As Jamey laid on his mat, eyes closed, he listened to the soft breathing of his sleeping roommates. He exhaled deeply, finally, he could actually take his time to adjust to a wakened state. What time is it? Shigeo isn’t even awake. He got up quickly, afraid Shigeo had another way to wake him in mind. Ironically, no one in the room was awake, no komir in sight. Must be too early…Jamey thought as he laid back down, slightly wondering what woke him up before going back to sleep. This time he woke to Shigeo’s face atop his, a mischievous grin climbing further across his face. Jamey realized that his child-like acquaintance was holding a marker in hand. I know the first one asleep gets written on but that’s only at sleepovers.

“Good morning Jamey capybara,” Shigeo joked.

“Cabera,” he corrected, licking a thumb to clean off the marker that may have been written onto his face. Fortunately, his face was going through a marker ink shortage. As the komir rolled into the room, handing the two plates of food to the young men. This time it was eggs and this world’s bacon with two slices of toast each. Shigeo’s toast a little more on the burnt side.

“I wonder if our weapons are ready yet, I’m so excited to get mine. I had them make my nunchucks stun people, isn’t that kinda cool though?” Shigeo’s previous day’s demeanor returning.

“Yeah, I would like them to get me some packets of different types of bullets for different enemies,” Jamey answered, attempting to humor the excited male.

“I’m just excited to try mine out,” Shigeo said bluntly.

The two consumed their food casually, Shigeo finishing first as per normal, Jamey taking a few minutes longer. The komir rolling to and from the mouth of the cave as they tended to the small number of unconscious and weak people. Gale emerged from the brush, her tail calmly resting on her thighs.

“Oh Gale!” Shigeo called, “Are they ready yet, our weapons?”

“That is a great question, I was just about to invite y’all to come and check,” Gale answered. Shigeo excitedly jumped up, pulling Jamey up with him, Jamey shooting a look at him.

“Okay, we’re ready, let’s go!” Shigeo chirped eagerly. It was a good fifteen or so minutes of Shigeo’s child-like rambling about how he wanted the design to look like and how cool it would be.

Upon arriving, Sisdra hobbled over to give the two their newly forged weapons, trying to fix his messy hair but to no avail. “ ‘Dis one ‘ere has ‘da ability to stun enemies, ‘da power is controlled by ‘dis ‘ere gauge,” he explained lazily before handing Shigeo the nunchucks.

“‘Dis melee rifle can shoot all kinds a things, bullets, paintballs, ya’ name it,” Sisdra handed Jamey the sheathed gun, “ya’ can get some ammo in the marketplace somewhere.” Jamey attempted to attach the sheath to his pant waist but it simply kept hovering just a centimeter away from his waist. Shigeo simply fed an end of the nunchuck through a belt loop. The two nodded and walked back, passing through Losdon’s main marketplace/street.

“I want to see if there are any ammunition stores so I can get some stuff for my rifle,” Jamey stated.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Yeah I wanna get targets to try mine out!” Shigeo joined in.

“Alright, try the harbor behind town hall for that kind of stuff, maybe Weta and Ulfense are there. If they are tell them that you’re friends of Brutus and I so they give you a discount,” Gale waved them off, walking back to the cave.

The two cadets strolled about the street, Shigeo more of speed walking than walking. As they turned past the town hall, they had to double check that they were still beside the town hall. The harbor was bustling with people delivering and gathering imported and exported goods, some others selling by the walkways and behind the back of the town hall.

Shigeo casually strolled up to one of the exporters, “hey, do you know anyone named Weta and Ulfense that might be near here-”

“Dock 11a,” the exporter juked out Shigeo and ran off.

“Okay… dock eleven… Do you know where that is?” Shigeo turned to a Jamey that was processing the people levels.

“I dunno, try looking at the ship docking area for any numbers,” the distant Jamey suggested. Shigeo, doing so, looked at the nearest dock, on a sign nearby it said “Dock 9”.

“This way,” Shigeo spun on his heel to the right, Jamey walking unsociably behind. After arriving at the specified dock they came across two ships, both unloading and preparing things for not applicable reasons.

“Which one is which? My brain hurts…” Shigeo groaned.

“‘Kay, get that crate to Ravenforth, Honduras has been waiting for it since August,” the two heard a voice order.

“Weta! Get up and do something,” it barked at someone.

“I am doing something,” an almost careless voice replied.

“Yeah, killing my ears by tuning that stupid lyre!” The other quipped.

“First off, my music is amazing, and second off, shouldn’t you be finishing with the store set up?”

“That’s what I need help with idiotic son of a window dresser!”

“That’s not the best thing to say when there are customers nearby.”

“Ahem… Just get going…”

“Alrighty chief.”

Soon after, a young, Elven man walked down from the small bridge leading to the deck. “Sorry about the delay, come, right this way,” the Elf motioned them onto the deck where exported goods were organized into barrels, crates, and just about any other storage unit you could imagine on a ship. “We have almost anything you can think of from anywhere you can think of, foods, trinkets, ammo, you name it,” the man advertised.

“We’re looking for targets and some ammo for my bud’s rifle, uh…” Shigeo tried to think of a name.

“Ulfense, a pleasure,” the Elf took Shigeo’s hand and gave it a firm shake, “but targets you say? We have wooden archery targets, tatami targets, and punching dummies, all from the Western Varen.” Ulfense guided them to an assortment of targets.

“Uhm…” Jamey hesitated.

“Oh, forgot about your ammo delay, we have a wide expanse of bullets over by the ranged weapons if you want to have yourself a look,” the cool-gray Elf pointed in the direction, his almost blue-ish black hair seeming fluffier as a gentle breeze passed. Jamey disperse from the elf and cadet to browse the ammunition section.

“Could I test the targets so I can find out which exact ones I want?” Shigeo inquired.

“Why of course,” Ulfense led Shigeo deeper into the yard sale-esque shop. On the ship’s deck was a stall in the middle of the miscellaneous assortment, a clear pathway leading to it. Another young man who gave off a careless air as he walked from the cargo hold, a lute strung across his shoulder. As he laid casually onto a chaise he started to play a semi-familiar tune that the two cadets had its name on the tips of their fingers.