Asking Matt to hold one of the items was the same as saying that we don't trust him and suspect he'll do the same thing as Chris did. It could easily splinter the group again and we were already hurting from Chris's sudden departure. I decided to push those thoughts to the back of my mind for later when I was alone with Jerry and even Stephen now since he has held the divine items as well. So, I went to sleep as well, confident that Matt was sound asleep and hoping I could just make it through the night without any more bad things happening. Staying awake all night just to make sure we were safe from Matt trying anything or Chris coming back was tempting.

In the morning, nothing had changed. All of our belongings and gear, as sparse as they were now, were in order and Stephen still held the necklace and shield. We had nothing to eat for breakfast so we cleaned up the campsite, packed our things, and set off towards the city. The only thing I had to fill my stomach and stave off my hunger was a bit of wine that I shared with the others. Of course, I offered to carry Stephen before anyone else. Neither of them were going to take away my chance to leech off the shield's endurance effect.

Within an hour of walking, the dirt path below us was replaced by stone, cracked and a bit uneven in some spots, but would hold up better during the rain season. The favored road for anyone using a wagon or carriage of some sort. As we got closer to the city, the road became wider and more well maintained. The stones became larger in size and less spaced out and at some point, the cracks and gaps between them were filled in and smoothed over. On the side of the roads were some campsites with various people from well-armed adventurers and merchants to skinny and malnourished peasants, sleeping in tents, blankets, and on the ground. They could not afford to rent anywhere in the city yet had business there so they were forced to find someplace to sleep for the night.

I hoped that we had enough money to rent an inn here if only for a few days. Sleeping outside in a city would not only be humiliating but also dangerous with Matt becoming the least of my worries when it came to people stealing from us. Further down the street, close to the entrance of the city, some makeshift buildings and tents sprouted up. They were mostly shops selling stuff just outside the city. It was far less lucrative to sell here and the items being sold were shoddy, but it wasn't as expensive as renting or buying a spot inside the city and plenty of people still passed by. To make up for the low sales, whenever someone walked by them they would shout and wave around items they thought the person would buy. We walked by half a dozen shopkeeps waving around hooks and prosthetic legs with Stephen on my back. It wasn't until one of them pulled out a pair of crutches that I stopped everyone and took a closer look.

Crutches wouldn't allow Stephen to walk long distances or keep up with us, but it would grant him some mobility for basic everyday things. Stephen expressed his interest as well and it was no wonder with the awkwardness of Jerry having to walk him away from the camp for a few minutes this morning. Jerry walked over and talked prices and finally settled on a good price halfway between being a good deal and a total ripoff. That would be the case if it was a new set of crutches while these were probably well worn, possibly broken, and probably stolen. None of that mattered as it didn't break immediately and Stephen liked them when I let him down to try them out.

That was some of our expenses gone. However, it didn't matter as everything was more expensive in the city so we'd be broke by the end of the day anyway. Unless we were careful about our expenses. Which were somehow all cash, not ores. Jerry had been trading a decent amount of the ores we stored away for coin with Jeff, probably not at the best rate. Nonetheless, a few silver coins were easier to carry than a hunk of metal ore. I was pretty sure we had some metal ore left at the headquarters that hadn't been traded before it was burned down. It made me wonder if the knights had taken it before burning things down or if we could find it buried under the rubble in that chest later on.

As we reached the wooden gates that marked the beginning of the actual city, we got into a queue of people leading up to a group of heavily armed guards inspecting everything and everyone before they were let in. On top of the wooden walls, there were even archers ready to start firing upon the crowd at a single sign of something off. They were necessary measures for a city so close to the border.

Every person took about five minutes for them to be interrogated on their reason for coming to the city and for their belongings to be searched. Which didn't seem long until it started to add up with all of the people ahead of us. Even when it was our turn, with four of us it would take twenty minutes total for us to go through. The queue ahead of us had a little over twenty people so it took almost two hours until we reached the gate. While we patiently waited in the queue, several groups of adventurers, merchants, and even knights passed through without interacting with the guards or waiting. They were people who either had trustworthy identities or had used the gate so many times that the guards just let them pass through unabated.

We had Jerry go first because he was carrying all of our cash and the guards would be more likely to try and confiscate coin from a lone traveler than a group. All four of us stood close together so they would know we were together and I made sure that Stephen kept the divine items on him visible. Hopefully, the fact that we had divine items on us would grant us some form of special privilege similar to a knight order. The guards did react to this by staring at him, but not for long. The fact the divine items were on someone missing a leg probably lessened their impact. Or perhaps they didn't care since we didn't look like knights, lacking heavy armor and carrying rough weapons. I had a pretty decent looking sword even when sheathed but I was wearing bloody rags pretty much while the others wore better clothes but had worn down and cracked weapons.

