Chương 23: Chapter 22. Welcome to Dynarus

"This bog reeks," Gita complained as they continued their trek through the nasty environment.

"It's nature. Embrace it and shut up," Bruno replied.

"Besides, you're going to miss it up here once we reach the secret entrance to Dynarus."

"Why can't we just enter the city normally and have you endure this bog alone?" Oscar asked. Bruno responded by hurling a clump of mud at him.

"We're a team, so we walk through shitty environments as a team. We've bonded a lot these past few days on the way here, have we not? Let's smile a bit more guys."

"Have you put any more consideration into my request?" Oscar asked, changing the subject.

"I have," Bruno replied simply. Gita hurled her own clump of mud at Bruno.

"And? Don't keep us waiting, what's the verdict?"

"Why do you two want to be adventurers so bad? What we're doing can't be reported to the guild, so why bother?" Bruno questioned.

"To track our growth and progress," Oscar replied.

"Adventurers receive a rank based on how strong they are, right? So, as someone with an unknown class, I'd like to know how I fare against others." Bruno snorted at that.

"Their metric doesn't mean shit. It's just some arbitrary bullshit ranking that they give to placate the wannabe heroes. I've seen their lowest tier members outshine some of the highest tiers, trust me you don't want to be apart of it. Besides, you'd have to register your class onto an official document. I don't want that kind of attention on us." Oscar supposed that made sense, but still, he wanted to have some sort of idea where he was at.

"Okay, then in your estimations… Where do you rank us?"

"Gita is definitely Bronze. Sorry, but you got a ways to go," Bruno said.

"For you, out of the five possible tiers… I'd place you at a low Silver. You have skills that'd give Diamonds a run for their money, but you lack experience. But like I said, their ranking is bullshit to me, so who cares? The entrance is just up ahead so cut it out with this stupid rank talk already." Looking ahead, Oscar couldn't see any entrance. There was just bog, some more bog, and if he looked closely there was a dead tree that was within… a bog.

It seemed that the tree was the key as Bruno approached it and began to look around the area.

"Ah, still in great condition," Bruno said as he gestured at a stump.

"Would anyone like to take a breather?"

"No," both Oscar and Gita said in unison. Bruno clicked his tongue in disappointment and kicked the stump. His foot passed through and shattered the illusion, revealing a hole in the ground. Without saying anything, Bruno began to descend down into the hole. Oscar crept forwards and saw the ladder embedded into the ground.

"Welcome to the sewers of Dynarus!" Bruno said as they finished the long climb down.

"This place is used by all kinds of nefarious sorts, and now you two have the honor of doing the same. On the account of you two being backwater bums, I'm assuming you two have never been to Dynarus before, correct?" Oscar and Gita nodded their heads.

"Right, so Dynarus is split into seven districts divided not by walls, but by wealth. Actually… there is a wall as well. Districts seven through four are considered the lower city because districts three through one are quite literally above the rest of the city. The higher the district you live in, the more money and influence you have. Very nice, right?"

"…No, that sucks," Oscar said.

"It does!" Bruno said.

"How spectacular is it that the lovely [King] of Dynarus chooses to do nothing for the city these days! [Guards] are reserved almost entirely for the idyllic upper city, the adventurers guild is no longer funded, and crime is essentially legal."

"If there's no [Guards], then why not go through the main gate?" Gita asked. Bruno clapped his hands and whistled.

"That's the real kick in my balls. The [King] wants [Guards] posted at the entrance to vet whoever enters, but he couldn't give a damn what people do once their inside."

"Okay, so let's move past this and discuss what happens once we get in. It's getting dark out, so I'm guessing it'll be fully night by then. We emerge out of these sewers, and do what?" Oscar asked.

"Go to my home, of course," Bruno replied.

"There's a lovely market in District Seven not too far from it. I propose we get a nice bite to eat first." Oscar couldn't think of any reason to protest, and neither could Gita. So, they continued to march through the dank sewers. For a sewer system in a fantasy world, it looked ridiculously complex. Then again, the city of Dynarus as a whole was already beyond what one would label as fantasy. Dynarus looked to be quite gothic, while still having just a hint of classic fantasy flair.

That was what he thought of the place from outside, at least. The sewers had a plethora of snaking paths that'd surely leave anyone unprepared to be completely lost. Oscar had wondered how Bruno knew where he was going, but eventually he found that answer to be markings. The paint was faded and in some cases almost fully erased, but the routes they kept taking were the ones marked with a symbol of a coin in red paint.

