Jared laughed and asked,

" Now we know why I am here but what brings you here?"

"Just picking up a delivery from the Herb garden down South with my partner," Chiran answered, "our usual guys were out of town so we picked this one up, our self."

Interested Jared asked," Why wouldn't you just hire someone else?

"Normally we would but this one was a lot bigger than the normal shipment and without our usual Couriers we just left the Shop to the Apprentices and picked it up ourselves."

Chiran Explained, "You need to pick trustworthy Couriers. For small stuff, most of them are rock solid, but when you want something expensive delivered either you need to pay a lot, the expensive one comes vetted and guaranteed from the guild, or you need to pick someone you know. So you either need to waste time or money....."

Jared observed amused as Chiran started to rant about couriers but interrupted. him to bring his attention to his job and asked," Yes but what is work something with herbs?" He looked confused for a second before asking," Didn't I already tell, my partner and I are Master Alchemist."

"Really a Master Alchemist maybe you can help me with something, can you tell me if these are worth something I found them on the way here and I'm pretty much broke, "Jared said and grinned sheepishly as he pulled the Restoria herbs out of his makeshift backpack.

Curious Chiran pointed to the spot next to him on the wagon.

Kind of nervous Jared put the herbs in front of Chiran and waited for the assessment.

" Yeah that's Restoria, a common herb but always in demand can be used to make anything from simple wound paste to minor healing potions." Explained Chiran and turned to Jared, seeing his hopeful look he barked out a laugh and said.

" Ha, Okay I can buy them from you, doesn't matter much to us, I can just add them to the pile. How about a Sitch for a bushel of ten, that's the standard in the Summer, and you have about 3 bundles here."

" Ahmm, Is that a lot? We mostly did barter in our village?"Jared answered sheepishly.

Chiran shook his head and chuckled," 2 Sitch is about a days labor for an under 16 laborer, the wage for someone with a class always depends on the kind and what level and rank it is. The lowest is about 4-5 Sitch a day but these are mostly apprentice wages so they are taught on top of the pay."

"I take it, and is there an entrance fee for getting into Town?" Jared asked as he takes the money. Four coppery looking coins imprinted with a leaf on one side and a crown on the other."Huh, shouldn't it be three Sitch this is four?"

" Eh, you almost had four bundles there so I just rounded up." The Famoris said embarrassed, even though Jared was sure he didn't come close to 4 bundles." And yes there is a fee of 1 Sitch for entering the town and a tax if you carry any trade goods of a certain value and upwards. There are some exceptions for jobs that need to go in and out of cities and towns frequently like adventurers."

" Ah there was something else I wanted to ask," mentioned Jared and pulled the clock out of his makeshift backpack," is this worth something and if yes where could I sell it. Chiran gestured to hold the timepiece and he gave it to him, which looked hilarious because the clock was about the size of his head.

"Looks like good workmanship, pretty solid but where is the manaport?"He asked after giving the item a once over.

"This clock doesn't use mana, did you notice the thing in the back, if you twist it, you wind up the clock and it runs by itself for about 10 days."Answered Jared.

Looking a lot more interested now, he gave the clock a quick once over and handed it back to Jared, then he said," If that's accurate then this thing should have a good prize to it, but I couldn't tell what it is. But I can tell you where to sell it. There is a shop in the West District pretty close to the city center called Jacques Antiques. He deals in all kinds of Antiques, Curiosities, and Collector items."

"Really?" Jared asks with excitement, if the clock really was worth something, he may be able to get his situation figured out and not having to worry about starving to death." Where exactly can I find that Jacques Guy."

"Hmm wait a second I think I got a map here somewhere," Chiran said before climbing under the tarp of the wagon. After about a minute of cursing and rummaging, he came back with a piece of some kind paper-cotton blend rolled up ." Here take a look at this."

" You simply from west-gate you follow the main road till you reach the small plaza in Town center, afterward you go south, a small tip don't use the to small alleys there or any for that matter," Chiran chuckled and continued, "and at the first intersection is his Corner Store."

And as Jared was about to thank the Famoris the gong of a bell rang three times loudly through the whole tent city. And the rather idyllic atmosphere turned into one of controlled chaos in an instant.

Chiran jumped down the wagon and as if by itself the back closed and the righted. Afterward, he ran to the front of the jumped on the driver's bench, and as if by itself again the horses got hooked on to the wagon.

