Lowly Ascent

Cain was sitting in the carriage, Anders was driving to the end of camp to meet up with the rest of their team.

"Hey, Captain!"

Daniel was waving to the carriage. He looked excited. He was standing in front of the carriage door when it suddenly stopped.

Cain got out and took out a map to go over their route to the Barch.

"Alright, we can't go through here and here, the fastest route while also having the least suspicion would be to go through here"

Cain pointed to a town close to Free City, it was a ways north of the city and south of their position.

It was one of the only towns left that was safe for traders to move through, it could be said to be the new Yoen since the original Yoen's destruction.

"We'll do whatever you say captain, but are you sure you want to bring your apprentice? He isn't even an augmenter!"

"I already fixed that problem, all he needs is experience and he could be stronger than all of you"

They all looked at him in disbelief, thinking Cain was just gloating. The truth would say otherwise as Anders was quite literally stronger than all of them except Mark and he would only get stronger as time progressed.

"Alright enough of that, Sarah your with Anders on the lookout, rest of you can get in the carriage. We will switch when it comes to resting, Anders and Sarah sleep in the carriage while we make camp and sleep in the sleeping bags"

"Captain, I can be on the lookout, I wanna sleep in the carriage!"

Daniel was trying his best to convince Cain, he was even attempting to have puppy eyes, but him concentrating so hard, he made his veins bulge which made him look like the boogeyman.

"You're not a good lookout, if anything attacked we would never know. So no"

"Captaaaaaiiiiinnn!"

Cain just ignored him and got back in the carriage. Once Daniel got in with the rest, he immediately stopped his moping and exhaled in relaxation, taking a nap.

Most of the trip was quiet, the group would travel until night when they would make camp and sleep until morning, they repeated this process for 3 days until they reached their destination.

The town they had to pass through had caravans and carriages entering and exiting.

It looked even more bustling than Yoen, the cause of this would be war, after all, war makes the most money.

Cain switched spots with Sarah as they neared the town, it would be better if he was the one to interact with others. He was the only one wearing remotely scholarly clothes.

Specifically, these clothes were the same ones he wore in Yoen that night.

"Reason for travel?"

A constable stood in front of the path entering the city, he had a notebook he would jot in every once in a while.

"We're making our way to Barch, this was the only route that was the safest"

"10 copper to enter.....thank you, enjoy your travels"

Cain handed the amount needed to enter and had Anders direct the carriage to an inn. They rode up to a building that looked like a Greek god's temple.

It had a small fountain on either side and was 4 stories high. 

The sign board read: Ornate Palace. Inside was a beautiful interior with white detailed walls and marble floors.

Cain's group looked like bumkins other than Cain, Anders, and Michael who were wearing decent clothes.

"Hello, welcome to Ornate Palace! We are a chain of inns stationed in locations where wealthy people such as you might travel. I am Phoebe, the owner of this inn"

Phoebe bowed, she was wearing silk clothes that didn't cover much. She was beautiful with hazel hair and green eyes.

"Hello, we would like 6 standard rooms please."

"Of course! It would be 60 silver a night for all of you, we will take care of your carriage and you can come down in the morning for breakfast. I can also take your orders now for dinner if you would like."

The bumkins were stunned by such a price. Anders even whispered in Cain's ear, "Master, it's expensive here, can't we go somewhere else?"

"It's fine, this is the only place a high-quality carriage such as ours would look normal and not cause suspicion," Cain whispered back.

Cain took out 60 silvers and handed them to Phoebe "I would like lamb with something refreshing"

"Of course, follow me to your rooms, I will bring up your food shortly."

The rest of the group ordered their food and entered their separate rooms. The rooms were luxurious, they had different colored walls for different themes with the floors still made of marble, there was a living room, bedroom, and bathroom in each room, and these were only the standard rooms!

After a little while, Cain was interrupted in his research by a knock at the door. It was Phoebe with his food.

"Thank you. I would like to ask how such a building was built so quickly, this location only became popular recently due to the trading craze a few weeks ago. How did you build this building so fast?"

