You sleep for around 4 hours.

You go through your memories of the past days as you wait for the sun to rise. For someone who can’t remember a thing about his past, you certainly seem to have an exceptional memory of the past few days.

Precise would be the word.

Every moment in your memories stands clear — the sights, the sounds, even tactile sensations.

You imprint the names and faces of several townspeople the hunters called by name or perhaps ones you just heard in passing. They may come in handy one of these days.

The sun begins to rise as you go through what’s little of your memory. You decide to head to the town gate you entered with the hunters.

You see one of the guards from last night, clearly nearing the end of his shift.

You raise your hand in greetings.

“Up so early? The guard asks as you approach him.

“Going out for a run,” you answer. “Just to take a measure of the town.”

He looks at you with a bit of suspicion but soon decided it was a hunter thing. Lots of hunters ran as a form of training or part of their regimen — and you can see a few people already starting their runs outside of town.

The guard lets you pass. “Stay close to the town,” he strongly suggests as you pass the gate. “Goblins have been spotted on the outskirts.”

“Goblins, huh,” you reply, seemingly surprised. “I’ll keep an eye out for them,” you say as you wave at the guard.

You start running. More as a cover for your nightly adventure than for exercise. You silently hum as you run — practicing the skill you developed the night before.

You run around the perimeter of the town at a leisurely pace, spending 20 minutes to make a full circle. You could have crossed the distance in half the time if you made a bit of an effort, but you’re trying not to stand out this early in your stay.

You spend another 20 minutes running — this time making a conscious effort to sweat. While it may be inefficient, your lack of sweat might get noticed by the already suspicious guard.

You end your run back where you started and the guard just gives you a nod as you pass by.

You take a more circuitous route, getting familiar with most of the shops along your route.

You enter a few of the open shops and introduce yourself as a new hunter and hopefully one of Eomer’s crew. Everyone you talk to is quite receptive — even friendly. Eomer seems to have a good reputation in the town.

You leave the shops with a clearer idea of the workings of the town as well as the price of some goods.

Satisfied with your morning outing, you finally head back to your temporary home in Thomas’ place.

Thomas is still sleeping when you get back. He doesn’t snore but you can hear his breathing with a little bit of focus. You line up the archery targets and decide to go for some archery practice — not that you need it.

You string a bow stored in your room and take a few arrows. The bow has a decent draw weight and the arrows are immaculately straight.

You fire a few arrows at the targets. All hit their mark. You try switching hands but still the same result. Though you prefer your right hand, it seems switching hands doesn’t make much difference.

You try making the shots more difficult by moving, rolling on the ground, and shooting while off the ground — no difference, all hit their mark.

You’ve noticed for a while that Thomas has been up and is watching you perform your drills. You made a note to pay attention to his breathing with your keen hearing, even as you went on shooting arrows.

He finally leaves the house. “Nice shooting,” he says, clearly impressed with your made-up drills. “But must you dirty those newly-laundered clothes?”

“Sorry,” you apologize as you try to get the dust and dirt off your clothing.

You now have twice the number of excuses for your somewhat dirty clothes — not that Thomas is even the least bit suspicious.

“Breakfast,” he says, gesturing out into the street.

The two of you head to the Hungry Cat once again. It seems like a luxurious way to live, but it’s not for you to comment.

Breakfast was a lamb-filled omelet and a concoction similar to chocolate. Thomas spends a few minutes chatting up Alice for news and gossip.

It seems like bandits have been spotted in the north and you hear talks of goblins in the forest. That last rumor you can confirm was real — but you already dealt with those goblins last night.

After a few minutes of idle chat, Thomas finally gets up, telling you it’s time to meet up with the other hunters.

You arrive at the Guild — a three-story building with a significantly large courtyard. You can see what you assume are adventurers entering the building. Most are armed with spears, but you see a few with swords and shields. You sense a few casters mixed in with their parties, but you don’t know what to make of them for now.

The first floor of the guild is reserved for processing and turning in materials from quests as well as emergency treatments and minor healing. Thomas proudly says that the guild at Ashford has some of the best healers you can buy.

You see a few wounded adventurers being led by their companions to receive this healing and you are indeed intrigued by this magical method.

