The directions led him far from the section of the city he had become used to, and into the higher-class areas. His raggedy clothes got him more than a few looks on the way. The sun reached its peak in the sky, the morning lost to time.

            “I wonder if I’ll start a new trend of raggedy clothes? Ha-ha, probably not.”

            The buildings in this area of the city had a great deal more income, and it showed, as all the stores lining the road had noticeable stone foundations. Much more expensive than a simple wooden building.

            ‘Chime’

            The door to the blacksmith did not squeak, and even had a cute little bell attached to it.

            “This shop understands the buying experience. If I came to a blacksmith, and all the metal in the store was rusty and worn, I’d wonder about the quality. Oh, that’s a big man…”

            The big man wasted no time blocking his path, and didn’t look friendly.

            “We aunt got no scraps for the poor, buying customers only. Get lost.”

            Ryder smirked. Even in the nicer area of town, the shop had to employ guards.

            “I wonder if that’s for the protection of nobles, or because of nobles, since there’s no way they get poor customers here.”

            “I came here to buy some armor, but if my money isn’t good enough for you…”

            The expression of the guard changed immediately, from a crude and men body guard, to a merchant smile.

            “My apologies good sir, please do have a look around. Is this your first time buying armor?”

            “Wow, I guess he wasn’t just the body guard, but the shop keep too.”

            “Apology accepted. I understand the state of my clothes. As for armor, you are correct, I’m am somewhat inexperience with it. Could you tell me the difference between these two?”

            Ryder gestured towards two sets of armor that hung from the wall of the shop. One made of deep grey metal, and the other of bright brown leather.

            The big shop keep hurried to take down a piece of the metal armor.

            “As you can see, this armor is woven metal. Extremely sturdy, and can stop most attacks. Definitely a life saver. The down side to armor like this, is that it’s extremely heavy. Just this piece alone weighs as much as a full sword. It takes many years of training the body to wear armor like this.”

            He turned the piece of armor over, showing off the craftsmanship.

            “Interesting. I don’t think I have the strength to wear armor like that though. The other?”

            The shop keep replaced the piece of armor on the wall, then grabbed the leather armor. Instead of just grabbing a piece like he had with the metal armor, he took the whole cuirass off the whole.

            “As you can see, this armor is much lighter, and thinner, then the other armor. It’ll stop light blades and arrows, but expecting this armor to stop a heavy sword is out of the question. With that said, it does allow you to move freely. Armor like this is favored by archers and scout knights.”

            “Scout knights? Never heard of them before…”

            “I see, I guess I will be needing some armor like this.”

            “Would you like a full set, or just partials?”

            “Partials?”

            Ryder gave him a questioning look. The big man laughed, amused.

            “You really don’t know much about armor. Not everyone wears a full set of armor! In fact, you typically only see full sets of armor worn every day by those in the military. The rest of us common folk only wear a few pieces of armor. It’s cheaper that way, and we don’t need all that protection anyway.”

            “That makes sense. The common man might have to worry about another’s blade, but not much else. The soldiers would be the ones fighting the dangerous monsters, so they would need the extra protection. Probably.”

            “Do you have any partials for sale?”

            “Yes, right over there, on the table there. Take a look, and give me a holler if anything catches your eye.”

            The table he spoke of was a large bench covered with different types of armor. It seemed partial armor sets were not only limited to leather armor, as there were quite a few pieces of metal armor. He sifted through the sets, looking for something for himself.

            “Let’s see, I think I need some arm protection, since I’m learning the sword.  A leather cuirass as well, I don’t want to die after all.”

  "I could use the armor in the ring, but I dont know the quality of the armor in there. If i pull out something only worn by the richest in the country, I would attract too much attention."

            The armors didn’t only vary by the base material, but by many different factors, including size. Most of the armor here just didn’t fit him, as he was large and tall by the standards of this world. At least in this city anyway, he had seen very few of the common folk that reached six feet tall. Originally he figured it had something to do with lack of food, and it might still have something to do with it, but he had seen few nobles at six feet tall as well.

            The nobles of the city and the commoners shared the same ancestors. Put a noble in rags and he looked like any other poor man in the city. The problem was, the nobles of the city didn’t want to be known as the same kin as the commoners. The commoners were called the Prate, and the nobles attacked any that dared refer to them with that name. The nobles called themselves the Skyla.

            “These are some nice gauntlets.”

