The next morning was odd for me. This was the first time that I woke up in a building since I had been to this world. The whole experience was odd for me. Once I had gotten out of living in a lean-to, I had magical lights. This room didn’t, so when I woke up, it was dark with no way of changing that.

Sure there was the candle holder, but I hadn’t bought any as I hadn’t thought about this. I was sure it wouldn’t bother Kasidy any either since she was a late sleeper. For me, however, I was stuck with the problem of not knowing what to do.

Yesterday I had gotten plenty of odd looks being armed in the city and not a guard. Sure there were a few others that I saw that were like me. However, they didn’t seem to be going into shops. They were either heading in or out.

It was like the whole town should be a safe place. The problem that I faced, of course, was that I could get killed by a kid without my armor on. The other problem was that I had nowhere to store my gear if I wasn’t wearing it.

The room I was in didn’t have a lock, just a bar. This meant that when I left, I would either be leaving my gear for anyone to take or taking everything with me everywhere. It was a problem that I hadn’t thought of before coming into town. How to look normal.

I tried to look through the window to see where the moons were so that I knew how close to the end of the night was. However, the window was made of poor glass, which was so foggy and yellow that I couldn’t see out. What I did notice was that there was just a little light that appeared to be peeking through.

I reached out with the bond to try to find Blink and felt that she was on the other side of town. She sent back the feeling of contentment and sleep. So I knew that she was somewhere safe and had chosen to spend the night out. I didn’t know what she had been doing, and honestly, I didn’t want to know.

I got out of bed and started to put on my gear. It might be dark, but I had put everything on dozens, if not hundreds of times now. It still messed with me that I didn’t have any armor skills. I needed to learn how to wear the armor so that it was more than just passively blocking.

By the time I was done getting my gear on, I heard the people down below me. Which meant that soon there would be food that I could buy, and the day could start. So I headed down to see what all they had.

As I went down, I pondered some about the wooden door and some of the other wood I had seen. It wasn’t foreign to me to see wood, but it seemed odd because there were no trees around. The stone made sense to me as they were close to the cliffs, and I figured that they could get them close by.

Most of the building itself was stone. The floors and walls, even the bar, were made from stone. But things like the doors and the chairs were wooden. The tables were large chunks of stone as well. The bowl-like plate from last night had been metal, and the mugs were glass.

When I got down the stone stairs, I saw that there were two people up already. One was busy sweeping the floor, and the other was in the back doing something with the fire. I figured that they were likely getting the tavern part up and going. There had been something about bread in the morning, but I was hoping they would have more if I paid for it.

As I came down the steps, the woman sweeping looked up and waved at me. “Be right with you. Just find a seat on this side of the room.”

I nodded to her and moved to the side that she had already swept. Then I watched her work for a few minutes. If I was guessing age, she was around twenty to twenty-five. The way she moved showed that she had been doing this job for a long time. She knew where to move to sweep without extra movements.

There was nothing else going on in the building right now. Worse yet, I couldn’t do what I normally would do in a restaurant, read. If I was by myself and eating out, I normally would have a book. It would ease all the problems of what to do when waiting for service. It would also make it, so I didn’t look odd by watching what people were doing. However, until I learned to read, it just wasn’t something I could do.

I spaced out for a while as I waited. My mind drifted to the things that I could upgrade now that I was here in a town. I knew there were some things that the yurt needed for the next level, but I couldn’t remember what they were. Which meant that I wasn’t getting it here. However, for some of my other gear, I might find the things I needed.

Just as I was going to pull up the interface, the worker came over. She swayed over with half a loaf of round brown bread in her hand and two glass tankards of what looked like warm ale. She dropped both on the table and drifted into the chair across from me.

She smiled and said. “So sweetie what are you doing in town?”

I wanted to laugh or roll my eyes, so I just answered. “Just adjusting some supplies and moving on.”

She sighed a little and leaned forward. “How long you planning on being around?”

I smiled. I felt the girl was trying too hard since I could even pick up that she was trying to be interested in me. However, I wasn’t sure what to do about it since I was never good with interactions like this.