"Oh? No one has asked that. Well, our founder has a lot of connections so it was quite easy....what I should be surprised about is why a Grade 3 Plague Doctor from Free City joined the military and lied about his grade. Quite mysterious, don't you think?"

Cain's face grew solemn, yet he responded calmly. 

"Who are you people, I would guess you deal in information since you know a bit about me"

"Well that's not all I know; Cain, no last name, the disciple of the late Crazed Alchemist, fiancé to Luna Luminous, entered the Union Headquarters and is suspected of robbing the Union's vault, destroying everything inside. The last known location is the main Puffrid camp of the central front."

'Damn it.'

"What do you want?"

Phoebe got closer, she pressed herself against Cain before speaking coquettishly once more.

"Well, I want to know why such a person is traveling around and joining wars. You are highly suspicious, passing through Yoen before its destruction and also the suspected culprit of 2 missing teams that went to explore Free City of the same nation you now serve. I believe you're hiding something, I would like you to tell me."

Phoebe pressed herself against Cain harder. Cain felt something was wrong and realized this when he felt small pink-like particles coming off Phoebe through his bacterial sense. He quickly grabbed her by the throat and raised her above the ground!

"Your Grade 2! Enough of the seduction, tell me one reason not to kill you!"

"H-How did you k-know?! Let me down I-I s-surrender!"

Cain released his grasp.

"Now speak!"

Cain quickly learned that Phoebe was part of an information-gathering organization, they were relatively small in the sense they only catered to the rich.

Phoebe was interested in Cain because of the information that landed on her desk, she was the head of the central front branch so all suspicious information was brought to be filtered through her.

This organization didn't only do spying and information selling, but they also controlled a good portion of the black market related to plague doctors and augmenters alike.

For her transgression, Phebe said she would give him anything he wished, of course, she hinted at her body the whole time and tried to cozy up to Cain.

He ignored her advances and requested a bacteria that strengthens the muscles and reinforces the muscle fibers on a microscopic level.

Such bacteria were considered rare. 

Cain planned to turn it into a virus and mix it into the serum he was making for Unbending Dread when it was completed.

The one thing that wasn't protected by Unbending Dread was the muscles, they were left as normal and would slowly rot.

Phoebe collected herself. Her demeanor once again was befitting a Branch Head.

"I will get the branch in Barch to acquire the bacteria, that's where you're heading right? You can access our information and networks there.

"I will make you a client in our system, though you have to pay for everything yourself, you can also sell information as well. Maybe even sell your own information."

Cain opened the door and made a gesture for Phoebe to leave

"Stop asking questions, also how much would it take for you to destroy the information you have on me?"

Phoebe walked out into the hall "Why would I do that? That would be against my organization's rules."

She quickly began to speak again when Cain showed bloodlust to her response "W-Well... it's not like it hasn't happened before.....100 silvers!"

Cain quickly gave her the money and slammed the door, he sighed and just went to bed, too much had happened for him to want to continue his research and his food was already cold.

...

Heading downstairs to the dining area, Cain saw his team already up. They were conversing with Phoebe and eating breakfast.

"So your Captain is usually serious and the only time you've seen him otherwise was when he was drunk? Oh my!"

"Yeah haha, I gave him the good stuff and he could only last around 5 glasses hehe!"

'Damn it' Cain witnessed Daniels talking to Phoebe, he was scratching his head while blushing like an idiot.

"Stop saying things like that Daniel, unless you want a beating"

"Yes sir!"

Daniel was startled and stopped talking once he noticed his boss. He began to scuff down his food and he inhaled it at an incredible speed!

"We leave in an hour, get your things ready, we got 4 days of travel before reaching Barch, it's far from the battlefield and we don't have a lot of time"

.......

After 4 days of traveling, a group of 6 saw a massive city in the distance, black smoke was continually spewed out, and its walls were made of red bricks reinforced with iron.

The city looked grand and appeared to be one big factory.

Even farther still, they could see a massive mansion on a hill standing above it all, overlooking the city of steel.