It took the merchants the better part of the day to fix their caravan. The wagon that had been set on fire was used for scrape to help repair the one that had been toppled over. The rest of the charred wagon was taken apart and stored away to be sold in the city’s market or used for firewood.

I learned a lot of interesting things about how enchantments worked as they took apart the wagon: first, different parts of an object could be enchanted to do different things. The wagon’s main body was enchanted to be lighter so it could carry more, while the wheels and axis were enchanted to move on their own. The roof was enchanted to repel water and wind. However, each part could only have one enchantment on it.

When an enchanted item was broken, you needed to take off the enchantment. Apparently the enchantment would continued to work—or attempt to work—for as long as the item existed. So unless it was totally destroyed the item had a high probability of going hay wire and hurting someone.

Ceil was tasked with removing enchantments on the burnt wagon and re-enchanting new pieces as needed. (This was the primary reason she was brought along, wagon enchantment repair.) To put an enchantment on an item, required writing the spell on a paper, putting that paper on the part in question you needed enchanted, and then placing your hand on it and speaking the incantation. The paper would then disappear and the words were left on the part being enchanted.

Removing them seemed to be the same process in reverse, but with a different incantation. Interestingly, the paper would re-appear when removing the enchantment. Ceil burned each paper as a safety measure, because (in her own words) “magic sometimes has a mind of it’s own”.

That was a little alarming to hear from a native. What did she mean by “sometimes”? I asked Solomon about it later and he further explained: “Hm? If you’re not careful it’s possible for magic to go wild. Mostly inexperienced casters and enchanters have that problem though.”

He didn’t seem terribly worried about it. Maybe it was just one of those things people lived with “on the daily” and so didn’t view it as a potential hazard? I don’t know, but as someone who only recently had the ability to use magic, I couldn’t help but feel at least a little anxious about it.

Anyway, once everything was repaired, the caravan moved on. We had only a few hours of daylight left and the merchants were trying to reach a “way station” a few miles south of the cross road. Way Stations were placed at certain distances on main roads to give protection to merchants and travelers from roaming monsters.

Ah yes, speaking of monsters… when we told the merchants about the town to the north being totally decimated, we learned about “Monster Migrations”. These happened every ten years or so, with some years being less severe then others. On the really bad years, monsters would group together in “Monster Armies” and would destroy everything in their path. And, yes, this included any unfortunate towns that were in their way.

Over the years, countries had gotten a pretty solid idea where certain Monster Migrations were most likely to happen, and thus knew where to watch for Monster Armies. Most Cities and Towns near these areas were well prepared for them.

But the town we’d run across wasn’t near any of one of those carefully recorded paths. In fact, the town was well known because it bordered the Cursed Lands, which everyone (monsters included) avoided. It was only “safe” because it was right next to something dangerous.

There shouldn’t be Monster Armies in that area. And though I suggested maybe bandits or an invading (human) army had been the real culprit, they assured me everything I’d described sounded like a Monster Army. Specifically, one made up of mostly Orcs and Goblins. I was told those were the worst Monster Armies to face, because they had near-human levels of intelligence and were better organized in their destruction.

The Merchants spent the first half of the trip to the Way Station worrying about my news. Monster Armies meant a bad Migration season and then the Armies appearing in places they shouldn’t be, meant a crack-down on travel. And that meant merchants were in for a lean season.

As for myself, I had a terrible feeling I was somehow responsible for the Monster Army moving through that town and massacring everyone. I kept repeating to myself that the timing was off so it couldn’t have been me. It was just a really awful coincidence. Right? But I couldn’t quite shake the idea that I was at fault.

I walked along side the caravan as a guard, moving in a slow circle around it in an attempt to protect it from all sides. My companions would occasionally walk with me to talk. Dignity shared juicy gossip he heard from the merchants (including some rather funny guesses about my face and past). Atlas would quietly walk with me, nodding or shaking his head to any questions I asked. Solomon ended up being my most frequent visitor, which surprised me. Sometimes he’d talk to me, but other times he’d just walk quietly along side.

When I pointed out he was visiting me the most, he bristled and accused me of being stupid and how he was just being friendly, as per the agreement. He then avoided me for a solid hour, whether from anger or embarrassment I never did find out. I wondered if all Demons were that touchy or if it was just him.

