“Oh...”
I opened my eyes. An earthy smell filled my nose. I slowly sat up and saw a wall in front of me. Its bricks were faded with age and cracked all over. I didn’t think anyone would call this a fine building, even if they were trying to be nice.
The sun had already climbed high in the sky. My head felt like it was filled with fog. When I rubbed my cheek with my sleeve, I felt bits of grit scratch against my skin.
“Guess I fell asleep.”
Right... We came to this port town yesterday. Uncle Lehmar had taken me to a slaver’s, and I’d run away and hidden in this alleyway before falling asleep on the spot. If only it’d all been a dream.
My mind was blank. I sat there, with my back resting against the old brick wall, and stared up at the sky. I felt weak and unsteady, and I didn’t want to move. Not a single finger. What would I do, anyway? I didn’t want to think about it.
“Uncle Lehmar... He’s not looking for me anymore, is he?”
Hours had gone by. I didn’t have to worry anymore, right? I felt relieved for a few moments, but then anxiety washed over me. I was truly alone now. What was I going to do?
As I looked up at the bright sky, tears stung my eyes. But before any could fall, my stomach growled.
“I’m starving...”
I hadn’t eaten a single thing since lunch yesterday. Now that I knew I was hungry, I realized my throat was dry too. It left me feeling even more hopeless than before. I didn’t want to do anything, but I knew I couldn’t just sit there. So I tried to stand up—I managed to. Then I tried walking—I could. Still, my mind was as blank as a sheet of paper. I didn’t want to think.
I found myself on a wide road all of a sudden. Nothing bad happened, but I shrank back and hid against the wall anyway. After a few moments, I gathered up enough courage to peer up and down the road. Rows of two-story buildings lined each side. None of the buildings in my village had an upstairs. I’d only ever heard of buildings with upper floors from the priest’s stories. But these buildings were everywhere, here. This town was really something.
There was something scary about walking down the middle of the road, so I stayed off to one side. I wasn’t alone on the street. A handful of people walked by me, and there was a flower seller working at a stall, but not a single person even seemed to notice me. I kept going, glancing up anxiously at the tall buildings as if one of them might topple over at any moment and squash me flat.
A bookstore. A locksmith. An apothecary. I tried to read every shop sign I saw on the way. Does this one sell pots? And this one sells stone? Is that a cloth shop? I couldn’t read all of the words, but a peek inside soon told me what they sold. An inn. A blacksmith. A leather goods store. A restaurant.
“Can’t get anything without money, though, huh...” I murmured. All I had was the clothes on my back.
I smelled something tasty from inside the restaurant and paused for just a few moments in front of the sign before moving on. I was hungry, but they’d have nothing for a kid who couldn’t pay.
I held my growling stomach and looked up at the next sign: Adventurer’s Guild.
I stopped and stared. The guild’s name was written underneath, but I couldn’t read the scrawly letters. Probably characters I didn’t know. I looked the building up and down. It was large, like the others I’d seen, with an upstairs and downstairs. Pieces of sturdy iron strengthened the wooden window frames, and a symbol of a horse with a fish’s tail instead of back legs was painted on the front of the building.
My head still felt foggy, and my legs wobbled as I headed for the guild entrance. I reached for the door—then hesitated, pulling my hand away. But I couldn’t turn back either. So I gulped and slowly pushed on the door. The dry, creaky hinges squealed as the door swung open.
It was dim inside. The first thing I noticed was that meals were served here. A man and woman in strange outfits were eating at a table. That man... He was wearing metal armor. I’d only ever seen something like that gathering dust in the village chief’s house. The woman sitting across from him had a pointy hat, just like the ones mages wore in a book I’d read. There were a handful of other people in the back of the dingy space, all of them wearing some sort of unusual clothing. Nervously, I stepped inside.
There was a counter in an area separate from where people were eating. A big, muscly man with a grim face sat behind it. He was reading over some kind of document but looked up when he noticed me.
“Hey. Got a request?” the man asked.
His eyes were full of doubt as he looked at me. He also had the deepest voice I’d ever heard. I could almost feel it echo in my empty stomach. I was about to turn back and leave, until I remembered that I had nowhere else to go. I clenched my hands. Right now, this was the only way I could think of to make a living in this strange town.
“I... I want to...become an adventurer,” I said, my voice tiny and trembling.