Chapter 4
Born to Shop
Axios, Upper Midgard
13 Ianuarius 652
The initial orientation at the Guild Hall had not changed much in the fifteen years since Pawel and Zofiya were first summoned. The fundamentals of the World and the Game were explained in further detail, the children were issued the rest of their starter gear, they were informed of their Job assignments, and lastly they allocated their bonus points before being released to shop for equipment and provisions in the Mercantile District with the meager one hundred denarii every new Adventurer was provided. The amount was meager by Adventurer standards, of course. For the People of the World, a hundred denarii was a solid week's wages for a common laborer.
While there was a guide from the Guild to show the young Rookies around and make recommendations, the trio of Arjun, Fedor and Zsuzsanna hung back with Pawel and Zofiya. The other children followed after the guide, but several of them would occasionally glance back at the little family of five, almost like they were expecting the more experienced Adventurers to know some tricks the guide did not. Those instincts would serve them well.
Arjun weighed his coin pouch in his hand and said, "This feels like a lot of money, but the way you were looking, I don't think it is."
"It seems like a lot when you're just startin' out," Pawel said, "when you don't know how much things cost. What you've got in your hand right there, that's just enough to buy a decent Bronze Knife. Believe it or not, you could get two Bronze Swords for the same price."
"Why is a knife more expensive than a sword?"
"Most aren't, but almost everyone starting out wants a sword regardless of their Job, so Bronze Swords are made cheaply and don't have as sharp of an edge. Their only advantage is their reach, and if your Job has a proficiency for swords."
"What's proficiency?" Fedor asked.
"It's how good you are with something, like a weapon. Some Jobs give you a natural proficiency for certain weapon types. Your Patron's first Blessing will give you a boost, too."
"They didn't say anything about Patrons," Arjun said.
"That'll come after we're done shopping. We'll go back to the Great Temple and you'll pick your patron deity."
"What's a deity?" Fedor asked.
Pawel pointed to Zofiya and said, "Ask Mama Zosia. She's the Cleric."
"It's just another word for god," Zofiya said.
"What, like Jesus?"
"Well, they don't worship Jesus here. They worship the Twelve."
"The Twelve what?"
"The Twelve Gods, silly."
"We can talk about all that when we go back to the Temple," Pawel said. "Let's focus on getting some stuff right now."
"What stuff do we need to get?" Arjun asked.
"I'm of the philosophy that your weapon comes first," Pawel said, "then your armor. Offense is the best defense."
"Just what you'd expect a Fighter to say," Zofiya commented.
Ignoring her, Pawel continued, "Most places, you can forage for food and water and unless you're plannin' on a long rangin', you don't need to worry about shelter. All this is keepin' mindful of your environment, of course. A bright shiny Orichalcum Greatsword isn't gonna do much for you if you're goin' to Niflheim and freeze to death because you couldn't invest in a good Flame Cloak."
"Niflheim?" Fedor asked.
"You don't need to worry about that anytime soon," Pawel said. "You wouldn't have to worry about it ever if I had my way, but if we're gonna get back, we gotta got forward and I don't know how far we'll have to go."
Zsuzsanna, who had been mostly quiet up to this point, spoke up to ask, "Can we go back?"
"We did it once," Pawel said. "We can do it again."
"Are you going to tell them?" Zofiya asked.
"Let's wait till things settle down and it's just the five of us," Pawel replied.
"Tell us what?" Arjun asked in turn.
"Like I told Mama Zosia, let's just hold off for now. It's not exactly a conversation fit for the middle of the street. We'll have some down time this evening. We'll talk then, alright?"
Part of Pawel was hoping that the more time spent sorting things out with the children would mean less time he would have to spend accounting for what happened in the Temple to Zofiya, but a look from Zofiya told him that if he thought he was getting off that easy, he had another thing coming. Though he could not deny she had a right to it, it did not make him any more eager to face the music for what he had done. If only that same dread of the consequences had taken hold at the time...
