As we got closer to the collection of buildings in front of the wall, I began seeing smoke in the air and people walking around the area with tattered clothes similar to how the couples' looked now after their beating. The area itself was centered around the gate which was the entrance of the actual city and seemed to be bustling on the surface, but with a closer look, one could see that everything was in terrible shape especially the buildings on the outer edges. Everything except the road which ran straight through the area was abandoned-looking but had some sort of flame inside indicating that something was going on inside of there.

The people themselves had tired looks on their faces as they dragged their feet to whatever destination awaited them. They all carried picks or axes that were rough but better than anything I could remember from the villages. I assume the farms we rode past used hoes of the same quality as well but that was the only good thing I have seen so far, as even the kids who I saw sitting or crouching in the more wide paths between the building lacked the playfulness you would expect from kids their age.

I sighed and shook my head when I saw all of this as we continued forward. Their lives might not have been as perilous as those in the village, but I personally would only put these a peg above those in the village.

This depressing sight only multiplied as we got closer to the gate which had a line gathered in front of it, but was still open making the merchant quite happy I assume. The line was filled with people in similar tattered clothes and seemed to consist of mostly adult males. Most of them were staring blankly into the sky and while were checking their clothes for something. I was trying to figure out what was going on with them when I heard the answer to my question coming from what I assumed was a soldier at the front of the line.

"IF YOU CAN NOT PAY FIVE SILVER, YOU CAN NOT ENTER!"

"WORK OUTSIDE THE WALLS UNTIL YOU CAN AFFORD ENTRY!"

I didn't know if the price the soldier had stated for entry was expensive or not but going off the reaction of the folk in the line it obviously wasn't a small amount. I looked over at the merchant and was about to ask him if my group should get off there, but he stopped me before I could even say anything.

He waved his hand and told me that he would pay for our entry to the town. I nodded and thanked the merchant, but that only earned me a side-eyeing from the guy. I chuckled at his reaction, however, I still had another question so I spoke to the merchant once again.

"One more thing, How does your money work here? I saw that you had a few coins before but none of them were silver, What is the exchange rate between coins of different materials?"

The merchant was nodding along with my words until he heard the last part. I could have sworn that I saw the man's eyes pop out of his head when he turned his head to scrutinize my face I presume. He stared at me for at least thirty seconds before he decided to say something.

"You... You are no barbarian. And to think I... I wish to apologize for my words earlier Sir Rallo.. I did not-"

I stopped him before he could continue.

"You're good, It is just a word like all others. No offense taken." I waved my hands in front of me.

He continued staring at me before speaking as our carriage slowed to a stop behind another carriage whose driver was currently paying the fee to enter the city.

"I see... Well, a gold coin is worth a hundred silver coins, and one silver coin is worth a thousand copper coins. I usually get paid in silver unless I make a good run so I think silver is the most commonly used coin. Only those nobles can throw around gold like its copper." *spits*

I nodded as I found his answer decent enough but I didn't expect passionate hate from him out of the blue. I wanted to think it was a personal grudge he had against some noble family, but my gut is telling me that his feelings are shared by majority of the people living out here.

The horse dragging the carriage along took a few more steps forward as the merchant instructed before stopping again, allowing one of the many guards at the gate to step forward with a smug look on his face. Unlike the bandit who had on a jack-of-plate type of armor and hardened leather bracers, all the guards here had on many layers of armor including matching brigandines that were yellow and red on the right and left respectively. They had matching plate armor for their arms and legs, as well as their helmets and I could also see holsters with swords inside them I assume.

I would compliment them if they didn't look at us as if we were currently breathing their allotted air for the day.

"Pay up or join the cattle behind you. By the looks of you, I think there will brand from your master if we search hard enough."

The guards who stood in a line covering the entrance of the town all laugh at his 'joke'. The merchant ignored his remarks while pulling out one of the gold coins I saw in that pouch earlier. He spoke before handing the coin over to the guard.

"There are seven of us in total. After receiving my silver, I will be out of your hair. I have to report to the merchant's guild before nightfall so please don't take too long sir."

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The guard received the gold coin with a look of greed in his eyes before it was instantly washed away by the words 'merchant's guild'. He grumbled something that neither the merchant nor I could hear under his breath before walking over to a door inside the gate and wall by extension. He then knocked on the door before saying something along the lines of 'fucking merchant' and 'stupid guild' to someone that had opened the door. After walking inside the door, we waited for a couple of minutes before the guard came back with a decent size sack of silver coins I presume.

