Orochalcus walked on, through various more terrains, through various more times, several days, in fact, all the many environments merging in their insignificance. He was alert and on guard, of course, he always was, but now it was even moreso, after the earlier incident with the bandits, he was unwilling to let himself be caught off guard by anyone else. Even if he had gotten lucky that one time, there could be nothing short of uncertainty as to whether or not his next encounter with someone would play out the same way. He was strong, no doubt about that, but the simple fact was that there could always be someone stronger, someone more capable in combat than he. He knew that there was multiple of such people, and that it was a matter of when he encountered one again, not if, but even then, there was the chance someone could catch him off guard, and if that happened, strength wouldn’t save him, so he had to stay alert, at least in his eyes, that was his best, if not only, hope at being able to persist.

It was only after several days of walking, characterised by an extremely minimal amount of sleep and intense paranoia that he found something. He hadn’t really been looking for anything as he travelled, so the sight of something wouldn’t have been as relieving as one would’ve expected, that would be provided it were not for the specifics of his situation. What he found was a settlement, the fact it’s perimeter walls were made of stone rather than wood or fence indicated it to be a relatively large town, a rarity in the region, at least as far as Orochalcus had seen. He wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of having to deal with other people, he had for a long time seen it as best to avoid that wherever possible, but his reserves of food weren’t exactly high after his long travel, so he wasn’t exactly left with much choice, though that didn’t mean he was going to be staying for a while.

He felt himself approaching the settlement, clutching the glorified sheet that was his cloak tighter than usual in a subconscious attempt to prevent it from falling away, allowing it to better conceal what was beneath it, since he saw it as unlikely people would be friendly if he knew how many weapons he was carrying under there. As he approached the protrusion in the wall that almost undoubtedly indicated an entrance to the town, he noticed there to be no guards present, which was most certainly an oddity.

“Huh, how odd…”

He muttered to himself, before carrying on, unperturbed. He wasn’t exactly unhappy about this fact, quite the opposite, it only made it easier for him, after all, no guards meant no one to police his entrance into the town, which would only serve to make it easier for him to just get what he needed and leave.

He eventually reached the gate and walked in, just as he had observed, no one was standing watch, typically, with a settlement of that size, there would be at least a handful of men guarding, trying to keep suspicious people, an umbrella which often included himself, out. He didn’t question it, though, since it didn’t really matter much to him, though to say he wasn’t at the very least curious would be a lie.

Walking in, it was more or less the same as he had expected, the town looked like something out of a typical medieval movie, the kind that very much glorified the life of a peasant during the pre-modern era. Of course, to these people, those words would have as much meaning to them as something in a foreign language, this was simply life for them. Besides, it was certainly far from terrible, the stench one would typically associate with such an underdeveloped region was more or less absent, likely due to people here having at least a basic understanding of hygiene.

That wasn’t to say it was a pleasant place, though, there was still a mild foulness that permeated the air, though it was the kind Orochalcus had grown accustomed to in his time, to the point where he was hardly capable of paying it any mind. The road he walked along was incredibly rough, cracked cobblestones lining the space between the tall, densely packed buildings people lived and worked in. It was like walking through a more impoverished area of sixteenth century London, rows upon rows of tall, wooden housing imposing on the minimal space between them. Space was, in spite of what one would expect, a limited resource, thus, people build upwards, not outwards, as it’s substantially easier to defend a smaller area like a town than it is to defend a sprawling city, And with the consistent threat posed by this earth, that advantage was effectively necessary.

Orochalcus trudged his way through the streets, his large, form, concealed by the black sheet he continued to clutch tightly over himself swiftly flowing though the thin, enclosed roads of the town. People looked, of course, why wouldn’t they? But they never said so much as a word, perhaps it was fear? Perhaps they had simply seen stranger, that much failed to hold any significance in Orochalcus’s mind. He had no intentions of staying here, so there was no point in contemplating these matters.

Before long, Orochalcus had found himself in a small market, an area far more crowded than the rest of the town, something which he was not fond of, but it was where any supplies he could hope to acquire would be located, thus, he had no choice but to head in.

Towns in this region of the world tended to be like that. The market’s were hubs of trade and commerce, practically the only places where those things occurred, one could expect to find just about anything, and anyone, there. Be it food or other supplies, or craftsmen and blacksmiths, if you wanted something, the market would be the place you would go, and as it was something Orochalcus wanted, the market would be the place he would go.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

He trudged through the market, flowing through the openings in the crowd of people that existed within it, before he heard a call, presumably aimed at him.

”Hey, you there! Tall guy in the black!”

Orochalcus glanced over at the site of a noise, and saw a man looking at him, seemingly motioning for him to come closer, which, after some rather brief contemplation, he chose to do.

”I take it you’re a vagabond? given your general demeanour, I can tell you’re not from here.”

The man said, looking up at Orochalcus with a rather welcoming expression, before receiving a response from the man he had just called to.

