I Only Summon Villainesses

Chapter 289: You Should Have Warned Me Sooner!!!

Cressida and I set out for El Mercado Eterno, what she had described as the second most important and overcrowded city in Recimiras.

Funny thing was, I hadn’t attributed crowds to Recimiras at all. That was perhaps due to the particular location where we’d nested ourselves. This was Los Arcos, after all, a place inhabited by people who had attachment and sentimentalism to it rather than any real reason to be there. It was not a hub of activity. Never had been.

And that was one of the reasons the Black Snow Company was always falling into decline whenever another organization rose up and proved themselves. The Manhattan Trade Center, for example, had existed in La Frontera, the outer ring of the free country, where merchants were constantly arriving from Ashara or the center of Solarium. Fresh blood, fresh coin, fresh opportunity. Los Arcos had none of that.

But the thing about these organizations was that their nature laid in trust. There were people willing to travel thousands of miles to commission a job from the Black Snow Company because they knew it was going to be a certain success.

And that was what we had achieved and gained from tearing Manhattan to the ground. Granted, that act had been committed by a single lady. But no one needed to know that part now.

’I mean, look at me. I’m traveling all this way for one Blacksmith. It’s the same thing.’

Beside me, there was an offensive crackling sound tearing into the warm interior of the carriage. Cressida. Eating again.

The carriage itself was warmly put together, I’ll give it that much. Anything less would have warranted that I smashed the chauffeur’s head to the ground because the money he charged for this ride was outrageous.

’I’d pay a ground knight in Aetheris with that amount of money!’ I ruminated about it, letting the irritation simmer.

And here she was, tearing through snacks, dirtying the floor, crumbs scattering everywhere. She couldn’t even contribute ten silvers!

’But she had the money to buy snacks! Even had to stop the carriage for it.’

I inhaled and exhaled, trying my best not to get angry. I knew what my problem was and it had started from the morning.

As they say, once your morning goes wrong, it is entirely possible for you to carry the whole rotten energy of it and dump it on the rest of the day.

Although Cressida was annoying in her own way, she didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. At least within her sphere of character.

I folded my arms and leaned back, looking out of the window while the carriage rolled forward and threw the scenery backwards.

Eventually, at some point, I must’ve drifted off. And when I woke up again, the scenery outside had changed completely.

Los Arcos was somewhat dark. Many of the buildings there were aged, and although you would pass a few that were resplendent and vibrant, they were rare exceptions. This scenery, however, was different.

The vibrancy was astonishing, radiating through every corner of the city. The floors were tiled in something almost white, and every facet of the streets was clean, not particularly dirty despite the sheer volume of people moving through them. I leaned closer to the window.

’How much did they spend on infrastructure alone?’

Many people walked along the sides of the road, and many more rode on bestial creatures. There was a six-legged one with a neck so long I couldn’t even see the head from the carriage window. It carried a bulk of loads strapped across its back, and the person controlling it sat perched on top of them, unbothered.

There was another creature that looked like some kind of enormous bird, overflowing with feathers in a pattern that combined sea blue, forest green, and a hint of yellow here and there. I would have stared longer, but more carriages were moving along the same road, blocking the view.

I also caught glimpses of men who wore silver helmets with pale-blue plumes and tabards of the same color. They carried spears and were scattered across the city in twos and threes. Some were talking to merchants, some to store owners, and some were approaching people in the crowd. Guards, clearly. Or something close to it.

None of them reached us before the carriage came to a halt.

Cressida’s head lunged forward at the stop, about to crack against the small table between us, but I caught it in time. Her eyes swung open instantly, and she wiped the drool from her mouth with the back of her hand.

She chuckled, as if that could take away anything.

"Hehehe... have we arrived?"

I looked at her. "I mean... you tell me?"

She opened the blue curtain on her side and peered through it, then crossed over me to check my window, and finally grabbed her large bag.

"We’re here! Let’s go!"

She kicked the door open and jumped down.

"Hey! Are you going to ruin my carriage door for the measly seventy silver talents you paid?"

’Measly?’

"If it’s so measly, I wonder why you drove over four hundred kilometers for that same amount!" I shouted back at him and slammed his carriage door shut before following Cressida.

I was not on Cressida’s side. But that man definitely did not just call my seventy coins measly.

Cressida threw a dark gaze at the chauffeur and turned forward, leading us toward the destination.

She spoke as we wove through the throng of people beneath the harsh heat of the sun.

"You have to be careful not to lose sight of me, and guard your pockets well. People here can be very crafty. You wouldn’t even see it coming."

As she was speaking, my hand went to my clothes. Just to be sure that my money was where it ought to be.

My heart dropped into my stomach.

The bulge I usually felt when pressing my hand across my body wasn’t there. I pressed again. Nothing.

I stopped in the middle of the moving crowd.

Cressida stopped too and turned back to me.

"What is wrong?"

I stared at her with my eyes wide open.

"Hey... you should have told me that sooner."