We walked through the streets until reaching the shop.
The shop only had a few supplies. It was a small building made from wood with a bench at the front and shelves holding supplies behind it. James, the man from before, called out to the shop owner and soon enough an old man with white hair and raggy clothes appeared.
The old man was skinny, short and looked like a scarecrow.
"What do you want?" the man asked impolitely. He was grouchy and didn't seem to be a good shop owner.
"I'm looking for a map. Can you help me?" I asked.
The old man looked at me and a frown and then turned around walking into a back room. After 30 seconds he returned with a scroll. "Here is a map. Just give me 2 copper for it" he said in his grumpy voice.
"I'd like to trade for it actually. Then whatever is leftover just repay me with money." I said while taking the ring and placing it onto the shop front bench.
The man's eyes lit up similarly to James. He took the ring and then cast the spell 'appraise item.' Green light surrounded the ring and then disappeared. After this, he looked at me, "I'm sorry but I don't currently have enough money to repay you."
"Is there anything else you can trade me?" I asked.
The old man looked me up and down before returning to the back room. When he came back he had a large crate of scrolls. "You seemed to be a magic caster," he said as he placed the crate on the table, "here are some magic scrolls which you might like."
Indeed I did want new spells. But would any of them be good? I looked through the crate and the majority weren't of any use to me. Most were tier 1 spells. There was three tier 2 spells. I took all three and put them on the bench.
"Will this be alright? I asked with hope.
The man looked at the scrolls and shook his head, "You owe me a little. Have you got anything else to trade?"
I opened my inventory and went through everything within. I found something, an iron sword. I pulled it out from within my robe and placed it onto the bench, "will this be enough?"
"Yes, that's enough now. Anything else?"
"No, I don't need anything else. Thank you for your help sir" I said, turning back to James as though to move on.
"If that's all then you can follow me to my house. My wife should be able to help you with the information you want" stated James confidently.
The man's wife must have been knowledgeable if he was so sure of her. I followed James through the village passing a few people who gave me looks as though they were intimidated.
"The old shopkeeper from before used to be an adventurer. Sadly he had his knee broken in a battle against some ogres. Ignore his grumpiness," said James with a smile.
Continuing through the village, we finally made it to his house. The house looked like most others except it was a little larger and looked a lot better.
As I wondered why the difference I soon saw a sign which read, 'village chief'. Seeing this I understood. This man must have been the village leader.
James opened the door and waved for me to come in.
As I walked into the house it was exactly as I had pictured it. It certainly fitted the fantasy style village it resided in. The house was very open, with only separate rooms for bedrooms.
"Sit here," said James pointing at a chair at his dining table. He then went into one of the bedrooms.
I sat down and began pondering, "what type of nation is this one." As I did this I started thinking about the manga I had read in my previous life.
When the village chief returned his wife was with him. She was a beautiful woman with blond hair and a pretty yet raggy dress.
She sat at the table and her husband, James, stood beside her.
"First let's talk about payment. What will we receive for the information I provide?" she asked blatantly without shame.
"Excuse my wife she can be very rash at times" James interrupted with a sympathetic voice.
"What's with her attitude," I thought scratching my head with slight awkwardness. "Well... I can't pay in money however I can give you jewellery. You see I received it after taking out a group of bandits not far from here," I replied.
The two looked at each other with surprise and then back to me. They looked stunned.
"Wait you don't mean? If they were close to here then that is great news. Recently there has been a group of bandits raiding villages just like ours," the woman explained.
Internally I smiled. Maybe they wouldn't make me pay for this information after all. I pushed on, "Well they were talking about hitting another village nearby."
"I'm sorry. What did you say your name was? Mine is Janet," the wife said apologetically.
"Darling, he didn't. You were too rash to allow him to. His name is Rin," James stated, flicking his wife on the forehead.
Continuing with the plan to not get charged, "Don't worry it's fine. Anyway, we should get back to the payment I guess."
"No, I can't allow it. To show our thanks, I'll tell you everything I can. In addition, you will always have a place to stay in this village if ever needed," she said standing up in her chair. This woman really was fast-paced.
"Oh, I see. Well, thank you..." I scratched my head once again in awkwardness. I placed the map which I had bought onto the table. The important thing was that I got the information for free. While I didn't see myself needing to come back here in the future, it's still nice to have a place to stay.
Janet sat back in her chair and opened the map in front of her. Showing me the map she began to explain, "This is a map of our nation. We are the Kingdom of Re-estine, one of five human nations. We are currently at war with the neighbouring nation, the Great Gods Kingdom. However, I'm sure you already know all of this."
"Right" I simply stated as though I had already known. To be honest I wasn't too surprised as of yet. The country had a shape similar to that of Hungary but appeared to be much larger as seen by the scale. "Please continue."
Hearing me she kept explaining, "We are here," she said pointing to a small area on the South-Eastern border. "The nearest city is just north of here, about a two days ride by horse or carriage. In addition to this, there is a decently sized town which is about a half days ride by horse."
She began taking me through each of the 7 larger cities in this kingdom. Each city was built near a labyrinth. These labyrinths are similar to dungeons except the monsters inside regenerate after death and have many more floors. They were used for resources and the strengthening of armies and adventurers. Although these labyrinths were easily accessible with the right licenses, none had been beaten. In fact, of the most dangerous labyrinth, the deepest anyone living had ever been was the 68th floor. The country also had multiple ruins similar to that of a labyrinth.
The capital Was situated in the middle of the nation which gave it the best defence from all other nations. Throughout the nation there were multiple fortresses and towns as well, however, we didn't really talk too much about them.
This nation had many large forests in which many monsters and creatures lived, some dangerous and others not so much. Along with forests it also had many swamps and great plains filled with creatures.
After receiving all the information I could I felt satisfied. It had been almost two hours since arriving in this town. It was a good decision to come here.
"I am very thankful to you Mr James and Mrs Janet. With this I will be leaving" I said, standing up from my seat.
"Are you sure you do not wish to stay the night? After all, we do have a spare room here," Janet insisted. She had warmed up to me and now she was beginning to treat me like someone she respected.
Looking to the window I saw it was beginning to become dark. The sun hadn't set yet, but I was sure it would soon.
"If you wait until morning, there should be a trader coming through this village. I'm sure he would allow you to tag along if you want a ride to the nearest town of Calistone" she continued.
All things considered, it wasn't a bad idea. I had decided, "ok then I will take you up on your offer. Thank you very much."
*Creek*
Right at that moment, the door opened and in walked a girl with red hair and a raggy dress. She had Janet's beauty with James blood-red hair. She looked to be 17 or 18 years of age. It was probably their daughter.
She looked at me with a slightly confused expression before looking to her parents, "Mum, Dad? Who is this person?"
[Bloodline unlocking: 87.3%]