The heat and humidity on the other side were just as intense as the day before, but their effects didn't bother me near as much as previously. That magical bracelet which is supposed to help keep its wearer cool was really doing its shit properly! Even though the air was scorching around us, I was cooly comfortable wearing the same style clothes as I'd had on the day before. Sure, they might not suit the environment, but people thought I was a High Lord wearing them, and I wasn't going to fuck with that! Particularly with Maria's outrageous outfit she had on!
Lowering the ladder to the ground, I slowly and carefully climbed down after making certain I didn't see anyone around, and then I held it steady to help Maria climb down and join me. A quick tug of the fishing string pulled the rope ladder back up into the trees, and I closed the gateway above us.
"Let's go," I whispered to Maria, motioning for her to follow me as I deliberately avoided the road this time. The guards were nice enough and all last time. I just don't want to take any chance on them deciding they need to appraise Maria and put her in shackles like with Vicky yesterday.
The rules for Shinta are really Shit-a!
Working our way quietly through the forest, it wasn't long before we came to the wall separating the travel zone from the rest of the city. Using it as a guideline, we cautiously stayed concealed in the forest until reaching the wide opening going out into the city proper. Checking both ways to make certain no guard patrol was available on the path, I quickly rushed Maria and we both hurried through the exit and into the city proper.
"Welcome to An'kar of Ry'bar," I told Maria, flourishing a deep bow once we were safely to the side of the entrance and not blocking traffic.
"It… It's astounding!" Staring wide-eyed, Maria was lost in the sight. Knowing exactly how she felt, I waited patiently, leaning against the wall, so she could take as long as she wanted to adjust to the view.
"Lord Tastysnacks!" Rushing up from who-knows-where, Tabitha happily skipped to a stop in front of us, grinning excitedly. "You can feel," she offered, "if you want."
Chuckling lightly, I ignored the tail that twitched playfully in front of me. Instead, I reached out and gave both her tiny cat-boobs a gently squeeze, enjoying them with my hands. Looking puzzled, Tabitha frowned lightly at me, but she didn't pull away or complain.
"What brings Lord Tastysnacks back into the city? Do you need a guide again?" Tail twitching excitedly, it was obvious that she was hoping for me to say yes to her.
"We do," Maria answered for me. "And we want to go to the best school in the city."
"Ehh? She talks funny, Lord Tastysnacks." Obviously, Tabitha couldn't make out a single word Maria had just said.
"She's saying you're hired," I chuckled lightly, finally letting go of her small chest. "She's wanting you to lead us to the best school in the city, and we'll pay you with some of the tastiest snacks you've never had before, when we stop and take a break for lunch later."
"Sure thing!" Tail jerking straight from excitement, Tabitha turned and began to energetically bounce down the street leading the way.
"Follow her," I told Maria, before reminding her, "She can't understand you. Remember? The earrings are one-way translation devices. No one here, but me, will have any idea what you're saying."
"Unless they have some sort of translation ability," Maria corrected. "I was just testing things with little miss squeeze-my-tatas there. Are all the people here *that* friendly?"
"I don't think so." Shrugging helplessly, I honestly couldn't be certain. "I think it's just cause she likes me. Or likes my snacks," I admitted sheepishly.
"Well give her all the best snacks you can find," Maria chuckled happily. "They're cheap to buy, and if they earn you the loyalty of someone on this side, they're worth every cent spent on them."
"Got it," I assured her, as we both shut up and happily listened to Tabitha while she was in her 'tour guide' mode. The path we walked today was slightly different than the path we walked yesterday, so everything she pointed out was brand new to the both of us.
After walking all the way back to the wealthy side of town, and transversing through it for a good period of time, we finally arrived at our destination. Once again, we were standing in front of a large gateway leading inside a large area surrounded by massively tall walls.
At this point, I have a feeling that stone walls are considered to be the standard 'picket fence' for this Other World. *Every* place of any respectable size that I've seen so far, seems to have a massive stone wall surrounding it. I suppose when you live in a land where monsters exist and want to eat people, it just makes sense to put as much of a barrier between yourself and then as is feasibly possible.
