Road to Esterwick

-Kasumi Bollani is working with her father at the town’s blacksmith. She is wearing her white crop top that has smudges from the past when she was younger working with him, the top shows a lot of her midriff, can barely hide her tits which are giving a nice display whenever she tries to get something from the lower shelves. The adventurers, guards and other customers that head there for repairs, enhancements, or upgrades can see Kasumi’s barely covered top and get easily distracted. Her smithing skirt is also tattered and has more smudges than her crop top and has pockets to hold various tools that she needs to get the job done. This very day was a special day for her father because he received a letter from the king via royal courier demanding that he makes new armor, new weapons, and various other equipment for his army. -

“K-Kasumi. We will need more steel, iron, and a few bronzes. We’ve received a letter from the king demanding new weapons and other gear.”

“Tch. Does the king even treat us well for our work, dad?”

“That is not how your mother and I raised you.”

“No, but it’s the truth that I saw many times when I was younger.”

-When the gangs aren’t bothering her and her family, it’s the king of Wildewyn, her hometown, King Valencik. King Valencik has raised taxes on shopkeepers for the past 15 years for his own agenda making it difficult for families like the Bollani to make a subpar living. Not to mention that on some days, guards go to certain shops and demand payment in whatever form so the merchants can get the protection. Whenever the guards head to the Bollani’s, they demand their gears repaired or upgraded for free or they will shut down the shop and arrest the family.–

“You promised you would forget that,” her father said with a hurt voice.

“I’m sorry I lied to you father, but something like that is very difficult to forget when you see those guards passing by, giving those looks…”

“They give those looks because of the outfit you have on. I told you to fix it multiple times.”

“Maybe if we had more money and the king wasn’t always trying to drain our funds, I would have changed it 3 months ago,” Kasumi said fixing her top in a vain attempt to cover her cleavage.

-Kasumi’s dad shows her the list of items that she must collect for this project from the king. –

“I mean I’m not going to be able to carry all of that on my back.” Even in my succubus form, I can barely carry half of that stuff.

“That’s why I want you to post these papers on the bounty boards in the tavern at Seriwen and Esterwick’s Guard House.”

“That’s if anyone wants to do these tasks. You have high hopes, father but I think you might be aiming a bit too high.”

-Kasumi takes the posters and heads to Esterwick via carriage. –

-3 days later. -

-Kasumi arrives at the gates of Esterwick at night. She hears the driver get into a conversation with one of the guards while 2 more check the back of the carriage and sees Kasumi and 5 other travelers. -

“Sir, there are more people in there that the driver stated.”

“Get them out.”

The bastard lied in front of the guards? What an idiot. Did he really believe he could get away with that?

-All the passengers exited the carriage and were told to stand on the walls while the guards searched their belongings. Kasumi eyed the guards who were carelessly handling her luggage and could only just be annoyed at the driver and the guards. Three other guards are talking to the driver. -

“Alright, this is how this is going to go: You can pay the toll for all these people, wasting our time and resources or….” The guard slowly turns to one of the passengers.

“Or…?” Asked the semi-panicked driver.

“Or you can hand that pretty girl there over and get free access here for 3 months. Take your time. We aren’t going anywhere now.”

-The driver turns to the passengers and knows exactly which one of the 3 females the guard is referring to. -

“She is a blacksmith’s daughter. I know the father well; she was sent here to look for some assistance--”

“We don’t give a damn what her reason for being here is, we guard this entrance day in and day out for you peasants. The least you could do is give us ‘fun’ while we are here.”

-The driver digs through his coin purse to check if he has enough for everyone but unfortunately falls short 5 gold pieces. He looks at the guards then back at Kasumi, regretting his decision. -

“I- I'll go tell her then.”

“Damn right you will.” Snorted one of the guards.

-He walks over to Kasumi and pulls her away from the group. -

“I ask you to please forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

“Wait. What’s going on?”

“They said I have to pay the toll for everyone or….” the driver lowers his head.

“Or…? What is it? They will arrest us?”

“No,” he raises his head and looks Kasumi in the eyes. “The second option is they want you to… entertain them.”

“What? No, no, no, no. How much money do you need to pay for us?”

“I’m short just five gold pieces.”

-Kasumi’s face turns gray as she knows she doesn’t even have close to a gold piece. She turns to look at the guards who had the looks of predators patiently waiting for the prey to walk into their den. -

“What if I said ‘no’ to them?”

“They might kill us or lock us up.”

“If I go, will everyone be able to go through?”

“I don’t know for certain, but I can only hope so.”

Kasumi sighs, “Fine. I’ll do it.”

“You sure?”

“I’m the only thing standing between imprisonment and a passage into this town. Just, don’t tell anyone about this. I’ll have to live with it.”

-Kasumi walks over to the guards with an annoyed look on her face. -

“Let's just get this over with. Also, make sure they get in town safely.”

“Who told you to give us orders?” Asked one of the guards.

“Well, I thought it would be beneficial for them since I was tasked by the king to get some supplies for his army as soon as possible. I mean if I was late, I’d have to explain in detail what the hold-up was. Which reminds me, what are your names?”

-The guards looked at each other, their primal lusts were overridden by the thought of consequences if word got to the king that they held up supplies because they wanted their cocks treated. -

“Uh… You know what? We just wanted to know what the reasons for everyone’s arrival were. You and the others can go through, just don’t cause any trouble.”

“I can only speak for myself and I can promise I won’t cause any trouble.”

-Kasumi walks to the driver and tells him that everything was taken care of and walks back to the wall where the passengers are. -

“Alright, you can enter Esterwick.”

“What did you do?” asked one of the passengers.

