Christa’s POV

What a strange man this Sir Justin is, he looks like he's only around my age and yet his level is almost the same as Captain Valen who is almost twice his age by the looks of it. upon using [lesser class appraisal] earlier, I found out only his class, I saw only that he was a [Scholar], but what surprised me was he also had the [Warrior] class. which is hard to get when someone is a [Scholar] because a lot of Warriors find it hard to get the [Scholar] class and vice-versa. Most of the people I have seen with both classes were [Spellblade]s, which is a Sub-class for People with a [Swordsman] Sub-class and a [Mage] Sub-class together with the [Scholar] class.

He also lives alone in a house on the Valark Meadows, which is a natural breeding ground for Monsters like Goblins and Ogres. And also the house he lives at is made of some kind of stone which looks pretty sturdy and the foundations look like it's around 6 foot deep.

And to top that, he has enough money to pay some of the soldiers build some fortifications and guard his house for 5 gold and 20 silver coins, which was a lot of money. I myself only carry 3 silvers and 10 coppers, which I saved from my pay in the Army for around three months now. Most soldiers would only get 1 silver a month which would be 2 times the average a man would get if they only worked odd jobs. I myself get 1 silver and 60 copper coins a month since I’m a [Mage] and also a [Cleric].

The only people who can spend money like that are either Rich merchants or Nobles. But Sir Justin looks like neither. He’s good looking though, but he dresses weird, he just wore some shorts that people who work with a [Builder] class have. And also he only wears this white thin cloth tunic that doesn’t even look like it can protect anyone from a punch.

Well he looks like a kind-hearted person so that’s a plus side.

Captain Valen’s POV

“...Hahaha! Sir Justin that surprised me a bit!”

I’m genuinely surprised by this man in front of me, Justin. He lives alone in this house in the middle of the meadows even though he looks 20 years younger than me! And he has some cash, I don’t know how rich this kid is, but if I were still and Adventurer, I would like to be hired as a body guard for him. And he’s willing to bargain with someone he has only met. The money he’s willing to use is not cheap too. Well really should include him into the report I will give to the Commander when we go to Lersche.

“...So uhm, Captain Valen, can I ask you about why that was surprising?”-Justin

So he doesn’t know about it then? Well maybe where he’s from people get levels faster. But the only places I know where people can get levels that high for his age are either battle fields or through training. He doesn’t look like a fighter though, even if he has the Warrior class. And his skin looks like it’s smoother than a baby’s bum hahahaha.

“Well Sir Justin, may I ask then how old you are?”

“Well I’m only 25 Captain.”-Justin

“Look here Sir Justin, most of my men are only around level 5, and they’ve been conscripted for 2 years now. But not only are you a Scholar which is hard to get levels from, but you are also only 25 years old. To be frank, did you have a tough life before?” Guessing from his age and level he might have had a tough child hood and adult life until now.

“To be honest Captain, the only thing I can say is that when I was younger I was always trying to help people that were being pushed around. So that is what also made me a target of a lot of attacks from people of my age.”-Justin

So he really had a hard childhood, I better not ask anything touchy anymore, that might hurt his reputation with me.

“Sorry for that Sir Justin, but can I permission for letting me and my men pitch our tents around your property?”

“Sure Captain Valen, but if you would like I can let you and the Mage to stay inside the house, I still have two extra rooms with beds inside the house. And I would also like to ask things from the both of you.” - Justin

Well he’s really a hospitable man, most rich people would look down on people like us and a snobs and irates.

“I’ll take you on that offer then Sir Justin, So Christa would you like to stay inside instead of staying in a tent outside?”

Christa just nodded in agreement. I then instruct my men to pitch tents outside the walls.

Justin’s POV

After the Captain gave instruction to his men, I lead them to the living room and let them sit down. They look like they’re comfortable with the sofa’s.

“So Sir Justin, what would you like to talk about?” - Captain Valen

“Well Captain I would like to know more about the General area where we are right now. Since I don’t know much about where this is.”

“Well first lets talk about your location, we are currently in the Valark Meadows, this area is surrounded by hills in the north and south and the Threo River runs through the East and and breaks of a bit to the north of this area. We came from Vale Village, which is west of here, I would take around an hour of walking to get to Vale. So if you travel up north to the Malak Mountains you would see the Town of Malark, named after the smallest mountain on the western part of the Mountain cluster. If you travel to the south of here you will come upon stone foot village if you follow the road before you reach Lersche. Northeast of here is the fortress City of the Crying Gods, which is where most of the trade goods from north of the Kingdom. It might be called a city but most of the people who live and go there are merchants since it’s where most of the outside trade goods come from.” -Captain Valen

It seems like I will need a map of the Area so I can get a better view of it.

