Jack scoured the marketplace to see which merchants would buy his pelts. The marketplace was incredibly vast and crowded with people, so the task was not as easy as it sounds. In fact, he had probably wandered around for well over an hour without finding a single merchant willing to buy pelts from him.
When he did find a willing merchant, they would pay pathetically low prices for it, complaining about the quality of the fur or something. All in all, he couldn't get more than 5 silvers in total out of all the pelts in his inventory---at least all the ones he was able to sell.
If he had bad luck selling rabbit pelts, he had even worse luck selling other items. No one wanted a supply of wood or stone since there was no high demand for them. People also didn't want plants picked from the wild when there are far better alternatives grown by experienced farmers and herbalists. And good luck trying to sell dirt to these people---you'll have better luck selling ice to an Eskimo.
After spending the entire afternoon trying to sell his items to various merchants, he couldn't even come close to making the 50 silver required to for a night at the inn. It turned out that making money in a fantasy world wasn't as easy as he thought. He couldn't just haggle the merchants with a charming smile and a level 100 Speech and automatically make tons of money. Skyrim had lied to him! Go figure!
It was then that he thought of another idea. Fantasy worlds like this usually have some sort of guild that he can join. He'll be able to go on quests and make a good bit of money that way. Maybe some of his fellow guild members would lend him some money or, better yet, lend him a place to stay for the night.
----------------------------------------
He asked around for a while about how to get to a guild hall, after which he walked quite a bit of distance to get there. Upon arriving, Jack was staggered by the massive scale and imposing design of the hall.
The ceiling was almost as tall as most cathedrals and there were several animals heads mounted on walls that were used as decoration. The overall ambience of the hall was almost several times as rowdy as the tavern he'd visited before.
As much as he'd like to gawk at the spectacle of the hall's design, he had to remind himself to stay focused on the task. With that, he headed to the counter, where he met a large man with a beard. From the looks of it, the man appeared to be the hall manager around here.
"Hello, lad. How can I help you?" the manager said.
"Uhh, hi. I would like to sign up as an adventurer, please," Jack said.
"Adventurer? You mean a mercenary?"
"Yes! I would like to join a guild and participate in quests and earn money. This is where I sign up, right?"
"Yes, this is the place." The manager then took out a piece of paper, a quill, and an inkwell and placed it in front of him. "I'll just need you to fill out this form and pay the fee."
Jack stared at the paper with nervous eyes. The entire form was written in a fantasy language he didn't understand. Out of all the obstacles he was expecting to encounter, he'd never thought fantasy-language illiteracy would be one of them. Where's the fantasy equivalent of Google Translate when you needed it?
Jack lowered his head in shame. "Umm...I can't read."
"You can't read?! Then what business do you have being a mercenary, lad?!"
"Well, I was hoping that maybe you can translate it for me? It shouldn't be too hard, right? I'm sure some of these are easy to fill out." Jack picked up the form and guided his fingers along the first line of words. "So, do I write my name here or what?"
The manager abruptly took the form back from Jack's hands and put it back under the table. "Forget it! A lowly illiterate peasant like you probably don't even have the coin to pay the fee anyway."
"I mean, I probably can. How much is the fee?"
"1 gold."
"1 gold?! That's like...100 silver?!"
"Well, you understand how money works, at least. From the looks of it, I'm guessing you can't even afford that. And even if you did manage to fill out the form and pay the fee, it's going to take about 3 months before your application gets processed."
"3 months?! What is this, the DMV?! I can't wait that long?!"
"And even if you've gone through all that, you still need to pass a basic written test and a combat competency test before you are approved. Only then were you able to get a mercenary license, which would give you the legal permission to participate in jobs posted on the board."
Jack cradled his head in agony. "What the hell is this?! What's up with all these rules and bullship bureaucracy?!"
"Those rules are there for a reason, lad. You don't want some amateur going off in dangerous jobs only to mess something up or get themselves killed."
"Yeah, well, I mean...if you put it like that, it does make sense, I guess. It's just that...I don't know...I just expected that being a mercenary was supposed to be easy."
The manager let out a laugh. "Why would you ever expect being a mercenary to be easy? Being a mercenary is probably one of the hardest jobs out there! People risk life and limb out there killing bandits and beasts! It is the exact opposite of easy! What kind of world do you live in where you would believe such a lie?"
Jack was left nearly speechless by that revelation. "I...umm...I don't know...I don't know anymore..."
