Kane’s statement received more then a few chuckles from the crowd.

“Are you sure that’s wise, laddy? Few foes as dangerous as drakes out there.” The dwarf said while stroking his beard.

“Yeah, I don’t look kindly on a leecher trying to get some coin.” A more shady looking fellow responded. “Go kill some rats instead, scrub.”

“You worried about the actual quest reward? Are you a rookie yourself or something?” The heavily armored man interjected facing the shady looking fellow. “-the scales alone would be a couple hundred gold split for the survivors. I say let him come. We kill the drake while he keeps it busy being eaten and all. Ha ha ha!”

“It is settled then, I am looking forward to cooperating with you all.” Kane cared little for the mockery, he had only one thing on his mind. Tomorrow he would go out and slay a freaking dinosaur.

The shady looking fellow harrumphed. “Fine, see if I care.”. Kane smiled at him. It was he that seemed to mock him the most, but Kane had a feeling this man was having good intentions.

A quick glance at the mage woman yielded no results, seemed like she was completely ignoring him. Kane had thought he was a decent judge of character, but perhaps there was still much to learn.

The scaly guy at her table waved him over however, an invitation he gladly accepted.

“Kane was it. So you’re a copper, huh.”

“‘’Nother round, lassy!”, the dwarf barked loudly.

The catgirl hurriedly set down a number of filled mugs on the table.

“I just joined the guild a moment ago. Cheers.” Kane gulped down some grog. It was warm, but not as terrible as he imagined it would be. It reminded him of some of the more darker beers back on earth.

“I see, at least you do seem to have some fighting experience.” He glanced at the wounds on his shoulder and the scar along his chest. “Fighting bears a lot, are we?”

“Hmm? Oh, I suppose so. Yes. And wow. You are all silver adventurers. Amazing! I can not express in words my admiration for you all.”

Kane looked over the table at each of the occupants. The scaly man looked slender and agile, a swordsman by the looks of it. His movements were a testament of someone truly well in control of his own body. He seemed like some kind of dragon or lizardkin, yet his face was still very human-like.

The dwarf seemed more occupied with his drink than with Kane, but still gave him a thumbs up. “Thanks laddy.”. There was little to note about him, aside from the fact he pretty much looked exactly like Kane thought a dwarf should look like.

The third man looked a bit scrawny. He was wearing a light set of clothes and had a small mace hanging on his side. Other than that he didn’t look very impressive at all, if not for the silver tag hanging on his neck, one would think him a beggar. And then there was the mage woman sitting next to him. Her robe wasn’t quite as exquisite as he first thought it was, there was definatety some wear. But it was definitely far from simple rags either and it fitted her well. She also seemed to take exceptional care of her looks. Her hair had a magical luster to it unlike he had ever seen, except maybe in l’oreal commercials. No doubt her beauty and charisma attributes were quite high. Unfortunately she had been strangely ignoring him since he had winked at her, but now that his eyes had fallen on her again, suddenly she turned and leaned in towards him.

“You’re a strange one, cop. I wonder, what is your position, hmm?”, the woman trailed her finger along one of the claw marks on his chest. Kane had no idea how to read this woman. Was she trying to flirt with him or not? Baffling, but there was only one way to find out.

“My position, huh? Well… Silfee-”, the woman glared strongly at his attempt to call her silfy. Clearly she was not trying to come on to him. “ehh... I would love to answer your question, unfortunately I have absolutely no idea what you mean by position.” Kane shrugged in defeat. Her reaction had pierced like needles, it was probably a good thing he had not mentioned anything about being top or bottom.

“The extension of your class, lad. When in a group, where do ya fight? Frontline, backline, that sorta thing ya know.”

“Ah, I see. I have never fought in a group so, frontline I suppose.”

“What’s your class then?” The scrawny looking man joined the discussion.

“Ah, it’s supposedly an odd one. It’s called Herald of Principle.”

The occupants on the table all gave him an inquisitive look, a few careful listeners around him also turned to look him with some interest.

