Chapter 5: Delivery Boy.

Unfurling the scroll-like map, Tobi let his eyes fall on the picture and absorb what he was seeing. Having expected to see a simple road map, it was a welcome surprise to see it was actually an economic map. The map not only shown the city of Brackley and its surrounding area, but also used small symbols to mark each area and various buildings.

Unsure of where he was exactly in relation to the map, Tobi looked around his immediate area to see if he could find something that would help position himself on the map. The buildings he could see ahead were all timber-framed constructions with various designs. Some had whitewash walls, some were painted red or blue or various other colours, some were three stories tall and slim, others were two stories tall and twice as wide. There didn’t seem to be any pattern or design to the layout, just a haphazard collection of buildings built with a specific purpose in mind. Unfortunately, Tobi didn’t know what those purposes were, and to find out where he was on the map, he would really need to find out.

Taking another look at the map, Tobi focused his attention on all the symbols that only appeared once: A green-coloured leaf, a purple potion, a sparkling wand, a stack of logs and a dollar sign were the first Tobi took note of; mostly because they were all located relatively close to the middle of the city. Along with the symbols were a few other landmarks Tobi would be able to use. A citadel looking building in one corner of the city, a large fountain surrounded by what might possibly be a market place on another side of the city, a large building with a surrounding wall in the center of the city and a windmill just outside the city standing between a cereal farm and a river.

With all the places Tobi could use as reference points, Tobi lift his head back from the map and looked to the many people walking the streets. The people he could see were mostly like those of the tutorial village; wearing casual, plain clothes that didn’t mark what class they belonged to. The lesser majority wore clothes that clearly indicated what kind of class to expect they belonged to, such as a group of metal-clad warriors marching directly toward him.

Standing in place as the men approached, Tobi wondered what was going on. He’d been in the city for all of two minutes, they couldn’t possibly be coming for him!

When the men were no more than three feet away, the formation altered slightly, allowing the group to walk right on by without coming into contact with him. The process was so smooth, Tobi was left standing in a daze at their efficiency. Not a single one of the men that passed so much as gave him a single glance. They just marched passed and entered the gates to the building at Tobi’s back.

The moment he saw the building the men were walking toward, Tobi felt like an idiot. The building was three stories tall and at least four times as wide as the others in the area. Two large, wooden doors hung open a top a small flight of steps with a pebbledash path leading from the steps to the gate. A garden sat on either side of the path with a small statue at the center of either garden. None of those things mattered though. What mattered was the very large gold coin built into the wall above the doors. The gold coin was the same as symbol that could be found on his map. The kind of symbol that only appeared once.

‘Of course a Merchant would start at the bank. Where else would I start?’ Tobi ridiculed inwardly.

Figuring a Merchant starting outside the bank would have some meaning, Tobi followed the soldiers and also made his way inside.

“Welcome to the Merchant Guild,” A young, skinny man called out to the soldiers as they entered, giving a wide smile and opening his arms as if ready to embrace them in the next moment, “how can I be of assistance today?”

The lead soldier handed over a single piece of paper and waited. The young man read it slowly and began to smile again once he’d finished, “Excellent. You can take this directly to the payment counter. Congratulations on your success. If you need anything else before you leave, feel free to come and find me.”

The soldier gave a brief nod and guided his men to another side of the large room where a queue of people were already waiting.

“Oh? A Merchant I don’t recognize. New to the city?” The young man asked, this time directing his words to Tobi and holding his hand out.

“Yes,” Tobi mumbled, automatically reaching out to shake the man’s hand without thinking.

Pausing only for a second, his facial expression barely faltering, the young man slowly nodded before a light lit up in his eyes and his smile became much bigger, “It seems our humble Guild has left you a little awed.”

“Yeah...” Tobi agreed, his head automatically nodding along with the man in front of him. The admittance instantly made the young man even happier, pride showing through on his face.

“Our guild is not as big as some of the other cities, but we’re not lacking either. Which city have you come from?”

Breaking out of his momentary daze, Tobi considered the question for a second before realizing that there had been a misunderstanding. The young man was obviously a person from Aevitas, not a player. Unsure of how to answer, Tobi maintained his silence and shrugged.

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tobi smiled in response, happy to dodge the question with another misunderstanding.

“So. What can I do for you?”

“I’m not sure. Like you said, I am new to the city. I don’t know anyone and I don’t have much money either. Nor do I have any professions to build up some trade. What would you suggest I do to get started?”

“Hmm.” Pressing a finger to his lips and frowning in thought, the young man stared toward the floor and considered the question seriously. After a few moments, the man glanced toward a reception desk to the left side of the room, “I’m not really confident about this, but if I were in your shoes, I would use the Merchant Guild’s mission board to raise some capital. It will help you become more familiar with the city. It won’t earn you much, but it will be enough to stay afloat for a while.”

