“You're leaving?” asked Delgar.

“Yes, I have to keep searching for my companions. For now, I'll probably go to Fregoldawae the capital city of merchants. Since it's such a large city I might get lucky and meet them or discover some information that can help me find them,” said Akira.

“But you only just got here,” said Delgar standing up from a wooden stool, “Wait here, I have something to give you before you leave.”

Delgar left the room leaving Akira alone in the room. He walked over to the wooden work table and looked at the large two-handed sword laying on the table that Delgar had been working on before Akira had interrupted him.

There were multiple crude and exotic carvings all along the middle of the sword. They looked to be letters forming a word, he was unable to understand it as this was the first time he had seen something like this.

Delgar returned a short while later, his breathing heavily from running while carrying a small box. He found Akira intently studying the two-handed sword.

“Is this your first time seeing dwarven runes?” asked Delgar.

“Yeah, they look really interesting. Is it hard to learn them? Is this the type of thing that the demigods wanted the dwarven race to make for them?” asked Akira.

Delgar's face stiffened at the questions but answered, “Yes the demigods forced some of my kin to create weapons and armor, engraving them with our dwarven runes. You are lucky to be able to see the runes. Just to let you know we dwarfs do not teach other races how to use the runes, nor do we give weapons and armor with runes to people who are not of our same race. Only on rare occasions where someone from another race has helped the dwarven race with a great deed and earned their trust, will they get a personalized weapon or armor piece, so to be forced by the demigods to do such things is a great shame.”

“I hope I'm not digging too deep into sensitive information. But I was wondering how many of these runes an armor or weapon can have,” asked Akira.

“Well, we are friends. So I'll answer that question, the max is three runic words. Most items can only hold one word, but if the ore that is used by an expert blacksmith is extremely rare then there is a chance for up to three words being able to be added.”

“What happens if more is added to ones that can only hold one?”

“The item breaks. Sometimes into big pieces where you can just reforge the weapon or armor. If the person that is engraving the weapon or armor is unskilled and tries to push them over the limit they have a chance of turning into dust due to the power held within the runes. That's all I can say about the runes anymore and I would be violating the dwarven laws,” said Delgar as he shoved a small box into Akira's hand.

“What's this?” asked Akira slightly puzzled as he looked at the ring inside of the box.

“It's a ring that will let other dwarves know you are a friend of the race. If you ever meet them on your travels they should not be too hostile, and they may help you. It's the least I can do for the help you have given our town in clearing the mine and stopping the overflow,” said Delgar.

“Would you mind buying the remaining Aorium ore I haven't used?” asked Akira.

Since Akira needed money to fund his future travels he decided to sell the rest of the Aorium ore.

“Sure! What about that rare Puminium ore? Do you also want to sell it?” Delgar asked hopefully.

“No, I'll keep it for later I may be able to create something good with it when I become more experienced. I just need some money for my travels, that's why I'm selling the Aorium ore.”

“Ah, what a shame,” said Delgar as he reached for his coin pouch and pulled out 30 gold. “Is this good enough price for the Aorium ore.”

Akira looked at Delgar in shock. He had pulled out an amount that was almost threes years worth of wages of a normal person living in the Beorin kingdom like it was nothing.

“What are you staring at me for I'm not trying to rip you off,” said Delgar handing Akira the gold.

“No, that's not it. I was just surprised at the amount of money,” said Akira looking at the gold in his hand. He didn't expect to receive so much. He was currently holding more money then he had ever had at one time in his short life so far.

“With that, all things have been settled so I should be going now. I hope we will have a chance to meet each other in the future where we can work on more things together,” said Akira.

“As do I,” said Delgar with a smile.

***

Three days had passed. Delgar was sitting at the counter in the front of his shop. He was searching the drawers for some fresh paper to draw up a plan for a new masterpiece. While looking for the clean paper he found a letter in one of the drawers.

Looking at the letter he felt like a lightning bolt had hit him as he remembered the letter was given to him from an old friend he was supposed to give it to a young man who was supposed to be a werewolf. They were in such a hurry he was never told the name of the person he was supposed to give it to.

Hitting his forehead with his hand he sighed in exasperation. How could he have missed something so obvious? That's right he had been too occupied with clearing the mine and then with the massive amount of ore that he had received after, that he forgot all about the letter.

The person the letter was most likely for was Akira, who was a young male and also a werewolf searching for his friends. Unfortunately, Akira would be long gone and the message in the letter was far too sensitive to send with a courier to the capital city.

“I'm sorry old friend, but if Akira returns in the future I'll be sure to give it to him,” said Delgar speaking out loud to himself.

