And my bed felt… hard.
I shifted and blinked.
Warm sunlight streamed through the tent, birds singing its praises.
Where… Ah!
That’s right, last night Rey and I… Well, now that it was morning, we should get moving.
We wouldn’t want the knights to catch up with us.
Or worse, my family.
I sat up and stretched.
I yawned, and looked down at Rey, who was still fast asleep.
He was curled up around his backpack, his black hair all messy.
His clothes were rumpled too, a simple roughspun tunic and sturdy pair of pants with some mud stains.
As for myself, I was wearing a simple belted dress with a pair of boots Rey’s mother gave me my last birthday.
I was glad for them.
My tiny dress shoes all lined up in my closet would be a poor choice for running away from home.
I leaned down and shook him awake.
He was supposed to stay up and keep watch last night, but clearly, he had failed.
“Rey.
Rey it’s morning.
Wake up.” He mumbled something before opening his eyes.
They blinked up at me, an orange-gold.
Like honey.
Then he sat up too, rubbing his eyes, still tired.
I was tired too, and sore from sleeping on the ground.
My hair was probably a mess too.
I reached for my bag, opening it up and getting my brush out.
My own hair was a dirty blonde, and sure enough it was also a mess.
I got it straightened out as he grabbed his bag and untied the front of the tent.
We both crawled out.
The forest floor was dappled, the little nook that we managed to carve out still clear.
No knights thundering around.
Maybe no one had realized we were missing yet.
My stomach rumbled, reminding me my family had sent me to bed without dinner for meeting Rey.
Rey glanced at me as I blushed and turned away.
He was probably hungry too.
I shouldn’t complain.
He rummaged in his bag and pulled out some dry rations with a sigh.
“These are the last of our rations.
How close are we to Duval?” Uh… I reached over my shoulder to pull the map out of my bag.
Let’s see, to the northeast of the tiny hamlet of Clifton, along the road to Duval… Yep.
I still didn’t know how to read a map.
“About… half a day?
I think…” I think we passed this creek yesterday, and the creek was almost to Duval… He held out his hand and I sighed as I passed over the map.
He took a look through it as I began breaking down the tent, fumbling almost as much as we did setting it up last night.
“Actually, we’re about an hour or two.
That’s good… you still have the jewelry, right?” I finished rolling up the tent, and we swapped, the tent for the map.
“Of course.
But will it be enough?” He packed the tent away in his bag, the heaviest thing we had to carry, while I stuck the light map in my bag.
“I think so.
We’ll have to sell it at a pawn shop.
But Duval is the county seat, it’s a lot bigger than Clifton.
We can blend in with the crowd a little better then.” He handed me the dried bread and cheese for breakfast, and I eagerly tucked in.
It was only when I was almost finished I voiced one of my doubts.
“We’re going to be adventurers, right?
After we sell the jewelry, are we going to the guild?” “Yes!
There’s a fee to sign up, so we’ll need money.
But we should still have plenty leftover to buy what we need.
Uh, we should make a list… Let’s walk and talk.” He finished his last bite, and dusted his hands, shouldering his bag and turning towards the road.
I swallowed.
Everyone said adventuring was dangerous.
But it was easy to get started with, and we didn’t exactly have any other skills we could use to make money.
I’d have to keep an eye on Rey to make sure he didn’t do anything dangerous.
We started back towards the road.
But when it was in sight, we got a lot quieter.
He snuck behind a tree and checked to make sure both ways were clear before motioning me forward.
“It’s okay Kat.
It’s clear.” Whew.
I stepped out onto the dirt road, looking up and down the road, just to be sure.
It was early yet.
My family must still think I’m in my room, and Rey’s father must think Rey had left the house early to find me.
We had… maybe another few hours before the search for us began.
Hopefully by then we’ll be in Duval.
We started off again, heading northeast.
“Hey Rey.
Are you sure we can join the guild?” I checked behind us again, keeping my ears pricked for the clop of horse hooves.
“Yeah, of course.
Why wouldn’t we?” “Well… we’re only ten.” Rey snorted.
“So what?
Ten is old enough for your family to try and sell you off to a perverted old geezer.
It’s old enough for my dad to try and force me into the family business.
All we have to do, is say we’re orphans.
Then the guild will let us join without parental permission.” “Okay, but what about after?
Adventurers have to fight monsters…” Neither of us have ever had to fight for our lives before… He waved the concern away, picking up a stick on the road and waving it around, pretending it was a sword.
“So what?
We can learn.
Everyone knows you have to start small as an adventurer.
Every town has at least one dungeon, and that means every town has slimes.
We can get by selling slime cores.
There are also easy requests for gathering materials around dungeons too.” Ah.
Right.
We only had one small farming dungeon back in Clifton.
The old man who owned it took care of the slimes that spawned around it himself.
There was only about thirty people in Clifton, so most of the produce from there went to Duval.
My parents always grumbled about it, wanting another dungeon to spawn nearby.
A forest, or a meadow dungeon, so Clifton could grow into a proper town, and they could make more money.
But dungeons were dungeons.
You couldn’t exactly control them.
Duval had a couple more farming dungeons, plus one or two proper dungeons, the kind with monsters.
