“When my brother finally catches you, and I hope he drags you back to the capital so the Lord Priest can take his time in cleansing you.”

“I’m not sure I want to know what ‘cleansing’ is, but that’s beside the point. Which way to the nearest town where it’d be most unlikely that someone would recognize us?”

She took a moment to think.

“Lanerus. It's thirty miles or so North from here. The noble of the town, Lord Hylus, has not been to the capital in some time. He was invited along with every other noble to the Hero Ceremony, but was unable to attend. He has not seen me in several years, so I do not believe he would recognize me. Unless the knights have already made it this far, he would not know to look for your face either.”

“Thank you, was that so hard?”

“Yes! Now release your damned curse you monster! I gave you the info you wanted!”

“No, I don’t think I will. I think I’ll keep it going for the time being, I might want to ask you something later and I’d rather not have you chastise me over and over instead of answering.

I could almost taste the anger in the air as it radiated from her, but so long as she kept believing that I was actually capable of such magic then I was going to keep abusing it.

She folded her arms and turned away from me, which was just fine by me so long as she kept quiet. Without her constant shrieking or berating, the only other sounds were the rolling wheels of the cart and the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves. Now and then I could hear some birds sing to each other, or a gust of wind would rustle the treetops. Once I got past the life-threatening first few hours, I saw that this world had a stunning beauty about it. Maybe it was just because I grew up in a heavily urbanized area, where I never really got to see trees except at the park or in digital form.

I didn’t have the opportunity to play video games very often, as Yuki would always break them or otherwise sabotage my fun. When I did play, I was the sort of guy that would ignore fast travel options unless I was in a real hurry. I preferred to take my time and wander around the map, to enjoy the scenery that someone had spent countless hours hunched over a desk putting together. If my life wasn’t in immediate danger, I would have loved to just park the cart and wander out into the woods to explore, to see what was hidden away in the forest.

Even beyond the simple beauty of untamed nature, there was something else to it all that made it seem so vibrant. It almost felt like I had spent my whole life wearing a blindfold, and now that they were off I could see for the first time. I’d never had bad eyesight, my hearing was fine, and I don’t think the resurrection process had done much to my senses. But when I actually looked around every color just popped out at me, every sound was so crisp, even the smell of the breeze was hitting me differently.

The world felt peaceful, serene.

Ignolia kept to herself until a stone wall peeked out from between the trees ahead. I could see small banners flapping lazily in the wind atop the barricade. Two guards kept watch at the open gate, and waved us past without even bothering to question us or inspect our cargo. I damn near waved at them as we passed, before realizing what a stupid idea that’d be. I buried them into my lap as best I could. Ignolia’s eyes shifted left and right, her body tensed up like a cat about to pounce.

“Ignolia, I know what you’re thinking, and it's better if you don’t”

The color rapidly drained from her face.

“Wha— What?”

“You’re thinking to yourself, ‘Oh, I could leap from the cart and make a break for it. I’m sure I could contact Lord Hylus and he’d come to my aid!’ Sound about right?”

She gulped.

“Ho— How did you know that?”

“Oh please. It’d take a blind man to not see how you’re looking around right now. Look, if you make a run for it, or try to signal for help, it’ll get real nasty real quick. People might get hurt.”

I mostly meant me, I could get hurt if she got some brute to club me over the back of the head when I wasn’t looking, that’d be bad for my plans (and my head).

While we were here in town I came up with a list of things I thought we’d need, but then remembered that I had no money. If I went about trying to make deals, it’d all get shut down in an instant once they saw my hands. What I needed first was some gloves. This was also a good time to figure out what the economy was like, the currency and its worth. I figured that if I asked Ignolia straight off she’d just think I was screwing with her and be annoying again.

“Alright Ignolia, here’s the deal. You’re going to go into that store over there,” I pointed to one with a wooden sign that had a picture of a ring, “and you’re going to sell a piece of that fancy jewelry. Then you’ll take whatever money they gave you for that and you’ll go buy me some gloves. Whatever is left after that, you’ll bring back to me. Got all that?”

“You expect me to just sell these priceless heirlooms of my heritage? Ha! There is not a single person in this city that could come close to affording a single piece even if they worked a lifetime! These are items that have been handed down through my family for generations!”

“In that case, I guess we’ll have to go with plan B then! I’ll find us a nice quiet room, and then I’ll see who wants to—”

“You would sell me out as a prostitute? Does your soul have no end to its darkness?”

To be perfectly honest, becoming a medieval pimp hadn’t crossed my mind. I was going to say that I’d leave her tied up there or something while I went around doing magic tricks for cash. But if she thought that selling her things was a preferable alternative to being whored out, I’d roll with it, it saved me time and having to figure out the hand situation.

“Either I sell your body, or you sell your baubles. Choice is yours Princess.”

God, the rage in her eyes when she pried the ring off her finger was haunting. She’d get over it eventually. Probably. Once I saved the world I promised to myself that I’d help track down the ring and get it back for her.

“Remember! If you try to get help in any way, I’ll know about it! Curse and all that.”

She nodded silently, I guess she didn’t want to talk to me at the moment, and then she got off the cart and walked off.

I parked the cart on the side of the street so I wouldn’t block traffic, and waited.

After a few minutes passed I was starting to get worried that she might’ve actually ran off and gotten help, or just fled. There wasn’t a mob coming for me with torches and pitchforks just yet, so I held out. After ten minutes I began thinking that maybe she’d been nabbed by someone even more unsavory than myself.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

She finally came back after nearly half an hour with a burlap sack in her hand. She tossed it at me and it landed in my lap with a thud, then she climbed back onto the cart and sat down with a huff.

