Skies Watch turned out to be a lot larger than Victor had suspected when he first saw it. Somehow many of the buildings seemed to stack on each other in a way that didn’t seem to make sense in any form of architecture he had seen before, not that he was an expert. He just knew that the way some of the buildings looked didn’t make sense.

Eventually he dismissed the thought as one of two possibilities. Either there was something magical to the crafting process or, like the castle above, there was something unique about the building materials. Secretly, he hoped it was the latter possibility so he had a better chance of being able to figure out how to do things like that himself.

After a couple of days had passed Victor, along with his slaves, had gotten used to the setup of the capital enough that they weren’t getting completely lost anymore. He had become even more appreciative of the fact that Alena could read now that he was staying in one place where literacy was a lot more common in everyday life.

In the days that he had been in the capital, Victor had managed to accomplish a few things.

Finding the guild had allowed him to have his guild crystal upgraded from black to a nice dark red color. While he knew this meant little more than the guild knew he was actually willing to work and not a reflection on his skill, Victor was glad it opened up more jobs for him, even if only barely.

When he made a joke saying how usually he heard people wanted to get out of the red and into the black it was met with a few odd gazes, reminding him where he was.

During those days he had managed to find an Inn that was willing to take him and his slaves without forcing him to keep Drelt out of the room. Luckily the innkeeper was someone who didn’t mind oddities in her place, so long as they paid a deposit ahead of time.

While staying in the Inn on the first day, mostly because he was talking to people to get adjusted to the new location, he had learned about a board game that was played in this world, or at least this part of this world. Apparently, it was one that was more commonly played because it wasn’t too difficult to make if you couldn’t afford to buy one and it had a fair level of tactics to it.

That said the hand made versions often lacked some of the finer details that sped the game up during set up and prevented spying on the other players.

He had only learned it because he was told by a man who seemed to be a bit less loud than the rest and he was only willing to talk and answer questions about the capital while playing.

Even though on a superficial level the game reminded Victor of chess, a game he didn’t really like or dislike. He couldn't help but think that the game he was learning was more complex than chess.

That said, he also knew that any game played at a high enough level would seem that way. Even chess would seem a lot more complex than chess if played by people with enough skill. Or at least that's what he thought.

The board was nine by nine squares and it had a flap that took up three lines on two of the sides, revealing an empty space where the pieces could be stored. There was also a piece of thin wood that would fit in two slots in the center of the board between the two piece storage sections that would stand up to block the view from one player's side to the other. Victor was told early on that it was because the game pieces had no required way of being set up, unlike many other board games he knew.

During setup, each player had ten pieces that they could place on any of the first three rows on their side of the board. Since the pieces all had twenty-seven spots for ten pieces Victor realized that he couldn’t figure out off the top of his head how many possibly opening setups there could be, but he did briefly consider doing the math later.

To a degree, Victor felt that this unknown element added something interesting to the game, especially when combined with the fact that only four of the pieces would have to remain the same. This was because the other six could be any other piece in the game, up to three of a kind.

Once the pieces were set each player could choose two pieces of equipment. These were designed discs that reminded Victor of checkers pieces, and each one had a different function. Most would be picked up and used by the first one to land on it, except for any piece with special rules. It was only the tower and the pitfall that couldn’t be used as they became part of the boards' terrain instead.

The oddest part of the equipment, at least as far as Victor was concerned, was that you didn’t get to pick where the pieces ended up. Two dice, shaped more like a pencil, except not as long and having nine sides, were rolled to determine where each piece would be placed on the board.

This meant that your picked equipment could end up on the enemy side and visa versa. He wondered if this added some fun chaos to the game or just made it more likely to be unfair as it added another layer of luck you might not overcome. The man he played insisted it was to reflect a layer of uncertainty present in all battles.

Victor even found it interesting that the game had two ways to win instead of just one unless you counted conceding the game. If you did there were three ways to win.