            Ryder pulled out a pair of black leather Gauntlets from the pile. They slipped on easily enough, and surprisingly, fit well. They were a tad long, going about halfway down his forearm, but he didn’t mind that.

            “Shop keep! How much for these?”

            The shop keep had helped himself to some food, so it took him a second to make his way over. The big man brushed crumbs off his face as he approached.

            “Ah, the manners of this world are far from sanitary.”

            “Hmm, let me see them…”

            Ryder slid one gauntlet off, handing it over to the man. The man studied the gauntlet, looking for something.

            “Ah, here it is. Let’s see, these are made of Cuddlefu leather, nice… You have a good eye for armor.”

            It took a great deal more willpower than he would have like to prevent himself from chuckling at the name of the leather.

            “ha-ha, I need to stop being so childish, but still, Cuddlefu? Who names these creatures?”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

            A small smile slipped out, but he gave no indication of his thoughts otherwise.     

            “I have never heard of a Cuddlefu, what are they?”

            “They are some seriously vicious creatures. They kill by hugging. Stealthy little bastards, they sneak up on their prey and grab them, crushing them onto themselves. To make it worse, there chest is covered in sharp points. Never let one get close to you, or else your dead. They’re not afraid to hunt us.”

            “It fucking kills by hugging!”

            He couldn’t help it; he was dying inside. He had never heard of such a creature. It sounded like something he’d read in a crappy novel.

            “I see…”

            “That’s where these spikes on the back of the hand come from, there made of the chest of the Cuddlefu. The back is mostly soft and workable, so the rest of the gauntlet is made of that. Makes a great gauntlet. I’m surprised we had them. I’ll sell them for… twenty Septum’s.”

            The price sounded outrageous, but he knew there was no way for him to argue. He didn’t know much in the way of bargaining, too used to the set prices of his old life.

            “I’ll take them. Though I want to keep looking, so if you could hold on to them for now, I’d appreciate it.”

            “No problem, they’ll be over here waiting for you.”

            Ryder nodded, symbolizing his thanks, and continued digging into the pile of armor.

            The sun crept across the sky while he continued to search, trying many pieces on, but finding nothing that struck his fancy.

            “shop keep, I’m done. I couldn’t find anything else.”

            The shop keep had fallen asleep, obviously not worried about him stealing anything.

            “Wow, some store guard you are.”

            “Hey, wake up!”

            ‘thud’

            “huh! What?”

            The man stumbled out of the chair he’d been sleeping in, confused and groggy. It took him a second just to realize Ryder was standing next to him.

            “Ah, give up? You been at for a while, I’m surprised you kept at for so long. Most of the stuff in there is junk.”

            “I see… Where does it come from then?”

            “Oh, mercenaries and the like usually sell it to us. Typically looted from a corpse I’d wager. You still want the gloves?”

            “Yes please.”

            “How much did I say they were?”

            Ryder smiled.

            “eighteen Septum’s if I remember correctly.”

            “Hahah, trying to pull one over on me? I remember, twenty Septum’s!”

            Ryder gave him a sly smile back.

            “I wouldn’t dare, my memory must be going. Here you are, twenty Septum’s”

            Ryder piled the coins onto the counter, and the shop keep wasted no time counted them. With a satisfied grunt, he handed over the gauntlets.

            “thank you for your business, come again!”

            Ryder nodded, and left the store.

  "Ive spent 31 Septums today, I need to know where i can exhange a few of these Royal Septums for smaller change..."

            He had spent far longer in the store than he thought he would, and he hadn’t bought near as much as he wanted to, but only the gauntlets fit well. He would have to see about getting a custom set of armor made. Maybe Yuri could tell him about it, her armor, though bloody, had looked reliable and strong.

            “I wonder if she finished her matter outside the city…”

            He had done most of what he wanted to do, and it was getting late. He still had somewhere to stop before he could head back to the inn though. He needed to pick up his clothes. Though he would be a little early, it would be better than arriving late, and having the shop close.

            The streets were somewhat quiet. While the number of people moving around the city hadn’t decreased, the usually bright, almost festive, atmosphere was nowhere to be found. The sound of people laughing had disappeared.

“I wonder what happened. I mean come on, I was only in that store a few hours. What could have happened in that time to turn the city into this state?”

            He pondered the unhappy expressions of the people he passed on the way to get his clothes. It made for a confusing walk. The farther he got to the outside of the city, the unhappier the people looked.

