From the top of the hill, Melian and I gazed down and a bustling sight. An abnormal amount of tents of various sizes were scattered everywhere, and although there were some actual buildings, there wasn't near as one would think. Around the outpost was a good size wooden wall, encircling the entire place.

I assumed it served as protection, as we were in dangerous territory now.

The most shocking thing about The Caverns outpost, though, was the sheer amount of people here.

When Melian told me we would run into a few adventurers, I took her words seriously, but looking down at the well over 5,000 people attending to their own daily tasks, I knew I would now start taking her words with a grain of salt.

“That's a hell of a lot of people!” She exclaimed as she looked down, sounding almost excited.

“Yeah, way more than what you explained.” Looking down along with her I continued, “But I share your excitement. Things will definitely start to get more interesting.”

She laughed, “Indeed, short stack.”

The wind hit us as we spoke, making the atmosphere at the top of the hill chilly.

“It's almost that time of year, huh?” I stated, “It's starting to get cold.” I looked behind me to see the setting sun. The nights as we traveled had begun to get colder. Winter was coming.

Be it in this life or my past life I had never liked the winter or cold weather in general. Looking at it now, though, it's quite ironic considering half of my spells revolve around ice magic.

Melanin clicked her tongue, “Yeah. It's going to start reminding me of home here in a few months, and who knows if that's a good thing or not.”

“Woah now,” I laughed, “Don’t let your past hinder your future.”

She looked over at me and smiled, “And when did you turn into a wise, quote-making mage?”

“A few seconds ago,” I said, as I took my first steps down the hills trail. “Come on, let's get down there, I need a meal and some good rest.”

She instantly followed after me, asking, “Do you think they have showers here?”

flourish divider line swirl border decoration calligraphy [https://svgsilh.com/svg/31609-9e9e9e.svg]

Once we made it down the trail it led us to a large wooden gate. There were other people standing around as well and I assumed they were waiting for the gate to open.

Not even a few minutes later, though, a loud bell rang and I heard a voice call from the top of the gate, “End of the last outing bell! The gate will now open!”

The man didn’t look like he worked for anyone, as a matter of fact, he looked like any normal adventurer, which was odd to me. It got me wondering how exactly this pace was run and functions.

The large wooden doors opened and the people who were standing outside began trickling in, Melian and I along with them.

Walking through the place and observing the hung lanterns and tents in every direction, I couldn't help but make the comparison to the war camps in my past life. The mood here wasn’t entirely gloomy, but almost.

“I'm starting to think there are no showers here,” Melian whispered as a group of adventurers walked passed us.

They looked as if they just went through hell. Blood was scattered on their armor and weapons and they reeked with the smell, even the lone caster’s cloak was torn to shreds, some pieces of fabric ever falling off as he walked sluggishly behind his party.

“They probably just got back from fighting beasts,” I reasoned, “I’m sure there's something around here to get you cleaned up. I'm more curious about how this place is run and where we're going to stay for the night. Is it a bring-your-own tent type of setup? Because if so, we're screwed.”

Melian bit her lip, “You’re right. What do you say we split up for now, you dig for info’, and I find us a place to stay for the night.” As she said this she fixed her top to accentuate her breasts, “I’m sure I'll find something.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

I sighed and turned around, “Fine. Meet back here in an hour.”

At my words, she blew a kiss my way and scurried off.

I dodged it, of course. Sometimes she’s more of a child than I am in age.

Now traveling alone, I tried to figure out where I should start. I went on thinking for around five minutes as I walked, until I came across a tent with a wooden sign in front of it that read, ‘Gambling’.

Perfect, I thought as I walked into the gambling tent.

Stepping in my eyes were met with many large cloths strung out on the ground, and on each cloth were two people doing their own individual bets.

I went to the first person I saw who was alone and waiting for a challenge and sat down.

“How much?” The gruff man sitting in front of me asked, giving a crooked smile.

I pulled a copper coin out of spatial ring, “If you win I’ll give you this. If I win, I want information.”

The man's smile widened, “Newcomer aye?”

“I assume this isn’t your first time doing something like this?” I asked.