I swallowed and looked around the forest rather than just behind us.
That also meant… we were getting closer to monsters.
Monsters sometimes escaped dungeons and attacked people.
It was really risky for us to sleep in the forest without any protection, or even weapons.
But we didn’t have much of a choice right now.
“We should hurry.
Are you sure we’ll get to town soon?” My feet were still sore from how much we walked last night too.
“Yeah, I know how to read a map.
An hour, tops, and we’ll see the walls.” His prediction ended up being a little off.
It took about two hours, and it was mid-morning before we saw the walls.
There was a small tent city outside of them, filled with other travelers, or those too poor to stay inside the city.
We joined the line to get in, my stomach churning.
The man in front, checking people, was part of the town guard.
What if he asked us what we were doing here?
Where our parents were?
It was our turn.
The guard was wearing a simple tunic, his spear propped up against the wall.
HE glanced at us, and his brow furrowed.
“Children?
Where are your parents?” Oh god, that was literally his first question.
Rey cleared his throat.
“We’re orphans.” The guard’s eyes instantly narrowed.
“In that case, identification?” “We were born outside the walls of a town, so we don’t have any.” “Then it’s a copper each to get in.” The guard’s eyes were still suspicious, but he accepted the two hard-earned coins from Rey.
“Stay out of trouble.” We were let through, into the busy city.
I breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t detain us.
I was sure people were noticing we were gone by now… The town of Duval.
I’ve heard about it, from my parents and brother, but it was my first time coming here myself.
The buildings here were tall.
The had multiple stories to them, up to three.
And they were made of stone, not wood, the streets cobbled.
And so many people!
I was amazed as I watched them all bustling about their days.
Merchants, carrying backpacks loaded with goods, shopkeepers hawking their wares, guards laughing as they patrolled.
Clifton had never been so lively, only about five families lived there.
Something warm took my hand, snapping me out of my wonder at seeing a proper town for the first time.
I glanced over at Rey, who tugged me forward, deeper into the streets.
“First, we need to find a pawn shop.
Then we go to the guild.
Remember the plan.” I nodded, determined, and held his hand firmly as we made our way further into the confusing city.
Gradually, his steps slowed down, and we looked at every sign of the stores.
Bakery, cobbler, oh, a hatter!
I’ve never seen a real hatter before, were they as crazy as people say?
And next to the hatter was… I point further down the street.
“There!
I think that’s a pawn shop down there.” He followed my finger and spotted it too, right next to the hatter.
“Yeah!
Let’s go!” We made our way to the little pawnshop and pushed inside.
A small bell rang out, and there was an old man behind the counter who grunted when we came in.
The shelves were stuffed full of all kinds of bric-a-brac, from jewelry to wooden tools.
He glanced over at us and his face soured.
He was older, his gray hair balding on top of his head.
“This ain’t a place for snot-nosed brats.
Get out.” My knees trembled at his rebuke, and I would have walked right back out if it wasn’t for Rey, He stepped forward, brave.
“Even if we’re here to sell?
Kat.” Right.
I hastily reached into my back and rustled around for the small pouch of jewelry.
There!
I tugged it out from under my clothes and handed it to him.
He put it up on the counter.
The old man eyeballed the two of us, but reached over, and opened the pouch up.
He looked inside and snorted.
“Seriously?
You kids are trying to hawk costume jewelry?” “What!?
No!
It’s real jewelry!” My parents gave me that jewelry… He snorted and pulled out a few pieces.
“The luster on this one is off.
Fool’s gold.
This jewel is obviously just glass, and the rest are the same.” He dumped it out on the counter, careless.
No.
It… It was all fake?
But my parents… He grunted and picked up a ring.
“This.
This is actually… huh, real silver.
What do you know.” What!?
I looked up to see what he had.
And wilted again.
I… I actually stole that ring from my father.
He loved that ring.
He always kept it polished and wore it on his thumb.
He had worn it when greeting the knights yesterday, and when he caught me talking with Rey outside my window.
But he had taken it off when he brought me into his office to yell at me.
I felt so… angry.
And helpless.
So, when his back was turned, I snatched it off the coffee table where he left it.
We had already planned to leave, and I just… wanted to take something from him.
Something important.
Something he would miss.
He grabbed a small jeweler’s loupe to examine it more closely.
“The gem’s real too, ruby.
Okay kids, tell you what.
Twenty silvers for the ring.” Rey growled.
“The ring is worth more than that.” “The rest of its value covers my questions where you got it from and how two snotty kids ended up with a man’s ring.
Take it or leave it.” He set the loupe and the ring down, crossing his arms.
Rey stood off with the experienced vendor for a moment before wilting.
He sighed and stuck out his hand.
“Fine.
Twenty silvers.” The old man opened a drawer and counted out the silvers.
Rey sullenly slid it into our money pouch, sticking it back in his bag.
Once the exchange was finished, he dismissed us with a wave.
“Alright then.
Now, get out of my shop.” Rey turned, and I spared one last glance at the jewelry my parents had given me over the years.
For my birthday.
All of it, just… cheap baubles.
I turned, leaving it on the counter, and followed Rey out.