Author's Note. How will Seri's town visit go? Well, you have to read on to find out. Don't expect spoilers here. Enjoy the chapter.
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Chapter 4
After pushing myself at maximum speed for an hour, I finally forced myself to take a break. According to my map, I had cleared ninety kilometers in that time, so I felt comfortable that I had left those wolves behind.
The main reason for taking a break wasn’t because of physical exhaustion, but because I was suffering the backlash from using Sensory Hijack on over a hundred targets. Sensory Hijack was a powerful psi ability that I had developed primarily for sneaking around, but it rapidly fell in usefulness the higher level or the more intelligent the target was. Of course, beings that know how to use psi themselves provided an added challenge to getting the ability to work. The wolves had been both low level and simple beasts, but the sheer number that I had influenced in one go had been extremely draining of my psionic energy. As a result, I had a pounding headache and accompanying dizzy feeling that I knew wouldn’t go away for probably another hour.
I took a thermos filled with ice water out of my bag, and took a long drink to refresh myself. As I drank, I finally took the time to examine my surroundings. While I had been rushing I hadn’t paid much attention, except to keep an eye out for anyone that might see my speeding figure. I had no idea how my strength compared to the people of this world, and didn’t want to cause any unnecessary alarm. For the most part, the area around me was simple plains with the occasional trees here or there. You’d think with all this open space that it would be used for farmland or something. Maybe add that to my list of topics to enquire about later.
While refreshing myself, I consulted the map again to look for one of the roads that led to the town. I’d cut cross country, then get on the road about fifteen kilometers from the town and then make the rest of the way there at a more sedate and normal human pace.
My break over, I continued, this time taking note of the small presences I detected but most of them were simply small animals that looked like mice or rabbits. I did have a brief moment of surprise when one of the rabbits I passed was level 20 and had a horn on its forehead. It had attempted to attack me with a headbutt, but easily missed as I danced around it and kept running.
After two more hours I was nearing the road, so I started slowing down in order to be cautious. There might be other travelers on the road to spot me, after all. My caution was unnecessary though, there was no one around at all. Sighing, I started walking at a normal pace. It would be about another two hours until I reach the town, so it would probably be pretty boring.
Examining the contents in my bag told me that I probably should have checked it much more thoroughly before I left Lullaby. The food Lynn had packed didn’t include any sweets! It was all just basic travel foods like jerky or granola bars. I’m going to have to hope there’s something good to eat at the town. Regardless of my complaining, I still pulled out a granola bar to snack on. Sadly, I had to toss the wrapper back in the bag.
I finally caught sight of the town and noticed that there was a wall surrounding it, and the road led to a gate with what looked like a line of wagons waiting to enter. The wagons were even hitched to what looked like horses. The wall wasn’t that tall, only maybe five meters, so I could easily jump it but that would likely cause issues. I decided that it would be best to get in line like the other people. I hurried a bit because I was hoping I could overhear some conversation to give the psi auto translator time to figure out the language enough that I wouldn’t blunder when it came time for me to speak. A few minutes of conversation should be all it needed to get the hang of it.
Lucky for me, the wagon in front of me in line had a number of people around it talking to one another. I assumed they were workers of some kind, judging by the fact that they were all wearing similar style and color clothes. Now that I looked more closely all the people around the four wagons ahead of me were all wearing the same type of clothes so maybe this is some kind of group. Some of them gave me sharp glances, probably due to my purple hair color, my hair was hiding my other distinct features. I noticed that of the people I could see they all had normal human hair colors.
Eventually they lost interest in me, probably because I was just standing there quietly, and returned to their conversations. At first the conversations were just garbled messes but after a few minutes of listening I was starting to get individual words here and there. Another few minutes and I was getting most of their conversation. Apparently I had been right that they were all one group. They all worked for a merchant that was travelling through the area. There were some issues with the merchant’s paperwork for his goods so I guess the guards at the gate were giving him a hard time before he could enter.
It took thirty more minutes from when I showed up before the wagons finally were allowed into the gate. Based on the grumblings from the workers they had been there for a while. I made my way to the gate and of course I was stopped by the two guards that were there. They both were holding spears with a sword at their waist. A glance above the gate showed another guard up on the wall that was holding a bow. Well not like I was going to bother picking a fight.
“Please hand over your identity card or a pass for entry.” The guard on my left spoke up.
I decided to act a bit meek. “I’m sorry sir, but I seem to have lost my identity card somewhere along my travels. Is it impossible for me to enter?”
