The first look out was a family man wearing the crest of the guards from the black market, an easy mark to find and an easier mark to startle. Saturn held him off the side of a building, dangling a score of feet up. Listening to the man prattle on and on about what would happen to saturn if the other wasn’t allowed to do his job without interruption. The demi-god motioned at where the black market was.

”I just came from there. So tell me where the next look out is and we can move on from this. And you can keep doing your job.”

The man stammered as he realized his threats fell on deaf ears and told saturn the location of the next look out. An easy mark to miss if you didn’t know where to look. Saturn cocked his head to one side and put the man back down. Hopping off of the roof with a grunt as his legs took the brunt of the fall. Echo had been quiet this whole time; his nervousness easily seeping into saturn’s mind. He’d rub the top of the little guys head and the mindrache let out a sigh.

”That easy to read?”

”It’s definitely gotten worse since the warehouse. Don’t worry, echo we’ll get them.”

Saturn and his companion would head to the next lookout which turned out to be a street urchin. The two would share a locked gaze for a few moments and the child would sigh before motioning up at saturn. Squatting down they’d converse for a little bit. The kid only wanted a place to eat and sleep and that was why he was doing this. Feeling bad about this entire situation for him he’d hand him a pouch full of jewels and mention that there was plenty of work to be had at the rune knight headquarters. He could even work under saturn if he liked. Brightening at that idea the kid nodded a few dozen times before telling him what he needed to know. Saturn was glad to know he didn’t have to resort to violence this time. He’d pat the top of the kids head and head out as they made their way towards the headquarters. He was going to have a large amount of people to take care of later and that was fine.

It made him think about what he wanted to do in sin, maybe he should consider bringing them there away from the woes here in fiore. He’d continue along until he ran into the next lookout; a demi-human bat with a blindfold on. They’d pause and then shudder at seeing the size of the demi-god. Their voice was raspy and almost garbled but saturn was able to make out most of it.

”You’re the shape that took out the black market not too long ago. What do you want?”

”The caravan.”

The demi-human froze and ‘stared’ up at the knight. There was a distinct clicking of teeth and he’d toss a roll of parchment at the demi-god. It was a list of payments the demi-human was getting for this job and the demi-god let out a soft tut as he noted some things that helped with eyesight. The demi-human was bartering for the information. Quaint.

”I know a few alchemists that can help. Even more so if you go to the headquarters.”

”I have your word I won’t be hurt?”

”If you agree to work for me in the future yes.”

”...Deal. What do you need?”

”Where’s the next lookout. Or better yet where is the caravan heading?”

The demi-human squatted down, pulling out some parchment and carefully scribbling a crude map for Saturn to follow. It was actually starting to get surprisingly detailed the longer that the demi-god gave him. Looking it over it wasn’t long until it clicked where he had to go from here to get to that caravan.

”All right. I know where to go from that, but I better take care of the rest of the look outs from here.”

The bat demi-human nodded and put the map away. Heading out to the headquarters. A group of people all wanting to work for him wasn’t a bad thing and saturn did need more eyes on the streets. He wanted to help as many people as he could so he’d have to use this as some kind of resource long term. It wasn’t long until he found the next look out, right on time and this time it wasn’t someone that was going to just turn their information over. A dagger or two thrown his way knocked out of the air by his hands or echo’s little stubby tail. The look out had to run off into the night as they weren’t a match for a knight of any caliber he reckoned. It was a strange concept to him if he was being honest.

Further down the line there were a few more lookouts; some that were hostile outright and others that fled into the night from him. About thirty in total. Just how many people did this caravan have to do both guarding and look out duty? It was impressive to the point where saturn felt that he was stumbling onto a operation that had a very sizeable amount of jewels poured into it.

It was startling to say the least. He’d normally be a bit reserved about approaching something this well operated and something that had been going on for so long but echo’s family was in the middle of all of it and it wasn’t fair to him that they were like this nor was it fair to anyone else that they bought that they’d remain in chains. He’d have to figure out what they were doing with all the people they were buying because it couldn’t just be echo’s family that they had taken.

The amount of darkness and distance between the last lookout and this one was something that made him a little nervous to say the least. But it was when they were attacked in the middle of it that he figured that they had lain a trap. The weapons bounced off of his armor like lengths of straw and the people that attacked him directly were not having a good time of it. His spear was powerful enough to knock them out in one swing, sometimes two or more with it. Eventually there was just the one look out left and their garbled rambling wasn’t exactly being helpful; but he was able to wrestle the next location from them.

It felt like they were going in circles and he wasn’t sure what to make of that. But with how things were it was only a matter of time and bodies until he was able to see the lines of torches in the distance. It seemed that the caravan had settled in for the night. Leaving their horizons to the various look outs, guards and other factors that they’d be safe. Saturn wasn’t sure what to make of that; they had to know about the attack on the black market right? Or perhaps they didn’t have any resources current there for that very instance.

Saturn stood there for a short few moments mulling over his options…

[1220/1200]