I stood up and shook myself like a dog. My robes were soaked and when I pulled up their durability, I sighed. The durability was less than half. I made a mental note to get it repaired."You should come and look at this." I turned around and found Zakia holding the blade. “What’s up wi—” My blood ran cold in my veins when I saw the curved blade. It was identical to the one that plunged into my heart. The world seemed to mute around me as I stepped forward and took it from her.

You have found: Serrated Forbidden Blade Damage: 12-15

Details: Deals an additional +15 damage on hit. This dagger can transfer the souls of those slain with it. The blade is serrated will inflict the bleeding status on those wounded by it.

Durability: 200/200

Item Quality: Superb

Item Rarity: Rare

Weight: 3lbs

The blade was horrible. The metal was a dark black color with veins of red going through it. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought it had fire or lava traveling through it. The blade was designed to cause as much damage as possible. It hooked toward the end and I was thankful that I was able to kill the man who used it on me. A sharp pain in my shoulders made me drop the dagger and lunge back. When I realized I wasn’t under attack, I calmed down and took stock of the situation. Sanaa and Tenebris were digging their claws into my shoulder and Zakia looked like she was considering punching me in the face.

“What was that about?” She asked before grabbing the dagger. “It’s a pretty good blade, though the enchantment is insane.” I considered lying to her but quickly decided against it. Not telling the truth would only lead to more annoying problems later. “Remember how I mentioned being from a different world? Well, a blade like this one killed me. My soul was saved by someone else, though, which is how I ended up here.”

She stared at me for a long moment. I couldn’t read her expression. “I” She took a moment before continuing. “I don’t know much about necromancy or soul magic, but it seems like you are alright. Let’s find someone with a better understanding of how the blade works. Maybe we can find its owner?”

I nodded. “I think it’s time we get out of here. I don’t want to find another slime creature and I hate being wet.” Zakia snorted at that before walking away. I heard her mutter “Low Hanging Fruit” as she got further away. “Are you two ready?” I asked my familiars as I moved to follow.

“Yes,” Sanaa replied as she lowered her head into the crook of my neck. The feeling of her warm breath was still a bit nerve-wracking. It was like letting a lion or tiger place its mouth right next to your head and hoping it didn’t rip everything out. Tenebris was a bit more subdued. I could tell he had fully recovered.

“What’s wrong?” There was a hesitation as he searched for the words. “I was wounded.” I waited for a beat before it dawned on me what he was trying to say. “Not every battle is going to go our way. As long as we all survive, we can improve and get better.”

I could feel the dragonling’s irritation through our bond, but I felt like he understood me. I decided to let him simmer in his feelings for now. We made it out of the sewer less than ten minutes later. Thankfully, there wasn’t an army of guards waiting to arrest us. We decided to split up with Zakia going to take care of her living arrangements and me going back to see Meron. We agreed to meet up at the money changer in two hours. The journey back to the guard captain was pretty quick. The perfect memory ability was proving itself to be every bit equal to the other two. It made navigating the city simple. When I reached Meron’s office, I found her sitting there reviewing a series of scrolls.

“Have you found anything?” She spoke as I took a seat across from her. I summoned the dagger out of my ring and handed it over. She took the dagger and looked over the serrated edges. I saw her eyes moving across the air as if staring at something I couldn’t see. If that’s what it looked like when I read my screens, it was a bit creepy. Once she finished, she handed the dagger over. “Do you know where it comes from?”

I hesitated for a moment before nodding. “I have, but you probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I also don’t know if it will be relevant to the investigation. When she waved her hand for me to continue, I began. “I came to this world from a different one. I was killed by a strange cult that used a blade similar to that one. My soul was saved, and I was allowed to come here. I can’t and won’t tell you how that last part happened, for both of our sakes.”

Meron stared at me with a completely blank expression as I spoke. She placed both hands on the desk in front of her and stayed silent for a long while. “I don’t know anything about what you are talking about. So far you have been straight with me, so I will refrain from thinking you are insane. I would suggest you take the blade to either a craftsman who might be able to find a crafter's mark or someone with the magical know-how to trace the enchantment. The last one might be more difficult. This seems like fel magic and you won’t be able to find someone who knows that easily.”

