Walking around Kanom without my hood up was a freeing experience, one that was almost ruined by the terrible smell of an urban environment which lacked plumbing. I had wanted to purchase some camping supplies so that I would be able to have a bit more comfort should I need to spend the night in the wilderness, but by the time Ruqyah was done dyeing my hair the places where I could purchase these things were already closed for the day. It seems I would have to spend the night at the inn, which shouldn’t be an issue considering how hard the manager of the inn was trying to sell me on the idea.

I checked on Des as I returned to the inn and he seemed to be happy enough with the oats that I had purchased for him, before entering the building proper and securing my lodging. The bed I was now used to at the capital was nowhere near as comfortable as a mattress on Earth, but the feathers within were miles better than the straw filling of the mattress at the inn. I decided to just tough it out, even though I would be able to pay for a better room if I needed to. My funds were limited after all, and I wanted to make it as far away as possible before I even thought about spending lavishly.

From my understanding, mercenary work was prevalent everywhere on Euphelia, and I should be able to subsidize my travels with the odd stay in a specific place while taking on well-paying commissions. Dinner at the inn was warm, which would be the most positive way I could describe it. The taste wasn’t exactly pleasant, and the fact that I paid two coppers for the service seemed like a waste to me with my palette that was used to noble cuisine by now.

In the morning I awoke bright and early from the noise of the local residents already out and about going about their affairs. The manager of the inn was kind enough to inform me where I could purchase a tent and some other supplies essential for survival outside the bounds of settlements. I stopped by to look at Des’ saddle bag, to get a better idea of how much it could hold, before making my way towards the center of Kanom.

I had made great strides over the past few months in learning how to speak like a commoner would, learning my lesson about just how astute people were in sniffing out customers of higher standing than their own. The man at a stall which sold all types of things made of cloth and linen bargained with me for a solid 15 minutes before finally agreeing on a price for a tent, some sheets of cloth, a tarp to cover the tent should it rain, and some sticks that were necessary to set up the tent. He also sold me a piece of flint which could be used to make sparks to start fires, something that I had almost forgotten about since the guards we usually camped with took care of this chore.

I had paid for my stay last evening, so I didn’t enter the inn once more to bid my farewells, and simply organized my purchases into Des’ saddle bag and rode out of the city through the same gate that I had entered. I followed the path that led south, seeing some travelers along the way although for the most part they ignored me and after what must have been the tenth traveler I greeted with a head nod and didn't return the courtesy I stopped doing so.

This day passed without much of importance occurring, and the villages I passed by on the way were an option when it came to places to stay for the night, I was eager to test out the new gear I had bought and set everything up below a tree at a slightly elevated place a few hundred meters off the beaten path. Starting the fire was no easy ordeal, and when I finally saw a flame start up from some dry leaves I had managed to scavenge I felt more proud than I probably should have.

Since there was nothing to do after eating some bread and dried meat that I had found in the saddle bag originally, I decided to meditate a little, something which I haven’t done for a few days.

The way the arcane power behaved was normal everywhere except for the fire that was right in front of me. I saw many orange, yellow, and red colored wisps of light feeding into the bottom of the fire, before eventually being spat out upwards like a funnel. Surprisingly, these unruly wisps actually followed my will when I tried to alter their set course towards the fire they were more accommodating than they usually were. While experimenting with earth, water, and wind sorcery wasn’t the most dangerous thing in the world, some part of me feared touching this particular attribute of arcane power. Getting burned wasn’t a pleasant thing by any means, and the scars that I got from accidentally touching a very hot pot came to mind when I imagined trying to start a flame with a spell.

My cautiousness proved well reasoned when I stood up from where I was sitting and approached some of the firewood I had gathered off to the side. I thought that if I had a long stick in my hand and tried to light a fire on the end of it then at least the distance between the point of origin and myself would provide some safety, I was dead wrong. When I imagined the chemical process of combustion occurring at the tip of the stick, a fireball the size of my fist emerged which scared me, and as I lost concentration owing to the fear of being burnt, the fireball dissipated in all directions, throwing embers on the grass around me.

While wind sorcery was something that was already difficult for me to control, it took me a solid four minutes of standing there with a stick in my extended hand like a fool before anything even happened. The rate at which arcane power gathered at the point where I willed it to was maybe one-hundredth as effective as with wind. I did not know if this was because I concentrated the point somewhere other than my own body, or if it was simply because I naturally had more affinity with wind than with fire.

Luckily the embers petered out naturally, with none of the surroundings catching fire. Spring is a relatively wet season in Euphelia, so the grass wasn’t liable to catch fire easily unlike if it was dried out from hot weather. I thought it best to limit the rate at which I meditated with a focus on fire arcane power, and returned to the more familiar wind wisps of light which were colored white or transparent which favored my efforts a lot more.

