-----E-----

„Here, I found a map of the continent.“

The next day was just beginning. I was drinking in the tavern when Vincent came up to me with a map.

„So where are we?“

„Here,“ Vincent pointed towards the southernmost place, a small peninsula.

„And here is the place we should go.“ He moved his finger towards the middle of the map.

„Is that were the human capital is?“ I asked.

„Yeah, The Kingdom of Stratos. That is this human nation's name. And the capital is called Tyrida.“

Then Vincent moved towards the southeast of the map.

„And here is The Dynami Empire, its an archipelago with five main big islands. They have also settled on the mainland, but I think we can avoid them.“

„Alright. What about this continent, what is its name?“

„Slefend.“

„Slefend?“

„Yeah and there is a second continent called Smittis, which is barely connected to Slefend, up there,“ Vincent said and pointed more northern. Smittis was connected to Slefend with a small landmass.

„I have heard that Smittis is infected by an insectoid species called Kypseli, and no human or lizards are around there.“

„I think we don't have to worry about them.“

„Yeah, our goal is just Tyrida, and hopefully we can find something there.“

We packed up our things and moved towards the next closest town called Holbeck.

----------

When Ivona and I found a pouch with 70 silver in the dungeon, we split it so Vincent and I get 25 each, and Ivona would get 20. I asked if she didn't need more than that, but she said it was fine.

When we were about to leave Penrith, we saw that there were carriages around that were moving there. The carriages were being moved by familiar horses that I have seen somewhere before. We asked if we could get a ride and they accepted, but it did cost us a fee.

It cost us 10 silver each, now we are left 26 in total. The other four silver we spent was on accommodation and food back at the tavern.

It took us the entire day to get there.

We rented a place to sleep and checked the map once again.

„Holbeck, check. Next up should be Dunwich,“ I said.

„I have heard that Dunwich is a large city. It is surrounded by the dunes and rocky outcrops.“

„So its a desert?“

„Not really, there are small patches of grass here and there. Oh, and the city is close to the Dynami Empire's border, so the city has big walls around it, and there will be many soldiers around, probably.“

„We should not worry, we haven't done anything wrong.“

„We don't know all the laws here, we might accidentally break one.“

„Then we will be careful.“

It would be bad to do something that we didn't know was illegal. We might be found out that we are not from here. Then what would happen?

„What should we do about money? We are running low.“

„Apparently, Dunwich has many artifact hunters there who can get good jobs. So we should find something there until we arrive at Tyrida.“

„I hope it would not be cleaning toilets.“

----------

We arrived at Dunwich with carriages. It took us a day and a half this time.

„Wow, these walls are big,“ I said with surprise.

The wall was about 13 to 14 meters tall and 4 to 5 meters thick. There were guards at the gate entrance.

One of them asked us about ID, and we gave him ours.

He looked at it intently. Vincent and I were praying for this to work.

„Looks good, you can pass,“ the guard said and gave us our ID's back.

I made a sigh of relieve and we went inside the city of Dunwich.

„Well. We have 4 silver left, we need to find a job if we want to go to Tyrida.“

We hopped out of the carriages and we were walking on the street.

„There should be The Artifact Hunters Guild somewhere around here. Let's go ask around.“

After a few minutes, we found out where the guild was. It was somewhere near the middle of this big city.

Then after a while of searching, we finally found it.

„This place looks nice.“

The guild building had beautiful architecture, with carved out artifact hunter statues.

„Let's go.“

The guild is an association built by artifact hunters. They help out the human army sometimes, by selling weapon artifacts or hiring mercenaries.

Inside the building were many artifact hunters. Some had artifact weapons, others had only normal ones. And I noticed that a few people had glowing armor. Artifact armor?

„Over there, let's check out that billboard.“

„Billboard?“

We walked over what looked like a quest board with many papers on. It kinda was like a screen on a space station that I am familiar with, but instead of a screen with many options for work, there were papers all around.

There were some quests for helping finding an artifact in dungeons, and others for killing hostile animals in the nearby area. I guess we could do those.

We were inspecting the quests that were available when two strong looking guys came at us.

„Hey, you there, with the shiny blaster,“ One of them said and pointed towards Vincent.

We turned towards them.

„Hmm? What do you want?“

„We were thinking that you two would want to go on a quest with us.“

Both of them were intently gazing at Vincent's blaster. And Vincent noticed it.

„Is it just me or do you guys want my artifact?“

„What? No,“ one chuckled.

Blasters really are rare. Vincent should be careful to not have it in sight of the public.

„Look, I am certain you thugs just want to lure us out and rob us. We are not going to team up with you,“ Vincent said with intimidation.

They both stared at Vincent angrily.

„What? Are you two going to strike me? Try it!“ Vincent taunted.

„Oh no,“ I said quietly.

Both of the men charged at Vincent with their fists.

Vincent drew out his blaster and aimed.

„Program. Stun Shot,“ he said casually.

