Fred walked for a good half hour down the hill on the path that led into the village down below. The closer he got to the village, more and more paths were weaving into the one he was taking. The surface was also getting better, smoother. There was more traffic too, in that a horse and trap passed him by and a few well dress individuals passed him by on horse back. He was exausted by the time he approached what seemed to be the outskirt of the village. He wished two things, first that he had a horse, and second that he could ride a horse. It was years since he walked that distance. When he got closer he could make out a wall five feet high and covered in mud, partially cracked by the summer heat. Here and there he could see where bit of the inside of the wall was exposted revealing woven bamboo. Fred surmised that these cracks in the outer layer of the wall must have been from some sort of weapon fire. A canon perhaps? From the sea maybe? Have pirates attempted to raid this village?
"Huh!" he said to himself, "that is actually really kinda cool. Pirates attacking your city!" Of course he was thinking in terms of a computer game and the various campaigns that he had completed, he had never seen a real pirate.
The insides of his legs were chaffing against the linen pants he wore and were beginning to feel a bit raw. His feet were killing him and he was starving at this point. He should have taken some food with him from Mia's kitchen. He turned around and looked up the hill from where he came. It looked a really long way up and he nodded to himself impressed with the distance that he had walked.
"Well, it is easy to walk here." he thought to himself, "when the streets aren't full of kids that are going to point at you and laugh at your weight, or punks that look like the want to beat the shit out of you." Acknowledging this, he looked around. The village sat at the mouth of a bay where a large pier was servicing great big sail boats. On the pier he could make out villagers and tradesmen going about their business, moving boxes, lifting bags and tieing up sails. To his left a road ran down to this pier. To his right were a few big barns surounded by fields of wheat and barley and various vegetables.
Finally he approached the gate to the city where two guards were standing outside conversing with each other. The gate was open but the pillars consisted of a small keep on either side. Fred had no doubt that beneath the brown tiled roofs more guards lay resting. Connecting both of the keeps was a thin walkway, wide enough for one person to pass from one tower to another. Build into front of the walkway were large letters Y O R O K O B I . People passing into the town seemed to have stopped and spoken to the guards, presumable to give their reason for entering the city. Fred walked up to the pair and waved his hand.
"Hello there!" he greeted the guards.
The guards looked him up and down. It must have been a slow day Fred thought, there was no one else on the road behind him and the guards moved and spoke slowly.
"What is your business in Yorokobi?" the first guard asked.
Fred thought for a second. He was about to say that he was looking for Yomashi but held his tongue. He has no idea who Yomashi is. Yomashi might be a criminal, or a politician, or an event like Christmas. What did Mia write again... "Daddy please help... save me from Yomashi".
"My business... is pleasure!" Fred said.
"Then you have come to the correct place traveller!" the second guard said.
"Where did you come from?" the first guard asked.
Shit.. this conversation was getting a little too serious for his liking. Fred was about to nervously bite his nails to think when he realised that this is would have been a dead give away that he was not from around here, assuming that they knew anything about body language.
"From somewhere where the girls are not a good looking as here!" he said and unsure what to do with his hands he tapped his large stomach.
"Oh! Ohh!" the first guard began, and then he leaned over and sniffed the lapel of Freds shirt, "you do not come from Muda do you!" He bust out laughing and tapped the guard beside him so share the joke.
Where the hell was Muda Fred asked himself. He wanted the conversation over quick.
"Do I look like I am from Muda!" Fred replied back and burst out into laughter himself. Then all three of them were laughing.
"You want pleasure - at an affordable price" the second guard said winking at Fred, "visit The Horny Toad, near the center of the village at the square, you cannot miss it. Tell them Yuri sent you and they will take good care of you".
"Thank you very much, both of you!" Both guards finished talking and it became immediately clear that now was the time to walk away. He nodded his head a few times and walked past the gate towards the town center. Fred had called this place a village when he was able to see it from Mia's house, here it seemed more like a bustling town. His feet were killing him and he needed to use the bathroom, and he was starving. What was that place again? The frog? No it was a toad. The horny toad. Why not go to the only place in this world that he had a recommedation for?
He walked down what seemed to be the main thoroughfare that led to the town center where a large gazebo stood. He took in all the shops and buildings that he passed on the way, tanners, book binders, blacksmiths, carpenters. This place was amazing. Most of the buildings had peaked roofs with rounded terracotta tiles, and plasters walls painted in nice yellow ochres, or reds, greens or browns. There were people everywhere getting on with their work. The general atire seemed to be leather shoes or sandals, woven pants and a shirt. It was a lovely day here today and Fred got the feeling that the climate here was pretty good overall as many of the shop fronts were open. As were the shirts that men wore and the low cut tops that the women wore. Fresh air was important in their clothing. He looked again at his own, it seemed to be a few levels of wealth above what the common person wore. Not that he was alone in what he wore, he passed others with more or less elegant clothing as if Mia had laid out for him clothes that held a certain financial status. Most people wore a hat of some sort made of cloth or weaved from straw. Again the more elegant people wore fancier hat, not that Fred knew the first thing about what he was looking at.
