Justin was currently walking along side Captain Valen and Christa with a few of the soldiers on their way to Lersche. He was smoking a ciggy which some of the soldiers were looking at, they’ve never seen a lot of people smoking before. And he still hasn’t had the chance to take a bath, he felt a bit dirty.

Earlier….

“...Justin”

He was lying on Christa’s lap, it was soft and she smelled so nice.

“...Justin!”

“What’s wrong Christa?”

“Justin!!”

He the woke up, still a bit groggy, and he was greeted with the smiling face of Captain Valen

“Rise and shine Justin! I’ve been thinking, since we were attacked, and you wanted to come to Lersche, we might as well go now. I’ve sent scouts yesterday to report to the Garrison command, but I still need to report there in person. Most of my men will stay here and guard while they wait for us to comeback, so don’t worry about it too much. The bandits will be transported to Lersche when we come back with reinforcements.”

‘ahhh it was just a dream, why did I have a dream like that anyway?’ he asked himself.

“well okay, I just need to take a bath and get ready then.” he answered as he looked at the captain who smirked again.

“About the water… We used it earlier to wash your so called backyard since there was blood in the paved area…” he replied in a playful tone.

“What?!”

“Sorry if I took the liberty on using the water, but I ordered my men to refill it later, so just take a bath later, time is of the essence.”

“.…”

The captain then left and was laughing on his way out.

‘goddamn captain and his schedule, just need to deal with it for now I suppose’

He looked through the walk in closet and took a pair of denim jeans and a leather coat.

‘I guess I better take the stab-proof vest with me, though I don’t actually believe it to be stab-proof.’ he thought.

He then took out the bag that was under the bed which he used the day before and holstered his revolver and opened the door.

“Good morning Justin.”Christa greeted

“...good morning…” he answered, he still felt kinda excited from his dream earlier.

‘she really is cute, but she’s a cleric! Dammit..’

“...is there something wrong Justin?” Christa asked

“...Oh it’s nothing, just still a bit sleepy. Never mind me Christa.” he answered.

“Oi if you love birds are done, Aileena has cooked a deer our hunters caught earlier. Come down.” the captain suddenly shouted from the other side of the stairs where they were.

“...love birds?!” Christa said startled.

She was a bit angry, went down and left me. Well that was nice. We had food and we went our merry way… Christa was still a bit angry, but who cares if she’s angry. I still haven’t have a bath!

And back to now…

Sigh…

Moving through the road, his scenery change and he saw there was a lot more people that they passed by, the area they were around now were full of rice fields left and right and there were a few houses here and there and people were working on the said fields. He noticed that most of them were demi-humans, mostly men and women with dog ears and some with cat ears.

“Though we are a Human kingdom, most people who work the fields as farmers are demi-humans who immigrated here from the south and north, escaping slavery. Though not all of the farmers and farm workers are demi-humans, humans don’t really like working in the fields you know.” the Captain exclaimed.

The humans who noticed them bowed down to the captain and greeted them, some demi-humans did too, but some just glared at them passing by.

“So… why are some of them glaring at us captain? Do some of them hate humans?” Justin asked.

“Some demi-humans still hate the army due to the events that happened around 20 years ago when the former Baron of Aldrain was said to have tried to destroy several demi-human settlements that were around the area before. Though it was just a rumor, most of the demi-humans still hold some kind of grudge to the army. Since it was the former captain Murkushu who was responsible for it. He was tried and executed, but not before he claimed that the he was order by the baron.” he explained.

“The king then ordered all of the Nobles who were holding power in the provinces to be stripped of their titles as Barons, Baroness’ and Governors. And had their Private Armies and Groups dismantled, though some might have survived to this day, but we don’t know.” Christa added.

Justin then looked at a young cat demi-human that was helping her mother in a field.

“Why would someone attack something so cute.” he said

“Hahaha! You’re a weird one Justin.” the Captain then exclaimed.

“What’s so funny Captain?” he then asked.

“Well though there are people who are half man and half demi-human. Most don’t look at them in the same light as some of us. People tend to call them half breeds and have a certain level of hate for them. I don’t know why, but they say that the gods never wanted our species to procreate with each other, though the church never said such a thing. Maybe it was because nobles hated the idea of having to share blood with people they deemed as mutts or if I may quote the words of the former Baron Filthy Animals.” he answered.

“The church sees acts like that as evil. We are all the creations of the gods, and thus we are all important in our own way. The Baron was never charged for his hand on the killings of the settlements. He’s still alive and staying in his estate near in Lersche, though there are some who work there that say he’s body is failing.” the Mage added. “And I’ve never pictured you, Sir Justin, as a person who was attracted to a demi-human.” she then remarked.

Well he did see them as cute, and when he was younger he wanted to go to the Neko-maid cafe in the city. But was it enough to call it attraction? Well maybe it was, he did have imaginations about having a date with a Eruru from Utawarerumono. She was really cute.

“Well I do fancy them, but I don’t think any girl would like me.”

If there was one thing he wasn’t confident about it was his looks, to him he was just Normal. He hasn’t even had a girlfriend for 8 years now. he did try to meet with girls, but he was never able to have a relationship in the city.

