Caravan Station

'Seems like they healed me while I was asleep,' Leroy thought.

However, because of how life was in the slums and his constitution, he didn't even notice that he wasn't fully healed.

Back in the knight base, Isabelle was thinking.

'I feel like i forgot to do something? Ah whatever if i forgot then its not important.' she thought as she continued walking down the road with a smile.

Back at Leroy, he had started walking towards the caravan station.

'I guess I'll just follow what she said for now. It's not like I have anything else to do or point me in the right direction,' Leroy huffed as he went down the road. All around him, he could see people working, walking, or simply sitting on the stools on the side of the road.

The commoner district was much better than the slums, the chances of getting robbed were much lower and the quality of life was much much higher.

'It annoys me,' Leroy thought as he looked towards his left, where a couple of children were playing without a care in the world.

'They are the same age as me but already have everything they could want.' Leroy clicked his tongue and decided to walk faster towards his destination.

'The more I stay around here, the more I get frustrated.'

Finally, after walking for a while, Leroy arrived at the caravan station.

It was a circular clearing with a whole bunch of caravans parked along the sides. One could see tens of people talking to each other, some seamed to be laughing about jokes while others tried to haggle down the price of the ride, it didn't seem to be working though as all of them returned looking dejected or angry.

Leroy started walking around and asking the caravan drivers about their destinations.

Finally, after already passing through four caravans, he found the one he was looking for.

"Hello, may I ask if you're going to SteelBurn?" Leroy asked a man who was currently seated just outside an old yellow caravan.

"Yes, ten copper a ride. If you do not want to pay, then leave," answered the man, still just looking at the floor as if Leroy wasn't even worth anything.

He had seen Leroy walking from one Caravan towards the other while looking like a slum rat and thought that he was just trying to hitch a ride for free.

"All right, ill pay," said Leroy

'Huh?' The caravan driver thought that he was hearing things.

"Alright, as long as you pay, then you can get in. We set off in two hours," replied the caravan owner as he looked at Leroy once more.

'Did he steal the money?' He thought for a second and then just shook his head.

'Not like I care anyway.'

"You pay upfront," said the man.

Taking the leather pouch out of his belt, Leroy finally looked inside.

There were three silver coins and 10 large copper coins. the coin system was used worldwide, it was:

copper, silver, and gold.

Ten copper coins made one large copper coin, while ten large copper made a silver, ten silver made a large silver and ten large silver made a gold coin

There were rumors that a higher-value coin existed, but it was said to be used only by nobles.

Taking out a large copper coin, Leroy handed it to the caravan driver.

Taking it quickly, the caravan owner said 

"No refunds"

Leroy just nodded and climbed into the Caravan.

Inside, there were four more people.

A old man with gray hair and a short beard stood on the left, while on the right was a young woman with red hair waring what seemed to be knight armor and at the back was a woman with her baby.

"Hello," Leroy said as he sat beside the old man on the right side of the Caravan.

"Hello kid" the old man replied with a weak voice, it seemed like his voice had almost dissapeard almost leaving him mute.

The red haired knight just stared at him for a second and grunted, turning her attention back to her sword which she seemed to be maintaining.

The woman at the back raised her hand and waved at Leroy

"Hello dear," she said with a smile.

'Weirdo' thought Leroy

Deciding that he didn't want to talk anymore Leroy just put his back against the wall and closed his eyes, hoping for the time to pass faster.

He couldn't keep his eyes closed as they snapped open, a frantic expression on them.

Every time he closed them, it would end up in the same situation.

He would see Travis, Arthur, Ivar, John heck even the drunk mercenaries looking at him with those lifeless eyes, their mouths open as if they wanted to swallow him whole.

sighing slowly, Leroy just decided to stare at the floor.

Two hours later, the Caravan started heading towards its destination.

SteelBurn.

Leroy thought about it and found out that he knew nothing, as a slums kid he didn't have an education and it wasn't like anyone around him had one either so he didn't know a lot about the world surrounding him.

'I'm going there so it would be good to know at least something about it' Leroy thought as he turned towards the old man.

"Hey, can you tell me about SteelBurn?" Leroy asked

'Shit, I wanted to ask in a more roundabout way, but the words just slipped,' Leroy thought.

"A straight to the point kid aint ya" replied the old man with a chuckle as he turned towards Leroy.

Leroy could now see his face more clearly for the first time.

The man had vibrant yellow eyes, and his face was almost completely scarred from what looked like claws.

"Well, if you want to know about SteelBurn, then I guess I can give you some information," said the old man.

"First of all, SteelBurn is a small city while it is the closest to the capital that doesn't mean its some huge place, in fact it only recently earned its status as a city as it has been a village for ages. The reason its called SteelBurn is because the main trade that people living there do is either blacksmithing or they become mercenaries. I used to be a mercenary."

Said the old man as he started rubbing his chin.

"How much do Inns usually cost?" asked Leroy

"Inns? You should be able to get a decent one for about five copper a night," he replied.

"That's basically all there is to know about SteelBurn." The old man said as he also put his back against the wall of the Caravan to help balance himself a bit as the road had started to get rocky.

"You were a mercenary, right? How does one join them?" asked Leroy

"I was, when i used to be young as you can see these old bones can barely hold me up, as for joining them, just go to the tavern and ask around even though you're quite young and thin then just about get anyone to bolster their numbers" The old man replied.

'I'm not sure I want to be a mercenary, but at the moment, it's the only way I can think of to earn a living besides stealing or joining a gang.'