The remainder of the walk to Yar’i, the first stop on the way wasn’t much different from the day before. Waking up he looked over his bed, which was an acceptable-sized travelling bed with padding, a blanket and everything. He packed that down simply by touching it and activating the ring, the whole thing was absorbed into the extradimensional space within it and disappeared in a split second. Exiting his simple hut he took care to check where Savia was before he dismantled it with a simple spell. Though the ground looked like someone had dug there it was kind of back to normal.
Getting back to the road and continuing on it wasn’t too interesting, there were no bandits, nothing fancy to look at, just a calm walk.
Most of the time was spent playing with or conversing with Savia. She liked being lifted by her little hands, or just scrunched up as a small ball in his hand and thrown far up into the air. She handled the G-forces of being thrown like that surprisingly well.
The weather was better, it was still a few clouds here and there, but at least there was sun today. For some reason this interested Gilliam less than it should, he felt that maybe he missed other weather patterns than sandstorms, stronger sandstorms, or even more sandstorms with a perpetual sun behind it all. But at least it let him see the terrain and nature better, something he did miss after his time in the Fractured Lands.
Now that the weather was better there were also people to meet on the road! This interested Gilliam a bit more. Meeting other people, but at the same time, he didn’t feel too invested in getting into a chat with anyone he didn’t intend to spend time with. This made the whole situation feel a bit weird.
“Hello.” He smiled at a passing man sitting on a cart with the reins to the horse pulling it in hand.
There seemed to be a lot of something, or perhaps just one large thing, underneath a tarp in the back of it. The man nodded back at Gilliam with a slight smile. “Hello.”
And that was the end of their interaction, Gilliam continued walking and the man on the cart didn’t even slow down. This was a simple interaction which felt surprisingly refreshing. No bowing or subservience, just a random greeting.
This lifted Gilliam’s mood more than he expected it to do, and he caught himself smiling as he continued along the road, occasionally tossing his tiny companion in the air, especially if there were birds nearby.
It took most of the day, especially when considering that he woke up past midday, but he finally saw buildings in the distance. Coming over a small hill that ended the forest before it went down towards the village, he could see most of the outer wall’s construction. There were many smoking chimneys and even from this distance, it was clear that everything was almost only made of stone. There was a solid wall around the whole perimeter and he could see some people going out and about. Along the roads going into the city, outside the wall, were plenty of houses, as well as farmlands between where he was now and the walls.
Increasing the pace out of excitement he passed by farmers working the fields, as well as the buildings along the road, it seemed that people had set up a shop of sorts outside the wall. The second floor, or a back part of the building served as the living part of the house, and the rest was a shop. A smart and simple choice if you could afford it.
They were selling all kinds of things, mostly produce, clothing or knickknacks. They were shouting about their wares to get the interest of the few people walking here at the moment, this caught some interest but most of the people, Gilliam included, didn’t do more than just give them a cursory glance as they passed through.
He soon found himself at the gates. They were entirely open with some extremely bored-looking guards. He wasn’t stopped, not that he expected to be but it could have been an interesting experience, stepping into the town he got a proper gander at things. As suspected from afar; all the buildings were made mainly of stone, most of them two stories but there were a few that were taller. Most of the buildings had the familiar four walls and roof construction, though most of the roofs were flat or had just a slight angle to them. There was a heavy charcoal smell in the air and quite a lot of people of all kinds of races walking about.
The place was much larger than he expected from something defined as a town, by the time he had reached the central plaza he had figured out that this place was a mining town. At least that was the feeling he got from the working force and the sheer amount of carts with coal, stone, various metals and ‘stuff’ on the way into the town, but none of the sort going out. Though he also came from the direction of the Academy so they might move that out another road.
Getting to the plaza increased the volume and chaos considerably. There was a sea of stands and popup shops, many had pullable carts they were selling or working from and no less than 20 people were shouting at the same time about them having some ‘best thing in town’. It was interesting and reminded him of back on Earth during the summer times in the city, there were always these stands selling overpriced junk to tourists. Some of it was fun but most was just cheap crap. He didn’t need anything even though he had considerable funding. The only proper reward he asked for when he returned from taking care of the demon Lord was money, enough that he could just retire if he chose to. Not that he needed it, he could just retire to the Fractured Lands if it came to that, but it gave him the freedom to do whatever he wanted. And if he needed extra funds, it was proven to be effective at the Circle Recruitment day where he sold high-quality mana crystals, things he could make without much effort.
Walking past the stalls he took in the sights of what they had to sell. The most common things were simple trinkets, knives or small tools that you could put in your pocket. Though he didn’t intend to get anything there were some interesting food stalls on the way which were sampled. He had plenty of food in the storage ring but it was fun, and tasty, to check out the local street cuisine.