“Can I ask more about the Province then Captain?”

“Sure, the province we are in now is called South Aldrain, most people of the Marthean kingdom would just call the province Aldrain since Northern Aldrain was conquered by the Pratheans around a hundred years ago. Not many people hold any animosity against the Pratheans now which is the reason the Fortress City of the Crying Gods is mostly used by merchants and traders. Aldrain The Province mostly trade in animal skins from the hunted wild life, some villages also produce stone and Iron. And Vale specially trades wooden products made by our artisans.” - Captain Valen

Well that makes things clearer, so we’re in a boarder town that produces stone, iron and wood and some smaller stuff that he might not have told me. But I wonder if the bordering Kingdom of Prathea would attack this area too. I wish not, but when push comes to shove I can still protect this place anyways.

“Thank you captain for your insight. Now can I ask our mage some questions too?”

The female mage then looked at me, looks like she was eyeing the lighters that were on the shelves, I like collecting lighters and I enjoy smoking. Well I think I only have a few packs upstairs left. Well I’ll just look around town when we get to Lersche.

“Of course Sir.” - Christa

“So miss mage…”

“Call me Christa.” - Christa

“...Christa, first I like to ask about how money works in this kingdom.”

“Well it’s actually pretty basic sir, the currency used here is called Imperial coinage, it has been used pretty much since the whole of the Continent of Veladria was once a single Empire. The coins we use are platinum, gold, silver and copper. Breaking them down, 1 platinum coin is equal to a hundred gold coins, a gold coin is equal to a hundred silvers, and a silver coin is equal to a hundred copper coins. Some people actually use a different form of currency, but people would still accept it if weighs the same as the Imperial equivalent.”

Wow so the coins that we are using were used for a long time now. That’s a nice history lesson. I would still like to know more but maybe I will just buy a book when we reach town.

“Thank you Christa, can I ask you how I can learn to do magic? And also the basics of magic? Don’t get me wrong, I am a scholar but where I was from we didn’t have magic.”

Christa and Captain Valen look at me for a moment, Christa furrowed her brows while Captain Valen just smiled.

“So where do I even start, before I can tell you how to learn magic, first you need to understand how magic works and how to control magic. First anybody with enough mana can cast first tier spells like [Light] and [Spark] which are quite useful in daily use. There are 6 tiers in magic, from tier 1 to tier 6, though there are also other spells that are categorized as tier 7 or higher, that’s only because of the difficulty and mana it will cost if one would try to use the spell. There are four basic elements used in magic, Earth, Fire, Water and Air, with these for we can also get more advanced elements which can include lightning, sound, magma and ice. There are also some special types of magic like Holy and Dark, the spell I used earlier to ask you about the truth was a 2nd tier holy spell called [Truth]. On how you can learn casting magic though, you would either need to buy tomes or books for magic or get a magic instructor to teach you. The cheapest would be to learn from books which will take you some time, the fastest way is to buy tomes, but tomes cost a lot of money.” - Christa

Well magic seems like it’s hard to achieve, maybe I could get some tomes in the city or just a book. Or maybe I can ask Christa to teach me sometime. Well that’s that, I continue to small talk with the captain and Christa and then Christa notices the gun on my waist.

“Sir, what is that metallic object strapped to your waist?” - Christa

Well I expected someone would notice this, I guess I should show them how this works. So I stand up and bring them outside the house bringing a stool and an empty can from the garbage bin. I place the stool in the middle of the meadow and on top of it the empty can.

“Well this is a weapon from where I come from, weapons like these are generally called guns, this particular gun is called a revolver, they vary in sizes but this is more on the small side.” They both nod meaning they just understand what I said. I guess. Show them the gun at the side, keeping my index finger away from the trigger.”A gun works by pulling… or more like pressing the trigger here…” I show them the trigger.”…and that in turn will cause this pin to strike the bullet that is inside chamber which will cause a reaction that will propel the bullet from the barrel to the target.” again they nod. I think they understand.

I aim the gun at the empty can, place my index finger on the trigger and…

BANG!!!

There was a loud ringing in my ears, damn, I forgot to use ear plugs. I look behind and the captain and Christa were both rubbing their ears. The explosive reaction of guns really hurt the ears.

“Hahahaha! What a marvelous weapon Sir Justin, it’s a ranged weapon right? How far can that thing shoot an enemy?” - Captain Valen

“Based on the books I have read before, this particular gun can has an effective range of 50-100 feet, but sometimes it can hit target of more than a hundred feet away. Though some other bigger guns would actually hit targets upto two miles, which was the longest recorded.”

“.…Such a powerful weapon… tell me Sir Justin, do you know how to produce such a weapon? It would do the Kingdom a great service.” - Captain Valen

“..."