After passing through the gate there was a large plaza. There were a number of stalls selling various wares and goods. I guess it makes sense to have a market near the gate. Some of the carts and wagons coming in the gate were stopping here to unload supplies. So it looks like a lot of merchants unload and sell their stuff as soon as they are through the gate.

I paused to look at some of the items being offered. I wasn't really looking to buy anything. I was mostly curious about the value of the gold that I had on me. It seems like staple foods and drinks were anywhere between 2 coppers and 8 coppers for enough to feed a person for a day. High quality foods and alcohol were going for a small number of silver. Gold seemed to be for books, weapons, armor, and luxury items. I admit that I was suprised to see a fellow in livery paying out gold for a few small blocks of scented soap. After watching a couple transactions and seeing how much change was returned to the customer, it looks to me like the conversion rate was 10 copper to 1 silver and 10 silver to 1 gold.

As I passed a stall selling meat skewers, my stomach rumbled. I had done a lot of walking today and had not had anything to eat or drink. Although I was tempted to stop for food, the sun was beginning to get low in the sky and I still wasn't sure exactly how much further I had to go to reach the inn mentioned by the guard at the gate. So I pressed onward.

After passing through the plaza with the stalls it seemed like I was still in a commercial district as there were a number of shops lining the road. Most of the signs had pictures rather than writing. I think the one with the picture of an anvil was probably a blacksmith. The chalice was probably a tavern. The needle and thread was probably a tailor. I wondered for a moment if literacy was really uncommon here.

As I continued walking, I reflected upon the fact that while I didn't see any evidence of advanced technology, I also didn't smell anything too unusual. I wondered whether they had some kind of sewer system or people working as street cleaners. Although I had seen a few people in the city on horseback, I hadn't seen any horse crap in the streets. I guess with this many people living together, they either figure out some kind of sanitation or die of plague long before the city gets this big.

The city was much bigger than I expected. It was already starting to get dark by the time I arrived at the courtyard in the center of the city. Looking around I spotted a sign with a golden quill. Based on what I had been told at the gate, the builing next to it should be the Wizards' Guild. There were a number of other buildings along the outer edge of the courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard was a large fountain. While the fountain was rather majestic looking, it seems that it was also for practical purposes. A number of people were filling waterskins or filling buckets to water their horses.

As I pushed open the door to the Golden Quill and stepped inside, I saw the first evidence of actual magic since I arrived in this place. The thing that was immediately obvious was the softly glowing crystals hanging from the ceiling that were lighting up the room. The room had a number of tables, many of which were occupied by partons eating, drinking, and talking. In the corner there was staircase. Next to the staircase was a bar with a portly fellow who rushed over to greet me.

"Hello, traveller. How can I be of service?", he asked in Tradespeak.

"I'd like food and lodging"

What followed was a short session of haggling. He asked for 1 gold and 5 silvers per day. Based on the prices I had seen in the market this seemed like daylight robbery. I glanced around for a moment and then informed him that I was asking about the prices at this inn and not the prices for a palace. However, he was quick to inform me that his inn is a veritable palace. He proceeded to list an impressive list of amenities. The chefs cook food using the finest ingredients and spices. The rooms all have running water. He also mentioned that the serving wenches are available for anything I might need. The last was said with a wink. So I had no trouble understanding what he really meant. It's a shame that I'm going to end up paying for a service that I'm not going to use...but I'm really not that kind of guy.

Eventually we settled on 8 silvers for lodging for the night with dinner included. I think I might have gotten a lower price but my stomach chose to interrupt a couple of times. I also wondered if the lightly lower than average charisma that I had rolled on my character sheet had any kind of impact on pricing. After paying 1 gold I now had 2 silvers in change.

Dinner was some kind of salted meat with herbs, bread, and a vegetable soup. The food was pretty good even though I couldn't identify exactly what the meat and vegetables were. Ale was also provided. I think it was the ale that started to convince me that maybe I wasn't having some dying hallucination on the floor of the bookstore. The ale would have been pretty good if it had been cold. However, it was warm and therefore an abomination. Even in my worst nightmares I would never imagine drinking warm ale. The meal ended with some kind of unfamiliar berries covered with cream and honey. Thankfully, the berries banished the last taste of warm ale from my mouth.