The games king, the only piece that was in every game while being one of a kind, had to be captured by being surrounded by four of your opponents pieces, or on all sides if four sides weren’t available for a player to fill, like if the king was in the corner or had the pit next to him. This meant that four of your pieces would have to go into the other players' territory as the king was unable to leave the three lines it could start in.

Besides surrounding, or capturing as it was often described, the enemy king your only other option was to defeat all the other players pieces.

Apparently, the pieces a player chose would vary a lot depending on if they wished for one win or the other, with many choosing to try for something that could work either way while others tried to specialize.

While it was an interesting game or at least more interesting than all of the walking that he had done day after day to get to the capital, Victor wasn’t any good at it.

He chose the same six pieces, all three of two different pieces, and the same basic formations as well as the same two pieces of gear every time he played. Sure he was told that was how most beginners started out, but he felt a bit embarrassed with how often he lost, or more accurately that he always lost.

Luckily, as he refused the gambling request, although fifty to one odds were tempting, he had lost nothing except time and gained some knowledge about the capital and various other things the man mentioned briefly and had a few things planned out. Albeit roughly.

Since it turned out that, legally speaking, slaves were considered tools instead of people, it meant that Victor could have them do his requests for him and still get money and credit for the completion. It also meant getting dramatically less credit in regards to going up in rank as it was seen as relying on a specialized tool that couldn’t be replaced if it was destroyed.

If he remembered right relying on slaves without doing the work with them meant a hundred requests would only count as one in terms of credit. This is why apparently some people would have their slaves join the guild with the funds going to them instead, but Victor didn’t feel like forcing them to go through the guild tests or paying for the cost of it.

The way that the guild workers casually talked about his slaves being property and possibly being destroyed left a bad taste in his mouth, but Victor got some simple black and red rank requests for Dorun and Alena. He didn’t really need them for what he was planning to do. He only wanted Drelt around, and that was mostly as a visual aid.

Both Alena and Dorun seemed anxious to do the job, although for entirely different reasons. Alena seemed especially anxious about actually doing the work for her pay compared to Dorun who just wanted to prove his worth. Victor couldn’t help but be glad at least someone was being serious in the effort to earn their freedom, assuming he had seen what he thought he saw.

With two of his slaves gone, Victor had left the guild with Drelt and walked down a couple of the roads, looking at a few signs as he did so.

While he wasn’t able to read still Tak’roputz, the man who he had been playing so far, gave him directions and wrote down the signs to watch out for before leaving to meet up with the guild members he had hired.

It seemed that he was going to pick up something and return with it before the big celebration started. If it was something small he would have hired a courier or if local a runner, but he had to get a large order from days away, hence the guards.

The man was a merchant by trade and, apparently, a big client for bodyguard work, sometimes going up to four communities away in a simple trip. Which color he needed tended to vary dramatically depending on where he needed to go.

The man had told Victor that the lowest he hired was orange while the highest he had ever requested was purple, although that was only once so far. A special order that justified the extra precaution.

With Drelt at his side, Victor had managed to travel the roads pretty easily. A few people even got out of his way. He couldn’t help but think that this place, despite being so large and busy, was at least nice enough to clear a path for other people, not realizing that people were commenting how they didn’t want to get sick. A couple even talking about seeing if the slave needed to be exterminated for public safety, not that he heard a word of it.

Victor had managed to only get lost once, and only for about a block. Even then it was just because the area opened into one of the shopping districts when he was specifically told that if he saw it he went too far. He felt extra glad he had taken his own notes on the ones written for him since all he could hope for otherwise was matching the symbols and hoping he didn't miss them.

During the route the pair had stopped to get a meal, Drelt even bought himself something extra with some of his money to go with it. Some sort of fruit on a stick that had been cooked. In his mind, Victor called it a fruit kabob.

Despite the fact that Victor wanted to ensure that his slaves would all earn their freedom, he understood wanting to spend some money on a treat. It was something that he would do even when his own budget was tight. A candy bar, a discounted game, or a play that the students would put on every month or so. Those tickets were always cheap since performing in front of an audience was part of their grade.