"What is your purpose coming to the city of Somum Nov and where are you from?" asked the guard in a monotone voice. He probably said the same words hundreds of times per day and lacked any sort of enthusiasm whatsoever.

"The four of us are from the town of Coip two days South of here. We're here to act as adventurers because we cannot do so there anymore. I'd like to report that a knight order under the name Mans Tontrau is terrorizing the town, committing arson and vandalism," said Jerry, explaining the situation and even throwing in the part about the knights.

That was a good idea. Why hadn't I thought of it? Just have the local authorities go and take care of things. We'd be able to return back to town, whose name was Coip apparently, in no time at all it seemed. We wouldn't even have to fight the knight order. While by their own code, it was alright to do anything other than kill other than in war and self-defense, there are laws to the land and arson is surely breaking a few of those laws.

"Not my job, talk to the garrison by the castle to report matters like that. Between you and me, they probably won't do anything unless someone was killed since we're so close to the border. Armies making movements around the border bring up questions and questions bring conflict. At least your reasoning for coming here matches your appearance so we can search you, charge you the entrance tax, and be done here," said the guard, crushing my hope.

Everything he said annoyed me from the fact that he couldn't do anything about our report, to the fact that the people we could report to would ignore us, to being taxed just for entering the city. Then again, I wasn't used to being taxed directly, my whole life I grew up in a small village and then a town. Even then, the town didn't have a lord and there was only the royal duty and a portion of the crop going towards the city. Which came back to bite us in the ass because if we had a lord there would also be soldiers around that could've stopped the knights.

We ended up being patted down and talked to individually by the guard one by one. The guards paused when they found Jerry's wallet but made no motion towards embezzling our funds thankfully. There were only two minor incidents at the gate before we were pushed through. First, was Stephen almost falling over and crying out in shock as the guards grabbed his crutches and looked at them closely. Second, was when one of the guards made me draw my sword and it exploded in flames. I would have avoided this attention if I could, but the guard had been searching around my shirt and I didn't want the dagger to be found nor the wine for that matter and decided to show off a bit.

The dagger was dark elemented and the skull on it would make it very suspicious. If it had been found, there was a chance I could be painted as an assassin. Meanwhile, the wine could be confiscated under the guise of smuggling or they could insist on grabbing a few drinks from it. Neither were things I could allow as I valued my life and the wine was almost empty already.

Once we were in the city, we found ourselves in a small clearing before crowded streets and a sea of people. It seemed impossible at first glance to figure out where places were and how to push through the crowd to get to them. We collected ourselves together and talked about what to do next.

"We're in the city, what now?" I asked, starting the conversation.

"I'd like to go find this garrison and report the knight order in our town. Maybe they'll send a smaller group of soldiers if they hear that it's only nine knights causing the commotion. Anything is better than nothing in our current situation," said Jerry.

"Well, my leg still hasn't regrown so I'd like someplace where I could sit down and be still for a bit rather than being dragged around constantly. So I'd like us to find an inn before we do anything else and check prices so we can figure out how long we can stay," said Stephen.

"I'm hungry and tired so I'd like to find an inn as well. At some point, I'd like to find a weapons merchant or a blacksmith as my hatchet still needs to be replaced," said Matt. Right, Jerry and I were going to get a hatchet for Matt but Jeff's place was trashed when we got there and it slipped our minds completely.

"My thoughts on what's the most important is to find the dungeon so we can get a source of income here before we go broke," I said my piece. Not that I wasn't hungry, tired, or wanting to report the knight order to the authorities. It was simply the highest priority to me to make sure that we didn't go broke here.

"Well we either split up and try to do all of this at once or we go one by one to each of the places in order of importance," said Jerry.

"Where would we meet up if we split up?" said Matt. And I had the perfect answer to that.

"Let's all meet at the dungeon. I can go with Jerry to inform the garrison and then go to the dungeon while finding something to eat on the way. Matt and Stephen will find an inn and hold a room, then Matt can go on his own to pick up a weapon and come to the dungeon, letting Jerry and me know where we'll be staying," I outlined out for everyone. It was the perfect plan if I did say so myself.