"Hmm… this is new," Bruno remarked as he led them in a wide, spacious chamber.

"Don't ask me what this chamber is meant to be used for, but what I do know is that there used to be only two paths to choose from, not six." Oscar looked at the crudely created paths. They were just massive, gaping holes that didn't look to have been professionally made. Jagged rocks and edges made themselves known, making it look unsuitable for human foot traffic. If Oscar had to make a guess, he'd say it was created by a— Tsscht! Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The sound of scratching came from deep within one of the tunnels. It was then followed up by a slight tremor. Oscar couldn't pinpoint which exact tunnel was the source. Everyone tensed as they scanned the room.

"What the fuck is that, Bruno?" Gita asked.

"I, uh… I don't know," he admitted.

"Whatever it is, it must be massive. But something that large living down here makes no sense... Well, I don't want to find out what it is, so let's not wait any longer." Just as they had begun to shuffle towards the exit, a long, purple forked tongue poked out of the dark tunnel furthest from them. An ugly teal colored head followed. The beast had massive spikes jutting out of the top of its body, colored a deep crimson.

As it fully entered the chamber, Oscar saw it had six legs, each bulging with muscle, but also slightly stumpy. The tail was the freakiest part of the whole monster. Similar to the legs, the tail was thick but tapered off towards the end as it split into three individual segments. Each segment looked to be a hand, but with only three digits.

"How is that even possible…" Bruno muttered in shock.

"A basilisk being that large is rare…" The basilisk then turned its attention onto them. It's forked tongue flickered out of its maw and let out a loud screech. Without anyone being told to run, they all sprinted towards the exit. The basilisk screeched again and began to follow. Oscar didn't dare to look back to see how close the monster was. Oscar was last to enter the exit pathway. The exit was far too narrow for the basilisk to fit through. Or, at least that was what he believed.

The ground rumbled and the walls shook as the basilisk rammed its head against the pathway. The impact broke away a lot of the wall, but once it saw that it wasn't doing enough, the basilisk then opened its maw wide and began to chomp at the stone. The teeth inside its mouth were plentiful and clearly razor sharp. With absolute ease it began to chunk away. It wouldn't be long until it had chewed a path forwards.

"I think we are under District Seven already," Bruno announced as he continued to run.

"I don't know exactly where, but I think I'm okay with not having the perfect exit." A long ladder was up ahead. Bruno was in the front, so he was first to reach the ladder. The basilisk was still chewing through the stone, but was noticeably slowing down. Whatever the reason for why, Oscar didn't question. He followed behind Gita and Bruno, the last to begin the climb. But that was fine as he spared a glance back and saw the basilisk was retreating.

"It's leaving!" Oscar called up.

"Basilisks are lazy bastards, but I wasn't that confident that this one would be like the others. Good to see that at while abnormal, its still a basilisk,""Yeah, you sure sounded confident while screaming..." Gita remarked sarcastically. The rest of the climb up was doing in peace, and once Oscar had finally reached the top and pulled himself out, he was greeted by the loudness of the city. They emerged directly in the middle of a narrow street.

People visibly annoyed at their sudden appearance that was now disrupting their path. Bruno spread his arms wide and smiled at them.

"Welcome to… Dynarus" he said with a little flair.

"Looks like we are near old lady Viig's fabrics. Crotchety old bitch… but that doesn't matter because the District Seven market is just up ahead. Maybe like a five or ten minute walk? Not too bad… so long we don't experience any [Pickpockets]." Oscar remembered that he still had the money he'd received from Terry all the way back in Burgen's Hill. It felt like there encounter with the kind [Merchant] had been a century ago.

So much had happened in such a short amount of time that it was almost easy to forget that he was essentially still a baby in this world. God, he'd felt as if he changed so much already. He feared he'd never be able to acclimate back on Earth should he ever find a way back. Did he even want to go back? Back on Earth he'd been such a loser and a shut in, but here he was with other people at all times. Was he friends with Bruno and Gita? Well… no. But was he bonding with them? He liked to think he was. Slowly.

Although, if he were to be completely honest with himself… he could really use a break from being around people. Changing was good and he was proud of the effort he'd been putting in to be more sociable… but he was in desperate need of a personal day alone from the insanity that Bruno brought with him. He also knew that wasn't likely to happen anytime soon.

"Do you two smell that?" Bruno asked excitedly.

