Many loud noises sounded out through the sparse forest trees as a large group of people talked and sang in front of a large wooden gate, built into a large stone wall.

Crouched down in the greenery, near the trail to the gate, Mican continued to observe the scenery before him.

A ways ahead of him, the thick stone walls of a what seemed to be a town stood strong in the forest. The town was partially surrounded by a lake or river that cut deep into the forest, and thinned out trees and greenery surrounded the stone walls that weren’t covered by the river.

The town was old fashioned, as the young man had expected. Torches hung low on the walls and alit braziers were spaced meticulously around the walls. The town looked impressive, and quite large from the distance, but nowhere near as grand as the city he had encountered before.

This was not the first piece of civilization that Mican had stumbled across in his hour-long departure from the first city he had seen, it was the third.

He had skipped both of the first two as he deemed them too near to the city, only stopping at the current one due to the intense complaints of his stomach and legs, and the large commotion coming from it.

Out of caution, he had been sitting in the bushes and inspecting the town for around ten minutes now. From what he could tell, there seemed to be a celebration of some sort happening inside the town. Cheerful shouts, the sounds of instruments, harmonious singing, and many other loud noises came sounded out from the town, unable to be blocked by the even the large stone walls.

From sitting in his spot, Mican had already counted three groups of people both coming in and out of the town, wagons full of what he could assume to be cargo, or merchandise.

Another rumble sounded out in the surroundings, forcing Mican to look down at his stomach.

If he had any more energy, then he would have continued running through the stone and dirt paths in the forest, travelling as far as he could away from the large city, but he didn’t.

He patted the dirt and dust off of himself as he stood up and began walking towards the river, out of sight of the two armored guards.

Stepping towards the edge of the water, Mican looked at his reflection and gave himself a once over to make sure he was presentable. He crouched over and splashed the cool liquid on his face, firmly rubbing out the bloodstains and refreshing himself.

Once he was done, he walked back towards the main path through the forest, approaching the guards.

The two guards were men, one middle-aged and one a young adult. Mican had assumed them to be guards as they were equipped in light armor and carrying spears, questioning all those who entered the gate before him.

The pair were talking and laughing with each other over the conversation they were having before the younger looking of the two noticed Mican approaching, signaling his partner.

“Hello there, friend! Welcome to the town of Spurrose, I assume you’re here for the trade festival?” The outsider approaching the gates was greeted with a friendly wave and a smile, the guard evidently in a good mood.

“Ah- yes. I’m here for the festival going on in town, I’ve travelled a long distance to get here,” The lie that left Mican’s mouth was kept vague on purpose, so no transparent lies would slip through.

“Alright buddy, head on in. It’s the last day though so you better get all your business settled quick, I’m afraid you’ve arrived a bit too late,” The man gave a slight chuckle and went to knock on the wooden gate.

Before anything substantial could happen, a rough hand clasped his wrist gently. The hand belonged to the older man of the pair, stopping the knocking while looking at Mican seriously.

“I’m sorry sir, but please state your name and business with the town of Spurrose.” The man stood with his back straight and stared straight at Mican.

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“Oh come on old man, are you really going to do this every single time?” The younger among the pair sighed exasperatedly- “people are just gonna keep coming you know.”

“When you’re as old as me, Eddy, you’ll realize the importance of the small things like this. It could lead to deaths that’d lie on our heads as gatekeepers.” The older man shook his head and stayed firm. “Now, name and business please.”

“My name is Bell, and I’m here for the trade festival. I’m hoping to try and sell some of these knives I’ve had for a while now and get some hot food and rest.” Mican pulled his cloak open slightly, revealing the glint of the weapons sheathed there.

“No surname? Very well... Bell, you said? What a strange name, I mean no offense with that though. Keep that noted down Eddy, and last but not least welcome to the town of Spurrose,” The older man finally gave a slight smile and knocked on the wooden gates himself.

A loud creak sounded out as the gate was pushed open from the inside from yet another guard, revealing the scenery behind it.

A paved stone road stretched into the distance in front of Mican, wood and stone buildings lining the streets and lanterns ablaze in lampposts at the street sections.

A good amount of people could be seen walking the streets, chatting and laughing merrily, and noise filled the air. Several horse-drawn carriages and wagons were being pulled through the street as well, and it created a very lively scene.

The smell of food and drink floated in the air, vastly different from his old life in the city. Surprisingly to the young man, the town was much, much cleaner than he had been expecting. There were bits of garbage and food laying around, of course, but compared to what he had heard of the middle ages in his previous world, it was heaven and earth.

Slightly overwhelmed, Mican walked along the sides of the streets, avoiding the carriages and people on his way. Surveying the buildings lining the road, the young man decided to head deeper into the town, towards the center of the music and festivities. Where there was a celebration meant there was food.

The buildings surrounded him looked to be mostly residential ones, with open doors and arched windows. The sight disheartened Mican slightly, as he had absolutely no clue what anything meant in the area he was in. It was a massive change from his old lifestyle, but he was more than willing to learn.

Walking further ahead, the streets opened up to a crowded square of people, where several large tents and stalls could be seen set up in the area.

There was an open area with a makeshift wooden stage set up in the center of the square, and several men and women could be seen dancing and playing music, a crowd below them clapping and yelling along.

The smell of cheap alcohol and roasting meat filled the air, and Mican’s stomach involuntarily grumbled due to it.

Wooden signs could be seen set up around the stalls, tents, and the buildings surrounding the square’s vicinity. The meaning of the signs had been carved in and were fairly obvious even to a foreigner like Mican. It looked like simplicity was universal to all of the worlds.

The young man spotted signs of torches, candles, swords, shields, hammers, sickles, a droplet of water, a harp, and several more he could not make out the meaning of. The ones that he could though were immediate to him.

Making his choice decisively, he immediately steered himself towards the sign that had the carving of a shirt. While he was extremely hungry, he couldn’t give up the chance to change his conspicuous clothing. The gatekeepers had already seen him after all, and if the church came knocking then he would be exposed immediately.

After walking through the crowded street, Mican arrived at a building on the side of the road.

The door swung smoothly open with his entry, a little bell jingling at the top, alerting the store owner to a customer.

The store was quaint but was much larger on the inside than it looked on the outside. A counter was set up a little bit away from the doorway and clothing meticulously lined the large room.

“Please wait one second, I’ll be over in a minute!” A light female voice rang out from the back of the store, in a little entryway near the front counter.

The store was lined with all sorts of clothing of all sorts of materials. Walking closer to the aisles, Mican felt up some of them with his hands and looked for something he would like as he waited. The clothing were vastly different in quality and material but were also all extremely similar as they had mostly rough textures, looked very plain, and had either limited or no color at all.

“Hello there mister! Sorry for the wait, I didn’t expect a visitor, what with the trade caravan in town and their fancy clothing.” A short girl with shoulder length brown hair popped out of the doorway near the counter, panting slightly, and welcomed Mican.

“Hello there, miss. Before I start buying anything, you do accept, um… silver coins, yes?” Mican had already been prepared for her appearance, having pulled out the small pouch of coins he had gotten from the adventurer party before.

“Silver coins for my store? How extravagant! I assume you’ll be wanting the more high-quality clothing then-” The girl’s eyes widened upon sight of the flashing silver, and a bit of excitement flashed in her gaze as she began advertising to Mican- “Follow me please, good sir.”

Of note to Mican, her respectful attitude shot up by quite a bit after he had revealed his funds, though she seemed quite overly excited. It looked like silver coins weren’t worth a small sum, and he figured he had better be careful with it later on.

The girl gently grasped Mican’s hand and pulled him along with her into the entryway behind the counter.