“Just told them I’m a blacksmith. Also, they said ‘don’t cause any trouble,’ but that’s up to you if you want to listen to them.”

-As Kasumi and the other passengers enter Esterwick, they see that the area looks more of a garrison than a guardhouse. Watchtowers looking at different directions with archers doing careful sweeps of the area before focusing on another direction, multiple barracks for the numerous guards that were stationed there, a mud arena in the middle for the soldiers to test themselves or to settle scores and a tall building that could be the command center or a really fancy barrack for the higher ranks.-

“You people do what you have to get done, the guards said we have 15 minutes to get whatever done and leave or they will arrest us,” the driver informed the party.

“But I thought we could walk around and they won’t bother us?” Asked the young male passenger

“They won’t for the 15 minutes we have, but if we don’t leave, we’re in serious trouble,” answered the driver.

“What if we’re in the arena when the 15 minutes are up?” Asked one of the females

“No excuses, guys. Just get your shit done and let's go.”

-Kasumi looks for the bounty board in the command center and is ‘greeted’ by a female commander. She looks to be in her mid to late 40s, with neck-length black hair, scarred face, and grey eyes.-

“What do you want? You better have a good reason for being here without notice.” She looks at the posters Kasumi has in her hand. “What, missing a cat? Hammer? Chisel? Or your frilly panties?”

-Ignoring her attitude, Kasumi hands some of the posters to the commander.-

“Can you please post those on your bounty board? They are much-needed supplies and I can’t carry all of them myself.”

“Tch. Don’t want to.”

“Then you can explain to the king why you chose not to help supply his army.”

“I’m not like the other pansies here. I’m not afraid of that pussy of a leader. So, if he wants to argue with me about why I won’t supply the army, tell him that he should get off his fucking ass and check on the garrisons he stationed here.”

She doesn’t like the king, either. Kinda glad I found someone with that similar hate, but I really don’t want my family to be terrorized by the soldiers anymore… Kasumi thought of a way to convince her to post them on the board for adventures who want an easy job that pays quick.

“Look, I just need this posted on your board and I’ll be on my way. I don’t want to do this for the king, but it’s either this or his army uses my father’s shop for whatever reason.”

“Fine but answer me this. How old are you?”

“Why?” Kasumi asked cautiously.

“Just a thought came to mind. There is a town called Irondell that has a master blacksmith looking for apprentices.”

“I appreciate the gesture, but why bring this up?”

“You just look like you want something better. Here’s the deal, I’ll post these papers up for you and you will check Irondell for that blacksmith. Who knows, maybe she’ll ask you to work for her while she trains you.”

-Kasumi thinks about the offer and looks at the commander’s face. She doesn’t sense an ulterior motive from her but is still worried as to why she’d bring it up so suddenly. She tells the guard her age, hands the papers to her and walks out the center.-

-As she exits, she sees the arena pit has new fighters. One of them looks like the traveling party from the carriage. She shakes her head and continues her way back to the carriage.-

“Hey, you made it back. How’d it go?”

“Well, she took the papers and will post them, but…”

“But?”

“She wants me to head to Irondell to find this blacksmith for training.”

“Ah, I know the blacksmith she is talking about.” The driver continued, “She knows different forms of smiting. Elven, human, draconic and orcish, to name a few. I’m surprised a guard knows about someone like her. Most of us hard-working folks are peasants to them. You want to head there after we get the others?”

“No, not tonight. Maybe another time. Got to make sure we can get these supplies to fund the king’s army, so he won’t terrorize my family.”

“You know he will still terrorize you no matter how much you kickstart his army, right?”

-Kasumi looks at the arena pit waiting for one of the rest of the group.-

“How much time do we have left?” she asked

“10 minutes. Around this time, I’d like to get moving.” The driver answered somewhat impatient.

“Pack up then.”

“Wait but it's not time yet.”

“I know, that’s why you will drive slowly out the gates so they know to hurry the hell up.”

-The driver helps Kasumi into the carriage and hops into the front and slowly moves towards the gates. The guards caught on to what he was doing and were watching the people in the fight pits to see if they would notice the carriage leaving them. As most of the carriage was out of the gates, one of the female combatants saw the carriage and scrambled to get to it before the guards locked them up.-

“Wait! We have 5 minutes! Just wait a bit.”

“I like to leave certain areas with extra time to spare, so either get in or find another way back.”

“Damn you!”

-The female yells for the others to get on board and rushes towards the carriage with the others just barely making it before the gates close on them.-

“You… were actually… going to leave… us?” the winded young man asked.

“Yes. As I said, I like to leave areas with extra time and this young lady has matters that cannot wait any longer.”

-The group looks at Kasumi who has her eyes focuses on the map trying to figure out where the tavern is in such a big town.-

“Hey, what are you doing with those papers?” asked one of the females.

“Looking for help with some materials,” Kasumi responded still not looking away from her map

“I can help you.” said the young passenger

-Kasumi looks up from her map and eyes the young man. He looks to be 18 years old, probably trying to assert some independence. She assumes he can lift a small amount of bronze but wants to know for sure.-

“Can you carry heavy items?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you carry them for an extended period of time?”

“Uh… How long are you talking?”

“2-4 hours, short breaks, if you had a carriage of your own, that would be an instant hire. I’d ask the driver here but, I’d have to pay extra.”

“I-I see.”

“Glad you do,” then looks back at her map and turns to the driver.

“Do you know where the tavern is in Seriwen?” She shows him the map.

-The driver looks at the map briefly and knows immediately where the tavern is. He points it out and Kasumi looks at the area, folds the map and takes a quick nap.-