“I suppose I rather keep most details about it to myself, but at the very least I am probably a pretty capable fighter. Unfortunately, I do not know how I compare to you all.”, Kane nodded.

“Really, what’s its rarity?” The dwarf attempted to whisper in a voice that unfortinately did not lend to sounding soft.

“It’s not legendary if that’s what you mean.”

Quickly many eager listeners turned around once more as if instantly losing interest. Kane wondered what would happen if he would tell them it was a unique class.

“Alright then, still, even rare classes are often considered to be quite valuable. So what’s your gear like then? What weapons are you proficient in?”

“Ah.” Kane pondered for a moment. “I guess, whatever I can get my hands on.” His gaze had drifted towards the mage woman, realising way too late the inappropriateness of that action in conjunction with his last statement. Luckily for him, the woman seemed unperturbed by it.

“Well, what about now, what gear do you own?”

“Everything I own is on me currently.” Kane said with a sense of pride in his voice.

The scrawny man who had been sitting quietly with a bored look on his face burst out into laughter.

“This guy, really. Frontlining a Drake bare chested with nothing but his fists. Really, haha, I’ve not heard a better joke in my life!”

The others also chuckled in disbelief.

“Ah, my last weapon was a spear, but it got destroyed in my fight with the bear.”

As calm returned to the table, the others gave him an understanding nod.

“I see, laddy. Well, a spear is not a bad choice facing a Drake. Good reach and piercing, few other things can harm a drake. Say, you got some money on you to buy a new one?”

“I own 4 silvers, though I do not know if that would be enough.”

“Doubtful, not any decent ones anyway. A spear at that cost, you’ll probably just break it again.” The scrawny man replied.

“Perhaps I really should go to the dungeon first, huh. I’d hate to miss out on the drake hunt though.”

“Listen laddy, why don’t I lend ya some. I can give ya 5 gold, if ya go up and die I loot yer corpse and if ya survive ya simply pay me back in scales, eh? With interest of course.”

Although Kane was hesitant to become indebted to someone else, this was still a dinosaur hunt they were talking about. After a moment of careful deliberation he nodded.

“Sure, I would be ever thankful.”

“It’s settled then, what do ya think guys, consider him part of Iron Wheel?”

Iron Wheel seemed to be the name of their little group. The scaly man just shrugged and the scrawny guy nodded. The woman swayed a moment before responding. “Sure, that might be quite interesting. Mmh?”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Then, he is Scales, I’m Beardman and that's Monkey. The lady’s name is Elle. Welcome to Iron Wheel”.

“My name is K-.”

“No-”, Elle interrupted, “your name - is cop.”

That nickname having a meaning in his old world made him a little uncomfortable. As he glanced around the table it was obvious how the three other guys got their nicknames. So it was all her doing. Despite seeing the other guys shrug it off however, he felt a strange power well up inside of him and turned back towards Elle.

“By the time the hunt is over, you will know of my name.”

It had blurted out almost automatically. He had not inteneded to sound threatening, or anything like that either. It had been a simple statement. It caused Elle to frown curiously at Kane. His response had been rather surprising to her. After a moment's pause she responded.

“We’ll see about that. Cop.”

The three guys were visible sweating at that interaction.

With that the dwarf handed him some coins.

“There’s a general store down the road that should sell all kinds of gear, you’d likely find what you need there. We’re leaving at first light tomorrow, prepare well laddy.”

“To a bright future.” Kane held out his mug and downed the rest of it before making his exit.

Walking into the general store, Kane wondered if he stumbled into someone's messy garage. This store definitely did offer things of a very generic nature. Browsing around leisurely, Kane spotted all kinds of odd little bits and bobs. Everything did seem practical however. From standard equipment like ropes and lanterns all the way down to nails and keyrings. Weapons were randomly strewn about. From daggers and swords to odd looking maces and even knuckle dusters.

