- Settling In

I stepped through the gate, the sun barely peeking over the City's walls on the stone-carved tiles of the floor. Shops of all kinds lined the entrance to a beautiful shrine in the middle of four connecting walkways.

Potion shops, staff shops, wand shops, sword and dagger shops, clothes shops, food shops, two-handed weapon shops, light, and heavy armor shops, accessory shops, and many more were all gathered around in one area.

I went to an alley and pulled out a boar tusk shortsword and boar hide shield and walked to a vendor who was selling daggers and shields.

"How much are you willing to pay for these weapons?" I asked while examining his merchandise. Most of it Was F- through E+ ranked equipment with only a few being D-.

"Hmmm. 2 silver for the shield and 4 for the shortsword." He said in a tone I couldn't quite put together. It sounded like a mix of cockiness and desperation, quite confusing.

I was about to say sure when all of a sudden a guy who was carrying a shield as big as himself walked up beside me and started yelling at the merchant, telling him he was ripping me off and he would report him to the Merchant Guild Officials.

"Hey, sorry for the ruckus I caused. My name's Jack. What's yours old man?" He said in a young and eager voice. He was at least 6'2 and had a huge build, one of a tank.

'Old man? Oh yeah, I'm transformed right now.' I thought before replying. "My name is...uh Fél. I come from a distant village in the mountains." I said, trying not to sound too suspicious.

"Oh yeah? That's pretty cool, but if you want to sell equipment this isn't a good place. These merchants just take advantage of the new adventurers. If you want a fair price and want to make some good connections in the future, you should sell directly to the Adventurers Guild Merchants. I'll show you the way, follow me."

I followed him as we walked straight past the statue in the cross-section of all the paths. 'This place looks so aesthetic. I love it.' I thought as we made our way deeper and deeper into the city. "Hey, if those guys aren't good merchants, then what were you doing there?" I asked. I'm not sure of this guy's intentions and I'm not wanting to get into a fight with him. He felt much stronger than me in every aspect except intelligence and maybe agility.

"When I'm not studying in the Academy or taking guild quests, I usually just lounge around at the entrance to the Merchant District to make sure no vulnerable people like you are taken advantage of." He said with the most innocent voice I've ever heard.

'This guy is either a completely open book or he's really good at acting. It's best to keep my guard up just in case.' We finally walked up to what looked like a gigantic tavern, except the sign in front had two crossed swords instead of a mug of mead.

We walked in and to the right and left at the entrance were tables and waitresses serving food and drink to people completely decked out in gear. 'Every one of these guys feel as strong as me, if not stronger.'

I became extremely nervous, which didn't suit the personality of the man I was trying to be at all. We stopped further in where a bunch of merchants were standing behind well-crafted counters with lots of different equipment and items behind them.

"Here we are. You can sell anything you have to these guys and afterwards walk back to the entrance and talk to one of the waitresses if you want to become an adventurer. If not feel free to leave whenever you want, and try to stay away from the merchant district unless you know you aren't getting scammed by whoever you're trading with. People in this city hardly ever have good intentions for others." With those words he walked out, his broad shoulders taking up most of the walkway.

I started looking all around me at how beautiful everything was made. "So what can I do for you new timer?" The young merchant said behind the counter. "Oh, I have a couple of pieces of equipment from a Boar Dungeon I was hoping to sell." I responded. He pondered for a couple of seconds before replying. "Yeah sure, I could always use more basic gear for beginners. Show me what you got." He said I pulled out the shortsword and shield I had earlier from within my robes and handed them to the merchant.

He examined them closely but the weird thing was he wasn't moving it around but just intently staring at it. 'He must be using some sort of appraisal skill.' I thought. "I can pay 6 silver for the shortsword and 3...no 4 for the shield. Sound good?" He asked while looking at me with a sincere and honest expression.

"Sounds good to me." I said. He promptly put the gear behind his counter on a shelf I couldn't see and handed me the silver. "Anything else?" He asked. I reached in my robe once more and pretended to grab more gear when I was actually pulling them out of my inventory. I pulled out all 4 leather hides I had, the final extra boat shortsword, the used dagger and sword from the goblin village, and the normal cloak also from the goblin village.

He looked at me with a surprised face for a few moments before examining the weapons. "That robe sure is good for concealing things huh?" He asked with a curious face. "Yeah, everyone in my village wears them." I responded. I checked my Morph skill and I still had 2 hours left.

"16 Silver for it all." He said while shifting his eyes from the materials to me. "Yeah, that's fine." I responded. I took the sliver and put them all with the rest, in my "robe", which was actually my inventory. I walked over to a waitress and asked if I could join the Adventurers Guild. She nodded her head and told me to follow her.

We walked past the merchants and into the deepest part of the building where a lady stood behind a final counter. "That'll be 10 silver." She said before I could even say anything. 'Really? That's nearly half of all my money!' I exclaimed inwardly while reaching for my robes. I pulled out the money and put it on the counter.

She pulled it to her side, counted it, then placed it in a huge pouch behind her before grabbing a card and writing some things down on a piece of paper. "This is your card. You are currently an F ranked adventurer. Complete quests to raise your rank. Before youre ID is completed, an evaluator will fight you to make sure you're prepared for the F rank. Once you complete this evaluation, we will put your picture and name on your ID to complete your registration. You can come and ask for your evaluation at any time. That is all."

I walked out of the guild while still holding my incomplete ID. 'That was much faster than I thought it would be.' I promptly placed it in my inventory before walking to a clothing and armor shop. 'Hopefully, 16 silver is enough to get some decent sets of clothing and beginner gear.' I thought before walking first into the clothing store.

"Welcome to Miss Madrid's Clothing Store! What can we get for you today?" She asked in an overly enthusiastic voice. 'They must not get much business or she wouldn't be trying so hard.' I thought before lying and saying I had a son and trying my best to describe his size and body shape.

"We have the perfect section for you! Follow me!" She said as we headed to the back right corner of the store, passing lots of different styles of clothing for humans and demis alike. I made sure to mention he was half Slythriken. She gave me a disgusted look for a fraction of a second before hiding it. I just figured she was racist towards that species or whatever the term for that would be.

"Take your time looking through our selection here! If you need anything I'll be assisting other customers, just ring the bell on the wall there and I'll come over and help in any way I can!" She then walked off to another part of the store.

'...But I'm the only person in here.'