Chapter 8: Exploring the Town

The group arrived at a shoddy looking inn. Marcus went to speak with the inn keeper, while Paul and Jonas brought the cart to a guarded warehouse nearby while leaving the horse at the stable attached to the inn.

Jonas handed Paul a small coinpurse “It’s not much, those bandits were poor folks. I will sell what little jewellery they had tomorrow, but have this. It’s a little short of 5 silver coins.” The bag was quite heavy for its size, so Paul assumed that it must be split into smaller currency. He would look into the bag later and try to figure out how the currency is split in this world. Paul was hoping that they used the metric system and not some weird fantasy system.

He stashed the money in the larger bag on his belt and they entered the inn.

Marcus had rented a room that conveniently had three beds. From what Paul could see the place was a bit dirty and there was a community room on the first floor with a fireplace, some tables and chairs and there was warm dinner and breakfast included in the room's rental fee.

They sat down at one of the tables and Marcus pulled out the small coin pouch he had received from the merchant. Inside were 15 silver coins, the payment for escorting the merchant.

It seemed like although the merchant was still in shock when the negotiation was made, he was still clearheaded enough to keep his money to himself. He had not added a bonus for rescuing him, but only agreed to pay a reasonable amount for forming a convoy, but would have tripled the amount if they had encountered more bandits.

Considering that they had killed the bandits in self-defence anyway and were headed to Prozor as well, one couldn’t complain about receiving only a relatively small compensation, not that Paul had any idea of how much 15 silver coins were worth.

Marcus gave 5 coins to Jonas and Paul agreed on Marcus keeping the remaining amount. They came here to buy things for the settlement and he was hoping to get some of the bandits’ gear tomorrow, so he had no immediate need for money anyway. Plus he had around 5 silver already.

They stew with stale bread and went upstairs. The food could not compare to the cooking he had received back in the village, but considering the appearance of the inn, Paul had not expected much.

The room they entered was small and cramped with the three beds. Everyone went to bed, and Paul was laying in his bed while thinking while checking his stats in the menu.

Name: Paul

Adult Human Male

Level: 6

Experience: 848 / 47%

Strength: 15

Endurance: 15

Agility: 25

Intelligence: 15

Wisdom: 10

Luck: 0

Health: 75

Mana: 75

Stamina: 75

Skills:

[Carpentry] Beginner Level 2, 78%

[Leatherworking] Beginner Level 5, 75%

[Spear-type Weapons] Beginner Level 5, 40%

[Bows] Beginner Level 3, 29%

[Resilience] Beginner Level 3, 22%

[Sense Surroundings] Beginner Level 3, 71%

[Healer] Beginner Level 2, 10%

[Trapping] Beginner Level 4, 38%

Paul still had 2 skill points saved up, but regretted taking up carpentry. Leatherworking was his highest skill by now and would probably help him earn money along the way, but carpentry did not look very useful to him. It was one of the few things he could train on in the settlement, but after fighting the bandits today and getting a bunch of experience from a short fight, he was reluctant to go back to grinding for a few points by continuously doing tedious labour.

Thinking about the fight, he remembered the face of that young bandit Darryl. Paul did not really want to admit it, but he could have arrested the boy without killing him. At the time he just saw him as quick experience points, but he had taken a life. The other bandits died fighting, or were on the brink of death anyway, but that Darryl boy had actually begged for his life. The yellow dot on the radar was undeniable proof that Paul had taken a human life, not in self-defence, but for his own gain.

Paul tried to shake off the thought. If he had the opportunity he would try to ask Helena for forgiveness… she was something like the executive god of this world, so Paul was hoping for absolution from her. It was her fault anyway for him to be in this situation, so she should take at least part of the responsibility.

While listening to Jonas annoyingly snoring away on the other end of the room, Paul fell asleep after some time.

The next morning the group went off to the guards’ headquarters after a disappointing breakfast.

Some of the guards stationed there recognized and greeted Marcus and Jonas. After being escorted to a room on the far end of the building, they met with the captain who was present yesterday.

The bounty for each bandit was 5 silver, plus a bonus of another 10 because a known bandit leader was among them. Luckily they were spared of being confronted with the corpses. They were told that each one of them could pick two pieces of the equipment, the rest was to be auctioned off and distributed among the known prior victims or their families.

Paul took the spear he had wielded earlier and one of the bows. The bow came with a quiver, but without arrows. Marcus took the other bow and a sword. Jonas took another sword and the bandit leader’s leather armour.