After strutting with the bag like he was a model while walking towards us, he threw the bag into the merchant's chest making a slight thump noise but an even more clanging than before. He then waved at the guards who moved in unison almost like a human door to make a way for us to enter. The merchant placed the bag on the seat in between him and me before instructing the horse to begin moving forward.

We passed the metal door that the guard knocked on inside the gatehouse but saw nothing else of note. I looked for murder holes in the ceiling where you would expect them and saw at least twelve. While most of them seemed to be used for arrows some of the big ones were clearly for rocks as they had the circumference of a basketball. I also saw another sliding gate on the other side of the gatehouse that was fully opened, I guess they would only close it when needed.

Once we passed through the gatehouse we continued along the route as we did before except now the semi-wide dirt road had been replaced by a slightly wider gravel road that through to the center of the town, which held a town square of some kind. All the buildings along this road were made of the same stone and mortar as the wall surrounding them. Most of the smaller buildings seemed to serve as shops of some kind as well as various inns, but the few huge ones at the end of the road seemed to be homes of the nobles who rule here. They stood out not only because their but also because they had miniature walls separating the properties from the buildings surrounding them that connected to the actual wall itself. They even had guards stationed in front of their respective gates as if they were protecting the town as a whole.

My viewing of the buildings was blocked though as the merchant turned off onto one of the many roads that branch off from the main road. Most of these roads hadn't been replaced with gravel and were about the width of the original dirt path we had been on before, but they were much straighter which was a given. As my view was now blocked by one of those inns or shops, I turned my head to look toward the road we were now on. There were many wooden buildings along this road that seemed to be homes that were occupied for the most part, but there was always one or two that didn't have any light shining out of the glassless windows. The houses themselves had stone and mortar foundations and almost all of them were two stories, but besides those, they had no other features that one could pick out.

We continued along this road with a bit of stop-and-go as there were a few people walking home or out to the main road until we reached a stretch of road that was clear on each side. In front of us, I saw another miniature stone wall with guards outside of it once again. As we got closer though I noticed that while the guards had the same armor pieces as those we saw previously, the color scheme of the armor was different with the right side being grey and the left side being white.

The guards noticed us as well and all of them step forward making a line to block the originally clear entrance before one of them stepped forward.

"The trading depot is closed for today. Identification is needed to enter the guild once trading has closed."

I looked over at the merchant and saw that he had a smile on his face as he slowed the carriage to a stop in front of the guard. He then shocked the guard and me by reaching his hand inside his pants. I looked away from the man as I wasn't sure about the item he was reaching for while the guard opened the visor on his bascinet to make sure he was seeing things correctly.

"Found It!" The merchant said as I peeked over at him to see what he was referring to.

He chuckled at both of our previous actions before showing the item he went digging for. The item was a small metal ring with a white star with five points made of pearl by the looks of it on the bezel. He then put the ring on his finger before showing it to the guards who were observing us carefully down below while speaking.

"This should be good enough." The merchant said with the same smile on his face.

The guard who stepped forward focused on the ring on the merchant's finger before quickly lurching back into line with other guards who had straightened up when they saw the guard's reaction. They all bowed at their waist simultaneously before moving out of the way of the carriage. The guard who now blended in with the others spoke when they got in their places.

"I apologize, Sir Leon, I did not recognize-" The merchant, Leon, stopped the guard before could continue with a wave.

"You are good. There is no offense taken." Leon said while shaking his head. I obviously heard his choice of words but I didn't think anything of it as I was just now realizing that I never asked the merchant his name this entire time. I also shook my head but at my own mistake before making a mental note of his name.

After Leon waved off the guards we continued forward through the gate into the compound ahead of us. Once we arrived inside Leon drove the carriage over to an area where they store the carriages as there were a few sitting here that look exactly the same as the one we are currently riding but were a bit more worn.

There was a medium size wooden building here that I assumed was a barn considering that the doors of the building looked exactly like those from Earth albeit rougher in shape. There were also a few younger men sitting in the area who got up as soon as they heard us coming and ran over to the carriage to help move anything inside I presume. I climbed off the carriage before helping Leon off as well. I then went to open the door of the carriage while leaving Leon to talk with the dudes who came over.

Inside the carriage, I saw Ash, Bell, and Leon's wife sitting on one seat with Kai, Zoe, and Luca sitting on the other. Ash and Bell were sleeping while using each other as pillows while Kai and Luca seemed to have been looking out of the small windows of the carriage this entire time as they had puzzled looks on their faces. The merchant's wife and Zoe were having a conversation about something with smiles on their faces but they both looked at me after the door fully opened.

I announced our arrival after waking up Ash and Bell who had dazed looks in their eyes.

"We're here."

We had indeed arrived, but what was not seen was the storm that would come along with us.