After i managed to get a free ride to Balroc city, the trip was pretty much peaceful, however, i was still growing more and more anxious with every minute that passed because of the night approaching, and i'm sure the guy inside the carriage was quite worried as well.

"HEY, HOW LONG UNTIL WE REACH THE CITY?" I asked since it seemed that we were getting near. 

"YOU ARE STILL THERE?!"

"JUST ANSWER ME"

"Sigh...THREE MINUTES"

Did i just heard him sigh?

Well, whatever.

I'm quite tired of being on the back of the carriage, being on the verge of falling off all the time is not so comfortable, so...

"Excuse me" I said before taking a seat besides him.

"What the-?!"

The guy that was driving the carriage had a brown curly haircut, he had a small mustache under his nose and was wearing enormous glasses.

His body was skinny, and he was wearing what seemed to be expensive clothes.

All in all, my first impression on him was that he looked like a noble or a merchant. 

But maybe i'm wrong...

"Stay back, i have a knife with me, even if you are a kid, i won't doubt in stabbing you if you try to attack me" He said to me.

"Take it easy, i'm not here to rob you, though i doubt you will trust anything i say to you"

I took out my sword, and placed it on the floor of the carriage.

"I'm disarmed right now, does that work for you?

"Yeah pretty much, but still don't get near me"

"Alright, just calm down"

"And who might you be kid? I've never seen you in Balroc city..."

"My name is Aspen, this is my first time in the city, so i doubt you have heard of me"

"So you come from another city?"

"From a village to be exact, some things happened and now i'm here trying to find shelter in this city.

"I see..."

"And what's your name?" i asked since he seemed to be someone important.

"My name's Ashwin Gold, a merchant from this city"

Damn, i was on the mark.

"So you sell things?"

"Oh yeah, a lot of things, interested?" 

"Do you sell any pickaxes?"

"Pickaxes? Well... yeah, we sell some at the main building of my company, but why the hell could you want a pickaxe? Could it be that you are aiming to work at the mines?"

"No, that's not it"

"Then why?"

"Personal reasons"

"I see..."

After that small talk, i realized that we finally arrived at the walls of the city.

And Holy Molly it was tall, three times bigger than the walls in the village, these were made of stone, so it should be a lot more resistant.

As we arrived, two guys with iron armor and a short sword appeared in front of the carriage. 

They looked pretty much like a guard could look, so i will suppose that they are guards.

"Identify yourselves" Said one of them.

"I'm Ashwin Gold, i came back after traveling across the other cities to sell and trade the goods my company offer" Ashwin said while bowing respectfully.

"And what about you?" The other guard asked

"My name is Aspen, i traveled from my village to this city because of certain reasons"

"Alright, only the merchant is allowed to enter" The guard said while gesturing Ashwin to enter.

Huh?

"Wait, why am i not allowed to enter?!" 

"Our city currently is not in the position to allow more people to enter, unless they are merchants, mercenaries, explorers or someone with an important status, so i'm sorry kid."

"But i won't survive the night with all those zombies and demon eyes roaming free, ready to eat me"

"We can give you shelter for this night, but not food"

Fuuuu... thank god...

"That's enough for me, thank you" I said while bowing my head a little.

"Also, you will have to return to your village tomorrow morning"

"Well... my village got invaded by an army of goblins sometime ago, and i was the only one that managed to survive, so i got no home to go back" my expression turned somber when i had to remember those moments.

However, the guard didn't seem to care about the grief and sorrow i was currently feeling, instead he grabbed me by the shoulders and looked at me with widened eyes.

"You mean that a nearby village has been invaded by goblins?! Which village was it?!"

"Well, i don't know the name of my village, however, i have a map, so i can show you which one was invaded.

I took out the map from inventory but i made it look like i took it out of my pocket.

After that i showed him which one was my village.

"I-impossible... This is Axis village, this can't be happening..."

His calm face changed the moment i showed him the map, his furrows burrowed and his face became incredibly pale.

"You, come with me" he said pointing at me.

"Alright"

I just shrugged, probably they wanted to know everything about this invasion to my village, after all, we are still at a war between the different races of this planet, being the goblins our principal enemy in this war, so the fact that a nearby village was invaded by them was probably a very important thing.

While following him, he entered to what seemed to be the barracks of the guards in this city, so i just followed him. We continued walking until we finally arrived to a small room that had just a table and two chairs.

Yeah, pretty much an interrogation room.

He won't hit me because of no reason, right...?

"Alright, kid, tell me everything that happened in your village"

I explained pretty much everything that happened during the invasion, obviously omitting the parts when i used my powers to attack the goblins by surprise.

With every word that came from my mouth, his expression became more and more somber and worried.

Although my expression was not that different to his, due to having to remember those horrible moments, my expression quickly became a sad one.

"All right kid, you are allowed to enter the city, however, i suggest you spend the night in this place until morning, because even if there're guards in all places of the city, it doesn't make the night less dangerous, so roaming around could end very badly" The guard said to me while putting his hand on my shoulder.

After that he left in a hurry.

Well... uh...

Where should i sleep?

...

After asking a few other guards, they led me to a tiny room with just a small bed in it.

There were no more furniture in the room, just the bed.

Sigh... i guess it's better than sleeping on a cave.

So i just accepted my fate and started sleeping.

 

---

The next day.

I woke up to the sound of someone knocking the door, my eyes lazily opened and glanced groggily at the door.

Oh, sh*t, that was a wonderful sleep, seems like i had some stress accumulated from the previous days, luckily i was finally able to rest properly this time.

"Coming" I said while stretching my body and beginning to get up.

When i opened the door i saw the guard that interrogated me yesterday, he had some bags under his eyes, and he looked quite tired.

Looks like i was the only one resting properly.

"I came to tell you that we need you to leave the room, morning already came."

"Oh, yeah, right..."

Today i start exploring this city.

"Do you know which is the cheapest inn in this city? 

"Yeah, the cheapest inn around should be the Inn "Zirou", Though their service is a bit lame, if you endure it, then you can save a lot of money by staying there"

"Alright, thank you, ehh..." 

"My name's gannon, if you have any question about this city, don't hesitate to ask me."

"Alright gannon, i'll ask you right away if i have any question, goodbye" I said while waving my hand at him.

After leaving the barracks, I finally found what seemed to be the entrance of the city.

I just hope i don't get lost.

...

This place was enormous, after passing through a lot of houses, i arrived to what seemed to be the market area, and holly cow, there were thousands of people walking and shopping around the streets.

It was a total mess.

 I asked some people where could i be able to buy tools like pickaxes or axes, they were essential if i wanted to survive in this world.

After i somehow still managed to get lost, I entered an alley because i was kinda tired of the crowded street.

That was when a certain voice came from behind me.

"Well, well, looks like we are quite lucky today, I didn't think that someone could come to us voluntarily"

Huh?

When i turned to look at the one that was talking, what greeted me were four thugs smiling and pointing at me with a dagger in their hands.

Oh, you gotta be kidding me...

Why am i so unlucky?

Well, whatever...

Seems like the first thing i will do in this city is to fight some thugs.

What a nice beggining.

---