The concept of healing with magic feels alien and even a little repulsive to you — but you have no idea why. In this unfamiliar world, it might be prudent to get to know all you can about what they call magic — especially this healing type.

“The guild is also the sole buyer of all adventurer goods,” says Thomas. “Almost every shop will purchase directly from the guild when it comes to specific materials.”

“Isn’t that a bit too tyrannical?” You frown at the system — it sounds like a manipulative or dictatorial cartel.

“Not really,” Thomas explains. “The guild is more of a cooperative owned by adventurers. It dictates pricing so both sides don’t take advantage of the other.”

“They also take care of an adventurer’s family when…,” Thomas adds.

“I see,” you say solemnly — seeing the guild in a new light.

You go up to the second floor — where the guild posts requests, bounties, and odd jobs. There are several tables for adventurers and you can see a couple of attendants behind two counters.

The attendants on the second floor answer questions about the posted requests and jobs, while those below confirm the completion of a quest and handle any materials involved.

It seems anyone can take a posted quest unless otherwise stated. Most quests are semi-permanent, like the ones related to herb gathering and hunting. A few of the quests are marked for experienced or skilled adventurers — but anyone can still attempt them if they feel confident or desperate enough.

Still, the attendants are there to offer help or dissuade over-eager adventurers. The guild can’t have every greenhorn rushing into danger. It won’t be profitable and it would leave a bad mark on the guild.

There are no ranking systems — but reputation counts for a lot.

Well-paying clients can ask for specific individuals or adventuring groups, and the guild can forward the requests.

After a few minutes, you see Eomer and Trent arrive. Bruce and Dune follow shortly after — clearly in high spirits.

Eomer starts to divide the loot.

“We hit it big lads,” he starts. “We managed to haggle up to 80 gold for each of those boars”

Trent confirms this with a nod and the rest of the hunters seem happy.

The three younger hunters get 40 gold each while the older hunters get 60. The guild offered an additional reward of 20 gold per boar, so everyone got an additional 10 gold while it was decided that Eomer gets 20 because of his pregnant wife.

All in all the younger hunters received 50 gold each, Trent got 70, and Eomer 80.

From your short walk earlier in the morning, you surmise that 20 gold should be enough to live comfortably for around a month — maybe longer if you didn’t eat out.

Finally, it was your turn and the younger hunters were eager to see how much your cores and pelts went for.

“The runed bear’s core got sold for 100 gold,” says Eomer.

Surprised gasps came from the younger hunters. A single beast core earned almost half as much as their three-day hunting trip.

“The frost wolf cores sold for 10 each,” he continued. “The bear pelt sold for 50 gold and the wolf pelt sold for another 10.”

“You are rich Caleb!” exclaims Thomas. “Now you’ll be the one paying for the meals and maybe you can tidy up your shed,” he jokingly said.

“Hahaha,” you laugh in turn. “Meals are on me for the week as long as it’s just at the Hungry Cat.”

Your total haul was 180 gold, almost matching what the hunters made from selling 3 intact boars. A few meals wouldn’t make a dent in your budget, at least for the moment.

Eomer distributes several pouches — with yours being significantly larger.

“The guild can store your money for a small fee,” he suggests, “or do you have other plans with your gold?”

“I’m planning to buy a few items,” you reply. “I need to get my own equipment if I want to be a regular part of your group.”

“Are you still interested in those magic books?” Thomas asks. “We could ask around the guild if they know shops that have them.”

“Maybe after,” you answer. “What I need now is a decent bow, a spear, armor, and a few sets of clothing.”

“I’ll take the boy,” offers Trent. “He needs a proper smith for his weapons and armor and I can put a good word to Torm the smith.”

“We’re off then,” says Dune. He seems to be eager to use his gold for something important.

“See you at dinner then,” Thomas reminds you with a smirk.

“If the new guy is paying, count me in,” says Bruce.

Eomer merely smiles and nods. He stands up from his seat, muttering something about clearing a few things with the guild and then proceeds to one of the attendants.

The three younger hunters leave as a group and you catch one of them mentioning a trip to a place called Briar Red.

“To the shops then,” says the veteran hunter. He heads to the stairs and you follow behind him.