Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo Read Free

them next time, when we save up more zecs."

"Ah! I could cover the remainder of the price for you. How much more do you need?" he asked Sympa.

"Let me check." Sympa quickly got out her zecs and said, "We only have 162,000 zecs. So just a little over a hundred thousand, I guess?"

"Oh, I got that much." said Ichaival, but as he was about to reach into his bag, Sharanga stepped in and stopped his hand.

"Hello, Billig." she said calmly.

"Oh, Miss Sharanga. A pleasure to see you, as always."

"I'm sure." she replied with a smile, "So, how much are these composite bows again?"

"Well, I'm selling them for 10,000 zecs each." replied Billig with a nervous smile.

"Hm. That's odd. Three weeks ago, you were dying to get rid of some composite bows, and you sold them to the Bowed Fishermen for only 4,000 zecs each." said Sharanga pleasantly, "Now, you're not trying to con these good Archers, are you?"

"Me? Of course not, Miss Sharanga." said Billig and shook his head furiously. He then displayed the bows in front of her. "You see, these particular composite bows, that the girl there is interested in, have somewhat unique features." he said smoothly and kept moving the bow about, never allowing Sharanga to inspect it carefully. "But, seeing as they can't afford these special bows, I think I might have some left over from three weeks ago." Billig speedily took the composite bows on display and stowed them into his cart. He then appeared to be rummaging through some things inside of it before taking out the same exact bows. "Ah, yes, these ones should be 4,000 zecs each."

Billig then placed twenty-seven composite bows in front of Sympa and she paid him the exact amount. She then bowed to the Gnome Merchant and said, "Thank you so much for these, Mister Billig." Right afterwards, she turned to Ichaival and hugged him. "My friends will be so happy with these. Thank you so much, Ichaival." she said and kissed him on the cheek.

Sympa then bowed to Sharanga and walked away with the bows. Billig also swiftly took his leave and carried his wares elsewhere.

With her arms crossed, Sharanga said to Ichaival, "Nice girl. So that's the leader of the Archers you organised in Banal, huh?"

"Yeah. They're still rough around the edges, but they're hard workers." answered Ichaival proudly, "By the way, thanks for helping me out there."

"Sure. I thought I should help, since you looked really concerned with her." she said in an irritated voice, "Although, I don’t see why she kissed you; I was the one who helped with the price."

"Why, Sharanga, if I didn't know any better, I would think you're jealous." said Ichaival teasingly.

Sharanga swiftly got out her five-trap system and threatened him with it. Ichaival reflexively covered his head with his arms and prepared for the worst. Seconds passed and nothing happened. He looked up, only to see Sharanga walking away.
 
    * * * * * * 
    Sierra and the members chosen for the strike force spent the next three days training inside a forest patch near Verbrannt. The sycamore trees there were well-spaced and resembled the forest near Braucht Hilfe village. The core members of the guild were each designated to lead specific teams, although there were some exceptions: Espion was sent to the forest patch near Braucht Hilfe in advance, while Thyrsus and Vijaya were left in charge of Verbrannt due to their long-range scouting abilities which proved useful in detecting potential attacks.

Their specific teams were as follows:
    Adder : Balance
=> 21 Condortlian Warriors & 30 Centaur Rangers
Sharanga : Illusion
=> 220 Bowed Fishermen (Mounted)
Ichaival : Strafe
=> 100 Bowed Fishermen & 27 Banalite Archers
Stark/Rasant/Weise : Bulwark
=> 120 Iron Knights
Jinggu/Sharur : Gate
=> 400 Armored Farmers
Ledur : Mutilate
=> 96 Tikbalangs
Sierra : Slaughter
=> 52 Werewolves
    Strafe, Ichaival's team, was trained to scale the sycamore trees quickly. Their posts were well-spread—only eight to