Mordred's head craned back, eyes traveling up and down the height of the wall that apparently was the empire's furthest reach westward. Her gaze lingered on the obvious breaches still present, guards standing at each one for security while laborers dug at the heaps of rubble. "It's so beat up," she murmured. "They haven't repaired it at all?"

  "I would have thought there would have been work underway," Kuch agreed, glancing at Gunther. "Do you know why?"

  "I'm afraid I don't know, but it actually does make it a bit convenient for mercenaries going out. Otherwise, we'd have to circle around to reach the gates." The man led them to one of these breaches now, greeting the team of guards who moved out to meet them. "We're back. Got a full report to deliver."

  "You look like you've had quite the run-in," one of them commented, noting the way the Eber Marauders looked ragged and with some carrying bodies between them. Their gaze then fell upon the two individuals in finer condition than all of the mercenaries combined and suspicion colored their voice. "And your new compatriots are…?"

  "Refugees from the western kingdom, from what I could tell. We ran into them out there and they saved our lives, so I can vouch for them as fellow mercenaries-"

  "Adventurers," Kuch corrected firmly, not willing to suffer the label. "We're adventurers."

  Gunther and the guard exchanged a look, then both shrugged. "Guess the terminology might be different far out there. But you'll get used to it."

  "You definitely will. Well, if the leader of the Eber Marauders gives the okay, then I suppose then it's fine to let you into the city. Apologies but we are keeping a very wary gaze west- you never know what lies out there," mentioned the solider, gazing that way for emphasis. Then they turned and gave a tired smile. "Welcome to Gabion, for what it's worth."

  The group was finally allowed to pass through the breach in the wall and for the first time, Mordred and Kuch got a good look at the human city behind the wall. It was a packed and tight settlement, with streets barely wider than maybe three to four individuals across. The buildings seemed to stacked precariously upwards, horizontal space a luxury so the only way to go being up. The streets might have been paved once with pristine stone, but a thick layer of dirty, grime, and ash now coated them in a clear lack of care or cleaning.

  That was a curious juxtaposition to how empty so many of the streets felt, many staying close to their abodes instead of venturing out. Instead of average common folk doing their business in the open, they seemed to wish to talk only where they felt comfortable, where they could easily dart back into their own homes and bar the doors at a moment's notice. Fear and unease radiated from the city, not at all helped by the presence of many armed soldiers or mercenaries that lined the roads in their stead.

  "Cheery place," the dragon commented, noting how some peaked closest to the wall breaches peaked at them through wooden shutters before hastily withdrawing. "Everybody's awfully jumpy."

  "Can you hardly blame them? They just barely survived a tide, and it looks like there hasn't been much progress trying to get aid to the city since my band departed on our job." Gunther pocketed the health potion Kuch had agreed to hand over for helping get them passed the guards. "I feel like I still owe you a bit after everything. Tell you what: head down those streets there until you come across a building with a sign that's a sword impaling a shield. That's a good inn that I would recommend you to stay at- clean beds, safe drinks, good food."

  "Oh, I like the sound of that!" Mordred cheered, patting her stomach. "Sounds like you're taking off now?"

  "I do have to report to my employers first and collect the pay, then we have to settle the affairs for our fallen. We're also a bit too big for that inn these days. So for now, take care. And once again, thank you- some of my comrades may very well be dead if you hadn't shown up."

  The Eber Marauders bade farewell and departed, leaving the two newcomers to the city be. Already, Kuch could feel so a lot of mercenary eyes falling upon them from the various mercenaries, sizing up their fine armor and weapons. Many of them felt a little too...hungry, for their taste. Staying out in the open to figure out what they were to do next felt dangerous.

  However, there was a store nearby, a general goods one by the looks of things. "Through here," the doll directed their companion and the woman wordlessly followed, no doubt feeling the same gazes. Her hand felt for her lance quite possessively, like a dragon treasuring the very first coin of their hoard. Kuch was very sure that if anybody tried taking it from here, they'd be probably short a hand and head quite soon.

  Thankfully, that wanting interest in them seemed to have vanished when they ducked into the store, out of the public eye. It was replaced instead by a stunned and slightly awed shop owner, somebody who was almost practically scraping and bowing when they came around to greet the two. "My lord, my lady, you humble me with your presence!"

  "We're not nobles, how many times do we have to tell everybody that?" Mordred openly complained with a shake of the head. "Seriously, stop that. It's sort of annoying."

  "A-ah. Forgive me, because the quality of your equipment is...extraordinary," the merchant mentioned, eyes tracing over the plates on both. "In all my time, I have never beheld anything quite so amazing. Tell me, are you interested in selling either, even just a piece?"