My journey continued smoothly for over two weeks, with few interruptions apart from stopping by at the odd town or village for supplies. I even managed to make some headway with fire sorcery, conquering some intrinsic fear of mine and successfully lighting a fire at night with my finger. Visualization and knowledge of the science behind why something happens seemed to be the key to the whole of sorcery, but the practical applications of my breakthrough were limited. It took me three minutes of standing next to the batch of sticks and loose logs I had found before enough arcane power with red-tinted colors gathered in my hand before I imagined ‘flipping a coin’ and tossed the whole thing into the fireplace. The result was immediate, and to my relief the destructive power of such an action wasn’t too large, but just enough to light the dry grass and leaves I gathered for kindling.

The ease with which I traveled was seeming more and more suspicious to me, as I had thought that at least by now they should have realized that I was nowhere to be found east of my last known place. I had avoided entering both Parnam and Thacks on my journey south, which were both only a few days ride away from my path, thinking that my appearance, even with my now-blond hair, my facial structure remained the same and a particularly attentive person might be able to recognize me, which was quite unlikely in retrospect.

My supplies were dwindling however, and while I had purchased an old pot from one of the towns I had passed to boil water, my food was nowhere near sufficient for a journey to the southern border of Jenusia. A village I had stopped by in hopes of feeding Des informed me that a town called Regan lay just a few hours' ride south of them, where I would be able to purchase all that I needed in regards to food and drink. I had not heard of this name before, which meant that the chance of people I knew being present there being next to nil.

Its size was insignificant compared to Thacks or Parnam, but it was at the very least somewhat larger in size than Kanom. The guards at the gate let me through with the same disregard as they usually did in other towns, and I made my way to an inn where I decided to reward myself with better accommodations for the first time in a fortnight. On the way to purchase some bread and some salted or dried food which would be able to last a while, I noticed the familiar insignia of two crossed swords which I had seen above the entrance of the mercenary guild in the capital. This was also the place where descriptions of wanted men would be posted to inform those who wished to make some gold off of the misfortune of others.

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I decided to stop by and have a look at this board, but in order to not make myself look too suspect I thought it best to register with the guild here as well under my new moniker, since someone walking in looking at the board of wanted men and then leaving would be a sure-fire way to get oneself apprehended.

I was familiar with the procedure of registration having undergone it before in the Capital, and after picking up an easy commission to patrol around the outskirts of the city and kill some goblins which have been spotted there a few days prior I returned to the guild, with four green left-ears of the goblins as proof of completion. With very little trouble, ‘Lev’ was added to the registry of the mercenary guild in Regan, after which I was provided a wooden token with a number designated to myself, much like the one I had left in Krilos.

The pay for the commission was also nice, this being the first money I had earnt since making my escape. I walked up to the board and looked through every single one of the descriptions of the men and women who were fugitives for one reason or another. The time I spent at the board resulted in one of the clerks at the guild approaching me and asking if I wanted them to read the information aloud, thinking perhaps that I was illiterate like many of the men in this profession. I politely declined before continuing where I left off, the bald man with the massive scar above his left eye-brow.

While some of the descriptions were too brief or those that could apply to a very large proportion of the population, I did not see one that matched my own just yet. This meant that either the Jenusians were still in the process of distributing my description to cities further out from the capital, or that they were not even bothering to look for me. Both suited me just fine, and I walked out of the mercenary guild with a happy smile on my face.

After purchasing the necessary supplies, I ate dinner at the inn and managed to overhear a piece of information that was very good. According to some of the peddlers that were staying at the same inn that I was, Regan was the last town before I would reach the border of the Tarli Kingdom. This news made me have some trouble falling, as the crossing of the border was my original goal, and I didn’t have any detailed plans after that. The possibilities for what I could do once I reached the Tarli Kingdom raced through my mind, before I finally forced myself to clear my thoughts and actually get some rest before setting off on the morrow.

Turns out, myself and those damn peddlers have a very different idea of the word ‘close’. It took a whole four days to reach the first village that informed me that I was no longer in Jenusia, and I honestly would not have been able to tell if they hadn’t offered up the information to me unprompted. I thought that I would feel some sense of relief after having crossed the border, but the opposite situation had occurred on my first day in what I now understood to be within the borders of the Tarli Kingdom.

The villagers warned me repeatedly about the dangers that existed here, after I told them it was my first time visiting this country. The biggest problem they said was that past the limits of the big cities, a huge sense of lawlessness existed, with even their village of over one hundred inhabitants having to pay ‘protection’ money to a bandit group that had set up shop in the vicinity.

They warned me repeatedly to be careful on my travels, and suggested that I don’t even light a fire for warmth at night if I camped out. This now seemed like common sense to me, and I berated myself for not even considering the fact that perhaps I wouldn’t even be caught by the Jenusians, but that some outlaw might just fancy my horse, or my sword and choose to forcefully take them from me.