"This market never lets me down! Gods, it is so good to be back. I know just the place for us to eat." The marketplace was surprisingly pretty busy for seemingly being so late. The smells of various different foods hung in the air. Vendors for weapons and armor, potions and scrolls were everywhere. One man looked to be selling spider legs of all things. His gaze was also locked onto Oscar and his group, but after a moment he looked away. Oscar noted that a scrumptious looking noodle stand was right next to him.

The woman who owned the spot looked annoyed at the spider leg vendor being next to her. Bruno led them towards a peculiar shop that was selling meat of questionable origin. The owner of the stall also refused to tell them what exactly the source of the meat was, but Oscar had to admit that it did smell quite scrumptious.

"Ah! Oscar, you pay for it. I want to go check on something real quick," Bruno said and handed Oscar some money.

"You two some sort of adult orphans?" The stall owner asked in a gruff voice.

"Aren't you a little old to be living like this? Makes me fuckin' sick…" he began to grind his teeth so intensely that Oscar could hear it. Panic began to rise in him.

"[King] Romulus has let us down for too long now. I'm sorry you two haven't been able to get on your feet, but just know not everyone in Dynarus is bad. I mean look at you two… Gods, I don't know the last time I've seen a rougher looking pair of [Beggars] before in my life."

"Um… can we just buy the food, please?" Gita asked, clearly annoyed at his assessment of her. The stall owner apologized and told Oscar the price—which he didn't include a discount, despite his supposed empathy. As Oscar was pulling the money out of the pouch, something crashed into his back and knocked him to the ground. The air spilled out of his lungs, rendering him unable to fight back as he felt hands grip him and turn him over.

As he was rolled over, he saw Gita was on the ground herself, her hand covering her nose. A face loomed over him. They were mostly concealed by a mask, but as the person looted his body, a long strand of hazel colored hair tumbled out from beneath their hood. The assailant cursed, revealing to Oscar that it was a girl. She stood away from him and delivered a kick right into his stomach, ensuring he stayed down. Oscar watched through strained eyes as the [Thief] pocketed his coin pouch.

He couldn't tell through the mask she wore, but he thought he could see her grinning.

"That's kind of rude, no? Stealing from two poor souls..." Bruno said, causing the girl to hastily turn around in surprise.

"They'll be fine with your patronage. You look well off enough," the girl said and tried to run off in the opposite direction. Bruno dashed forwards and grabbed her by the collar, flinging the thief to the ground.

"Not the most experienced are ya? When you plan to hit a mark, you should probably also plan an exit route. Also, perhaps consider evaluating everyone in the area, yeah? I'd already noticed you within our first minute of being here. If you were better then you'd have picked up on me not being your average citizen." The thief struggled and was only able to get up once Bruno had released his grip on her.

"We all got to start somewhere, right?" The thief jokingly said while brushing herself off.

"Here, take it all back. Sorry for bothering you…" Bruno accepted the coin pouch and took out two gold coins.

"I used to be just as shit at this as you, but if there's one difference between us… I couldn't accept loss without trying to beat someone. Take this," he said and handed the gold to her.

"Next time I see you, I want it doubled. Deal?" The thief snorted and accepted the coins.

"Sure, but don't be mad if I take your advice and do my best to never see you again." Bruno just smiled at her.

"Oh, trust me, we will see each other again." Using the returned money, Bruno paid for their food. Gita helped Oscar get up, and with their food paid for, Bruno led them towards the exit of the marketplace. Oscar was still pretty pissed at being assaulted by the thief, but he supposed he was more hungry than angry. Just as they were out of sight of the thief, she called back to them.

"Hey! You gave me three gold instead of two!"

"The extra is payment for kicking the shit out of Oscar," Bruno shouted back, not bothering to look back.

"Do it to Gita next time we meet, and I'll forget about the repayment. See you soon, shitty [Thief]."

Ariesa left the marketplace in a hurry, the three coins she'd received jingling in her pocket as she ran. Once she'd located an easy enough building to climb, she went up to the roof and sat down in frustration. As she sat, one of the coins tumbled out beside her.

"Don't even need the stupid gold…" Ariesa grumbled quietly to herself.

"Why couldn't one thing have gone my way today?" As she sulked on the roof, her mind began to replay the prior events that had led up to this moment. She couldn't return home with her nightly activities still weighing on her mind. Even in her father's current state, he'd be able to detect she wasn't her normal self. Would he do or say anything about it? Probably not, but still it'd be good for her to review and reflect on what she'd done wrong and think about what she could do better next time.

Although in her defense, how could she have predicted she'd run into a psycho killer?