The next day of their journey, they were soon within sight of the city of Koln with its tall walls and many towers. Isaiah sat in front of the carriage alongside Ephillus and the two talked about the city, though it was mostly Ephillus speaking as Isaiah simply listened,

"Koln is situated in a large river basin, the tail of the Klub as they call the river... The walls surround the entire city from all sides while the river enters from the east, at the middle of the river is an island where the lord and the richest live, the slightly so lives at the other side of the bridge." He then pointed to a large ship making its way through the river, "Trade is strong, in all of lord Steiner's territories, and even with lord Azerback, Koln is the only town with river access to the sea, both lords even went to war with each other over control with the city. The Marquise Steiner won when the leading man in Koln married one of his daughters."

He then pointed his hands onto the vast farmlands that covered the flat lands around the city, "Food is sold in large numbers at the port while luxury goods like vases, paintings, and spices are bought in return. This land here is the best place to start for a traveling merchant."

Isaiah nodded silently, his eyes busy taking in the sights of this medieval city. The road was made of simple packed dirt but as they got closer it was soon replaced with paved stone. Both sides were traced with large tracks of arable land during planting season, he noted the lack of machinery, and save for a few strange bull-like beasts that functioned like tractors there was little in the way of muscle, the land was mostly worked by human slaves as signified by the chain over their necks though there were a few who carried bronze plates instead.

Simple carts, elegant carriages, and covered caravans were plentiful on the roads while the pedestrians walked on the raised sidewalks. Most of the pedestrians, however, were noticeably armed in mixed gear and they all had one thing in common,

"So those are adventurers..." Isaiah gasped as Ephillus looked over where he was looking,

"Yes... They and their ranks and all... Bronze, silver, platinum, and gold."

"Just four?"

"Yep. Or was it five? I don't know really, my wife here usually deals with hiring the adventurers whenever we travel, the ones accompanying us died on the way... Thankfully there wasn't any much trouble after that."

They soon arrived at a gate that was manned by a rather large group of guards, more than what Isaiah had thought considering the size of the gate. He could see that the soldiers were mostly wearing padded armor, some had chainmail wrapped around for extra protection and only two wore proper armor, as for weapons the short sword was present in all their scabbards but their main weapons were either spears or halberds, only two carried battleaxes.

Looking up the wall he could see the presence of many more soldiers, however, one, in particular, caught his attention. He wore a tunic of pure white with a red cross in his midst, and in his hand was a rather long wooden musket with an iron barrel.

'They have guns already?' He stopped himself from grinning too much as his excitement leveled up, he looked around and found even more soldiers with muskets but they were quite too few. 'I know cannons might exist but damn, guns?'

He squinted his eyes, trying to locate the cannons that might be hidden in the walls when the carriage in front trotted forward.

"Hail citizen!" A soldier whose plumed helmet hung on his back blocked the carriage, he spat out whatever he was chewing before reaching his hand out, "Papers?"

"Good sir," Ephillius gave him his papers with a smile, "I am Ephillius Orkelion of the Orkelion Guild."

"Ah, master Ephillus, good to see you again... Here for business, I suppose?"

"That is true."

"Saffron eh?" The officer whistled as he nodded to Ephillus, "Mind if we check?"

"Sure, I don't see why not," Ephillus replied in an exaggerated-surprised tone as he watched a squad of soldiers approach his carriage.

"Surprised ain't you?" The officer handed him the paperback, "The lord had ordered it, extra security and stuff."

"Ahh... Is that also related as to why the entire army seemed to have been mobilized?"

"That is correct. A bunch of slaves from the Iron Coffin got out and one of the black hands got killed. Then the bounty was issued and the adventurers started coming, especially those from outside... So many armed men around this place so few eyes and so security got beefed up."

At the mention of escaped slaves, Isaiah's heart began to beat considerably, the other soldier's inquisitive looks weren't all that helpful.

"News spreads fast then?" Ephillus replied, "Adventurers from other nations came as well?"

"Money..." The officer gestured with his hands, "Lord Caleb offers much for the slave's return and when big money is involved, mouths talk fast."

"That is nervewracking... Thank god I didn't see anyone like that." He replied as he turned to Isaiah, "This man over here... Just calm down, slaves escaping and all isn't that bad."