As I finished my meal, one of the serving wenches arrived to show me to my room. It turns out that the room was actually a small suite. It had one room with a bed, another room with an enormous bath tub, and a room with a desk and some chairs. There was also another small room with a bedroll. Light was provided by a small lantern with a glowing crystal inside it. There was also a piece of cloth that could be placed over the lantern to provide darkness.

I was trying to find the right words to dismiss the serving wench when she loosened the strings of her blouse to show a generous amout of cleavage. "My name is Anna. Is there anything else I can do for you?", she smiled and asked me.

I will not describe how incredibly seductive she looked as I was trying to think about just about anything else at that moment. I'm pretty sure my ears and face were slowly turning red as I said, "No. There is nothing else for now."

She smiled at me and said, "Well let me know if you change your mind". Then she went to the small room with the bedroll. So it looked like that would be where she would be spending the night.

I dedided it was time to do something I had been curious about since the moment I arrived. I reached in my satchel and took out the spellbook. I took the lantern and my spellbook and went to the room with the desk. Flipping open the cover to the first page I was suprised to find the title page and copyright info for the Handbook that I had been holding in the bookstore. As I flipped through the book I saw that the pages all appeared to be the same. There was a table of contents showing the same topics: introduction, classes, races, stats, equipment, combat, magic, etc...

I started flipping through and didn't notice anything different until I got to the appendix containing the spell lists. The first spell in the list of level 1 spells was "Read Magic". It still had the normal description of the spell but the pages that followed contained the glyphs for memorizing the spell. I flipped through the rest of the level 1 spells and it was the same. I flipped pages until I hit the beginning of the section for second level spells. As I was about to turn the page, knowledge from my spellcraft proficiency suddenly flooded my mind. Looking at spells that are one level higher than what I could actually cast would probably lead to a headache. Looking at spells more than 1 level higher than what I could cast may actually damage my mind.

I was actually curious to know if the book actually had all the spells. I'm pretty sure that a 9th level spell is supposed to fill up an entire book all by itself. Even all of the first level spells should have been enough to fill more than 1 book. There definitely seemed to be something odd about the book as it seemed to have more pages than what could physically fit in there. If it did actually have all the spells that were in the Handbook, then it was undoubtedly the most valuable spellbook in existence. The Handbook didn't contain every known spell in that particlar role playing system. However, it certainly contained more spells than even a grandmaster would know. For that much knowledge to be in a book that could fit in a satchel was positively mind blowing. I felt a moment of sadness that this was a treasure that I could barely use at this point.

I flipped back to the beginning of the level 1 spells. I considered which spell I should start with. The knowledge from my spellcraft proficiency chimed in with some knowledge that truely sucked. Everybody starts with Read Magic. Apparently there are 2 parts to being able to cast a spell. The first part is learning the spell. This involves understanding what all the glyphs do and how they all link together in a 3 dimensional spell-form. The second part involves actually sealing a copy of the 3 dimensional spell-form in one's mind. The difficulty is that 3 dimensional spell models are being represented in 2 dimensions on paper.

Read Magic is the only 1st level spell which is actually flat and 2 dimensional. When causes the caster to see the 2 dimensional spell representation as an actual 3 dimentsional model. Read Magic is basically 3D glasses for magic. Once a person has actually learned a spell and knows its form, they are able to construct the 3 dimensional form in their mind by reading the 2 dimensional representation in a spellbook. However, when learning a new spell or one that hasn't been studied in a long time, one needs Read Magic to see how the spell is actually structured in 3 dimensions. If none of this makes sense to you, then you obviously aren't a wizard. Just take my word for it.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

After a half hour or so of study, the Read Magic spell was a warmly glowing presence in my mind. I was tempted to try to cast it and take a look at one of the other spells in the book. However, my spellcraft proficiency silently informed me that I would probably not be able to memorize another spell until tomorrow. So even if I "learned" another spell, I wouldn't be memorizing it until tomorrow. So it could wait until tomorrow morning.

In any case, a number of things were becoming clear. As a beginner wizard I would not be solving very many problems with magic. I had better develop the habit of using my wits or using my gold to solve problems. Another thing to keep in mind is that no one can ever see my spellbook. It is quite literally the kind of thing that a wizard would kill for. It is probably a good thing that wizards are naturally very secretive and protective about their spellbooks. No one will think it particularly odd if I keep it with me and allow no one else to look at it closely.

