Once all of his personal armour was placed on the counter, Sophie sifted through them one by one.

“I’ll try my best to fix them,” she said as she touched the armour pieces. “But they’re in a really bad shape and I don’t have much to work with.

“Can you use these as material?” Regis put the bundle of leather armours on the counter.

The elven girl untied the bundle, spreading its contents across the old wooden table behind her. She rummaged through the different pieces, picking out the most damaged ones from it. Once done, she returned to the counter.

“I can dismantle these to use them as spare parts, but the rest is still in a good enough condition to wear. I know it’s not my place to say, but it would be better to switch a few of your personal armour pieces with these spare ones. They’re in a much better condition, so it would be easier to fix them.”

“That does make sense,” Regis nodded as he looked back at his trashed equipment. “Do you accept spare gear as payment? I’m not quite sure yet how the coins work here and these things only take up space if I keep them.”

Sophie’s eyes lit up when she heard his offer, but she didn’t say anything until the blacksmith nodded on the matter.

“Sure, I’ll take them, but there’s much more than what my work would ask for. I mean, repairing these would only take an hour or two.”

“Then could you make something out of it for me?”

“Like what?” She asked eagerly, almost tripping over her own feet.

“I could use a helmet, if you’re up to it. I don’t need anything fancy, just a simple, but solid piece.”

“Sure,” Sophie nodded. “There wouldn’t be any problem cutting apart one of the torn gambesons or pauldrons to make a standard leather helmet for you. When will you need it?”

“I’ll come back at dusk.”

“What about that one?” The tall woman pointed at the sheathed iron knife on his side.

Regis pulled it free to take a look at it, but it only had a few rust spots and a slightly dulled edge.”

“An iron blade,” the blacksmith mumbled. “Looks like you’ve got lucky. Few people seem to have iron weapons around. I’ll sharpen it for you if you want.”

“Thanks! That would be nice. I struck bone with it a few times during my fights.”

“Yeah, I can see that. Now let’s talk about the payment.”

“I kind of hoarded a bunch during the night. Most of the bronze daggers and swords I’ve got are better off being melted down though. I do have a decent mace you could use or sell, but I’m sure you can make use of most of them.” Regis offered up the damaged items, Sophie’s eyes still glued at his hoard.

“Is something wrong?” He asked, earning a head shake and a stuttered answer.

“I was just looking at those bows you have. They are in a pretty good shape.”

“Oh,” the young dark elf grabbed the tied up trio of recurve bows, holding them up. “Are you interested in them? I got a few quivers as well, if you want to trade for them.”

“I…”

“Well, you do have a lot of good stuff here,” the tall woman cut into their chat as she looked at her friend before turning back towards the small bundle of bronze swords. “But I don’t know what to trade for them. A sharpening and polish isn’t worth more than one of those weapons, not to mention the bows. They’re a bit hard to come by unless you get to scavenge them from the battlefield. You’ll lose out too much if you just dump these on us.”

“Well, some bronze plating would be dope to have on my armour if possible. Also; it might sound stupid, but do you have a couple of bronze bars to exchange, or maybe an air elemental stone or some arcanite lying around? Maybe you’ve picked up some magical doodads last night? I’d be more than happy to trade for any of those. This pile of spares will only draw attention if I keep lugging it around with me.”

“I’m sure Sophie could stitch up a few small bronze sheets on your gambeson and armguards to reinforce them. I also have a thumb sized piece sparkly stone that I took from this broken wood thingy that I can’t recognise or have the means to use,” she nodded as she placed three bronze bars on the table before pulling a chestnut sized star dotted black stone from one of her pouches with a sigh. “Honestly though; would have been happier if you'd have paid with rations instead of spare equipment. We’ve been out there the whole night and they barely gave us any food when we got back. Not enough kills, or whatever.”

“I’ll see what I can get later.” Regis promised as he left the pile of loot on the counter and stashed the bronze bars and the sparkly stone.

“Don’t worry; your armour will be ready by the time you get back at dusk. Then we can head out together, if you want to.”

“You’re going to fight as well?” he asked surprised. “Will you even have time to sleep?”

“Don’t worry! I’ll sleep while the new bronze bars are cooling down. And besides; how else are we girls supposed to make a living here?”