The guards gave each other a short glance before the one that had spoken up before replied. “We can issue a temporary pass but it requires you to pay an extra fee.”
“I actually don’t have any money either, I could give you one of the goods I brought to sell.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the smaller pouch containing the gems. I plucked out a single gem out before returning it and held out my hand to the guard.
The guard also reached out toward me so I dropped the gem into his outstretched hand. Oh, looks like I had grabbed a ruby. The guard looked at the gem in his hand blankly for a moment before hurriedly slipping it into a pouch at his waist. “Well looks like everything is in order. Just come with me and I’ll get you a temporary pass.” He beckoned me to follow him to a small building just outside the gate up against the wall.
Walking into the small room, there wasn’t much in here, a table and some chairs. On the table was a large glowing orb that was sitting on an oddly shaped box. The guard waved me forward, so I walked toward the table. But, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do so I looked back at him. “Have you never used a Status Orb before? Just place your hand on it.”
A Status Orb? Does this mean this primitive technology world actually has some method of scanning my real status? Shit, this could reveal way more than I wanted to. I wonder if I should just neutralize the guards like I did with the wolves earlier and sneak in instead. But if I need to show a pass for something later inside the town, I’d just be back in trouble again. I can’t just keep messing with people's heads forever.
“Hey, hurry up already. I don’t have all day.” The guard was sounding increasingly angry.
Well nothing for it, I placed my hand on the orb. If something goes wrong though this guard is going to have a very bad day. The orb shined in a blinking fashion for about ten seconds before stopping. Afterwards a small compartment on the box slid open and inside was a card. The guard picked up and gave it a glance and then handed it toward me. “You are pretty lucky to survive traveling alone without a Class. You should look into getting some training or your luck will run out eventually. You’re clear to enter the city.”
Wait, without a Class? I inspected the card. Amazingly I could read it.
Name: Seri
Race: Human
Class: None
So this orb was incapable of reading my status after all? It did somehow find out my name which is a bit surprising. The most interesting thing on the card though was the Race line. If ID cards here have that option does that mean there are actually sentient beings other than humans on this world? I returned my attention to the guard and he was already leaving the room so I hurried to follow him. “Excuse me, I had a question. Where would you suggest I go to sell my goods?”
“More like what you paid with? Try the Merchant’s Guild branch. That’s probably the only place here that would purchase gems like those. It’s located at the plaza. Just look for those wagons that had been ahead of you.” He waved me off before returning to his post.
As he walked away with his back toward me, and since I was curious because he mentioned Classes, I slipped my terminal out and scanned him. Sadly scanning sentient beings doesn’t give you as much information as scanning a beast would. All I got was that he was human, obviously, and that his Class was a level 18 Warrior and he didn’t have Subclass. The other guard was also a Warrior but he was only level 16. Warrior isn’t a Class I’ve seen before, so maybe that means this world has Classes that are different from the Classes seen in game elsewhere. If so I might be able to learn some new stuff. After over a decade in game of having every class maxed out, I might be able to raise my stats again! <((This series is only officially posted to royalroad.com. If you are reading this series on any other website, then you are doing so without the permission of the author, Xacual. If you have paid money for this story, please file a report and request a refund as it has been stolen and is being sold illegally.))>
As I walked through the gate, I considered what I had just learned. If the gate guards are that weak then how do they fight anything? Even that horned rabbit was level 20. Of course Class levels are weighted more than beast levels, but at lower levels fighting something above you would still be pretty difficult.
Anyway I needed to find the plaza and then the Merchant’s Guild. A plaza is some kind of public square or marketplace I believe, so I guess I’ll just follow along this street from the gate.
Really though, this town is filthy. I knew medieval times were lax on the whole cleanliness idea but this stench is horrible. A number of people were eying me, whether for my hair color or my shield jewelry that clearly stood out, I had no way of knowing. As I walked, I took the time to examine some of the stalls and shops along the way. None of them were really anything special, but I did notice I was unable to read any writing. I wonder, why can I read the card then? Ahead of me I saw a more open area that was filled with stalls, which I assumed had to be the plaza.
Now that I was at the plaza, let’s see where are those wagons at? There were a lot more people in this area than I had seen on my way. Oh, that woman running that stall has light blue hair and that man way over there has dark green. I guess unnatural colors do exist and are just rare? Ahh, I got distracted. I think those are wagons over near that large building at the other end of the plaza. It’s hard to be sure with how small I am and all these people in the way. I made my way through the crowd and sure enough those were the wagons I had seen earlier, and the workers were unloading crates and barrels and taking them to the back of the building.
