For his first night alone in a completely unfamiliar place, Arthur slept like a log. The next morning he wakes up feeling completely rested. There’s still an uncomfortable feeling deep in his chest due to the incident with his soul, but nothing he can’t bear. It should be completely gone in a couple of days.

More importantly, he had sex.

He finally did it and it felt amazing. He was hesitant about going to a brothel, but Ariana was surprisingly supportive. Now it’s like he sees things in a new light. Sex is no longer this unknown mystery, but something he’d very much like to experience more of.

That thought filled his dreams as he slept and reminded him of something. He hadn’t paid much attention to it before because it didn’t seem like something that would concern him, but… He knows there’s a law that allows nobles to take more than one spouse depending on their financial situation.

If he manages to become a knight captain, that would make him a noble of the lowest rank, but a noble nonetheless. The more successful he becomes, the richer he’ll be. And the richer he is… the more women he’ll be able to marry.

That night, he dreamt of a life with a harem of beautiful women, and woke up with a new sense of purpose.

‘I’m getting myself a harem of beautiful girls.’

He nods and reaffirms to himself.

It’s not going to be easy, and it won’t happen immediately, but it’s good to have something to work towards. And to achieve this new goal, he needs to become stronger and more reliable. Ariana, as nice as she was, slept with him because he paid her. Other women won’t give him the time of day if he’s a pathetic excuse of a man.

With that newfound resolution, Arthur gets ready for the day. He washes himself, puts his clothes on, gets breakfast and tries not to get embarrassed when the inn’s owner, Anthony, teasingly mentions that he seemed to have had a good day yesterday.

He steps out of the inn early in the morning to get a better feel for the city. Whether he becomes a knight or not, he still should get acquainted with the capital.

‘I’ll explore as much as I can today. A day should be enough to get a feel for the general layout of the city.’

With his sword at his waist, he sets off. He starts off walking along the four main streets, which lets him find all four districts of the city.

He starts exploring the southwest part of town, the Arrow District. It’s the most commercial area and home to the Merchant’s Guild, which is easy to find. With just a few questions to the people there he knows that, in order to be allowed to sell things in the kingdom, you need to either get a permit or be a member of the guild. Other than that, the area is full of shops for every need. Blacksmiths, tailors, groceries and more almost don’t need to compete for customers with how many there seem to be. There’s a couple of magic shops which catch Arthur’s attention, so he goes inside one and asks what kind of services they provide. Turns out they’re mages for hire to provide services such as cleaning, sanitization, repairs and long-distance messaging at what’s still a steep price for the common folks. What gives the district its name is the statue of a woman with a bow and arrow in the square. What’s interesting is that the square is surrounded by stone walls, but the gates remain open. It’s just like the square where the inn is.

Out of curiosity, Arthur reads the inscription, Arthur finds out she’s one of the kingdom’s five founders.

After that, he moves to the southeast area, the Sword District. There were houses in the Arrow District, but this one consists mostly of them. So far everything is clean and in good condition. Even this district’s square is well taken care of. He only saw it from his window, but now he inspects more closely the statue of the man with a sword. Its blade is burrowed in the ground. It’s another one of the founders.

It’s not late after that the roads lead Arthur to the area’s main attraction. A huge and long four story building with a sign on top of its gate that reads “The Dusty Hall”.

‘So this is the mercenary guild? It looks far better than its name would have you believe.’

The building is made of well-cut stone. It looks particularly sturdy. He sees people coming and going from the building, some looking like normal civilians and others wearing armor and carrying weapons.

‘This is where Marina works, isn’t it? She said she wanted to talk today, but didn’t specify when. I guess I lose nothing asking if she’s here.'

Arthur goes into the building and gets a better understanding of why the place has its name. It’s not dusty, but the first room is a hall that spawns the whole area of the first floor. Honestly, it’s not unlike a tavern, only far bigger and all of its customers are mercenaries. People sit around tables, drinking, laughing, yelling and fighting. It’s loud and a huge mess, but with no one around pointing it out, it seems to be an everyday thing.

Directly in front of the main door, there’s a counter with four ladies behind it. They are neatly dressed in the exact same outfit: a long, blue dress that shows almost no skin and a white shawl over their shoulders. There are people that look like normal civilians lining up in front of them, so that must be a desk for people to come with their requests.

When one of the lines empties up, Arthur walks up to one of the cute ladies.

“Hello and welcome to the Dusty Hall.” She says, smiling brightly. “Do you have a request?” She then eyes the sword at Arthur’s hip. “Or are you perhaps looking to join the guild?”

“Actually, I’m looking for someone.” He says with surprising composure.