"Alright, but if we do that I'll need some money to buy the hatchet and hold the room if not outright rent it. Not sure if inns in the city would accept holding onto the room until you guys came back in to pay the full amount," said Matt while holding his hand out to Jerry.

Jerry looked at me for a second to gauge my reaction. He was wondering if he really should give the money to Matt. After all, he could easily accept the money and then run off. A part of me wanted to believe that wouldn't happen and we could trust him. Besides, this was the result of my own plan so I finally nodded and Jerry passed over enough coins to buy a weapon, food, and a room plus extra to account for price differences. Then Matt left with Stephen awkwardly following behind using his crutches. Hopefully, this would work out.

Our destination was a bit more clear than Matt and Stephen's. The garrison was next to the castle and that was easily visible from anywhere in the city. It had proper stone walls surrounding it and it sat upon a hill overlooking the city. There was a building halfway down that hill which had guards coming in and out of almost constantly, which we assumed to be the place we were looking for. We set off into the crowd straight towards it. We ended up pushing into the crowd and being pushed in the direction most of the crowd was going towards, like a stream of bodies flowing downhill. It was a fight just to keep together, not even to mention making sure we were going in the right direction.

Many times we found ourselves managing to be freed from the crowd just to find out that we were facing the wrong way and hadn't made much progress towards our destination. As we got closer to the castle, the crowds started to clear up and it became easier to navigate the streets much to our relief. Eventually, the only people walking around us were guards, women, and children. The women and children were treated with respect or affection by the guards as they were most likely the family members of one them. An entire block or district of the city was dedicated towards the guards and their families close to the castle.

Once we got past that part of the city, we were able to climb up to the garrison. The guards around this area were vigilant towards us as not many people came this way and when they did it usually meant trouble. At least, they didn't bar our way or make us go back. Without any trouble, we reached the entrance of the building but were stopped at the door by one of the guards.

'

"What brings you to the garrison adventurers?" asked the guard while standing in the doorway of the building, keeping us from going in.

"We're here to make a report about an incident," said Jerry.

"Which part of the city and what's going on?" asked the guard. A few other nearby guards gathered around us to pay attention to what was going on. Likely they were getting ready to rush over to the place we mentioned on a moment's notice if it was in the city.

"It's not actually in the city, but a nearby town," said Jerry and as soon as he said that, all the guards that had been gathering around cleared up. Now that it wasn't an incident related to the city, they weren't so eager to help resolve it.

"And why can't the garrison of your town handle it?" asked the guard. If only we had a garrison.

"There is no garrison as we have no lord and a militia wouldn't be enough to solve things. We need soldiers to help with this, as many as can be spared for such an incident," said Jerry.

"If there is no lord, how can it be called a town? Is it not just a village? What could possibly be happening that requires us guards to go over and fix things?" asked the guard. I was wondering the same thing with the town and village thing.

"There is a temple to the gods, a much larger population than a village, and there was a blacksmith shop but it just closed due to this incident. As for what's going on, there is a group of nine heavily armed knights terrorizing the town under the name of Mans Tontrau, damaging property and committing arson," said Jerry.

"That sounds terrible. We should be able to spare some troops in your village's time of need. However, we'll need your name and a statement before we can move out. Where is the village and its name?" said the guard. I was happy that he was so willing to help. A stark difference to the guard at the gate.

"Its name is Coip and it's two days to the South, by the border. And it's a town officially not a village," said Jerry, annoyed by the guard's refusal to call it a town.

"By the border? Well, that complicates things. We can't really send troops, not enough to actually fight the knights if need be. We'd only be able to send a few and as messengers to tell the knight order to stop and move on. And even then, the knights could just come back after our messengers left. So, it's the same as doing nothing at all. Any other time we could help, but tensions are high and it seems like war could break out anytime and we'd like to avoid being the cause," said the knight.

Our trip to the garrison had been in vain. The guard at the entrance had warned us and we thought it might go differently from what he said, but that didn't happen. Even worse was the fact that war could break out. If that happened, this city would be in danger while Coip would be wiped off the map.

"No thanks, we'll try to figure something else out. Would you point us towards the nearest dungeon? We'll be staying in the city for a while and need a way to pay our expenses," I asked while dismissing the option of sending messengers.

"Sure, there are three dungeon entrances but two of them are private and can't be used without paying a fee. The public one is over by the market, in the middle of the city. Look for a place with lots of flags. You can't miss it though getting lost on the way a few times is a given," said the guard while seeing us off.