Alastair continued his rampage through the monsters between him and heliodor for the next four hours gaining several drops and half the exp needed to level up again before the gate of the capital came into view. judging for the distance alastair figured it would take him at least another hour to arrive at the capital. for the rest of the journey alastair fought the increasingly scarce monsters that got harder to find the closer to the capital he got. this wasn't a problem for alastair as it simply gave him a bit of time to relax on the way.
Soon alastair stood in front of the gates to the capital where four guards stood watch not so much for criminals as rather for stray monsters. the reason alastair could tell that they weren't looking for criminals is that they barely spared him a glance as he walked past them. this is not to say alastair is a criminal , it is just that alastair highly doubted that any of the guards could make any detailed judgement with only a glance. what alastair didn't know was that this city actually had a place specifically for the poor and criminal types.
Yes heliodor had walled off a section of the city known as the east slums that even had its own gate and served as the place were almost all crime was ignored. the reason for this area was that a previous king had realized that crime will always exist in a prosperous city like heliodor so rather than struggle to contain it why not isolate it into a small but completely lawless area and simply make sure it doesn't spread further. this plan actually worked flawlessly as all the unsavory sorts flocked to that section completely unaware of being fooled.
Heliodor is a huge walled city that had stone paved streets and a variety of architectural designs in the many buildings from standard stone and wood to dome shaped and even a single pyramid shaped building. the reason for this strange mixture of buildings is that heliodor is located in the center of the known world making it a melting pot of people from all races each of which added just a small part of their heritage to the city over many years leading to the current situation in the city , even the royal family is a mix of many races from the citizens who married into them.
Alastair was amazed at the seemingly haphazardly created city as he walked into the plaza with a stone fountain. there were a multitude of people wondering the plaza going about their business shopping at the various stalls set up at the sides of the plaza. there were only five buildings that had shop signs that distinguished their functions such as the general store , the weapon and armor store , the inn , the craftsman guild and the bookstore. alastair immediately headed to the general store to unload the plethora of useless drops he had gotten during his trip from cobblestone.
The general store was much like a grocery store from alastairs past life with shelves covered in various goods lining the entirety of the store from supplies to equipment used by craftsmen. walking to the counter placed at the entrance of the store to keep an eye out for thieves alastair sees a chubby man with a hat sitting patiently. "do you buy monster drops by chance?" alastair asked calmly. the man looked serious as he stood from his chair "depends on how many drops you are selling as only one or two monster drops aren't worth the effort to sell them." the man said while eyeing alastair sternly.
"How about the drops from every monster between here and cobblestone?" alastair asked with a grin. at this moment a small box with the word succeeded popped up at the corner of his vision along with a plus ten exp pop up 'huh so speech checks still give exp it seems.' alastair thought offhandedly. "aye that would certainly be worth the effort , follow me to the back so we have room to work with." the store owner said before locking the stores front for safety reasons.
Ten minutes later alastair walked out of the back room with a large smile on his face with the store owner who looked at alastair like he was a madman. the reason is simple really the store owner had thought that alastair was exaggerating when he said every monster , that is until alastair opened his leather bag and began to shake it upside down while selectively making it spit out the useless drops while keeping in the useful ones. the store owner was so stunned at the piles of materials that he almost swallowed his own tongue causing him to have a coughing fit.
Alastair earned three thousand fifty two gold for the huge pile and that was even with the fact that each of the materials were only worth about five gold each. leaving the general store with a much heavier purse alastair then went to the bookstore to test out a theory he had. walking into the bookstore alastair was hit with the unique scent of paper and leather letting him know this store meant business. the store had a vast number of books on shelves as well a stacked in piles on the floor leaving small paths in order to navigate the store.
Alastair paid no mind to the store owner and began to run his hand across the spines of the books while appearing as though he was looking at the titles. soon he stopped and a wide grin appeared on his face as he pulled a book out and held it under his arm and continued looking at the books. soon alastair had five books in a stack in his hands that he had picked out from the entire store a small amount to be sure considering it is a bookstore but he was happy that he had even found them what are these books? skill books.