The first thing that caught my attention when we passed through the gate, was how devoid of any greenery the entire area was. Unlike a city in our times where the sidewalk might have some patches of grass with trees growing on them, the entire city, minus the dirt ground we walked on, seemed to be covered in stones and bricks. The only ‘exception’ to this, could be the moss that was hanging from the top of poles spaced evenly around the street. Thinking back to the moss we saw in the labyrinth, it was very likely that this moss would be used to help light up the streets during night-time.. 

Taking a look at some of the inhabitants that were walking around, I noticed that there were a surprisingly large amounts of elves present in the city. Though they were clearly not a majority of the population, the fact that around one-fifth of the population seemed to be comprised of elves was a great surprise to me. Unlike the elves that seemed to be common in these areas, one thing that I was unable to find was any trace of ‘beast people’, or anyone with any animal characteristics for that matter. I wasn’t sure if this was because they were rare in this area, or simply did not exist in this world, but I was a bit disappointed at not seeing any… 

Taking a better look at our surroundings, I noticed that it was impossible to tell in which direction you were heading to as all the buildings were at least two stories tall, effectively blocking the view. While this might not seem like a great height, the roads were relatively cramped and narrow, as well as not being all that long, so there wasn't much in the way of space for a person to properly peek over the buildings, at least in this area. In fact, the layout seemed to be as though it was meant to be a labyrinth. Thinking about some of the historical layouts of cities, this might have actually been the plan so as to allow for better defense of the city. Regardless of the reason for this archaic street planning, the two of us were effectively lost in this city, without any proper markers to guide us. 

Considering we only had 28 renets however, I didn't mind if we simply wandered around. It wasn’t like we had the proper income to purchase anything, and I was confident I could get to the guild by asking around. Therefore, I continued to lead Ailya around as I chose to simply wander around for the time being and explore this new fantasy city. Not that I wanted to forget about the matter of us being broke by exploring the city, not at all… 

As we continued to walk around, I was surprised by the amount of different businesses that could be found. I didn’t think that most people in a world of such an era would have the disposable income to support all these businesses. But despite that, I could find quite a bit of restaurants, inns, hardware stores, clothing stores, and a few others stops that surprised me just by the fact that they existed. Really, I didn’t understand how all these stores with such a wide arrangements of goods could exist in a pre-industrial world, but deciding not to worry about it since it was extremely convenient for us, I decided to just chalk it up to magic and not worry about the details.

However, despite all the incredible stores that were around, what caught my attention the most. were the stalls selling food that lined the streets. Even just passing by I could smell the tantalizing aroma coming from the grilled meats and vegetables. It had been almost a week since I had last eaten anything, and with that being the hard bread that the boys had on them. And even though I wasn’t hungry at the moment since I didn’t really need to eath, my mouth was beginning to water at the prospect of once again being able to taste food.

Turning my head to the side, I could see that Ailya was also staring at the stalls with a wanting gaze on her face. Considering the girl hadn’t eaten in a week, I felt guilty at the fact that I hadn’t been able to provide her with any food to eat..

Deciding to worry about any issues we would have with money later, I approached one of the stalls and was about to ask the old man who was manning the stall about the price for a meat skewer, before I saw another customer take out two coins that were each worth 10 renets and exchanging it with the old man for a skewer. Seeing this, I turned to the old man and once he had finished receiving the coins, I asked:

“Excuse me… Are the skewers worth 20 renets?”

“Yes lassie, each one of these skewers here is 20, with the larger one over there being 30.”

Though the price seemed a bit expensive, I remembered that meat used to be a luxury in the past and decided to be happy with the simple fact that we could even buy meat. Thus, knowing the price, I took out all the coins from my purse and let out a sigh at the expected amount of 28 renets. Since we couldn’t afford two skewers, I was hoping that I could get one of the larger ones so we could share it, but it wasn’t looking like it’d be possible. Hoping that I might be able to haggle for the larger one, I looked at the old man with a pleading look as I asked:

“Uhmmm, I only have 28 renets, is it ok if we could still get one of the larger ones? I promise to pay you back if I get the chance…”

Though he looked at me a bit skeptically, when he turned to look at Ailya, the old man released a sigh as he reached for one of the larger skewers and handed it to me, telling me:

“I’ll take 28 stone for it, here’s your skewer.”

With a smile on my face, I thanked the man as I eagerly took the skewer and handed him the coins. 

Looking at the skewer in my hand, I felt my mouth watering as the sweet aroma coming from the meat felt intoxicating to my food deprived self. Before I could take a bite however, a grumbling sound came from my right as I turned my head to face the source of the sound. Seeing Ailya gulp as she started at the skewer, I felt a pang in my heart as I saw the longing in her eyes.

With my excitement towards eating the skewer going down, I adopted a gentle smile on my face as I stuck out my hand with the skewer and said:

“Here Ailya, you can eat the whole thing. I’m not really all that hungry after all.”

Ailya however, did not take the skewer and looked at me with an embarrassed expression as she tried to stop me from handing her the skewer.

Not allowing her, I ordered her in my mind to take it as I saw her expression widen slightly at receiving my order as she meekly took the skewer from my hands and began to eat it.

Seeing her expression immediately brighten after taking the first bite of the skewer, I felt an unexpected feeling of satisfaction towards the happy girl eagerly devouring her skewer, that made me feel as though I could continue to stare at her happy expression forever.

Waking me from my trance was the old man however, as he called out to me saying:

“Errrr, little miss. Why don’t you take these skewers here as well.”

Turning to look at him, I saw him holding out another large skewer as well as a smaller one in his hand as he indicated for me to take them.

Seeing the confused expression on my face, the old man smiled gently as he said:

“Don’t worry about it little miss, take this large one here for yourself and give this smaller one to your sister. A young girl needs her food after all.”

Though I felt a bit of indignation at being treated like a pauper. The truth was that at the moment I really was… well… dirt poor. However, since I had a responsibility to take care of Ailya, I decided not to be stupid and put my pride away for the moment as I accepted the man’s kindness and received the two skewers that were being handed it out to me.

Finally taking a bite of meat after 2 weeks, I felt myself getting a bit emotional as I eagerly devoured the large skewer on my hand. Seeing the old man looking at me with a gentle smile, I felt myself getting embarrassed as I gave the old man a nod and a simple ‘Thank you’ before parting away with Ailya who had finished the first skewer and was now on her second one…