The Land: Founding (Chaos Seeds Book 1) (21 page)

Sitting back down,
Caulder
looked at them with a smile, “So was Edwin able to
help?”

“Yes, we have the papers for Sion,
and we were able to help Edwin with that debt you owed him,” Richter said
wryly.

“Yes well, sounds like everybody got
what they wanted. You got your papers, Edwin got his coins, and I got the warm
feeling of helping someone in need!
Haha
!”

Laughing at the guard’s roguish wit,
Richter couldn’t summon any irritation. The ales were delivered. The three men
listened to the music, and drank the slightly bitter brew. After a time, three
soups were brought to the table, and even Sion admitted it was a savory fare.
They sat in quiet comradery as the hours whiled away. Patrons slowly trickled
out until only guests and die hard drinkers were left. Rosy came to join them
as the hustle and bustle of the inn calmed down. “So what’s your next step from
here?”

As Richter had listened to the
conversations at nearby tables, many of them had centered on the nonhumans’
discontent with the current course of the kingdom, and dissatisfaction with
their treatment as second class citizens. “I feel like there may be many
nonhumans who have the skills I need, and aren’t quite happy with the life
they’re leading here. I know there are not enough people here in this town who
can help me, but there just might be in the capital city. Do you know anyone
that you could introduce me to?”

Rosy’s
smile spoke for itself. As the
conversation went on
Caulder
got up and whispered in
the ear of one of the prettier barmaids. After placing a few coppers in her
hand, she smiled and they slipped up the stairs to the sound of giggling.
Richter furrowed his brow and looked at Rosy. She gave a hearty laugh, “This is
the Whistling Hen. For the right price, my girls will put their lips together
and whistle you a tune. And you get to pick exactly where they’re whistling!”

Well, Richter thought smile, this
world certainly does has a lot to offer!

The next day they sold the weapons
and animal skins they had brought with them. The trader could not buy the ice
staff, saying it was worth more than he had. He recommended that they take the
staff to either a high quality weapons dealer or a mage guild. What they sold
only amounted to one gold coin and a handful of silver, but every little bit
helped. Richter quickly discovered the conversion ratio of the coins was the
same as the game, 10 copper made one silver and 10 silver made one gold. An
average laborer made between 4-5 silver coins every two weeks, or fortnight as
they called it. It apparently was just enough to live on. Just like back home
there was a well-defined and large rich poor gap. Being a feudal society made it
exponentially worse. Rosy told them that nobles and royalty controlled most of
the wealth and land. Merchants and skilled craftsmen fell somewhere in the
middle. The good news was that the amount of money he had found made him pretty
rich indeed!

The town saw a large amount of
traffic being midway between the capital and
Rione
.
As such it was quite easy to buy and sell mounts. They no longer had a large
amount of goods to transport, so they decided to sell the ponies. They would
make the rest of the way on foot. With the loss of their pack animals they
actually made better speed. They used their Haste spells as often as possible,
limited only by their mana regeneration. Richter allocated his 50% increase to
his Air Magic, not wanting to risk his percentage points being randomly
assigned. That plus their frequent practicing allowed him to gain level three.

Congratulations! You have reached
level 3 in Air Magic. Increasing level allows you to cast stronger spells.

His relentless mana usage gave an
added benefit. He was awarded +1 to his Intelligence and +2 to Wisdom from his
frequent mana usage.

A week later, they arrived before the
walls of Law, Yves’s capital city. They had passed several smaller towns over
the past week, making the trip easy and comfortable. The distance they covered
must have been farther than the entirety of their journey before, but the
well-traveled road made it much easier to travel. While Leaf’s Crossing had
strong walls and some towers built in for defense, Law seemed unassailable. One
hundred foot high walls were topped with crenellated battlements. The city rose
up behind the wall, clearly built upon a large hill. It was hard to tell, but
it looked like it was roughly build in concentric circles with the palace on
top of the hill. A wide moat surrounded the city walls. The river ran behind
the city, and they had dug the moat to be filled with river water. A large flow
of traffic moved over the drawbridge and into the city. The guards here were in
polished chain mail with halberds held upright. They also had the crest of blue
swords on a green background emblazoned on their chests. The high volume of
people and animals moving into the city made stopping everyone for questions
unreasonable, but the hawk eyed gaze of the guards promised swift action in
response to any threat.