‘Odd. I should be stammering in front of a good looking woman like her. Did yesterday have that big of an impact on me?’

“I’m looking for a woman called Marina. I know she works here.” He continues.

“Oh. And who is looking for her?” She asks, raising her eyebrow with some skepticism.

“I’m Arthur. Marina and I met on our way to the capital and she said she wanted to talk to me.”

“Oh! You’re Mr. Arthur.” She smiles and bows. “Yes, Ms. Marina said you might come. She asked us to tell you she’s busy but that she’ll drop by the Sword and Sorcery Inn later tonight.”

“I see. Thank you very much.” He smiles back and decides that there’s not much more to do here.

‘To be honest, I’m curious about the chief of the mercenaries. Sir Samuel said she was a demigod. But yeah, it’s not like they’ll just let me see the head of the mercenaries if I ask.’

Arthur leaves the building and, after buying a couple of meat skewers to eat as he walks, decides to head to the tallest building in the city, which he can see even from here. That takes him to the Holy District in the northwest. The building in question is one he’s heard the name of several times in his life, and one that’s also self-explanatory.

In front of him is Clock Tower, home of the Mages Guild. The building is entirely made of stone and, judging only by the windows, it has about 7 or 8 floors. Of course, its signature clock sits at the very top.

This place, as far as Arthur knows, serves as the offices for the greatest mages in the kingdom. Just like how all commerce related matters go through the Merchant’s Guild, all matters regarding magic are handled by the Mages Guild. Even the mages back at the Arrow District are part of Clock Tower.

Sadly, entrance is prohibited. If one has business with the mages, they need to go through the public office in a far smaller building next to the tower. This is one of the places Arthur has a personal interest in. They may be able to pinpoint the cause of his sudden pains. But speaking from what he’s heard and seen, getting a mage to care about anything other than their own research is a fool’s errand. However, his mom said that Clock Tower gets most of its funding from the government, so they have to answer orders coming from nobles. If he becomes a powerful enough knight, he might get a chance to speak to the head mage, who could have an idea of what’s wrong with him.

Arthur keeps walking around, exploring the Holy District. From the three districts he’s seen so far, this is undoubtedly the fanciest. The houses are big, the streets are a lot cleaner, the people here are better dressed and knights can be seen walking around in patrol. This is basically the district of nobles. Some of the most powerful people in the country live here.

‘Will I ever be able to afford a house here? I suppose that’s another one of my goals.’

He tries to enter the square, but while the other squares were also walled-off, the gates still remained open to the public. The entrance to this one is closed and being guarded by knights who stop him before he can enter. When he asks why, the knights simply answer that only nobles and high notoriety merchants are allowed in.

Arthur scowls, but there’s nothing he can do. Instead, he turns around and follows the road to another impressive building in this city. Again, it’s made of cleanly cut stone with red tiles on the roof, but this one has a tower with a huge bell at the far end of the building. The windows are made of blue stained glass, showing images of something resembling a white 4-pointed star with long rays of light coming from it.

He sees an old priest dressed in blue robes sweeping the entrance and decides to ask.

“Excuse me, sir. Is this the local church of The Goddess?”

“Hohoho. You’re new in the city, aren’t you?” He chuckles. “This is the Cathedral of St. Fiona, built by the saint herself a hundred years ago.”

“Huh. So this is the place.” Arthur nods.

He’s heard of it, of course. And he knows a lot of devotees around the country make a pilgrimage to the cathedral at least once every year, but he wouldn’t count himself among them. It’s just that the Church of The Goddess has been gaining more and more strength over the years, so while they used to be another small faction, they have some say in country-related matters now.

The last place on Arthur’s list in the Cavalry District. And honestly, what a sour note to end this day of exploration. Most of the houses are dirty and in poor state. The perfect stone pavement that spreads across the city is broken here. The people walking around, are dressed in whatever decent garments they can find. Their steps are heavy and their faces tired, not unlike those of a hardworking farmer.

‘I guess even a city like this has its ugly side. Poverty strikes everywhere, and with nobles doing things like increasing the guard around their homes and closing the square, it’s no wonder the poor end up gathered in one place. Still, why would the government allow for this part of the city to be in this state?’

There are many things Arthur still doesn’t understand about the workings of the country.

‘I’ll need to ask more questions. I’ll need to study up, too. Once I’m in the castle, I should have access to its library.’

The sky is starting to turn red, so Arthur decides to head back to the inn before the light is gone. Maybe he’ll do some night time exploration at some point, but he’d rather not get lost today.

All in all, it was a calm, boring, yet productive day.