"Let's go one at a time," he said. "Fedya's the birthday boy, so how about we start with you? You're an Archer, right?"
"That's right."
"Your mom was an Archer, so I'm sure you've got a knack for it."
"Pawelek, I thought we were going to talk about that later," Zofiya said.
"Oh, right," Pawel said, realizing his carelessness. He then told Fedor, "Ah, never you mind that. Not for now, at least."
Surprisingly, Fedor, who had been a fount of questions up to this point, did not pursue it further. It was Arjun who seemed to be putting the pieces together, though.
"You are gonna tell us later, though, right?" he asked.
"We will," Pawel assured him. "Once we're settled. Okay, so, Fedya, there's a bit of a trap they've got for Archers here. You go to the bowyer and they'll recommend the Training Bow. It's a good fit for startin' out, but it'll cost you 50 denarii. Here's the thing, though. You're gonna need a quiver and arrows. A Small Quiver's 25 denarii and a bundle of Broadhead Arrows is 60 denarii. You do the math."
While Fedor was trying to work it out on his fingers, Arjun went ahead and answered.
"That'd be a hundred and thirty-five denarii."
"That's right," Pawel said.
Fedor looked a little frustrated that Arjun beat him to the answer, but he did not dwell on it long and instead said, "I can't use a bow without arrows and I can't carry arrows without a quiver, so what do they want me to do?"
"What they want is for you to go to the Bank and start usin' your credit line," Pawel said.
"Shouldn't we be thinking about doing that?" Zofiya asked. "If we were to get our accounts reactivated, our credit lines would be—"
"I don't wanna get into it with them just yet," Pawel said. "Let's try to get the kids used to makin' do with what they've got on hand."
"Well, what do I do?" Fedor asked.
"This is where experience teaches, as they say," Pawel replied. "We're gonna step off the beaten path a bit."
He turned into an alleyway and when they came out on the other side, they entered a seedy-looking back street, like a shadowy reflection of the main bazaar. There was more trash and filth in the streets. The stalls were grimy with shopkeeps to match. It certainly was not the sort of place the Guild would want Rookies seeing so soon in their adventuring careers.
"Welcome to the Rats' Nest, kids," Pawel said. "Don't be goin' here without me or Mama Zosia, but when money's tight, you can't be thinkin' about always buyin' what's shiny and new. Here you can buy and sell things respectable shops won't handle."
Pawel looked around a bit and found a stall with a rack filled with primitive-looking bows. He took one of the bows off the rack and held it up for Fedor to see.
"I present you with the Crude Bow. Yeah, it's ugly and poorly made, but it's got just as much attack power as the Training Bow for less than half the cost. Usually you pick these off Gobs. Eventually you get tired of luggin' this kinda junk around and just leave it to rot out in the field. Some folks'll follow 'round after Adventurers and just pick up what they leave behind. It's one way to make money without stickin' your neck out too much."
"Teachin' the young 'uns all the dirty lil' secrets of our trade, are ya, mister?" the peddler asked.
"They've gotta learn sometime, right?" Pawel replied. He set down the bow and said, "Hold on to this a minute. I'll be right back."
The stall next to him had bundles and bundles of what amounted to little more than sharpened sticks with some shoddy fletching. Pawel took a bundle and presented it to Fedor.
"Simple Arrows," he said. "They don't do much damage, but they're only two denarii apiece. Twenty denarii for the Crude Bow, twenty-four denarii for the Simple Arrows and 25 denarii for the Small Quiver. How much does that turn out to?"
Pawel was expecting Arjun to answer for Fedor, but when he did not, Pawel realized he was no longer with the group.
"Now where'd he get off to?"
* * *
Arjun should have had the good sense to stay with the others, but as he was not an Archer, Pawel's exposition on bows and arrows was not all that interesting to him. There was so much to see. Surely it would not hurt anything if he were to have a look around, provided he did not go too far.
