Despite the sights and sounds being muffled and twisted around him the rhythm of the horses and cart started to move through Victor's body in a way that soothed him more than he expected it to. The slight motion and the fresh crisp air that filled his lungs deeper than he expected, weren't helping his attempt to stay awake after pulling an all nighter the night before.

Even the little bit he heard from the cart's driver sounded soothing. The man's words almost sounded rhythmic as he wondered what he was missing more than what he concentrated on what he heard from the man and it wasn't long before he fell asleep. He barely noticed the color of the blanket that the cart driver threw on him as he nodded off.

After a nice nap, Victor was roused from his sleep by a hand on his shoulder. The sun was still bright enough that he couldn't have slept for too long, but his sight and the sounds he heard were still hindered, albeit not as much as before.

He could make out shapes without them being torn from themselves and applying itself to another shape.

"Do..... hung..... or..... eat..... lef...... ce."

The words didn't sound as far apart as before, Victor felt that they weren't as whimsical as earlier so he spoke up himself amazed he could almost hear himself talking completely despite only a segment of his words actually making it through.

"I don't know what you mean! I heard some of it, but I can't hear you enough to answer you!"

Feeling a hand on his arm, Victor lashed out and attempted to punch with his free hand towards where he assumed the person was, only to have that hand grabbed as well and a raised voice was heard close to his ear.

"Let me go!"

Victor struggled against the hands holding him in place and found himself pushed back against the wood of the cart, hearing something he couldn't make out before both wrists were held in one hand and he felt something placed on his lap before his hands were released.

Feeling what was left in his hand there was a slightly breakable rigidity to it and, as he broke it in some, a smell lingered. While not freshly baked the scent of bread was unmistakable.

"Alright sorry I lashed out at.... you know what I'm not sorry. You guys are doing as you please with me and I'm just along for the ride. You all should be...... I think you....."

Without finishing his thoughts he took a bite of the bread and closed his eyes hearing only a minor bit of what was being said to him. While he couldn't make it out there was once again a lyrical feel to it.

Eventually, Victors, sight, and sound were nearly completely returned. Having never gotten drunk before he imagined it was probably similar to what he might feel if he had ever done so while he finally looked around to see where he found himself.

The sun, while hidden behind some large clouds, was high in the sky, starting its descent towards late day. There were no more heavy shakes or jarring motions as the cart went down, what appeared to be, a mostly straight road. Trees and other plants were easy to find but not overwhelming enough to prevent one from seeing a fair distance. Lastly, it seemed that he was now in a cart with someone he didn't recognize, accompanied by two other people in a separate cart.

In the driver's seat of the cart, the man turned when it was obvious that Victor had gained enough of his senses.

"So yer no drunk anymore are ye?"

The man was a dwarf wearing some chain armor over his body and his words carried a hearty warmth to it. He didn't look to be anything too odd, as far as Victor was concerned, but it was the human he remembered in the cart when he left.

"Who are..... where did the other guy go?" Victor asked quickly.

"Ah ye don't remember do ye? Well, apparently he found ye on the side of the road an since he found yer crystal thought to take ya to a town but was going to some hamlets to do tradin. We're heading over to Green Rebirth an offered to take ye with us. At least when asked."

Looking at the dwarf, Victor noticed a pouch and some paper sticking out of it. Without going into it he couldn't be sure, but he had a gut feeling that he was being lied to.

"Sure...... right. Why bring me there though?"

The woman on the cart beside them was driving next to another woman, who looked to be an elf, spoke up.

"We were offered money and have to verify it to get the money. If you don't verify it we don't get the money and I like money."

For some reason, Victor couldn't help laughing.

"That's it? You were offered money and you figured, hey I like money. This seems like a way to get money that isn't too hard? Is that right? Did you get offered a lot to do it?"

Speaking softly at first, this time it was the elf who spoke.

"The amount of money is not something you need to know. Someone who found you on the side of the road offered you some kindness when they could have robbed or killed you if they were the type. The money will not go to you regardless so don't try to push for further information."

