>>5925337It’s now later in the day and you’re hanging out in the village’s foreign quarter. Not ‘foreign’ in the sense that people from other cultures actually live here, but foreign in the sense that this is generally where merchants who aren’t officially affiliated with the village stay temporarily.
It doesn’t take you long before you see a blonde boy standing next to a row of carts, brushing a donkey. You approach him.
“Akimitsu.” You state flatly, still disliking this guy somewhat for reasons you don’t fully understand “I have questions.”
With a startled jump, the boy sheepishly turns to you, smiling lightly. “Y-yes, Otomo?”
“What, exactly, is the purpose of this caravan?”
“We’ll be dropping off finished goods from the village artisans along our way and at Takefu village. From Takefu, we’ll be picking up quality ores and other mined goods, some rough gems if we’re lucky. It’s near the Land of Iron, and it’s called the Land of Iron for good reason.”
“Why are you expecting problems from the Lords of Fire?”
“Do we need a reason to be concerned about bandits?” He says. He seems to be telling the truth, as far as he knows it.
“Alright… How flexible is your route? If we need to-”
“The routes are not flexible.” He says, cutting you off “Not flexible at all. We have specific contracts that need to be filled along the way. We can’t miss them.”
“But you just said you didn’t know precisely what you were picking up from Takefu? And you’ve been in the village for a month!”
“I do know precisely what we’re picking up: Iron ore. We just hope there’s something more once we get there. And I also know precisely what we’re dropping off at each step of the journey. We’re under contract. We have to meet our quotas.”
“Okay. What are we dropping off?”
“At the Sunlight Inn Town, we’re dropping off spun goods. Clothes, carpets, and also processed foodstuffs now that you mention it. From there, we need to go to the Fire Temple. They’re expecting, again, processed foodstuffs as well as pottery and assortments of herbs. They burn a lot of incense there. After that, Takefu.”
“So, what you mean to say is that, so long as we make those three stops, your route IS flexible?”
“Well… Not flexible in the sense that we want to be late. I suppose we could take a detour if it were absolutely necessary, but we’d probably have to make concessions. It’s the food in particular that’s time sensitive. If we’re late, and mind you, we’re already late, they won’t starve, but it won’t be as fresh, they’ll be upset, and we’ll need to cut them some discounts to keep their business. We’re already late enough because the Hokage made us wait to cut the escort contract.”
It’s weird to hear someone complain about the will of the Hokage like it’s an annoyance.