Paul had thought about taking the armour himself instead of the spear and now slightly regretted his choice. He had no idea how much things were worth, but he would ask Jonas later to sell him the armour.

[Black Sturdy Leather Armour

Defence 10

Durability 28/30

Leather Armour (chest)

A piece of armour made by a skilled craftsman. The used material is sturdy and has been properly treated. The outside is dyed black. Inside one can see bloodstains that are soaked inside the leather and cannot be washed off.]

The captain gave Marcus 3 large silver coins and 10 smaller ones. Paul was slightly relieved. It didn’t look like the currency system was hard to grasp. Marcus gave Jonas a large coin and three small ones and was about to give Paul the same amount, but Paul told him to hold onto it for now.

They left the place and headed back to the inn. The plan for today was selling the leather and furs. On the way Paul asked Jonas if he wanted to keep or sell the armour. Jonas thought about it for a short while, then told him he would probably sell it. The armour he was wearing was of the same quality and probably had some sentimental value, so Paul had expected as much.

If they sold the furs to a local tailor or armourer working with leather, he could get a price for the armour there, and Paul asked him to give him an option to buy it for himself if the price was reasonable.

They stashed their newly acquired equipment at the inn, because carrying weapons in town made the guards nervous and was something that was generally frowned upon.

Paul and Marcus went to visit a few shops dealing handling leather while Jonas went to a general store he regularly dealt with to make a deal for the pottery and other products from his village.

They met again for lunch. The town had a lively market square and some stands sold skewered meat and vegetables, freshly baked bread and other warm food. They ate small portions from several different places while Marcus was paying for Paul’s meals and checking out the market stalls. The food was only a few copper coins per portion and Paul estimated that what lunch he had amounted to than 10 in total. Assuming one silver was worth 100 copper, one month worth of basic food should cost around 3 silver coins.

Paul asked Marcus how much the inn cost and learned that Marcus had paid 1 silver coin for two nights in the room they shared. The rooms in the more expensive inn were said to cost around 2 silver per night per person.

They had scheduled to meet a storeowner specializing in leather equipment in the early afternoon at the inn, so they left the market without buying anything for now.

The buyer offered them 30 silver for the products they brought. Paul felt disappointed, considering that they had spent over a month collecting them with two people. Marcus seemed to be OK with the price and accepted.

The merchant was offering 5 silver for the armour, but after a bit of haggling done by Jonas, he raised his offer to 7 silver. Jonas refused the merchant’s offer after Paul nodded to him, signalling that he would be OK with the price. Paul wondered if they should have left the price negotiations to for the furs and leathers to Jonas as well, but decided not to say anything.

The bandit encounter had netted them a bunch of seemingly valuable equipment plus 65 silver, including the merchant’s escort fee and the money Jonas secretly looted from the bodies, so honest and hard work didn’t seem to be the way to go if you wanted to earn money in this world.

After the merchant had left, Marcus confirmed the budget to be close to 65 silver coins after paying Jonas for the armour. Judging from his happy expression, it was way more than he had initially expected.

The rest of the day was spent haggling for tools and other necessities that could not be produced in the villages directly. Because they purchased together to have a better position, Jonas was responsible for negotiating, which put Paul at ease.

They bought a plough, a couple of scythes and sickles, hammers, saws and other iron products as well as some simple textiles which would be made into clothes by the villagers themself.

Marcus also bought a few dozen arrows from a fletcher and some high quality sinews for bows. They also purchased some salt and spices after confirming that there was enough money left. All in all Marcus share of the purchases cost them 50 silver.

They managed to procure everything they had planned to buy plus some extras, so after storing their purchases in the cart, Marcus asked if they should leave today instead of tomorrow, but considering that they had been attacked by bandits just a day earlier travelling by night didn’t seem favourable, and Jonas (as well as Paul) wanted to stay in town and enjoy themselves for the evening.

Marcus conceded and they went to the central plaza near the market square. There was a tavern on one end of the plaza and a few food stalls scattered around, with people enjoying the nice weather outside. Most of the townspeople seemed well dressed and fed compared to the villagers Paul had seen before, and there were quite a few servants walking around as well.

Paul did not know if they were slaves or just paid workers, but it did not matter much for him right now. He was not on an agenda to bring democracy and human rights to this world, and he had neither money nor interest in buying or owning slaves either.