The last part of the list was something he would do even in highschool since the college was so close to home. Once he even considered trying out for a play as an extracurricular activity, but when the tryouts came he had talked himself out of it by assuming he would fail before even trying.

Eventually, even with the small distractions and the minor bout of getting lost, the pair found the shop that he had been looking for. Although in actuality it was more of a private library than a shop.

The owner would charge a patron double the cost of any book taken out and return all but a small fee when the book was returned. This was a dramatic contrast to what Victor was used to with libraries.

While this was the right place, it wasn’t books that Victor was interested in. What interested Victor was the fact that the owner would be most likely to know who he would need to talk to because, as Tak’roputz said, she kept track of who seemed knowledgeable.

Someone who was studying zoology or perhaps was some sort of veterinarian or even a doctor that knew about the poison that was slowly making its way through Drelt’s body was the goal. He just hoped that he could figure out a step after this one because, as of now, his plan was a sandwich without anything between the bread.

Upon entering the library, Victor saw two people, a man about ten years his senior and a lady beastkin who had a smooth black coating instead of fur or scales, it was possible that it was her skin, with an age he couldn’t place.

They were both sitting at a table with various open books yelling at each other in a way that made it feel like both a conversation and argument. Victor even noticed that they weren't having a proper order to their speaking, making it even harder to properly catagorize.

“--- are like that. It’s all about the coloration of ---”

“--- burned does the scent start to ---”

“--- relation to the time of ---”

“--- similar to when a body begins to rot and ---”

Not wanting to be stuck at the door while the two verbally jousted, Victor cleared his throat as loud as he could without needing to cough after.

It took two more back and forth jabs before the woman's attention turned towards the pair.

“Rascutir quiet. Someone came in I need to work.”

Watching the woman stand, Victor was taken by how different a beastkin with less mammalian traits looked. Sure he had seen reptilian ones and even one who looked to be avian before, but she was the first who looked to be a bug.

Victor was no entomologist, but if he was forced to guess he would think she was a beetle, or an ant, or possibly a pill bug. It was hard considering his lack of knowledge and how little of her he was able to see. He even considered she could be part of a bug species native to this world that he had no way of knowing about.

“I don’t recall ever meeting someone like you. I also do not recall meeting a slave with a poisoning like this before. If you wish to rent a book my prices are fair, but you will be required to put down a sizable deposit which will be returned, except for any extra fees if your return is late.”

“The fee starts based on how many days you wish to keep it and the late fee is added if you take longer than promised to return it. If it is not returned by the time you reach the value of the book you have bought it and your deposit is forfeit. This means that cheaper books are easier to lose you your deposit while the more costly ones will take longer but be a bigger burden to your coin purse.”

“Actually,” Victor said only after the woman finished speaking, “I was hoping you could tell me about who might have the knowledge I seek…. Well or maybe you know it. I actually can’t read but….”

The woman smirked a bit as her eyes looked to the papers where the directions he had been given were written down in English alongside the local text that the man put down for him.

“You can so read don’t lie. I can tell from the markings on your paper that there is a proper pattern to it. This means that even if it isn’t our written word you do know one form of writing, which means you aren’t illiterate.”

Victor didn’t realize she was making a couple assumptions as she stepped closer and reached towards the paper, barely stopping short instead of grabbing it.

“May I?”

“Why are you being so polite to him when you’re such a…”

“Don’t say it,” the beastkin woman snapped with both her words and fingers.

While he wasn’t sure if they were friends, rivals, or something else, Victor was certain that the pair were at least kind of close. With that in mind, especially since he didn’t need the directions at the moment, he handed the paper over to the woman.

Examining the writing that Victor had put on the paper in various spots, a slight click could be barely heard as her finger tapped on her arm. He noticed, now that he was closer to her, that her fingers had small little spikes that seemed to be able to retract in and out of the flesh just enough to help her turn the pages more quickly.