Everywhere were plants, little bushes, and tall trees exploding with pink and white flowers all along their branches. He imagined that a place like this would smell badly, however, there while the place smelt of oil or metal, or wood, or cooking or baking depending on the shop or building you passed the town itself had only it own fresh flower smell if anything. Definitely not a bad waste water or sewage smell like the assumed there would be.
As he approached the gazebo he could see that people sold leather, food, meat, paper, quils.. it was like a modern day supermarket. He was delighted to see everyone looked happy, pretty much all smiling faces and neutral expressions, but no one looked particularily unhappy. A huge change to any shopping area he had been to in the last few years. He walked to a stall beneath the cover of the gazebo where an old woman was selling fruit, vibrant in color. He pointed at an apple and she looked at him and smiled. He liked the look of this lady as she reminded him of his mother, she was old, but slim and held herself tall like she was fit and healthy and happy to be working here.
"Hello Sir! That will be a copper." His eyes opened wide with surprise, he could feel his heart beating faster again... this was his nightmare scenario when he were shopping. What was he thinking! Of course there was no credit card machine here. In a slight panic he started padding himself down looking for some money. The old merchant lady looked at him and smiled.
"I can see that unlike most people who say that they do not have money, you have actually misplaced yours. Don't let it be said that Old Hina let a handsome gentleman like yourself go hungry." With that she handed him the apple. Humbled he let his hands fall by his side and he was about to say how nice she was when he heard a clink. He reach around beneath his shirt and found a pouch with a few coins and papers in it. He took them out and showed he woman.
Her eyes buldged wide open when she saw the cash.
"Put that away Sir! Yorokobi is a safe town but if you walk around with that sort of money you will draw attention to yourself!" old Hina siad darting her eyes left and right.
"Why how much is it?" Fred asked sheepishly.
"Enough to get you into trouble and enought to buy yourself out of it as well."
"Oh, thanks Hina" he said, "I'll just have the apple." He reached into his purse and randomly took out a gold coin. He handed it to Hina who stared at the coin, then up to Fred dumb face, then at the coin again.
"Are you trying to buy the whole stall Sir?"
"Hina I have no idea what I am doing.." Fred said desperately.
"This is a gold coin Sir. A gold coin is worth 10 silver coins, which I have seen in your hand. And a silver coin is worth 10 copper coins. You get 3 apples for a copper! And I am expensive Sir! For a gold coin you could get 300 apples!" she whispered.
"May I be so bold as to get your name Sir?"
"Fred..." he said smiling again now that he understood this world a little more.
"Master Fred," said the old woman, "do you have somewhere to stay tonight?"
He looked back up the road where he came from to the Mia's house atop the hill. It looked tiny from here. His shoulders dropped again in desperation.
"Yes, but it's really far away" he emphasised.
"Come back here this evening and I will give you a bed to stay in for the night. Until then go to the bank over there and put your money away. Keep 2 or 3 gold coins, but put the rest away. They will charge you a fee for keeping it, but it will be secure. After that visit one of the brothels and get cleaned up."
"Brothels? You mean prostitutes?" he asked confused?
"Yes Master Fred. Are you not here for young women or men?"
Fred looked around. How did he not see this before hand. The town center was shaped like a large circle with the gazebo in the middle but every building that made up the outer circle was a brothel. Every brothel had a name like "Angel Wings" or "The Unicorn" or "Wet Wet Wet", they were endless. But one building, not the fanciest, or by any means the worst looking was named "The Horny Toad".
"Wow!" Fred said at last. "Hina, could you hold my money for me for a while?"
"You hardly know me Master Fred!"
"You remind me alot of my mother Hina", he said reassuringly, "she was a beautiful soft woman. I feel as if i can trust you" With that he reached into his purse again and took out his money and handed it to Hina.
"Master Fred there are..." she counted the money quickly and whispered to him "7 platinum, 15 gold and 8 silver pieces here. I have never seen this kind of money!"
"Okay, I will take 3 gold as you said and I will see you again in a few hours. Is that okay?"
"Yes Master Fred," she replied dumbfounded, hiding the riches in her stall. "see you later on."
Fred felt as if things were picking up. He was feeling clean but sweaty, but his muscles ached and his feet were still killing him. Most of all he was starving and thirsty. As he walked over to the Horny Toad he was noticing more and more details around him. The street was clean, a little dusty, but hygenic. There were little tufts of grass here and there sticking up between the smooth pavestones but this just added to the homely feeling of the town center. As he approached the enterance to the Toad the door opened and a young woman stepped out. She was around 5 foot 3 inches tall, very slim and had tidy blonde hair in a ponytail. She had a little skirt on like Mia had, not too unusual around here he figured as he had seen a few other girls wearing them. A tiny bodice supported her small breasts and she was barefoot.
"Welcome to the Toad Sir." she said smiling, "Come right in..."