            By the time he reached the shop, he spotted quite a few people actually crying in the streets.

            “Hello again! I’m probably early, but I’m here to get my clothes.”

            The old lady stood next to a small boy, who was panting away and obviously exhausted.

            “Ah, perfect timing. The errand boy just brought them in. Seven pairs of trousers, three shirts of whitten, and four shirts of Belfast and Whiten. Here they are, what do you think of them?”

            Ryder was impressed. Not only by the shirts and trousers, which were amazing, but by the grit of the small boy. The boy probably didn’t earn much in the way of money for the job, yet he still put his all into it and had arrived here before he actually needed to. 

            “These are great, and I’m impressed you were able to sew them all so quickly. Is this boy the errand boy?”

            The old lady smiled, pleased by the compliments.

            “Yes, we often hire the orphans in the city to run things for us. Helps them earn a living, and us get our goods around the city.”

            “An impressive, and good natured, idea. Well done boy. you made it here before I did, and i came early!”

            Ryder didn’t know the boy’s name, so he got the generic greeting. Ryder knelt in front of the boy, who had recovered his breath enough to not be clutching his sides. He had the boy’s full attention now.

  "Kid's skin and bones, I can only imagine how tough it must be to be both poor and too young to earn a decent living."

            “I admire those who go above and beyond to complete their duty. You could have just walked, but you didnt, you rushed to make sure this was delilvered on time. Tell me, if I were to tip you, would you prefer money, or this dagger here?”

            The dagger wasn’t expensive, though it was old. It was just one of the many daggers cluttering the ring. An orphan would have a long hard life ahead of them, and money wouldn’t get him as far as a trusty blade would.

            “T—Thankyou Sir! The blade please mister!”

            Ryder chuckled at the boys excited speech.

            “What is your name, boy?”

            “ah, I’m sorry. My names Ginn, sir.”

            “Then I present you this blade, Ginn, for doing such a splendid job today.”

            The boy took the dagger gingerly, as if he couldn’t believe it to be true. The boy gave the old lady one last look, and she nodded at him, before running off. Most likely back to the orphanage or to another job. Now, the boy had a weapon worthy of protecting himself. He would have to fight hard to keep it though.

            “You already paid, so the clothes are yours. That was a nice thing you did there with the boy. Even if they had the money, no one would sell them a blade, not that young. They certainly need the protection of one though.”

            “It’s not something special, just helping out because I admired Ginn’s drive and determination to succeed. Thank you for the clothes, can I use that back room to change out of these rags?”

            “Certainly.”

            Ryder didn’t even hold onto the old clothes, just incinerating them with his arcane flame. He didn’t want to leave them and make the old lady have to clean them up after all. thanks to the bracelet he wore, he wouldnt have to worry about setting any shops on fire, for now at least. 

            He waved to the lady on his way out, looking rather striking in his new clothes. Though they were on the level that most nobles were, they were both comfortable and fashionable. He didn't need to look too fancy anyway.

            The walk back to the inn was worse than before. The streets had only gotten worse in his time in the tailor, and more and more people had looks of sadness and regret. 

            Which made the sight of the inn, packed full of customers, something of a shock.

There wasn’t even a seat open at the bar, that’s how packed the place was. The waitresses were running around pouring drinks and serving food as fast as they could. Even the mute bartender was working, and Ryder hadn’t seen him do much work since he got there.

            He spotted Lisa speaking with a waitress that had spilt some liquor on the floor, and quickly approached to speak with her.

            “Lisa! This place is packed, you got a special going on or something?”

            “Oh, Ryder! No, that’s not why. Most of these people are mercenaries, killing time before the battle.”

            “Battle? What battle?”

            “There’s an army outside the city! Apparently some big noble from the capital sent a private army to take the city.”

“Maybe that’s why everyone looked sad…”

            “Wow. And all these people are mercenaries?”

            “Most of them. A few may be looking to bribe one of them into getting them out of the city though. Not everyone wants to be a part of this fight. In fact, most commoners want nothing to do with it.”

            “Then what are the nobles going to do? Just let them take it over?”

            “Of course not. Most nobles have their own small armies. The nobles are just trying to even out the numbers, or gain an advantage. The common folk have always been the first tool of the nobles in war. Dont be too worried about it, itll be a few days yet until something happens. I would grab some shut eye if I were you, nothings going to happen tonight..."  

    "I wonder where Yuri is?"