"Don't you think I have a right to know since my delivery or however you wanna call it is your paycheck?" Victor retaliated.

"No."

Trying to get up, Victor stumbled and kept where he was seated as he looked back at the elf woman.

"But it is about me. I am the reason you have this request. I am the one who you have to take to.... city mc townville or whatever it was called right?"

"Greens Rebirth," The dwarf said, "And yer right. We're takin ya there, but it's because it's on our way an we only got paid to bring ya one town over with yer things."

Kicking back a little bit, Victor tried to relax a little bit as he looked over all of his things, verifying everything was how he hoped to find it.

"Can you at least tell me some about this green place before I get there? I'm not familiar with this area."

During the rest of their time traveling there were basic conversations and some stuff shared about Green Rebirth.

There were some things worth noting, but, Victor didn't think most of what he heard was worth note compared to the other place he had been and the general information that he already had about things.

When he finally got to the town he noticed that it was much smaller than where he had been. He thought of how the previous place had many large churches and even some buildings he would think of as mansions and a whole districts for business and food merchants, this place looked like it might have several hundred people in it at most. Only if you include the people living a bit out of the main area working on the farms. For some reason, he wasn't even sure if that technically made it a town or not and it bothered him.

After taking all of his things, and realizing that he had more than he thought when he had to carry it all at once, Victor and the small group went quickly to a small building. Inside of it was a branch office of the guild he had joined previously. There was only one main floor and a second floor that looked to be half the size. The main floor had a counter that wrapped around most the walls except for the doors and where there was room behind the counter for the one worker.

Noticing the work posters as he approached the counter, Victor couldn't help but notice that almost all of them were red and black rated.

"Do they not get anything above red rank here?"

The elf looked over at the board of jobs, "Likely, this is similar to the other smaller hamlets and villages where they list the stuff that can be done quickly or isn't a terrible concern if it is not done. Beyond that, from my understanding, the higher ranked jobs are listed here and sent to the closest guild hub. Usually higher rank jobs are picked up there and they travel out to the job they want. Especially if there aren't any higher ranked members living in the area."

It isn't long before the group is the next one at the counter to speak to the woman behind it. Handing the sealed paper to her she opens it up and looks over it quickly. Victor can't help but notice this woman is not as aggressive as the ones he met at the other guild.

"I wonder if that is because it's not as stressful here or that's just how things are at the bigger locations culturally." He wondered to himself silently.

In the end, the group had been paid, although apparently since they weren't part of the guild there was a cut taken out of it that the guild would keep, and they left without anything further said to him.

The woman behind the counter, however, called him over to speak with him.

"It says here that you were found on the side of the road with your things, but no horse or cart. Are you hurt anywhere? Do you need anything? Were you robbed? If so you can tell us a description of the people who did this to you? Race, size, numbers, gender, if they used magic or stuck to more physical combat."

Being pushed like this, Victor thought about his situation. The people who had abducted him probably wouldn't want him to share about them.

He even started to think that this might be some sort of test. That if he spilled information that they wanted to have kept silent he might be abducted again and not allowed to leave.

It made sense, he thought, that a group would have means to learn who was sharing information that they shouldn't. Especially if there was magic. Maybe even magic placed upon him that he wasn't aware of.

"N nothing like that no," He started to say hesitantly, "I actually was traveling on my own and I......well I don't remember exactly because..... Ah, right I was drunk. Yeah I mean being drunk when you're out alone is dumb, but I was having a hard few days, to say the least, and I wanted to escape you know?"

"Then how were you alone without a horse or cart?" The woman pressed, her green eyes smiling as she peered at him.

"I must have forgot..... well being drunk I forgot to tie up the horse and he probably got spooked right? I mean it isn't a big deal in the long run but it sure is annoying to lose something you paid good money for. Nothing to worry about though."

Forcing an awkward smile, Victor decided to change the topic before anything could happen to call him out on his lies.

