The Whitestar guild had an inn it was affiliated with where I was provided accommodations free of charge for a whole week, not that I intended to stay that long in Meran. Bathory had agreed to show me around the city the following day where I would make some purchases before taking my leave and heading even further away from the Jenusian Empire. Unsurprisingly Bathory slept in the following morning, which while an inconvenience allowed me some free time to finally meditate in my private room for a few hours before he boisterously began pounding on the door to announce his arrival.
Meran was a very beautiful city, its houses in the inner part of the city were all constructed in a similar architectural style, with some of them being above even five storeys tall. This might not have sounded impressive to me before, but this was a world without machine power, so the fact that such marvels of architecture were possible spoke to the grit and determination of the people as a whole. Bathory led me on a tour throughout the city, telling me about the history of certain landmarks followed by a few quips about the authenticity of the “history”. We stopped at a food stall a few hours into his tour when he asked me what specifically I wanted to know about since he promised to guide me during my purchases.
He already knew I wanted to purchase a short-sword, but I also thought it might be best to purchase some armor and some more foodstuffs for myself since I didn’t know for sure when I would next be in a city with a prospering trade sector. I informed him of my ‘shopping’ list after which he enthusiastically told me that Whitestar could sell me whatever food I would need, since they had a share of the salt market in Tarli. Salt was an essential component of most foods that could last a prolonged period of time, it slows down the water activity in foods which consequently means microbes and such won’t grow as fast, which spoils the food in the long term.
Since he claimed the purchase of food for my travels wasn’t a huge issue, he suggested we go to the armorers and blacksmiths first, which I agreed with. Since I would need to test how the armor hindered my movement while fighting I insisted we purchase a short-sword first, and go to the armorers later. The blacksmith Bathory led me to actually recognized him as we entered, which boded well for getting a fair price from the metalworker. After pleasantries were exchanged, I informed the man of my desired specifications, after which he led me to the storage area behind his smithy where most of his creations waited to be sold. I tested a few of the short swords he had on offer, and even tried out a blade that was curved similar to Gaspar’s one, but it just didn’t feel right when performing some practice slashes.
I don’t know whether this was due to some inherent defect in the blade, or if I just got used to using a standardized short-sword, but seeing my displeasure the blacksmith mistook it for a dissatisfaction with his product and actually lowered the price of a normal short sword by another silver crown. I purchased a short-sword that looked and felt very much like the one I had left in Krilos, for two silver crowns cheaper than I did in Jenusia. Since Jenusia was the center of a massive empire, it makes sense that the cost of things there would be extreme, but here in Meran the prices were not much different, as without the discount from Bathory’s recommended smith the price would be just one silver crown less.
Next we went to an armorer a few streets away from the blacksmith, who recognized Bathory’s name, although not his appearance. I didn’t have specific requirements for what I wanted in regards to armor, so I just told the armorer that I needed something that would protect me on my journey while not hindering my movements too much. I understood that no matter the armor I wore, it would slow me down by at least a little bit. I just hoped to find a good balance between protection and speed, as getting a wound that was more serious than the one I received in my side would most likely leave me dead.
I tried on a variety of the products the armorer had on hand, with which I performed some of the basic Sylrift forms and tried to move around in the open space the armorer had in his shop for just that purpose. The armor made of metal, while definitely offering a significant amount of safety, made me very slow and awkward on my feet. It wouldn’t be out of the question for an opponent who was skilled with the sword to be able to take me down even if they didn’t wear any armor themselves if my reaction time couldn’t show it’s worth in a sword fight. I asked quite naively if the armorer had any leather armor on offer to which he scoffed and made a joke at my expense about whether I was going to fight or simply become a glassworker.
That comment caught my attention and I asked him to elaborate, which he was happy to do. Glassworkers in Euphelia would wear leather armor to protect themselves from the high temperatures in their profession, and such garb actually worked wonders when it came to not getting burned, but could be punctured easily by a well placed stab. He had a set of such armor on offer and it did feel thick to the touch when I felt it in my hands, but I could see how useless such a thing would be in battle. He then suggested I go to another armorer who made armor of boiled leather, something which his shop didn’t focus on, which made me slap myself internally for missing such a crucial detail.
I was aware of the advantages of boiled leather, and Bathory must have interpreted my desire to buy armor as me wanting to deck myself out in some iron or steel plates to be able to withstand strikes from my opponents with ease. That wasn’t exactly my desire, as such equipment would nullify a lot of the advantages of the swordsmanship school I studied, so I thanked the armorer Bathory recommended as we parted and moved with purpose a few streets away from the city center to the armorer who sold boiled leather.
This man was much less welcoming than the metal armorer, but once I explained my desires and concerns he realized that I genuinely wanted leather armor and hadn’t just come into his shop by mistake. Bathory stood by and watched with a casual expression throughout, not bothering to introduce himself for whatever reason, while I went through the different options of what I could purchase with the armorer. I tried on a few dozen types of armor at the very least, testing out my movement with every single one of them, but the very first one I tried was actually the one that felt the best. It was a boiled leather cuirass which protected my vitals in the torso, it came along as a set with pauldrons, greaves, and even vambraces. The leather-armorer tried to convince me to purchase some more armor for my lower body as well but I was insistent that it would make me too heavy to even walk around comfortably.
