Chapter 13: What Should I Pick?

The journey to the city was pretty tough, the dungeon ended up teleporting me and Lilith in the middle of a forest. In the end, I got lost for a bit, to say the least.

A few wind wolves saw me walking around and thought themselves lucky, so they attacked. Sadly, I had gotten stronger during my time in the dungeon, so a couple wind wolves weren't much of a problem. Granted, they may or may not have torn a few holes in my clothes, making me change to my final set of clothing.

I noted that here was no sign of civilization in the area, and concluded that it would probably take a while to get out of here. As I walked, every now and then, I would climb up a few trees, and after a few hours of gazing at the seemingly endless treetops, I finally found the road.

It was a different road from the last, but a sign in one of the branching paths luckily pointed me towards the right direction. I wanted to proceed, but the sky was already beginning to darken.

I decided to rest for tonight as I wasn't very fond of walking around in the dark. I planned to get some sleep early, but my stomach started to rumble. This was partly due to the fact that I didn't have any breakfast and that the lunch I had was in the form of wild fruits and berries I randomly plucked as I walked.

A craving for meat suddenly sparked up in my heart.

The surroundings were dark, but I still persisted in my goal of finding something to eat. My efforts paid off as I found a lone horned rabbit not far off from the road.

My hands flashed and a sharpened stone dagger blurred towards the rabbit. It was already cautious even before I made an appearance so the rustling of leaves that rang out as the dagger left my hand enabled it to just barely dodge. I threw more daggers, and I finally managed to hit it. My knife throwing was getting better.

I collected the rabbit's horn and brought it's carcass back to a nice place I found on the side of the road. I set up a fire using my lamp, and soon enough, I was having a nicely cooked rabbit for dinner. I closed my eyes in satisfaction before I nimbly climbed a tree and laid on a stable branch. I wouldn't want to get ambushed by wolves as I slept after all. The night quickly passed and I was soon on my way to the city again.

The road was long, but the sun's warm light coupled with the cool breeze more than made up for that fact. A merchant's cart passed by me as I walked and the guards the merchant brought along gave me curious glances as I walked past them with two wooden swords on my waist. They were a bit suspicious of me as I first approached, but they relaxed as soon as they realized I wasn't a threat.

That made my shoulders slump a little. Do I really look that harmless? I sighed as I continued onward.

Thankfully, the city wasn't too far off from where I slept. Before noon, I was already walking towards the city gates. The guardsman asked for identification, and I handed him my adventurer's license, letting enter the city without much trouble. And as expected, the streets were bustling with activity.

Merchants loudly advertised their goods and customers persistently haggled. Groups of people stood on the side and happily chatted with each other, while old men and women lazily sat in front of their respective houses, fanning themselves with feathered fans and thin pieces of wood. Overall, the city gave off a lively, contented air.

A small smile formed on my lips as I walked, it looks like my stay here won't be as bad as I thought.

I suddenly felt the left side of my waist become lighter as I walked. Frowning, I reached back and felt around the place where I kept my pouch of fruit seeds, seeds I planned to sell for a bit of money! I rapidly turned and caught sight of someone running into an alley.

I gave chase.

Running into an alley following a suspicious individual? Not a very good idea now that I think back on it. I couldn't turn back now though, I was already pretty far into the maze of alleyways and corridors.

The person I was chasing was nimble and quick on his feet. He waded through old wooden barrels and obstacles easily, almost making me lose him. I kept chasing though, and I was gaining ground. As I neared the thief, I found that he was much shorter than me, maybe around two to three heads shorter.

It didn't take long for me to notice this person was a child. The boy had dark brown hair and the clothes on his back weren't tattered, but they weren't clean either. He ducked under a long plank of wood, but a nail caught his shirt. The boy gave a small choking sound as his shirt's collar closed in on his neck and fell down.

He tried to stand up and run again, but I already caught up to him. He displayed a terrified expression and frantically backed away, tripping on a stray piece of wood and falling on his behind once again.

I scratched the back of my head as I approached him and said, "You know... If you're going to steal from someone, at least get the pouch with the money in it."

The boy was confused and looked down on the pouch he held in his hands, he looked back up at me and slowly looked back down. He opened the pouch and found an assortment of seeds.

"W-What!? Why are there seeds in here?" He said.

"Didn't you notice that the pouch was lighter than usual?" I said as I reached back and retrieved my real money pouch from my enchanted bag, "This is where I keep my money," I motioned to the bag on my back as I showed him my pouch.

"...I noticed it was lighter than usual, I just thought you were poor..." The boy murmured as he looked away.