“Don’t say that Justin, you’re as good looking as me! And I have a wife and 3 girls!” the Captain said.

“Wait… you have a wife? And children?” Justin remarked.

“Yeah! My youngest just turned 10 last month! They live in Lersche, maybe you can meet them after were done with our errands. And if you want you I can have one of my men accompany you to the bath house in town. I just had a feeling you really wanted to have a bath.” the captain then suggested. “Or would you want to go with Christa.” he added.

“Captain stop that, I am a woman of the Church, and we have taken an oath of Celibacy. If I ever break that oath, I can never forgive myself.” Christa said

“Says the one who has a collection of romance novels in her storage.” the Captain said mockingly.

“How did you know that?!”

“I have my secrets you have yours… well maybe It’s not a secret anymore then.

“.…”

“well let’s talk about that later, were here.”

In the distance they see the gates of Lersche, huge was an understatement to describe the town. It was similar to a walled city, with guard towers that were around its walls and at it’s gates where wagons of farmers and merchants.

“The town is huge!”

“Yes, it is. But still not as grand as the Capital, maybe you’d like to go there sometime Justin.”

‘I might find a way to go home from the capital! Maybe there is some kind of arch-mage or maybe even a portal to get there! I’ll ask someone to take me there after things get better here.’ The people made way for their group to go through ‘maybe soldiers had this kind of privilege? It’s convenient.’ he thought to himself.

Upon reaching the gate they were greeted by a bulky man, he had a scar on his face that started from above his right eye to his right cheek almost touching his lips. He nice chain linked armor and had a shortsword sheathed on his hip.

“Greetings Captain, I’ve heard news of the attack, and I already ordered my men to get ready to move out, I expected you to come, so I thought that you would like to bring them with you back. I heard there was a house there, might this guy be the owner?” The Bulky man said.

“This one, is Justin, he’s not the owner, more like a tenant. The house was magically transported there, but we didn’t find any sign of tampering in the area to conclude that he was responsible.” Captain Valen answered.

“Wait when did you investigate about the house traveling?” Justin said.

“It was around the time you asked me and Christa to your so called living room, she was using a skill to look into it.”

“...”

“Sorry, but we couldn’t trust you completely that fast you know.”

“And we just wanted to investigate a bit, and wanted to confirm some stuff about the supposed traveling of the house.”

“it’s fine then, no problem.” Justin said

‘ffs they could’ve just told me!’ he wasn’t too happy though.

“Well if you guys are done, lets get you inside! Will the captain go immediately to report to the Commander?” The burly man said and the captain looked at me and Christa.

“Yeah I will, Christa take care of Justin for now, take him to the Land Registry to have the area named after him, and go to the Provincial Office to register it as a settlement.” said the Captain.

They both nodded and went their merry way. The town was packed, it looked like a very lively city, various merchants and people were walking. There were dog people, cat people and even the occasional elf. Elves seem to not like to go out of the woods, but some probably go out to buy and sell stuff that might not be found in the Elven cities.

A few soldiers would pass them by and they just ignore them, Justin then notices a weird shop in the corner of the block.

“That store, what does that store sell?” he asked Christa who was in front of him and looked at the store.

“That’s one of the Nobles goods stores, they sell stuff that nobles would like to have like some of the more expensive spices, tobacco and the best silks in the city.”

‘did she just say tobacco?’

“Can we go there first? Do they also have cigarettes there?” he asked the mage.

She nodded and they went inside of the store, the store was filled with silks of different colors, an aisle with a different kinds of spices and a box of weird dried lizards which are used as medicine for various illnesses.

“Welcome Sir, what can I do for you.” asked the man who was in the counter.

“Do you have any cigarettes?” Justin said

“We only have a few boxes left, since only a few people actually use that stuff, how much do you need?”

“I’ll take it all.”

The Clerk was stunned, he looked at Justin who just smirked, he then looked at Christa who sighed.

“Well… that would be around 25 gold coins then, since we only have 5 boxes of it left.”

“How about a discount, I plan on buying these every time I come to the town, and I would like to bulk buy these.”

“Well since you put it like that, ill give it to you for 20 gold then, is that okay?”

“Okay that’s fine.”

The clerk took out 5 boxes of cigarettes and placed it down on the counter, Justin then handed him 20 gold and placed the cigarettes in his back pack.

“Thank you sir, come again.”

The duo then headed out back to the streets and made their way to the Registry office and had the land named after him. They also went to the provincial office and registered the place as a settlement.

“What would you like the place to be named as?” the old office worker asked him

He thought about it, maybe something fancy, or maybe something based out of mythology. After a while to blurted out a word.

“Paraiso.”

And thus the Paraiso Settlement was born. They spent 1 platinum coin for all of the registration and fees that were needed. Justin felt like his wallet was almost empty. He only took a bit of money since he was afraid of pick pockets.

“Why do you seem a bit down?” Christa asked

“I only brought a bit of money, i thought it wouldn’t be that expensive you know.”

