Anyway, they walked out of the cave. The conquest was Glorius, and Lia waited. "Hey! You guys did it! Come on, let's get you to my daddy! He'll spoil you more than he does me, hehe!"
When they got to said "daddy", he was quite old. "Thank you! My Amethyst here is very thankful, it seems. Now, wait for it...
He brought out some gifts. Coin, good food, a nice new chain Kunai for Lust, and finally, something for Lia.
It was an immensely skimpy silk dress, which had the power of improving all magic skills by +5, and was quite protective. "Try it on!" Lust said jokingly. "Alright..." She went to change, and stepped out.
After that, they all walked back to the blacksmith to go find their gear.
"Hello. I assume you are here to pick up your gear, yes?" "That's true." "Alright, here it is." The blacksmith handed them three packages. "Alright, with Lia's new outfit, let's go choose a new person to give the armor to." said Kyoko. "Alright, well that's a solid question. Tell you what, throw it up." said Lust. The box was tossed with all his might, and they leaped up. Wjedczie bobbled it and dropped. Elizabeth and Peter then both had a piece of it, and they fell to the ground, tumbling around . Peter eventually used all his strength, ripping the box away from Elizabeth.
"Victory! What is it?" They opened the three boxes. "Oooh, a B- Bad Gambeson! "Not bad, a C+ Good Boiled Leather!" And finally, Peter. He ripped open the box, and... He got an A-rank Leather Lamellar! "Well, that's pretty good." "Indeed. Now, let's get going."
So, everyone headed off for the town where they met up with some other adventurers. Those being Red Dagger (the beastman from earlier), Amethyst, and Orange Glaive. She was Red Dagger's love interest.
"Well, how many is this?" "Uhh, like 12?" "I don't know. Anyhow, I have a map!" exclaimed Lust. "Ok, and? Why didn't you get one earlier?" asked Orange Glaive.
"Well, I don't know. Honestly, we were too rural. This is the first place where we've been able to get one." explained Kyoko. "Well, that's nice. We need to find the nearest large city if we want to really prepare for something like fighting battles or difficult dungeons." said Peter, a near echo of everyone's ideas. "Well, let's take a look at the damn thing."
They unrolled it, and found it was only regional. Detailed forests, hillsides, and small rocky outcrops dotted the land, with the small Lake Sylphus in the center. There wasn't much detail at all, but it was enough for them. "I think this is the closest we'll get to a map for now. Maybe someday, we'll be able to afford a bigger one. Until then, let's head east, toward Sylphus." "Sounds good," agreed the other adventurers.
With that, they set off. It took them a while, but after a few hours, they arrived at Sylphus. It was, of course, the town on Lake Sylphus, a small lake. They stocked up on provisions and such, but that was, of course, not the end of their stay. It was time to buy more armor for them. After all, they only had 6 of 12 (Red Dagger and Orange Glaive already owned armor).
They opened the heavy wooden door, and immediately smelled the blossoms of some type of aromatic fruit. They weren't sure exactly what the fruit was, but it smelled good! The owner rushed over from his papers, and quickly asked "Hello. What do you need?" "We're looking for some armor. Weapons aren't so big of a deal." "Ah, alright. Follow me." They followed the man, who led them upstairs.
On the top floor, they saw a wide selection of armor. Armor for men and women alike sat upon shelves or were draped over tables. "Alright, well, I have a lot of options. Do you mind if I bring them out?" "Of course not. Lead the way." They continued walking until they reached a wide aisle down the middle of the store. It had all sorts of armor on display, from the weakest leather shirts to magical suits of titanium-mithril alloy (or it looked like that) full plate armor.
"Well, you have feasted your eyes upon the great stock we have. Now, I'll give you another few minutes, then it'll be time to go and pick it out. Now, go!"
It was almost like a flash of lightning as everyone zoomed around. The "Analyze" skill was particularly useful, as it was able to tell the power (relatively) of each item.
"Wow, look! A C+ Iron Helmet!
"A C-rank Deer Hunting Spray!"
"Oooh, wow! It's an A+ Magic Titanium Pickaxe!" Everyone looked around the shop. Craftsmanship was good, and so were the prices. The party was stunned! They might never leave!
"Well, time's up. Whatever you want to get, get it now. Can't show you anymore." said the shop owner. "What kind of sick gag is this?" asked Lust, pissed off. "I only let people view for a short time, so it isn't burned in your mind. One customer could only think of that, and fell into the lake on the return trip. He was eaten by fish."
"That's a good reason, I suppose. Now, then- we have these items." They showed him 6 sets of armor- 3 D-rank Boiled Leather, 2 C-rank Aketon, and 1 B-rank Mail Vest.
"Alright, your total comes to 600 GP. Do you have that on you?" He asks. "Yes, we do." Each party member pays for their gear and leaves. Finally, what they came for: A better map. They could finally see where they were: the Kingdom of Bryderia.
They then looked for the capital city and found it: Ashteir. It was represented by a black star. They then looked for the town name. Once it was found, they marched east to the capital.
Eventually, they found the city. As they looked towards the place, it was seen that the city had 3 districts. Very distinct ones, at that: One looked to be a sort of old town with small stuff, the second seemed to be largely residential area with a nightlife subdistrict, and the third one was loaded. You know, protected by a castle level loaded. The whole city was, as I said, covered in protection. Obviously the top district a beautiful castle, the second one an inner palisade of sorts, and the third the actual city walls.
It was to the point where Lust and Kyoko wondered if the city was a fort or no, had they been misled, but it was then confirmed: A homeless drunk came up to the party and said enthusiastically: "Welcome to Ashteir! *hic*". As they tore open the city gates, they felt on top of the world.