Greenery. Lots of greenery. But something was different. Something was foreign. Quite significantly so.
This grass wasn’t as green as the ones from back home. And these things weren’t as lush. The trees around these parts didn’t have the luster I was used to either. Yeah, I was in a different continent. And not just that, the further I walked from the port city, the duller the colors went.
“Most fiends around these parts can be sniped from a distance. We’ll be walking for two days straight. But instead of pushing ourselves, let’s take it easy and practice.”
Made sense. Den had given me a bow but he’d never taught me how to use one. Xerec and Serec had given me a large machete like thing that I couldn’t even lift properly, let alone use. I couldn’t even properly use a knife either.
When I asked Den to teach me, he kind of just dodged the topic altogether.
“Den…” I took a breath. “Do you think I can survive here?”
“The chances are not zero.”
He didn’t mince words; he didn’t give me false hope; but if he really thought my chances weren’t zero- “Then I’ll give it my best shot.”
With a smile he ruffled through my hair and together we traced the unpaved road ahead.
Since we just left a port town, there were plenty of houses around. And this whole area was supposedly just a village area with horses and carriages constantly trotting by. Of course, that didn’t mean we could take it easy and let our guard down. After all, bandits waited for you to screw up. I kind wished Alastur would accompany us to the academy but there were plenty of things in life you just couldn’t have just because you wanted.
I expected fields of rice or wheat. But instead, I just found loads and loads of potatoes and onions. Again reminding me, yup, winter. No snow so far though. This place was definitely colder than the woods. But not by a lot. Maybe 10 degrees at best. I could feel it but it wasn’t something I couldn’t deal with… yet.
“What are those?” I pointed at the distant river. Stuff that looked like big boats was just going around in that river. Strangely the boats didn’t have any people on them. Black boats.
“Ghost ships,” Den said.
“During the day?” I wondered. “I mean doesn’t stuff like that appear during the night for the biggest effect?”
He raised an eyebrow. “At least act a little scared?”
This was a fantasy world. And I already saw big stuff like lizards and two headed tigers. A haunted ghost ship was not that surprising or scary even. Frankly, I couldn’t care less. “Do you think those ships might have treasure?”
He sighed. “Yes but if you take them you’ll get cursed.”
“Cursed? Like what?”
“Like bad things would start happening to you. People around you would get hurt or you’ll trip and hurt yourself, simple stuff.”
“Isn’t that just crap idiots made up to justify their own misfortune and stupidity?”
Den opened his mouth but was at a loss for word, so he shut and just walked faster. Typical.
We walked for a good hour, took a break and then kept on walking. At noon, we stopped by a pondside tree and watched a group of wild birds. “Remember, each arrow is precious. We can only carry a limited number of arrows and if you run out at a bad time, the bow is kind of pointless.” He gave me one arrow. Just one.
“Exactly,” I said. “It’s pretty useless.”
“Pointless, not useless,” Den reiterated. “Anyway, take aim.”
He helped me with my handling and aiming and stood back a little. I aimed for a fat bird. Generally, you didn’t see fat birds in nature. But during winter some birds appeared fatter than others. In most cases they were just cold and fluffing up was a good way to insulate themselves. But boy did these birds look juicy!
I pulled on the string. Small bow, but quite tough to pull.
Swoosh! The arrow raced towards the birds and most of them just flew off. Tick! It missed the bird, and flopped on the ground. “Go get it,” Den said.
I rolled my eyes but ran for the arrow, picked it up and came. Sometime later the birds came back and I repeated the thing.
I tried a couple of times throughout the day with no real success. I was getting a hang of the aiming thing but just when I thought I might have a shot, things just went wrong. Maybe the wind, maybe the lighting, maybe just some random bird warning the others, things just went wrong. Sigh….
Den didn’t give up. He was hellbent on teaching me. Where was this spirit a month ago? What the hell was he going to teach me in two days, was beyond me.
Anyway, night came in and we knocked on a farm. Den asked if he could sleep with the cattle in exchange for cleaning the barn tomorrow. The owners, an old couple, agreed.
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“Why’re they trusting random strangers with their animals?” I asked.
He was teaching me how to craft an arrow with my knife. He also went over how to maintain my bow and what to do when I broke it or broke the string.
“Most people are good people. And stealing livestock is more trouble than it’s worth. Hardly recommended.”
Yeah, I didn’t really care. I just wanted to sleep. Even if my bed was made of straws or something, I really didn’t care. At least I wasn’t sleeping on a hard ass bed, with a shit smell!
Argh… actually, it was worse. We used a mat over the straw but I kept getting poked here and there. And although I didn’t smell any human shit. Cow dung and piss was a thing and it was more than just annoying. Horse shit even more so!
Stay calm, stay calm. This is temporary, temporary!
***
The next day, we cleaned the place and left before noon. They actually gave us some food for the road while also providing us with breakfast. Generous people, those farmers. I made a mental note of returning the favor someday.
Once we were back on the road, Den more or less made me pick up stuff where we left off yesterday. I had no luck though. Somehow, I was even worse than yesterday and kept messing up.
“This is not working,” I said.
“The wind is getting in the way today,” Den said. “But that’s a good thing. You won’t have ideal conditions every time. Learn how to use the wind to your advantage. If you can do that, you’ll be better than most archers.”