“It is done, assassin.”

I peeked inside the bag. The first thing I pulled out was a pretty nice-looking pair of leather gloves, which I found fit my hands perfectly and snugly. Below them was a smaller bag, which jingled when I picked it up. I opened it. Inside were two golden coins sitting atop a dozen silver ones, and below them were a handful of copper. The gold coins had the image of a crown on their face, the silver bore engravings of a knight’s helmet. The copper coins had the symbol of a sword.

“I’m not too familiar with the economy of your country. What is the worth of your coinage these days?”

She scoffed at me.

“They are worth the same as they were when my great grandfather ascended to the throne. Twenty squires to a knight, twenty knights to a duke, and ten dukes to a liege.”

If I was a guessing man, which I was, then I’d wager that the copper ones were the squires. The silver had to be knights. Gold was obviously the duke, and something else was a liege.

“So, what did they give you for the ring?”

“It’s worth more than this entire town, but the most that the shopkeeper was willing to give me was a mere three dukes! I bet you that the moment I left he was already packing to make a trip to the capital to sell it off! He’ll live like a lord for the rest of his days on the earnings!”

That wasn’t a half bad idea.

“And then I take it that he ripped you off on the gloves?”

“Of course he did! No peasant’s clothing should ever cost as much! Less than half even!”

So long as the whole economy was based solely around the value of rings and gloves, then I could form a murky idea of how much things were worth. Obviously I was going to have to do some research before I could do any trading to make sure I didn’t get swindled. I could only hope that the money we had now would be enough to last for a while. Worst case scenario, I could just make her sell another ring or two.

I wanted to find us a nice tavern where I could sleep in a real bed and eat a proper meal. It’d also be a good place to hear any rumors that might pop up amongst the drunks.

“Does Lanerus have any taverns?”

“I imagine that every civilized place does.”

“To the tavern we go then!”

Off we went, my coin purse jingling.

Ignolia’s stomach was starting to loudly complain of vacancy, despite her best attempts to ignore her hunger.

“Look, if you need food, I’m more than willing to get you some. I really don’t need you starving on me.”

“I can go much longer than this without it! Only a matter of time before my brother catches up! Then I will end this fast with food fit for royalty, instead of whatever tainted slop you would try to serve me.”

“Fine, starve, just make sure that your family knows that your hypoglycemia is your own damn fault.”

“Hypo what?”

“Nevermind.”

As we approached the center of Lanerus we passed through another wall which led to the inner district. Again we were allowed through the gate without any trouble, and I got my first real experience of what this world had to offer. The streets were absolutely packed with stalls selling the most exotic things I had even seen. There were bizarre weapons, strange animals, delicious smelling foods, and clothing.

In one cage I saw what looked like a blue dog with a prehensile sword in place of a tail. In another sat what looked like a fox, but its eyes seemed to be endless pits into oblivion. Into that void I stare, drifting. Nothing else mattered. Everything was meaningless. All that was certain was the void. The void is all. The void is—

I damn near ran the horse into another cart that was moving too slowly ahead of us, and my eyes were torn away from the fox.

What was I talking about again?

Shaking my head like a wet dog, I snapped my head out of whatever that was, and we kept going after squeezing around the slower cart.

The shop that made me actually stop to have a proper look had the most interesting sign. Standing on both sides of the door were two torches, which burned with a dark blue flame. The steel sign above the door had an engraving of a brazier with a fire. I left Ignolia on the cart, after getting her word that she wouldn’t run off, and walked in to see what they were selling.

The shopkeeper was tall, unusually so, with bright red hair that made his shining green eyes seem like two emeralds surrounded by an inferno. His clothing looked normal enough from a distance, but when I got closer it seemed like his whole attire glittered. Up close, I saw that it was because the seams were stitched with some sort of silver metal, with small bells up and down the sleeves of his overcoat. Under his overcoat he wore a bright red suit.

There were no shelves of goods or displays of any sort, just a bunch of crates and empty cages. He didn’t seem to take notice of me when I entered, his attention was on a large book that was laid across a table.

“So, what do you have here?”

His attention snapped to me, his intense green eyes felt like they were going to jump out and attack me. I flinched, and would’ve ran off if I had any better self-preservation instinct.

“I do not have any wares for sale, if that is what you seek, I only buy!”

His bells jingled menacingly.

“Oh…”

“What goods do you bring for me? I shall give you a fair price on anything you can find.”

I hadn’t expected to be selling anything at all, but having more money sounded good, and it did look like he was willing to buy whatever I offered.

“Uh…”

“Tick tock Sir! I do not have all day! You are holding up the others!”

I looked around, we were alone, no one else was waiting.

“Right… Well, I have some meat and potatoes and maybe some jewelry if your prices are good.”

He walked right past me, his bells jingling away, and right out the door and up to the cart. He hopped into the back of the cart before I could even say anything, and pried open the potato crate with a knife that seemed to appear from nowhere. His eyes darted around.

“Hmmm…”

He mumbled something to himself, and then he let the lid slam back down. Then he turned to the jar of ice and meat. Ignolia turned around to see what all the commotion was about, and looked deeply uncomfortable when she saw him. She scooted as far away as possible. He popped the lid off the jar and peeked inside, then sealed it back up. A moment later he jumped off the side of the cart and landed in front of me with his bells jingling wildly.

“I shall give you four knights for the potatoes, and another five for the meat.”

His head turned to Ignolia, swiveling like an owl to stare at her, and then it spun back to me. I realized that he had more bells, pinned as earrings through his lobes, which jingled every time his head moved.

“Five lieges for the girl, one hundred for her clothes and jewelry.”