Not a Scam

“Amber, you're really helping that girl?” One of the archer's companions said as she walked past. He was sitting by a stack of plate armour pieces and a long sword. If I were to guess, he was a fighter.

“Don't enable her. It's dangerous out here in Duinya. You can get killed out there, by monsters, but also just by the sun.” A woman with long black hair turned towards me. She was wearing a long cream-coloured dress, similar in make to that of the people here, but without the colourful patterns, and had several daggers and a crossbow on her belt.

Also a fighter. They all seem experienced…

“Oh, yes, I was actually hoping to get a map and go to one of the bigger cities,” I replied, with all the genuine emotion of someone who was indeed not planning on spending the rest of my days hunting monsters in the desert.

“Where are you from?” The fourth party member joined the conversation. He was also wearing loose robes and had a bandoleer swung over his chest with a series of potions like the ones I had in the train.

“Hiroo, on the west coast,” I replied, counting on the chance that there was a west coast somewhere in this world.

“Oh, in Yapoon?” The last member of the party, a woman in very light clothes and a spear by her side, asked. “How did you end up all the way in Duinya then? I’ll say, if not the over-the-top stories about monsters, the fact that all the big roads got buried by sand should have dissuaded you at the very least.”

“It’s not that bad,” the man with the bandolier rolled his eyes. “You’re sounding like one of them Frijn snobs. We travelled west just last month, and the roads were just fine, remember?”

“But there were five of us, and it wasn’t our first time stepping out of our parents’ home,” the one sitting by the armour interjected. “Everyone thinks they’re tough, until they have to fight a monster larger than a carriage after two days with no food or water.” He looked me directly in the eyes, and I tilted my head, confused as to where this moralising, almost paternal, talk was coming from.

“The only things bigger than a cart are the mille-pattes,” the bandolier man interjected again. “Come on, what are you trying to scare her for?”

They continued conversing mostly among themselves, and I took a step back to look for the archer.

She was talking with a merchant a few stalls down. I hadn’t paid attention to his stand at first, as at the time I hadn’t realised what he sold, but it seemed he specialised in trading those gems.

Not going to him right away must have been another big red flag …
I could half-hear, but mostly lip-read and guess, that he offered Amber 400 of their currency for the gems.

That didn’t seem like a lot. I glanced around at the few shops where prices were displayed on wooden panels or the like. An ice cream was ‘2N’ and a leather bag was ‘1P’, so the system was clearly different from yen.

“Here you go, sister,” The archer handed me a pouch of coins with a smile. “Good luck on your adventures,” she winked.

“So we're going now, then?” The woman in robes got up.

“I guess so,” the fighter got up, stretched, and started putting on his armour.

“Thank you,” I said, bowing politely.

I opened the pouch. It was filled with ten-sided purple coins, each with a square hole in the middle. They were stringed together in groups of 10, with a few loose ones at the bottom. I picked one of the loose coins up, examining it closely. Its colour came from an enamel-like material poured into a silver-coloured, most likely aluminium, decagonal structure.

Wait, three sets of ten, and 5 loose coins?

“Hey!” I called out to the archer, “I might be miscounting, or I misheard, but didn’t that shopkeeper give you 40 coins?”

“Yes, he did,” The archer, who had also started to gather her things, turned to me and nodded.

“And there are also 35 here?” I asked.

I tried not to sound too accusatory, as there may have been some assumptions I’d made, but the idea that this woman just straight-up scammed me was making me angry.

What is this? First the fauna, then the people, then the people who are acting nice? It can’t be that everyone here hates me. The god would have mentioned something like that.

“Yes, I took out 5 Rolai as a transaction fee.”

Amber seemed perplexed, almost confused as to why anyone would point this out.

“Eh?”

“Huh?”
We looked at each other for a few long seconds in confusion. I couldn’t wrap my head around why she would do such a thing, and she and her companions seemed confused as to why I would point such a thing out.

In retrospect, it all made perfect sense. From her perspective, she wasn’t helping a stranger, but simply getting good money for a very easy job.

“So that’s how it is, huh?” I muttered to myself.

Better than nothing…

The group stopped paying attention to me once more. I stayed in place, trying to think of what to do or where to go from here. There was always my train, of course, but I had expected a very different welcome from the people here. I couldn’t really blame the townspeople or this group of adventurers, as to them I was just another stranger whom they’d forget in a few days. But to me, this day was important.

It was supposed to mean something!

“Sister,” the fighter from earlier had finished putting on his armour. His tone was just as stern as before, but his expression had softened. “Don’t look so down.”

He put a hand on my shoulder, making me look up.

The most frustrating part of this whole ordeal was that he didn’t even look like he had any ill intent. Neither he nor the archer nor anyone from their group did.

“Something tells me you’ll keep doing east, and that you will try and pull this off in the next town as well.”

“Pull what off?!” I exclaimed, no longer containing my frustration.

What is he accusing me of now?

He raised his hands, trying to convey peaceful intent.

“Sell the monster cores you’ve found. You might be a very lucky newbie, and that is a skill all of its own, I won’t deny that,” He continued, “But you can’t blame the people here for not trusting a little girl out all on her own.”

I’m 22… how young does he think I am?

“What are you saying?” I asked in a much calmer tone. I would gladly take whatever solution he was offering.

“What I’m saying,” He lowered his tone to that of a whisper. I had to lean in closer to make out the next words. “Is that you need someone by your side who looks the part. And does the part too. The desert is a dangerous place, and I don’t mean to scare you, but your luck will one day run out.”

“Why are you whispering this?” I whispered back.

“You now have 35 Rolai, spend 34 of them now, and save one for supplies until you get to the next town.”

“Spend them on what?”

I wasn’t sure where this was going, but I was getting a bad feeling.

“You’re an honest-looking girl,” The fighter chuckled. “There’s a fighting arena here in Arkkon. Officially, it’s just for monsters, but I heard that demon-kin are sometimes brought in. 34 Rolai should be more than enough to get yourself one of those, at least until you get a better class and better equipment.”

“Huh?”

I glanced around, suddenly looking for any signs that could have foreshadowed that this town harboured this kind of criminal practice.

“Fights usually start right after sundown. There isn’t much entertainment other than the arena around here, so if you just follow the crowd - oh!” The fighter reached into his pocket and handed me three green six-sided coins. “For the entry fee.”

“Roland!” The spearwoman called out. “Are you coming? The caravan leaves in half an hour!”

“Yes, yes,” Roland waved her off. “Get yourself a good one, just for a few months, until you can rely on your class. It’s not the most honest way, but it’s just a demon. Better it die in a fight than you,” He patted me on the shoulder, in that ‘you'll be right, kid’ way before joining his group.

“You’re such a softie, really,” The one with the bandoliers said.

“What did you tell her?” the woman with the crossbow asked as they started walking away.

They got too far for me to listen to their conversation, but even without that, I had a lot to think about now.

Absent-mindedly, I grabbed some roasted skewers for lunch, because it was now early afternoon and I was starving. Then, I sat under that tree and thought about everything, from the stats and classes to what that adventurer had encouraged me to do.

Was it really the way to go? Drag around some monster so people would take me seriously? Then, to avoid going through that trouble, I could also just use one of those chickens in that way … What was a demon kin, anyway? And beyond that, why were people here so weary and seemingly malicious?

Before long, the two moons rose, casting dim white light over the rooftops. Tarps, carpets, and tables got put away, and the stalls shut one by one. A star, from my imaginary constellation of the two-tailed scorpion, appeared, followed by another, from a constellation I had yet to name. Then another.

Night had fallen.