“I’ve never been to Grantold city before, though I have seen it from afar.” Leaning back into his chair, Mican let out a short sigh.

“I presume you’ve come in pursuit of the Willow Caravan then, to not have visited the city which was so close to here. You don’t look like someone of these parts.” The middle-aged man leaned back into his chair as well, relaxing himself.

The chattering of boozehounds sounded out in the background, and laughter rang out through the air.

“I don’t know what the Willow Caravan is honestly, I only came to Spurrose due to business related reasons.” Seeing the unfamiliar name, the young man prodded gently for information.

“You don’t know of the Willow Caravan? The caravan is the reason for all of the festivities in Spurrose-“ The man took another sip of his drink- “we come around this area of Million every year or so to trade with the major city. Spurrose is only a pitstop.”

Another unfamiliar name popped up in the man’s speech, Million. Though more importantly to the young man, the man had mentioned we.

“We? As in you’re a part of the Willow Caravan? The ones who set up in the square, right?”

“Yep. Our boss had planned to leave by tomorrow morning, but seeing as how everyone’s drunk off their arses, it’ll probably be postponed for a little while.” The man nodded in response to the question. “Why? Do you have some business with our caravan?

“I do yeah, I planned to sell some daggers of mine I had got a while ago to anyone interested.”

“Weapons you say?” The grey-haired man perked up to attention at the mention of the daggers.

Curious about the man’s shift in attitude, Mican nodded at the question.

“I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet. My name is Harold Ashleye, a member of the Willow Caravan.” The man stuck his hand out to Mican.

“I’m Mican Aster, I’m just a wandering traveller.” Slightly surprised, Mican reached his hand out and shook the man’s hand in return.

“If they’re good enough quality, come by my stand tomorrow. It’s near the center of the square, it’s the makeshift forge with the anvil sign, you can’t miss it. I’ll take a look at them myself.”

“Huh, I’ll make sure to be there early then, thank you Harold.”

“It’s all business my friend, I suppose this must be fate huh? Hahaha!” The middle-aged man laughed boisterously, joyful about securing a potential future trade deal.

Despite his joy, he put his drink down on the table, nodding at the young man.

“I had better not drink if I’m to be doing business tomorrow. I guess I’ll be open after all-“ Harold stood up and adjusted his leather coat, sniffling and giving Mican a curt wave- “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mican. Have a good night my new associate.”

Waving in return, Mican bid goodbye the man. The people he had met so far seemed amicable, but he knew they had darkness hidden in their hearts, but the man he had just met named Harold gave him the impression that he was nothing like them.

He didn’t know why he felt this way, but he just did. It was similar to the way he was able to sniff out the lies of that demon, Rose. The man named Harold smelled of the sun, if Mican had to put it into words. It was a pleasant and honest scent.

Finishing the remains of his food and drink, Mican stood up and walked towards the open stairway.

The laughing and chattering was still going strong into the night, but the sounds faded slightly as the young man made his way up the stairs.

Surprisingly, there were three floors to the establishment. The stairs extended up further until he reached a hallway with doors to rooms lining the sides. A wooden door with a clear eight ingrained into it was waiting for him at the end.

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A slight creak sounded out as Mican opened to door to his room, greeted by a medium-sized room with a pre-lit lamp on a wooden table, a neat bed, and an open window with wooden shutters.

Locking the door behind him and bolting the shutters closed, Mican only bothered to undress his gloves and boots before he flopped his exhausted body down onto the bed, immediately falling into a deep sleep.

***

Dim rays of sunlight shone in through the gaps in the shutters, slightly obscure by clouds. The chirping of birds chimed in the air, and people could be heard muttering and chatting as they made their made their way through their business.

“Urgh..”

Groggily rubbing his eyes, Mican yawned and opened his eyes slightly, looking at the ceiling above him.

For a split second, he had wondered where he was, but reality quickly hit him. A pleasant mood came over the young man as he realized everything was not a dream, and he forced himself awake.

Standing up, Mican put on his gloves and boots before opening the shutters, taking a whiff of the morning air. To be quite frank, the smell was not the best, though it did still invigorate him.

Putting a hand on his stomach, Mican walked out of his room in search of a toilet to relieve his needs. Going down to the bottom floor, the young man walked over and got directed to an outhouse in the back of the building.

The young man walked out after finishing his morning business, feeling quite refreshed. Unexpectedly, he was very pleasantly surprised to find out that the building was not terrible or disgusting as he had originally imagined, and there was even a bucket of prepared clean water.

It was instead extremely clean, with no sign of human waste or any strange smells. There was some sort of slime-like substance beneath the small building, dissolving all of the waste that was sent there.

The conditions greatly surprised Mican, proving to him that the supernatural elements in the world had improved the human’s living conditions vastly as compared to the middle ages in his old world. There was definitely a lengthy history behind the world he was in, but there was no way for him to know how far it stretched. Such a system of sanitation was even more advanced than in his old world, where waste was instead used for fertilizer and heat after lengthy processing.

After eating a hearty breakfast in the tavern, he took a walk outside in the large city square, observing the place before he went in to meet with Harold. There was one building that had caught his interest the day before, the largest in the public square. The building looked like a small mansion, opulent and intricately designed, very out of place in the town square. The building completely stood out from the rest of those around it.

It looked to be a hub of activity, with a fair amount of people heading in and out in a rush.

A large chunk of wood above two very large double-doors had been carved into the likeness of a pendant, shaped a bit like a teardrop. The sign had immediately attracted the young man’s attention as he had seen a similar pendant once before in this world, on the neck of the member of the Brave Heart party, Leigh. Above it, words had been written out, making out a large ‘The Adventurer Association’.

Standing in front of the large building, Mican discreetly observed the people going in and out, trying to guess at their specific purpose there.

There was one similarity between most of the people that entered and left the building, being that they were equipped in an assortment of weapons and armor, or clothing that looked more specially crafted than usual. It was fairly safe to him to assume that the building was a center for the same sort of people that he had encountered on the road.

After a little while longer, the young man walked up the stone steps leading into the building and opened the wooden doors.

Walking in, he was greeted to the sight of a large and spacious hall. Tables filled the hall, spaced out and with groups of people sitting at them. Across the hall at the very end was a large counter, where a young woman could be seen standing and talking with several people.

There was a massive double-stairway behind the counter, and a large wooden bulletin board stood on one side of the hallway, several people grouped around it.

A few glances were shot his way as he walked in, but they immediately looked away, minding their own business.

The men and women inside of the hall were all dressed in particular manners, extremely similar to the Brave Heart party the young man had encountered before. They were armored and well equipped or wore robes that hid their bodies.

From what he could see, many of the men were visibly muscular and fairly well built. Mican fit right in with them.

There were two large wooden boards hanging above the long counter at the end of the hallway, noting down the specific prices of what seemed to be services that the building offered.

After surveying the interior of the building, Mican walked across the hallway to the large desk at the back, standing in line with the several people there.

There was one thing the young man noted down specifically, and it was that all of the people in the hall had pendants of varying colors hanging from their necks, just like the one Leigh was wearing.

Just a few short seconds later, the people in front of him left the line as a group, letting Mican walk up to talk to the young woman at the counter.

“Hello there, sir. Welcome to the Million’s Adventurer Association’s hall of Spurrose, please tell me what I can help you with.”