Just when he was starting to realize that he might have strayed too far, a voice called out to him.
"Kid," the voice said. "Hey, you, kid."
Although the owner of the voice called Arjun 'kid', he was not that much older, maybe only by three years or so. He was lean and apparently underfed, with messy hair and dirty, ragged clothes. His stall was in a particularly bad state of disrepair, even compared to a lot of the others.
"New here, are ya?" the skinny youth asked. "First day even? This is the Ides, after all. Got us a new batch a' Summons. They told you what these do?"
From a box at his feet, the youth pulled out a charm much like the one Arjun had been given at the Guild Hall. Though he had been warned both by his adoptive parents and his teachers not to talk to strangers, he nevertheless answered the youth.
"It's an Experience Charm," he said. "When you wear it, you earn twice the experience up to Level 10."
"You some kinda teacher's pet or somethin'?" the youth asked. "Yeah, that's right. So what happens if you've got two of 'em?"
"I guess you'd get experience four times as fast."
"We have a winner! Smart kid like you, what are ya? Mage? Cleric?"
Arjun averted his eyes a little as he replied, "Thief."
"Hey! Small world," the youth said. "You'll find lots of us Thieves here in the Rats' Nest. We're practically brothers. So let help my baby brother out. One a' these Experience Charms for your hundred denarii."
"It's all I have," Arjun replied.
"You wanna be stronger, don't ya? Stronger'n the rest a' that lot you come with, right? You'll be Level 10 in half the time, able to stand with Adventurers who've got half a year's head-start on ya. Why're ya worryin' about money ta get what ya need? You're a Thief. There's magic in them hands. Jus' wait till you're outta the city. Only the best can steal an' get away with it here in Axios, but out there, in them little villages where they're afeared a' gettin' boiled in some Gob's stewpot, they're like big fat chickens prime for pluckin'."
Arjun thought of Fedor and Zsuzsanna. He thought of Pawel. It was true that he wanted to be stronger. With an extra Experience Charm, he would gain a lead that Fedor would never be able to catch up to. Was that not worth a mere hundred denarii?
Just as he was about to reach for his coin purse, he stopped himself. He remembered what they were told at the Guild Hall.
"Wait. They said the Experience Charms were only issued to new Summons, that you can't get them anywhere else."
"I've got 'em right here, don't I?"
"Where'd you get them?"
The skinny youth shrugged.
"It's dangerous out there in the Trials. Things happen. No point in lettin' good gear go to waste, now is there?"
It was then that Arjun realized that each of those charms in the box was a child his age, and that the skinny youth might as well have been selling their bones.
"No," he said. "I've changed my mind. I don't want it. I'll get stronger my own way."
The skinny youth was quick to take offense to this, though.
"Ain't you never heard it said, 'Time is money'? Here I waste all this time on you an' you're practically stealin' the food right outta my mouth. Buy it."
"No."
"Buy it!"
"No!"
"Then you're stealin' from me," the skinny youth said. Then he raised his voice to shout, "Thief! Help! Thief! Thief!"
Arjun was so taken by surprise that he just stood there confused and it was not long before he heard the sounds of boots clopping on the pavement and soon there appeared three men in metal hats with wicked-looking spear-axe weapons coming right at him. It very much looked like they were going to run him down when he heard a voice cry out, "ARJUN!"
Pawel jumped out in front of him and thrust his hand forward toward the oncoming men. Wind whipped around him and the three men were sent flying back.
"Run!" Pawel shouted. "Get back to the others!"
Arjun did not try to let his pride tell him otherwise. The tension in his body loosened. He could move and so he did exactly as Pawel told him. He ran back the way he came.
It did not take him long to reach Zofiya and the others.
A confused Zofiya asked, "Arjun, what's wrong? Where's Pawelek?"
"They're after me!" Arjun cried.
"Who's after—?"