"So I noticed you only seem to have black and red quests here. I'm black ranked myself and might be willing to take a job once I find someone who can read them for me. Can't just grab stuff and hope it works out after all."

"You must be from somewhere bigger," The woman responded, "We don't have people here who do that, pay me and I'll read for you, stuff. If you want to know what jobs there are just ask at the counter or some of the people sitting at the counter wrapped around the wall. We just help each other out here."

Wearing a smile that looked a bit professional, but at the same time happy the woman pointed to a few people, "Unlike the bigger areas nobody here will make fun of you for not reading. It's mostly for people like me who need it for work or people who want to show off anyway. Reading won't plow the fields or truly teach you what to do in a dangerous situation. Even if it could it's no better than telling the story to people."

Speaking with the woman, Victor never felt rushed. He didn't realize how nice it was to be able to take his time compared to the Orlayn Wave he had been at. He was able to learn where certain places were and how much certain things cost. With the money he had, he figured he could afford to stay for a while without taking on any jobs, but if he didn't figure something out eventually the money would vanish and he would struggle a lot more as a result.

His dad had seen it happen and told him a few stories. People get a bit of good luck and think it will last only to waste the money and have to do things that they didn't want to or shouldn't try to.

In the end, he decided to take two days off. The rest of that day and the next day, he thought, would be a good day to get acquainted with the town first hand. So, after learning where an inn was he got himself a room.

The price was five large copper coins a night with one meal at the end of the day included. Not sure how long he would want to stay, Victor paid two small silver coins and found a room for himself. There were only three rooms for rent and there was nobody else there so he picked the one farthest from the door and relaxed, as best as he could, until the next morning.

A trip around the town, if it could technically be called one, lead him to find that the people seemed more friendly here. Unlike before some people would talk to him and most would offer a small smile or something similar to a wave using only two fingers and the thumb.

Having already liquidated most of the stuff he didn't mind parting with, Victor decided to stop a few places and buy a couple of things that he wanted.

Once he found a place that dealt in armor he bought some basic leather that would go over his body. He didn't trust himself to do well with metal, both the care of and his strength, but he assumed that leather would have a better chance of stopping smaller things without slowing him down too much.

Next, he got some basic tools, including knives and vials, deciding that for now at least he wouldn't deal with anything beyond basic cloth wrappings for first aid since he didn't want to risk making things worse using something he didn't understand.

Last he went to the weapons shop. A man and a woman were having a slightly heated discussion about something when he came in. His entrance got them to stop as the woman spoke to Victor first.

"Oh, perfect timing. I was just saying that it's been a while since we had someone come in. Do you have any idea what you need, or do you want someone to teach you something, or maybe you just want to have your favorite weapon repaired."

"I kind of got an idea of what I want," Victor admitted, "I want something to keep my tools functional. I stabbed a jurex and my knife got discolored as a result. I don't want to have to pay to buy new weapons all the time so something to keep my sword working well? That and I was thinking a spear, not one of those overly long ones, but something that I can use to learn with maybe."

"A spear?" The man behind the counter scoffed, running his hand over his beard.

"If you want a real weapon use an ax or even a sword. The twigs are barely worth anything and even then it's only if you're in some military-style group."

A smack was heard as the woman hit the man upside the head, "He knows what he wants, and if you talk away a sale because you think you know what he wants better than him you're sleeping outside tonight."

As the woman started to go and look over what they have in the weapons barrels, the man begins to get some cloth and some sort of, something, inside of a container made of leather.

Paying for his purchase, Victor left with a new spear, sliding it into his card since it seemed a little cumbersome to keep with him. As the door closes behind him he heard the man comment on how the man won't be responsible for the boy's death if he relies on a tool not meant for proper combat.

Choosing to ignore the comment, Victor decided to go and find somewhere with a tree or something that he could practice on in privacy with his sword and spear.

Once he found one he practiced until it started to hurt and went back to the inn to relax in preparation for the days to come.