  Kuch held up a hand before Mordred's fierce glare would melt the soul. "Our personal arms and armor are not for sale," they firmly insisted and cast their gaze about. "But we may be interested in purchasing something."

  A lie. The two adventurers didn't have a single coin between them, but they needed to get a sense of local market prices as soon as they could. The doll ignored the shop owner's fanatic boasts of only the best quality and focused more on what was actually present on the shelves. Or rather, what little was available as the product selection was woefully lacking in general. Much of the space was barren and what little offerings there were didn't inspire much confidence.

  When even Mordred wrinkled her nose and turned away from an apple that's seen better days, that was a statement in itself. To check, Kuch reached out and picked up one of the last loaves of bread. It felt almost like a rock to the touch. "How much for this?" they plainly asked.

  "Oh, um." The shop owner swallowed before wringing their hands nervously. "Forgive me, I understand that you may be used to common bread costing no more than six imperial coins across the empire. But ah well, you must understand that due to local shortage, I cannot part with a loaf for any less than thrice times that price. Even for you, esteemed customers."

  …Back in FLOW, if any player was caught selling bread of this quality for anything around twenty gold, they'd actually be lynched in public. Because no way it could be worth anything less than a single coin to make sure the trade wasn't just bot activity. That couldn't be right.

  Kuch shoved the loaf back and strode out the shop unceremoniously, followed by a sneering Mordred. Surely this was a one-off, maybe a disreputable establishment even. But to growing dismay, many other storefronts declared otherwise.

  "Only three times? That's generous, I can't sell for anything less than four."

  "Three times, that's barely breaking even with the wholesale price from the bakeries. You should've taken the deal."

  "My bread is the finest there is, and I cannot let you have it for anything less than five times the imperial price! Ah, but I could be convinced to drop it to twice if the lass would do me a favor-"

  Mordred had punched that one in the face quite unceremoniously, then used [Serpent Speed] to flee up and across the rooftops. Kuch vanished with [Walk in Darkness] before the guards could arrive and appeared right besides her on the roofs nearby. Thankfully, it appeared that that last shopkeeper had quite a reputation and the guards were more amused by the screaming individual than taking the crime seriously.

  With any luck, the guards would just shrug and let it be, though Kuch did feel a little bad about that broke nose. So they left a bag of jerky rations behind the counter as compensation before making their getaway. Now the doll gazed out over the city, stewing in their thoughts while the dragon snacked on the piece of bread she had stolen from that disagreeable individual.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Mordred chewed loudly, her teeth crunching against the hard bread, then swallowed before making a face. "Ugh. This tastes awful." She was about to hurl it away, but thought better and instead just stowed it in her travel bag. "Maybe I'm just spoiled by you cooking for me."

  "Whoever made that doesn't have [Ferment]. It hasn't risen enough," Kuch noted and made to drop back to street-level once the guards had left. Their companion followed, dropping the distance like it was just going down a step. "So are the bakeries the bottleneck then? We should find out."

  "Can we do it another day maybe? It's getting a bit late," the woman pointed out while they walked. "Though I guess we don't have any money to spend and buy a room at an inn with. Or a warm meal."

  "True," Kuch admitted, still needing to get used to the fact that Mordred did have to eat and sleep. She wasn't a puppet who could power on endlessly like them to sate curiosity. "Fine, let's acquire make some money."

  "Oi, we can help you with that." Both of them blinked and turned to see a group of mercenaries approaching, all smiles with plenty of teeth and none of the warmth. "You need a good price for those weapons and armor? We'll pay."

  "Not for sale," Mordred told, tone shifting to deep exasperation from having to repeat that so many times today. "Really, just don't bother. There's nothing you can say that's going to change that."

  "Oh, we were thinking more about...doing something about it." Kuch was the first to notice another group approaching from the other side of the street. Ah, it looked like this was perhaps a- what was the word?

  A shakedown? No, a robbery. Yes, that was the term.

  "Look, we know you two privileged brats probably just stole your family's equipment and ran away from home to have some great big adventure right?" The apparently leader of this ambushed gestured. "So we're going to do this nicely. You just leave behind all that expensive gear and you get to go back home with a lesson on the real world out there. I swear it on the Ten Lights that-"

  "Hold on." Kuch's attention fully focused on them now. "Ten Lights? Where did you hear that?"

  "Huh?" Now it was the mercenary's turn to blink confusedly. "What? Oh, I get it. You're so sheltered you don't even know about the Ten Divines."

  "I'm sorry, Ten what?"

  "Right, enough of that." One of the others angrily declared, drawing their daggers. Soon, the others were drawing their own weapons. "We're not being paid to chit-chat! Last warning, or else."