Off in the distance I heard a shuffling sound. Playing it safe, I kept myself between the sound and the caravan. The sun was near the horizon when I realized the sound had gotten louder quite suddenly. Whatever it was, it was getting closer, fast.

“Something’s coming this way!” I called out to the head wagon, where Mr. Mather’s was sitting.

“Eh? I don’t hear anything?”

“Ah, you’ll hear it soon. It sounds like something on four legs.”

Mr. Mather noticeably paled. “Do you think we can out run it?”

I listened, and then shook my head.

“Pretty sure they’ll catch up to us even if we hurry.”

He muttered in alarm and then called the caravan to stop and started barking out instructions. The wagons got into a tight circle. The Merchants pulled out long rods and started hammering them into a rough circle around the wagons.

Seeing my curious look, Mather’s explained. “Monster Repellent Rods. Works on most of the low level monsters, but stronger ones have been known to get past them. Considering there’s a Monster Army on the move…” He grimaced. “I’m not optimistic. I’ll be counting on you to get rid of the worst of them.”

A long mournful howl echoed through the trees and surrounding area. The merchants gave a cries of alarm, running back into their wagon circle and pulling out weapons from storage.

I turned to Mather’s, who was sweating bullets and holding a sword unsteadily. It was clear he had very little practice with weapons.

“Dignity, Atlas, stay with Mr. Mather. I’ll go a little bit ahead and meet whatever is coming.” I said, trying to project confidence, and then looked at Solomon. “Do whatever you feel is best, I trust you.”

I walked a bit farther in, where trees and bushes would cover my figure somewhat. I pulled off the mask and put on my helmet. I could hear whatever was coming; they were starting to spread out. Most likely the enemy was intending to circle the wagons.

Sword and shield out, I thought carefully about what I wanted to do. I absolutely couldn’t let monsters attack the wagons. While it was risky fighting without proper planning—as I’d recently re-discovered—I could do some basic maneuvers without depending on the Game Fight skill (as I’d come to think of it).

I lifted up my sword and smacked it on my shield, activating the skill “Taunt”. I yelled loudly in the general direction of my unknown foes: “Hey, you cowards! You gonna hide in the bushes all night or you gonna come out and fight? Or are you frightened of lil’ ol’ me? SCARED-Y CATS! WIMPS! YOUR MOTHERS SMELL OF ELDERBERRIES!”

Alright so I’m not great at verbal taunting on the fly. Fortunately, the spell worked anyway: there was a pause from the enemy and I could almost hear them pivot and start a mad rush towards me. A grunting, howling mass of rage was on it’s way.

The bushes shook and suddenly I was surrounded by monsters.

Oh yes, they were definitely monsters. They reminded me a bit of griffins, except their top half was a wolf and their back half was a scaly lizard. Their heads reached up to my collar bone, and each reptilian eye was focused on me. There was five of them.

The one nearest toward me gave a deep growl and launched itself at me, red mouth filled with teeth ready to rip me in two. I jumped straight up, surprising it, and came down like a rock with my sword pointed to the ground. I severed the aggressive monster’s spinal cord in one bloody movement.

It collapsed in a dead heap, causing the other four monsters to pause. You could almost see the little gears in their monster brains turn as they realized something half their size had killed one of them with relative ease.

Seeing their hesitation, I decided to use an area of effect move called “Sword Sweep”. It was a simple physical two-handed sword attack everyone learns when they choose the Knight Class. It involved taking a step forward and swiping to the side, with every enemy in range getting hit. Usually it was a slow attack, but my racial and Armor boosts made it significantly faster. All the monsters saw was a pointy blur before they realized they’d been cut.

The one on the left had been closest, getting the full brunt of my swing. His neck was deeply cut, right through his wind pipe, and he fell in a gurgling gasp. The next two were bleeding heavily and the last came away with only a minor scrap.

They’d had enough! Whimpering in pain and terrified by an unexpectedly strong enemy, they backed away from me and turned tail and ran.

I took a step forward to run after them, thinking it unwise to let monsters that size go and possibly harm anyone else, when I heard a voice behind me say: “I’ll deal with them.”

I turned around in surprise, just in time to see Solomon “unfocus” his body and swiftly fly over me making a be-line towards the monsters. Shortly after, I heard several strangled monster voices cry out in terror, pain, and then nothing. Complete silence.