Before she could finish her question another three of the men in the metal hats appeared from the alleyway in front of them. Much as Pawel had done, she stretched out her hand toward the men, but instead of the men being sent flying, thin trees rose up from the ground, their branches twisting and turning until they wove a sort of cage around the men.
"There's more of them!" one of the trapped men shouted.
"Halt!" another cried.
Zofiya did nothing of the sort. She took Zsuzsanna's hand and told the children, "Come on!"
And so they ran. Arjun could not begin to imagine where they might go to be safe, though he did imagine that running in a straight line was not the best way to elude their pursuers. Still, he had little choice but to trust Zofiya's judgment. It was him going off on his own that started this whole mess, after all.
While there were some gawkers they passed along the way, most people did not show the slightest concern, either because they really did not care or because they did not want to get caught up in any trouble. If you were really unfortunate, though, you would find someone who would add to the trouble.
Zofiya looked behind her to see if the men in the metal hats were still after them, but while she was not looking in front of her, she ran into a man walking by. He was a fairly big man, so Zofiya bounced right off him.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I—"
She tried to moved past the man as she was apologizing, but the man caught her before she could get by him.
"Where d'ye think yer goin', luv? Ye might'n've broken sumpin'."
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Zofiya said hastily. "Now please let me go."
Another one moved in, saying, "Saw the whole thing, I did. Clear case a' reckless 'dangerment, it is. Ain't even gonna show the common courtesy a' off'rin' to pay for 'im ta see a docta?"
Driven by the sudden impulse to play the hero, Arjun drew out the wooden stick that he had tucked into his sash and struck the man holding Zofiya in the ribs, shouting, "Let her go!"
The man glared at Arjun and growled, "Brats stay outta this!"
He then kicked Arjun hard in the gut, so hard that Arjun was knocked back and fell to the ground. He doubled over from the pain. It hurt worse than anything he had ever experienced before. He could not move. He could not breathe. And he was suddenly gripped by the terror that he was going to die.
"Arjun!" Zofiya cried, breaking loose from the man's hold and rushing to his side.
She reached out with her hand and Arjun felt his insides fill with warmth. The pain faded and he gasped in a a huge gulp of air. However, while she was doing this, the man came up behind her and snatched her up.
"We'll see ye pays what ye owe."
"Let's go!" the other man urged. "'Fore the Guard comes this way!"
"Mama Zosia!" Fedor and Zsuzsanna cried.
"Don't worry about me!" Zofiya told them. "Find Pawel!"
"Mama Zosia!"
Fedor seemed to be caught in a moment of uncertainty before he and Zsuzsanna both went to Arjun.
"Arjun, are you okay?" he asked. "Can you get up?"
The pain was gone. He could breathe again, but Arjun could not move. The fear remained. Pawel had warned them, but it did not seem real to him until then. This was not just any game. They really could die here, and quite easily. He wanted to get up, either to chase after Zofiya or go get Pawel to help, but the fear's hold on him was too strong. It almost felt like he might never move again.
"Arjun!"
There was the sound of some music playing, an energetic tune on some stringed instrument. There was all manner of noise around them, so Arjun may not have noticed it before, but as he listened to the song, there was this sudden surge of energy. If the fear froze his bones like ice, then listening to the song was like being out in the sun on a summer's day. The song continued to play and it was like there was liquid fire in his veins. He was no longer afraid. In fact, he almost felt like he could tear apart the man who took Zofiya with his bare hands.
He got up, telling his two adoptive siblings, "I'm alright now. Come on. Let's go after her."
"But Mama Zosia said—"
"Those guards are still back that way," Arjun said. "Besides, how can we tell Pawel where they took her if we don't know?"
A fretful Zsuzsanna said, "If those men catch us..."
"We don't let them catch us," Arjun said. "It'll be the worst game of tag we've ever played."
Fedor looked at the newly purchased Crude Bow in one hand and the bundle of arrows in the other and looked at Arjun with equal resolve.
"Let's do this," he said. "Let's save Mama Zosia."