“No, indeed it is not. People come and go in this place and I’ve had a few run-ins.” As he said he looked around the rather dull and almost depressing tent. “I’m willing to go on your request, but for every coin you put in, I put in an answer to any question you may have, deal?”

After thinking over it for a moment I eventually agreed and we began playing the game.

“Have you ever played odds and evens?” he asked as he took a die and placed it in a cup.

The die was wooden, and instead of the normal dots that I had seen in my past word, this die had tallied marks all the way up to six, each side of course containing a different number.

“I’m familiar with it, yes.”

Odds and Evans was a rather simple game. He would shake the die in the cup and set it on the ground, then I would have to guess whether it landed odd or even. If I won, I got my reward, and if he won, he got his.

“Great.” He smiled as he told the die in the cup and shook it around. I could hear the die tumble and flip making the sound of wood on wood. Finally, he set the cup down, “Odd or Even?” he asked.

“Even” I guessed.

The man lifted up the cup and it was even.

“Nice, ask away.”

I looked him in his eye's, “Who runs this city?”

He glanced around, “No one in particular runs this city. It was brought up by adventurers and has stayed like this because of adventurers. There are some people higher up on the food chain that exploits this place for some extra coin since anything made here can’t be taxed, but someone like me wouldn't know who they are. But as of right now we have sort of a selected leader system, but the leader is just someone who tells people to ring the outing bell and when to do so.”

Besides his answer being helpful, it left me with more questions. I felt as if he had answered it that way on purpose so we could keep playing.

I tossed another coin to show the man I wanted another round.

He smiled, putting the die in the cup, “Odd or even?”

flourish divider line swirl border decoration calligraphy [https://svgsilh.com/svg/31609-9e9e9e.svg]

We kept playing until I was satisfied. By the end of it all, I was down three coppers, but the information I gained was worth it.

Making my way to our meeting point, I thought about what the man had told me.

The bell that I had heard ring as we entered the city was the end of the last outing. Outings were when people could leave the city to either continue their journey or go out and kill beasts. There were three outings a day. One at dawn, one at noon, and the other sunset. Each outing also had an end, which meant people from outside could come in, which is how Melian and I entered, the end of the sunset outing.

The next thing I had asked the man was much more troubling to think about, though.

“Walker!”

Being pulled from my thoughts, I looked up to see Melian calling my name. She was with some man, a rather frail one.

Approaching her I asked, “And who is this.”

She rubbed the man on the arm and I saw his face visible turn red. “His name is Carrollton. He’s in a small party of four and when I met him, he said he could use a healer in his team, luckily enough I am a healer. I told him me and you are a package deal, though, and he agreed.”

Although the man couldn't see my face due to my cloak, he knew I had turned my attention to him, to see what he had to say himself.

“It’s true. We have some extra room back in the tent, and even though we only need a healer, I'm sure another marital mage on the team wouldn't be a problem, um.” He paused, basically asking for the name I had never provided.

“It’s Walker.”

“Yes, Walker, We’ll just have to check in with Richard.”

Melian tilted her head, “Who's Richard?”

“He’s our party’s leader.”

Melian's face visibly turned sour and I could understand why.

If this Richard guy said we couldn't join, then Melian just wasted her time, and looking around, the streets were getting bare, I doubted anyone was looking for an extra teammate now.

Carrollton seemed to notice this and followed up with, “I’m sure he’ll say yes. He’s been pressed to find a healer lately, so I'm sure he’ll agree to your proposal.”

“I hope so,” Melian responded, as she grabbed Carrollton’s arm, “Well lead the way, it’s getting late.”

As we were led there I managed to pull Melian to the side, “There's something I need to tell you about the information I gathered.” I whispered.

“What is it?”

“They say the survival rate,” My face turned more serious as I looked at her, “of making it from here to Ara is less than twenty-five percent.”

Melians eyes widened, “That’s….”

“Yes, so we need to proceed with caution. Having bad party members will only make those chances lower, so when we get here, I need you to be a good judgment of character and strength. Don’t just go with them because they provide a place to stay, things are about to get more serious, and a tent to sleep under will be the least of our worries.”

She bit her lip, “I understand.”