As they move past the initial gate
and under the walls, Richter was taken aback by its thirty foot thickness.
Murder holes and arrow slits could be seen in the ceiling and walls. Exiting the
tunnel, there were more guards standing at attention. Most of the crowd were
humans. The few nonhumans that were present kept their heads down as if afraid
of bringing attention to themselves. The main street of the city was a wide
throughway, but dozens of avenues meandered off to either side. Richter and
Sion went further into the city, and the elevation gradually rose. Their travel
was only interrupted once when they passed a patrol of guards.  They asked
for Sion’s papers, but after only a cursory inspection they waved the two
Companions on. The quality of the houses and shops rose as well the higher they
went. After walking for half an hour they took a medium sized street to the
left. The lane curved inward slightly following the natural curve of the hill.
They slowly circled the city looking for the inn Rosy had recommended. After
being lost several times, and receiving direction from the locals an equal
number of times, they arrived at the Laughing Imp.

The Laughing Imp was a good deal more
boisterous that the Whistling Hen. Several patrons were slumped over the bar in
varying states of intoxication. The smell of the bar was certainly not as clean
as the inn that they had come from, but the laughter and joy in the room had
the same intensity. Sion and Richter walked to the bar and waited for a moment
until a smiling barmaid came up. Bounced up would have been a better
description based on her ample chest.

“What can I get you my dears?”

For a moment Richter stared at her as
she breathed heavily, a smile on her lips. When Sion nudged him he realized it
had gotten creepy. “Yes! I need to talk to
Terrod
.
Rosy from the Whistling Hen in Leaf’s Crossing sent me.”

Still smiling, she asked them to wait
and moved off. She spoke to a man behind the bar who seemed to be giving the
punchline of a joke based on the guffaws of the people sitting in front of him.
She gestured to Richter and Sion, and he handed her an empty mug to fill. He
walked over to the two Companions with a broad smile and an extended hand. He was
middle aged but not old, and had a brown beard that while a little wild, was
not completely unkempt. Richter used Analyze on him. It had become a habit with
every person he saw. The skill had not yielded anything further than base
information so far, but it was still good practice.

Human: Lvl 6. Health 170. Mana 110.
Stamina 160.

The man’s numbers were higher than
expected. Most of the random town or city folk Richter had examined were level 3
or below. Not surprising since the only way he had found to gain experience
seemed to be battle or fulfilling quests. If not for minor quests that dealt
with their skill sets, most city dwellers would probably only be level 1 no
matter how high their individual skills were. The guards he had seen were
typically level 10 or above.
Caulder
had been level
12. When asked about it, the man had explained that he was a former soldier.
All soldiers were required to fight the random monsters that occasionally cropped
up and/or patrol the boundaries of the kingdom. Apparently it was a constant
struggle to defend the borders from hostile creatures or raiders.

Richter reached out his hand and
clasped wrists with the barkeep.

“My name is Richter, I was sent by
Rosy in Leaf’s Crossing.”

“Shelly told me that. What can I help
you with?”

“We are travelers to
Esabil
.”

Terrod’s
smile tightened ever so slightly.
“Of course, come with me.” They walked past the bar and into the kitchen. It
was a setting of controlled chaos. The typical hustle and bustle of people
performing the necessary tasks to keep a kitchen running.
Terrod
nodded to the various staff, as he walked through to the other side and out
into a back alley. Richter and Sion followed him outside, and down into the alley.
Terrod
turned and looked at them with a serious
expression. All of the laughter and joy had gone from his face.

“You need to tell me who you are,
right now. And if I don’t like your answers, this filth ridden alley will be
the last thing you see.” As he had been talking, three of the larger kitchen
workers had filed out into the alley holding knives or cudgels. Worse, the
direction Richter and Sion had been walking in ended in a blank wall and a pile
of rubbish. The three men stood between them and the exit from the alley.