Kane picked up a nice looking falchion that seemed to come straight out of Aladdin, at least from Kane’s memory. Of course those were kilij swords and not falchions and this sword was actually more like a scimitar if anything. Unfortunately Kane had no deep knowledge of swords. Regardless of his lack of knowledge, the sword looked quite beautiful. The blade was rather thick, but perhaps this was due to the difficulty of forging proper steel and the inability to forge reliable thin blades.

Was it even steel, he wondered. It looked more like aluminium, but that would be silly as aluminium would be a terrible metal to use for a weapon. Kane might not be an expert when it came to metals, but he knew at least that much. It also felt super light, but weight was hard to judge with his boosted body.

A squeaky voice sounded from down below as Kane was inspecting the sword closely.

“Interested? A fine mithril sword it is. Only 10 gold and it is yours my friend!”

Kane turned to the voice and looked down, amazed at the sight of seeing a 40 centimeter high human standing at his feet and a mature looking male at that. Definitely not a human with short stature syndrome either. Proportions where rather strange for that to be the case.

“Oh, hello, I didn’t see you there.”

“Happens all the time. Don’t sweat it.”, the shopkeeper waved it off like he was used to it. “What about the sword though, looking good eh? It is imbued not to lose its sharp edge, maintenance free! An adventurer’s wet dream, eh? Hehehe.”

A magical mithril sword. This world was amazing. Still Kane put down the sword and shook his head.

“Actually no, I am looking for something with a little more reach, like a spear.” Kane looked around the shop, but unfortunately didn’t spot any.

“Ah, I have a couple those in the back. Follow me!” The little guy turned and walked swiftly towards the back as Kane followed, still gazing around the items on display, but nothing in particular caught his eye.

In the back the shopkeeper moved over a stool, climbed onto it and grabbed several spears from a shelf.

“Here are the sp-woooaah”, the little guy had trouble lifting all the spears in his tiny arms and almost lost balance. Luckily for him, Kane grabbed onto the batch of spears and helped him down.

“Phew, thank you. There are many advantages being a gnome, unfortunately lugging around big items isn’t one of them.”, the gnome gestured as if to wipe the non-existent sweat from his brow and proceeded to explain his wares.

“These two are pretty low quality, but this here is a fine spear, carved from elven wood, durable and flexible. And the tip, although made from iron, has been imbued with strengthening magic. A pain to maintain but very effective nonetheless!”

“And this here is a fully forged adamantium spear. It hasn’t been imbued with anything, but that’s hardly an issue when it comes to adamantium, hehehe. Extremely durable and holds its sharpness for a long time! The elven spear is 10 gold. This here adamantium spear I can let go for a measly 8. What do you say, hmm?”

“Only 8 gold?”, adamantium seemed like an expensive metal.

“Well, I don’t know what the creator had in mind, but unfortunately adamantium is rather heavy, it is also a metal that is extremely hard to reforge or reuse for anything else really. It would have been a far better spear had it been something like an elven or maybe even ancient wood with adamantium tip. It’s also badly balanced Hmm. Wait a minute! What are you doing to me!?”

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t understand, I would never talk about the negative points of my wares like this! Are you a charm magician? I’ll let you know I don’t take lightly to being charmed!”

“I assure you, I have not put you under any spell.”

At least Kane didn’t think he did. Was this maybe a side effect of his high charisma?

“Certainly I don’t feel charmed and we gnomes have an uncanny sense of magical things. Strange. Perhaps I am just tired of lugging around this dumb spear and unconsciously want it gone. So what do you say, will you take it off my hands?”

Kane lifted the spear in his hand. It did feel a little weighty, but definitely not unwieldy. As for the balance. Well, he had no idea on how to tell. It had a black metal finish and was forged without any sense of artistic beauty. It looked simplistic, but that was an attractive point for Kane. It had a practical quality to it. Also, it seemed unlikely to break easily.

“How about 4 gold?”

The gnome clearly looked offended and crossed his arms while glaring. “Only 4 gold? What do you think I run here, a charity? 7 Gold.”

