Dawn- An age of Darkness

I hadn't asked them about guilds and stuff. After all, I was still going by as a lone rookie adventurer – just like Lianne advised me to. Better get myself a map.

It was a little sad to say goodbye. It was short but I was still glad. Suppose this was for the best.

And now my mind finally exploded. I headed wherever my heart wanted. I was a shut-in nerd after all. This was a brand new experience for me.

The diversity attracted me the most. There were all sorts of people: businessmen, workers, housewives, children, and even adventurers (people with clunky armor and wild looks). Nobody seemed unhappy at all. And there were various species too. Some had animal features like a tail or ears. So this is why people call this place a paradise!

I went to the market first. There were countless stores with weird but unique signboards. I could read them! One particular signboard caught my eye. It said, 'Be Virgin No More!' What the hell is that supposed to mean? I didn't go in. It was better that I didn't find out what it meant.

There were various stalls too. I'd never seen so many kinds of fruit at once. Most shops sold food and daily necessities. I didn't have any money aside from the two gold coins, so I had to figure out a way to sell the monster parts. And I also needed to know how much a gold coin was worth. But judging from how those four acted, I'd surmised that it was pretty pricy.

I stopped a passerby. I didn't know anything about this city, so I had to ask. "Excuse me, where can I sell these?"

"Head north, you'll see shops that buy that stuff."

"Thank you."

I searched and finally reached the monster parts trading shop. The goods I had were sure to fetch a good price given the fact that we'd risked our lives for them, at least, I hoped so.

"Welcome."

I showed him the fangs and ears. "I'd like to sell these." I cut to the chase rather quickly. I didn't have time to waste, more like I couldn't wait any longer. I wanted to walk around this town like my life depended on it. I was high on wanderlust.

"Let's see…how about 20 bronze a piece sound?"

I had no concept of money. So I didn't know if he was robbing me or giving me a good deal. I had seven pieces of goblin fangs and seven pair of ears. I also kept some cactus needles too. The needles were really hard to pull out of the skin. So I didn't give him those just yet.

"So, the fangs are worth twice as much as the ears?"

His smile kind of put me in a defensive mode. His goatee made me even more uncomfortable. This guy was a serious businessman. "Yes sir, that is correct. Goblin's have only one large fang, hence the value increase."

"Alright, I'll sell you them." I made a poker face. I just hoped I wouldn't be tricked.

He took all of them. "Here's your 240 bronze." He gave me a bag full of coins.

Did he miscount or something? "Hey wait! I'm supposed to get 280 bronze!"

"You must be mistaken sir. I assure you, I am a proper business man. I would never try to cheat on you." I didn't seem to lie. He seemed too confident in his business skills.

"Is that so?" But I wasn't convinced. Did he think I studied fourteen years for nothing?

I gave him a math lesson on multiplication. He seemed interested in learning as well. Ironically that guy was not a cheater rather a vagabond who didn't know how to multiply. Which actually made sense. According to him only nobles were taught in schools around the kingdom and ordinary folks like him were left to do guesswork. The rich merchants could bribe a scholar or two and learn things but the lower end merchants were forced to just learn to do things based on their intuition. I didn't like that system but there was nothing I could do about it.

"So…s-sorry sir. I didn't know!"

"Just give me my money!" I was bitter. The screams of that girl still haunted me and I wanted to get rid of it. I thought distracting myself would work, but it didn't. Moreover the thought of rich prospering while the poor laggard behind, was enough to irk me even further.

"Here you go sir, two silvers and 80 bronze."

Apparently one hundred bronze was worth a single silver. I wonder how the goblin got its hand on that gold coin… Wait doesn't that mean that was one hell of an amount? Sigh* no wonder they talked about fortunes and all… My earlier theory was correct. These two gold coins really did mean a lot.

I sighed but in the end thanked my luck. After all, I still had two gold coins and unlike the people of this world, I was educated. "Nice doing business. Is the weather always like this?"

"No sir. From last two days the weather has been like this. It usually happens earlier in the year but maybe this time the storm came late?" He smiled. "Please come again."

It was only drizzling. The sky had gotten rather dark. I didn't know why but it looked ominous to me. And I also learned a new thing; this world had some kind of a calendar system. I still didn't know much about it though.

My stomach all of a sudden announced its presence with a grumble. I haven't eaten anything yet, huh?

An inn was nearby. I headed in. The atmosphere was too cheerful for my taste. What is wrong with this world? That city was too carefree. Nobody seemed even a little concerned about what was outside the walls. At first it was refreshing but as it went on, I felt more and more empty.

A woman from behind the counter welcomed me. "Welcome!"

"How much a night?"

It was a very rude way of asking for a night but I couldn't find a better phrase.

However the woman still greeted me with a smile. She was young and beautiful, fit for the job I suppose. "20 bronze for one night and 30 for two."

So basically I'd get a discount? I still don't know what I'll do or learn yet. So I shouldn't spend too much. "I'd like a room for one night."

"You're ID, sir?"

It was a shock. I never thought this world had something like that. But then again this was a different world so I shouldn't have been surprised. "ID?"

"Are you new to this town? In that case you should visit the church. They'd issue an ID."

No wonder everyone kept telling me to visit the church first. "I see. For now, I'd like some food."

"In that case please take a seat over there."

A waitress came to get my order. I ordered a chicken-potato soup with bread. It was somewhat of a luxury to get that meal at 8 bronze as most of the other food were less than five bronze, but I wanted to. And this was also the first time I'd get chicken after coming to this world, so I went for the overkill dish. It was the priciest. It seemed that with about a hundred bronze a person could live pretty well for about three days if they were conservative.

Being a selfish jerk when it came to money, I always saved by all sorts of means but not this time. It was always a good idea to let loose once in a while.

Promptly she brought the food. It was still warm. She also gave me a towel: it brought a smile to my face. When I bit into the meat, it dissolved in contact to my mouth- that's the best description I could come up with. Anyway, it was delicious and the bread was decent.

People in the inn at first stared at my rusty-semi-torn clothes but soon focused on their meals. Well after going through what I did, it was a surprise that my clothes were still there. And perhaps this wasn't that surprising anyway.

I overheard a group who seemed to be adventurers as well. They were talking about a forest. Brings back memories…Horrible memories…

"Hey, have you heard, Geurd saw a weird statue in the Bylin forest?"

"Really? Maybe we can sell it!"

"Don't be stupid! Don't you know that forest has undead lurking around at every corner?"

"Damn it! What the hell are those elves doing?"

They went on. I refocused on my food but I couldn't take any more bites.

Honestly, my appetite disappeared as they mentioned the undead. However, my intuition clicked when a statue came into the picture. Could that be? Misrael had mentioned something about her kin. Meaning sooner or later I'd have to visit that forest.. I sighed at the thought.

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