Me, Octavia and Lilith began to make the journey to Esoterion. The peaceful walking was a nice change of pace from the life we had been living up until now. Birds were sings and flying around in the trees. The question had been growing in my mind, so I asked Octavia.

"You said that you lived in this city we're going to before, but will you be okay once we get there? Is there anything you can go back to?" It may have been a little harsh, but Octavia answered without worry.

"Oh yes, I have a sister who I used to worked with there. We ran a hospital, but there was more staff other than us, so I think she would've managed fine without me. But what about you? You said that you were sheltered, but you never did tell us what it was you did before." She asked in turn, I doubt she'd forget about it without an answer.

"Oh, I... Yeah no, I had a job." I stumbled around with my words before half-answering her question.

"What did you do?" She continued to press.

Shit... I can't exactly tell her about my accounting job I had before getting lost. I didn't even know if they have those here.

"Um, I was a freelancer." I decided to keep it vague. Apparently it wasn't enough for her because she still looked at me, waiting for the rest of the answer.

"I just went around and helped people who needed it..." I continued, bullshitting everything I said. Her eyes opened wide.

"Oh! You mean like an adventurer?" She asked. This basically gave me an out so I ran with it.

"Yes exactly! I just get embarrassed when people ask me about it." I tried to explain my stumbling around.

"Adventurers don't do that though. They get sent out on government assigned missions." She said.

She was smarter than I thought. She had completely caught me in a lie. I just looked down at the ground after she said that.

"I get it though, sometimes you don't want to talk about the past. Sorry for asking, I won't pry anymore." She said this after an uncomfortable silence. I just nodded in response.

We kept walking, it was past noon now, but it wasn't too hot because of all the shade. Lilith got tired from walking so I carried her for a little while. Every now and then we stopped for a breather.

Eventually we found an old looking dirt road, Octavia said it was an old trade road that led to Esoterion. So we continued down the road, it became more prevalent as we got closer to our destination.

After a few more hours, the sun was getting lower down. I asked Octavia when we would be getting there.

"We're close, we should be able to see it soon." After she said that, we rounded the top of the hill we were scaling. At the top, there was a cliff looking over a large opening in the forest. By now, the sun was low enough for surrounding mountains to cast shadows over the area. But through that, I could make out the Silhouette of a giant city, with a large tower in the center reaching up and eclipsing part of the sun.

I had never seen something like this before, around the city were numerous large tree stumps, where they had been cut down to make the clearing. Roads were shooting out from the outer walls of the city, and on said roads, there were dozens of carts coming and going. I just stared in awe at the sight for a few seconds. Octavia broke my chance by talking.

"There it is... It's been some time since I've last been here. Alright, let's hurry. We can make it by nightfall if we pick up the pace."

"Okay, let's go then." I replied. We then walked down a nearby slope to get into the valley. Then we walked along one of the large roads leading into the city. People riding in the carts waved to us every now and then. some of them were elves, some demons, I had noticed a few that seemed much shorter than even the elves, and some of them had what looked like scales and fur on their face. One of them stopped and threw me something.

It looked like a white dress shirt. I hadn't gotten a chance to change after the fight with Katsuro, so I thanked them, put on the shirt and buttoned it up. When they saw it fit me, they continued down the road, to wherever they were heading.

It seems like demons are indeed treated better here. I just hope the trend keeps up.

As we passed under the large gate entering into the walls of the city, we stood off onto the side of the road. It was night by now, but the roads were still busy and lights were pouring from the open windows of countless buildings.

"Okay, you two can make it to the hospital you were talking about from here right?" I asked Octavia.

"Yes, it's not far from here. But, are you not coming with us? From what I picked up, you don't know anyone here." She sounded worried.

"I've kept you two long enough, I just hope you can return to a normal life from here on out." I assured her I had thought about this decision. It was better to not have them hang around and slowly get suspicious of me. I needed to figure out why I was here, and how to blend in better.

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"Okay then..." She began to walk away but after a few seconds she turned back around.

"Than-" I held my hand up to cut her off.

I hadn't done anything deserving thanks. She seemed to acknowledge my wishes, and continued down the road, until they eventually let my sight.

Once again, I was alone in a world woefully unfamiliar to me. But I knew one thing, I was starving. After walking all day and not eating since this morning, I had built up quite the appetite.

I wandered around the city, and after a while I saw a building that had a sign hanging down above the door. The sign had an image of a bed and mug carved into it. There was a smell coming from inside, whatever it was, it smelled delicious. I was about to walk in but realized something vital. I was completely broke.

I had no money. I didn't even know what the money was called here. Dejected, I walked past the building and weighed my options.

I could go back, and try to find out where Octavia and Lilith went... Absolutely not, I may be lost, but I still have my pride. I'm sure I could figure something out... Somehow...

Before I realized I had wandered into some back alley street. It was darker here than on the other roads I had walked down so far, and there were almost no people here. Must've been an unpopular spot, to be fair, it was out of the way.