Solomon floated back more leisurely to me, focusing himself until he was back into his “human” disguise.

“T-thanks.” I sputtered, both surprised he’d followed me and at how quickly he’d killed three monsters. “I could have chased after—”

“No.” He shook his head. “I can travel a lot faster than you when I’m in my original form, and dealing with monsters of that class is a simple matter.”

I frowned. “If that’s the case, should I have stayed back and let you take care of them?”

“A businessman going around chasing after monsters? Our story will never hold up!” He chuckled, waving his hands dismissively. “No, no, you must be the point-man. I’ll just coral the stragglers as needed.” He threw six large bloody canine teeth at me. “Here you go.”

“What are these for?” I asked, awkwardly catching them.

“To prove you killed them. In my time you could trade them for money.”

“Really? Money?”

“Yes. Culling the monster population was a full time job for some folks back in my day. They even formed special guilds in some countries just to keep track of the rewards. I can’t imagine they’ve stopped using that system with the monster population being larger and more aggressive now.” He walked over to the two dead monster and popped their teeth out like it was nothing. How strong was this guy?

“Though… I’m still confused about why the monster population got as big as it did. As long as you’re hunting them on a frequent basis, they should never leave their territory or gather together in anything resembling an army.” He handed me the four teeth he’d just extracted. “I’ve been trying to find out but the Merchants seem to think it’s always been this way. Very strange. Perhaps someone in the city will be better informed…”

Putting my helmet away and getting my mask back on, we walked back to the circled wagons. A cheer of relief came from the merchants when they saw us come back safely.

When I showed the Head Merchant the teeth we’d collected, he was impressed. Solomon had been right. In fact, the guilds he’d talked about had spread to every corner of the known world. Many were directly supported by the government, while others were more mercenary based (only hunting monsters by local request).

“Ah, but next time you should get a piece of hide too.” Mr. Mather kindly informed us. “The payout is a little bigger that way, since it’s extra proof of the kill. Some people don’t bother but I’ve always believed in getting the most out of any venture.”

I didn’t see Solomon give the Merchant a smug grin or the Merchant grimace slightly in response.

The sun had set, but the caravan kept on. Between the Monster Army and the monster attack any thoughts of camping over night out in the open were dismissed. If Solomon disappeared for a short time, no one but me seemed to notice. He came back and gave me five scaly hides, his finger over his smiling mouth, in a secretive gesture.

We arrived at the Way Station late into the night. All of us gave a ragged cheer at the warm lights and fortified walls. I’d completely lost the ability to stay up late, my body now in-tune with the natural rhythm of the day, and I was practically sleep walking by the time we got there.

I don’t remember much about getting in, just two large gate doors opening, a big building, a rough fellow with a lamp guiding us, and then—to my utter and complete joy—a real honest-to-God bed. Then nothing as I passed out from exhaustion.

I woke up feeling heavenly and made the mistake of thinking I was in my own cozy bed for a few seconds, before my senses came to me. I tried not to feel disappointed at finding myself still in this other world and sat up and gave a big stretch.

Much to my surprise, I found both Dignity and Atlas under the covers with me. I scratched my head, wondering when they’d gotten there, and realized I was still in my Quicksilver armor. Right. There’s no way anyone could take it off me. I groggily switched out what I was wearing, back into my more comfortable armor set. I’d change it again if I needed, but for now I wanted to eat breakfast in something comfortable.

The outfit change startled Atlas awake, but as always Dignity remained asleep. That Kobold could probably sleep through an earthquake, jeesh!

“Morning.” I greeted the Elf with a yawn.

He looked at me, terribly confused for a moment. “Your armor—”

Oh right, he never did get a proper explanation.

“Ah, I’ve got some special magic that lets me swap outfits quickly.”

Sitting up, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Special magic…”

“Yep. So what are you guys doing in my bed?”

He lowered his hand and blinked slowly, dazed and still not quite awake. “Not enough rooms for everyone,” He said in a sleepy whisper, “so we had to share. Solomon wouldn’t let anyone but us sleep with you.”

Solomon… oh, where was that guy anyway? Had he managed to weasel himself into a room of his own?

