The Tales of Draconic Warlock-Chapter 304: The Caravan Quest (4)

We have arrived at Rest Stop One.

No, I am not giving this place that name. It was what this place was known by the locals and travellers that travel this path from Crystal City to Emberfall. It would be the last rest stop when the travel is in reverse.

Anyway, at the rest stop, we aren’t the only ones present. There are two caravans that were going to the crystal city or maybe passing the city on their way to someone east of it, probably to the border city with the Frost Empire.

Though there were always clashes between these empires, they would never, on purpose, disrupt the trade between each other. The trade between the empires was far too important for the empires to have such schemes.

Millions of people are present in the empire, and all would need resources to grow. An empire consumes a lot of resources every day, but there is not a single empire where every type of resource is grown or found. Many resources had to be traded with other nations, especially from other empires.

If the trade routes get damaged, then there would be no trade, and that means someone would tend to get angry enough to cause a ruckus in their empires.

Though the royals are not afraid of someone causing problems in their empires, as that would be another day for them, trade brings wealth and power to the empire, which would benefit the royals a lot. So, unless there is an enmity that can’t be resolved easily or they have plans to fully occupy a nation, trade would not get disturbed normally.

So, if a nation’s trade was disturbed, there would be only a single reason, and that is someone did that.

Who it might be and what the consequences of such disturbance would vary.

Think about it.

The enemy nations might be causing the issue to weaken the nation in order to invade and occupy them easily.

Let’s take two small kingdoms. When it comes to the overall power of the kingdom, it was not just the growth rate of the kingdom’s powerhouses that would be taken into account but also how many would survive long enough would be considered as well.

When wars happen, there would be casualties, and this is something unavoidable in a war, but they can reduce the number of casualties.

There are a lot of healing potions available in the world, even if a person is fatally wounded. Until the person is declared dead, there are ways to save the person depending on how much one can spend.

To make potions, herbs are required, and not all landscapes can produce the same herbs.

Some need mountain areas, some need swamp areas and so on like that. So herbs growing in one nation might not be available in other, and if trade gets blocked, these potions would disappear.

An enemy nation would only block trade if their enemy was importing such useful herbs, not if they are the ones that are the ones exporting them.

There is a lot of politics involved in trade, and it is also confusing.

Anyway, the main point is that trade would be disrupted by other nations only when a war is about to start.

Of course, there are bad people like bandits who are killing and stealing too much, which would make merchants from using that route or the presence of powerful monsters would also stop trade.

So, unless situations like these arise, there are always merchants moving from nation to nation easily, without facing many troubles.

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Every group settled as they wanted but made sure that they were near the main group, the merchant caravan.

All the adventurers and hired mercenaries are here to protect the caravan. If they fail, that would leave a mark on their record, and that would mean the chances of getting other high-paying jobs would be reduced.

So, no one would be idiotic enough to settle too far away from the main group, in case something happens.

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Though there were two more caravans, the merchant of our caravan didn’t go and greet the other two. It could mean either of two things.

One, he doesn’t know the other, and he is not someone who mingles with others.

The chances of this being the reason are too low. He is a merchant, and any good merchant needs connections. They would mingle with others even if the other person is lower rank or poor.

Even if the opposite ones are poor or lower-rank awakener, the merchants wouldn’t discriminate. What they may encounter in the future, no one knows.

Though not all merchants are friendly, they at least appear friendly even if they are devising schemes in their minds, but that didn’t happen here.

So, I believe the second reason might be the reason why he didn’t go and speak with the other caravans.

Those two caravans either belong to enemies or rivals of the merchant who hired us. If that is so, it could be understandable why he didn’t greet them and why they didn’t greet him either.

So, that means we have to be cautious.

I told the twins about my speculations, and they agreed with me.

"We need to watch out for those other two caravans. If they belong to an enemy faction of the merchant that hired us, they might try to sabotage us. Even if they didn’t, night times are the best times for bandits to attack unsuspecting caravans".

"Of course, if those two caravans blatanly attack us, then that would land in trouble, unless they can eliminate us completely without leaving any evidence of their involvement, which is not an easy feat to achieve".

"First, they have to eliminate us, which would not be easy, even though they outnumber us. Second, they have outsiders amongst them too, and they can leak the information for some money. The risks of doing so outweigh the benefits that they gain. So, the chances of those caravans acting against us is minimal", Celine said, adding some more information.

She is right, as usual, of course.

So, we decided to settle away from those two caravans but made sure to keep an eye on them. It’s better to be safe than sorry.