Despite the doubt on the young man’s face, Tobi thought the idea sounded perfect. Completing a few quest missions to get used to the city was exactly what he needed, “Sounds good to me. Is that what those soldiers are doing here too? Handing in a mission?”

Already starting to guide Tobi toward the reception desk, the young man glanced back to the soldiers and shook his head, “Those guys were hired by someone else. We’re just the middlemen. We don’t give out those kinds of dangerous missions here. Mostly it’s just deliveries and setting up contracts for other people. Pretty standard stuff.”

Having said as much, the young man hit the bell on the counter and gave Tobi an apologetic smile, “Leesa is pretty weird, but she is at least capable. Just don’t let her send you to the slum side of the city.”

Guessing Leesa was the reception person they were waiting for, Tobi smiled back and said nothing. The reception woman, Leesa, appeared a few seconds later, looking rushed and flustered.

“Lyle, what is it, I’m busy.”

“You’re supposed to be busy manning the welcome desk.” the young man snapped back, “What were you doing anyway? In fact, nevermind that, my friend here has had a bit of a setback and wants to complete a few contracts from our mission board. He’s new to the city, so don’t go sending him into the slums.”

Turning her head toward Tobi, the girls aggressive stance lightened noticeably. After giving him a once over, she smiled slightly and took her place at the desk, “Hi, my name’s Leesa. What’s yours?”

“Tobi…”

“Tobi. I like it. It has a nice ring to it. You’re new around here? Did your family come with you?”

“...Uh, no, just me.”

“No wife? Girlfriend? Some princess back home mourning for her loved one to return?”

Bewildered and caught off guard by the random conversation topic, Tobi hesitated and glanced back at Lyle.

Lyle just shrugged casually, his obvious dislike for Leesa evident on his face, “Now you know what I meant earlier. I will leave you to it. Come and find me if you need anything else.”

“So, any princess back home?” Leesa prompted again as Lyle left.

“No.”

“Good. My favourite food is Foxtail Soup, served with spiced bread. For the main course I like to have Hibernating Bear with Black Magic Sauce. For dessert, I like those Poppy Seed Cakes with Passionfruit Curd that the Travellers make.”

“OK…?”

“Now when you ask me out to dinner sometime, you know how to impress me.” Leesa beamed back happily, not even slightly doubting that Tobi would ask her out eventually.

While Tobi thought she was good looking, and appeared to be around a similar age, he wasn’t interested at all. She had all the charms of a woman, with all the right parts in all the right places; well proportioned too with a smile that could be infectious, but that was all nothing if the person wasn’t real. Tobi couldn’t really tell if she was a player or not, but that didn’t matter to begin with. A player could alter their appearance to look however they wanted, just like how Tobi had altered his own appearance to remove the self-perceived flaws. A non-Player, on the other hand, wasn’t real at all—which was probably even worse.

“Perhaps some other time,” Tobi answered, politely, “like Lyle said, I am a bit low on funds at the minute. Could you show me some of those missions?”

“Heh, sure.” Leesa replied happily, slapping a stack of papers onto the desk for Tobi to look through, “These are today’s Guild missions, but don’t worry about not having enough, we will have more tomorrow.”

‘Enough?’ Tobi echoed mentally, ‘There must be about fifty missions here…’

Leafing through the pages, Tobi quickly noticed a pattern among the missions and separated them into piles. The left pile was for the rejected, the middle for maybe and the right were missions he would accept. To be more specific however, the only missions he planned to accept were delivery missions.

Delivery Mission Contract.

Transport two cases of Sorrow Seeds from the Merchant Guild Depository to the Alchemy Guild Warehouse.

Rewards: 4 Copper and increased prestige with the Merchant Guild.

Delivery Mission Contract.

Transport four casks of Farmers Ale from the Merchant Guild Depository to the Sword and Shield Inn.

Rewards: 4 Copper and a free drink at the Tavern upon delivery.

Delivery Mission Contract.

Pick up 10 sacks of flour from old man Daiyan’s farm and deliver them to Miss Bakewell’s bakery by the city fountain.

Rewards: 5 Copper.

As the list of missions on the accepted pile continued to increase, Leesa raised an eyebrow and began sorting through the rest of the pile with speed. In a matter of seconds, the pile had been split into four stacks, the fourth stack consisting entirely of delivery missions and nothing else. Thanking Leesa for her help, he abandoned the other piles and focused solely on that one. Once he had ten deliveries he was satisfied with, Tobi registered them with the Guild and set off. Now he knew where he was on the map, the rest should be relatively easy. Or at least he hoped so. There was only so much time before he had to log off, afterall.

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