I took a drink and said. “Likely today and perhaps some of tomorrow but not sure. It depends on how long it takes to get what I am looking for.”

I felt the tip of her foot rub on my leg as she smiled. “So what are you looking for?”

I grabbed the bread and broke it apart, some but not much. “I need a map, a place to sell some extra gear, and some road rations. Do you know where I could find any of that?”

As her foot went higher up my leg, she answered. “I guess I could help but is that ALL your looking for?”

I put my hand on her foot and slid it down. “Yes, that’s all I am looking for right now. Well I also might need a clothing store of some sort.”

She smiled back at me and laid her hand on mine. “I can show you around town if you want. I’m sure that I can make it worth your while.”

I pulled my hand back from her and raised an eyebrow. “Okay and what are you thinking you are getting out of all of this? Why are you coming on so hard and wanting to show me around the town?”

She slumped down, and I saw a tear in her eye. “I came on too strong, didn’t I?”

I nodded and grabbed some more of the black bread. It was a chewy bread that had a strong flavor. The crust was so thick; however, I could almost use the thing as a rock, but it was filling.

She grabbed her ale and drank some, and then sniffled. “Here’s the truth there are a couple of local thugs that like to come in a flirt with me. They want more than just the occasional butt grab. If it was just the grabbing, I could deal with it, but they roughed up my dad last night for stepping in. Dad wants me to leave town.”

I took a deep breath in through my nose and held it for a moment. Then I slowly let it out. I didn’t need another clinger on. Though this girl might make things funny for Kasidy. I just didn’t need more knowledge of who I was out in the world until I was fixed. Then I could hide it better.

I asked. “Why me?”

She gave me a real smile. “You’re traveling with a poor girl and got two rooms. Which means that you aren’t the type to force someone down on their luck.”

I snorted. “So why do you think that?”

“The girl you’re with came down last night for some drinks. She said as much that you are a good guy. She thinks the world of you. Wouldn’t say much as to why but said that you saved her life and she is traveling with you. Said you are going to Cloudia. I have family there so…”

“What happens when you leave? The thugs come back and beat up your dad again?”

“Maybe but theres only so much they can or will do. The guard like this inn so there tends to be someone around. Last night the fight got broken up when the guard came.”

“So tell me why I want to get involved. It seems to me like you have told me reasons not to help you.”

She sighed and nodded her head. “I get that. I told you my problems but not how I could help. So I can get you to best merchants in town quickly so that you don’t get ripped off.”

I nodded a bit. “That could help some but honestly I am just passing through. Having you with me will add needless complications. Why not just point out the thugs to the guards and let them take care of it?”

She looked down at the table for a moment and started to cry in earnest. “Because they work for the merchant guild master of Last Port. The thugs are his men. Not directly mind you but they do things for him like get girls. They offered me a lot of money to go to him but he isn’t a nice man.”

“So I take it the stores you want to take me to aren’t part of the guild right?”

She nodded, and I sighed. I wasn’t liking this very much at all. This had complications written all over it. This also had not my problem in bold red letters written on it. I just couldn’t find an upside for me. She hadn’t offered money or knowledge that mattered. What nagged me, though, were the dreams of Ash. How Maria tried to flee someplace, and he couldn’t help. This girl reminded me of her.

“So let me get this straight. You want me to take you to Cloudia, sticking my nose into this problem. For you showing me where to shop? What if this guy sends people after me you want me to fight them off too I guess?”

She looked down at the table for a moment and then back at me. She brushed her hair behind her ear and leaned onto the table a bit. Then she batted her eyes at me a big and gave me a smile.

She said. “If you wanted I could help keep you warm its getting cold out there.”

I slammed my hand on the table, and she jumped back in shock. “Look I don’t know your name. I get what is going on is scaring you but you are offering me the same thing that you don’t want to give this other guy. You want me someone you don’t know to take you to another country to avoid this guild master. So far all you have given me is a world of complication. Other than the goodness of my heart why would I even consider this?”

She sighed and drained most of her drink. “You’re right and I’m not thinking straight. Look I just need someone to travel with. I won’t be a bother and I am sure there’s something that I can do to help.”

