Used road

To call this road the main road would be giving it too much credit but the deep tracks left by wheels in the mud indicates that this is the one taken by farmers from the villages lost in the forest to sell their crops in the capital.

It will be safer for me to take this road, the traffic and the patrols of guards will keep most trouble away. I grew used to the nice paved streets of the city and my boots are quickly covered in a thick layer of mud, they would have lasted me months in the city but I begin to fear that they won't even survive the trip.

Gnash is following me, unfazed by the mud or the boredom that such long walk is bringing me.

A boredom that comes to an end when I hear screams right after the next turn of the road. Multiple voices, 3 maybe 4 men and a girl.

"We got you thief! You corals scum don't belong here thieving from honest imperial. " shout a deep voice.

"Yeah now give us the jewellery you stole, there's only one place we didn't look in and I don't mind looking myself." adds another male voice by a lot more high pitched.

"Please, I'm no thief. I am just a traveller. I hurt your friend because he grabbed me, I thought he was the one robbing me. " replies a girl's voice.

I pass the turn of the road and see 3 men wearing leather pants, green and yellow striped shirts and caps with a feather, each with a cudgel on their belt. Local militia men patrolling the road.

" I'm gonna get a piece of that ass before she hangs, the bitch sliced my face. " tells the third man, holding a bloody rag on his left eye.

Kneeling on the ground I spot a naked girl her hands shackled behind her back. She has the golden tanned skin of the islanders of the Coral principalities. The people from those pirate states get a bad reputation as thieves a stereotype that is widely spread. There is a large bruise on the right side of her face and part of her naked body is covered by mud.

The guards are rummaging through her clothes and bags to find something, probably the jewel they talked about.

I have no particular interest in the situation. Sure the girl is pretty, the guards are jerks and there is a jewel in play but is it worth it to get in more trouble?