Sion drew his sword causing the
toughs to take a threatening step forward. Knowing only seconds remained before
the ground of the alley was covered with blood, quite possibly theirs, Richter
held out his arms with palms up.

“There is no need for this. We were
sent by Rosy, the owner of the Whistling Hen in Leaf’s
Crossing
.
She told me to come here and say that phrase to you. I have a village. I need
specialized labor to build it into something worthwhile. She told me that many
nonhumans are unhappy with the new laws, and are not being treated fairly. I
can offer them another option. After she heard me out she said you might know
about some people that would be interested.”

Terrod
stared at them. “What you’re saying
is something anyone would know just by simple gossip. Everyone knows the
Laughing Imp welcomes non humans. Someone might use that knowledge to try and
find malcontents. How do I know you’re not just trying to trick us and then
throw us into the King’s dungeons?”

Richter was more than a little
annoyed at the treatment he and Sion were getting, “Listen! I’m here to offer a
chance for an honest life to those that deserve it. We gave you the code word!
Esabil
! If you don’t want to help that’s fine, we will
figure out another way. But if you move any closer to me and my friend, it’s
very likely that this alley will be the last thing that YOU see,” Richter
warned.

The three men behind them tensed
getting ready for a fight. Richter drew his sword. It was a shame that their
bows were unstrung. If Sion could shoot, the outcome of this fight wouldn’t
even be a question! Hopefully their armor and superior weapons would win the
day. Richter had switched his respawn to the Mist Village, but the option had
not come up again since they started their journey. If he died, it would take
several weeks to get back here, and he would lose all of his possessions. He
just hoped Sion would be able to escape.

“Stop!”
Terrod
through up his hand. “I do not want violence, but I will not let a snake into
my house. Can you prove what you are saying? Did she offer you anything that
would make me believe you?”

Richter glared at him blade in hand,
“She said you were trustworthy, but that you’re also a suspicious bastard and
cheat when you play cards.”

A smile twitched on
Terrod’s
face, “Well that does sound like Rosy. Okay! You
have bought yourself a good meal and a place to stay. We will talk again in the
morning.” He waved off the three men, and strolled past Richter and Sion as if
nothing had happened. “We have lamb tonight, how do you like your ribs?” With
that one liner worthy of
an
80s action flick, he
walked inside still with that wry smile on his face.

Richter and Sion looked at each other
and after a moment, both sheathed their swords.

“So do we go back in,” Sion asked.

“It definitely wasn’t the reception I
was expecting. They didn’t try to rob us though, they just acted like they had
someone to protect,” Richter said pondering their options. “So we have two
options. We can go back in and see what comes of it or take our chances
somewhere in the city.”

“Well, I have never had lamb before,”
Sion said, “but it did smell good.”

They went back into the kitchen, and
walked through to the common room. The people there were laughing and enjoying
their food with no idea of the violence and death that had almost occurred only
a dozen yards away. It was a good lesson Richter thought, even though they had
left the woods, there was still plenty of danger in the city.

The cute barmaid met them as they
left the kitchen, and led them back to a table. She quickly brought two square
wooden plates, topped with meat, green vegetables and chunks of bread still
steaming from the oven. They both asked her for an ale, and then tucked into
the meal. Whatever else could be said of their reception at the Laughing Imp,
the food was wonderful. Both sat in silence devoted to their meal, and when
seconds were offered they both gladly accepted. Richter looked at his small
friend polishing off his second plate, and wondered where it all went.

An hour after they sat down,
Terrod
came by the table and dropped off their room key. He
only paused long enough to tell them their room was on the third floor, second
door on the left. Then he disappeared back into kitchen. They sat there a while
longer before deciding to call it a night. Their room here was much the same as
their room in the Whistling Hen, maybe a touch bigger and the mattresses
slightly smellier. Richter and Sion looked at each other and with silent
understanding moved one bed against the door, and the other against it. Feeling
safer they both laid down for the night but kept their weapons close to hand.