"The Blackhaven Academy," Tabitha informed us, arrogantly strutting past the guards standing near the gates. They looked as if they wanted to say something and stop her, but seeing how Tabitha was walking freely and talking with me and Maria, they didn't dare. "Home to the rich, the snooty, and the snooty-rich who teach them," Tabitha introduced the school to us.
"We want to see their practice ground," Maria told me. "Where they teach the students fighting and such."
"Sure," I told her, then repeated her words back for Tabitha.
"This way," Tabitha smirked, and then shrugged back at us lightly. "Maybe. I think," she laughed depreciably. "To tell you the truth, Lord Tastysnacks," Tabitha admitted, her tail twitching excitedly, "I've never actually been in here before. The guards won't allow one of my status past the gates normally. But I *think* its that way," she shrugged helplessly, pointing off towards our left.
"Then lead on," I told her, patting her head lightly. One direction was as good as any other as far as I was concerned. Hell – I didn't even know why we'd came here actually. I was just doing as Maria wanted!
"You shut up," Maria told me firmly. "Just watch and be quiet while we're here," she demanded. "Look judgmental and arrogant, but leave everything else in here to me for now."
"You do remember nobody can understand you. Right?" I tried to remind her, but it was to no avail.
"Good. That's the look you should have," Maria assured me, laughing lightly.
"I was right Lord Tastysnacks! See, you can probably hear them practicing now as well," Tabitha crowed excitedly, patting herself on the back.
Sure enough, the sound of metal clashing against metal was obvious in the distance now. Walking towards it for a few minutes – (How big is this damn school anyway??) – we finally came upon a large open field where dozens of young men and women clashed swords and other various weapons together.
Calmly walking up to the edge of the sawdust covered circle that formed the practice field, Maria shouted at the top of her lungs. "WHO'S WORTHY? IS THERE ANY HERE WORTHY?"
Several youngsters turned their attention in her direction, hearing her yell in an unknown language, only to get clobbered by the older looking men and women who were obviously training them.
"IS THERE ANY HERE WORTHY? OR ARE YOU ALL WORTHLESS TRASH?" Walking around the circumference of the circle, Maria continued to yell and shout at all the warriors pounding away on each other on the inside.
"You can't be here." One of the older warriors finally broke off where he was teaching and starting walking towards Maria, looking irritated.
"ARE YOU WORTHY?" Stopping her walk around the edge, Maria stood and defiantly looked the much larger gentleman up and down. At a good six foot tall, wearing heavy leathers, and carrying a huge battleaxe in his right hand, he towered head and shoulders over Maria.
"YOU'RE NOT WORTHY," she yelled at him, dismissing the man completely as she nonchalantly turned and began walking the edge of the circle again.
"Hahahaha! You're not worthy!" A voice echoed tauntingly from the backside of the training field, where a bunch of old men sat and hunkered together on a long bench watching the field.
"I always knew that putz wasn't worthy!" Another old voice cackled out to join the first in raucous laughter.
Nodding, satisfied that she'd found what she was looking for, Maria arrogantly strolled casually through the center of the practice field going directly towards the benches where the older warriors watched and cackled in amusement. Battles broke up. People stood aside and looked at each other stupidly. A few stared at Maria in blank amazement, but none actually tried to stop her as she confidently crossed the center of the field like Moses parting the Red Sea.
"That's amazing," Tabitha whispered in awe, so shocked that not even her tail could twitch as she watched Maria breathlessly. "If you walk on the field, you're fair game whatever happens," she explained, unblinkingly.
"Let's circle around so we can see what's going on better," I told her. Maria might have the crazy and the confidence to stroll across a field full of dumbstruck warriors, but I'm lacking in both those qualities. I'll happily circle around and keep on the outside of that Circle of Brainless Bashingness!
Their practice utterly disrupted, the trainers motioned for the students to take a break, as the whole field followed behind Maria as she confidently strode over to the group of guffawing elderly. Honestly, they looked like a bunch of baby chicks chasing after the tail feathers of the mama hen, as Maria strolled over and then sat down calmly in front of the old timers.