“Well, let’s get up then. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”

Atlas scooted out and I had to shake Dignity pretty hard to get him up too. There was a small rough desk in the room, and on it was a pitcher of water, a towel, and a large bowl. I walked over and stared at it in confusion, before my sleepy brain caught up to me and I realized this was meant for my hands and face.

Woah! Civilization! It was one step away from running water! Now if only they had something fancy like soap!

Taking off my mask (which had somehow stayed on my face while I slept), I washed my face and hands, drying them off with the towel. Dignity watched me closely and imitated what I did, though he had to get the stool to stand on to do it. Atlas followed Dignity.

I put the mask back on, draping the hood over my head, and gave them both a thumbs up. We all shuffled out of the door and headed towards the noise at the end of the hall.

It turns out we were on the second floor, and I got a good look at the building as we walked down the stairs: A big dining room with long cafeteria styled tables and bench seats, all made of wood. The place was packed with people, mostly humans (though I saw a few elves too). Just based off the people eating, I could see why there’d not been enough rooms.

It’d been a while since I’d been around this many people and I felt momentarily overwhelmed. The urge to turn around and escape to my room was strong enough that I hesitated as we walked down.

“Angela?” Dignity asked, worried, tugging on my pants.

“Ah, sorry. Do you see Solomon or our merchant group anywhere?”

Dignity looked out among the mass of people and then pointed.

Sure enough, there was Solomon. I wasn’t sure how I’d missed him, to be honest. His dark skin and hair made him stand out like a sore thumb around the paler, lighter haired humans and elves.

“Solomon, Mr. Mather, good morning!” I greeted them after winding my way through the crowds. The Merchants shuffled around, with some of them already having finished their meals, leaving altogether, to make room for us.

Bowls of bread, cheese, and hard boiled eggs lined the center of the table along with stacks of plates, cups, and pitchers of water. It was clear based off the people around me, this was a free-for-all kind of breakfast. Dignity couldn’t reach anything without standing on the chair and reaching, so I plated everything for him.

In case you’re wondering, I’d gotten a good system of eating with the mask. I’d push my hood forward as far as I could to cover the side of my face and then lift my mask with one hand and eat with the other. You’d have to get really close to notice my face wasn’t human looking. It’d worked, even with several sets of Merchant eyeballs on me, trying to catch a glimpse of my “dreadful” face.

I cast glances at people around me, attempting to figure out how much I was allowed to eat before I was viewed as being greedy. There were knives with the cheese (which was just a big wheel you’d cut into). I took the knife to slice my bread, eggs, and (of course) cheese and make it into a lumpy sandwich. People watched me curiously as I combined my items and then imitated me once they realized how well it worked.

…

Had I just introduced the sandwich to this world?

No, no. Let’s not get full of myself!

Solomon refused to eat anything at the table, complaining it was low quality and not worth his time. The Way Station staff glared daggers at him, and I agreed with their thinking: just because it was simple didn’t make it bad. When I pointed out as much, he just snootily proclaimed he was a person of status and shouldn’t be subjected to such unrefined “staple foods”.

We argued for a solid ten minutes about it, before I managed to convince him to try a sandwich. After taking a bite, his eyebrows went up, and he greedily ate the rest. Once he was done, he scornfully announced that with some creative thinking the offerings weren’t too bad. He then quietly made himself a second sandwich.

After everyone had woken up and eaten, we all went to find our wagons. As we made our way outside, Solomon tapped me on the shoulder.

“Hm?”

“About our agreement…”

“Huh? What agreement?”

“You’ve forgotten already! Tut tut and my, my!” He grinned and pointed to his ears.

Oh no… I had totally forgotten! The deal about touching my ears all day… Stuff kept happening to distract me, how’d he stay so on-point, especially about something so nonsensical?

“But I can’t—people will get super suspicious!”

“Oh, I know.”

“Th-then the deals off?”

“Absolutely not, let’s just modify it a bit, shall we?”

I deflated. Of course he wouldn’t let it go.

I sighed. “What do you have in mind?”

“What if we spread the time out?”

“Eh? How so?”

“So we take the day and spread it out over, weeks…”

“Well, I—”

“…months…”

“—hey, wait a min—”

“—years. However long it takes.”

My eyes narrowed. “You didn’t agree to this deal knowing I couldn’t keep it, by any chance, did you?”

He rounded his eyes, attempting an innocent look. “Oh, I would never do that.”