I made a mental note to research what “Fel” magic was, but that was for another time. “Do you know of a place where I can learn magic? I need to get some spells.” Meron shook her head. Paused raised an eyebrow and then shook her head again. “I don’t know for sure, but you might be able to find something at the auction. You would need to either find a Master to teach you magic and help you gain that class or locate spells in old tomes. Most magicians keep their secrets to themselves.”

I nodded. That had been what I was expecting to hear, though finding a “Master” might not be a bad idea. I definitely wouldn’t call them that, but who knows? “How do classes work?” Meron searched my face as if expecting me to say something. When I stayed quiet, she let out a sigh. “You aren’t from here. You can gain your class upon reaching level 45 in a skill. For the most part, classes are divided between combat and non-combat. You are already level 10, so you should be able to get a non-combat class, but once you reach level 20, you will be able to get your first combat class.” She hesitated as if stopping herself from saying what she wanted to. “Be weary about signing yourself up with a house.”

I wanted to ask her what she was talking about, but she started poring over her scrolls. When she refused to look at me again, I took the hint and left. When we were back outside, I went in search of a blacksmith. Finding a blacksmith was pretty easy. The city had a lot of them. Blacksmiths that focused on weapons, armor, tools, macro-smiths, micro-smiths, and many others that I didn’t ask. Unfortunately, none of them had ever seen the blade before. It forced me to meet up with Zakia before I could gain any more information.

Zakia was standing outside of the Guildhall. She was glaring at a large elephant person who was holding a war hammer on his shoulders. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but I was pretty sure that she wasn’t having a good time. “Hey? Is there a problem?” When the pair saw me, the elephant person was much happier to see me than I expected.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Aye, boss man. Everything is going well with your order. Did you want to look over the materials?” Before I could answer, Zakia spoke up. “He wants to exchange some gold bars for coins. Were you not listening to me just now?”

“Uh, what’s going on? No thanks on the materials thing. Is the Guildhall closed down?” The man shook his head. “Not closed. We have all hands on deck for your order. Is she with you?” I nodded slowly. “We were hoping to get some coins. Should we check with someone else?”

He shook his head. “Boss would have my horns if I let you take your business somewhere else. I was told to keep business light for the next week or so.” He then gave Zakia a polite nod and led us inside.

“Not making friends?” I whispered to the Ifrit as we headed inside. “Maybe if someone wasn’t throwing money around it like was continue, we wouldn’t have this problem.” I blinked as I wrapped my head around that. I assumed “Contina” was confetti. “I just ordered some building materials.” She folded her arms and glared at me. I decided it was best to quit while I was behind.

Unfortunately, the woman I spoke with last time wasn’t available. Neither were most of the other people. It was a bit of a ghost town. The guard led me down a back hall and into a room that reminded me of a bit of a casino. Specifically, the place where you exchange your chips for actual money. An older woman was waiting inside. She was short, probably around 5ft tall with soft grey curls and dark brown skin. She wore a multicolored dress that trailed behind her.

“Ahhh, you must be the man that has caused so much commotion for the tradesmen and women. You are as cute as they said.” She laughed and then gestured for us to take a seat across from her. “I take it you have not come to buy anything from me?”

“Mother Dayshia, they—” Before the guard could continue, she waved a hand at him. “I am sure they can speak for themselves, Yamen. You may return to what you were doing.” I couldn’t help but chuckle watching the large man shuffle out of the room. Once the door closed, she gave her attention to the pair of us.

“So what can I do for you too?” Zakia looked at me and I placed my palm face down on the table. I willed out the remaining bars of gold to appear. I summoned them in two groups. The first group appeared in front of Zakia and included everything I owed her and a bar extra. The second pile was everything else, including the Golden claws and the Basilisk egg. I wasn’t sure she would buy it, but if I could get that done here too then why not give it a try? Dayshia’s eyes went wide for just a moment before she got control over herself.

“I see, a man with such means is a rare sight indeed. You have already spent so much gold and you have even more? Can I be assured that your resources were gained honestly?” I laughed while nodding at her. “I assure you every gold bar was gained fairly.”

“Are you able to exchange all of this?” She slowly nodded. “I can, but I won’t be able to do it all as hard currency. Are you willing to accept some of it as debt slips?” I sat up at that. “I am afraid I don’t know what a debt slip is. How much are you able to do in hard currency?”

“I could do about half of what you have offered. If you give me a couple of months, I might be able to do a bit more. Without a bank being nearby, the process is more difficult and requires one to travel.”