“I’m not seeing any upside for me on this. Why don’t you leave with a caravan or something? Just leave on your own. This is a port I’m sure theres a ship leaving that will take you.”

“The last caravan for the year left just over two months ago. As for the ships theres only one job they let women on for… If I just left on my own they would follow me or I would die. I got to get out of town in the next couple of days.”

“Okay so say I let you come with me. Do you even have your own equipment or would we have to get it for you? Do you have food to take on the trip?”

About that time, the innkeeper came over. He huffed a bit and grabbed a chair. Then he sat down on the girl’s side and gave me a hard look.

He nodded at me. “Is this the one?”

The girl nodded. “Yes, I think so but he doesn’t want to take me.”

He wrinkled up his face a bit and turned to me. “Why don’t you want to take my daughter with you? She not pretty enough?”

I laughed at took a good look at the girl. “Not the reason at all. Nope the problem is I don’t know why I would. She has told me all the problems that she is having but not why they should become my problems. There are logistics that also would need to get worked out.”

The old man nodded. “Hmmm. I think I understand. We don’t have much money to offer but I have something that you might want.”

With that, he got up and limped into the back. A few minutes later, he came out with something wrapped in a blanket. He got back and unwrapped a sword with a slight curve. Around the sword was a necklace with a large medallion.

He looked me up and down and said. “I too was an adventurer when I was younger. That all ended before she was born. I took an arrow in the knee and then met her mom. Her dad owned this inn before me and well we fell in love. I hung onto this sword but I don’t need it anymore nor do I need my adventure’s guild medallion.”

He slid the sword over to me, and I took a look as he was talking. “It’s dwarven steal light as can be. Won’t rust on you no matter what and holds an edge even when going through armor or hide. If you take her with you, the sword is yours. The guild medallion I’ll swear over to you if you don’t have one. With it, guards will let you stay armed in every city, and you will have access to dungeons without paying the entrance fee.”

I nodded as I ran my hand down the scabbard. It was lacquered wood or perhaps bamboo. I stopped listening to the innkeeper as my eyes landed on the Kurikata. It was in need of some repair, I could tell. The hilt was clearly a cross-guard and not a tsuba. However, when I slid the blade out, I saw the wave of the hamon line.

My eyes popped away from the blade and back to the innkeeper. “Did you change the hilt on this sword?”

He stumbled in his words for a moment and nodded. “Yes, when I got it in a dungeon there was a round hit on it that didn’t seem very good at all. The blade is great but the hilt was all wrong. If I could have gotten a better scabbard I would have.”

I shook my head and asked. “Do you still have that hilt?”

He chuckled. “No I sold that to the smith who put the new one on. No need to hold on to something like that.”

I nodded in understanding. “Okay so yes, I like the sword. Now tell me about this medallion. Why should I care about it?”

He huffed. “That is a legacy Adventure’s medallion. It has never been returned to the guild and can only be freely given. If you went to the guild to join you would need to pay at least 100 gold and that would get you a bronze medallion. With that you could enter into the lowest of all dungeons and pick up work. That level would also let you keep your arms in any city you went to.”

He smiled with pride. “This medallion however, will give you access to all dungeons. Means that you don’t owe tithe to the guild. But more than that… It lets you travel between kingdoms. They might stop other adventures but not one with a legacy medallion. You and all you travel with.”

I was looking at the sword and thinking of how much the medallion would make my life easier. Even with the nagging feeling that this girl truly needed help, I wasn’t wanting the complications. Taking her with me would just make things harder than they needed to be.

The innkeeper looked me dead in the eyes. “I don’t want Iris to go anywhere. I would rather her stay here. But if she stays, then I’m going to lose the only thing of my wife I have left. That monster in an elf’s body does things to the women he takes. Sure they are still walking around, but they aren’t the same person. They are broken and more. Please take her with you and keep her safe.”

I looked at the katana and at the medallion. Then my eyes drifted over to Iris. She was clearly emotional, knowing that she would be leaving if I said yes. If I said no, then something worse would happen.

I stuck out my hand to the old man. “Okay we’ll keep her safe. We just have to see what is needed to make that work.”

* * *