After eating some small dishes at the food stalls they sat down at a table outside the tavern. The building was rather large and obviously was a popular gathering spot for the townsfolk. Jonas got three mugs of beer from inside while Paul was silently observing the other guests.

The audience was mixed among young and old people and there were a few couples as well. One table had a group of only women chatting among themselves, while young men gathered on the surrounding tables who could be seen occasionally stealing glances at them. There was a healthy guard presence on the plaza and especially near the tavern, so one could expect the environment to be reasonably safe to enjoy yourself. Paul had an eye on the small bag he was carrying on his belt in any case.

While observing the small crowd, he started to wonder how he should go on exploring and living in this world. While his original plan was to steadily grow stronger in Marcus’ settlement, he was now felt reluctant to do so.

While he was of course thankful for the support he had received so far, his opportunities and potential growth directions were severely limited in the small community.

Unless he settled to become an archer/hunter like Marcus, he could only become a farmer and learn basic carpentry on the side. All of that sounded uninteresting to Marcus, and most importantly, incredibly boring. What use would his immortality have, if he only fought against small forest animals? Why live in a world of magic and only limit yourself to hunting with a bow and spear?

Looking over towards Marcus who was looking contempt and happy with how the trading trip had gone so far, Paul was wondering how he could break it to him that he had to leave the village for at least a while. The thought of having a place to call “home” there was nice, but Paul felt like it was more suited to be like a vacation home for him. Spending an indefinite time doing the same routine seemed dreadful to him, who got quickly bored with everything he started so far.

Paul definitely did not want to go back to the settlement right now. Having no immediate alternative plans made it harder for him to explain it to Marcus though. He had no savings apart from the few coins he got from Jonas earlier, and he could not even explain to Marcus how he got that.

Like having sensed his mood, Marcus spoke up “Paul, what do think of the town?”

“It looks interesting. The people here look happy for the most part and the crowd is diverse” Paul gave him an honest answer.

“I think so as well. Personally, I was always most happy when I could roam around the countryside by myself and large crowds make me nervous, but I can see the appeal of the city”

“I think I have lived in a larger town myself before. I still don’t remember anything of my life before I was attacked by the bandits and meeting you, but I feel rather comfortable around here….” Paul decided to at least plant the seed now and go back to the village, levelling up in peace but leave next spring or so. So what Marcus said next came was a big surprise for him.

“I think it would be best if you stayed here for a while” Marcus said.

“Huh?” Paul was half shocked.

“I thought that you must be from a town myself when we first met. Your way of speaking was way too polite and your manners too good for a simple villager. I think spending some time here might help you regain some of your memories.”

“What about the village? Didn’t you say you want someone to help you hunting?” Now that Marcus had suggested that he Paul should leave the village, Paul felt rejected.

“Haha, don’t get me wrong. Hunting with you was nice, and having someone who would actually listen to my lectures and stories was refreshing. But we have reached the goal of purchasing all the equipment that we need to comfortably prosper for a while and it was definitely thanks to your help that we could do so in the short amount of time you spent with us.

I’m not throwing you out, I just feel like it would be better for you to spend some time around different people in a more sophisticated environment. Who knows, perhaps you are some sort of magician or the lost son of a noble or something. If I just keep you in the village, I would feel bad about it.”

“I understand… but I don’t have any money or even a place to work around here. I would just end up homeless in no time” Paul, who was wondering how to break the same suggestion to Marcus just a few minutes earlier, now felt a change of heart.

“Don’t worry. There is still some money left and there is nothing I want to spend it on. It should be enough to last you at least ten days around here. It’s basically your money anyway. All I’m asking is that you use it to spend some time here. If I sell the sword and bow I got from those bandits I will even walk away with more money than I came with.”

“If you put it that way, I don’t know how I could refuse” Paul was smiling now. He wanted to stay here, so why was he hesitating after getting the offer?

“If things don’t work out, talk to the merchant we escorted on the way here. I spoke to him yesterday, and he will leave again in 10 days. He offered to take you back to Jonas’ village at least.

Just come back and help with the harvest at least, and stay for the winter if you like to.”

At that moment Jonas came back carrying mugs with mead. He had met a group of old acquaintances of him and Marcus who were still active with the town guard and who were now joining them at the table.

Befriending some of the guards was definitely not a bad idea, now that he had decided to stay for a while, so they drank together (Paul was careful this time) and shared some stories. Marcus gave an especially lively impression of Paul who nearly decapitated a giant wolf with nothing but a knife, but at that time Paul was already drunk enough to not care about correcting him.