When Bang slept last night, he didn't see Andy going to sleep. But when he woke up this morning, Andy was already awake. He sure is hardworking.
Ligi was still asleep, which was weird because in previous mornings, he would always be awake before Bang.
Thinking that Ligi would need all the energy he could have in the journey, Bang decided not to wake him up. He went out of the room and walked to Andy's workspace. Andy was still banging on a metal using a hammer.
"Hey."
Andy did not answer.
"Hey!"
Andy still did not answer.
"HEY!"
When Bang shouted, Andy finally looked to his side to see who shouted. He saw Bang and he spoke while still continuing his work.
"Hey! Ready to go to the Dreaded Valley?"
"Yeah. We'll set off maybe later after Ligi wakes up."
"Great! That's great!"
It looked like Andy wasn't even listening to Bang and just responded to whatever Bang said. Feeling like it was hopeless to talk, Bang returned to the room.
When he opened the door, the sound escaped from the metal and went into the room. The sudden sound woke up Ligi from his sleep.
"Wha-! Wher-!...."
Ligi sat up as soon as he woke. His heart was beating wildly as he looked at his surroundings. Seeing the familiar blacksmith's place, he sighed in relief. Bang just observed the weird behavior of Ligi.
'Did he have a nightmare? Will that affect him in the journey? Should I do something, system?'
Instead of asking Ligi himself, Bang asked the system. He didn't want any wild cards that could lead to their deaths in the valley. It's good to hash out any problems in the plan before they set out.
'.......'
The system stayed silent. Bang interpreted this as the system telling him to not mind it because it won't affect their journey.
He just went to sit on a chair and checked his rucksack. He had food and water for the journey to the Dreaded Valley.
'Wait, is this enough?'
Right as he thought that Andy went back into the room sweating. He wiped his sweat from his forehead and spoke to Bang.
"So, you guys ready?"
"Not yet. How long does it take to travel to the Dreaded Valley?"
Andy smacked his head again and scolded himself.
"Right! I haven't told you where the Dreaded Valley was."
"Well, I'll just tell you when we're out of the gate. It'll be much easier to point the directions."
Bang still looked at his bag and counted his perishables.
"How long will the journey be?"
Andy saw the food and jugs that Bang carried in his rugged rucksack. He guessed the real answer Bang wanted.
"You'll need about 2-3 days travel. Those won't be enough."
Bang thoughts so. These were just salvaged from the caravan of Tab. Even if he portioned it, it wouldn't last a round trip with the two of them. They don't even have money to buy food or provisions needed for the journey.
Andy had no choice but to help them with their preparations because he was relying on their mission to the Dreaded Valley.
"I'll give you some money for now. Buy whatever you need for the journey. Did you pass by those stalls near the gate? You can buy some useful things from there."
"Yeah, I saw them. Thanks."
Andy then went into his drawer near his bed and counted out some coins. He gave Bang 5 golden colored coins that had the number 10 written on it.
"That should be enough."
Bang just looked at Ligi and nodded. They were still not talking but Ligi followed Bang without any question.
"We'll go for now."
Andy just nodded and went into a cabinet in the room and took out a tool. He just started working again, ignoring Bang and Ligi.
Bang went out of the blacksmith and into the streets yet again. There were fewer people than last afternoon and the stores and buildings were just getting set up. He could see people carrying some stones, woods, clothes, and even water buckets as they ran through the streets.
Bang retraced back his steps back into the gate where the stalls were set up. In contrast to the established stores in brick buildings, these flimsy set up stalls were already up and running. They were already calling out people to buy their products.
It was noisy, but the guards at the gate weren't responding. They were yawning and their eyes seemed heavy. Bang guessed that these guards had the night shift job and they were close to subbing out.
"Hey there young man, take a look at my wares. It's cheap, it's reliable, and there's plenty for everybody."
One seemingly enthusiastic vendor called out to Bang. Because he was looking for exactly this type of stall, Bang responded to the call and started walking towards the stall.
Looking closely, Bang could see that there were an assortment of products that the vendor could sell. Speaking of the vendor, he smiled when he saw Bang and Ligi coming to him.
