At another stall, I purchased a large leather sack for one sek, so I’d have something to put my upcoming bounties in. This time, I opted to pay in copper coins to lighten the weight of my coin pouch.
As I continued, I passed a stall whose delightful aroma filled the thoroughfare. A simple fire pit in front of the stall displayed roasted meats covered in finely-diced herbs. The smell made me quite hungry.
My interest piqued, I turned to a man smoking a pipe in front of the stall. “Shopkeep, what type of meat is that?”
The man seemed to have swallowed some smoke as I spoke to him. His eyes swelled red and he coughed as he offered up his response. “Hyack! Th-this is herb-roasted rabbit meat, Sir Knight.”
What I’d assumed was chicken was apparently rabbit. I’d heard it was a staple of French cuisine, but I’d never tried it before.
“I’ll have one then.”
The man skipped past the selection of cooked, leaf-wrapped meats lining the front of his stall and instead grabbed some fresh meat. He began cooking it in front of me, but the flame in the fire pit was already dying down. The man obviously wanted to offer me something freshly cooked, but I couldn’t help getting annoyed at how long it was taking. I’d stopped by the stall because I was hungry now. One of the cooked meats would have been fine.
I decided to be appreciative and wait. As I let my eyes wander, I watched the old man stretch out his hand toward the wood in the fire pit and begin chanting quietly. “Fire, heed my call and burn. Fire!”
A fireball erupted from the man’s hands and set the firewood ablaze.
“Wha?! Are you a magic user?” I could hardly contain my surprise. The sight was even more impressive than when I’d used magic myself.
The man rubbed the back of his neck, his pride barely concealed by his attempt at modesty. “Well, it’s just a little fire magic, nothing special.”
“That’s right, Sir Knight. A magical fire rod would be just as useful as him and his magic,” a woman selling dried beans one stall over poked fun at the man.
“You don’t need to be so blunt, Ma. Besides, this is much more convenient. Unlike magic rods, I don’t need any rune stones.”
“Why, even a goblin’s rune stones would last a while in a fire rod. I hardly see a difference.”
It seemed like the woman one stall over may be his wife. He objected weakly, but she just cackled as she continued without mercy.
Magic was evidently a relatively normal occurrence in this world. It sounded like even people who couldn’t use magic were able to use magic-imbued items. From those used in day-to-day objects to ones made for use on the battlefield, I could only imagine the wide array of rune-stone-powered items that must be out there. Hearing popular monsters like goblins brought up in normal day-to-day conversation also made the fact that I was in an alternate world feel all the more real.
The man, now hunched over after being so thoroughly browbeaten by his wife, handed me the freshly roasted rabbit. I thanked him for the meat and paid. It looked to be a whole rabbit’s worth of meat, but it only cost me two copper coins. The smell of it was overpowering, but there was no way I could take my helmet off and eat here. I’d need to take my lunch outside the town limits while I searched for my bounties.
As I made my way west down the thoroughfare, I took a detour to look at some of the houses and soon stumbled upon a small, open area in front of the west gate. There, I found a stone waterway that poured water out into another aqueduct below. The water appeared to be drinkable, as I watched peddlers entering the gate fill their flasks. Women from the surrounding houses came and went as well, filling various bottles and jars with water.
Downstream, in the lower aqueduct, people washed vegetables and the like, and even farther down, women washed clothes. The east gate probably had a similar setup, but it had been night when I arrived, which was why I hadn’t seen anyone.
As I approached the aqueduct, the people fell quiet and spread out to make way for me. I gave my water skin a quick rinse before filling it up, then popped the cork in it and returned it to my burlap sack. I then made my way toward the west gate.
Merchants stood with their horse-drawn carts at the west gate as their goods were inspected by the guards. I also spotted the occasional man in leather or metal armor milling about, likely serving as hired protection for the peddlers. There were surprisingly few people lined up at the gate, possibly due to the taxes imposed by the town.
As I approached, a guard—obviously terrified out of his mind by my appearance—slowly approached me.
“S-sorry, sir, but if you’re leaving town, you’ll need to pay the exit tax of three sek or show me your travel pass.”
The guard was young. Behind him, I could see several older guards talking to each other as they watched. It seemed like they’d volunteered him to come over. The guard’s voice squeaked as he spoke.
I reached into my bag and pulled out the travel pass I’d received the night before and handed it over. As soon as he saw it, the young guard quickly saluted, then handed the travel pass back. Apparently, this was my permission to leave, so I made my way through the west gate.
Crossing the stone bridge over the moat, I saw a vast field, much like the one at the east gate, sprawled out before me. I continued following the road west, spying the occasional farmer tending crops as I went.
I would’ve preferred to speed things up using Dimensional Step, but I wanted to avoid doing anything too flashy while people could see me. I stood out enough as it was. Magic may be regarded as a relatively normal part of life in this world, but it was unlikely that spells involving zipping through the air were a common occurrence. If they were, then people wouldn’t need horses. No, I decided to walk on my own two feet.
The road sloped gently uphill. When I made it to the top, I was able to get a good look at my surroundings. To my left, a massive river meandered across the countryside to the southwest. A little farther down the hill in front of me, the road branched off into two directions. One continued following the river, and the other stretched off to the northwest. The fields I’d walked through ended at the hill, and there were no signs of human habitation in the distance.
I figured I could use my teleportation magic to travel along the northwest road. However, since I didn’t have a map, and there weren’t any buildings to use as landmarks, it was best not to stray from the roads, lest I get lost.
Dimensional Step was quite convenient. When I had a good view of the countryside, I could easily travel up to a kilometer or so. On the other hand, the better my view, the more easily I could be seen.
After moving along the northwest road a ways, I came across a small forest just off the path. Figuring I may be able to find some sort of beast there, I teleported to the tree line and entered the forest. But my search may prove more difficult than I’d anticipated. In addition to the sounds of my footsteps as I walked through the underbrush, the birds were chirping noisily.
Plus, if I ran across any dangerous monsters, my only real option was to retreat.
I continued my search through the forest, teleporting as I went. My vision was far more obscured here than it was on the plains, so the distances I teleported were naturally shorter.
I proceeded through the forest with care, ever vigilant of my surroundings, so as not to get lost in the forest. But, being a novice hunter, I knew finding any sort of beast wouldn’t be easy. The fact that I was wearing gleaming, silvery-white armor also didn’t help matters. While I lacked a hunter’s stealth, I made up for it by providing a huge target to other hunters.
At the very least, my armor meant that I still had a chance even if a wild animal caught me in its jaws.
I finally found two small, boar-like creatures near a stream a little ways off. They were around a meter long and covered in short, grayish-brown hair. Two long tusks arced out their mouths. The animals weren’t moving much; they were probably resting. I watched them from a distance through the gaps between the trees as I drew the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg from its sheath on my back.