The scene that we encountered left us with quite the bitter taste in our mouths. A feeling I could tell for sure Selia shared thanks to our bond.
And yet, it wasn't just a freak instance. Instead, it served as a hint of what else we should expect from the town.
The deeper we went, the more apparent it became — recruiters stood on every corner of the street, hiring either directly for the military, for the adventuring parties that would secure the conquered area from any monster incursions, craftsmen for the military engineering all the way to the kind of recruitment we saw first — where the recruits would take upon the task of bullying the conquered populations by looting their homes.
All so they could then take half of what they looted, after giving up the other half to the tax-man.
If I still had any delusions about this world, by the time we took a round through the city, they were all gone.
Even in a city like this, built to facilitate the trade of resources adventurers could procure from the jungle of death, it wasn't excluded from the war.
It didn't matter that it was pretty much on the other end of the country as the apparent conflict.
Even here, everyone either tried to profit from the changing trade trends, join in on the army to secure a stable job, potential career and respectable social standing or even become one of the raiders that would plague the rear of anyone who dared to stand against this country.
And amidst all of this, I continued to stroll through the streets with Selia, while trying not to let our worsening mood steal away our joy from this simple outing.
"Things are progressing at quite the worrying rate," I muttered once I was no longer able to ignore the reality before my eyes. "If things are progressing that quickly, then what if that war won't end quickly?"
I shook my head.
For all her power, Selia appeared to know no more than just the common sense. And beyond the fact that it was a war against some sort of disgruntled population on the other side of the continent, she couldn't really tell me much more about the whole thing.
Obviously, if I really wanted to learn more about it, all I needed was to approach any of the recruiters and just ask. But if I did so, I would be only drawing attention to myself, something I couldn't quite afford to do.
Sure, the chances that any of the grunt workers of the local army was socially high enough to attend my summoning, was close enough to see my circumstances and then, despite only having a moment to do so, memorized my face were…
They were small if not abysmal.
But they weren't null.
And so, rather than satisfying my shallow curiosity, I ended up just shrugging my shoulders and moving on.
"You know what…" Selia spoke some time later, likely when she realized I started to avoid bigger gatherings of people, fully expecting them to be just another rallying call for joining the military. "I'm not really feeling like walking around. Should we just… go back?"
I turned my eyes and gave Selia a look, her adorable face alone capable of soothing my worries and calming my heart.
"I really don't get this place at all," I muttered, raising my eyes over Selia's shoulder and looking at the nearby crowd gathered around a recruiter standing on a barrel. "Normally, war would mean tragedy, loss of life and property and generally bad time."
I gritted my teeth.
As much as I wanted to avoid this topic, we could only pretend that it didn't exist for so long. And while my goal was always to just live a peaceful, carefree life in this world until I found a way to go back (if possible, with Selia by my side)…
'It's not something I can ignore, huh?'
I cleared my throat.
'Because sooner or later, it's going to catch up with me. And from the look of things?' I shook my head. 'Maybe it's this world, maybe it's my broken system,' my face tensed up a little. 'Maybe things just tend to happen quite damn soon!'
"Theo?"
Selia, noticing the depth to which I sank within my thoughts, gave my arm a gentle shake, calling my consciousness right back to reality.
"Ah, sorry," I shook my head, chasing those annoying thoughts away. "It's just that…" I shook my head again, "I couldn't agree more with you. I really don't like the changes to this town."
A lot of things had happened over the past week. From my coming to this place, to meeting Selia, establishing charcoal business, venturing back to the jungle of death for the sake of getting coffee…
And yet, at the same time, this town started to change rapidly.
From the changing situation of the coal trade, through the mass of military recruiters appearing in town, trying to coax the high-level adventurers local to this place into joining the war effort.
Right as I reached the point where I was starting to care about this town, the air in it took a massive turn for the worse.
And if things only continued to escalate in this way, then it would only be a matter of time before someone who saw me back during the summoning ceremony would find their way to the town only to end up recognizing me.
And if that were to happen?
'Just seeing what's going on in this town is enough for me to guess what would happen to me then. Or, much worse,' I turned my eyes over to Selia, only to find her already staring right back into my eyes.
"Yeah," Selia stared at my face for a little longer before slowly turning her head away. "I dislike what's going on in this town. But it's not like we can do anything about it," she shrugged her shoulders. "So there's no point for us to bother with it."
On her end, this was likely supposed to be the only solution we had. Rather than fighting against the inevitable, we could just try to ignore it as much as we could, refusing to let it affect our lives.
And while I initially wanted to fully agree with her…
There was something in what she said that made me think.
"Hey, I'm sorry if that sounds stupid but… Why is everyone actually so eager to join?" I asked while nodding with my head towards the nearby gathering.
With a glance, I could tell it mostly consisted of middle-to-high rank adventurers, most of which appeared to be pretty damn interested by what the guy standing on the barrel had to say.
"Questions cannot be shameful for they are an expression of someone seeking knowledge," Selia smiled as she recited some sort of passage before shaking her head a little. "And the reason is the same as always," she shrugged her shoulders, "money."
I squinted my eyes, giving myself a second to process it.
'Money? In a town created because there was a jungle of death nearby in the first place?'
This didn't make any sense.
The profits from diving into the jungle of death had to be enormous for an entire city to develop off this trade. And even if only the best of the best could challenge that place over and over again, just their loot should be enough to infuse enough value into the local market to make this place prosperous enough for locals to value their life here much more than potential for quick income over a military contract.
Still, no matter which part of the town I saw, it was full of people actively talking, discussing and negotiating with recruiters. And while the announcement we approached was for poachers, people paid through whatever they could loot, when it came to actual military contracts?
I closed my eyes and focused on my hearing.
Selia reached out and placed her hand on my chest, only for her mana to come flooding into me, filling me up with a weird sense of overwhelming power…
Before it all suddenly vanished, along with all the noises I was actively trying to filter out.
"Eleven gold coins a week!"
"I won't pay you any more than seven! Come on, man, you are not even a high-ranking adventurer!"
"But man! We both know that this war isn't going to end soon, and that you will be back here for another batch of recruits. So why not cut the chase and give me the price you will offer me in a month? This way, you can boost your results right now, rather than in a month!"
This was one of the several conversations that I managed to spy on, each conversation including quite the unexpected numbers.
'It would be one thing if they were trying to hire an entire group, but such money for a single adventurer?'
I knew that when it came to military, prizes would often reach quite the unbelievable amounts, but…
Eleven gold coins a week?
Or, to make things more realistic, seven gold coins a week?
That was a gold coin per day of service! And judging by how a full cart of charcoal would go for eight silver coins, with each gold piece being an equivalent to twenty of them?
Sure, my comparison was flawed. The prizes I knew about were extremely limited and even then, oriented on a wholesale through my charcoal deal rather than selling the goods directly to their consumer, but…
'Isn't there a simple solution?' I thought as I realized two things.
People were extremely enthusiastic about the military because it paid so damn well. And more importantly, if there was a way for them to earn even more money…
Then wouldn't the recruitment efforts in this town fall through, putting a stop to the process and restoring peace and quiet to this remote town?
"Theo?" Selia asked, noticing the changes on my face. "Don't tell me you've figured something out."
I spared her a glance while holding back a small smirk.
"Yes and no. I did figure something out but I only have a seed of an idea rather than a concrete plan…"
"But?" Selia insisted, squeezing her fingers around my hand as she asked.
"If my idea could work, I could stop anyone from bothering with those recruiters," I allowed my smile to emerge just within the very corners of my mouth. "All because I might be able to pay them more."