I luckily got a good night's sleep. I was worried that the rocking of the hammock would stop me from going to sleep. I slowly got up and helped Sherrel and Jon in the Kitchen.
Sherrel smiled and looked back at me. She had a pan of sausages in her hand and she was turning them over in the wood stove. “How did you sleep last night Yui?”
“Not too bad. Hey I got to thinking, I was wondering if we got started on our day a little bit earlier. I still know nothing about this city. Even its name”.
Both siblings looked at me with surprise and bewilderment. Jon smirked “You’re telling me that you didn’t have any clue about the name of the city you've been in for what?”
I sighed “About four days since I arrived here” I needed to slow down and learn more about my situation. I was nearly killed yesterday.
Jon gave me an even stare. He looked like he was thinking over what he was about to say. “So this entire city is called Gloomreach and when you first got here you went to the Adventurers Guild?”. I nodded my head.
“So the main district that you went to, the one with the Guild Hall, was the business market. It contains the Guild Hall and all the other smaller shops that sell items to adventurers”. He took a sausage out of the pan that Sherrel was cooking in and popped it in his mouth.
“So the bathhouse, where you worked with my sister, is near the outer district of the city. Next time you’re there make sure to keep an eye out for anyone following you. Crime happens much more often. The last thing we need is a dead apprentice.”
I nodded again “Thanks for the information. Do you know where I can find the main market area?”.
“It's directly in the middle of the commoners district. In the north part of the ring that separates it from the noble district. I'm sure you noticed that when first coming into Gloomreach. We have 3 walls separating 3 different districts and each district is protected by order of importance”
He finished the sausage and then swallowed it down quickly “It sounds grand, but it's only in place to protect the nobles before anyone else. Not like they're in want of protection anyways. With their unique classes and large estates”.
Sherrel winced “Just make sure not to anger any noble if you see them, you can tell who they are by the extravagant robes that most of them wear out in public, they also only travel by carriage with guards when coming to the commoners district”
She grabbed some plates from one of the cabinets and then served us at the table. I looked over their house some more. It was a dump compared to the modern amenities I had nearly a week ago, but It was surprisingly cozy. I guess having someone to live with really affected the mood. I was a NEET for the last 2 years of high school and my social skills were nothing to brag about.
The house was mostly constructed out of wood. So were most of the other buildings in the Outer district now that I thought about it. The commoners district was where the majority of the larger stone constructed buildings were. I never got to see the nobles district. I imagine that the entrance to it was the large golden gate that I saw on my first day in the city.
Jon finished his plate and then cleared his throat “Well Yui, I think it's time we head out for your first day of work. I’ll show you the ropes and then you can learn more over the course of the next few days”.
We both packed up some of the tools that we would need and then headed out after saying a swift goodbye to Sherrel.
Me and Jon made our way through the city, as we kept crossing different markets and squares, he pointed out the various shops and landmarks that I would need to find my way across the city. The one thing that struck me was the amount of different churches across the city. They were different from the ones back on Earth. There were also a lot more of them as well. Most of them were simple constructions and didn't have any large features like ones back at home. Even though the System existed there were still a large amount of faiths for such a small city. I counted nearly 6 different religions on my way to the docks. Just another reason for me to pay attention. The humans in the city would be much more dangerous than a couple hobs. I didn't want to step on any toes so far. My system was still not working and anyone with a Class or Profession could potentially overpower me.
Jon led me through a long back alley between two houses and it finally opened up. The sun shined straight in my eyes and I felt it beating down on me. We finally made it to the docks and to the first day of my apprenticeship.
Jon led me down to the smaller section of the docks. I saw boats line up and in various different makes and sizes. The first thing that hit me was the stench. It was nearly unbearable, but I wouldn't quit now, I owed it to Jon and his sister. They took me in when no-one else would. There were around a dozen other boys my age that were working around the docks as well. All of them were efficiently and quickly gutting all the fish into neat piles and then ferrying them off into a building. Jon beckoned me over and I walked into the building with him.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Jon, who do we have here!” a large rotund man bellowed out.
“I told you about this yesterday Felix. My sister found me a new apprentice”
“Well Well, Come over here boy. Let me look at what we got.”
