Capital

As I waited for the vegetables to be packed up for me, I tried to take in my surroundings. I had initially looked around, not paying too much attention to this area. Not to mention the last time I was here, all these stalls selling goods, produce, and meat were not here at all. In fact, there had actually been no stands here when we were being guided to the bidding place.

Looking around more, I was able to make out the place at which I had been sold. Seeing it caused me to immediately avert my eyes, trying not to relive the memories of yesterday. But in the mere seconds I had glanced at it, I noticed something weird. Summoning all the courage I could, I turned my head back towards it, trying to once again notice what I had seen. I was right. For some reason, the door had been entirely boarded up.

It seemed very strange that one of the entry ways was completely shut. Of course, I still didn’t know where the other door was—the one where the bidders were coming from. I had a hunch that the bidder’s door may also be closed in a similar manner. The whole place had an air of disdain to it. As people walked past the road and approached the store, they began veering away from it. It was like a pest house.

“Hey!” The woman at the stand called my attention back to her.

“W-w-what’s wrong?” I asked, wondering what had caused her to call me.

“It’s gonna take a little while longer. Some of these vegetables are really hard to find. Come back in ten to twenty minutes. I should have everything ready by then.”

“O-okay.” I replied, accepting it may be better to walk around rather than stand here.

As I left the stand, I made my way away from the house of my owner, Flint. Instead, I chose to go the other way, the path I was paraded through. I wasn’t going to only walk this path however. While first going through here I had noticed there were more paths to look at. Hopefully I don’t get too lost, but this could be a great opportunity. As I made my way down the main pathway, the emotions of being walked through here flooded back to me.

Remembering the dismal scene almost caused me to duck down and cover my ears for a moment. The booing from the time echoed through my ears relentlessly. Covering my ears didn’t solve this either, only making it louder and louder.

“Hey! Hey! Mister!” called a voice to me

“U-uh, what is it?” I replied, recovering a little.

Looking at where the voice was coming from, it seemed to be a small child who was what I guessed to be Cordelia's age. However, this child was different. It didn’t seem as though they were completely human. They had a tail and ears similar to that of a dog. Maybe a demihuman?

“Why were you on the ground?” The demihuman child asked me.

“No reason.” I responded trying to keep my cool.

“Awww, come on, tell me!”

“Uh, I thought I saw a coin, but I was wrong.”

“That’s weird.”

“Yeah, sure is.” I laughed awkwardly.

The kid got bored of my straightforward replies and decided to leave me. The little girl ran back to her friends. I saw her resume her conversation with them but couldn’t make out what they were saying. However, when she pointed at me, I realized they were talking about me. The embarrassment of how weird I must have seemed started to set in, so I quickly turned onto one of the side paths to get away from their stares.

This path was narrower than the other I had been on, but not quite as narrow as the alley ways they had. There seemed to be some shops set up. From the looks of the extravagant designs of the signs and the interior design, they were probably clothing and accessory stores. Expensive ones at that. As I walked through the panel of stores, my suspicions on one of the stores was confirmed as I saw pieces of jewelry displayed on one of the store windows.

One of the items on display seemed to be a pendant. The pendant was fairly simple in design, but seemed to be made from silver, given the way the metal was glistening. The stone on the pendant, however, caught my attention. Jewelry from my world used clearer stones in order to make the piece look better. On this very pendant, as if defying that very rule, there was a cloudy stone with a blue colour.

I didn’t have much time to continue looking at the curious item in front of me, but when the store owner saw my clothes in the window, he quickly waved for me to get out of there. Doing so with quick haste, I continued down the pathway and got far from the store before he tried to take more drastic measures. As I reached the end of the narrow path, it appeared to reach another one of the bigger paths.

This town really is huge. I guess it isn’t the capital for nothing. As I emerged from the narrow path, I looked towards the top-right of my view. A giant building could be seen at the end, with multiple points each capped with an ice cream cone shaped roof. The sight of the cones only made me want to eat ice cream. While I stood in shock looking at the size of the giant structure, someone bumped me from behind, causing me to lose my balance and fall.

“Hey! Why are you just standing in the middle of the way?” A rough voice asked from behind.

I turn to look at the voice, still on the floor. I see a familiar silver helmet and armour. The sight caused my breathing to start speeding up and my mind to run out of control once again. Are they here for me again? What do they want from me now? I didn’t do anything? Why me?

“Are you okay?” A kinder voice emerged from the set of armour.

