Chapter 167 – Branching Choice
[Sigh…] (Syrus)
Syrus read over the details that Lavender handed to her. The fact that she had them written out meant she was looking for someone to join her, specifically Syrus in this instance.
[We are going to deny this.] (Luna)
[The money is good, but the time investment would be large.] (Syrus)
All these locations were decently far away. The journey to Eletscoep or Jenate Republic would take about a month if they choose to depart for them.
[Either option could be good to investigate as a place for Elly and the kids to live.] (Eva)
[Eva, we know you want to visit Eletscoep.] (Syrus)
[And I am not hiding that fact.] Eva replied, [However, as we discussed, if we want Elly and the children to be safe, having them move to far-off locations may be for the best.]
There was some truth to what Eva was saying.
Arisea Station was such a difficult location to bring Elly and the children to. Housing would be so much more difficult, as finding a large house would be harder, and one that met their requirements would be impossible. The reason why the house in Greenvale worked so well was because it was actually large enough to at least house all the children; any building in Arisea Station would be hard-pressed to even uncomfortably fit a quarter of the children.
Arisea Station had very few large or two-story buildings; it was simply how the city was designed. The fact the city was going through a reconstruction in some areas made the move even more complicated.
They still wanted Elly and the children to move, and the Arisea Station was certainly safer when it came to being away from the church’s influence, but it was also more dangerous in life hazards.
[You say as if it is so easy to move countries, especially, Eletscoep.] (Luna)
The immediate options of Eletscoep or Jenate Republic had a major issue of requiring new citizenship. Moving within Cancole was no issue, as Elly could buy a house with no problem in any of the major cities. However, unless she got a merchant’s licence, she wouldn’t be able to do that in the Nevald Kingdom–not that she would want to move there. Arisea Station didn’t have that issue, as it didn’t tax most citizens directly, only taking portions of profits from hunting and business, but because of that, anyone could move in without issue.
Comparably, Eletscoep or Jenate Republic had much stricter rules when it came to citizenship. Eva speaking highly of Eletscoep education wasn’t just a brag; it really was one of the best in the world for the time, but because of that, getting a citizenship to live permanently in the country was difficult.
[Money is still good.] (Eva)
[Sigh…] Luna was the last person who wanted to take any long trip, but it wouldn’t be right if she didn’t ask. She looked up with her eyebrow raised. “What do you mean Maca asked of you?”
[Luna?] (Eva)
[We owe him a huge favour for the arrow he took for us.] (Luna)
[Yeah… He took the bull on.] (Syrus)
[...oh yeah, the favour…] Eva hadn’t forgotten, and out of the three, she was the most concerned about that, especially with Maca’s disappearance. She just didn’t want to bring it up, as she felt that would be rude to the conversation, since he was missing and they had no idea what he could’ve wanted from them.
Lavender coughed, “Well, I owed him a few favours after we started working together.”
“And he asked you to carry out this commission before he left?”
“Not exactly.” Lavender fiddled with her spear for a moment. The two of them walked out of the centre of the street to somewhere they wouldn’t be in the road of people moving. “To try and simplify a complicated series of events. Maca asked me to go on a commission with him at some point in the future, but he had also asked me if he ever disappeared to take on the commission myself.”
Luna asked, “Is he from Eletscoep?”
Lavender answered, “I asked him that, and he said no. He told me where the payment was for the commission; the guild had it stored for whenever we decided to go through with it. That’s all the details on how I got given the commission. The contents are an escort.”
“Merchant?”
“A kid and their guardian.”
“I see…” said Syrus.
[Something… is fishy…] (Syrus)
[What… exactly…] (Eva)
[I don’t know, the fact that he had a commission prepared that he could’ve gone on at any point. There has to be a reason why he hadn’t.] Said Syrus, but she wasn’t saying it in an inquisitory way.
[Knowing you, you would have some guesses.] (Luna)
[Thanks for the vote of confidence.] (Syrus)
[You would know the best.] Eva chuckled.
[Sure… Anyway, based on how he only asked for the commission to happen when he was gone or on his own terms. Then it is more about protecting whoever the escort is.] (Syrus)
[Hmm. The next question is if it is someone he has a personal relationship with or just someone he wants to protect?] (Luna)
[Does that matter?] Eva asked, [Maca has always been about putting himself before others. If someone needed his help, he would be there.]
[I… Yes, that is true.] (Luna)
[Time for Maca to win saint of the year.] (Syrus)
[Poof.] Luna nearly laughed thinking about it. [That would be a fun sight.]
Syrus's jokes lighten the mood for all of them.
Syrus asked, “Have you met the clients?”
Lavender replied, “Yes, they seem normal? The mum is around her forties and has an Exotic attribute, which isn’t too surprising; the kid doesn’t seem to have any, well, at least not awakened to one.” She didn’t seem greatly concerned about the two escortees.
[This year would be the thirtieth anniversary of the death of the royal family.] (Luna)
[What a fun event to bring up at this time.] (Syrus)
[I-Sorry…] Luna apologised. She wasn’t really thinking about the connotations, [Was just curious due to the age range and the fact they are supposed to be escorted to Eletscoep.]
[Forty? So she would have been around ten years old at the time. Even if she did live in Eletscoep, I doubt she would know much about the events since she would’ve only been a kid. That is, if she even lived in the city.] (Syrus)
[Can we skip this topic?] Eva requested, [It could be relevant, but it is not the time or place…]
[You are right.] (Syrus)
Afterwards, they quickly laid out the positives and negatives.
[If we put the for and against on a board. Then the "for" is obvious. We will get a lot of money and will be repaying a favour. The Against is also obvious as we did want to rest and we will be far away from Elly and the children in case something happens.] (Syrus)
[I am in agreement with that list.] (Luna)
[You haven’t picked a side.] (Syrus)
[Then no.] (Luna)
[Eva?] (Syrus)
[Yes, I wish to go to Eletscoep, for financial and personal reasons.] (Eva)
[Gottacha.] (Syrus)
Syrus answered Lavender, the trio’s back-and-forth only happening over a brief moment of silence, where it appeared to Lavender she was just thinking deeply about it. “Look, Lavender, I’m not sure; I’m leaning towards no. These are such long trips. I will need time to think about it.”
“That's fine; I am in no rush.” Lavender let out a pained laugh. “I am still in recovery myself.”
Syrus mentioned, “You could’ve brought this conversation up after you had recovered.”
She continued to chuckle with a smile, “Well, I wanted to inject the idea into your head, hopefully, that if enough time passes, you would agree.”
With the weight of Maca behind it, Syrus asked, “Was the plan to just bring up the Eletscoep trip, or were you serious about the other options?”
“Super serious, I am in no rush to fulfil Maca’s request, which doesn’t have a deadline, and the other options provide a bit more cash. I did figure out all of them; that was the one I could get you to agree on the most since it relates to Maca, and you two had an awkward bromance.”
“Sure…”
Lavender smiled. “As you said, long-arse trips; going alone or with people I don’t get along with is the worst. Despite the money.”
“Fair enough.” Syrus shrugged.
[I’m surprised you didn’t instantly say no.] (Luna)
[I was leaning towards it, but it is important to keep bridges open for as long as required, but I have indicated best to assume closed.] (Syrus)
It was a tempting option, but unless something really changed, Syrus couldn’t see them taking a month-long journey to a different country without other factors applying…