While the armor was of an inferior material to metal armor, it was still very heavy. The best way I could describe the feeling would be as if I wore multiple backpacks full of school supplies on every limb of my body, and this was a preferable alternative to the metal armor! The man quoted a price of over two gold crowns for all of the things I wanted to purchase, and this was the moment my companion chose to butt in and began haggling with the armorer over the price for a solid half an hour. By the end of their argument I was ready to give in and pay the price in full since this would definitely be something that would last me a very long period of time, seeing as this armor had no signs of wear and tear whatsoever. Thankfully for my wallet, the armorer finally relented and I paid one gold and five silvers for the cuirass, pauldrons, greaves, and vambraces.
I walked out of the shop with a gleeful expression on my face, choosing to start wearing this equipment now in order to get used to it as soon as possible. Bathory noticed my good mood and offered to treat me to a meal to which I agreed to wholeheartedly. Perhaps the circumstances under which we met might not have been the best, but this man proved himself a good person in my eyes so I had no qualms about sharing a table with him. He brought me to a favored establishment of his where the serving girls dressed a bit too loosely for comfortable conversation, but this was precisely the reason he chose this place above all others. We sat down on a table in the corner and ordered some hot stew along with mugs of ale to celebrate the purchase of my first ever armor set.
While we were waiting for the food to arrive Bathory busied himself with ogling the employees of this tavern while I was running over in my head the proper way to care for and the process of taking on and putting on my armor. Equipping and unequipping armor was nowhere near as easy a process as it was with clothes, and it seemed at times that this armor was made to be used by those who could afford a servant or two to aid them with all of the knots and lines of leather all around. I had pounded the hard leather cuirass with my fist back in the armor shop and was actually surprised with how tough it was, no sword which wasn’t regularly sharpened and wasn’t made of high-quality materials stood a reasonable chance of hurting my side ever again.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
When our food arrived Bathory finally began to speak to me in his usual manner, without us discussing things of note for most of the meal. By the end, his tongue was loosened by the alcohol and he asked me a question which was on his mind.
“Are you sure you won’t stick around? You’re a very reliable person and I would be honored to call you a friend Lev!” He commended drunkenly, not holding his alcohol all that well.
“A friend? We barely know each other Bathory. You were my employer and I was your guard for a few weeks. How can a true friendship blossom in such a short period of time?” I replied honestly, hoping he would drop such considerations before they developed any further.
“Two weeks is plenty of time! At least you treat me normally unlike so many other fools in this damned city…” He lamented, before drowning in whatever was left in his mug.
“What do you mean? Should I not have been treating you as I have so far?” I questioned, puzzled by his attitude.
“Haven’t you noticed that all of the shops we visited today were overly respectful and polite when they found out who I was? Even the leather-armorer decreased his price after I told him I was the son of Arnulf Whitestar” He continued, before informing me of something I wasn’t aware of.
“So that’s how I got such a huge discount on the armor…and here I thought it was because of your silver tongue” I joked, hoping to bring Bathory out of the dumps.
“See that’s what I mean! You joke around with me as if I were any other person, it's something I haven’t had the chance to experience for a very long time…” He wallowed in whatever it was that was bothering him even further, at which point I grabbed the mug out of his hand since we weren’t getting anywhere with this conversation.
“You’re leading me even further into confusion. As far as I’m aware you’re simply a rich commoner, which doesn’t make you all that different from me does it?” I stated, seeking a nod of approval from him.
“You’re wrong Lev, the rift between rich commoners and those of lesser means is as wide as the Rising Sea in the West, but that’s only part of the problem…” He denied my assumptions, before elaborating even further.
“...While my father is also a rich commoner with notable financial power, even he wouldn’t receive as much respect as I would. That is all because of my late mother…” He paused, before lowering his voice and continuing.
“...she was a distant relative of Kytus the Seventh, the former King. He is remembered for only two things, his massive frame, and his love for frivolous extravagances. The only reason his lifestyle didn’t bankrupt the Kingdom before Talik took him was my father’s generosity. As a form of gratitude, Kytus the Seventh agreed to wed my mother to my father at the time, and in a sense while I may not be a noble by birth since it was not a matrilineal marriage, I do have the blood of royals running through my veins, which others seem all too aware of” He finished with a distasteful expression, before grabbing back the mug I stole from him.
This information was a lot to digest, so Bathory had the blood of the Tarli nobility in him, and he was also the only son of a very wealthy individual in this country. What the hell was he even doing in Strus in the first place then? I had so many questions on my mind that I couldn’t actually pick one to ask him, so I just decided to go in order of simplest to the most complex.
“I’ll ask once more, should I be referring to you with some special title or something? I’m sorry if I offended you in some way I was ignorant as to your origins” I asked, confused by what exactly Bathory wanted from me.
“NO!” He shouted, standing up and slamming his free hand on the table at the same time, which drew unwanted eyes in our direction.