The manger gave him a look that was half-annoyed and half-pity. "Yeah, well, why don't you come back when you have the money, lad. And also the ability to read."
Jack said nothing. Instead, he lowered his head shamefully and lumbered out the hall.
----------------------------------------
Jack wandered the streets in low spirits. He was now fresh out of ideas on how to make enough money to stay a single night at an inn, which was the most basic of all the things an adventurer should reasonably be able to accomplish. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that it's never going to happen.
He wondered if he was going to have to sleep on the streets for the night like a homeless person. He felt he'll be much better off living in the wild. At least over there, he won't have to be seen by people and get scrutinized by their judging eyes. Who would have thought that, after such a long time being alone, he would be dying to go back to his life in the wilderness?
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He wondered if he'll eventually be forced to beg on the streets for money. Maybe he could be some sort of street performer. Maybe he could dance his way into some spending money. He wondered what was the local townsfolks' opinion on Fortnite dance moves.
As he walked down the streets trying to figure out what to do about his money situation, he noticed some sort of commotion going on.
Nearby, there was a small merchant stall selling pottery. The stall's merchant was an elderly man and he seemed to be surrounded by three tough-looking men. Three tough-looking elven men, to be exact. Those pointy ears of theirs were a dead giveaway.
"You call this Elrinthian pottery?! This is Halandril garbage, old man! You are ripping people off!" The elf in the middle sneered at the elderly merchant as he pointed an incriminating finger at him. His getup made him look like some sort of thug or petty criminal. Judging by the way he carried himself, he was clearly the boss of the trio.
"No, I'm not," the merchant replied, clearly frightened of the elves' accusations. "This is true authentic Elrinthian pottery. I have it shipped all the way from Valenquin. I swear to the Goddess Ysna-"
Suddenly, the elven thug kicked the merchant to the ground, thrusting him onto a pile of pottery. The sharp edges of the shattered pottery pieces scraped the merchant's skin, causing it to bleed a little. The elven thug then followed up with a couple more kicks as the merchant laid there helplessly on the ground.
This is horrible, Jack thought as he saw this happening. He then noticed how the passersby around him would watch this happen but didn't step in to intervene. Some even looked the other way as they picked up their pace into moving away from the scene. Why aren't these people stopping this? What the hell is wrong with them?
"Don't you dare besmirch the Goddess Ysna with your filthy human mouth! You are unworthy." The elven thug spat on the old man as he wore a condescending smirk on his face. "You have offended me and my race with your business. You're going to have to pay a fee as compensation. How about...100 gold? Yeah, that sounds about right."
"What?! 100 gold?!" The merchant repeatedly bowed his head to the ground, begging in desperation. "Forgive me, mister! I'm just a humble pottery merchant! I can't afford to pay you that much! Please, forgive me!"
"What's that? You're too stingy to pay? What a shame." The elven thug turned to his two elven henchmen behind him and gave the order. "You two, get to work."
The two henchmen did as he commanded. Suddenly, the bracers they were wearing on their wrists were glowing, releasing a multi-colored aura that formed into some kind of magical glyph at the palms of their hands.
One henchman wielded his glyph to shoot a fireball out of his hand, setting the merchant's stall aflame. The other henchman slammed his glyph onto the ground, causing a pillar of rock to shoot out from the ground, smashing the pottery around it.
Woah, is this...magic?! Jack thought as he watched in both awe and horror. This was the first time he had ever seen real fantasy magic done in front of him. It would have been impressive if not for the circumstance it was used in. They are using magic to bully this poor defenseless merchant. What a bunch of douchebags!
Jack couldn't just stand there and watch anymore. He knew in his heart that something needs to be done. Taking out his sling, he loaded a stone in it before hurling it at the elven thug, hitting him right on the head.
"Oww!" the elven thug shouted. He then tapped his head to see that it was bleeding a little, which made him furious. "What...who dared hit me?!"
"I did!" Jack boldly declared, stepping forward as he swung his sling around in a playful manner.
The elven thug glared at him with an intense rage. It's as though the very idea of being assaulted by a man like Jack was completely alien to him. "You dare hit me?! Do you know who I am?! Do you know what clan I belong to?!"
"Oh yeah, I recognize you as the one they call 'No One Cares' from the clan called 'No One Gives a Truck'. Now why don't you leave that poor old man alone and be on your merry way? Otherwise, there's more where that came from, pointy-ears."