"All of you are too old to be worthy," Maria sighed, shaking her head sadly as she evaluated the older warriors.
"Worthy for what?" One of the old men asked, obviously able to understand her perfectly fine.
"Worthy to become the proud owner of one of my Master's prized weapons," Maria answered him sadly. "Master tasked me to find one of wealth, status, strength, and heart who might be worthy to wield one of his masterpieces, but I'm afraid it's hard to find anyone suitable."
"Wealth, status, strength, and heart," one of the old men chuckled lightly, sounding intrigued. "You've got quite the opinion there of your master's work," the man laughed. "Let's see it, if you can. Between us, we know every warrior here who's worth knowing…
"…and know several who aren't," another old man interrupted, snorting irritably.
"That too," the first admitted grumpily. "Show us what you have and we'll point you to a few decent prospects."
Frowning, Maria made a point of looking as if she was considering his proposal, before finally nodding to herself and pulling the bow off her shoulder. "Who here is warrior enough to wield this?" She asked arrogantly, holding the bow out towards the old men.
Taking it, one of the older gentlemen frowned heavily and then passed it down to another who repeated the process.
"Made of an unique alchemical process, and designed with complex mechanics which would confound the greatest bow makers," Maria bragged shamelessly. "With a draw that would challenge most men, and an arrow speed capable of crossing the whole of the weapon field in a single second."
"That's not all that impres.." One of the men started to say.
"…And that's before either the bow or arrows are enchanted," Maria snorted, interrupting the man. "My Master believes a true weapon should be sold unaltered, so that the one worthy enough to be its partner can have it fixed to suit their needs perfectly. One man needs power. Another prefers speed. Yet a third wants silence and precision over all."
"If the base is excellent," Maria chuckled, "then the artisan would be a fool to have it enchanted to suit his needs. That should be left for the final owner to decide how to enhance it properly, not the idiot crafter."
"HA! I like that philosophy," one of the old men declared. "I'll take it!"
"No, you won't." Snorting, Maria denied him flatly. "You're too old to wield it. You're not worthy!"
"I'll be damned! There isn't a bow made I can't still use!" Standing up, the old man proudly drew back the string on the bow and then held it looking confused.
"Eighty-pound draw," Maria told him chuckling, "but only a twenty-pound hold. It's the marvel of the bow."
"Eighty-pound draw? Twenty-pound hold?" The first old man looked at Maria quizzically, not understanding what she was saying.
"You could lift a young woman up off the ground with the same effort as it takes to draw that bow," Maria explained to him patiently. "You could then hold the bow drawn, as he's currently doing, by only exerting the effort it'd take to hold a baby instead."
"Bullshit," the grumpy old man denied it flat out. "If that's so, it won't shoot worth a shit!"
Laughing as if she was expecting someone to say something like that, Maria simply drew an arrow from her quiver and held it out towards the old man holding the bow. Gently releasing the draw on the string, he gingerly took the arrow and knocked it. Drawing the string back fully, the old man turned, smoothly found his target in the midst of all the bystanders and fired.
"BTWANG!! ZZZZZPPPZZPT!! TWWUSSHKKK!!" The arrow released with a twang, instantly zipped across the short distance between the crowd, and disintegrated when it slammed into one tall warrior's buff stomach.
Everyone went dead silent as the tall warrior lazily glanced down, then slowly looked back up at the old man. "W..h..a..t.. y..o..u.. w..a..n..t.. t..o.. t..i..c..k..l..e.. m..e.. f..o..r..?" With a voice as slow and as deep as a stone, the tall warrior slowly scratched his head in puzzlement.
"Ha! If it can tickle old Stone, without being enchanted, that's not shit," the old man holding the bow cackled happily. "I'll take it."
"You're not wor…"
"For my grandson, dammit!" The old man clarified, before Maria could deny him again.
"Your grandson hell," one of the other old warriors snorted. "I'll take it for my granddaughter."
"Oh yeah? Put your money where your balls are, and shove it up your ass! I'll give ten thousand ren for it," the old warrior holding the bow declared.
"Up *my* ass?! Up *your* ass! I'll give…"
And that's when the bidding war really broke out on the warrior's field!!