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Now that I’ve hopefully found the right place, time to go inside and get some spending money. Upon entering I saw a counter with a few receptionists and there were a few clusters of men and women discussing things around the large room as well. Some of them watched me with curious eyes, probably wondering why a young looking girl is in this place alone.
There didn’t seem to be any indication of the individual receptionists being for different things, but with my lack of ability to read, I wasn’t positive of that. Let’s see, four choices for receptionists, two young men, an older man and a pretty cute, possibly older teen girl. Needless to say, I chose the cute girl.
She greeted me as I approached her, “Hello Miss, what business might you have at the Merchant’s Guild today?” I noticed her eyes briefly flickered to my shield collar as she spoke. “Also may I see your identity card?”
“The guard at the gate told me that the guild would be the best place to sell my goods.” I replied. I slipped the temporary pass to her.
She seemed surprised, “A temporary pass? Are you a member of our establishment?”
“I’m not. Is that a problem?”
“Without being a member of the guild, the price that we can offer for whatever you are selling will be lower.” She explained.
“I guess it depends on how much lower the price would be. I’m really in need of money at the moment.”
“Can you show me what it is you’re hoping to sell?” She enquired.
I nodded to her and slipped a hand down into my bag. I made sure not to let anyone see the inside of it and came out with the pouch that contained the gems. I loosened the pouch and poured some of the contents out on the counter in front of her. The cute receptionist looked at the small pile of gems in stunned silence, and I felt as some of the gazes in the room instantly became more alert toward me. There was even one that was suddenly pulsing with hostility.
The receptionist finally seemed to gather her wits, she quickly gathered the gems and my pass card up in her hands before stepping out from behind the counter. “Miss, please come with me.” She led me from the large room to a side room that was in the back. Inside the room was a table and some chairs. She laid most of the gems and my card on the table but kept a few gems with her.“Please wait here Miss, I’m going to bring the Branch Manager.” Then she left the room.
I guess spilling out a bag of gems might have been a rash move. Oh well, if the receptionist is bringing the Branch Manager, I guess I’ll just have to deal with them instead. While I was thinking, I had kept my detection focused on the person that had showed hostility, and as soon as I was brought to the side room he had quickly left the guild and headed somewhere. My intuition tells me that will bring some kind of trouble later.
After about ten minutes and right when I was starting to get bored, a man opened the door to the room and came in followed by the receptionist girl who closed the door behind her. He was older looking with a short beard, I would guess about sixty years old but still looked pretty vigorous. He smiled and then sat across the table from me. Receptionist girl stayed by his side but didn’t take a seat.
“Nice to meet you, young lady. I’m the Branch Manager for this Westmoor Town branch,” I took note of the town name since this was the first time I heard it, “Malcolm Gerard. Kiara here has shown me some of your gems, and I appraised them. They’re quite high quality. Do you mind showing me the rest?”
Since this was going to be a negotiation, I don’t mind cheating a little so I reached out with my psi and made a small, subtle connection with Malcolm. This way I’d get a general sense of his surface thoughts and if he tries to lie to me or not.
I poured the rest of the pouch out on the table. Malcolm went through them one by one. There was about sixty total. “Does this mean you’ll be buying them from me after all?”
Malcolm returned his focus to me and replied with an apologetic tone, “We can purchase them but unfortunately the price we can offer will be quite low. High quality gemstones like the ones you have aren’t bought much in this area so we’d have to transport them to one of the main branches in order to sell them. I could probably offer at most half general market price for them and even that is taking a large risk on my part.”
He seemed to be telling the truth. What he had said made sense as well and I was perfectly willing to settle for that rate. I could easily synthesize more gems later if I needed more local currency. “I’ll accept that price. As I told Kiara, I’m kind of desperately in need of money right now. These gems are all I have.”
“Yes, I’d like to ask you about that. A young lady like yourself entered the town alone with a temporary pass, do you not have a guardian?” My connection was telling me he was mostly curious but at the same time there was some underlying concern.
“I do not have a guardian.”
I felt his concern increase, “Where are you from?”
I smiled at him, “Here and there.”
“Where did you come by that jewelry and all those gemstones?”
I let my smile grow wider, “Here and there.” At this point he was probably thinking I was a young thief.
Confusingly enough, while I could tell he had some suspicions towards me now, he was still mostly concerned about me. I wondered if it was just because of the fact that I appeared to be a young girl. You would think a merchant would be more wary of the idea of potentially stolen goods though.
