"I see that you took out Geryon, a level three bounty." the catgirl declared.
"Level three?"
"Criminal's like bandits are wanted, some more than others. Level one bounties are worth the most, whilst level ten is the lowest."
"How much reward is a level three bounty ?"
"Around 15 gold coins. In this case, the bounty for Geryon has been up for a couple of years now, so the rewards have increased to 20 gold coins. The other bandit's bounty levels are quite low. So in total, you have made 23 gold. please count it."
The catgirl handed me a bag of golden coins, which I took out and began to count. I then placed the bag of coins in my pocket and then stored it in my dimensional storage. Doing this so that nobody knows of my ring's storage skill.
"Yup, that's 23 gold coins, thanks. By the way, what is your name?" I asked.
"Why should I tell you that?" she replied with a stern face.
"Umm, you know, I'm going to be here for a while, so I want to make some friends."
"It's Noella. Now, if you're done, please move out of the way. Other people are waiting in line." Noella says with obvious coldness in her voice.
"Oh sure, well, see you around," I said, but she didn't even bat an eye at me. But oh well.
I walked out of the mercenary guild and decided on a clothing store and armour shop as my next destination. I wandered around the main busy streets and eventually found a shop with a sign of a helmet. I looked inside and saw several pieces of armour and weapons hung on the wall.
I entered the store and noticed that there was no one upfront, except the sounds of hammering, could be heard from the back.
"Excuse me, is anybody here?!" I shouted out, and the hammering stopped.
"Yeh, whatda you want?" a man who stood around 1.3m walks out with a hammer in hand. His large beard and bulging muscles stood out. I'm sure that most of the males I have met in this world are all super muscular. This one must be a dwarf, the masters of forging and smithing.
"So you gonna talk?"
"Huh, oh. I'm looking for some armour, preferably ones that have magic resistance."
"Oh yeh, nothing but scrap iron junk here. For magic resistance, ya would need Mythril or something better. And trust me, Mythril is very expensive and hard to obtain."
"If I can obtain some Mythril, could you make something out of it?"
"Yea, only us dwarves can make something out of Mythril."
"Sure, thank you, I'll come back when I have some."
"Well, good luck with that." he chuckled before going back, and the sound of hammering returned.
I didn't take out the Mythril in front of him since it was still in a massive chunk, and I didn't want him to know about my storage skill. So I plan to bring it to him at a later date, in smaller pieces, as to not raise suspicions.
Next was a clothes store; I went into a place that looked like they dealt with pretty comfortable clothes. However, the shopkeeper doesn't even pay any attention to me. Probably because my clothes have a hole burnt by the acid slimes.
"Kid, we deal with top class clothes; someone of your standing shouldn't be here. Now get out before I call the guards."
Well, that didn't go well, and I was immediately kicked out. Now that I think about it, I could just buy clothes using skill points. They are definitely more comfortable than the clothes I've seen so far. Especially the shirt and pants that I'm wearing itches my skin.
With that, I decided that it was time to return to the Lucera house. Though I'm still scared of those perverted maids, it might worry Lilliana. Also, I want to see how the duke was doing.
As I walked through the streets, I asked three people who looked like the city guards where the Lucera house was. When they asked me my reason, I told them that I was hired by Lilliana for a job. They didn't believe me, so they said they would accompany me, which was fine by me.
On our way, there was a girl barely ten years old, wearing rags, she had tripped over, and the bundle of wood hit a man. The man seemed mad and raised his hand to hit her. I couldn't stand by and watch, so I rushed in between them, leaving the guards.
"Bastard, get out of the way. That girl bashed into me and damaged my clothes," he yelled.
"-no...you tripped me up." the girl whimpered.
"Ehh, who would listen to the lies of a slave? Are you this bitch's master? You better pay for damages."
Slave huh? I turned around and noticed there was a collar around her neck. Forgot the probability of slaves existing in this world was pretty high, but for a girl to be this young as a slave is unforgivable.
"No, I am not this girls master, but you can not hit her just for some small mistake."
"Then what are you doing in the way? Who cares if a slave gets hit. That's what they are made for, hitting and also sex." he said with a disgusting grin.
This guy's remark made me furious, but I remained calm on the outside. At the same time, the guard trio rushed over to me, seeing that he held his fist at me.
"Hey! No fighting in the capital!"
"Unless you want to get fined for violence in the capital!"
"Alright, everyone scram, you're all blocking the roads!"
The guard trio dispersed the crowds; even the man who tried to hit me had also disappeared. I turned around to the slave girl, who had tears in the corner of her eyes. Her skin and brown hair were filthy; I doubt slaves get the privilege to clean themselves often. What she was wearing can't even be considered to be ragged. It was dirty and filled with holes.
I quickly asked if she was okay, and she shook her head whilst trembling. I bundled up the wood and handed it over to her when I noticed that she had scraped herself when she fell and was bleeding. I took out a weak healing potion from storage inside my pocket and told her to drink it. She adamantly refused.
"Master says that healing potions are for people and not slaves like Celia."
I couldn't believe what I had just heard. The slave girl, Celia, had been told that she wasn't even considered human and did not deserve healing potions. I tried offering again, but once again, she refused. I made up my mind.
"Who is your master?"
"Master is slave merchant. He sells slaves, like Celia and Celia's mother. But Celia was not wanted; only Celia's mother was sold."
"Take me to him," I told Celia, then turned to the guards, "Something just came up, so I won't be needing your guide."
"Non-sense, if you get away and do something bad to the Lucera house, we'll all get punished."
"Yeah, not just us; our families would be hung."
"I just had a son; I don't want to get blamed for allowing someone to harm a noble."
"Well, then feel free to join me. I'm going to have a serious talk with this girl's master." I said with a smile, whilst dark intentions hid behind.