“Well, I mean, like you said, although it’s durable, it is still essentially a badly designed spear, right? I’ll have some use for it, but I can’t go higher than 5 gold, really.”

“6 gold, that’s as low as I will go, take it or leave it.”

Kane sighed, his wealth amounted to 5 gold and 4 silver right now. He simply could not afford it and he didn’t want to be rude and continue haggling. As he was placing the spear back in order to look at the others the gnome suddenly shouted, “5 gold and 5 silvers!”

With only 1 silver away from his price. It was hard to not come with a counter offer, but trying to haggle any more seemed really rude as well. Kane sighed and laid out his money before the gnome.

“5 gold and 4 silver, I realize it is rather rude, but unfortunately it is all I have on me at the moment.”

For a moment the gnome glared at him, but then let out a deep sigh.

“Fine, fine, it’s a deal. The spear is yours.”, just like that with a wave of his tiny hand, he waved Kane off. Without any more money in his pocket, the gnome would have no reason to try and sell anything else to him.

On his way out of the shop he did remember Beardman saying something about armor. But how important could that possibly be. As every self respecting RPG player would know, a weapon was obviously far more important.

He had spent the rest of the day wandering around town. Although the adventurers seemed like a rowdy and lively bunch, the local people were lackluster in comparison. He took it upon himself to make some small talk with people here and there and all had been kind enough to respond to him. But generally their answers were rather bland and emotionless and almost none really seemed all that interested in him.

It was hard to imagine what life was like for the people living here. His modern standards obviously didn’t apply, but at the very least it was clear that life here was worse than what the people were capable of imagining. One man had apathetically spoken of their lazy king when Kane had inquired about the castle, but it was hard to judge whether those were just the ramblings of a random guy or if it had any real meaning to it.

When night fell, he had chosen a random porch and simply slumped down with his back against the wall in order to get some sleep like a vagrant. Some people had glared at him, but none had spoken out against his actions. Without money for an inn, it wasn’t like he had much choice anyway. And while the people here did not seem particularly unkind, there also did not seem to be much hospitality to go around. Not that Kane cared much, he hadn’t slept in a bed since he had been sent to this world and his body felt no worse for wear because of it.

Thus at dawn, with nothing but a pair of worn out boots, bland trousers with empty pockets and a long dark spear in hand. He walked up to the gathering of adventurers. Every single one of them was now fully kitted out in their gear. Most were checking on some of their gear, others were sharpening their weapons. Every single one of them looked like a proper adventurer in Kane’s eyes. Even Monkey wore a sleek looking properly maintained leather armor. Same for Scales, his leather armor seemed of even greater quality than the one monkey was wearing and Beardman was wearing an impressive looking plate armor set and wielded an ornate but amazing looking battle axe, double sided with a large blade on one side and a powerful looking spike on the other. Elle was much the same as he had seen her in the tavern though.

Kane walked up to them and with a glorious smile he planted his adamantium staff on the ground.

“Gods! What the hell is that!?” Beardman exclaimed as he grabbed hold of the spear. Kane allowed it as Beardman took a practice swing with it.

“This is pure garbage, you spent all the gold on this? A spear’s supposed to be slightly forward balanced, this thing here is… Is just heavy. Also it’s not even perfectly straight. What evil smith would dare craft a weapon like this. Awful! Listen here laddy. You best not die on the hunt you hear, I want my gold back and not some unsellable piece of scrap metal!”

Scales and Monkey simply shrugged, it wasn’t their gold so they cared little. Elle also let out a little chuckle. “haha, very interesting indeed.”

As for the other adventurers, most looked at him like he was some kind of bare-chested retard, but no one really cared about his presence. Even the shady looking guy who Kane had deemed was probably secretly quite a nice guy had an apathetic and defeated look on his face whenever he glanced in his direction.

Kane simply shrugged it off and looked towards the forests while taking in a deep breath. His smile was broad, filled with childish spirit.

“This is going to be awesome."