Felix looked me up and down nearly the same way that Jon did yesterday “Does he have a class?”
“No boss, but he was able to carve wood better than me last night. He knows his way around a knife. Skills or not.”
Felix grunted and told one of the boys to bring in a fish from the dock “I’ll show him the basic movements and you can show him everything else and remember”
Jon shot back at him “Fifteen fish gutted in the first two hours or he is out.”
Felix gave him a wide toothy smile “That's why you're my favorite boy, you got cheek”.
Jon laughed it off and then walked out of the office.
One of the other workers handed Felix the fish and then walked out.
He slowly went over each portion of the fish. He told me to make sure to never hit the guts and to cleanly slice everything off the ribs. The rest of the fish was to be thrown in another basket. The leftovers were taken to be re-used somewhere else. I was slightly nervous, but Felix slapped me on the back and told me to not worry too much.
The first two fish were nearly disasters, but I was able to recover with the help of one of the other boys at the dock. His name was Evan. I was a little nervous to talk at first but before long I was being Introduced to every one of them. Me and Evan made a pretty good team. He would take my left-overs and run them down the docks and come back to give me some more advice. His curly blonde hair fell down his shoulders and he was quick to laugh about my suffering so far. I was worried at first that I wouldn't pass the test. but my years of work with wood carving had helped with any problems that I might have had. Jon had come over to check up on me multiple times and seemed satisfied with what I was doing so far. I was glad that I was able to finish everything up without any hiccups.
Evan eventually left me halfway throughout the day and I was finally working on my own to try and manage both the cutting and the running. The heat of the docks was really starting to get on me, but this paid nearly twice as much as if I was just scrubbing clothes all day. I managed to keep up and talk some more to the other boys at the docks as well. Peter and Jacob were helping me and discussing some of the things that helped them throughout the day. It seemed as though every other boy at the docks was in the same situation that I was, or they were burdened with taking care of their family’s at a much younger age.
After 30 fish and 5 hours of work, I went back over to Jacob’s station and we both started to pack up all the fish that we had gutted for the day. I said my goodbyes to everyone else and dragged my scolding hot feet back over the dry wooden docks. Jon and I were to be paid 10 copper at the end of the week. Jon was still getting paid 7 copper per week for his time. He not only gutted fish but also haggled in the market square and to other potential shops. I was told that my income would rise to 5 copper a week if I was able to keep up with everyone else. Back on Earth everyone would have been paid a similar wage, but in the Outer district of Gloomreach it seemed as every copper and bronze coin was pinched in-between greedy fingers.
Jon inclined his head towards me “So what did you think of your first day?”
“It felt familiar to me. I'm used to working with knives. That stench has nearly covered my entire body, but we are going to the bath house right?”
Jon chuckled “Taking a bath usually costs too much, once you learn to skip out on it you get accustomed”
My face froze in genuine terror
Jon nearly fell over from laughter a second later. “Oh man did I get you good with that one.”
He quieted down after a second and then looked back at me “But, seriously. Thanks for helping me at the docks and with my sister. I know that our situation is pretty weird. With us being strangers that are dependent on each other currently. I'm glad you turned out to be a nice guy.”
I shook his hand shortly after. He was weirded out until I explained that it was a cultural thing from my hometown. Both of us laughed off afterwards and got back to the bathhouse’s as quick as possible
While me and Jon relaxed in the tubs I decided to keep messing around with my system. The biggest thing that leapt out at me was that I could change the window from transparent to a more opaque blue color.
Name: Yui Yamamoto Class: ??? Abilities: ??? STR - 10 CON - 10 DEX - 11 INT - 15 CHILD LOCK ACTIVATED TIME: INDEFINITE
I was also able to start opening the system within my head instead of saying each syllable out loud, but the same rules applied, pronounce one syllable or character the wrong way and you would be in a world of hurt pretty quickly. That was also something that I was getting used to as well. The mental pain of opening the system correctly for the first time knocked me out, now it was just like getting a small headache for 15 minutes. I scrubbed off the smell of the fish guts while relaxing in the tub. It only cost 1 copper a week to reserve one and it was definitely worth it. My time in this world wasn't so bad I thought. Minus the fish guts, those greasy, grimy, fish guts. Yuck.