We decided to do a bit of sightseeing. We left the second wall and entered the main city. Now that I wasn’t tired, I noticed the difference between this area and the other one. It was clear the second wall was where the rich people lived. It was like the city had divided itself based on socioeconomic class. Thankfully, this part of the city wasn’t bad, per se. It was much more muted and filled with more people. If the rich part of the city was like walking through New York City then this was more akin to moving down Times Square at its busiest. I took a turn off the main road, wanting to get a feel for the city. I walked for half an hour before I started noticing things. The majority of people were moving with purpose. Workers who had a place they needed to be, either had to move with the flow or were trampled.

I noticed that there were people who were meandering about. Neither moving with the flow of traffic nor against it. They were just sitting around. Once I noticed the first group, it was impossible to not notice the rest. They weren’t dressed like everyone else either. Their clothing was much more muted. They were either all topless with dirty and torn skirt-like bottoms or they wore toga-like outfits. Before I could investigate further, Sanaa and Tenebris leaped from my shoulders and darted across the path. They flew in circles above a man working out of a metal cart. The cart was about the size of a hot dog stand, only it had a large metal drum in the center with steam floating out of it.

“Food!” they both shouted through the bond. It felt like getting punched in the temples. “Calm down, I am coming.” I had to cross against the flow of traffic, which was made easier by the people who had stopped to gawk at my familiars.

“Hey!” I called out as I reached the other side. The man working was bald with a scar going down his right cheek. He wore no shirt or shoes but did have dark brown pants. The man looked like a deer caught in the headlights. His eyes were focused on the two dragons while he held a box of something in his hands. The food looked a bit like meatballs covered in a light brown sauce and sprinkled with green onions. I couldn’t place the smell, though. It was kind of seafoodie but nothing that I had ever smelled before.

“Both of you get down. You are scaring him. You won’t get any food if he can’t concentrate enough to give it to me.” I sent the message to both of them. They didn’t respond to me. Instead, it was like they were pulling against my will. It wasn’t enough to hurt or to do anything to me, but it was concerning.

“Make him give food.” Tenebris’ voice came to me a moment later. He pulled against the bond between us, clearly not wanting to listen. I tried to tighten my will on both of the lesser dragons before speaking to them again. “Come. Back. Now,” Sanaa let out a hissing sound before both of them landed on my shoulders. They snapped their jaws at me, which was much more terrifying when they were inches away from my neck. “Calm down, both of you.”

There was a tense moment as I waited to see if they would obey or if I would have to fight my familiars. Sanaa was the first to acquiesce. She lowered her head and closed both sets of jaws. Tenebris was next. He brought his wings close to his body and lowered himself onto my shoulders. I let out a slightly awkward chuckle before the man spoke up.

“Are you their, uh, owner?” The man fidgeted in place, his gaze going from me to each of the dragons and then back, as if expecting one of them to launch themselves at him. I laughed and scratched behind Tenebris’ head, hoping to disarm the situation.

“They are my partners, though we haven’t had the chance to get a good bite to eat. Would you mind selling us some of what you are making here?” I gave the man my best smile and watched as slowly relaxed. When I saw the crowd growing around us, I had an idea.

“Uh, well, of course. I have enough for you and your uh partners. Would you like it with sauce or without?” I raised an eyebrow and gave the air another sniff. “Could I have one of each? One of all the combinations.” The man’s eyes turned into saucers. He nodded eagerly and opened up two of the metal boxes. He placed them both on the cart and then grabbed a metal spike the size of my forearms. At first, I thought it was a spear. Tenebris and Sanaa dug their claws into my shoulders as we all tensed. Instead, he stabbed the spike into the metal drum. He then began flipping meatballs out of the drum and into the boxes. The man’s hands were a blur, and before I realized it, he filled up both containers. He then pushed them to the side, grabbed two more boxes, and did the same. The man repeated himself until there were ten boxes. He then grabbed a bowl filled with a variety of spices and peppers and began shaking them over each of the boxes. The smell of the food made my stomach ache. When he was done, I wasn’t sure if I or my familiars were hungrier.