"Hmm?" The officer turned to Isaiah and raised a suspicious voice as he got close to him in a slightly carefree attitude "Never seen you here before kid," The officer took a few confident strides towards Isaiah, "Your papers?"

Isaiah remained calm but his inside was panicking, he even had difficulty opening his mouth but then the merchant chuckled,

"Ahahaha... Forgive me good sir, but this man here is an orphan you see. Someone I picked up to be taught the trade and all as he had the ability, so I do not have his papers ready yet..."

"An orphan?" The officer looked at Isaiah then nodded, "Well, nothing to do with me. I trust you master Ephillus, but others might not. I suggest you get him some papers if you already don't."

"Oh, I am on my way for that."

"Just go look for my uncle at the forum, say that Herod sent you... He'll make things quick and easy."

"Thank you, Master Herod." Ephillus bowed as he handed the officer a gold coin, "You are most kind."

"Eeh, just doing my job." As if on cue the other soldiers finished their inspection and found nothing of suspicion at the back, "Seems all clean, good day."

"You too sir,"

The officer then whirled his hands into the air as the soldiers removed the barricade and the carriage moved forward. Inside, the city diverged into three different paths as houses of wood and stone all lined up in different shapes and sizes, the shops barring their signboards for the potential customers to see while the middle of the road was filled with chairs, tables, planted trees and stalls of all kinds.

A large sign not too far had a German inscription written, 'der markt Marcus Steiner' with a statue of a man underneath.

Only once they were away from the gate did Isaiah exhale,

"You... You nearly got me killed!"

Ephillus remained silent as a smile crossed his lips,

"How did you even know I am a slave?"

"Simple... Out from the forest where the Iron Coffin, Eisensargburg is, wearing rags fit for slaves and tired? Though I originally planned to give you to the guards there, I changed my mind. An eye for an eye, I helped you out there kid, you should know to repay me the favor someday, plus, I ain't giving up on you..."

"Damn... Don't do that next time."

"Well, nothing I can do about it. You are an escapee without papers, so I had to improvise a way to get you in. You best be thankful I know that man..." As the carriage turned a right, they were then in sight of a huge stone building, "Come let's get you your papers..."

...

The old uncle peered through the document that would recognize Isaiah as a citizen of the county. With a grunt, he stamped the papers and gave them to him. Isaiah read the document which was filled with pretentious words but upon seeing his last name correctly spelled he was happy. He went outside where Ephillus was speaking to an accountant. After seeing Isaiah the accountant quickly left.

"Done is it?"

"Yep... Got everything ready." Isaiah then bowed to Ephillus, "Thanks sir, I got everything stable at least."

"Mhm." He then threw a pouch to Isaiah, "That's your pay, 200 marks should be enough to last you a day or two if you're frugal. Go to the adventuring guild and get yourself set up there. Once you have a troupe come find me at the pier, and I'll set you up with some contracts."

"Yes sir, I'll think about it." He waved his hand as their carriage continued on to the crowd. "Right..." Isaiah took a deep breath, the smell of stagnation, unsanitary conditions, and the unbelievably fresh air around him was surprisingly good. "New world..."

This was where he wanted to start, not at some dark and drabby dungeon, but rather in this air that was filled to the brim with freedom and a promise of adventure!

'Overpowered skills, cheats, and all the good things in life...' He would always feel excited whenever the novel he read would start introducing the character's powers to the world, thus being able to experience that firsthand made him shiver in excitement.

He was excited to enter into the adventuring scene and make a name for himself. Excited about his magic and his abilities and how the world would react to it.

"Time to get rich." He joined the crowd as he headed towards the direction Ephillus told him to go.

It didn't take time before he arrived at the front doors of a large three-story tall building. It bore the sign "Koln Adventuring Guild" In big bold letters at the front.

"Right..." Isaiah took a deep breath of the medieval air and found it rich in the foul smells of the unwashed, the variety of dirt around as well as that of barley from the large open door of the adventuring guild. A party of adventurers with silver plates went out with huge smiles, talking to each other. They looked at Isaiah but quickly ignored him as they continued on their walk, Isaiah overheard them talking about how large the rewards were and the huge increase in their earnings thanks to their recent escape.

'Business is booming!'

Isaiah nodded to himself as he stepped inside the building.