***

Akira spent most of his time hunting monsters with Nox the shadow wolf while traveling towards the merchant capital on the long dirt roads, vast open plains, and numerous farmlands. He was learning how to properly use his full power in his werewolf form during the night hunts which were slightly easier now that he had the help of Nox and the fact that he could stay transformed longer helped a lot.

He was now level 14. Leveling up was slightly slower now due to sharing the XP with Nox who had also leveled up to lvl 6.

Nox had not been too friendly for the first few days of the trip. He was always complaining and bad mouthing Akira for every little thing he disliked. But now that over a week had passed with both of them hunting nonstop while they traveled he was slowly warming up to Akira.

“Why did I have to be paired with such a useless master?” asked Nox.

Or maybe not. At least he had stopped bad mouthing him every second of the day.

The sun was slowly rising high into the sky allowing Akira to see a town just ahead.

“Nox you can go back now since I can't have you causing problems for me in the town,” said Akira.

“Like I would want to interact with stupid humans,” said Nox while yawning opening his mouth wide enough to show off the sharp teeth inside, before jumping back into the shadow near Akira's feet and completely disappearing.

Akira was able to enter the small town without any problems. He entered the only inn in the town and paid for a room and then walked through a small hallway that connected the tavern to the inn.

Tavern only had a few other people eating their breakfast.

As he was eating a light breakfast of vegetable soup with a hard loaf of bread with a chunk of cheese, a man with a balding head of gray hair matching his gray armor, walked over to his table and started a conversation with Akira.

“Hello, traveler you seem to be a strong warrior. I'm putting together a hunting team to kill a dangerous monster that was seen by some farmers late last night, not too far away from this town, would you be interested in joining?” asked the balding man.

“What type of monster did they see?” asked Akira, needing more details before he could make a decision.

“Umm...I believe they said it was taller than your average man, had extremely large muscles, it was covered in black fur, the weirdest part about it is they said it stood on two feet. They witnessed it fighting with other monsters last night. Probably some mutation of a wolf. If we don't take care of it soon it might attack one of the farmers,” said the balding man.

*Cough* *Cough*

Akira choked on the soup that he had been eating. This guy was talking about him! That old man wanted to recruit Akira to hunt himself!

'I have to get out of this town the sooner the better. I wanted to sleep in a bed for a few hours but it seems I messed up, they shouldn't know it was me, but it's better to be safe than sorry,' though Akira.

“I'm sorry, but I'm just passing by. I need to get to the capital city as fast as I can,” said Akira on alert to see if the man suspected him.

“Ah, that's a shame. Sorry to bother you, please enjoy your stay while you are here,” said the balding man with a smile before leaving the tavern.

Akira watched him closely as he left, letting out a long sigh when the bald man exited the tavern.

'It seems he doesn't suspect me and just wanted my help. I'll think I can leave after a short nap. Getting some food in my stomach has made me tired,' though Akira.

He finished eating the rest of his food before returning to the room he rented and fell asleep.

***

Akira walked through the towns gates only a few short hours after he had entered.

He began stretching his muscles loosening himself up before the day journey.

“Sir, Help! Please help me! These men are trying to rob me,” shouted a fat man who was carrying multiple bags on his back.

Akira stared at the comical sight in front of him. There were four men chasing after the fat man but were unable to catch him. All of them looked to be more fit than the fat man who was sweating profusely while staying just out of the reach of the four men.

“Don't think one person can stop us from taking your items pig. You're just a small-time merchant. No one will care about us helping ourselves to your stuff,” shouted one of the men chasing after him.

Not needing any more info on what was happening Akira ran forward and easily knocked out the four people chasing the fat merchant.

The city guards who had heard all the shouting ran outside to see what the problem was.

The merchant next to Akira quickly explained to the guards what happened. After which the guards hauled off the four criminals to the town's jail.

Turning to Akira the merchant asked, “Are you by any chance heading to the capital city?”

“Uhh... yeah, I am,” said Akira not saying anything more.

“Those men were supposed to be my bodyguards for the trip but they seemed to be unsatisfied with waiting for the payment and decided they wanted to take everything I had. Since I am in need of a new bodyguard will you take the job? I can pay you when we get to the city and sell everything,” the merchant asked while breathing heavily.

Ding!

Escort mission!

Owin has asked you to protect him as he goes to the Capital city of Fregoldawae.

Difficulty: Unknown

Reward: Payment and Owin's friendship.

Will you accept?

Yes / No

Akira thought for a moment before coming to a decision.

“I don't mind since we are going in the same direction. But don't expect any special treatment,” said Akira.