“How much do I owe you?” He handed over a bundle of small wooden sticks. It took me a second to realize that they weren’t meant to be used like toothpicks. I opened one of the containers, skewered a piece, and held it to Tenebris. The dragonling eagerly bit into it. Once he was satisfied, I did the same for Sanaa."Uh well, each one is ten bronze pieces, so 100 hundred bronze pieces in total." I nodded and realized I had no idea what the conversion rate was from gold coin to bronze piece. I hesitated for a moment, which prompted him to fold his arms. He looked like he couldn’t decide if he was more upset at me or afraid of my dragons. I sighed and willed the sack of gold coins out of my ring and into my palm.

“So I am a bit new here. How many gold pieces does it take to get to 100 bronze pieces?” I opened the bag, revealing a portion of the gold to the man. His eyes widened in surprise and I was starting to worry that they would stick like that. “On-one my, uh lord? It increases or decreases by ten, so one gold is ten silver, ten silver is ten bronze.”

I chuckled at the man before grabbing two gold pieces and handing them to the man. “Consider the second an apology and a thank you for the food.” I gestured to both dragons who were delighted tearing into the rest of the first container. Before he could say anything, both dragons tossed their heads back and let out a roar of delight. The crowd took several steps back, which caused me to laugh. “They love it. I am expecting to be in the city for a few more weeks. I hope you won’t mind if we stop by here from time to time?”

I made my way over to the other nine containers. After flexing my will, all nine found spots in the ring. I wasn’t sure if the ring would keep them as warm as when I put them in there. I made a mental note to pay attention to that. If dimensional spaces could be used to preserve food, then I needed to learn how to make my own as fast as possible. The man dropped his coins into a pouch before eagerly nodding. “Please, I would be honored to cook for you and your partners. Is there anything specific you would like?” I shook my head and noticed a new notification was blinking. I ignored it for now. “No, I look forward to seeing what else you have for sale. I am afraid most of the food in this region is new to me.”

Tenebris and Sanaa fought over the last meatballs. They flew high into the air, forming a spiral of black and gold. Watching them was almost hypnotic. I wasn’t sure who won the battle, but both of them unleashed the breath weapons at each other. Light and Darkness clashed above us. The Gold and Black mixed like a barbershop poll and then exploded. The explosion was closer to a firework going off than the cataclysmic explosion of their bigger versions. It was no less stunning. When I came back to myself, I realized what had just happened. The crowd had fallen into stunned silence. I looked around, expecting people to panic. The silence was broken when someone began clapping. Like dominoes, the first person led to another and then another. Before long, the crowd had fallen into raucous applause. Both dragons landed on my shoulders with smugness radiating off of them. Before I could scold them for showing off, a commotion drew my eye. A trio of heavily armed men and women were making their way toward us. There were two men and a woman, each with the symbol of the city on their breastplates. I let out a sigh of annoyance as they reached us.

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The woman reached us first. Now that I could get a good look at her, I realized she wasn’t as threatening as I thought. She was probably five and a half feet tall. Her eyes were a heterochromatic mix of blue and brown. She had a bow in her hand and a quiver on her hip. She had a prosthetic right eye that glowed as she looked me up and down. I assumed she had used some kind of spell or ability on me. Whatever her eye showed her made her tense up. “Come with us.” Before I could respond, the two men with her took up positions behind and on either side of me. Tenebris and Sanaa focused on one each.

“Don’t. If we start a fight here, we won’t make it out of the city.” I followed after the woman. I kept my eyes on the pathways, plotting how we would escape if we had to. Thankfully, both of the guards behind me were hesitant to get too close to the dragons. She led us back onto the main road and I began to relax. I was pretty sure you don’t lead someone you plan to attack down the middle of the street. “So, can I have your names?” I called out mainly to the woman, but they all could hear me. None of them answered me.

“I do not like these people.” Sanaa’s voice entered my mind and I couldn’t help but nod in agreement. Our walk wasn’t much longer. They led us into an official-looking building. It was a three-story building circular building made out of grey stone. It had a domed rough that reminded me a bit of what would see in the Middle East. There were dozens of guards moving inside and around it. Once we were inside, the trio visibly relaxed. They took us into a side room with no windows. There was a stone desk and three chairs in the room. “Take a seat.” The woman waved a hand to the chair closest to me. She then went over to the opposite side of the desk and sat down.