He continued down the road heading east, planning to leave the city rather than finding an Inn. After all, he could easily just make a small cottage in the woods, or have Savia teleport him somewhere if he wanted to go back.
Passing the people going in various directions, not feeling the fear of pickpockets as he hardly used his pockets for anything; his ring was his storage of choice, which was somewhat hard to just pick things out of.
He passed several buildings, at least two blacksmiths, and one Inn with a restaurant opposing the street of it, the latter had a large outside seating area.
As he was walking past it there was the sound of something shattering against the ground, snapping his head towards it he saw that it was a well-dressed but somewhat overweight man next to what looked like a knight, an ironclad man with a sword at his hip and shield across his back. The well-dressed man had turned towards a young beastfolk girl and was yelling at her quite loudly.
“That’s the fucking last time you break something!” His whole face was quivering in fury as he pointed at what looked like a shattered potion vial on the ground, there was some liquid fizzing and evaporating.
Taking a second look at the situation, the man was wearing very nice quality clothes, having an almost sheen to them in the daylight. Saying that he has had too much to eat is an understatement, his whole face screamed sleezebag behind his second chin. The knight had proper armour which showed both signs of battle but also of being well maintained. As the helmet was face-covering it was impossible to get more than the general build idea from this person. The beastfolk girl was a mix of a young human and a fox, her entire body was covered in fur and her face had a muzzle, large eyes, large ears and a surprisingly large and bushy tail. Though she was already fur-covered she seemed to have hair on her head framing her face as well. An interesting thing to Gilliam as he hadn’t spent much time with the beastfolk, but his intrigue was instantly halted as the man landed a solid backhand in her face. As Gilliam’s mood soured he also first now properly noted that she was covered in wounds, her fur hiding most of them, the rags barely definable as clothing covered some others.
She fell to her knees and started apologising again and again in a long string, though didn’t seem to even slightly calm the man’s anger.
“I fucking swear to the Gods.” He stopped his sentence, making it seem like there was something he was about to say or something he had said many times before.
The beastfolk forced herself to her feet, seeming somewhat unsteady. Given that she was about mid-stomach height for Gilliam, quite slender and lithe, showing signs of not being fed properly, being covered in wounds and having a full-grown man’s unrestricted backhand land in her face... There were a lot of factors, physically and mentally, that could cause these problems.
Gilliam saw that people around them weren’t reacting, sure their expressions explained that they knew what was going on. There was a mix of not caring at all but also of just not wanting to get involved. It felt almost... normal...
As the girl got to her feet the man raised his hand ready to land another slap, he didn’t show any hints of planning to hold back.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Before Gilliam realised what he was doing, he had already stepped in closer and the next thing he saw was that he was holding the man’s wrist, stalling his slap.
“The fuck are you doing?” He asked on full auto-pilot mode.
The man tore his hand out of Gilliam’s grasp and recoiled a few steps back. “How fucking dare you?!” His voice broke, toned with the same disgust as if Gilliam had pissed on his shoes.
“I asked you first.” Gilliam calmly commented. He felt safe at the moment with the strong barriers, in the plural, around his body. Something he never left anywhere without. “What’s going on with her?” He added to his short list of questions as he gestured for the hurt beastfolk girl.
“What I do with my slaves is my business, I should take your hand for grabbing me like that!” The knight stepped to his side, halfway stepping in between them.
Gilliam got strong Garend vibes, and his mood soured even more from being reminded of that shitstain having existed.
Pondering a few things he tried to remember the rules about slavery, it was legal and normal in V’ida, which is why it was a good idea to enslave Petal back then. He had a vague memory of though it being legal, they were still considered people and shouldn’t be abused like this.
“Doesn’t the law say that you shouldn’t abuse your slaves?” Gilliam asked to confirm, he didn’t remember if they were property or people in this context.
“The law?!” The man shouted out through light laughter with the reaction as if Gilliam asked if gravity existed. “Don’t you fucking know who I am?!”
Gilliam took a gander at him, his knight and back at him. There was a crest embroidered on the left side of the man’s vest, the same symbol was on the knight’s chest piece; it was of a mountain beneath a golden sunrise, a pair of crossed pickaxes at its base, surrounded by filigrees bearing the motto 'Fortune Favours the Bold'.
He was in a mining town so things fell in place.
A quick focus let Gilliam know that none in the group in front of him were magical, though both the man and the knight had some magical items on them.
“Ah, so you’re the fuck in charge. That explains a lot:” Gilliam smiled, happy that he had figured it out on his own.
Though a split second later he realised that he shouldn’t have worded it like that, the fact that he could almost hear a vein burst in the man’s neck only supported the fact.