I stifled a yawn and glanced at my wrist before realizing that I no longer had a watch or cell phone to tell time. I wasn't sure what time it was but it was probably time to sleep. Without an alarm I would probably sleep until the crack of noon. That probably wouldn't be a good idea. I definitely needed to gather information, visit the guild, and do a number of other things tomorrow. So I needed to make sure I get moving pretty early.

I grabbed the lantern and my spellbook and walked over to the room where Anna was already asleep. When I saw that she was asleep I was about to turn and leave. However, before I could do so, the light from the lantern woke her up. As she sat up the covers slipped down, revealing that she apparently sleeps nude.

At this moment I was reminded of some advice from my grandfather. If you actually catch a peek by accident, no one can blame you. However, if you glance twice you're a pervert. So make sure the first look is a good long one. I'm pretty sure gramps was a pervert. Most of my friends seem to have gotten much better life advice from their relatives. However, I suppose gramps advice wasn't wasted. By the time I finished thinking all of this, I had burned this scene into permanent memory.

Exerting an iron will I looked only at her face and resisted the temptation of the second glance. "In the morning, wake me up around sunrise if I am not already awake".

"Yes, Sir"

"Good night, Anna"

I returned to the bedroom, tucked the Handbook under my pillow, and threw a cloth over the lantern. A few minutes later I was asleep.

When you have been used to waking up in the same place for a number of years, it is a little disorienting to wake up in an unfamiliar bed. It's even more disorienting when you wake up because an unfamiliar women is pressed up against you and is whispering "wake up" in your ear. It all came back to me in a rush as I recognized Anna and remembered where I was.

Anna was now asking me something. It might have been something about breakfast. Only crazy people talk before coffee. I suddenly had a chilling thought. Did coffee exist here? My language proficiency came to my aid. There is definitely a word for coffee. So it should probably exist. I mumbled something about coffee and dragged myself and my backpack off to the bathroom. The bathroom had some towels but I really needed to do something about the basics like shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, a comb...

Oh well, I could survive for one day just washing and rinsing my mouth out with water. Next to the bath was something similar to a modern toilet. It took me a little while to figure out how to work the water to flush the toilet and fill the bathtub. There were 3 sluices. One for the toilet and 2 for the tub. Pulling on a small chain would open the sluice and water would pour out. The only trick was figuring which sluice for the tub was hot and which one was cold. I figured it out by trial and error. Even without coffee, I guess an intelligence stat of 18 might be enough to let me function in the morning.

After towelling off, I put on the nicer set of clothes from my backpack. I gave the clothes I had been wearing the sniff test. I could probably still wear them for travelling or heavy work. However, I should probably see about washing them before I wear them for anything else. I rolled them up and put them in the backpack.

I was in the bedroom tucking the Handbook back into my satchel when Anna returned with a pot of steaming hot coffee. It turns out I owed her 1 silver for the coffee as breakfast was not included in the room cost. Although coffee exists, it seems like a bit of a luxury item. I gave Anna 2 silver, 1 for the coffee and 1 as a tip. By the time I was finishing my second cup I was wishing I had asked her to get dome food too.

I remembered that I had some bread in my backpack. I found and unwrapped the bread. It was 5 small loaves of what seemed to be wheat bread. The loaves were pretty small. So it seemed like almost the right amount for breakfast for 2 people. I shared 2 with Anna and selected 2 for myself. The final piece got re-wrapped and put back in my backpack.

As we were eating I asked Anna some basic questions about the city. This is how I found out that the city was called Parthenalia. The body of water to the north of the city was a very large freshwater lake name Lake Parthan. I asked whether the city was named after the lake or the lake was named after the city. It turned out that the answer was neither. The city lord was named Justen Parthan. The city and the lake were named after the lord's family name.

From the way she explained it, the city has a complicated relationship between the lord and the guilds. There is a guild for just about every kind of profession. The lord taxes the guilds to pay for soldiers and public works. However, the guilds have a lot of power since they are the ones who pay for everything. The wizards guild is the powerhouse amoung the guilds. This is because magic is expensive and generates a lot of wealth. However, it is also because a lot of the wizards are nobility since magic requires a lot of funds and education to learn.