Why, that sneaky—! He most certainly did it on purpose.

I just have to accept I’ve been out maneuvered, I thought glumly. He’d gotten me good and now I’d just have to bid my time getting back at him.

“Alright, I guess that’ll work.” I grumbled. “It’s not like I’ve got any choice anyway.”

I got a good look around the Way Station now that it was daylight. The building we’d been in, something like a hotel, was three stories tall and made of rounded sturdy logs. There was a smaller building next to it, which I assumed to be a shop based off what people were carrying out. There was something akin to a parking lot, like what you’d see in truck stop only without pavement, filled with wagons very like what our Merchants had.

There was a noticeable quality difference in the wagons we passed and the ones the Merchants I was with kept. The majority of the wagons looked in need of repair and like they’d been beaten on. I could hear snippets of conversation from people:

“—rumor about the Monster Army? A whole town was destroyed up north.”

“Damn King raised the taxes again! And for what? Certainly not to deal with the bandits…”

“—this might be my last trip, I can’t afford repairs anymore—”

“Haven’t seen it this bad in years. Southern crops destroyed by monsters on top of a drought!”

The cycle of conversation continued in a depressing cycle along those lines. If the Merchants were any indication, this country sucked. High taxes, apathetic king, and monsters over-running everything.

The Merchants I was with did a quick check of their belongings and headed out. It took some time just getting to the exit because of the crowds of people and we ended up waiting in a line of other wagons at the gate.

I’d been stealthily avoiding Ceil through most of yesterday’s trip, but today I decided to talk to her.

“What country do you and your father come from?”

“Selderhimn. It’s south of Pabril, which is to the west of here. Every other year we do a major trip through all the human countries to trade and get news.” She shook her head sadly. “Sacrington wasn’t this bad even two years ago. But the old King was running the place then, so perhaps that’s why.”

“I see.” So there’d been a change over in authority in this country. “What’s Selderhimn like?”

Her eyes lit up at my question. “Oh it’s a great place! It’s a southern country. Things are green most of the year there, lots of rain, nice warm weather. I miss that the most when I travel to other places, especially this far north.” She gave a fake shiver and chuckled. “Selderhimn is mostly known for its orchards and fruits though. My family exports those directly but for trips like this we’re selling fruit wines rather than produce. They last longer and you get more money for them.”

“Do you guys have to deal with monsters too?”

“Who doesn’t?” She sighed, frowning. “But my country supports the Adventuring Guilds—that’s what we call the groups that kill monsters—unlike here.”

“What do you mean?”

“In Selderhimn all the Adventure Guilds get local and national support. Lords often donate land or finance Guild buildings. The King uses a portion of the taxes to pay adventures to deal with monster problems in places that can’t afford to directly hire. Monster Migrations are still problems, but we haven’t had a Monster Army in over 50 year because of our system.”

“And here?”

“Guilds are pretty much mercenaries here. Pay or nothing. They’re heartless. Smaller towns either pool their resources to hire someone now and again or fight off monsters on their own. And I heard—” Her face twisted in disgust. “—that the new king actually taxes the Guilds.”

“That’s, uhm, bad?”

“Of course it’s bad!” She shouted and then blushed when several people turned to stare at her. “Sorry. Ahem. Look, taxes aren’t just about getting money, they’re also about controlling merchant and client behavior. As an example: in Selderhimn the King heavily taxes peach imports, but has no tax at all on peach exports. Why is that?”

“Er.”

“Because foreign peaches directly compete with our local peach orchards. To protect local peach farmers from outside competition, the King put a high tax on foreign peaches. Few in Selderhimn bother importing peaches now, even though they’re technically able to, because the tax makes it unprofitable to do so. Instead we buy from local orchards, which are better anyway, and we export our peaches all over the world. In fact, some of those wines I talked about earlier are made from those protected peaches.”

“R-right.” Ceil was definitely a merchant’s daughter.

“So. When all of Sacrington’s Guilds are for-profit, and you start taxing that profit, what do the Guild members do?”

I thought for a moment. “Only take on jobs that pay them a lot?”

“Yes, exactly. Even weaker Guild members won’t be as eager to take lower paying requests, when they know a portion of that is going into the King’s pockets.” She pressed her lips into a thin line. “Frankly, the current King ought to be ashamed of himself. If he’s going to tax the guilds, at least put that money back into strengthening the nation’s defenses against monsters. But from what I’ve been hearing he just hordes it all.

