"So, I have to ask," Belladonna said as she lounged in the passenger seat of Midas’ cart, "What is the deal with the bags and crates? You don’t need those to get your stuff around. You can do your little blanket trip. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Seems like a bit of a waste of money."

They had been riding for just under two hours, and after the first ten minutes Belladonna had grown bored. She had been expecting dastardly and dashing highwaymen riding up on them on midnight black steeds and holding them at gun point for their goods.

But alas, it was just two hours of hooves clopping against the dirt roads as they trundled through the forests. Such things weren’t too unexpected. They were still close to the city, relatively speaking for this world, and so bandits were unlikely to just be hanging around where the city guards did their external patrols.

That boring ride gave Belladonna plenty of time to sight see, which also lead her to investigate the sacks that Midas was carrying and had made her load. They were filled with grain and other simplistic foods, whilst the crates had very basic adventuring gear or dried meat.

It was standard merchant goods, but it was weird that Midas was carrying them like this. At least that’s what she thought, but it seemed that he had other ideas.

"It gives me credibility as a merchant, even if it makes me only look like a basic one that’s just starting out." Midas explained with a chuckle, "Plus, it gives the wanna-be thieves something to target instead of attacking me."

He glanced at Belladonna, noticing her slightly confused frown before sighing and continuing his explanation.

"Let’s put it this way. You meet two people, both of whom who claim to be merchants. One is dressed like me, and has nothing to his name. The other is still scruffy, but has visible merchandise along with him.

Which one are you more likely to believe and do business with?"

"The one with the merchandise..." Belladonna muttered in response.

"Correct," Midas nodded, "And if anyone wants to steal from me, it’s better that they think that I am just carrying the basics instead of anything basic.

It’s kind of like disguising contraband as something ordinary. No one is going to think twice about a sack of grain, and if they see me carting this about they will think it is all I could afford. They won’t ever consider what I can actually do or what I actually have.

Well, none of the bandits at least. Another merchant or their guards might know such a trick and be inclined to snoop around, but they won’t find anything. Which will only help reinforce my disguise."

Belladonna chuckled and shook her head at his craftiness, relaxing in her chair even more.

"Damn... I forgot how good you are at all of this. You got everything planned out, don’t you?"

"Not everything." He replied with a shrug, "It’s impossible to plan everything, no matter how smart you are. If anyone says they can, they’re a liar.

But in this game, and by this game I mean sales and being a merchant, it is all about two things. Connections and Appearance. The thing about appearance though, is that it doesn’t just go one way.

It’s all about creating assumptions for you. ’You get what you pay for’, so you think that the more expensive one has to be the better one, even though they are the exact same product. They think I am poor and useless, so they look over certain things or just let me coast in the background.

Clothes don’t make the man. Clothes make you notice the man, or ignore him. A Peasant in the noble district stands out just as much as a noble in the slums. Both are going to be harassed in those environments, but put them in each other’s positions and suddenly they blend in and become another face in the crowd.

In this case, who do you think they will go for? The useless merchant with the single, scrawny looking guard - no offence - or the rich nobles flaunting their wealth constantly? Ah... Here we go, a perfect example." He finished with a smile, slowing the cart and nodding ahead to the front of the convoy.

Midas wasn’t the only one slowing, the entire convoy was, as they came face to face with a large roadblock.

Half a dozen boars, each the size of a hippo, were gorging themselves on a few dead beasts in the middle of the road. They dug their snouts into the corpses, snuffling about like they were searching for truffles, or in this case the juicy organs.

Their tusks tore apart the meat, forcing it open and allowing them to get to their bounty. Across their backs, which they had no problem showing to the convoy, they had thick and heavy interlocking plates similar to that of a Rhino or an Armadillo.

The convoy guards hopped off their carts and slowly approached the boars, drawing their weapons in the process. While this was an obstacle, it was also a valuable one that they would be idiotic to pass up.

Belladonna was about to do the same, seeing the boars as juicy bags of Exp, when Midas placed a hand over her to stop her.

"No... This is what I was meaning. Appearances and assumptions. Look closer. Not at them, but what they are eating." He whispered under his breath, gesturing to the armoured boars.

Belladonna frowned slightly and sunk back into her seat. A few of the other guards, especially Barney the Purple Orc, chuckled to themselves or snorted in disdain at what they assumed to be cowardice.

But Belladonna ignored them and focused on what the Boars were eating.

It looked like some kind of deer, which wasn’t unusual. Even in this world, unless they were mutated by some evil leeches, deer were a prey animal. But as she looked closer, Belladonna noticed some oddities on the remains of the body.

They had clean slices across the legs, too clean and precise for the boars tusks, almost like they had been intentionally sliced there to hobble the deer’s ability to run.

Aside from that, there were a few with twigs sticking out of their bodies in odd places. No... not twigs. That is what it seemed like at first, but after a few seconds Belladonna realised that they were not twigs, but arrow shafts. Broken off intentionally so that they barely showed on the body.

Her eyes widened at the realisation, causing Midas beside her to smirk as he watched her. Whipping her eyes away from the deer, Belladonna quickly and subtly scanned the treeline by the road, until finally she saw it.

It was just for a second, barely enough to make you doubt you actually saw anything. But she knew what it was. The glint of steel.

’This is a trap...’