely a good day.

Not long after, Jack pulled up in front of a tall, imposing building.

This was the Central Information Bureau of the Northern Continent, these buildings existed in all cities across the continent, and they were the ones responsible for publishing newspaper articles throughout the continent.

The Information Bureau served multiple purposes, you could buy information, sell information or commission jobs for specific needs.

Grinning, Jack stepped into the building.

The interior was a chaotic mess of fluttering papers, scribbling workers and disorganisation, Ignoring all that, Jack kept walking before finally arriving at the front register.

"Hey there, sweetheart." Jack smiled, leaning on the counter.

The lady behind the desk didn’t look up from her ledger. "Welcome to the Bureau, how may I be of assistance?"

"I would like to sell information."

"Understood." The lady moved her hand quickly, doing whatever she was doing, until finally looking up at Jack. "Please take a seat, someone will be here shortly"

"Thank you." Jack stepped back and sank into a cushioned chair next to a man who was deeply engrossed in a newspaper.

Jack leaned over, curious to see what the morning headlines were.

"You seem to be in a good mood." The man remarked without looking up. "Caught a big fish, did you?"

"Haha." Jack scratched the back of his head, his grin refusing to fade. "You could say that."

"Is it about that unknown group everyone’s talking about?" The man tapped the paper. "The ’Bondage Bastards’? I was just reading their latest update."

"Oh? Someone already beat me to it?"

"Well, the information is a few days old," the man shrugged. "But apparently, the ’saviours’ have picked up an accomplice."

"An accomplice?" Jack frowned, he’d been with them the whole time, who else could have possibly joined?

"Mind if I take a read?"

"Help yourself." The man handed the paper over.

Jack unfurled the pages, his eyes landing on a bold headline.

[The Bondage Bastards are public menaces!]

"Huh?" Jack muttered, reading the rest of the article.

The article was a detailed account of the tavern brawl, accompanied by sketches of the group looking significantly more villainous than they actually were, describing how the bastards mercilessly knocked out everyone in the tavern.

Then at the bottom of the page was the information bounty of the bastards, which jumped from a hundred gold to two hundred fifty.

Plastered at the bottom of the page was a fresh image, a perfect picture of the group jumping into a carriage, standing right there, holding the door open with a panicked expression, was a man whose face was unmistakably... Jack’s.

And below that image was a caption.

[THE ACCOMPLICE: Believed to be a rogue merchant. Reward for information: hundred gold.]

"Ah..." Jack let out a weird noise, recognising the so-called ’accomplice’ why wouldn’t he? Because the said ’accomplice’ was him.

"Now then." The man beside Jack turned to look at him, with a smile playing on his lips. "I myself just so happened to catch a big fish today, too."

"Fuck..." Jack could only curse his bad luck.

It was definitely not a good day.

...

Meanwhile, oblivious to Jack’s misfortune, Alan remained rooted in the centre of the plaza.

"Hmm..." Alan stroked his chin, staring at the structure ahead of him.

The statue was a tall, imposing figure carved from pure white limestone, it stood with a confident, almost arrogant posture, but the man’s face was completely faded, a smooth, featureless surface where eyes and a mouth should be.

Yet, despite the lack of detail, Alan couldn’t shake the impression that the man had been strikingly handsome.

He’d been standing here for about five minutes trying to figure out just who this statue was dedicated to.

He looked down at the sign just below the statue’s feet.

[In remembrance of ----------- for his great deeds]

Strangely enough, the name was also faded, like someone willingly rubbed it out.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Alan muttered for the fifth time, then let out a long sigh, and turned around to check on the others.

In the distance were Julia and Iris huddled near an ice cream stall, Julia was currently defying the laws of physics, excitedly stacking ten scoops of ice cream on a single cone...

Alan shook his head and searched for Lucian.

He quickly found the man, Lucian was standing outside a bookstore browsing through different books with intense focus... Hmm? Why was he standing so deep in the romance section?

’What the hell?’ Alan sighed, leaving the group to their own devices, he looked back at the statue, pondering once more, until he noticed an elderly couple walking near him.

"Excuse me." Alan called out.

"Hmm?" The elderly man stopped, leaning on his cane.

"Would you happen to know who this statue is dedicated to?" Alan asked, gesturing toward the featureless limestone man.

"Ah." The old man squinted at the statue, then at Alan. "You’re quite young, so I suppose you wouldn’t know."

"Hmm?"

"About thirty-five years ago." The man began, speaking like a storyteller. "An enormous leviathan rose from the bay and attacked the city, this man stood on the docks and single-handedly fought the beast back into the sea, protecting every soul in Kahl, thus the city council erected this in his honour." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"So he’s a hero." Alan nodded, impressed.

"He would’ve been." The old man huffed and took a breath. "If he wasn’t such a womanising scoundrel!"

"Dear, he wasn’t that bad." The man’s wife cut in, defending someone who wasn’t even here. "He was just unique."

"See what I mean?!"

Alan stared blankly at the squabbling couple, he had already long realised who the man could be, after all, he had heard a similar story from Jack.

"Would you happen to know what the man’s name was?" Alan asked the question he was wondering.

"His name? I think it was..." The man thought for a moment.

But his wife answered before he could. "His name was Kaelen."