Chương 13: Chapter 12 - Soul Space

Fascinating! She decided to try out her new invisibility skill as she walked, and sure enough, she turned invisible the moment she wanted to. Unfortunately, her clothes did not. So it just looked like her clothes were out walking themselves through the forest. She turned visible again quite quickly, just to make sure she could. Ok, this is basically a useless skill, World Engine! She thought in irritation. If my clothes don't turn invisible, then this ability is basically worthless.

I'd have to get naked just to use it! And when I turn visible again afterward, I'd have to do it somewhere private so no one can see. … The World Engine didn't respond. What a waste of two reward points. Oh well, maybe eventually she'd find a use for it. True to Dustin's guess, they neared a city around sunset. Gorgeous orange and purple clouds filled the sky as the sun dipped towards the horizon, and Kiara breathed in the fresh wilderness air.

A gentle breeze played with her hair, which she had tied in a loose ponytail.

"Welcome to Horange," one of the guards droned.

"Entry fee is five irons per person." Dustin looked at her expectantly, and she handed over a single bronze coin to cover the entry fee for both of them. Once inside, Dustin led the way to an inn near the center of the city. They passed a few other inns on the way there, so she figured he must have a specific one that he liked. The building was larger than she expected from an inn, and was five stories tall. As they stepped inside, her eyes widened. The inn was spacious, and richly decorated.

The furniture looked lush and expensive. The few people there were dressed well, and spoke in quiet, almost secretive tones. It was a stark contrast to Sally's Pub, where she had first met Dustin. Dustin walked up to the well dressed man working the inn. Dustin and Kiara were both dusty from their long walk, and the man pursed his lips in displeasure at their appearance. Kiara didn't blame him, she felt as out of place in here as the man was assuming they were.

With no preamble, Dustin said, "We'll take two of your best rooms for the night, plus an early carriage ride tomorrow morning to the merchant district." At this, the man perked up considerably. Once he realized they were here to spend coin, his previous looks of disdain were replaced by bright eyes and a big smile.

"Certainly sir, let me see what rooms we have available." The man made a big show of looking through his register book, and Kiara rolled her eyes. Just by glancing around, she could tell they had plenty of empty rooms. Only the rich and posh could afford to stay at places like this, and she wondered why Dustin had brought them here.

"Ah yes," the man said in his best salesman voice, "we have junior suites for 3 silver per night, our luxury suites are an affordable 4 silver and 5 bronze per night, and our honeymoon suite is 6 silver per night." Kiara blushed at the mention of a honeymoon suite, but Dustin quickly cut in before she could say anything.

"We'll take two luxury suites." The worker simply nodded.

"With the carriage ride tomorrow morning, that'll be 9 silver and 4 bronze." He looked at Dustin expectantly. Dustin looked at Kiara and smiled as innocently as he could. The previous inn Kiara had stayed in only cost her 8 bronze, so she had a frame of reference for how expensive this was in comparison. Even so, it cost less than her sword, so she was beginning to see how much she had overpaid for the weapon. She shrugged, and pulled the necessary amount of her pocket, and handed it to the man.

The inn worker dealt with rich clientele every day, so he didn't bat an eyelash at the money she handed over but she did notice in her periphery that Dustin gave her an odd look. As they made their way up to their rooms on the top floor, she decided to ask him about it.

"What was that look you gave me when I paid for the rooms?" They continued up the stairs, and he didn't answer for a minute as he thought to himself.

"You continue to surprise me is all."

"What's surprising about me paying for the rooms? I agreed to cover the costs of the trip. Besides, you're the one who brought us here. I saw plenty of inns on the way through town, why did we come to such an expensive one?" They reached the top floor, and Dustin stopped in front of the door to his room as he replied.

"Well, you seem to be drowning in money, so we might as well travel in comfort, wouldn't you say? Plus, I figured you might be used to accommodations such as this." He looked at her with sharp eyes, gauging her reaction. She laughed.

"Hardly. I slept on a straw mat for my entire life, up until a few days ago. I can sleep anywhere, really." He studied her for a minute, then furrowed his brows.

"You're from Portish?" You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Near there."

"And you slept on a straw mat up until a few days ago?" She nodded sincerely.

"And you were in your home town a few days ago?" She paused. This wasn't the first time he had gone down this line of questioning. Last time, she had been hesitant to answer him, but now that they'd travelled together for a few days, she decided to extend a little bit of trust. She nodded again.

"And yet, here you are…" His eyes studied hers for answers. She just nodded.

"And yet, here I am."

"How did you get here so fast?" She parried with a question of her own.

"Why did you give me that look when I paid for the rooms?" He still hadn't given her a direct answer to her earlier question. He looked at the ceiling before answering, clearly mulling over what to say.

