The dirt road eventually met up to a cobblestone road that was about twice as wide. The road led straight to the town.

Whether it was the size of a city or town Salim couldn't initially tell. Black stone walls spread out on either side you looked encapsulating the town. It made sense from what Salim knew Val was a big place for trade being a neutral ground where multiple fiefdoms and kingdoms came together. This place needed to have defenses from being taken over.

Eventually making their way up to the gated walls they were stopped by a guard. “Halt and state your reason for passage.” He said in a bored voice clearly had been working for a while.

Salim spoke up “we are here for trade.” He really didn’t know what Vivyern had been coming here for but he wanted some actual gear. His knife had nearly broken having only ten durabilities.

“Alright, two people one male and one female you're safe to go.” The guard simply waved them on as they made their way into the city.

The size of this place was ridiculous. A map had been drawn of the city labeling everything a traveler needed to know. Walls encapsulated this whole place providing a great deal of security.

Salim decided it was best to drop off the horse and cart first and then look for an inn. There were a couple of things he wanted to look at later but for now, he desired a place to stay for the night.

The architecture of the city was rather strange. Multiple styles collided as main building materials constantly changed creating a strange but interesting mix of culture. Salim supposed it was from the city being built by a multiple of people and cultures with imported materials.

At least that ment this place was probably more tolerant to people of all races.

Luckily most inn’s had stables with them and they managed to find a place called the “Lucky Nights” inn. It was in more of the slums part of the city but Salim didn’t really care he just needed a place to stay.

Money was a bit odd here. Apparently the Gp he had stood for Gold Points and could only be exchanged at the Adventure Guild. Luckily Vivyern had plenty of coins and they got a single room for a night.

As much as Salim wasn’t comfortable with Vivyern he was a lot more stingy with his money and she had all the motivation not to kill him so he felt fine with it.

Buying a two bowls filled with meat stew Salim and Vivyern walked up to their room.

Salim watched as all the men in the bar seemed to follow Vivyern with their eyes. She simply had a beautiful face with flawless skin. A gem compared to some of the women here as well as her skin color made her appear exotic.

Salim thought to get some cloaks in the morning to cover them. It was much better to appear sketchy than stand out for looking good. The laws here that had been told to them as they went into the city seemed fair. No violence, robbery, or anything like that and if you did there were guards all around to throw you in prison and make you pay a fine. They also seemed moderately easy to abuse as well and a few unsavory types may try and pull something on them.

Finally, at their room, the door opened with a simple key that the innkeeper had given to them and they were met with a rather cozy sight. A moderately sized room for a bedroom with two cots pushed together and a table with a chair next to it. A candle burned off to the side providing light. There were no windows causing the air to be sort of stuffy but Salim was fine with that.

As much as Salim wanted to pull out the tent and sleep in that he didn’t. For one they had left it in the cart after Vivyern assured him it would not be stolen due to whatever protections the cart had. Second, he would rather get used to living like this.

Taking of a majority of his gear Salim layed down on one of the cots and relaxed his head on the semi comfortable pillow. Vivyern just looked around the room unsure probably not used to such a plain room. With her being a noble before it was probably true.

Laughing at her plight Salim beckoned her to lay down on her cot next to his while giving her a little encouragement from their bond Vivyern reluctantly came over undressing and laying down next to him.

Lying beside each other under the dim light of a candle Salim stared into her eyes. He was searching for something… He still wasn’t sure what it was he wanted to find but he was searching. A deep emotion began to flow between them. A feeling of companionship and other things.

They began to experience the others more deep emotions as they laid there staring at each other.

Vivyern felt the worry and frustration of what he had done to her and Salim felt the understanding and acceptance of what had happened. It wasn’t just the Vivyern’s altered self that accepted it. Vivyern understood that she had lost due to her own foolishness and greed. Seeing that Salim wasn’t taking advantage of her she saw no reason to fight against these changes and accepted what was happening.

This… Calmed Salim if only a little bit. It still didn’t justify what happened but he guessed if she had wanted to fight back there could have been a lot more problems. Especially when he handed her that knife to cut stuff or asked her to fight him…

Realizing the stupid shit he had done that could have killed him Salim laughed in spite of it all. This world was one of a kind even if it really wasn’t. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

The next morning Salim and Vivyern got up early so that they could go out and buy some cloaks. There was a bit of an issue getting up as Vivyern had rapped her legs around his causing them to get a bit tangled but it was otherwise fine.

Putting on their clothes they walked down and handed the innkeeper their key. The bottom part of the inn was rather vacant with only a few people sitting at the bar.

Moving past them they walked out into the street. Paved with bricks the road opened up a little ways down transforming from a row of inns to a row of shops trying to convince people to buy stuff from them.

Walking into one shop that was advertising robes they were met with a wide selection of colors, fabrics, and patterns. Salim never knew there was such a fashion scene in the robe department. Maybe wizards were much more stylish than they were portrayed in stories.

Finding two simple brown robes that covered the head and body both Salim and Vivyern walked out fully disguised. Vivyern gave off a happy air as they walked down the row of shops looking at things.

Surprisingly there were no weapons or actual gear to be seen. Asking around it seemed that was all the adventure guilds department. They seemed to have some sort of monopoly around the whole thing.

Deciding to go check it out and gear up Salim and Vivyern began heading towards the location that was indicated to be the adventurers guild.

Stopping outside of a gigantic building that proudly said in bold “Adventurers Guild” the two of them walked inside.