The laws of the city provide a number of protections and privileges for nobility. Guild members also have a number of rights. Citizens who are not guild members have very few rights and are only allowed to work in the small number of fields that have no established guild. At the bottom level of society were slaves. Slaves had no rights or legal protections.

It seems like debt slavery was a thing here. A person who could not honor a contracted debt could be sold into slavery to pay the debt. It seems that in any world, the poor are totally screwed by the powers that be.

Anna herself fell into the group of citizens who are not guild members. Apparently there was no guild for serving wenches. If we were to step outside the inn we would see the Guild Halls for each of the guilds. There was also a building for Guildsmeet.

The Guild Halls are for the members of their respective guilds. The Guildsmeet sounded to me live a cross between an adventurer's guild and a chamber of commerce. People could take their requests there and they would be matched to qualified guild members for service.

I sent Anna to return the now empty coffee pot to the kitchen. While she was gone I decided to put the time to good use. I took the Handbook over to the desk. I flipped to the section with the level 1 spells. Although I wouldn't be solving very many problems with magic since I currently could only retain 1 spell in memory, it was still a good idea to prepare a useful spell. I decided to pick the most versatile spell I could. After thinking for a moment, I decided to learn "Create Light".

One one hand, Create Light was useful for providing illlumination. It could also be used to generate a bright flash of light. So it could be used to temporarily blind someone in combat. I might also be able to make some quick money by casting it on an object and selling it to someone who wants magical light. The light wouldn't last forever. However, my understanding from my spellcraft proficiency was that it could last for an impressive amount of time if one didn't make it too bright.

The read magic spell required a small piece of quartz or some other mostly clear crystal. Fortunately, I had a piece of quartz in my satchel. As I held the piece of quartz over the fist page of the Create Light spell, I closed my eyes and found the softly glowing Read Magic spell in my mind. I gently "pulled" this to the front of my mind. As the spell came to the front of my mind, harsh grating noises began to spill from my mouth. The sounds were impossible to hold onto. They didn't sound like anything that could come from a human throat. As the words spilled out it seems like reality twisted in some indescribable way. A gentle illumination came from the crystal. The glyphs on the page seemed to riple and stretch until there was a 3 dimensional spell structure floating above the page.

I knew that the effect of the spell would last as long as I was holding the crystal over the book. I rested my elbow on the table so that my arm wouldn't become tired. As I turned to the next page, more glyphs rose up and became part of the spell model. When I turned to the last page of the spell the model became complete. Now that I could see the full model of the spell, it wasn't hard to understand the spell. Before I found myself in this world, I did a lot of work with computer programming. I was used to working with large, complex, abstractions in my head. So it didn't take me hard to see how all the parts connected and worked. Memorizing the spell was harder. I'm not really used to storing arcane energies in my mind. However, a little less than an hour later and I had it.

As I closed the book I wondered what happened to Anna. I turned around to find her standing there quiety.

"Oh. You're back. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Only people who are tired of living would interrupt a wizard at work"

I thought there was probably some sense to this. My spellcraft proficiency seemed to suggest that the most likely result of interrupting a wizard spellcasting is that the spell fizzles out. There is a low chance of some misfire or unintended consequence. Interrupting a wizard who is memorizing spells is unlikely to have any unintended magical effect, but is probably a good way to piss off a wizard. Pissing off a wizard could have some serious and intended magical consequences.

I stuffed the Handbook and the quartz into my satchel. I decided to take my coin purse and satchel with me and leave the rest of my stuff in the room. I would pay to extend the length of my stay on the way out.

I asked Anna if it was safe to leave things in the room while I was away. She told me that theft is rare since the penalty is usually slavery or execution. That seemed kind of harsh to me but I bet that it really works as a deterrent. She told me that if I was worried that I could pay her to watch my stuff while I was gone. I ended up agreeing to pay her 1 silver to spend the day watching my stuff and running any errands I might need later in the day. I also resolved to spend some time researching the laws here. If the penalty for petty theft is death or slavery, I probably don't want to accidentally break any laws here.

It was time to go to the Wizard's Guild Hall.