“Interesting linguistic mechanics. You, if I am reading this right, write your words in a linear fashion as well, but instead of having them connected by a literal line, you indicate a new word with some space between each word. I could see how that would be appealing, but if you are going to use them in a line anyway why not do it properly.”

Victor gave a short reply, “Why waste time connecting them at all when they work just as well while separated like that?”

The question that Victor returned to her seemed to give the woman pause.

“An interesting question. Sit and we can have a debate about the benefits and flaws of both forms of writing.”

Victor shook his head and pointed to Drelt, “I came here because I want to find someone who can tell me some information about what is wrong with him. I was told that he got bitten by something and he will probably die before another year passes, but I want to know about WHAT bit him and see if I can figure out how to remove it.”

The beastkin woman approached Drelt and looked over him slowly. She leaned in but didn’t touch him even as she brought her fingers closer to the flesh that was bubbling.

Victor wasn’t sure and decided not to ask, but he felt like he saw the woman's fingers glow a little bit as they drew closer to the affliction.

“I have the information you seek, but I won’t give it to you. I rent out possible knowledge to those who seek it or entertainment for those who wish it. Knowledge, at least knowledge I have to impart personally, isn’t part of my store.”

Picking up one of the books she opened it, “I rent out access to these. It is up to the person to make the most of it while they have it. I even let people like Rascutir stay and read as much as they like for a fee. A smaller one compared to book rental because I know they are not going to lose them, but a fee nonetheless.”

The man put down the book he had been looking over, one that looked to be the size of a dictionary, loud enough that it sounded like it could be heard beyond the door.

“You know you love having me here to keep you on your toes. Especially since not many people care to use your library because you insect style beastkins are often seen as bad omens.”

A few seconds passed that seemed to stretch into minutes before he spoke again, “I am surprised anyone would suggest coming here. Was it a drunkard, a fool, or perhaps someone trying to play you as the fool?”

Victor waited a moment to make sure it was his turn to talk. The man's voice was large in a way that didn’t match his meager form and attitude dripped with the tone of someone who was used to being pulled. The two together had given him pause before he told them about the man who had suggested this library.

“Oh,” the woman said after realizing who Victor meant, “You are speaking of Tak’roputz the merchant yes? Unless he went back to his birth name. He is a good customer in a way, but only for budget, trade, and games. Apparently, he is always on the lookout for a new game hoping to best me. Two years ago he found one that was not in my library and hoped to defeat me at it since he practiced it for two seasons before telling me of it and challenging me. I held back a bit to only barely defeat him.”

Picking up a book and opening it, the beastkin showed off what looked like a game piece and board schematic with a lot of writing Victor still didn’t understand.

“He doesn’t understand that it isn’t all about the game itself but your knowledge of the opponent as well as game flow. He is too aggressive in his games and his attempts to gain my favor.”

She looked at those gathered and put the book away, “That is beside the point. I am certain he only shows interest in me because I am unique in some ways compared to the women he has going after him and smart enough to put him in his place.”

The man, who was now reading another book, let out an audible laugh that sounded like it was meant as a jab.

“Don’t let her fool you. Elioce likes that men will chase her, but she wants to marry a beastkin of some sort so she can have kids without risking a poor pregnancy.”

The pair stared at each other for several minutes, until Elioce turned towards Victor and Drelt.

“If you are not here to gain knowledge through the effort with my books then there is nothing for me to sell you. As I said I allow people to seek knowledge I do not provide it like a gossiper I just leave it for those to work towards finding it. If you truly seek this knowledge give yourself the talent to read and find it like the fool over there does.”

Victor felt crestfallen at the statement as he watched her walk away. He had hoped to find someone to give him answers, instead, he had been told that he needed to work at something before he could go any further.

Drelt approached Elioce and looked at her. He took a deep breath and started to mouth words that didn’t come out while he became to gesticulate with his body in a way that Victor couldn’t understand.