“U-u-u-u-uh yeah.” I replied, trying my best to calm myself down at his kinder tone.

“Here.” He offered his hand.

“Thanks.” I replied as I helped myself up without taking his hand.

“Hey, could I see your information card?”

What was that? I had never even heard of what he was asking about. Maybe he was asking about ID? But I don’t have any. I guess the best I can do is try to play it cool.

“Um, I don’t have one. I was recently bought as a slave.” I responded, trying to make sure he couldn’t tell I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Damn it! New owners always forget. I’ll let you off the hook this time, but you should get back quickly. Other guards like me aren’t always the most forgiving for this kind of thing.” He explained.

Thanking him, I quickly took off in the direction I came from in fear of meeting another guard. I made quick work of the expensive street I had previously walked through. Reaching the main path once again, I take off in the direction of the veggies. On my way back however, I spotted a strange cart which didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the ones in the area.

The cart was selling coal. It seemed like not many people were buying either. He had no customers, and based on the price of fifty copper per piece, it seemed like he had no choice but to set it there. Lastly, the cart still had piles of coal. It was almost like the owner had sold none of his products. It could be that he just started and that’s why I didn’t notice him. But looking at the direction I was coming from, and how hidden the cart would be to anyone in that direction, it may be more likely that I just hadn’t noticed him while first walking through.

While interested, I didn’t have time to further press my inquiry as I was running late to get the vegetables I ordered. Not to mention what that guard told me was still carving a fear in my heart. So giving up on the sad stand, I swiftly made my way towards the cart of vegetables.

“Ah, you’re finally back sir! Here you are.” The lady in charge of the cart exclaimed while handing me the cloth bag.

“Thank you.” I responded.

“Don’t worry, it’s part of the job.”

“Still, thanks.” I spoke with a smile and began to take off.

“Wait! You’re forgetting to pay.”

“Oh, I’m sorry!”

Pay? Flint didn’t give me any money. How was I expected to pay for all this if I don’t have any money at all? If I told her I didn’t have any money, then most likely she would assume I was trying to steal and call a guard. How do I get out of this?

“How much is it?” I asked, trying to buy some time.

Responding almost instantly she replied saying “It’s two thousand cooper!”

That didn’t buy me as much time as I hoped it would. I thought she wouldn’t have it calculated and would at least have to calculate it. Two thousand is far too great. The coal was far cheaper than even this. Now what do I do? Wait a second. I sure hope this idea works.

“Can you bill it to Flint?” I tried asking, hoping it would work.

“Flint?” She responded with a question, most likely wondering who exactly Flint was.

“Uh, Flint who owns the blacksmith shop.”

I made that up on the spot, hoping it would work. I’m just guessing he’s a blacksmith based on what I had seen last night when first entering his home. Hopefully there aren’t too many Flints who own a blacksmith store.

“Oh, Flint!” The woman responded after a few moments with a sparkle in her eyes.

“Yeah, Flint.” I responded trying to go along with it.

“Yeah, that’s perfect. We’ll bill him for the cost of these then. Thank you for buying!”

“Yeah, bye.” I waved at the woman as I walked away.

Phew! That was way too close for comfort. I almost didn’t get out of the situation in one piece. It seems what I said was at least correct enough to give her the idea. I guess Flint or his store must be popular. That or he just shops there often. Finally reaching the home from my long journey, I saw Flint waiting at the front.

“What took you so long? I thought you ran off.” He remarked.

“Uh, sorry. She said she would take a while so I looked around a bit.” I replied hoping he’d understand.

“I see.”

“Hey, were you supposed to give me money?”

“HUH?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Did I not give you money?” He quickly ran into the store and just as quickly ran back. “Hahah, it seems like I forgot.”

“You can’t forget those things!”

“Sorry, sorry. Wait, if I didn’t give you money, how did you get those?”

“Huh? I told the woman at the stand to bill Flint who owns a blacksmith store.”

“How did you know that’s what kind of store this is?”

“I saw the forge yesterday, so I assumed it was. Was that not right?”

“No, you’re completely correct. Looks like you’re very smart.”

“By the way, I ran into a guard who said I needed an information card. What is that?”

“NO WAY! I FORGOT THAT ALSO!”

“Ah.”

“Here take this. It has your class and name. You need it in the capital to identify yourself. You can get into a lot of trouble without it, haha!” He laughed at the situation he could have caused.