Strangely, even out here there were houses. I never saw empty fields like back home.
“Alright, alright, I’ll try again.”
We reached a town by the afternoon. It was massive. Way bigger than I had anticipated. When Den mentioned how the academy was not affiliated with any country and without the influence of the church, I honestly thought it wouldn’t have much of any people actually living there. However, I was wrong. I failed to realize, there were hundreds, no, thousands of people who didn’t like God and his bullshit. And I failed to realize, just how massive a city could get.
For one thing, I could barely see the top of the stone wall. How’d they even make something so tall and thick? Yes, thick. It was three Dens thick! And no, not three Dens side by side but rather three Dens stacked over one another from feet to head!
Okay maybe it wasn’t that thick, but they did have a room of sorts inside the damn wall. “Halt!” And they actually stopped us for once. “Identification first.”
Den showed them his ID but then their eyes their eyes fell one me. This never happened before. Do we need passports or something? I mean we did cross countries and actually, continents.
I reluctantly showed them my card, the adventurer one and with that we were in. They did take a fee of 3 silvers though. Apparently, every time you entered a new city, you had to pay a fee. You didn’t have to pay anything if you left though. “So, let’s say a quest needs you to go outside to gather herbs or something, would you still have to pay a fee?”
“Yeah. But- why would you go outside to gather herbs? Just grow them if they’re important,” Den basically just made all herb gathering quests irrelevant.
Oh well.
Tall buildings. Paved footpath. And streetlights. Very similar to Xanir port. However, there was a key difference. Namely, the streets were so clean. People had thick vests and there were quite a few people here with just uniforms; these people mostly resembled teenagers but they also had kids running around; old people too.
However, the biggest difference was that the tallest and most extravagant building here didn’t belong to a church or a nobleman. Rather… “That’s Schalion Academy?” I said.
Four tall buildings, pointy tops; one a bit too tall. Resembled a particular university I’d frequented before; The Imperial College of London. Of course, I didn’t go to college in my last life. I was murdered roughly two weeks before I could attend. But I did take some trips to London before actually moving. Schalion Academy looked similar but not quite. Their buildings were made from black bricks and yet, shined for some reason.
Of course, the academy itself was quite far away, yet I could see it, even with my shit eyesight. Perhaps a testament to how filthy huge the damn thing was. Poised at the very center of the city, it was still at least five kilometers away.
Den took a turn and instead of academy, we were heading off in a north axis. “I thought we would go to the Academy first?”
“There’s someone I want you to meet first. I already told Lin but, but I’m not just going to leave you here unattended. I know a friend, although he won’t look after you. He’ll vouch for you if something goes wrong.”
Couldn’t he have just told me that? Did you even know how frigging worried I was? For sucks sake man. Then again, I wasn’t that worried anyway. So, with a shrug I just trailed behind him without a care.
The streets of this place were hella clean and the people didn’t look awfully miserable. People in general had the signature ‘I’m going through shit’ look. Earning was hard, spending was simple and you had virtually zero freedom thanks to Askavan; so pretty understandable. The only people I hadn’t seen wallowing in their own sorrow were Mom’s friends but even they had problems to deal with. Perhaps they were just putting up a face when I was around. However, these people kind of looked cheerful compared to the typical crowd I was used to. Which was good, cause I was getting a little sick of the whole ‘no one is as sad as me in this world’ crap.
Fruit stalls, clothing store, stationary stores, lots of stuff. I hated marketplaces and noisy areas in general. However, after spending a quiet life for a while, I kind of found myself being amused. These feelings would probably just stagnate in the future but for now I wanted to enjoy them. I wanted to enjoy the thrill of this adventure.
Not just the typical stores, but they even had merchants showing off their wares outside, on the streets. Blacksmiths were displaying their works and showcasing their strengths too. Things were pretty pricey though. Some were charging 2 silver for a knife. While proper swords were selling for a gold a piece or above. “Were weapons always this pricey?” I mumbled.
“Yeah,” Den heard that.
Before long my eyes spotted some familiar clothing… lingerie. I tried not to look at the goods or the people buying said goods but yeah you couldn’t fault me for staring…. Have shame mam, have some shame!
We walked around, went through some alleyways and took some turns. Gradually, the stores and people disappeared and the streets went quiet. There were few people here and they looked somewhat shady; the clean streets gradually darkened and filled with garbage. You’re not going to sell me a kidnapper, right? Huh, yeah, I knew he wouldn’t.
But still, this place looked like the ideal place for a napping.
And just on cue, we reached the end of an alleyway and got surrounded by about twenty or so burly men. Big men, with clubs and mohawks and buzzcuts. Some had flowing hair too. They didn’t have much cloth on their bodies though. “Aren’t you people cold?” To my surprise I ended up blurting out.
“Yeah, kinda,” one of them said. Woman. Okay, so they had a woman in revealing torn clothes too… interesting. “Hurry, come inside. Boss is waiting.”
Okay so, they came out to intimidate us and now would force us to get inside and then capture us? Hmm… with a grin I stared at them. Surely, we could stall them till they were freezing and-
“Yeah, of course. Come, Sol,” Den said, tugging me forward.
Wait what? No, seriously, you didn’t come here to sell me, right?
RIGHT!?