There was a lot of pointing and, in a way it reminded Victor of mimes. Or at least it reminded him of what he assumed mimes did since he had never seen any shows or mime entertainment first hand.

During the exchange, Elioce gave a few nods and shakes of her head before finally looking at Victor.

“If you can provide me information that I think is worth the trade I will tell you what you want. Take the rest of today and tomorrow as a minimal amount of time to plan what you will offer me. I will take anything if it is something I find interesting or worthwhile.”

She leaned in a bit, “Just know I find gossip to be very mind-numbing and I can’t think of a single rumor, even if it is true, that would work for what you are requesting.”

Picking up a smaller book this time, Elioce sat down at the table she had originally been seated at.

“That said I find almost everything interesting in some way, even if others find it mundane. Also, know anything you share will me can and likely will find its way into my collection. So think carefully on what you wish to share.”

Victor was a bit blindsided by the sudden change in the beastkin's attitude. If he wasn’t mistaken her black exoskeleton seemed to shine a little bit more in the light that was filtering in through the windows compared to earlier.

“I’ll think of something… See you in a couple of days Miss and I hope what I can offer is enough for the cost you demand.”

As Victor left, the start of a new conversation began that he could hear as the door closed.

“I don’t know if I understood the slave right but if….”

Turning to Drelt, Victor wasn’t sure if he was more amazed that there had apparently been some sort of nonverbal conversation that he missed, or that Elioce could understand his charades when….

“Do you know sign language?”

Victor blurted out the question without even thinking about it, but it did make sense that there could be something like that, even if it wasn’t the one he would have seen. After all, there were bound to be people who couldn’t hear and being able to communicate without written text would be useful.

The look of confusion on Drelts face told Victor that his guess had been wrong. A part of him wanted to teach him the skill, but he had never bothered to learn it himself. He never met anyone who needed to talk like that in person before and the one he met online had been able to just chat over instant messenger.

“Sorry I thought…. Well, regardless you did good. If we can get the information I might be able to get that stuff out of you.”

Taking out three small copper coins, Victor handed them over to Drelt, “You did me proud.”

Victor knew it wasn’t a lot, but at the same time, he wanted to show Drelt that he appreciated the effort.

“I got an idea of what we can do to get the information though,” Victor stated while he walked with Drelt, thinking about the wood carving knife that he had gotten for saving the farm woman shortly before starting the journey to the capital.

“I seem to recall you like to or at least are able to, carve wood. If that woman likes games I got three games to teach her. Even if one’s not good enough three should work. Especially with how big they are back home.”

Continuing down the road Victor mused aloud, “I suppose I could teach her more, but I don’t know if I remember the rules and minor details as well for them. If she realized that it might not bode well.”

Taking more than a few side roads, and turning back multiple times, Victor had managed to get what he wanted. He even managed to get plenty of free scraps of wood from the man he made a purchase of wood pieces from.

Carrying his purchases, Victor noticed a few people were looking at him. He heard a few mild comments being said.

Some about how the slave looked sick. Others about how it was odd to see someone not have the slave carrying anything. One even wondering if Drelt was a bedroom slave for someone with odd tastes.

Victor mentally pushed them all aside because, as far as he was concerned, Drelt, as well as Dorun and Alena, were free people in waiting. They would eventually earn their freedom and go off to do whatever they liked.

Sure he could free them now, thanks to the pay he got from Doliy, but he wanted to stick to his word about them earning their freedom. Especially with Dorun who he thought would protest against being given unearned freedom.

When Victor eventually got to his room both Dorun and Alena were in it and the conversation they were having suddenly came to a stop.

“I got food everyone. I’m glad you’re both safe. Did you both manage to do what you were supposed to do?”

The room he had rented was pretty simple and, based on what the innkeeper had told him, he was lucky to have gotten here as early as he had, so he could keep it rented until the big tournament was over, so long as we didn’t miss a single payment.

