Chapter Two:
City Life

Still shaking, I clench my fists and take a few breaths to calm myself. Think rationally. If we are going to do this, we need to have a plan. The first part of any plan is information gathering. Let's start with the pig things. It was eating the moss and mushrooms, so maybe it's an herbivore. The general lack of obvious claws or other natural weapons also point towards that, though maybe it's hiding a row of fangs. Let's get another look.

Carefully moving from the entrance to the massive, I keep my back pressed against the outside wall. That should make it difficult for any attack from the air, though it limits my options if some creature attacks from the ground. It doesn't take long to spy another pig. Apparently, they are pretty common? The grazing creature is a sickly white with some green speckled here and there. It has stubby legs. Probably not a very fast runner. The giant bats eat them, so they probably aren't poisonous. I could try eating one, but the thought of either cooking them here as emergency rations seems unwise while carrying it all the way outside seems like a daunting task.

The fact that such a lame creature can thrive here should mean that it doesn't have many predators. Even elk have horns for defense, here it's like nature just decided to say fuck it. That in itself is pretty odd, maybe the bats aren't that common. In fact, it takes me a long time to find another one. This is one is perched on a mostly intact building, sitting still except for massive ears that twitch towards various directions. Unlike bats found outside, it is entirely silent. Maybe the natural light radiating off the mushrooms is enough for them to get by.

Alright, nothing else is immediately visible. The initial plan is this: keep an eye out for the building tops and keep near away from the pigs. I don't want to risk startling them and attracting attention. As for the city itself, the outer structures are likely housing while the inner city is made of larger buildings that look a lot fancier. In the relative center of the city lies the eventual goal, the palace. Walls encircle it, and there is a deliberate gap separating it from the rest of the city. Approaching it without being seen will be extremely difficult, so we'll put that off for now.

Let's do this. I set down pack back at the guard post, forgoing my supplies in favor of better stealth. I unsheathe my newly acquired sword. Not sure if it'll do anything for me, but it makes me feel better to have at least some way to defend myself.
The mossy floor actually serves to soften my footsteps, though running on it might be difficult if worse comes to worse. Approaching the outside of the city proves to be easy to the point of almost being anticlimactic. I probably won't find much to loot in the outskirts, but my curiosity leads me to check a few of the more intact buildings.

Surprisingly, many still house the skeletons of their prior residents. Those that are weren't crushed under rubble are almost entirely undisturbed. I expected there to be signs of that they were brutally eaten considering the bats, but apparently not. It's like they all just... died.

In terms of loot, the actually important bit, there is the very unsurprising haul. There is what appears to be the average household magic devices, which is something I never thought I'd say before today. Some obvious things like lights, and others that I can only guess the function of. This one here seems to be some sort of magic powered mixer based on what looks suspiciously similar to a whisk I'd seen at the local baker's shop. I can't get any of them to start working, so they are largely junk to me. Magical junk to me. What has my life even become.

There are also various amounts of what I can only guess is coin based currency. Foreign currency would really only be useful for whatever metal it was made of, and I don't really want it clinking around in my pockets while I'm moving further into the city.

Speaking of, as I progress further in, I start seeing what appears to be shops and likely other places of business. A lot of what I find is as useless as what I found in the residential area, but I start seeing other things like magic stones that give off a a hot or cold aura and kitchen knives that seem to have been enchanted to stay sharp. Occasionally I change my path to avoid a bat and more commonly sneak past a pig. Despite walking so far, I don't find really any other wildlife.

The real treasure only appears when I get towards the center of the city. Giant buildings where apparently the rich lived judging by extravagant clothes that seem untouched by the passing of time, jewelry, and other such things. Most notably are the shops that sold these items, one having enough jewelry to fill up multiple bags. Sweet Emperor, say goodbye to Himalpoint. I'm going to gather as much of this stuff as I can load in a cart and moving Bernandt. Forget this living in the middle of nowhere.

It takes hours of sneaking around the inner city, visiting every important looking building that I can safely approach. That's actually a rather large number too, these creatures became less common the deeper I push into the city, maybe because most of the fungal growth is along the outer reaches.

Then I find it. A building with a vault. A vault that's open. Coins are strewn across the floor along with bricks of gold, silver and other metals I can't recognize. It looks like someone raided it and left with whatever they could. I don't know why no one locked it back up afterward, but there are still more than enough goods left.

And all I have to do is get it out. I'll be richer than any noble. I look over to the palace. That open stretch and the wall that guards it. I'm already set for life, there is no reason at all to risk it. I'm not that greedy, am I? I lick my lips.

Copacetic_Emu

I don't think this chapter is terribly interesting, but I wanted to spend some time establishing the main character as someone who is both cautious and a loot goblin. Which one will win out in the end? There is no way he is stupid enough to go into the palace, that's just crazy. Nope, you can expect a nice story about him gathering all that loot and moving to the big city and we can have a nice Slice of Life story.