“Ah! Thank you! No need for special treatment among friends. My name is Owin Bigbottom. if you don't mind I need a few moments to catch my breath,” said Owin sitting down on the ground with a huff.

After ten minutes of sitting Owin finished eating some food and watering it down with a large quantity of water, he stood back up again.

“Thank you for waiting,” said Owin.

Akira nodded and turned around and began walking with Owin following him.

***

The days of traveling with Owin were far different then what Akira was used to. Mainly due to him being alone so there were long days of silence unless he summoned Nox to go hunting. But now there was hardly ever any silence, the day was filled with Owin constantly talking! He never shut up, always talking about whatever popped up into his head.

He was only quiet while he was eating or sleeping.

Akira was slightly bummed out that he could not hunt while escorting Owin. Every night before sleeping he summoned Nox to act as a sentry and keep an eye out to make sure nothing got near them.

Akira was able to leach some of the XP Nox gained from killing monsters while he slept which was nice.

***

It was early morning and they had just started the days travel not even ten minutes ago when three shabbily dressed people jumped up from the ditches on the side of the road to block the road.

“We are the Super deadly all-powerful three-man bandit Brothers!” shouted the three bandits at the same time while pointing at Akira and Owin.

“We own this road if you want to pass you have to pay 5 gold!” said the tallest bandit.

“Yeah, what he said if you want to pass pay us 20 gold!” said the youngest bandit.

“Yup, Yup, what they said give us all your items and you can pass,” said the third.

“You idiot that's not what I said,” said the tall bandit hitting the youngest on the head.

“Ow! Why'd you hit me and not him?” shouted the youngest bandit.

The three started arguing and fighting amongst themselves forgetting about Akira and Owin.

'What a bunch of idiots!' thought Akira.

He wanted to leave but running was not possible since he was supposed to be protecting Owin. Thinking quickly he started to form a plan on how to escape this predicament.

“Excuse me gentlemen you require payment for us to pass?” asked Akira, stopping the three from hitting each other.

“Yes that's right!” said the tall bandit.

“I have something that is worth a lot of gold. Would you like to see it?” Akira asked.

The three bandits looked at each other with greedy looks on their faces.

“““Yes!””” all three of them answered at the same time.

Akira turned around, his back facing the bandits and reached into his small bag finding a piece of paper and an ink pen.

He quickly wrote a few words onto the paper and then turned around.

“This is worth 1000 gold! It is my most expensive item. All you have to do is take it to a bank and hand it to the teller and tell them to give you 1000 gold,” said Akira holding out the piece of paper.

“Really?” asked the youngest bandit.

“Yes, I am only doing this because I respect how smart and strong you three are,” said Akira.

“Hehehe, he said were strong and smart,” said the third bandit.

The tall bandit snatched the paper from Akira and the three bandits looked at it for a long time.

“How do we know that that's what this paper says?” asked the oldest bandit.

“What you can't read the simple words on it?” asked Akira with a shocked face.

“Of course we can! Were smart enough to read it. I was just making sure,” said the tall bandit.

“Since you have paid we'll let you pass,” said the youngest.

A second later the three bandits started running towards the nearest city to receive the 1000 gold.

“Thank goodness you were here and there was no fighting. Did you really give them something worth 1000 gold?” asked Owin.

Akira laughed out loud.

“No! I don't have anywhere near 1000 gold, nor do I have anything that is worth 1000 gold,” said Akira.

“Then what was written on the paper?” asked Owin.

“Oh nothing much,” said Akira as he started to hum while walking forward again.

***

The three bandits stood inside the bank panting. It had taken them four hours to run to this bank.

The leader of the group handed the piece of paper to the smiling female bank teller behind the desk.

“1000 gold please,” said the tall bandit.

“Yeah hurry up and give it to us,” said the third bandit.

The bank tellers' face changed into a frown after reading the paper but quickly changed it back to a smile.

“One moment please,” said the teller, “Guards!”

“Look at that! They're calling the guards to personally escort us to the vault to get the gold,” said the youngest bandit.

Ten guards appeared swiftly surrounding the three bandits. The teller handed the piece of paper the guard captain for him to quickly read.

“Arrest these men!” ordered the guard captain.

Without another word, the guards restrained the struggling bandits.

“What are you doing? We just want you to give us 1000 gold,” shouted the third bandit.

“Quiet, you idiot! Have you lot lost your brains, coming here and causing trouble for us?” asked the guard captain as he and the other guards beat the bandits up knocking them out and dragged them off to the city's dungeon.

The guard captain sighed and threw the paper into a nearby garbage bin where the words on the paper could still be seen.

Give us 1000 gold or we'll kill you and everyone else here.