The vendor was standing behind his stall, wearing a plain white shirt over a brown vest. He had a goatee but he still had a stubble beard that wasn't shaved for days.
"Hello customer, what would you like? Jerky? Salves? Extra clothes? Whatever you want we have it here."
The vendor seemed confident about his wares. Seeing that everything in here could be of some use to Bang, the confidence was not unfounded.
"We need some food rations. About four days worth. How much is that?"
"Oho. Looks like sir will be going on an adventure I see. Then let me recommend you this newly acquired jerky. This meat was specifically bred to sustain you more with respect to it's size. So you won't have to carry a lot of food with you."
The vendor gave Bang a sample. It was a small piece of jerky and when Bang ate it, he felt it was fulfilling compared to the size of the jerky. He didn't know if the story told by the vendor was true because most vendors would embellish their products to be more attractive.
It didn't taste good nor bad but in times of trouble, this would suffice.
"How much is it?"
The vendor rubbed his eyes and he smiled.
"20g"
He didn't know if that was expensive or cheap but he did know the ways selling in the street. They would always sell it at a higher price than normal. Bang's remedy to this was to feign disinterest in the jerky.
"Hmm....."
Bang then started to look at other products in the vendor's stall. After that, he took a glance at the other stalls feigning interest on those. They both knew what the other was doing. This was not their first rodeo but this was like an unwritten rule in the streets. If you didn't follow these rules, it's your fault if you get scammed.
"How about water? What do you have?"
"Of course, of course. We have this contraption right here."
The vendor took out a jug made of metal with some kind of cloth surrounding it. He pulled on some kind of string and the cloth turned into an upside down umbrella. The umbrella funneled into the metal jug.
"This one is very useful on rainy days. This can collect rain water very efficiently. Though, I wouldn't recommend it right now as it is still months away from the rainy season."
The vendor took out another metal jug. This one had a kind of cloth covering the mouth of the jug. The vendor unlocked some kind of mechanism in the jug and the mouth opened to see the inside of the jug.
"This one can filter river water to be drinkable."
Bang weighed the choices and the choice seemed obvious. The second jug was more compact and useful in their journey.
"How much for two?"
"For two of these...hmm... 20g would suffice."
Like before, Bang feigned disinterest. Although he was already almost over his budget, he still looked at the other products.
"Do you have a big backpack? Just large enough to fit all these and more."
The vendor bent down and reached for something in his stall. It was a big backpack. The quality of this was clearly subpar but compared to the bloodied and hole-riddled rucksack they wore, this one was clearly better.
"How much for two of them?"
"For you good sir, it would be 20g."
If Bang were to buy all he wanted to buy, the total would be 60g, way above his budget. But he clearly knew that the vendor inflated the prices so he decided to haggle.
"I'll buy the jerky, the second jugs, and the backpacks for 40g."
"You're kidding me dear sir! I won't profit from this and even lose some money. 55g."
"45g. I can look for other stalls."
After hesitating for a while, the vendor finally relented. The vendor knew that Bang wasn't an easy opponent after that exchange.
"50g final offer."
"Deal."
Bang bought the things needed and put them all on his newly bought backpack. He also gave Ligi his share of the products and they went on their way back to the blacksmith.
Truthfully, he wanted to buy so much more to fully prepare for this journey like salves and bandages. But alas, he didn't have money.
As they were on their way, they were surprised to see Andy walking towards them. He was walking with hurried steps. After he reached Bang and Ligi, he suddenly spoke.
"Are you guys ready to go? Let's go outside to the gate."
Without even waiting for confirmation, Andy dragged Bang and Ligi back into the gate. Bang noticed that the guards were now different signaling a change in post. Before, the guards just ignored Bang and Ligi, but now the guards looked at Bang and Ligi with interest. They spoke to each other with hushed voices.
Andy hurried even more seeing that. After they went out of the gate, one of the guard wanted to stop them but other guard prevented him from going so. They just discussed some more and one of them disappeared into the town.
After walking away from the gate, Andy finally spoke.
"You guys have to get out of here now! You're being charged with the murder of Tab the merchant."