Elania was relieved when Tina led her down the lighted street and not the darker one the Rogue and Bruiser had fled down. She had a slight worry the two would return and attempt to exact revenge of some sort, so she had opened the map and added the two names they had helpfully divulged while talking to the screen.

That was another revelation, she was able to have more than one specific person displayed on the map at once, and while she didn’t show up on it herself, Tina did. That allowed her to gauge the distance the two thugs had fled, and it was at least a little reassuring to see that they had moved all the way to the opposite side of the Merc District.

Elania tried to add ‘Brucie’ to the map, but quickly found out that there were a lot of Brucies apparently, and that gave her another revelation to how the map worked. If she knew someone’s name and had met them, the map would highlight that specific person on it. If she just had a random name, it was highlighting every single person that shared it.

She didn’t have time to experiment more, or go through and add everyone she wanted to the map as Tina picked up her pace.

The girl had rebounded quickly, and although she didn’t seem happy or cheerful, she picked their turns down the street with a seeming assuredness of someone who was used to traveling them and knew where they were going. At least it seemed that way to Elania.

[Clock: 5:59]

It was getting closer to the ‘opening’ time for things, although considering everything else, Elania wondered how much leeway and flexibility an opening time would be. The city was hardly a shopping mall with a synchronized time schedule. When they arrived, maybe they would be able to pick a few shops that seemed open already.

Elania flipped her backpack around to rest on her front, and started to rummage inside the main pocket. The ‘Monster Core’ was still safely nestled inside the bundle she had wrapped around it, which was comforting. She remembered the interplay of Marcus’ offer of two small golds and mentally made that the least she’d accept for it if she got desperate. Tanyan had said it was worth at least four if it ‘was a common’ one. Suddenly she wanted to know what made a core ‘common’ or better. If they had grades, how was she supposed to tell if it was better or worse?

Were better grades worth a lot more or just a little? Elania followed around the corner with the sinking feeling that no matter what she did she was going to get ripped off in the trade.

At least a few gold would be enough to live on for a while, judging by the drink prices and what she had learned about the cost of an inn room in the city, which was considerably cheaper than out at the waystation.

Elania’s thoughts stopped when Tina halted for the first time, looking down a small side street before turning to look back at Elania.

“We are almost there, but…”

Elania smiled encouragingly, “But?”

“There are usually guards all over the Artificer Row… they usually don’t let random people in… there is a side street here and we can get past that, but…”

Elania considered for a moment, but quickly discarded the idea of trying to sneak in. They were here for legitimate reasons at least.

“That’s alright, just take us to the main entrance, and I’ll talk to the guard.”

Tina seemed a bit doubtful but tilted her head affirmatively and then they were once again headed down the main street. A healthy stream of people had begun to appear, and a few times Elania and Tina had to switch from walking side-by-side to Tina leading single file.

Elania couldn’t shake the nervous feeling she got every time someone passed. The thought of some random person snatching the girl from right in front of her was impossible to shake. It was a bit early to be protective of her, but she was a Lifeline that Elania hadn’t realized she needed—someone who knew their way around, and the addition of the Contract and blue-eye thing didn’t hurt either.

At the very least, it would help get her accepted with a lot fewer questions, she suspected.

It was only a few more blocks before Elania realized why Tina had been so hesitant to approach ‘Artificer Row’ and its guards. Across the street a fence with metal bars neatly barred entry to the area. Guards were visibly evident sitting and standing at a guard post that had been an obvious after-addition to the checkpoint. The apparent effort to secure the street seemed odd to Elania, considering Tina revealing that there was a back way into it.

It seemed a bit intimidating to approach, but Elania was hopeful that at least she had the real Artificers now.

“Stop. What’s your business here?”

The guard almost seemed bored, but Elania realized that was just for show, and the other guard standing beside him already had his hand on the hilt of his sword. Several others behind the bars who might have been ranged fighters had bows or the like near them. They were all paying attention to her as well. It was certainly a lot tenser than she had hoped. These men meant business when protecting their post, or at least that was Elania’s take from it. Their levels were a lot higher than she had seen in the city, too. Most of them were in the low 300s, with just a few that she could see under 200.

“We have something to sell to an Artificer.”

“What’s an orphan and a pet demon have to sell, eh?”

It wasn’t the same hostile tone Elania had heard in the Artisan district; rather, it was more an incredulous skepticism, so she pressed on hopefully even as Tina shrunk behind her.

“A monster core. Surely worth a few small gold and worth letting us in, right?”

“Eh? Where’d you get a monster core inside the city?”

“Was outside, we would have sold it at the waystation, but were told we’d get a better price here.”

The guards looked at each other, then one shrugged, “Show us the core, if it's real then you can go in.”

Elania nodded and pulled her backpack around to her front and pulled the core out, happy that she had made sure it was easily accessible. She’d suspected that she might have to prove her claim earlier and had made sure it was near the top and not buried in the few bits of junk she had.

As she unwrapped the rag around the core, one of the guards whistled in admiration, and Elania felt the tension dissipate. She wasn’t sure how many people tried to sneak into the district, but the Artificer’s guards seemed to be expecting some type of trouble.

“Ayye, that’s a nice one you have there. Looks like it isn’t even that corrupted, either? Did’ya purify it already or something? Made a good call by not sellin’ out o’ the city then, damned monks charge an arm for those to be cleaned up so they can be used.”

“It was purified already I think, yes. Is there a shop that’s open already? I was told things wouldn’t start opening until later, but we had nowhere else to be so thought to come a bit early.”

“Might be, might not. You can walk the street and look yer’selves, it’s not that long. We’re just here to keep the riff-raff out and make sure only people with business here are allowed in. We ain’t actually part o’ any of the shops and they all pay a share to keep us here.”

Elania nodded; she supposed that made a bit of sense for the shopkeepers if the Mercenary District was as rough as it seemed to her so far. Whether or not the job was cushy or not remained to be seen; their levels were a lot higher than a lot of the people she’d seen in the city so far. Maybe they were taking a break doing guard duty?

The guard turned and produced a large key and unlocked the gate, which opened quietly without protest.

It would make sense if higher leveled people got better-paying jobs than others, although Elania realized she was making many assumptions with very little information. Still, being a security guard might be just the job for her if she had to be here long-term.

“Lucas! Git over here!”

A fidgety young man jumped up from his seat with the others and hurried over. He was garbed like the rest of them, but his helmet tilted unevenly as he stood. It seemed his belt was loose, too, because one of the other guards laughed at him as he had to pause to tighten it.

[Human – Recruit – Level 99]

“Lucas, take a patrol around the street, will ya?”

“Uhh, sorry, what?”

The older guard let out of a puff of air in annoyance, then explained in more detail, “We are letting someone in. You can watch them while taking a look for anything out of place. It’s called P-A-T-R-O-L-L-I-N-G.”

“Oh, Yessir. But, if you are letting them in, why do we need to watch them?”

Elania could almost feel the Older Guard’s need to facepalm while the question itself made her feel a bit embarrassed. She was safe enough to let in but not enough to be left alone. Well, that was fine with her, as long as she got treated better than in the Artisan district and was allowed to sell the Monster Core.

“This one’s a low-level demon, but she probably could still knock you out in a single punch, which isn’t that much of a problem. The one to keep an eye on is this one,” The guard pointed to Tina before continuing, much to Elania’s surprise, “who is as much a guttersnipe as I’ve ever seen. She’ll walk out with more valuables stuffed in her pockets than you make in a month’s salary if you let her.”

Elania felt Tina press into her back in an attempt to hide from the sudden scrutiny after being silent and mostly ignored.