Gilliam could tell that the man looked around on Gilliam before replying, it seemed that he passed some glances around his neck, chest and waist before seeming oddly more comfortable.
“You fucking peasant, you dare speak that way to Lysander Stoneforge?!” Again his expression made it seem like he was to the point of almost exploding out of sheer fury.
“I will have you publicly flogged, thrown in a dungeon to rot for speaking to me like that!”
“How much?” Gilliam asked, surprisingly calm in the situation. He didn’t care about the noble, this Lysander Stoneforge. He just wanted to help the girl even if it was just to heal her and set her free. And if he could just buy her for some coins, then that would solve it right away.
“W... what?” It seemed to catch him off guard, and though it didn’t quell his anger it did mix in some confusion.
“Since you don’t seem to care much about her, how much for her?” Gilliam explained. Although he wanted to punt the fucker into high orbit but he decided that this was probably a better way of going about it.
“I’m not selling her to you! Who the fuck are you? Some peasant with a few coins to your name? No, you need to suffer for your actions!” Lysander shouted and almost as of on cue the knight stepped towards Gilliam.
“Ah, that complicates things. Then what do I need to do to get her, then?” Though Gilliam caught himself speaking about someone like an object to be sold, the thought was quickly drowned in his lifestyle the last few years of literally being the lord over a whole species of obedient demons. Not to consider his actual slave.
He didn’t respond and the knight stepped in closer, grabbing the hilt of his sword with one hand in a threatening gesture. Seeming to try to force a reaction from Gilliam.
“Well, what if I do this?” Gilliam lifted his hand and produced some light orbs, it wasn’t much but the fact that they came out of his hand and circulated there for a moment widened Lysander’s eyes.
Gilliam didn’t know the local laws that well, but Jial did explain to him that being a mage in V’ida usually put him at a noble’s level. He doesn’t automatically out-rank every noble for just being a mage but at the very least he was considered the same rank as a low-ranking noble. If he was considered an important or powerful enough mage this would change things, but there was no need for that now.
“Now-” Gilliam continued as the knight had stopped in his tracks. “-I don't know where you are in the ladder, nor do I know where I am in it, but I feel like-”
Gilliam was interrupted by Lysander pointing accusingly.
“Where the fuck is your badge?” He wasn’t shouting as loudly anymore, but as Gilliam hoped it had changed the dynamic.
“Doesn’t matter, now. Back to the main topic-” Gilliam wanted to try and talk through this but again he was interrupted.
“How many elements can you use?” Though Gilliam couldn’t put his finger on why, this question from Lysander sounded a bit odd. Like there was a plan behind it.
As he was in the middle of speaking, Gilliam didn’t consider it much and replied honestly. “Seven, now, can you stop interrupting me. I w-”
Lysander again interrupted him, but this time with laughter. “Seven?! What kind of fool do you take me for?!” It took him a moment to stop his overdramatic laughter. “Fine then. Mr. mage-” There was a strong taunting tone in his voice. “-Let’s do this. I challenge you to a duel. If you win I’ll give her to you. And if I win I’ll just kill you.”
The certainty of his voice was strong.
Gilliam shrugged. “Ok, that works out. What are the rules?”
Lysander smiled widely like he was playing a pre-loaded hand of cards.
“Choose your champion, or fight for yourself. Once the fight starts it lasts until death, unconscious or one side gives up.”
Gilliam nodded, the rules seemed simple enough. “Ok, that works out. I choose to fight for myself.”
“I choose my knight.” Lysander barked and waved his hand dramatically towards the armoured knight.
“Fight!” He shouted immediately.
The knight seemed to know this cheap tactic and pulled his sword, swinging the flat of it towards Gilliam’s head.
Gilliam didn’t bother moving, there was something in the back of his head not wanting to risk it but he knew for a fact that there was no danger as the sword had no magic in it nor was there anything special about its make. It hit the outer barrier and the sound similar to metal hitting stone echoed across the silent street. First now Gilliam noticed that there were even a few guards standing there, but as he accepted the challenge this was probably legal.
“Soooo... Can I persuade you to give up? I really don’t want to kill you if I can avoid it...” Gilliam asked the knight who jumped a few steps backwards, in a smooth motion he loosened the shield from his back and had it properly in his secondary hand. Though Gilliam felt the need to get this over with instantly he did his best to give the man a chance, he was probably just following orders.
“Ah... I guess not...” Gilliam added as the knight just made himself more ready.
Now, Gilliam didn’t want to kill the man. He also didn’t want to cause any problems for the people around them, a powerful spell could easily have collateral damage or casualties.
“Well... I suppose I can do this the easy way, then.”