When we came down into the tavern the next morning, it was almost completely empty. What was once filled with people and noise was now barren and quiet; it was an odd sight. Behind the counter and past a window, the old woman at the counter the night before was in a kitchen, cooking something. She looked up and saw us looking towards her. She stopped what she was doing and walked out.
"Good morning. Would you like to order some breakfast? Hmm? Are your travel packs still upstairs?"
I stepped forward to the counter as I took a coin purse out from under my coat.
"We would like to extend our stay by another day if that's alright."
The old woman smiled as I placed the money on the counter for the room. She took it and handed us paper menus listing the food they could make, along with a list of prices. I grabbed one and gave it to Kona to look over. The food was well priced, and under the name was written a detailed description of the ingredients and what the food was like.
Both of us ordered eggs on toast with bacon and sausages, and Kona ordered a beer while I had water. It totalled 140 francs for everything. As the old woman brought out the plates, she decided to strike up a conversation with Kona.
"Don't see many women big as you. Where you from?"
"The Fjordland, by the wall of the saints."
"Oooo, I've been there on pilgrimage once in my youth. It was magnificent. What brings you to the south during wartime?"
"I was actually volunteering in combat as my bloodletting. But I'm heading home now."
"Well, I hope you have a safe trip, long way to go."
I watched as the old woman walked away. Once she returned to the kitchen, I looked around. The few other people here were all seated far apart and eating their own meals or chatting quietly. I pulled down my mask.
"Kona, how long would it take to get back home from here anyway?"
"By foot? Maybe a bit over a year?"
I froze for a moment with the toast hovering in front of my mouth, glad I didn't already bite into it, as I definitely would have choked hearing that. It's definitely going to be a long journey.
Once we finished our meals, we left the inn and stepped out onto the main street. We were immediately assaulted with a torrent of noise from stalls being set up, construction nearby and most of all. A sea of people walking to the main road. There had to be hundreds, thousands of them. I had never seen that many people in one place before. It seemed endless.
Without even realising it, I had hidden behind Kona.
"Most of the street vendors probably only speak Viltin, so I'll need you to help with shopping."
"I thought you said not to speak it."
"Random street vendors won't think anything of it. They'll assume you're my interpreter. Come on."
As she stepped forward, she grabbed my hand, pulling me along and into the street. I was glad she had a strong grip on my hand. That way, I wouldn't get separated and lost in this palace.
We went from stall to stall, stocking up on long-lasting foods and dried meat for the journey ahead. It was easy to find food and goods made especially for long-distance travel in this town, simply because of where it was. It had things I had never seen back home.
Kona had more experience with long-distance travel and knew what and what not to buy. Some things sounded good, like specially made long-lasting food; however, with her experience, she knew they tasted disgusting.
She picked out what to buy and how much, and I translated. We spent about a few hours going around from stall to stall on the never-ending road. After a few hours, the weather started to take a turn, and it started to rain. We both took shelter in a nearby building that had its doors open, which Kona dragged me into.
The building seemed like a restaurant, though the walls were adorned with weapons. There was a counter and a kitchen beyond it, but across the building was another counter that had weapons and armour behind it. In the middle of the large open room was a third counter with a large wall behind it that was covered in pieces of paper. As I looked around, I mumbled my thoughts out loud.
"What is this place?"
"It's an adventurers' guild. Or, well, it's actually a mercenary guild, but they renamed it in this town."
"Mercenary guild?"
"Mmhm, I've been to this one before when I was heading towards Vilta. They have really good steaks here, and they're cheap. Want some food while we wait out the rain?"
I looked down at the coin purse, looking inside, wondering if we had enough. Kona smiled and pointed a thumb at herself. "On me."
As we ate, she explained to me about the guild. Since the war, most of the Viltin military pulled out of the black lands, leaving barely enough men to enforce the law. As such, the state became lawless. So a mercenary guild was made to recruit members of the public to help punish criminals that the normal military couldn't do by themselves. The guild was so popular and grew so fast that it became the de facto government of the black lands, and the company owners tried to expand outwards. Though the name mercenary guild gave people the wrong idea, thinking they were cutthroats and bandits, they renamed all establishments outside of the black lands to adventurer guilds.
By the time we had finished eating, the rain had passed, and people once again began to trickle out onto the street. Kona was finishing off the last few drops of her beer.
"What kind of jobs do they put up in a place like this anyway?"
"Huh? Oh, I've only had a glance once or twice, but it's usually stuff like helping to find lost or stolen things, hunting wanted criminals, animal culling, and bodyguard work for merchants. Things like that."
"Do you mind if we take a look? I'm kind of curious?"
We got up and walked over to the wall, glancing at the notices and wanted posters. Something like this originated from the black lands, huh? That's where we were going to meet up with Nigel. So, looking at this here might give us an idea of what it might be like over there. From what Kona said, it sounded like a lot of people over there worked these kinds of jobs.
"Oi"
Kona's voice sounded stiff and off. Like something was wrong. I looked up and she was holding a wanted poster in her hand.
"What is it?"
She held out the poster to me. I took it from her and instantly understood her reaction. The wanted poster was for me.