I held both of my hands up and calmed him down, before glancing around and apologizing with a head nod and polite smile for disturbing the atmosphere in the venue. The previous sounds of chatter and laughter returned shortly afterwards, after which I was comfortable enough to engage in conversation with Bathory again.
“Okay I won’t change how I act around you, I promise. But what does this have to do with me staying around? I’m sure you can find plenty of people in Meran who are not Tarlians, some of them might be even easier to get along with than I am” I joked, trying to lessen the tension visible in Bathory’s posture.
“That may be, but I will never be sure as to their true intentions if I found a friend here in Meran. With you however, it is quite clear that you bear no ill will towards me, otherwise you could have made your move at the most opportune of times, when we were alone far away from the capital” He explained his thought process, even bringing up an unpleasant hypothetical.
“I must disappoint you, friend, my plans take me elsewhere, but I have no doubt that we will meet again as we are both young and I doubt you’ll die young due to your wealth” I expressed my refusal of his proposal clearly, taking a sip of my ale straight after.
“Is it a question of money? I can promise you that if I hire you as my personal guard you’ll have so much money you won’t know what to spend it on” He improved his proposal, throwing more gold into the mix.
“I’m sorry but what I seek is not money, but rather a place where I can be free from the bonds that existed upon me for most of my life. I have not traveled far enough to find exactly what it is I want to be either, so I can only reassure you that my decision is not from a dislike of you as a person” I said politely, wearing a more sincere smile on my face.
“Alas, it is not to be…” He said, displeased with his failure to obtain my service.
The mood of our meal was ruined and Bathory seemed to be in a rush to get something else done so he quickly paid for the meal, no longer staring at the woman’s bust which was jumping out at our faces. We walked to the Whitestar guild where he directed me to a clerk to whom he explained who I was and what I wished to purchase. I bought enough food for at least a month, which I was able to pick up immediately afterwards, and headed back to the inn with a huge sack on my back.
I decided that evening to depart early the following morning and informed the manager of the inn to wake me up at the break of dawn. My thoughts on the matter were twofold, first of all I thought it might be best to make a clean break with Bathory so he wouldn’t miss my presence even more than he would should I leave immediately. The other reason was that his father might not take kindly to me buzzing around his errant son, especially after he finds out I declined to work for his son and by extension, him. The direction of my Journey would be west, to Targis. It was not a monarchy in the traditional sense, such as Jenusia or Tarli.
From what Bathory had explained it was a reasonably powerful country, at least on par militarily with Tarli, and outperforming it economically. It was formed hundreds of years ago as a loose confederation of lesser nobles who wanted to secure their borders and trade from outside threats. Even now no single leader existed in Targis but rather a council of the most powerful dictated policy, influenced by the factions that spring up behind the more powerful amongst them.
Bathory caught on to my dislike for the Jenusian Empire, and quite bluntly explained that Targis was a state that could resist at least some diplomatic pressure from the Jenusians who saw themselves as the overlords of all of Eastern Euphelia. I had no specific information regarding my prospects as a mercenary there, but at the very least I could feel more security there than I would if I stayed in the Tarli Kingdom.
The morning came earlier than expected, and I made my preparations to depart quite quickly. Thankfully the manager of the inn knowing that I would be leaving made sure that food was already prepared early, a gesture I returned in kind by tipping him a silver crown for his consideration. I secured all of the food and equipment on Des’ back, who seemed even more eager than I was to get on the road. From what I understood of my horse’s temperament, he was a very active creature, and being shackled in the stables in Meran for two days with little room to move around must have been something like torture to the animal.
I rode through the still-quiet streets of Meran, decked out in my leather armor, which was not very visible from the back due to my hood. It didn’t take long at all to arrive at the western city gate, where a familiar face awaited me.
Bathory stood there with sleepy eyes, looking like he hadn’t got any sleep at all the night before, but he noticed me even earlier than I did since I was the only person who wanted to leave the city at this early hour. Des trotted closer to the gate after which I dismounted and walked up to him. We stood in front of each other motionless, with only the sounds of the guards at the gate chatting to one another and Des neighing quietly for time to time.
“You’re up quite early, or did you not sleep at all at night?” I quipped, hoping to break the awkward atmosphere.
“I’ll get some sleep during the day, I just had this gut feeling that you’ll make yourself scarce as soon as possible, and lo and behold, who do I meet at the western gate at such an ungodly hour” He responded in kind, with a hint of irritation in his voice.
I just shrugged and didn’t bother to explain my reasoning any further, something told me Bathory understood my character better in some ways that I did.
“I’m not here to dissuade you, but I do want to give you a bit of advice. The further you get away from Jenusia, the more dangerous the situations you might find yourself in will be. Act sensibly, and don’t offend people lest they have the backing of a powerful unknown figure” He offered his advice, with a serious tone and expression to match.
“I’ll keep that in mind, good fortune to you” I responded, before giving him a common Rahlian phrase used for when you know you will be absent for a lengthy period of time
“And you as well” He uttered the appropriate response, before we shook hands and I walked away to mount Des.
I rode out of the city with little trouble, which might have been Bathory’s doing. I spared a glance behind, at the city gates, from where Bathory was already absent. Hopefully he went back home to get some good rest.