“It might be scary,” Sophie spoke meekly. “But we really have no other choice. The monsters will keep coming, so we have to be strong enough to get out of here. They won’t just let us leave.”

“True,” Regis sighed, “I’ll be back before sun set then. See you later…”

“Amanda.” The tall woman noted.

“Yes. And you too Sophie.” He mumbled awkwardly as he walked away.

A few moments later Norma joined up with him, this time without the tied up refugee.

“So, you’re an outlander, eh? You sure fooled me.”

“You never asked, if I was one.” He shrugged.

“True, but some folks would be quite wary towards you guys.”

“Would they be any more cautious than towards a dark elf?” Regis scoffed out of instinct.

“No,” Norma chuckled. “I guess not. It looks like you’ve really got the worst of it. Anyways, we still need to get our share of the rations before some other idiot eats it in our absence.”

“Lead the way.” He agreed as he followed the guardswoman through the crowd.

Amanda wasn’t lying though. When they finally reached the entrance of the guards’ barracks, he had to fight back his urge to curse when he saw the portions given to the refugees that stood in line. He watched as the line moved forward one at a time, a strange robe wearing man leading the distribution.

“Who’s that guy?” He asked quietly.

“That’s one of the wizards we have. I don’t know his name, but people like him wouldn’t talk to us either way.”

“Why not?”

“Because the city lord’s spell casters are all arrogant pricks,” Norma cursed. “They have a high standing due to their powerful spells, so they won’t mingle with us common folks. You won’t see them on the ramparts outside the city either. The council and the baron think they’re too important to use for such simple tasks. Only for the truly hard fights will they send one or two as reinforcements to cull the undead’s numbers. Until then, it’s all on us.”

The line moved forwards while Norma explained and a good ten minutes later they finally got a few steps away from the table. Regis could finally see how the distribution actually worked. Those who weren’t shardwakers had to hand in the left thumbs of their fallen enemies, while shardwakers simply had to hold their marks under the wizard’s sceptre. Once done, they would receive some food and a flask of water in a small cloth sack. When it was finally Regis’ turn to get his earnings, the robed man held his lavishly crafted sceptre an inch above his mark. A faint tingling ran through his hand as a light shone from the magic item.

“Name?” The scribe asked without even looking up from his long ass scroll.

“Regis.” The short answer came as he stared at the sceptre.

“He recently killed twenty-seven level 3 enemies and twelve level 4 ones. He also killed a level 5 undead and a 7th level abomination.” The wizard listed out in surprise as he eyed up the young elf.

“That’s quite the kill count,” the scribe with the pen behind the table noted as he recorded the numbers mentioned by the mage. “Killing ten or more level 3 undead would earn you half a loaf of bread with a small flask of clean water. Ten or more level 4 monsters would get you a whole loaf, or some dried meat with vegetables and a flask of clean water. That level 5 fallen on the other hand could get you quite a feast. You could also turn them all in for about five and a half portions of dried rations and a medium sized waterskin with clean water. The level 7 abomination is another thing entirely. You’ll have to wait for sir wizard over here to lead you over to the reliquary for your reward. So, what will it be? Do you want rations, or fresh food?”

Regis had little to no idea what the man was talking about, so he turned towards Norma with a puzzled look on his face. She stared back at him for a second before shaking her head, sighing deeply as she turned towards the scribe.

“Give him a loaf of bread with some vegetables and the waterskin. The rest is good in rations. He can eat or trade those if necessary.”

“And you are?”

“I’m Norma from the 9th guard troops. Captain Grego put me in charge of the lad while he’s with our group.”

“I see,” the scribe nodded. “Very well. He’ll get a loaf of bread with 2 carrots and an apple. He’ll also receive a medium waterskin, along with 3 rations and a small pouch of salt to make the numbers round. Is that aggregable?”

“Yes.” Norma answered as a soldier placed everything into a small cloth sack and handed it over to the young dark elf.

While taking the cloth sack, another round of golden letters flickered to life in front of his eyes.