It felt like he wanted to ask more questions but decided on a different tack. “Do you have a place to stay?”
“I don’t. I was going to look for an inn after I got some money.”
He rubbed his short beard and had a thoughtful look on his face. He turned to the receptionist girl, “Kiara, go get me something to write with and two sheets of paper.” She bowed and quickly left the room.
“What’s happening now?” I asked.
“I’ll be writing a purchase agreement note for these gems. It’s mainly a formality. It will take me time to gather together the funds for these. I’ll strive to have it all ready for you tomorrow or the next day. The other paper will be a recommendation to an inn I know the owner of. You’ll be able to stay there for free of charge for a few days.”
I was a bit surprised by the offer. “Is it possible for it to be ready tomorrow? I was planning on leaving town.”
This time it was Malcolm’s turn to look surprised, “Leaving town so soon? Well it can’t be helped then. Come by tomorrow afternoon and we’ll complete the deal.” While he waited for Kiara to get back he separated the gems by type. I just sat there watching him as he looked at the gems and tapped his finger on the table. Eventually he finished his contemplation and then gathered the gems and put them back in the pouch. Afterwards he handed it back to me. “I’ll purchase the gems for a total price of 80 Varia Gold coins and 50 Varia Silver coins.”
I just nodded. I’d figure out later how much money that actually was.
Kiara came back in with a quill, inkwell and two sheets of paper. Malcolm quickly wrote out the paperwork, though I had no idea what they actually said. I’d just have to trust in my connection that was still sending me signals telling me the man was being honest and principled. After he finished he folded them and then handed them to me. I slipped them into my bag along with the pouch of gems.“When you leave the guild, the Black Roc Inn is down the street to your immediate left. Just look for the carved bird sign. When you come back tomorrow just come to Kiara and she’ll bring you to me. Kiara, go ahead and see the young lady out.” He nodded to me before leaving the room and I severed the mental connection.
Kiara beckoned for me to follow her so I got up and left the room behind her. She brought me back to the front room and then bowed to me before returning to her place at the counter.
As I left the guild, I immediately picked up two presences that became hostile as soon as they saw me. Acting casually, I cast a sweeping glance over the plaza before turning down the street to go to the inn. The two hostiles had now been identified as men that looked pretty much like thugs. They started following me, and I was wondering about how exactly I should handle this. Once I enter the inn these two will be unlikely to follow me in but they’ll probably watch for me to exit or try to gain access to my room later. Honestly, this seemed like a hassle so I wanted to just nip this in the bud right now, so I stepped off the street I was following and into one of the small alleys. I felt the presences speed up as I walked deeper into the side streets, I was looking for a place where no one would witness what I was about to do. Finally I found a dead end where I didn’t detect anyone nearby and I stood there and waited for the two men to catch up.
Coming around the corner were the two thugs. They had gleeful grins on their faces as if they couldn’t believe how stupid I was to come here. “Hehe Missy, not sure how you spotted us, but you’re good and trapped now. Why don’t you just hand over the bag of gems and that jewelry and we promise not to treat you too roughly.” They both laughed at this point. “Of course we’re still going to sell you off. You look cute enough so should be worth a good amount.” I facepalmed. Ahh, they really are morons. They didn’t even consider the possibility that this might have been a trap.
I didn’t bother answering. I merely picked them both up with my psi, which caused them to open their eyes wide in surprise and sudden fear, and pressed them up against the dead end wall. Of course, I was also using my psi to keep their mouths shut. I didn’t want any inconvenient screams bringing people to see what was going on. I unsheathed my dagger and walked toward the thugs. They were shaking like crazy as they struggled to break free of my power. “Now you see you two, I could let you go free. Would you like that?” They both nodded frantically. “I don’t really like the idea though of you coming back with more friends for another try, it’s such a hassle. So I’ll make you a deal. If you promise to not come anywhere near me in the future I’ll let you go, understand?” I slipped a small connection to both of them to check for lies. “Now I’ll let you speak but if you say anything other than the phrase ‘I promise to stay away from you.’ like for example trying to scream for help, I’ll simply silence you again and slit your throat. Now promise.”
I released my psi’s hold on their mouths and they both immediately said ““I promise to stay away from you.”” Sadly for them, I could tell they were lying, so I carried out my threat. I took a moment to wipe off my dagger on their dirty clothes. Better to have a kind of dirty, used looking weapon than one dripping blood right on my belt.
How weak and boring they were. Not a proper way to blow off steam at all. I made my way back to the street I had left, hoping that the inn at least would have some good food and sweets.