Two days later, we walk through the forest peacefully. My 15 minions are with me. We arrive in Grey town, shortly before afternoon. Heading towards the entrance slipping in at the last minute. 

"Who are you guys? I never see you bunch." A man who seems to be a guard standing at the gate spoke to us in a strict tone. He stares at each of us from toe head. 

I step forward.

"Actually, we are refugees from land far away. We are looking for ways to earn a living. We hope to get a job in this town." I explain in friendly manner. I am actually very good at this due to my vast marketing and customer service experience in my previous life.

"How do you know about this town?" He asks while his gaze goes to our weapons. 

"We stop by at a village. The villagers tell us that we could get jobs in Grey town." I elucidate while maintaining cordial mode, showing off my palm to embody my harmlessness. 

"Your group travel so far, poorly armed?" 

"Well, we escape from beasts and bandits. We lost our things during our journey. If you can give us jobs, maybe we can get better equipment." I still speak in chummy air.

He discusses something with another 2 guards.

After a while, a guard comes to us while saying, 

"I bring you to the captain of guards."

We enter the town, following the man.

Looking at the cityscape of Grey town, I gasp in surprise. 

Immediately after entering the gate, two story wooden houses are lined up across the streets. Perhaps the local law stipulates that the exterior walls be painted white and the roof should all be red. The road is paved with stone. On the side of the road, is gutter for rainwater. 

Hmm. In spite of medieval civilization, the level of technology is quite high.

In the village, I was impressed by how systematic and clean the level of their water supply and waste disposal system. The well is well guarded against beasts intrusion. There is a water tank in each bathroom. Toilets are placed outside of house with poops fall into metal basket, taken away by assigned persons twice a day. If village is that clean and organized, I wonder how developed a town is.

I had imagined medieval Europe, but my eyes are shocked by this town's level of society.

The main street is vibrant  with people doing business. Grey's locals are crowded in front of a stall, with colourful vegetables, and cooked dishes on platters.

From somewhere, there is a good smell of grilled meat, and fat wafting towards us. 

I am curious as to what kind food is lined up and what kind of food is available. However, if I am moving all over the place, the guard will be furious. I reluctantly suppress my curiosity.

The man suddenly asks,

"Oh, by the way, you said you are from different continent. Have you never seen our money."

I haven't seen the money of this world yet. But I talk about it, he may find me suspicious. So, I carefully open my mouth.

"That's... I haven't seen money yet since I arrive in this land. My place of birth didn't have any money. 

"Well, if you live in uncivilised place without even kingdom, it is not strange to not able to see one." He says and laughs.

That is good. He doesn't think it is strange. I rub my chest in relief.

He takes out his coin pouch through the gap in his breastplate. He takes out three coins from the inside, and place them in the palm of his hand. 

"Our country is Agraria, ruled by a king. This town is demesne of Viscount Callum. The are only two noble families in this land, Callum family and Kyle family that serves under them."

He then shows the coins to me.

"The money is called agra. One agra is this small copper coin. 10 agra is for one large copper coin. 1,000 agra is this one silver coin. On top of this, 100,000 agra is one gold coin. Unless you are from noble or knight families, you rarely use silver and gold coins." He put back the coins into the pouch after letting me touch them for a while.

"What can 1 small copper coin, or 1 Agra buys?" I ask curiously.

"If 1 agra, you can eat a plate of lunch over there." He points to a stall.

In front of his line of sight, there is a food stall. On the signboard of the stall, there is a metal signboard with words written on it. I am amazed that the technology is at such level.

I cannot read the words but suddenly my control panel appears and there is something says, "Automatic Alphabets comprehension acquired." Is that my new skill.

Suddenly, I instinctively understand the words on the signboard. 

"A plate of for 1 Agra."

The man laughs and says, "Foreigners, you don't understand the words, right? It says 1 plate for 1 small copper coin."

I nod. I cannot let he knows I, a foreigner can understand their writing. At least for now. And, this guy bluffs a little. The signboard never says coins. It just says the pricing in Agra.

It also means to survive, a person needs at least 2 Agra or 2 small copper coins unless you can hunt or produce your own food like in the village.

"Then, how much to buy weapon?" I ask.

"Oh, you need proper weapons for your men, right? Hmm. A normal one handed sword cost 50 Agra, a one handed longsword cost 80 Agra usually. You have several big dudes there. Large dude like them might be able to use large two handed sword. Lighter two handed sword cost about 150 Agra. Battle axe cost 110 Agra. Small rounded shield, if wooden, cost 30 Agra and metal one cost 80 Agra. I cannot remember the price of bigger ones."