I did as the villagers had suggested that night, and while my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the night, it didn’t stop a stupid goblin approaching Des in the dead of night and trying to eat him. His neighs woke me up, and I managed to dispatch him without even unsheathing my sword, using a gust of magic to throw his body which was lighter than mind into the depths of the forest, after which he didn’t return. I didn’t get much sleep that night and this first hiccup on my journey made me understand that things wouldn’t go so smoothly from here on out.

My ride along the path to the city of Strus which was closest to this part of the Kingdom saw me witness a truly barbaric sight. I came across a dilapidated wagon in the middle of the road, by the looks of which it was burnt although not entirely. Some arrows were stuck into both the wagon and the charred corpse of a man in the driver's seat, something that unnerved me greatly. The wagon itself was empty, with no more bodies or items of note to be seen. This was probably the work of the same bandits that the villagers had warned me about, and for the rest of the journey that day I urged Des to move at a more accelerated pace.

The day after witnessing the barbaric sight of the attacked wagon, the walls of Strus came into view. Even from afar they were shorter than the walls of Regan, and their state was one of disrepair and neglect. There were no guards to be seen at the gates, so I entered cautiously thinking that perhaps something was wrong. My thoughts of perhaps it being attacked, or abandoned proved false when I saw people moving around without the slightest care about the absence of guards at the city gates.

As I rode into the inner part of the city the only thought on my mind after witnessing the less-than prosperous condition of the city was poverty. The people here were poorer, and a lot more malnourished than those only a few days away in Regan. The issue of banditry and lawlessness affected everyone, but those who suffered the most were the poor. The envious looks of the poor as I rode past them were haunting, and if the presence of a sword at my hip wasn’t apparent perhaps they would have made an attempt to rob me for the sake of their survival.

I didn’t feel safe whatsoever, so I splurged a few silver crowns to stay at a more expensive inn this time around, which even had their own guards at the stables. I sat in the dining hall of the inn with a mug of over-priced alcohol in my hand, trying to decide what I would do from here on out as a man sat down opposite me, with a friendly smile on his face.

His clothes were similar to those of merchants I had seen at feasts, with a luxurious tunic accentuating the fact that he was a man of means. His hair was brown, similar in color to what mine had been before Ruqyah had a field day with it, and his eyes were green, alluding to the sharp intellect this man possessed.

“What’s got you looking so down young man?” He asked, making himself comfortable at my table.

I shot him a rude look, not appreciating his behavior before answering.

“Do I know you?” I asked rudely, hoping he would take the hint and make himself scarce.

“No, I can’t say that we’ve met before but your appearance reminded me of how I felt the first time I visited this lovely city” He answered, his voice seeping with sarcasm.

“So you decided to sit at the same table as me just because of how I looked? I don’t think even you would believe such a thing. It seems I am done with my drink, good bye” I stated, before standing up and intending to head to my room at the inn.

“Well you aren’t entirely wrong. But you appearance has got something to do with why I approached you, if you would be willing to hear a proposition of mine I am sure it would be worth your time” He said, remaining in his seat with a confident smile plastered on his face.

“Oh? And how exactly would you make it worth my time?” I commented, not willing to believe the words of a man I have never met.

“One more ale for my friend please” He said a bit louder this time, to the waitress who stood a short distance away.

This gesture was not entirely unwelcome, as any man who could splurge the cost of seven coppers for an ale to treat a stranger must be someone who didn’t just want to scam him. I carefully sat down, while still vigilant of what this man wanted from me. There was total silence as he examined me, whilst I examined him. He did not carry a sword like I did, but he did have an intricate dagger with a brown handle at his waist, and his build did not suit a man who would fare too well in combat. Once the ale arrived at our table I decide to test his sincerity before hearing his proposition.

“Take a sip, if of course this drink you bought me is indeed a treat” I picked up the mug, and extended my hand, offering it to him.

“You have a suspicious nature, not entirely unwise considering where we are” He met my request with his unchanging arrogance, and drank one quarter of the mug in one swig.

“Now, can we have a proper talk?” He asked, handing the ale back to me, to which I nodded.

“You see I have to make my way to the capital, Meran, but the roads aren’t entirely safe and I would feel better if you would be willing to escort me on my way back. The mercenaries in Strus are not always upstanding citizens who would abhor any contact with the outlaws around here, so if I were to submit a commission then there’s a chance I will not make it home in one piece you see…” He finally explained, before continuing.

“You have a look of a man who has never been here before, and your choice to stay at this inn and the blade you carry makes me think that you, at the very least, won’t try and rob me on the way to Meran” He finished, before awaiting my reply.

“I don’t take any issue with your proposal, but since this will not be a commission that has the guild’s backing I would demand payment in full before we depart” I countered, testing the validity of his story.

The man stared me down for a while before taking out a gold crown out of his pouch and setting it down in the middle of the table.