~ 1 ~
It was starting to get annoying now. It had been three months of asking and listening to merchants telling their versions of the legendary Masked Rider. But none of them knew where to find her. It also didn’t help that the majority of them thought that the Masked Rider was a myth all started by desperate peasants claiming to be the Masked Rider. By this time, Sebastian and Jackson were starting to give up. But Liam wouldn’t let that happen. He was determined to find the Masked Rider, and he was sure that the merchant they had been scouting out for the past few days had the key.
“You’re just gonna get the same story out of him.” Jackson pointed out. Liam ignored him, watching the merchant from across the bar. “Hey, are you even listening to me?” Jackson whacked Liam across the head with one of his wings, earning a glare from his friend.
“He may know something more than all of the rest of the merchants we’ve talked to.”
“You mean interrogated.” Sebastian corrected, placing two beers on the table they were all sitting at. “Are you sure you don’t want a beer?”
“Positive.” Liam then got up and stalked towards the unsuspecting merchant. Jackson sighed. It had been over three years since they had lost their friend, Scarlett. Ever since that day, Liam had been obsessed with finding her. Both Jackson and Sebastian knew why: Liam wanted to apologize. They had had no leads to go off of until about three months ago. They had heard a rumor about a Masked Rider that roamed the country, fighting off monsters from villages and saving people from lairs. That was when Liam decided that it had to be Scarlett. Since then, they had been roaming the country, just like the legendary Masked Rider, to try and find out where to find her, if it even was her.
Liam sat down across from the merchant, who was reading a newspaper he had grabbed from outside the bar. The merchant looked up to see the rugged man glaring at him. The merchant wasn’t intimidated by him, he had seen enough horrors from his years of traveling.
“Not doing business right now, stranger.” The merchant looked back down at the newspaper he had been reading.
“I’m not here to do business.” Liam replied. All he wanted from him was information, not whatever he was selling. The merchant looked up from his newspaper again.
“What else would you be here for then? To glare at me?” The merchant scoffed at his own joke. Liam said nothing and continued to glare. “Well don’t take it seriously, I was only joking.” The merchant sighed and kept reading the article he was reading that had gotten him interested in the newspaper in the first place. It was about the economy trying to naturally go back to “normal”. If things could ever go back to “normal”.
“Since you aren’t going to leave me alone anyway, what can I do for you, young man?” The merchant asked Liam, flipping to another page that showed off articles about the local news about the newest development in alchemy and a brand new sword model to try out. Liam said nothing for a second, studying the merchant closely. His thin glasses had slid down the bridge of his long nose, resting at the very tip. His graying hair was kept in a small ponytail with tufts hanging loose in front of the merchant’s gray eyes.
“I hear you’ve got stories.” Liam told the merchant who only laughed.
“That’s funny, sorry kid, but I’m not like most merchants. I can sell you plenty of things, but I’m not one of those storytellers. Besides, if I did have stories, those would count as business. And we have already discussed those terms.”
“Are you or are you not the Traveling Merchant?” Liam questioned the man, ignoring his last statement. The merchant looked up at Liam, his lips tight.
“Look, kid, if all you’re gonna do is ask me silly questions, then I really don’t have any business with you, alright?” That’s when Liam took a small leather bag out of his pocket and placed it in front of the merchant, making a clanging sound.
“Are you or are you not the Traveling Merchant?” The merchant stared at the leather bag in front of him. It was full of gold coins, both Liam and the merchant knew it. It was only up to the merchant whether or not he wanted to expose himself to the stranger.
“Where are you from, boy?” The merchant inquired, paying less and less attention to the newspaper in his hands.
“South Dakota.”
“Really? I’ve heard a few stories about that state. As a matter of fact, I’ve heard some great warriors have come from up there. What’s your name anyway?” After Liam had taken out the pouch, the merchant was suddenly open a little bit more for doing at least some business.
“You first.” The merchant smirked, finally taking his eyes away from the gold filled bag.
“Anton Kraus, the one and only Traveling Merchant. Anyone who says otherwise are liars.” Anton had now folded up his newspaper and put it in his bag. He then reached for the bag in front of him. Liam stopped Anton from getting any closer to the bag by stabbing a dagger into the table. Liam pulled the leather bag closer to him, out of Anton’s reach. He needed to be careful, he never knew if this was the real Traveling Merchant or not. Just like the Masked Rider, the Traveling Merchant was a legend himself. He seemed to know everything about everything. If you needed to know something about the new world all of humanity lived in, he was your guy. No one knew how he knew about anything, like the first dragon lair raid or how much a claymore weighed, but he knew things. Because of this, Liam knew that if anybody knew anything about the Masked Rider, it was him.
“Liam Hayes.” He introduced himself to Anton. “Now we’ve got a few questions for you.” Anton scoffed, leaning away from Liam’s dagger.
“We?”
“Yes, we.”