  Mordred snarled but Kuch held up their hand. "Listen. Whatever you were about to say about the Ten Lights, I will pay for," they flatly declared and tapped their pack. "I have potions for sale, so-"

  A round of laughs and snickers greeted the declaration. "Ah, alright. That was a nice joke," the boss declared before snapping their fingers. "But yeah, enough playtime. Knock them out."

  "Gladly. [Cheap Shot]!"

  One of their daggers came up and went thrown at Mordred, spinning through the air. The hilt solidly impacted against her head and bounced off, falling to the ground. But instead of joining it, the dragon blinked and looked at the stunned mercenary, scratching her neck idly. "Was that supposed to do anything?"

  "What!"

  "She didn't get knocked out by our best rogue?"

  "How thick is that girl's skull?!"

  "Must've been a fluke," one of them spat and raised a bow. "Have a taste of this instead! [Entangling Shot]!" This time, the projectile was directed at Kuch. The arrow split apart mid-flight and transforming in a mess of vines that latched onto the oathbreaker, theoretically trapping them in place.

  "Hah, we got one of them!"

  "Quickly, anybody else got binding or stun skills?"

  "If you distract her, I could sneak up and then-"

  "[Walk in Shadow]." Kuch melted into the ground and slipped out the bindings. causing the mercenaries to stare slack-jawed. Mordred just yawned and took the bread out, ripping off another chunk with her teeth to chew on. Before anybody else could react, a panicked yell escaped their boss when the armored figure materialized right before them and slammed them into the nearest building.

  The wall cracked slightly under the impact and their body arched in pain from it. "I was being nice. And I am still being nice," the doll told through the heavy helmet. "Just tell me what you mean about these Ten Lights, and you can walk away. Take this as a life lesson even on not picking somebody who you think is just an easy mark."

  "What are they doing to the boss!"

  "Boss, what do we do?"

  "Isn't it obvious-!" they yelled back, only to gasp when the hand pressing them against the wall tightened. Kuch decided that perhaps, these mercenaries needed to be taught what an adventurer was.

  And Mordred was the answer. "Use nothing but your fists. No killing," they sternly instructed their companion who had finally finished that tough piece of bread. "Understood?"

  "Half strength. Got it." She stretched for a brief moment before grinning, taking a stance like how she remembered Frie had brawled. "[Serpent Step]."

  Their leader gaped at the one-woman force that was unleashed on the streets against their subordinates, Mordred literally a blur as she punched out each and every single mercenary who dared try to take away her mother's gifts. She was admittedly clumsy in a fistfight and allowed herself to get hit multiple times, but each and every weapon simply shattered against the incredible armor she wore. In comparison, the leather and scrap iron plates her opponents wore folded under each raw punch.

  The lead mercenary then swallowed heavily and looked back at the intimidating armored figure before them, realizing that perhaps, this had been a bad call. "Who the hell are you," they breathed before paling, remembering that the roles were swapped now. "I-I mean! What do you want to know!"

  "Ten. Lights," Kuch ground out. "Start talking."

  "They're just the gods, you know! The ten gods that the empire recognize!" the mercenary wheezed. "You know of them, surely!"

  "I do, but under a different name. Just the Ten Divines."

  "Isn't that the same thing?!"

  "They were never called so. Tell me if the name Lighthouse means anything to you."

  "That old story?! What the hell does it matter-!" Again, the mercenary leader realized too late when the grip tightened and their captor leaned in, to the point where they could almost see Kuch's piercing glare through the helmet.

  "It matters a lot to me."

  "STOP! STOP IN THE NAME OF THE DUKE!" A loud, surprisingly familiar voice hollered and Kuch turned to see guards rushing onto the street now. At the head of them was the one who had greeted them at the walls. "What the blazes is going on?! A mercenary fight in the streets!"

  "To be fair," Mordred commented from where she sat on a groaning mercenary. "They started it. Really, take a look, it's just me and my companion against them. And they're the ones with the weapons out. Who do you think would pick a fight first?"

  That...was a surprisingly good argument. It seemed that while the dragon wasn't very knowledgeable or book smart, she knew how to make excuses, like an unrepentant child before an irate parent.

  The lead guard frowned and studied the scene. The doll helped the case by letting the leader go, dropping him unceremoniously to the ground. "Be that as that may, we will need to detain both sides to get the full story," their chief sighed and gestured. "Please cooperate and you will need only spend a single night in custody."

  It didn't sound like they could make a clean getaway this time, not without actually picking a fight with the local authority. Kuch gestured and Mordred snorted, but nodded assent. The guards notably did leave them alone, accepting their cooperation while being quite much rougher with the unconscious mercenaries. They still did firmly insist the two adventurers accompany them to the jail though.

  Well, on the bright side, they now had lodgings for a night. And didn't every great adventure start out in a prison cell? Maybe it'd even lead to waking up on a cart going somewhere.

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