The guard captain made some small talk, sometimes trying to fish for information on my background. It seemed more like curiosity than harmful intentions but I still kept to myself where I was from and how I had ‘become sapient’.
After a while, Ogart returned with my two potions and 15 gold coins as well as 15 silver. He said something along the lines of gold coins being cumbersome for everyday use. There were other types as well, the most common being copper, ten of which made up a bronze and ten of those were a silver. Something above gold also existed, though while it was called vis coin it did not actually exist physically. It was only used on checks to avoid writing too large numbers for the biggest interactions. 100 gold was one vis coin.
I said gave my goodbyes to the captain and followed Ogart back to the gatehouse where a book laid on the table. The title read Borsdown Law in Ordugh.
“This book contains all laws that apply in the town of Borsdown. The first section is made up of laws valid everywhere in dwarven lands. The Priors formed this constitution ages ago and to this day they reconvene every five years to discuss changes and problems arising from it. After that, all the small amendments and adjustments applicable in our town are listed. It should be enough if I teach you the basics of the constitution, for now. We will still have a dwarf accompany you while in town in case something is unclear.”
I glanced at the dwarf for a moment before dismissing him with a wave of a wing. Then I jumped up to the book and started reading through it. After I had progressed to the third page, Ogart snapped out of his confusion.
“You can read?”, he asked.
I gave him a nod.
“Uh, that’s good. I see. Then I will just.. stay here in case you have any questions.”
With that, he sat down and I went back to the book. I mostly skimmed through it. It was not very interesting. Most of it was just common sense in my previous life. Don’t kill, other than in self-defence or to protect others. Don’t steal. Don’t torture. Other things were slightly different. For example, there was a law about challenges. If a dwarf was challenged or issued a challenge, the involved parties could, after consulting with their Priors, negate any other laws. As long as they would not inconvenience other people. There was a side note that for Borsdown, in addition to the respective Priors of their clans, the challenge had to be permitted by the guard captain.
Another thing that stood out was that touching a dwarves ears without permission was punished almost as harsh as rape. It apparently filed under sexual assault. Grabbing someone else’s genitals in public was punished less heavily.
After going through most of the constitution part, I decided to drop it there. It was only twelve pages up to this point but the book had over two hundred in total. Way too much for anyone sane. As the book slapped shut, Ogart woke up from half-dazing in his chair.
“Are you good? Understood everything?”
I nodded.
“Okay, right. Then, I’ll just ask you a few questions about the basics.”
And ask he did. It seemed like way too much but I was too impressed by how well he had memorized that many laws to get bored. He added explanations and examples for everything as if explaining it to a child. I guess I was less than a year old. But I was an adult, according to the system, and had already lived quite some time as a human before. He could have treated me a little more seriously.
“… and when there is something you really want, you can always ask the owner what it would take you to get it.”
At that point, we were interrupted by knocking on the door. It opened and a familiar face entered the building. Safrah, the leatherworker, walked into the gatehouse.
“Greetings, vice-captain. You needed me?”
She gave me a glance, then a second one, before her eyes widened in recognition.
“Ah, yes Safrah. You see, Fio here came back and paid her debts and wants to see some of the town. I don’t actually know what she wants to do here but as a sapient monster, she is owed a chaperon after the Priors’ agreement. Since you two already met, we decided to assign you to her.”
He turned to me.
“Fio, for you that means, whenever you have questions about the town or our culture, you can ask Safrah. If she does not know the details she will send you to us, but this way relieves a lot of work for the protectors of this town. This does not mean you have to stick to her. It simply means, she will provide you a place to stay at her home, whenever you want it, and help you learn how to live in a society of sapients.”
I tilted my head. That seemed like a nice deal but was it not unfair towards Safrah? I realized, I was still connected to the guard captain and decided to just ask him.
“Captain, this chaperone thing. It seems unfair to the dwarf chosen to help me.”
I felt surprise and a little bit of fear glimpse across before the captain got it under control and gave me an answer.
“Ah, this connection is powerful, huh? How far does it reach? Well, as for your question, Safrah is paid from our treasury for her troubles. She does not have to work with how much she gains, though most chaperons do continue their normal life. Sapient monsters usually either leave or integrate themselves at some point, so it doesn’t pay for life.”
That seemed better. Of course, I answered the captain’s question as well.
Stolen story; please report.
“I require close proximity of fewer than ten metres to establish a connection. After that, it holds until about a kilometre of separation. I do not have exact measurements, though. If you want, I will disconnect from you.”
