After a few minutes of walking, we reached the shrines at the edge of the forest, marking the outskirts of Thymhil. Already, there were a couple of people walking in and out of the buildings. Most of them seemed to be surprised, perhaps frightened slightly. Others seemed to not care or showed actual curiosity. Then there were, of course, the few that trembled with fear at the sight of me. They kept their eyes on me as they walked around me in unnecessarily large arcs or just straight-up sprinted off, causing me to sigh.

There were some interesting people among those that exited the city. One example was a person wearing the heaviest plate armor I'd ever seen. Not only that, but he also wore two immensely large swords on his belt, and, to my confusion, a tower shield that was almost his entire length on his back.

I was left staring, even after he’d passed. I just couldn't find a reason why someone would ever use such unwieldy equipment.

Other than that, things started to become quite clear to me soon enough. There were people with ordinary day clothing going about their business and then there were the guards who wore similar armor to Selleron. Anyone who deviated from that belonged to either the dungeon exploration guild or the mercenary guild. I couldn’t tell those two apart.

The entrance to the inner city was guarded well, but we had no issues with the guardsmen. They nodded as we approached and stepped aside. I wished we could get this kind of welcome everywhere we went.

Once inside, what awaited us was a vibrant and bustling city. We were in the middle of a wide street with rows of stone buildings on either side. The houses were seemingly brand-new and created from the same greystone, the strongest stone that I knew of, as the fortifications I’d seen so far. To add to the luxurious appearance, they had glass windows with shutters, most of which were open.

This simple fact gave me the idea that crime, or even just plain vandalism, was rare. When I looked around, there was the occasional guard here and there on the corners of smaller alleys, but they seemed to be pretty casual about their duties. I saw one in the distance talking to a woman and laughing at something she’d said.

All of the houses were two stories high and had some kind of lantern hanging from the wall next to their door. It made me wonder how those were fueled and how this city operated at night.

In my old world, we had either streetlights fueled by magic, or a curfew at sundown. It was a good thing I never had to care about the curfew in my town as the knights were exempt.

I slowly moved forward, taking in the sights around me as I went. Cellestra was turning her head left and right to do the same.

The stone belonging to the buildings was all the same same, but it seemed people had found ways to liven up their homes by painting their doors and shutters all kinds of vivid colors. Some people had opted to stick to the standard wood color, but even those had some kind of polish applied to make the colors shine.

Even the road on which we walked wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen. As soon as we entered the central parts, the dirt road had abruptly changed into some sort of mosaic of different, naturally occurring colors such as gray, brown, and black. Larger and smaller flat tiles of uneven shapes were put together. Between them was some kind of concrete mixture to finalize a quite comfortable, and spotless, street.

Vegetation was lacking, but there was plenty of that right outside the center, minutes away, so it didn’t feel like it was missing. There was the occasional ivy growing up on some walls that seemed to be simply left alone.

The people that I observed seemed to be in good moods too. This place looked like a paradise to live in. I shook my head and chuckled, realizing that my old profession seemed to add little value here. Not that that was a bad thing.

All this led to a more open area at the end of the road. Something that looked like a plaza was located in the middle of the city, with, at the center, a beautiful white, triple-layered, fountain. It was about my size, so quite big, and very distracting. I hardly noticed the people on the street anymore as I made my way over.

White stone was hard to keep white, yet this ornament looked like it was built yesterday with how brightly it reflected the sunlight. There had to be some kind of magic involved, I was sure of it.

Only after willing my attention away from it, did I notice the stalls of goods beyond it. A large number of people converged here to buy all kinds of wares on display out in front of the buildings that formed a circle around us.

This was evidently a marketplace and the core of the city. My attention was immediately drawn to the weapon and armor racks to the left of the plaza entrance where I saw a wide variety of equipment.

Spears and swords and shields and halberds… so much choice…

Cellestra’s grinning caught my attention. “Your ears are twitching again,” She said. “Not hard to guess what you're looking at.”

“Not hard to guess, indeed,” I said, smiling.

Behind the stalls in question was one of the larger buildings in this place. I think the only one bigger than that would be the keep-like building I’d seen from the distance with the tower attached to it. I looked around and noted that the building in question was a bit further out from the city’s center. I was surprised that whoever had designed the tower had opted to keep the bell hidden from view. It made me wonder how the sound even escaped the tower’s confines.

Unless it was somewhere else…

I brushed the thought away and focused on the building beyond the weapon stalls again.

Due to the eagerness of the owner to have everything inside on display, and quite possibly due to the fact that the building had an open front, it was clear it was a weaponsmith. Anvils and forges with bellows, tools, and a grinding stone were enough to give it away.

“Guess I know where we’re going,” I said, excited.

“Don’t have to guess,” Cellestra replied with a chuckle. “You’re too easy.”

I grinned as I carefully made my way over to the stalls and building, making sure not to get close to the curious onlookers as I went.

I had already made out two smaller, yet still fairly large buildings which I imagined were the two guild halls. There were wooden signs above the entrances, but the paint on it had deteriorated enough for me to not be able to read anything written on it, so I’d check after this.

“Look,” Cellestra said, pointing at a few stalls further down as we got closer. “There’s jewelry here too. Think we have time to check?”

“Sure,” I said. “We just need to check how much work it is to turn this chunk of metal into usable materials. And…” I paused for a second as a figure exited the workplace and took position behind a booth. “I have a feeling he knows more than me.”

I pointed at the bulky, elven man wearing a short-sleeved shirt and smith’s apron to protect himself from the heat of the forge. His experience as a blacksmith was etched in his flesh in the form of muscles the likes of which I’d rarely seen.

“Sure looks like it.”

Wading through the crowd wasn’t difficult. As much as it looked like people had been informed of my presence, they still kept a good distance. Whether it be fearful or what, it didn’t matter too much. I’d show them I wasn’t to be feared, but I needed time.

The blacksmith appeared to wait for us with his arms crossed and a smile growing on his face as we approached. I greeted him with my free hand once we were in front of his stand.

“Hi.”

His smile grew into a grin. “Greetings. I’ve been told I could expect you to drop by. Kalana, was it, right?”

“Kealyna,” I corrected him. “Was it Selleron who told you?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Nope. Soranir himself informed me. Though, Selleron did later on as well. He’s informed all the town guards who then spread the word to minimize fear. I’d say they did a pretty good job at it. Not that I’d be scared anyway.”

“Not afraid of spiders?” I asked, a hint of playfulness in my voice.

“Heh,” The blacksmith chuckled. “Funny, but no, I’m not.” His face assumed a serious expression before he continued. “What can I do for you?”