Given that the army in front of the city of Carthage, did not seem to act in any manner against people passing to and out of the city, it was safe to assume that they were truly gathering there for a form of campaign. This would be a problem for whoever was their target and possibly even for the city of Carthage itself, should the army lose and be driven back to their homeland. Just because of this, it was necessary to pass through Carthage as soon as possible in order to avoid possible battle.
For exactly that reason I proposed a plan to pass through the city as inconspicuously as possible, to which Persephone and Medusa both agreed. I did not even have to fear Orthrus causing uproar, given his appearance, since it was possible to mask his appearance as a pair of horses. Yes, it was merely a decoy spell, an illusion cast over the massive frame of a two-headed dog. Luckily Orthrus was highly obedient, so as long as no one wanted to feed the horses a carrot, there would be no problems.
This illusion spell was already tested and proven to work, just brilliantly, since no troubles were encountered passing nearby different population centers. Even still, going to a city with high population densities an extra precaution was taken, in the form of me, Medusa, and Persephone surrounding Orthrus, in order to prevent someone unlucky, from colliding with the masked two-headed dog.
Alas, the faster we got through Carthage the better since the gathered army near the city was a sign of an upcoming unreasonable future.
"My lady we have been waiting for you, please follow me," said the soldier stepping politely in my way.
How could this man know about my presence, or that I was going into the city? Did the army have some form of "divine guidance" from one of the foreign god-pretenders? Was this somehow an international incident, without my knowledge? Either way, looking at my companions who were just as confused as me, I decided to play along and find out what the soldier, or whoever was their leader wanted from me. Better be safe, than accidentally anger some potentially unreasonable individual in a position of power.
"Lead the way," I answered and motioned to Medusa and Persephone to stick closer to me, should there be an ambush prepared for us.
Yet, rather than an ambush, a road opened up for me and my group as all the different soldried and armed men, were rushed to the sides to make a way. Although I was uncertain why, it was so, making such a commotion about my group's arrival, whoever was expecting my arrival, was one for theatrics. Which was annoying, as I was trying to keep a low profile.
Nevertheless, as I continued into the middle of the military camp, I heard several men saying something about a princess, probably thinking about either Medusa or Persephone as they both were inhumanly beautiful women. And I have to say, that the horses I masked Orthurs as were also quite pretty. But the comments on the looks of my companions were the last thing that bothered me. With each step taken, the possible escape route was closing behind my group. And if the need to tactically retreat, became a necessity, I doubted, my escape would be a clean job.
In the minutes following, I found myself in a luxuriously decorated tent, being presented to the man in purple robes, who I soon learned was the current king of the city of Carthage. I was expecting the unseen "divine" interventor, to appear any moment. But after a few short silent seconds, the king barrated the soldiers who led me and my group here, for not bringing his daughter, but rather a bunch of strangers.
A case of mistaken identity. But it never occurred to me that a purple ampechone could cause such a thing. It was nothing uncommon during my days as a merchant, back when I was still a human, many people wore purple-dyed clothes. My whole family and many people from the city of Colophon were wearing purple, so there was clearly nothing royal about the specific color. However given the passage of time, since then, this must have changed.
But given the king was in an emotionally compromise state, given his missing daughter, I had to take the flow of the conversation into my hands, in order to avoid being charged and sentenced as an imposter, for wearing the purple.
"There was no intention to cause any kind of commotion. My companions and I were just seeking a passage through the city, Your Highness. Hoping that it could be possible to hire a ship to ferry us on the island of Sicily," I explained, I explain in a noble tone of voice, well trained from the War Collage of my second life.
"Sadly that is not going to be possible, as my city has been taken over by monsters," the king said, slumping into his seat in a defeatist manner.
"Monsters? What kind of monsters?" I asked, wondering how the bustling city could have been possibly taken over.
The city did not look occupied, at least from the distance and the people were passing in and out of the city, as if nothing happened. But as the king started explaining, it was him, his family, and loyal servants who were forced out of the city of Carthage.
Which on its own would not be a problem for me, at least it would not if I and my companions were not surrounded by an army. And while it was doubtful, that any of them could meaningfully hurt any of us. The sheer numbers were just overwhelming and statistically speaking, there would be some unreachable individuals who might try to play hero. Moreover, out of my little group, I was the sole combatant, with Orthrus being able last line of defense for Medusa and Persephone.
But the current circumstance, was not so bleak as it might seem on a first look. Rather it was quite great in fact, since thanks to the mistaken identity I was able to gain an audience with the king of Carthage. And this situation if handled properly, could be to my advantage. After all, if the monsters were, to disappear, so to speak after being "heroically" defeated by me, since that was the way this world operated, larger-than-life heroes and all. Then who was to say, that a thankful king, would not gift a single ship to the hero? Moreover dealing with a few monsters would be easier and more realistic, than dealing with thousands of soldiers.
Therefore I proposed to the king that I would personally deal with the monsters occupying his city, for a little price of secure transport to the island of Sicily for me, my companions, and horses. He did look slightly doubtful, but there was no helping it since I had the appearance of an average woman. In the end, I managed to convince him after a bit of a back-and-forth.
And on my way to the city of Carthage, I was. The king was even so graceful as to send a few soldiers with me, in order to make my way undisrupted by curious people.
Entering the city, was in fact a very casual affair. There were no guards, since the king's retainers were outside of the city, making sure, that I was able to avoid crowds. Also, there was no toll to pay, I simply entered the city. Although having the entrance monetized for the foreign merchants would have been advantageous. Not only as a possible source of income for the city but also as a security measure, preventing unwanted elements from entering.
Looking around the daily life of people was going on without any concern, for the fact that some monsters did take over the city. Clearly, the inhabitants of Carthage must be highly adaptable people. And the monsters must be reasonable enough to keep the economy running. This was of course a good sign for me, as I could likely negotiate some kind of compromise, which would be beneficial for all parties involved.
Moreover doing a good job at negotiating peace, would lead to both parties having a positive view of my person. And gaining possible allies among the humans and monsters, in Africa, could eventually lead to the establishment of a trade of goods. Especially in case, this hypothetical trade route extended further to places, where coffee could be easily planted and grown. Certainly, calling it a Coffee route would not be out of place.