I am walking while listening to the prices of this world from him, I suddenly look up at a large building. A building made of stone and wood with a triangular roof attracts my attention.

"What is that building?"

"Churches of Trinity."

So, there are organized religions in this world. I scrutinize the roof.

After a while, we arrive at a building on the main street that is the biggest compared to the others. 

"This Callum administration office. The captain is on the ground floor. The Viscount and his deputies are on second floor. But Lord Callum usually work at his mansion outside the town."

We enter the big building. It is the size of large concert hall.

The ground floor is made of stone while the second floor is combination of woods and stone, making it a lot  more grand than other buildings.

The first floor is like the front of 3 star hotels. There is a counter with a female receptionist. There are something like cheap sofa everywhere, probably for citizens who wait for their turn. 

"This is a lobby for lodging report or paying tax."

We then enter into a door. There is another space with dozens of men in military uniform. There are chairs and tables everywhere. There are many doors, probably entrance to rooms.

While peeking around the soldiers quarter, the soldiers open their eyes wide as they see us. Some of them are spitting out the alcohol they drink. A man suddenly stretches his legs blocking our path after our guide walk past him. Our guide looks scared. It seems either this man who is obstructing us is either strong or higher ranking than him. 

"Excuse me, sir. Could you let us pass?" I try maintaining friendly atmosphere.

Several men stand around us. As our group has 15 members and half of us is large, the soldiers do not look threatening.

3 large men are holding the impatient Kureha. I have a command in place for Jabar, Raja and Rudolf to hold her if she loose control in front of local men.

Suddenly, my collar is grabbed by the man. When he strangles me with his other hand, Eto holds his hand. 

"Let me go of my hand, ugly foreigner." He intimidates us.

3 more strong looking man come to us but stopped by Awang, Pirlo and Mbaye. 

Fights immediately break out. They are punching each other. I am pushed to the floor. Yui hugs me, in an attempt to block any attack with her body. 

More soldiers come in, ganging on us. 

They exchange kicks and punches. They totally outnumber us but this turn into an even brawl. 

The 3 minions are forced to release Kureha, several men punch their bodies. 

"Kureha, don't fight. Come here, protect me!" My bellow reaches her. She becomes annoyed as she sees Yui is hugging me. Kureha runs to me and hugs me. My face is being sandwiched by four considerably large breasts. 

The soldiers are beaten to pulps, and my minions stand strong. I push the girls away and stand up. 

"I am sorry. We are here to find jobs but you start the fight first." I bow to them.

A middle aged man accompanied by another middle aged man are standing not far from us, looking in disbelief. 

The guard who guide us quickly goes to them.

"I am sorry, captain. I brought them into the city. They are foreigners who do not know our custom. They got lost and are looking for jobs."

So, that is the captain. 

I quickly walk to him and bow.

"I am sorry, captain. We are forced to defend ourselves. Please believe me. We came from distant place looking for ways to earn living."

The captain look around. His gaze moved from each of my minion to another minion, then to his fallen subordinates.

He closes his eyes for a while and sighes.

"You useless, pathetic brats. Losing easily to bunch of foreigners." He bellows to his men on the floor.

"You, foreigners. Come with me into my room. Oh, only four of your man can enter."

I bring Yui, Kureha and Chucky into his room. He has 2 men standing next to him while the four of us are standing on their opposite. We are separated by a large desk. His rooms is well decorated.

"I am a Joshua of Callum family. Beside me James from Callum family. He is my vice captain. He is Jonah from Prem knight family." The captain makes introduction.

The vice captain, James then speaks,

"We are not interested in your name, which you can tell us later. We won't dig your background. But, your strength is genuine."

He sighs and exchanges look with his captain. 

He resumed his explanation,

"It is our custom not hire men of unknown origin as official soldiers, but .... we can hire you as  mercenaries."

"We accept !!" I hit the desk and answers immediately in delightful manner. 

James explains, "A soldier is paid 5 agra per day with free meal. But mercenaries are paid 1 Agra per day. But we give you free meals without accomodation. However, as special exception, we give you weapons and armours."

I hit the desk again happily.

"We don't need a house. Meals, weapons, and even armours. You are really generous guys!"

They look at each other before turning to me.

"Don't be too happy. We might risk your life for us." Jonah, the knight interrupts.

The captain elaborates,

"A war is around the corner. It is just a little skirmish between our demesne against a lord of neighbouring country, Atonia. We now only have 220 official soldiers and 100 conscripted peasants, including the Kyle family's. The invading Atonia has over 500 troops."

I gulp. Such troublesome thing for our first job but I cannot back away.

"We have no choice." I look down, unable to hide my anxiousness.