"Ok fine. Where did the coins come from?"

"Sorry?"

"The coins you paid with," he clarified, "where did they come from?"

"My pocket…" He shook his head.

"It's a nice trick, but where did they really come from? I don't see you wearing a storage ring." She wasn't sure how much to reveal. Was a soul storage space something that most mages had access to? What if it wasn't and powerful people found out, what would happen to her? Based on her experiences so far with mages, she didn't like the idea of anyone powerful knowing her secrets. Could she trust Dustin to keep her secrets to himself?

Telling him that she had been back home a few days ago was one thing, but telling him about her soul storage space was quite another. She hadn't known him for very long.

"Maybe it's a magic pocket…?" She said hesitantly.

"What do you do for money when you wear different clothes?" She shrugged.

"Maybe all of my clothes have magical pockets." He snorted out a laugh and looked to the side.

"That would be… unusual, to say the least. You should get a ring. That way you don't have to hide whatever it is that you're doing. You can just pretend you're pulling the coins from your storage ring. It will draw less attention." She nodded in response. It was a good idea.

"And how did you get so far from home so quickly?" he asked, looking back at her. She scratched the side of her head awkwardly. She knew the World Engine wouldn't let her talk about the details.

"Magic, I guess." He sighed.

"Fine, keep your secrets. I'll figure them out eventually!" She laughed again and shook her head.

"Let's turn in for the night." * The next morning, they awoke bright and early, then grabbed a quick breakfast before their carriage arrived. The streets were already bustling with activity, and the carriage driver deftly worked through the traffic to get them to the merchant district. The streets were filled with horse drawn carts, all headed towards a large central square near a city gate. In the square, the goods were transferred to large wagons, which were hitched to teams of oxen.

Everyone shouted over each other to be heard, and the noise level exceeded anywhere else in the city that they had been to yet. They'd already paid for the carriage ride, so they simply thanked the driver as he dropped them off near the central square. As they walked, Dustin pointed it all out and explained how it worked.

"Travelling merchants move from city to city, and the oxen are built for the long, slow travel of a merchant caravan. Merchants here in the city buy and sell from the travelling merchants, those are the horse drawn carriages that you see. Their loads are smaller, and they only have to haul the goods to a nearby warehouse or storage facility. The city merchants then set up shop in the markets to sell the goods." Kiara nodded as he explained.

She had worked her family's stall at the local market back home plenty of times.

"Why did we come here?" She asked, turning to Dustin.

"Shouldn't we just have hired a carriage to take us up to Portish?"

"All the way from here?" He started to laugh, but then saw she was serious.

"Oh… that's too far for a carriage to take us. Carriages can take you around the city, but travel between cities is more dangerous.

"Merchant caravans hire armed guards to escort them from city to city to deter bandits on the roads. It doesn't always work, sometimes bandits still attack, but it helps. I supposed we could hire an armed escort of our own, but the travel speed would still be the same, so we might as well go with a caravan that's already headed that direction." She nodded in response. Dustin made quick work of arranging travel with a caravan headed north.

The merchant caravans served as the long distance travel network for most folks, and they always had an empty wagon or two that people could ride in for the right price. They even put the wagons full of people up front, to avoid the dust that plagued the wagons in the back. The caravan wasn't leaving until the following morning, so they spent the day in the city, doing their own things. Kiara bought herself a few changes of clothes, which she stored in her soul storage space.

The shop workers that she asked about storage rings pointed her to a small shop that sold enchanted items. A little bell over the door rang as she entered, announcing her presence. A small, grandmotherly looking person sitting behind the counter glanced at Kiara over her glasses before returning her gaze to the book she was reading. Kiara spent a few minutes looking at the items on the walls, wondering what they all did. Many of them looked fancy, but there were no price tags, and no descriptions.

Eventually she made her way to the counter to ask some questions.

"Do you sell storage rings here?" The old lady held up a finger, her eyes still on her book. Kiara waited patiently while the lady got to a good stopping point. As the old lady closed the book, she simultaneously pulled a small tray out from behind the counter for Kiara to look at. There were 10 rings on the tray, each one nestled gently into a small slot. Four of the rings were made of silver, five were made of gold, and one was made of platinum. A few were simple bands, but most of them had beautiful gems inlaid.

The old lady looked at Kiara expectantly.

"I've never bought one of these before," Kiara started hesitantly.

"I'm not sure how they work…" She knew that admitting to ignorance was a good way to get ripped off again, but something about the old lady seemed trustworthy. Maybe it was because she hadn't seemed in a rush to sell anything to Kiara when she entered, and clearly cared more about the book she was reading than she did about making a sale. Kiara felt like she could trust her.