“Why aren’t there any banks in the city? Where is the closest bank?” Zakia picked up one of her gold bars. “Well, because a bank isn’t a simple building to make. Anyone can make a place to store gold and then lend out said gold. A bank does more than that. From what I have heard.”

Dayshia smiled. “The young lady is correct. A bank is a special kind of magic building. There are only six of them in the world. From what I have been told, it grants a level of control over the flow of and creation of money. Outside of selling hard resources, there is a limited amount of money that can exist at one time.”

I nodded along as they both spoke. “I assume that neither of you knows how to get a bank?” Dayshia offered an amused laugh. “No, I know that you need some kind of powerful magic item and at least two other things. As per the law of three. Other than that, I am afraid I know nothing.”

“Would you be able to exchange all of her gold bars? I wouldn’t mind waiting a bit. I have a feeling that there will be plenty of opportunities for me to exchange gold.” Dayshia nodded. “I will return.” Once she was gone, I turned to Zakia.

“Do you think she was telling the truth? About the bank?” She nodded before placing her bar of gold back on the table. “Of course. There are many stories of legendary buildings. According to some, they are the reason the Hesata dominion has managed to spread so far.”

I made a mental note to learn what that was later. “Interesting. She mentioned a magical item. Do you know anything about that?” She shook her head. “Not really. You might want to find a sage for those kinds of questions.”

“What did she mean by ‘law of three’?” At that, Zakia sat up and shook her head. “You know three? One of the sacred numbers. 3,5, 7, and the numbers that come from them. I don’t know why exactly, but it’s believed those numbers form the basis of the world and its realms.”

I felt like I had just been given a guidebook and had no time to study it. I was just about to ask her several more questions when Dayshia returned. In her hands, she held a thick black and grey box. The box was covered in runes and sigils that pulsed faintly with white light. She placed the box down in front of us. “Now I am afraid I can’t do the full exchange in platinum. It will take a combination of platinum, Gold and Silver. Is that alright?” Zakia nodded, and the two began exchanging individual bars for coins. The process took nearly thirty minutes, but when it was done, Zakia grinned like a child on Christmas. She had a sack almost as full as the one I was given earlier. Only hers was made out of fine black silk. Once they finished I received an interesting notification.

Congratulations! You have gained 2,000 Relationship Points with Zakia! Your relationship has improved from Admired (+10,500) to Admired (+12,500).

The fact that my relationships with other people not only had a numerical value but I could just look it up whenever I wanted was very surreal. I blinked the screen away and collected my gold while I waited for the two of them to say their goodbyes.

“Satisfied?” I asked as we made our way back out onto the street. “What can I say? It feels good to have my money. What are you going to do now?”

I shrugged. “I am not sure. I still need to figure out who is responsible for the blade. So far none of the smiths I have spoken to knew anything. I will probably head back to the lodge and go over things. Maybe I missed something. What about you?”

“I think I am going to go and check out the Arena. I haven’t seen a good fight since we got here. Do you still want to go to the auction?” I nodded. “Good, it’s in three nights. I would suggest you find someone willing to buy the basilisk egg. You might be able to get the auction house to take the gold bars and offer you a line of credit.”

“That isn’t a bad idea. I also need to find people who will move to Radiance. It won’t do me any good if I only have materials. I was thinking about spreading the word amongst the homeless. At least until we solve this mystery and get the guards to do it for me.”

“You should spread the word amongst the adventurers. Especially the retired ones. People who are looking to settle down and build something. I imagine that people who came all the way here and have since decided that life wasn’t all the stories made out to be would be a potential gold mine.”

“I don’t know if the guild will want to deal with me. I am technically taking a job from them. I can go by there tomorrow to check it out, though. I might be able to find someone willing to teach me some more spells.”

Zakia shook her head at that. “Yeah, I don’t know about that. Most magicians get jobs working for either a house, a military, or some other organization. Convincing them to join you in the middle of the desert is going to be a tough sell. Though you can always throw gold at people. That has worked well for you so far.”

I rolled my eyes at that. “Uh-huh, assuming the mine just has an endless amount of the stuff. For now, though take care of yourself. I imagine that whoever is kidnapping people has noticed what we are doing. If they haven’t, then they will know in the next day or two. I am not exactly subtle. If you need anything, head to the lodge.”

She nodded before splitting off. I waited for her to disappear into the crowded street before making my way back to the lodge.