Two electrical shots were fired. Both men fell down with a thud.

That was easy.

I noticed that the place got quieter. I glanced around and saw that people were watching us.

„Um, Vincent, I think you did a bad thing.“

„Huh? They started the fight.“

„Hey! You two! Come here!“ A man yelled at us.

We looked around for the voice. He was on the stairs looking angry. He had an animal fur coat around him and a metal helmet that resembles a lizard, but not the dynami lizard we know of, it was some other kind of lizard. He was noticeably bigger than us and older. At the back of his cloak, I saw a handle. Maybe a sword? A longsword?

We walked up to him. And I noticed he also had glowing armor on, with the color blue.

„What's up?“ Vincent said with confidence.

„What's up!? You do know what you did, Right!?“ He sounded really angry.

„Yeah, I defended myself.“

„You broke a rule! The rule that everyone should know!“

„And what rule is that again?“

„People are not allowed to use their artifact weapons here!“

Ohh. Crap.

„Hey, uh, I don't know this guy,“ I said and started slowly walking away.

„It's obvious you two know each other! Come to my office we'll talk there!“

Does he own this place? If so then we might be in more trouble than I thought.

„What about the guys on the floor?“ I asked.

„I will have someone help them up.“

We arrived at his office and he pointed towards two seats, and then walked to his desk and sat down. The office had many artifact weapons around, and some minor artifacts. And there were also heads of monsters on the walls.

We took our seats.

„Now, tell me why he used his artifact.“

„Well they...“ Vincent started but was cut off.

„Not you! Him!“ he pointed towards me.

„Huh? Why should I tell you what happened?“ I asked.

„I want to know what you saw.“

„Um, well, before I tell you, can we exchange names?“

„Don't you know who I am?!“ He asked in surprise.

What. . . Should every artifact hunter know him? Is he famous or something?

„No?“ Vincent and I both said.

„Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable. I am Wilmer Westbrook! The one who killed one of the biggest beasts around! And the son of the founder of The Artifact Hunters Guild!“

Oh, yeah that should be someone we should know.

„Oh, right, haha, sorry we kind of forgot your name.“

Oh my god Vincent, shut up.

„Are you trying to anger me?“ Wilmer got up close.

„Alright, anyways.“ I tried stopping them until a fight would ensue.

„My name is Ethan Shield, and that overly casual and composed guy is Vincent Grey.“

„Vincent grey? I will remember that name for a long time.“

He backed off from Vincent.

„Now, Ethan was it? Tell me what happened.“

„It's simple, they were hostile towards us, and we defended ourselves.“

„Did you do something as well?" He asked me.

„Well, no.“

„So Vincent here was the only one to use his artifact?“

I nodded. I glanced at Vincent. He still had his composure.

„What kind of program did he use?“

„It was a stun shot. It would immobilize his target.“

„A stun shot, hm?“

„Yes.“

Wilmer thought for a second.

„Well if it was only a stun, then it should be fine.“

„Can we then...“

„BUT!" He cut me off. „It is this only time I would give you a warning. Next time either of you breaks a rule around here, then expect a harsher penalty.“

A harsher penalty? Does that mean we will get a warning and a small punishment?

„So, what is the penalty?“ Vincent asked.

Wilmer grinned.

I did not like that grin.

„You two are going on a journey to Mount Kamlin, and deliver supplies to an old man named Darryl.“

Mount Kamlin? Is that a mountain? And just deliver supplies? I thought it would have been something more dangerous.

„Question. Will we be awarded?“ I asked.

Vincent gazed at me.

„You dumbass. This is a penalty. We won't get anything from this.“

Ahh, I guess he is right about that.

„Well. . .“ Wilmer started.

We looked over at him.

„If you two deliver it quickly, I might give some sort of reward. But don't expect it to be big!“

----------

We walked out of the guild building with two bags of supplies.

„Good job Vincent.“

„What?“

„Dude, you immediately broke a rule when we entered the city. The one thing we were being cautious about.“

„Well, it's not my fault that I did not know that was illegal.“

I stared at him blankly.

„This is not a space station. If it was, then you would have been allowed. Self defense only, of course.“

Vincent sighed.

„Oh whatever, let's finish this quickly so we might get something out of this,“ he said.

„Back to business then, what should we do with our backpacks?“

We had our backpacks, but now we had two extra with full of supplies.

„Eh, we can't put it away in a supply room or a bank. It would cost us. And we don't have enough money.“

„Then what about stashing it somewhere?“

„I guess that will do. We can't bring everything with us, if we do then we would be slowed down a lot.“

So we agreed to stash it in a safe place.

Mount Kamlin was close to Dunwich, and Wilmer told us where to find the start of the road towards this old guy's house.

Who is this Darryl? And why does he live on a mountain? What does he do there exactly? I guess we will find out.

Wilmer told us we could sleep for the night, for free, because the day was about to end. Then after that, we had about 4 days to go up the mountain and go back down.

This will be an interesting journey.