Jared ran after Him and asked flustered" What's happening and how are you doing that?."Pointing at the horses.

"It's a quarter before the bridge goes down and everybody needs to get ready," he said, swinging his head around as if to look for something and absentminded pointing next to him," and come hop on I'm gonna give you ride inside."

Jared did so after pretending to put the clock into his little shirt sack instead of his Inventory.

After he was secure at top of the wagon, he started to observe his surroundings. But first, he had to check the ping he had heard earlier.

Congratulation on obtaining the Title: Two-Faced

Two-Faced

Awarded for not only changing a Story about oneself but also the Emotion behind it, and have another believe it.

Grants the "Sure Lie" Skill.

Sure Lie

Grants the User the Ability to easier detect if their Lies were believed.

"OK, I really hope Titles are a private thing or that one could get awkward, though useful to have so I'm not complaining."Jared thought and shook his head, after a second went back to observing.

At first, the little tent city looked random, but now that everyone is packing he noticed that the position of where one setup dictates his or her position in line.

Something else he noticed was that there were a lot more races than just humans. Dwarves, Gnomes, and even Elves, but they seem to the lowest in number he could only make out a couple.

One thing he found disappointing was, while there were beast-man they were the bipedal animal type, not the cute Cat-girl kind.

And just as he was looking for a more interesting thing to find he heard someone yell from behind.

"HEY CHIRAN"

When I turned around to look I just saw a woman, who looked to be in her early forties and wore an expensive Victorian-style black dress, running towards the wagon at a full sprint before hurdle jumping over the whole wagon only to perfectly land on the right next to him.

Clara Fielder Lvl 74

Master Alchemist

"Yes made it just in time!" the woman said before noticing, Jared look around him and a line in front of the bridge and the wagon standing completely still. Blushing slightly"Yeah well one can never be too careful," and looking confused at Jared, "wait who are you, oh no am I on the wrong wagon?" she looked around in panic.

"No birdbrain you are in the correct one," said Chiran from his left side leaning forward to look at Clara," and this is Jared I said I could get him a ride, he is clueless."

Somewhat peeved at the clueless remark, but nor refuting the claim Jared turned to Clara and held out his hand in greeting,

"Hi, I'm Jared, and thanks for giving me a ride."

Looking confused Clara bumped her fist with his outstretched hand. "Okay, handshakes aren't a thing in this world apparently, well it's more hygienic that way anyway", He thought.

And just as Clara wanted to answer the bell clang again, before an earthquake-like rumble started and the Giant Bridge started to move. Everybody seemed to have just stopped with whatever they were doing to watch, even the animals.

And just as the bridge was almost down she lured forward to lock into place and shake everything around. Afterward, anyone just started where they stopped as if nothing ever happened.

"Nice to meet you too, it's a wonder the old doormat didn't annoy you into throwing him over the edge of the bridge yet." Clara chuckled only for Chiran to retorted," ha I'm more pleasant company than you ever were you old Crow."

And apparently that was the starting line for the two because they started bickering nonstop. But Jared didn't mind because he wanted to take in everything around him.

As they started moving along the bridge Jared noticed that he underestimated this world's development from what he could see it looked less like the dark ages and more like a mix of 1600 all the way up to 1850.

Especially the architecture, he could see some Houses after the bridge but before the gate and they looked as if they pulled a building straight out of Victorian England, decoratively carved facades and beautifully shingled roofs.

His hopes have risen a lot since his arrival in this world maybe this world wasn't as behinds as he thought and Jared could find a good book or two hundred.

As he was thinking about all this, they left the bridge and almost arrived at the Gate, Jared now saw that the gate and the wall surrounding the town were huge, not as gigantic as the bridge but people here sure liked to build tall.

The moved relatively fast, at the front he could see the Guards checking the line, wearing a uniform like Leather armor with smaller plates of metal, a white and blue checkered tabard with a crossed S symbol, over it. They were checking documents and received the tax and entry payments. From time to time they pulled a wagon to the side, but that seemed more like a spot check than actual suspicion.

When it was their turn Chiran and Clara stopped their bickering and Clara pulled some documents out of her sleeves together with a coin purse.

" Papers please." the guard said in a neutral if slightly bored tone. After looking over the papers for a second and then over the three of us handed the papers back and grunted," That makes 3 Shanti and 6 Sitch for Tax and Entrance." after paying the Guard, they moved through the Gate.