I don’t understand why the people here tolerate it, they should just rebel and—”

“Ceil! Watch what you’re saying!”

“Oops, hello, Father!”

Mr. Mather had walked over while Ceil was talking.

“Don’t “Hello Father” me! Do you want us to get in trouble with the local authorities?” We were still in line waiting to get out. Mather looked pointedly at a man in ill-fitted armor, who was scowling in our direction.

“Oh!” Ceil’s eyes grew wide and she spoke overly loud, “Er, no talk of dissension here! King’s great! Super guy! Wouldn’t hear a word against him!” She chuckled weakly and spoke quietly to her father: “So it’s that bad, huh?”

“Yes.” Mr. Mather replied sourly. “I’ve come through this area many times before but this is really the worst I’ve seen of it. We’re going to hurry through our business in the city as quickly as possible and head south before circling back for home. I’ve heard the road from the Southern Mountains is better guarded because of the dwarves.”

“Ah, dwarves would never tolerate monsters or bandits on a road they travel on.” Ceil nodded in understanding. “We don’t usually go that way though, do we?”

“No, and I’m afraid it’s going to cut into our profits to take the longer route south. But at this point I’ll be happy if we come out even, what with one of our wagons being destroyed and the increased taxes.”

Father and daughter than started discussing cost-saving strategies to help offset the losses of taking a longer route. I wandered away once I realized I wouldn’t be any help and I couldn’t understand half of what they were talking about so I also wouldn’t learn anything.

It felt like eternity before we finally left the Way Station. Apparently we all decided to leave at the same time and the Way Station staff was having a hard time keeping things orderly. I was relieved to get out of the crowd and onto the roads.

The road to Sacrington, the capital city, had a steady stream of traffic that got progressively more crowded. Merchant wagons bustled alongside horse drawn carriages of every shape and size.

Unlike with Solomon’s City, Sacrington was far more spread out. First it was farm land, then it was little towns, and then there were buildings that got closer and closer together. I thought we might have walked into the city without me realizing it, but it turned out all this was “spill over”.

The city had expanded, right over the city walls. The walls in question weren’t as obvious as you might think, because of the amount of buildings clustered up next to them. They were tall, thickly bricked, and very well guarded. It wasn’t until we slowed down to a crawl did I actually realize we’d arrived at the wall, and thus the city.

All the Merchants got into a neat line, waiting to get through the gate. Apparently there was a security checkpoint here and a “gate tax” that needed to be paid as well. Thinking back on the conversation I’d had with Ceil earlier, I wondered at the wisdom of taxing people for simply entering the city.

The guards reminded me of DMV workers: slow and frustrating. I saw at least one person make the mistake of hassling the gate guards, only to find themselves standing in line for twice as long as the rest of us. Note to self: don’t mess with the gate guards if you’re in a hurry.

Once through, Mather guided the group to a small but well-kept hotel. As per the agreement with Solomon, Mather paid for a room for us to stay in. He estimated it’d take two days to unload everything and get it sold. Once that was done, he’d pay us and we could go our separate ways.

Dignity had been extremely excited to finally be in a real city. He stared at everything and asked every question under the sun. I was grateful to have the Merchants around, as he was able to ask them the bulk of the questions and get answers.

Atlas was quiet per usual but stayed as close to Solomon as he was allowed. Unlike Dignity, the elf seemed to get more nervous and jittery the farther in we went. Solomon took no notice of the behavior change, instead focusing on stuffing business and worldly knowledge into the elf’s head at every turn.

For myself, I was both happy and disappointed. I’m not sure what I was expecting, really. Of course the cities here would be different. Where there should be paved roads, there was cobblestone instead. Skyscrapers were replaced with squat square buildings that were only a few stories high. Running water was replaced with large elaborate fountains. There was no electricity but perhaps you didn’t need any if you could depend on enchantments.

The most startling difference was the lack of a garbage disposal system. Trash was left all over the place, some places worse than others. My eyes watered in some areas of the city because of the lack of cleanliness.

Still, it was a city. There had to be educated people here: scholars, scribes, or historians. And one of those people might have a clue about how I got here and how I could get home.

At least, I really hoped that was the case.