We arrived in Manthia halfway through the third day of our trip. I had a much better time than I was expecting, aside from the annoying fact that I still had to do the exercise regimen. But once we were in Manthia it finally occurred to me, I had no money on me.

I never entered dungeons with money on me, there wasn’t a reason to. If we ever went out afterwards, I could run back to my apartment or just put it on my tab at the guild hall. I had really gotten lucky with running into Lykor’s village.

“What’s with that look on your face?” Lykor asked me as he was unloading some of his things.

“I just realized I have no money on me.”

I rubbed the back of my head laughing awkwardly.

Lykor laughed and hit me on the back.

“Quite the clumsy one aren’t you?”

I forced a smile laughing a bit.

“You don’t have to put it that way. I mean it’s not like I can say what actually happened as some sort of explanation.”

“Well the best way to get your travel paid for is to work as an escort, but I doubt you could get a job like that quickly.”

I slouched, “I guess I’m walking there.”

Lykor put a hand on my shoulder, "Will saying I’ll give you a sword cheer you up?”

“Wait, really?”

I don’t remember the last time my face naturally smiled this much.

“Yeah, but it's under the condition that you don’t sell it to get a horse.”

“How could you think I’d ever do that?”

Lykor’s smile reminded me of my uncle and made me look away uncomfortable.

“I know you wouldn't. I just felt like I had to say it is all. So let's go and get you a sword.”

He patted my shoulder continuing to take things off the cart.

“Personally, I don’t think I have anything in my possession that would actually suit your fighting style. After watching you practice, I think a blade with a single side sharpened would suit you better.”

“So, you’re just going to buy me one, not give me one of yours?”

“Well, I don’t think you walking around with a sword with an elven design is a good choice per say. With you hiding your ears and all it would only make others more curious about you. If you had something of dwarvish or human design no one would bat an eye.”

“What do you mean? Aren’t elves even better than humans when it comes to blacksmithing.”

“That’s why we’ll go with something dwarven made, but these days the elves don’t wander outside of the country much so trade is mostly materials not weaponry. A few other elves and I sell weapons openly, so the few that do get out and around are from a limited source. You’re trying to blend in, aren’t you?”

I guess he was right, I mean having Fluffy around made me stick out anyway but adding an elven sword to my whole look really would be something noticeable.

“You aren’t exactly wrong there I guess.”

I helped him lift the last crate off and onto the ground.

“I’ll find you a real nice one and then you can be on your way.”

“Lykor!” a woman’s voice called walking over to us.

She was tall, her fiery red hair lightly tied back with a few braids. She wore traditional elven armor that had seen its years of adventure.

“Nithroel! So nice to see you. I see our timing finally managed to line up for once, it’s been a while since I saw you.”

“I’ve told you, you should just stay here. I’d let you create to your heart's content, get you a nice large smith.”

Lykor laughed but it felt different from the other times so I guess it was a bit forced.

“You know I like where I am.”

She put her hand on her hip as she came to a stop in front of us.

“I know I know, I just always want to ask you. But who’s this one?”

She looked down at me and I tried to give her a polite smile.

“This is Quartz, he helped the village out with a small dungeon so I gave him a ride here.”

She patted me on the shoulder with a shocking amount of force.

“That’s good then! It’d be a shame if your situation got messed up because of a dungeon.”

That was a weird way of putting that and I glanced at Lykor, who rubbed the back of his head.

“Yeah, well it was really lucky he was passing by the village. Oh right, this is Nithroel Beimaris, she's the guild master of the merchants’ guild here.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Lykor knew impressive people. I didn’t know what was more shocking that he knew her, or that she called out to him in the middle of the street to say hi.

“Why’s he got his face all covered up like that? And that hair, how did he even get it all those muddy colors?”

She leaned into my face trying to get a better look and I backed away quite uncomfortable. Mezu, who was holding onto my pant leg, growled up at her for being too close to me.

“Nithroel please don’t get in the kid’s face like that, you’ll make him uncomfortable.”

She laughed back.

“What type of friend would I be if I didn’t look into the suspicious new people around my friend?”

“You draw too much attention to someone I’m trying not to draw attention to.”

Lykor switched to Elvish when he said that, there was still a smile on his face and he said it quite quietly. I don’t think anyone around us would have noticed.

“Are you saying I shouldn’t be worried about him?” She responded in elvish as well.

Her eyes glanced down at me and I did my best to feign confusion.

“I’d appreciate it if you tried not to be interested in him at all.”

That changed her expression, softening it a bit.

“Only because we’re longtime friends.”

“If you’re trying to act like you don’t know what’s going on, how you respond from now on will sell it better than the face you’re making,” Alcoroth said in my ear.

“Well then, you should come over for dinner before you leave.” she switched back to common.

“If you’re still around by then I’ll do that.”

“I stopped going on business trips, so I’ll be around, make sure you come to visit me.”

She turned and waved. I didn’t meet her for very long but I was glad she had left.

Once she was far enough away, Lykor let out a heavy sigh.

“Sorry about that, didn’t mean to leave you out of the conversation, she just doesn’t take me seriously if I use common sometimes.”

“What do you mean?”

“The merchant guild is connected to the information guild here.” he said in dwarvish this time.

The switch was so seamless I didn’t know why he was doing it. Well, he knew where I grew up so I wouldn’t have to feign ignorance now I guess.

“She used to be head of the information guild, I think she’s still in that position but since she’s also the face of the merchant guild, the amount of people in power here isn’t so big. Her being interested in you wouldn’t be too great in the long run.”

“So this is just another place I need to get out of quickly.”

“Your hair does a surprisingly good job of hiding your ears. Putting a hood up now would be even more suspicious so let's get you on your way.”

“Alright.”

“Oh you fucking idiot!” Alcoroth said and I turned to look at him confused.

I felt Lykor’s hand grip my shoulder.