Chapter 114: The City Lord Played Him?
The streets of Galdreth were far livelier than Cassian had expected. The entire market was bustling with the activities of different people. The street was filled with merchants and shops selling various goods. If people did not know that there was nothing important today, they might believe that today was some sort of special occasion just by looking at the city’s bustling state.
Cassian narrowed his eyes as he walked past a group of traders haggling over a cart full of weapons. The city lord had said Galdreth’s population had nearly vanished. Yet the roads were filled with people, and business was thriving.
"How strange," he muttered.
"What is?" Keren asked, walking beside him.
Cassian’s eyes wandered through the street before settling on Keren, who was eyeing him with curiosity. "The city lord said that almost half of the population of Galdreth has died. Then where did this crowd come from? Don’t you find it very strange?" He asked Keren with doubt, but the thing was, he did not know whom to doubt—the newly appointed city lord or his own eyes.
Keren did not reply immediately but also started looking at the crowd with more interest and an inquiring gaze. He was also very surprised by the sheer number of people roaming the streets of Galdreth, behaving as if everything was completely normal and no impending doom was looming overhead. That only made it more suspicious. Something was terribly wrong in the city. Either it was the people here, or the city itself was wrong.
But something suddenly clicked in Keren’s mind, and everything became as clear as spring water. He said in a calm voice, "Look closely... something is different."
"What is it?" Cassian asked. He was still deep in thought, doubting that maybe the city lord had played him really badly.
"Look closely... it’s them. Their clothes are different, and if you observe them closely, they do not seem to be natives of Galdreth at all. Looking deeper, every other person looks like they belong to a different region," Keren repeated his words to make it clearer to Cassian.