Chapter 84 – Glimmers of Gold
The wide cobblestone street was thick with movement—merchants shouting, wheels creaking, animals neighing. Families bundled what they could carry and hurried toward wagons, fear plain on their faces.
Yet not all shared that fear. Amid the fleeing crowd, opportunistic merchants hawked their wares with louder voices than ever—selling arrows, armor, rations, and charms at prices inflated threefold. Some smiled like wolves fattening off desperation. Adventurers lingered near these stalls, some with arrogant smirks, boasting loudly of the glory they would earn in the tide. Others wore quiet, grim expressions, weapons already strapped and ready, determined to gamble their lives for a chance at riches or recognition.
The city lived in two halves—panic and profit, fear and bravado—clashing together in the same crowded streets.
For most adventurers, entering the city after such a trek was relief incarnate. For Veyron, it was nothing but an afterthought.