As the innkeeper, a dwarven woman who looked old but stronger than Victor by three and made sure to tell everyone your time ends at the midday bell. If you haven’t paid for the next day when the bell rung your room would be rented as soon as someone was found to want it and anything left behind will be the innkeepers' property.

That was why Victor had paid for ten days right away and then five more the following day. Just a bit of caution that he didn’t think would hurt.

Sitting on the bed, Victor pulled the small table to it. The two chairs were brought up and sat on while Alena sat next to him and looked into the bag of things that he had bought. The other two slaves helped set out the meal.

The meal went by uneventfully as Alena and Dorun told Victor about the work they had done during the day.

Even though the jobs had been done, the pair brought no money with them. This was because when you got to the red rank you could have them let the rewards accumulate and take it as a lump sum later. This saved time for paperwork in some ways, but some people still wanted to get the money right away. Everyone had their mindset on which was better.

This was especially popular for people who used slave labor to do guild requests.

While Victor still hated that he was a slave owner, he reminded himself that he was offering them a chance at freedom and was planning to cure Drelt. Even considering that, it still left a bad taste in his mouth as he ate.

After the meal and some talking about what everyone had done during the day, the conversation eventually led to Victor's slaves, save Drelt, all looking at him with a touch of confusion.

“So….. you are going to make games and use them to help Drelt?”

Alena looked bewildered at the realization.

“I’m hoping there are a few more steps to it or else you might not be as capable as I thought you were.”

Dorun quickly criticized her statement leading them into a small argument.

Victor had long ago come to the realization that the two of them didn’t seem to see eye to eye, but they didn’t fight enough to cause worry. He thought of it as geographical friendship, like when you’re in school. You make friends, not always with the people who get along with the best, but those who you spend the most time with.

Once the argument had finished, Victor told them about his day with Drelt and what he had planned as he took out a piece of paper and started to draw and explain what he needed made for demonstrations.

All in all, he had plans to create the board and pieces for three games.

Checkers felt like a good start. It was a simple game with simple rules and the pieces, he assumed, could be crafted easily. He figured he would get them to be different colors later, but for now, it was something that he assumed would be unknown in another world. That said, with how simple of a game it was, he wouldn’t be surprised if there was something similar.

Then came chess. Being able to use the same board was the main reason he wanted to do that second. The pieces might be a bit of a challenge, but Victor planned to rely on Drelt to craft those for the most part.

Victor hadn’t played that game in years so he trusted that the pieces movement options, as well as that trick where the king and rook could work together, along with check and checkmate, were all the rules he needed to worry about.

Even if he was wrong it wasn’t like anyone would be able to call him out on it. He liked it when he was younger as a way to try to connect with his father. It wasn’t that they hated each other or couldn’t stand each other, but Victor felt more like a stranger than a son at times and that could be why, despite his fathers pushing, he didn’t try to get into the family business.

He didn’t feel right trying to sell stuff to people when they were in such a bad mental state but knew that it was a job that had to be done.

His father would often tell him, “No matter the political or economic climate people die. That’s why there are always going to be funeral homes.”

Or at least something along those lines. Victor never wanted to deal with the dead or the grieving no matter how much his dad tried to explain that it was helping people.

Moving past thoughts of his dad, the last game that Victor was planning to bring in was go. Unfortunately to properly play that game he had to make a bigger board than what he would use for the other. A nineteen by nineteen board would take a while to make compared to the other sizes used for go, but he felt it best to go with the full size.

Sure the real game of go used smooth stone, but for demonstration purposes, he planned to just gather up rocks and wood chunks for the two different sides, consistency be damned. The only real concern was that they needed to be a small and similar enough size where they wouldn't overlap each other.

Once the meal was over, Victor started to work on a board while trusting Drelt to make the pieces.

Since there was a good amount of time in the day he did send Alena and Dorun to get enough rocks to fill a pouch he handed them, specifying the size he wanted before he got to work on the boards. Victor couldn't help but hope that the beastkin woman enjoyed these games, because he didn’t think he had much else to offer, or at least not much else he fully understood and wanted to share.