“It’s okay, the expensive part has ended anyways. And the captain will give you money from the bandit kills too.”

‘oh yeah, there was that, maybe I can get a nice sum for that.’ he thought to himself.

“Speaking of which, there’s the Captain. Captain!” she then yelled at the captain who noticed the duo.

The captain noticed them and went over to them. He was alone now and was now carrying a bag.

“So how was your day? Did it go as expected?” he asked Christa

“Yes, seems like you had a good haul there Cap.” She said

“Looks like that bandit leader he killed was actually worth a nice sum of money, and with the added bonus of the other bandits, they gave a nice bonus. Justin do you like to receive your reward?”

“If the Captain said so, I will, since I spent a lot on the registrations.”

“Hahahaha you didn’t expect it to be expensive huh? Well well good thing I got us the reward for the bandits, you actually get more than half of it, what’s left will be divided between me and my men, and Christa too.”

“how much are we talking about?” Justin said

“The Bandit leader was worth 5 platinum coins, and since you killed around 30 men, which is 2 gold and 50 silvers each, well you do the math.”

‘that’s a lot of money then haha!’

They met up with the other soldiers that were stationed in the garrison that will accompany them back.

“looks like we have a lot of people that will come with us.” Justin exclaimed

“Yeah the garrison lent us 50 men just so we can securely go back there, since the commander told me that there were more bandits around the area other than Altair.” the captain explained.

‘there were more bandits?’ he thought to himself ‘since there are more coming back with us, I might as well ask them to carry some stuff I plan to buy.’

“Captain.” He said “I plan on buying some meat and vegetables, and bring it back with us, can I ask the men from the garrison to help carry the stuff?” he then asked. The captain was thinking about it.

“Might as well make them hahaha! Very well.” the captain then looked at a young man in the ranks. “You there, come here and escort Sir Justin to the Market to buy some food, and ask four more to help carry what he needs.” he ordered.

“Yes Captain!”

“Come to the Northern gate when you’re done okay?” the Captain said and the Soldier nodded.

Then there were now five of them who walked to the Market. The young man who the captain called was a bit nervous, maybe because he was with a certain man, or maybe because he was just new to the job and given such a task.

“You seem nervous, chillax man.” Justin said at the man.

“Sorry Sir, it’s my first time being ordered to escort someone of your stature, though I have never heard of your name before, you have a different aura from other people so I thought of you as a Noble.”

Justin laughed at the statement.

“...seems like a lot of people do think of me as a noble, but alas I am not, though I am a Scholar, as well as cook and a warrior, I am not a noble, and only own a small settlement in the Valark Meadows. May I know your name?”

“My name is Jarlmond sir.” he said

Justin smiled. He really wanted to make friends so this was a nice experience. Maybe he can also hire this guy as a guard at home!

After an hour they have procured a lot of supplies, in total they bought 10 kilos of dried beef, 5 pairs of chickens, 10 kilos of salted meat, a pair of goats a few bottles of spices, some beer and a few baskets of vegetables. Oh and there was also a wagon, since they couldn’t haul all of the stuff back by hand. When they reached the Gate the Captain looked surprised by all of the stuff they hauled back.

“Looks like you… bought a lot Sir Justin, tell me what do you expect to do with that?” the captain asked.

“I plan on making an inn outside the house, but for now I think will just let any travelers that pass by have a bite to eat near the house, so I bought some food, cost me a platinum and some gold, but it’s all preserved so it would last some time.” he explained.

“And Captain can I ask you a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Can you also build me an Inn?” he said

“Well my men might be able to make a few fortifications here and there, but an Inn is out of our level.” he said and looked at Jarlmond “Kid, get me a [Contractor] will ya?” he order the young soldier, Jarlmond nodded and went to find a contractor.

A few minutes passed and he came back with an elderly man accompanied by two younger men.

“This is the best [Contractor] in town, and he said that since there were not any government project to be made, he was free for a few months.” Jarlmond said to the Captain and Justin.

“Greetings sir, I am Sepperil Thorton, and these are my sons Humfrey and Hermsley. The young soldier said that you needed workers for an Inn outside the city so we came to meet with you.” the old Contractor said to Justin

“Well I plan on making an Inn with a bar, eater and kitchen on the first floor, and a few rooms that would suit pairs or even parties at the second floor, how much would something like that cost me?” he asked.

The trio then huddled together, all crunching up numbers and then faced Justin.

“It would cost around 2500 gold, but it would take us sometime to gather men, maybe we could just come to the location on a later date, is that okay for you sir?” the old man explained.

“Sure that will be reasonable, thank you.” he replied.

The trio then went back to the town while they headed out back to the Meadow.

“Seems like this has been a good day, right Christa?” Justin asked the mage that was beside her.

“Yes, it sure looks like it… wait what is that up ahead?” Christa said and pointed at a large plume of smoke that was out in the direction of the fields.

“That’s a fire!” One soldier who notice shouted

“There might be a bandit raid there! Hurry up men lets go!” the Captain ordered and they ran towards the unknown.

Unbeknownst to them, there was someone who was following them.