"You insolent, dirt-eating...!" The elven thug was so furious, he was temporarily at a loss for words and could only speak in a mad incoherent ramble. After throwing a short fit, he turned to his henchmen and gave the order. "Get him!"
The henchmen did as ordered. One of them proceeded to launch a fireball at him. Instinctively, Jack summoned two wood blocks, one on top of another, to defend against it. Immediately afterwards, he wound up his sling and tossed another stone, this time at the fireball guy, knocking him unconscious and putting him out of commission.
The elven thug saw how Jack had magically summoned blocks of wood out of thin air and was even more infuriated by it. "What?! A human using magic?! Preposterous! Unacceptable!"
Suddenly, Jack felt something trembling beneath his feet. He quickly moved away as a pillar of rock shot up from the ground, nearly slamming into him.
Jack noticed that the second henchman, the rock pillar guy, was attacking him with a series rock pillar attacks. He tried to counter-attack by launching another stone from his sling, but the rock pillar guy simply summoned a wall of rock in front of him, blocking the shot with ease. Afterwards, more rock pillars started to form beneath Jack's feet, forcing him to constantly evade them.
With that rock wall in the way, Jack had no direct line-of-sight to land his shots. Meanwhile, the rock pillar guy could simply attack him from behind cover as many times as he wanted. He must figure out some way to bypass it.
It was then that Jack thought of an idea. Heading towards the rock wall, he formed one wood block in front of him, then formed two wood blocks in front of that, forming a rudimentary staircase made of one-meter blocks.
He then climbed up the staircase and jumped over the rock wall, landing right behind the rock pillar guy. Before the rock pillar guy was able to react, Jack equipped himself with his stone axe and whacked him in the head, knocking him out cold.
The elven thug saw how easily his henchmen were defeated and was outright livid. "Grr! You guys are useless! Fine, I'll do this myself!"
The elven thug formed a glyph in his hand and immediately shot out a jet of water, hitting Jack with a large impacting force that sent him flying towards a brick wall.
Jack grunted in pain as he got up. He was drenched in water and was pretty sure at least one of his ribs got broken.
The elven thug then followed up with another jet of water, which Jack blocked just in time by placing wood blocks in front to shield him. However, as the thug launched one water jet after another, Jack's wood block defenses started to chip away.
"You think you could take on me?!" the elven thug shouted as he repeatedly launched jets of water at Jack. "You are nothing but a lowly human and I am a highborn elf! A human could never wish to defeat an elf in a battle, especially not in a contest of the magical arts! You should know your place!"
A final jet of water blasted the wood blocks away, leaving Jack defenseless. In his mind, Jack admitted that he might have been in over his head with this situation. He struggled to figure out a way out of this one.
Before the elven thug was able to launch another attack, a loud alarming sound from some sort of horn was heard blasting from a certain direction. The thug heard the sound and was noticeably frightened.
"Shit! Get up! We need to get out of here!" the elven thug said as he woke his henchmen up. Afterwards, they immediately ran away as fast as they could.
Jack didn't know what was going on or what that horn sound signify. All he knew was that he was out of trouble.
"Yeah, you better run!" Jack yelled at the fleeing trio of elves.
Just as he got his bearings, he noticed that the horn sound came from a large platoon of guards who were were lining up and approaching him, surrounding him on all sides. There were probably about a dozen of them and they were all wearing suits of armor and wielding spears. Jack was completely clueless as to what was going on, so he decided to play it cool.
"Oh, hey there. Thanks for coming to the rescue but I'm fine. A little bruise here and there, but no biggie. I take on thugs like that plenty of times." Right as Jack was in the middle of talking, the guards all took their spears and pointed it directly at him, which took him completely by surprise. "Woah, woah, hey, what's going on here? Hey, look, you've got the wrong guy. There's these three elf dudes trying to beat up that old merchant over there and I was the one trying to save him-"
"Silence, human! Under the law of Ingenwell, you are hereby under arrest!" one of the guards said.
"What?! Under arrest?! For what crime?! Like I said, you've got the wrong guy. This was all a misunderstanding- BZZZZZT..."
One of the guards formed a glyph in his hand and shot Jack with a current of electricity, causing him to fall to the ground and spasm uncontrollably. After Jack was sufficiently incapacitated, the rest of the guards restrained him with a set of metal cuffs and carried him away.