“Hmm. That would be for the best. Better avoid distracting me from work. After all, you can keep this connection with your chaperon.”
That sounded fair.
“Alright,” I sent, “Thank you for your help, Captain.”
I relayed a feeling of gratefulness along with my thoughts before cutting the connection. Then I formed a new one with Safrah. It was not too difficult to keep up multiple ones but it did use a little bit of mana, increasing with distance between the parties. This made flux build up which, for one connection even at maximum distance, was not much of an issue. For two, I had to be close to at least one party, or I would get problems. Vivi also had complained about additional flux, so it was not only on my side. And with only a little magic within the dwarves, they might get some issues if I kept it up for too long.
I hooted a greeting at Safrah. It brought a slight smile to her face.
“Hello, Safrah. I’m glad to be in your care.”
She nodded.
“Hello, Fio. You are much less scary like this.”
I shook my head.
“I can be much worse if I have to be. You can speak to me in your mind if you want to. The connection should hold across most of the town, so you won’t need to accompany me all that often.”
She shied back a little.
“Ah, well…”, her voice trailed off.
I saw her probing the magic connected to her soul. It was easy to spot when it was a connection created by my item. Instead of letting her fumble in the dark, I guided her soul to where it should be and soon she tried speaking with telepathy.
“I.. Uhmm… Am I doing this, right?”
She was a little off, her voice changing volume randomly, but she had time to learn. I nodded.
“It’s good. You obviously have no experience with magic but it won’t be difficult to get used to it. I promise.”
Maybe I was a bit biased here. After all, I had reached major enrichment before even adulthood, which apparently was a serious achievement.
Safrah nodded sheepishly and turned to Ogart.
“Well, then. We will be going. Ahm, goodbye.”
Her ears flicked cutely in embarrassment or nervousness. I would have to figure out how these dwarves’ body language worked.
“Goodbye, Safrah. Keep strong. I know this is sudden, but Fio seems to be very thoughtful. Even the captain trusts her.”
The woman nodded with a little more enthusiasm this time, before waving me to follow and walking out of the building. I kept up and we started to make our way into town.
At first, it was a bit awkward, so I simply observed the surroundings. The buildings were mostly stone with some wood here and there. Mostly beams forming a framework, window-frames and doors. Most buildings were decorated with artistic carvings on the walls. A lot of them were geometrical shapes and spiralling patterns similar to Celtic ornaments. Some of them were adorned with colourful metal, copper or bronze turned green from the weather, silver-ish lines of what was most likely steel and even the occasional golden blossom. A few told what seemed like simple stories. Dwarves smithing, carving and cutting wood were eternalized in the material. I soon realized those buildings were crafting shops dealing in the corresponding disciplines. They also lined up with the materials, the smiths using more metal, the carpenters more wood and the stonecutters, well, stone.
The dwarves themselves were a scarce sight on the late-morning streets. The cobbled roads were only occupied by some few people here and there. The largest commotion was the merchant’s caravan which had stopped at something like an inn and were unloading their wagons. I received a lot of stares when passing but nobody had the courage to approach. Or maybe they wanted to avoid getting scolded by their boss. I was happy to dodge further attention for now.
Finally, Safrah collected her wits and started talking. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before reaching out through connection.
“Um, I.. I’ll show you my home for now, okay? Then you know where you can get some rest. And if you have any questions, just ask. Okay?”
She gave me a shy look. I expected her to be middle-aged from her appearance, maybe in her early thirties, but now I was curious. While I nodded and sent an affirmation through the connection, I activated [Hidden Identify].
[Identify]
Species: Felt-Ear Dwarf (Adult)
Age: 48
Name: Safrah Gerber
Gender: female
Level: 27
Hmm. That was a bit older than expected and quite a low level. I had almost caught up and that was just with my race level. Granted, she might have a higher Class level than me, but still. I had expected a little more.
We walked deeper into town, down some smaller streets, before coming up on a very smelly place. Even with my nearly non-existent sense of smell, it was annoying. I quickly found the source. A bunch of skins hung out to dry near some houses at the end of the alley. This was where the tanners had set up.
“Excuse the smell. It is not nearly as bad where I live but since this is where I work and the most direct place to my home I wanted to show it to you. I usually take the back alleys to get where I need to not only because I don’t wear my dionan during work.”
That made perfect sense. I nodded encouragingly at her pained smile and urged her to keep moving.
“My sense of smell is not very good. Now I am glad about that.”
Safrah giggled, loosening up a bit for the first time since meeting me today. We could totally make this work. But could I get Vivi to explore the town with me if this place was where we would have to stay?