I took a seat, folded my legs, and leveled my gaze at the woman. If she was disconcerted by the three of us she was doing a good job of hiding it. The silence stretched between us for a moment before I decided to speak. “Will you explain what’s going on now? You brought us in through the main entrance, so you aren’t trying to hide me. You also haven’t attacked me or chained me in any way. You haven’t checked me for any weapons, nor have you tried to take my partners. So my guess is you aren’t trying to arrest me?”

The woman let me finish before offering her reply. “You are correct. You are free to go whenever you like. We then—” I didn’t give her the chance to finish before I stood up and made my way to the door. I opened it and was about to step into the hallway when she spoke again. “Wait! We need your help.” I hesitated for a moment before slowly shutting the door. Once the door was closed, I turned around. “I don’t know you and you don’t know me. If we are going to do anything together, we are going to have to agree on some ground rules. You will treat me with respect. You don’t have to like me to, but we aren’t going to do this whole silent obedience thing.”

A vein bulged on her forehead as she gritted her teeth. “Fine, we need your help. You are a new adventurer and we would like you to look into something for us.” The woman spoke as if each word was like pulling teeth. The venom she said “adventurer,” with was as if saying the word physically hurt her. I nodded for her to continue. “We have had ten people go missing over the last seven months. Three of them were adventurers. As a result, the guild refuses to let us post the bounty again until we have more information. We don’t have the manpower to patrol the entire city for the culprit.”

I raised a hand to stop her. “You want someone that isn’t in the guild to investigate. Will my doing so get me in trouble with them? I might need them later.” The woman bit back the response she wanted to give before taking a deep breath and nodding. “It might. The guild does not like when people do jobs outside of their permission. Officially they worry that it will encourage people to take dangerous jobs in hopes of a payday. What is it you need? Maybe we can help you?”

“I am looking for people willing to leave the city to help me build a city. I have the land and resources. I just need people to live there and work.” At that, the woman perked up. “We can help with that. The city has had an influx of refugees. I can see to it that the word spreads. Assuming you do a good job with the investigation.” I raised an eyebrow at that. “Why are there so many refugees?”

“Haven’t you heard? The hytal have been moving through the desert and raiding. The smaller villages, tribes and free people have been dealing with their attacks. Most of them aren’t doing too well.”

“What can you tell me about the missing people? Are there any patterns? Did the number increase after the refugees came into the city? Are there any groups being targeted more than anyone else?” The woman hesitated for a moment before reaching beneath the desk. A moment later, she removed a pair of scrolls. “All that we know about the victims and the circumstances are written here. In short, the trail ran cold once the refugees started entering the city. Several merchant families have been taking advantage of various rules to slow down our investigation. It takes time for us to get the permits to search the inner districts of the city.”

“And you want me to be the one to do that part? That way, if the rich get upset, they blame me. That way I get to deal with both an angry guild and angry nobility?” She locked eyes with me before nodding. “That’s exactly it.”

The idea wasn’t a bad one. I didn’t plan on being in the city for too long so I could deal with the fallout while I was here and then disappear into the desert. “What else can you give me? No offense, but I don’t think you can keep me from spreading the word about what I need. I can also go to the guild and ask them to post it as a bounty. I could even wait for you to gain more information and then deal with it as an official quest.”

“And you are willing to have more missing people on your hands? For greed?” Before I could offer a response, the door opened. A man stepped into the room, breathless. “We have another missing person. Squad Leader Tarik is interviewing the family.” The woman stood up and looked at me. Before either of us could say anything, a prompt appeared in front of me.

You have been offered the Quest: Secrets of Afrium I

Ten people have gone missing in the city of Afrium. You have just been informed about an eleventh. Guard Captain Meron has requested your aid in finding the missing people or finding out what happened to them.

Success Conditions: You discover what happened to the missing people.

Reward:

Improved relationship with Guard Captain Meron

Improved Relationship with the Guards of Afrium

Improved Relationship with the citizens of Afrium

Possible settlers for Radiance

Penalty for failure:

Worsened relationship with Guard Captain Meron

Worsened relationship with Guards of Afrium

Worsened relationship with the citizens of Afrium

Do you accept: Yes?/No?

I accepted the quest. Ultimately, I wasn’t going to let the people just suffer when I could help, but it would have been nice to get some more rewards. Though relationship points were always good things. You never knew when having a friend would help you. I stood up and followed the Guard Captain.