Departure

I now stand outside of the healer's house looking over the village and I can say that it looks a lot better than I thought at first, while the street is not fully paved there is a central pathway covered with stones, the houses while only having 1 floor look very nice, most are decorated and painted over, there are even some houses that look as if made of brick further up the hill.

Now to face the main problem, who do I scam for some food, there is no one in sight, it is close to noon now and the temperature is quite low, I wonder if the villagers are working in the fields.

I decide to take a walk to see if I can find anyone, and as I walk down the road fiddling with the bracelet in my hand I notice something quite obvious, they don't have plastic or anything like it that I can see, neither Georg nor Thomas wore any accessories so they most likely are not common therefore it is safe to say that this bracelet is probably worth a lot more than some pieces of bread.

So I grab the bracelet with my right hand, stick it in my pocket and snap the rubber cord that kept it together going from having one pretty bracelet to a handful of pretty plastic beads, or as I will call them from now on, foreign gems.

And as my luck would have it I spot someone coming from the opposite direction, the figure is wearing a jacket made of wool or something of sorts and a long skirt, probably female, I can't see the face as it is covered by a shawl.

As I get closer I greet her. ''Good day miss, may I have a word with you'' She stops a few steps away from me then looks behind her, probably to make sure I am talking to her.

''Allow me to introduce myself, I am called Caspian, a merchant by profession, you may not have heard of me as I came in yesterday after an encounter with..''

''The beast yes, I know, I saw you get carried by the elder to the healer's house, what do you want from me?'' How rude, she didn't even let me finish, and she is quite cautious, maybe foreign merchants are not very liked around here.

''I am looking for food miss, and I am willing to trade for it with what remains of my wares, but first, did I do anything to offend you?'' I ask, hoping to diffuse the situation.

''If you want food keep following the street until you reach the hall where the elders gather, they are the ones that may be willing to trade with you'' After she says this she tries to walk past me but as the stone path is quite small she can't quite make it so she just goes through the mud dirtying her shoes and skirt, I wonder why she avoids me so.

I can assume it is due to meeting that thing in the forest, superstitious villagers, even the young ones, this will be easier than I thought.

With my morale lifted from the rejection I head the way she pointed until I reach a split in the road, one way goes downwards toward what I assume to be the river, while the other goes upwards towards more houses, and up the hill is probably the hall I am searching for so I start climbing.

And I found it, a big building, taller and wider than the surrounding ones with walls formed of both stone and wood and a ceiling made of some strange black material, I head to the door and push it open, it feels quite heavy as it makes a screeching noise due to touching the ground.

All eyes are on me, there are four people inside the room standing by the fire, I only recognize one of them, Georg so I head towards him with a smile on my face.

''Greetings, I have been told that I can trade my wares for food here'' let's hope this works.

They look at each other and only Georg responds ''Greetings merchant, you can buy food with coin, no haggling allowed, I already helped you enough, you will find no charity here'' Where is the kind old man that saved me before, the change is a bit sudden, yet I don't falter and walk closer until I reach them and take a seat by the fireside.

''I am thankful for your help friend, and I am making you an offer, you once told me that if you had coin you would hire a famed monster hunter to dispatch the beast, so I come to you with an offer, see here these are jewels from my homeland'' I say while taking 2 of the 15 beads out of my pocket.

The beads, while cheap, look quite beautiful by the fire. I can see some interest in their eyes so I continue speaking.

''They are of great value when sold to the right people, I would like to sell them myself once I reach the city, but you know I do not have any supplies for the road, so I am willing to give you these jewels in exchange for knowledge of the danger I may face on the road and enough food and drink to last me for some days, what do you say''

They look at each other and softly whisper something, they all look oddly similar, same clothes, same haircut, same hair color, I wouldn't be surprised if they are all related somehow, not to mention that they all have the same tailor.

As the whispering stopped Georg turned and asked me ''What are these gems merchant, how did you get them'' They do not doubt that they are gems, tiny sparkling rocks can only be one thing after all.

''These gems are ornaments from the south, i brought them with me from my homeland in order to sell, they were some of my most valuable cargo so i kept them on me which prevented their loss in the incident, while they are worth quite a lot, their value is inferior to my blade, no, to the blade that the healer now has'' He nods at me then leans back for another round of hushed whispers.

As they finish he once again turns at me and asks ''Do you have any more of them'' Quite greedy isn't he, whatever, I hid the rest in my pants, I hope they don't start ripping them off me if I get assaulted.

''I only have these 2 as they are not easy to acquire, you have searched through my personal items so you should know that I do not have any more of them''

He never saw the bracelet, I am sure that while the mage took care of my wounds he was looking through my things so he couldn't have seen me wearing it then when the mage treated me he probably took it off to clean my body and threw it in the bed next to me, that is why I did not wake up wearing it and Georg never knew of its existence, I never wore it in front of him.

Now my whole plan is based on three things, them knowing nothing of plastic, on Georg, the man who carried me back to the village, never seeing the bracelet before and on them being superstitious and somewhat naive villagers. And for the finishing touches.

''After what I experienced I care not for my losses. I just hope for you to use the money on avenging my loss against the beast, I trust that the brave hunter that you find will be able to take it down'' I say with a serious tone of voice.

This time there is no whispering session, all four just look at me and nod one by one then another elder says ''We will give you a bag filled with enough food to last your journey to the port city, we will also give you a water skin that you can fill at the village well, Georg here will tell you of any rumors related to the roads, does this seem fair to you merchant?''

They are giving me a bag of food for jewelry, I know beggars can't be choosers but it still stings.

I nod as we exchange some pleasantries and perform the trade, the food that they gave me is nothing great, a few loaves of bread with some smoked meat of sorts, if I only take small bites it should last for a while. As for the information, it is quite surprising but I will analyze it later, for now, I have something more important to do.

Looking at the bread I am reminded of the fact that I have not eaten since I got here, and my stomach rumbles, it took quite a bit of will to stop after eating half a bread and drinking close to a bucket of water.

And so I depart from the village of Myrth in order to reach the port city of Westerngrad.