I was looking around the small street when I saw something odd. It was a flight of stairs leading down to a door. There was some flyer nailed to the door, but I couldn't make out what it said. Looking around to make sure no one could see me, I made my way down the stairs.

The flyer on the door said as follows,

"HELP WANTED"

"Come inside to discuss payment."

The edges of the flyer were worn away and torn in some places. It had been up for a while. Seeing as I had no other options, I went in.

I had to duck underneath the door as it was shorter than me. Inside was strange, it was really hot, most likely due to there being an open furnace with burning coal in the corner. Not only that but there was an anvil, and everything else you'd seen from a blacksmith's shop. The room was also stuffy, I could probably touch opposite walls by sticking my arms out.

"Hello?" I said out. I couldn't see anyone from the entrance. So I took a few more steps inside, closing the door behind me.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YER DOING IN MY SHOP!?" A loud, deep voice yelled out beside me. When I turned, a short, stout man with a large, dark gray beard and bald head had come out from behind the corner, and was now pointing a large hammer up at my head. Based on what I've seen so far, this man fit every description of a dwarf you could come up with. Considering there were elves and demons, a dwarf probably isn't outside the realm of possibility here.

"W- WAIT! I saw the flyer for a job outside!" I quickly told the man. He stared at me for a moment, looking me up and down. It was as if he was trying to determine if I was lying or not.

"Hrmm..." He grumbled. Afterwards, he hung his hammer on a loop at his hip.

"Well, why didn't you just say that then?" He said, seemingly oblivious to what had just occurred. Dumbfounded, I just apologized.

"Come on then, sit down, let's get this interview started. Unless yer already having second thoughts?" He said as he sat on an upturned log and motioned for me to sit on the one in front of him.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't having second thoughts, but I need this job, even if the one giving it to me was a bit, unorthodox...

I sat on the log, which was short for me to act as a chair, so I was more or less just squatted down.

"Alright Kid, why're you so interested in this job of all offers in the city?" He asked. Being honest I answered.

"It was the first opening I saw." He looked unimpressed with my answer. He sighed then asked his next question.

"If you had to choose between your hammer and your anvil, which would you choose?" He had a serious look on his face despite the strange question.

"Um, I guess I'd choose, the hammer?" His head dropped down and he clasped his hands together.

"WRONG! You beat the bastard who asked the question and choose both!" He exclaimed loudly, standing up and pointing a finger in my face while doing so.

"Do you even know what job this opening is for?" He asked, now pacing around the room.

"Um, a blacksmith?" I answered.

He stopped in his tracks, and turned towards me.

"...And what do you know about blacksmithing exactly?" I could tell this question would determine the outcome of this interview.

"I know... you make things out of metal." I knew my answer was awful, but I couldn't come up with anything else.

"Kid. Get out of here before I chase you out." He told me standing aside leaving a way to the door.

"Why do you keep calling me kid? I'm twenty six already." I tried to stall for time, to think of a way to get him to reconsider.

"Ha! That's exactly why 'Kid'. I'm so old, I've stopped counting. But last I checked, I was six hundred years old, and it's been a long time since I've checked." He said.

Six hundred? Actually it might be even more than that, he did say he stopped counting. If I wanted to learn more about this world, this man was more than likely my best bet. Hell, he lived through a good chunk of it already. I needed to get information from this man.

I dropped to my hands and knees and slammed my head to the floor.

"Please sir! Let me work here!" I shouted out. He was startled by my change in demeanor and took a step back.

"Why're ya acting so desperate to work here? You could get something less demanding that pays higher easily in this city." He asked me, letting me know of alternatives.

"Well... because you're really old." I told him my reason, even if I didn't explain it very well, or at all.

After a short wait, he began to laugh.

"Hahaha! Yer an odd one I'll give ya that. Fine. If you can hold this for me, the job's yours." I sat up onto my knees after he said this, so we were roughly eye level.

He held out a close hand, so I put my hand underneath his.

When he opened his hand, a heavy chunk of glowing hot metal fell into my palm. It must've been from his magic, because I could feel manakyte pouring mana into me from the chunk. It was hot, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as Katsuro's fire magic. The mana also helped stop my hand from getting burnt.

The dwarf had a smirk on his face at first, but as the seconds ticked by and I still held the red hot chunk of metal, he changed his expression.

"Hey, hey Kid! What do ya think yer doing?!" He smacked the metal out of my hand and grabbed me by the wrist.

"You have any ideas what kinda burns a stunt like that'll give ya?!" As he said this, he inspected my hand, seeing it was more-or-less fine.

"Uh, none I suppose..." He said, letting go of my wrist.

"So does that mean I got the job?" I ask him.

"Heh, you really are a strange one... Just strange enough for this place I reckon." He said, affirming that I had passed his test.

"Yes!" As I said this, I could feel the mana from the metal leaving me, along with any residual mana I still had from Octavia's blood. Considering I was exhausted before the trip here, this was the straw that broke the camels back, and I passed out on the cold stone floor.