The Courtesan

Chapter 74

“Are you sure you want to do this, my lady?”

“Lion, I have already made my decision”

“That place is no place for a woman!”

“You’re a very kind man.”

“Ahh… Please send for me if anything goes wrong. Please, my lady.”

“Goodbye Lion.”

I snapped the reins and kicked the side of the horse to get moving. With a recommendation from Lion, a fake identity document, I was set to enter the troops of the church. I had also taken more drastic actions that Kalvin wouldn’t like so I left before he could notice.

I made Tyler decipher a map for me so I could get the exact route. I was going to apply in a town close to the Capital known as Rhonda. Rhonda was known as the holy city because it was inhabited by the Saintess and heavily protected. It was the prime location, really.

It was a two day journey, even by horse. I started out early so I would reach a town before night. My thoughts were a mess as I rode and the fear of the unknown made my heartbeat thunder in my ears, roaring over the sounds of the horse riding.

I took a step that was difficult for most women; I cut my hair. There were barely any signs of my long white hair when I shaved it close to the roots and dyed it once again. This time, they were a deep red color. I was used to disguising my body so it wasn’t hard to turn into a young hot blooded man.

I rode for the whole day and stopped at a small town. I settled into the first inn I saw and after giving my horse off to be taken care of, I entered the hot, noisy inn. It was filled with a majority of men, howling and laughing with beers in hand. It was a rowdy scene and I was itching to be away from it.

I walked up to the counter and asked the bar boy for a room. After paying for a room, I was asked to wait till one was prepared for me. I took a drink and sat by the counter.

“Ello there boy.”

A red faced middle aged man swaggered up to me with a half drunk cup. He looked like he could fall at any moment so I avoided the hand he reached up to my shoulder.

“Me and my friends over there were just arguing about your gender. You look too pretty to be a man.”

“Ah, I hear that a lot. I take after my mother.”

“She must’ve been quite the looker.”

“She was still very beautiful before she died.”

“Aw, that's real sad. Why don’t you come join us, eh? Drink with the real men to become one? I’m sure your mama would’ve wanted that too.”

“Ah, no thanks. I am a little tired from riding all day.”

“Aw, don’t be shy now…”

He reached for my arm again and I couldn’t avoid it. His beefy arms pressed against me with a heavy force, making me unable to break away.

How very troublesome.

“Mister, I said I was tired.”

“Aw come on. We’ll even pay for your drinks.”

I returned the smile he gave to me. I reached for the dagger hidden in my sleeve and in one swift motion, pinned the man to the table with the dagger to his temple.

“I. said. I. was. Tired.”

He trembled, too shocked to do anything but. His friends stood up and crowded me.

“Oi boy, that’s rude. Let the man go.”

“I would, if he would stop bothering me.”

“What’s wrong with a little fun?”

“I am not interested. Take your friend and go.”

I threw him to them and sat to continue my drink. Not too long after, I felt a nagging sensation of danger and raised my dagger to reciprocate. It hit a curved knife and rattled my arm from the force. They all sneered as the man who attacked was bigger than the rest. I sighed.

Can’t I catch a break around here?

I took a defensive pose and kept a second hidden weapon on standy. He rushed at me in a stupor, slashing the knife over a wide area. I took a low crouch, aiming for his legs. Disabling them both, I brought him to his knees and knocked him out with my elbow.

I was really grateful for Lion's teachings about fighting large people and a large number of people. It came in handy as I steadily dispatched my opponents while receiving scratches on my own. They came from bumping into the furniture as I avoided the drunk men.

Eventually, I had my own pile of unconscious men. At that time, my room was ready. The whole bar went silent as I took the keys and went up to my room. I liked the silence and my body ached so I couldn’t wait to sleep.

Before that, I set up a little trap at the door and window. When I was satisfied, I finally went to bed. Just before I fell asleep, I finally remembered what Kalvin said to me about the army of Casella and Kron. they conquered Turia. I wasn’t expecting that.

I wonder how Kron is doing? I want to go for Geraldine’s wedding.

I fell asleep soon. Morning came too soon and I rose before the c***s crowed. I wasn’t attacked during the night so I was thankful for that. I packed up my things and left to get my horse to continue my journey.

I stopped over at another town for brunch and supplies for both me and my horse. I also listened in for information. I just happened to walk in at the time of worship so I managed to hear the opinion of a lot of people about the church and I was pleasantly surprised.

As it turned out, not a lot of people liked the church. In other towns, people expressed their discontent verbally. The day of worship in a particular town, Ivrah, was disrupted by the people who came out to protest against the lynching of many women and children by the people of the church.

Seeing this, I enjoyed the show from afar and even sent a letter to Lion and Tyler. When the protest slowly escalated into a full blown brawl, I left to continue my journey.

At last, I drew closer to Rhonda. I arrived in the late evening and still felt the striking difference between the last city and Rhonda. It truly deserved the name of the city that glowed like diamond.

After admiring it for a while, I decided to find an inn. I was unsurprised to find out that the price of the inn was much more than that of the last town I settled in. I paid for a standard room and wanted to not worry about my safety. Alas, I was a lone traveller in a strange land. I set up a trap as usual and this time, I caught a stray.

In the middle of the night, I jolted awake to find someone tangled in my trap. When I went up to see who it was, I found a child in my trap.

“Oi! Get me out of this thing!”

“What’s the punishment for this in Rhonda?”

“Like I'd tell you!”

“They really seem to like lynching so I guess that’d be it. Or I could hand you over and see how it goes.”

“Wait! Don’t do that!”

“Tell me why you’re here.”

“Some guys were looking around for you and set a bounty on your head. I was tracking you down since you look exactly like they described.”

“What a troublesome bunch,” I murmured, sighing.

“And where are they now?”

“Outskirts of the city.”

“Let’s go pay them a little visit, shall we?”