My eyebrows twitched a little, as I was considering giving him a little smack on the head, a little girl ran out of the adjacent alley. She stood in front of him and defiantly spread her arms outward in protection, "Don't hurt him!" She said as she glared at me.

I looked at the both of them and gave a small nod to myself, understanding the situation. I guess every city has poor people, huh? I sighed as I took out two pieces of silver from my pouch, flicking it towards the boy who caught it with wide eyes. I could have given them more, but too much would only lead them to disaster. Two silvers were enough to feed them for a bit over half a month if used well, after all.

Pointing to the pouch of seeds on the boy's hands, I said, "You can also sell those seeds for more money. It won't be much, but it should at least net you around forty copper as one seed in there is particularly hard to find."

They just stared at the money in the boy's hands like a priceless treasure. I saw this and smiled lightly before turning around and beginning to walk away, my steps making slight noises in the dark alleyway. As I left, the boy's trembling voice echoed out from behind me, "T-Thank you!!"

Upon hearing this, I paused for a moment before I began walking once again, my voice echoing out in reply, "No problem, just make sure you don't get yourselves killed by robbing someone like a noble or bandit, you hear me?"

The words I spoke seemed harsh, but they were sincere. I can't tell them to stop living their lives, and I can't just take care of them forever. I wasn't a saint, I knew that. I was just an adventurer. As I walked away, the boy's voice echoed out once again, but I was too far away to make out what he said. I took it to be a yes.

A few minutes passed, and I was once again on my way to the adventurer's guild. That's why I came here after all, I'll finally increase my rank and that magic item I won last time needed to be claimed. I'd been thinking about what I should get for a while now, and in the end, I settled for something useful, like a sword.

I couldn't get anything really good though, as the last guild's manager, Carlos, specified that I'd only get a lesser magic item. That much is enough already though, the item I'd claim would probably last me for a good amount of time.

My thoughts were interrupted when I finally arrived in front of the adventurer's guild. This place looked just like the last one, albeit a lot bigger and with a third floor. I entered and walked up to the receptionist, who was visible across the room as soon as I entered. Many adventurers of different ranks were inside the guild, chatting and talking about things like contracts and magic items.

Upon my entry, some adventurers gave me cursory glances, but they soon went back to whatever they were doing. The receptionist in front of me was a beautiful woman, as expected of the guild, and greeted me with the same business like smile all the employees had.

I handed her the letter that Carlos handed me that day and her green eyes scanned the parchment. When she verified the validity of the letter, she nodded as she signed the paper and handed it back to me, directing me towards the third floor.

I walked up the stairs and passed a few other adventurers. It seemed that while the first floor was the lobby where normal requests were taken and completed, the second floor was where more... specialized commissions were given. All these commissions were highly ranked and demanded the extermination of powerful monsters, so I only looked on in awe. It'd be a long time before I would be able to do these commissions, considering I'd be able to get to that point at all.

The stairs to the third floor were on the other side of the second floor, so I had plenty of time to look around. Adventurers wearing expensive-looking armor and weapons were abundant, but they were considerably smaller in number than the adventurers in the floor below.

A few were like me, and were also headed up to the third floor. I finally made it to the stairs and ascended, making my way into the third floor.

The third floor was more bare than the rest of the floors. Multiple doors were lined up against the walls with only the occasional potted plant for decoration. Another difference was the abundance of guards. These guards were probably at least as strong as a C-Rank adventurer each and they were also probably equipped with a plethora of expensive equipment.

I spotted an attendant to the side and showed him my letter, he nodded and motioned for me to follow as he made his way to the left side of the floor. On the far left was a secured metal door, but it was evident that it wasn't as strong as the other doors. The attendant showed the guard beside the door my letter and said, "You are only allowed to take one item from the treasury, if you try to steal anything, the punishment will naturally be heavy."

I nodded solemnly as I stepped in.

The room was filled with shelves lined up in an orderly fashion, each shelf containing multiple items. Helmets, breastplates, swords, staves, and a variety of items were placed in either the shelves or the walls. Even monster cores and spellbooks were put on display.

Rubbing my hands together, I looked around.

Now... what should I pick?

Chapter End.

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Author's Note:

Hello everyone! Sorry about my absence for the last few days, I just got a PS4 and I've been busy messing around in Bloodborne. I swear, I can't help it. This may even get worse in April 12, when Dark Souls 3 comes out. I'm a massive fan of the series after all, :P. Worry not though! I spent yesterday planning out the events of the next three chapters and I'll still try to update once every two or three days. Also, the characters I mentioned last chapter will make an appearance in chapter 15! Look forward to it and thanks for reading! :D

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