”Yeah, something like that, I suppose. What of it?”

The man once again spoke, still seeming as strangely inviting as he already had, was this typical of people here? Orochalcus pondered as he replied, not fully paying attention, before it dawned on him that this man must be some kind of salesmen, merchants from this region tended to seem overly friendly to sell their products, that explained his behaviour rather well, so Orochalcus continued to go by that assumption as he listened.

”You must be starving, and you look like you haven’t had a proper rest in-“

Orochalcus interrupted, speaking as bluntly as he always did.

”Stop blabbering, as I said, what of it?”

The merchant visually seemed slightly taken aback by his bluntness, but still managed to keep up his act for the most part.

”W-well, you see, I run a bed and breakfast ordeal not too far from here, good food and good sleep, seems like the sort of thing someone like you could use, no?”

Orochalcus thought for a second, sure, it wasn’t necessary, if anything, he would probably be better off declining, though at the same time, what harm did it do for him to accept? The man made a fair point, Orochalcus indeed hadn’t had a good night’s rest for the better part of a month by now, and he’d be lying to say he wasn’t interested at the prospect of some decent food, so he sighed, and looked down at the merchant yet again, before speaking.

”I suppose so, yeah.”

He paused for a moment, looking up at the sky, observing how it had once again darkened after he had left the area where he was nearly robbed less than a day earlier, before looking back down, and continuing.

”Lead the way, then.”

The man smiled, and began walking off, motioning for Orochalcus to follow him.

”Excellent, excellent, come along now, feel free to ask me anything along the way.”

Orochalcus obliged, following silently for a short while, before eventually deciding to take him up on his second offer.

”Why weren’t there any guards at the town gates? Have you guys got a mercenary band guarding this place or something?”

Mercenary bands were effectively the norm in this world, especially in more decentralised nations, such as the one he currently found himself in, many towns would pay these bands to take the position as a local army, defending the settlement from anything that threatened them, so it was not unreasonable to expect that to be the case, given the lack of active guards.

“Oh, yes, indeed we do, just a few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to strike a deal with the November arm-“

Orochalcus suddenly stopped moving, his eyes widening at the mere mention of that group, he stayed silent for a moment, before seemingly recollecting himself, and continuing walking behind the man.

”November army…? I see…”

The man looked back at him, seeming slightly confused at Orochalcus’s sudden change in pace, eventually deciding to inquire the reason for such a strange reaction.

”I take it you know them, given your reaction?”

Orochalcus briefly sighed, and nodded, before making the choice to elaborate further.

”Yeah, I’m an ex-member, well, sort of, anyways.”

”sort of…?”

The merchant inquired, looking back up at Orochalcus.

”Yeah, it’s a long story, best you don’t worry about it.”

Orochalcus quickly responded, clearly unwilling to elaborate further, prompting the man to cease questioning him, resuming simply leading the way, before deciding to throw out a few more words.

”They’re making one of their regular visits in a few days, maybe you’ll stick around, catch up with some old friends, perhaps?”

Orochalcus once again seemed visually caught off guard, but kept moving this time, not having as severe a reaction, as if he were almost expecting that to be the case.

”You don’t say…”

Orochalcus suddenly grinned, a strange, sadistic smirk, as if he had just been given the best news in the world.

”Yeah, I suppose I can… stick around.”

The merchant glanced at him, clearly discomforted by his expressions, but decided to disregard it, Vagabonds tended to be enigmatic people, after all, so a slight bit of unusuality was to be expected.

Both remained silent for the remainder of the walk, which didn’t last all that long following that point, they walked for at most a few minutes before the man stopped In front of the door to a building, pulling out a key to unlock it, before holding it open, motioning for Orochalcus to step inside.

”Well, here’s the place.”

Both men walked inside, with Orochalcus ducking slightly to fit himself through the doorframe, as the man motioned to the stairs, which were barely a few feet from the door, which was unsurprising, given the vertical nature of this house, and seemingly all others in the town, for that matter.

”The beds are up there, find a room, and feel free to leave all your stuff there. Just get rested for now, you can pay in the morning.”

Orochalcus nodded, and headed up to the second floor, where he did just what was recommended to him, dumping the various belts strapped with weapons and tools he wore at almost all times on the ground, alongside the colossal slab of metal he called a sword, before speaking to himself.

“How oddly nice of him, no doubt he’s going to charge me an outrageous amount in the morning because of this, though…”

He just shrugged, and continued to throw other miscellaneous objects to the floor, but what he didn’t part with, however, was his cloak, which he continued to clutch over himself, even as he threw himself onto the rough bed, which, despite it’s coarseness, felt unfathomably soft, given how he had been living up to that point in comparison. Slowly, he felt himself drift off to sleep, actual sleep, despite his paranoia and almost permanent concern, there was something about being back in civilisation that put him just as much at ease as it did on edge, just enough so to sleep properly, so for the first time in nearly a month, he would sleep a full night.