{Your act of answering Hunor’s call for aid did not go unnoticed. Your deeds have been recorded and you have received 182 renown points. You have received 182 reputation points.}

{Renown necessary towards caste elevation: 1318}

{Reputation necessary towards Hunor standing elevation: 318}

‘I’ve told you to stay the fuck out of my head!’ He thought as he read the glowing words. While it was the guardswoman’s turn to name her payment, Regis turned towards the well-dressed man with the sceptre.

“Is this your first time seeing a wizard?” The man asked with obvious annoyance.

“Is it that obvious?” Regis answered with a frown.

“Yes. It is.”

“I only wanted to ask, if there’s a local spell casters’ guild around here?”

“Are you a talent yourself?” The man looked at him while walking as Regis raised his hand, creating a small quartz crystal in his palm.

“I see,” The man nodded approvingly. “I don’t have the time to take you there right now, but maybe in the coming days I can show the guild to you. We welcome any mages, wizards and even warlocks of some morality.

“You let warlocks in as well?” He couldn’t help but look at the man with a slight distaste.

“These are trying times, boy, and we don’t discriminate about the origins of one’s power. Within reasons, of course. There are enchantments at place to keep out those that would be too much of a trouble. Come on! Your reward is over here,” the wizard opened a door at the side of the barracks. “The baron’s men managed to save a few smaller crates of skill gems and spell crystals from the wreckage of a ship that failed to leave port, so we keep a few of them here to hand out as a reward for people who manage to kill those fallen ones that reached the 7th level or above. Take a look at the displays and pick one for yourself.”

Regis looked at the small room that had five tables inside. These tables had long wooden cases on them that each held about a dozen carved crystals. Most of the crystals had either a faded red or green colour. These stones all had beginner melee and ranged skills infused in them. What caught the dark elf’s attention were the four mystical stones that had different colours from the rest. The first touched a stone that seemed to have a small flame burning inside. It turned out to be an ember seed like the one he absorbed earlier.

The second of the remaining stones was also an ember seed, while the last two Regis found were a wind seed and a shadow seed. The latter would have been useless to him, since he already had an affinity for the darkness element. The element of air however sounded much more useful, so he picked that one.

“You’ve picked the wind seed? That’s a good choice. The element of air goes well with fire magic, or just in general. You should go now. I have other matters to attend to and you’ve already got your reward as well.”

“Indeed,” Regis said. “I have to get some food and sleep if I want to keep going.”

He turned around and headed towards the gate of the barracks, searching for Norma in the crowd, but she was already gone. While looking around, his eyes fell on a display board with different parchments nailed to it. A closer look revealed several wanted posters brought along from Ecragurne, with rough drawings and descriptions of the people that needed to be apprehended. Among the many names and faces, a familiar one caught his attention. It was the drawing of a shaggy bearded man with a small wave like cut beside his left eye.

“Bray of Mudbrook is wanted for murder, thievery and treason. Anyone who can lead the guards to his trail will get 5 gold. Bringing him in alive is worth 20 gold.” He read quietly, his eyes stopping on the prize.

Bray had a high enough prize on his head to make most people want to hunt him down, but not Regis. He had good instincts, yet he felt no danger from the old man when they first met. And besides, he had no reason to turn him in, even if Bray really did those things. He wasn’t a saint either, not to mention that the elderly fellow told him a lot of useful things before. Bray even gave him a safe place to stay in a city that was far from welcoming towards him. Norma and the guards might let him sleep in one of the corners of their barracks, but he needed a safe place away from prying eyes.

With no better idea coming up, he headed back towards the alley where the sewer’s entrance was. After a down heartening walk through the miserable and crowded market, he noticed the same mother and daughter duo whose conversation he heard the day before. The woman had deep circles under her eyes while the child sat beside her with a thin and dirt smeared face. Regis sighed as his shoulder slouched a bit. He reached into the cloth sack he was carrying and pulled out a small bundle while walking. As he reached the duo, he slowed down and bent forward a little, holding the bundle towards the mother.

“What?” The woman asked warily as she stared at him.

“Your daughter looks like she could use something to eat.” He answered with the calmest and most reassuring tone he could muster.

The woman reached out with a shaky hand, accepting the small bundle with her eyes still bearing into Regis’ soul with an intense gaze. The young dark elf slowly backed away a bit before giving a small nod and heading out once more. With his daily good deed done and one less ration in his bag, he continued his hurried steps through the narrow streets.