This town, Wülgenville, was a bizarre place. Even though the guard whom I locked a few days ago told me that it was a trading hub, I was yet to find something resembling money. Pockets, wagons, nothing contained coins or paper money in this town, neither gems nor at the very least gold dust. There were shops, but they did not have cash registers; the whole trade was based on trade. Trade, of all things! Were they stuck in the Stone Age? And since there wasn't any money, I did not see any beggars nor pickpockets around the town. I was indeed a rare exception, and now several boards were decorated with my posters as a wanted criminal.
I had to give up on my usual clothes, as comfortable as they were. Thankfully, there was still a concept of waste, which made it easy to find decent clothes and a rusty dagger among the trash. And even though money was absent, there were still bazaars and markets from where I stole food. I felt like a dirty rat, crawling around this godforsaken place and surviving off others' scraps. I hated it here, but my blunder made it annoyingly hard to leave.
Garrisons were now packed with guards, some of them regularly patrolling the entrance to the town. There was no way to scale the wall aside from going into one of the towers. It was indeed an option, since I still had the key I stole, but what would I do once I scaled the wall? There was simply no easy way down from such a height.
For now, I decided to stick to one of the carts that was ready to leave the town. They were all stationed at a few spots around Wülgenville, probably where merchant guilds were located. Thus, I found the closest building, brimming with traders, and waited for my time to strap onto the cart's bottom. As far as I was aware, guards were not really keen on thoroughly observing those who left the town. The problem would be if I tried to enter instead.
It took a good few hours before the perfect opportunity presented itself. A wagon exited the premises of the guild, but before it had a chance to go, the horses were startled by a lizard that ran under their hooves. Both merchants and drivers halted to calm down those animals, and I sneaked past them and rolled beneath the wagon. Luckily, these were nothing like cars from my world, with plenty of space and wooden planks to hold onto for a while.
As we moved towards the gates, I got more and more nervous. Even though I had a death grip on this plank with both my hands and legs, I was still slowly sliding downwards. But once the cart stopped completely and stayed still for 5, 10, and even 15 minutes, I turned my head around to find a way to slip past the people and out of the town, but there were too many boots from both sides. Moreover, they all looked different, making it hard to differentiate guards from common folk. Even the dress code was seemingly unimportant for these slackers.
And as I was about to say goodbye to the freedom I fought for, I finally heard the sweet words that gave me unexpected strength. One of the guards said, "Alright, you are free to go, have a safe travel!"
After another minute, we finally moved. The stone pavement underneath me abruptly ended, giving way to flattened dirt. I waited for another five minutes before falling on my back with a thud. Luckily, the merchants did not hear it under the clop of horse hooves. My mission of leaving that stuffy town was a success. Now I was free to go anywhere, even though I still had no clue where I was. But it did not matter, as my eyes were lit by the fresh colour of green coming from a lush forest right beside the road. Even though the trees themselves looked the same as from my world, with little differences in bark and branches, the most beautiful feeling came from their density. This forest was not yet violated by human arms and kept growing naturally, although divided by the road.
I was truly happy to finally end up all alone, something I was long accustomed to anyway. People were always just a hindrance who deceived, lied, or made your life more difficult with their stupidity. Towns in this world seemed to be much smaller, meaning that the domain of nature was more dominant than ever. For now, I was thinking about living in the woods. I always wanted to try such a life of a hermit but never had the guts to abandon the safety of the band, the very little I had at the place I could call home. But alas, this same "safety" and attachment became the sole reason why I ended up here. I did not want to repeat the same mistake; I was done with society and its bullshit! Even if I got ill from some scratch, then I would gladly accept my last moments in the embrace of mother nature, that cares for none, yet gives to everyone.
And as I made my first step into the woods, so spacious and beautiful, I felt warmth coming from my pocket. The red gem that was given to me by Solitaire unexpectedly started twinkling. I raised my brow from such a bizarre sight and as I drew it a little closer to my face, I felt a cold sensation on my back and words spoken in a calm, yet formidable tone.
"Is this truly the life that you yearn to have, dear friend?"
"Solitaire!?" I turned around in an instant, his back was the first thing that I saw, but after a second of my silence, he turned to me, revealing his smile.
"Indeed I am. I am quite surprised to see you outside Wülgenville so soon. How did you enjoy your stay there?"
I crossed my arms in annoyance and said, "It was dreadful. Why the hell are they not using money here? I had to skim through trash and steal food, as if I was some kind of stray kid!"
Solitaire laughed and brushed away tears, even though he did not have any.
"Well, you sure look like a stray kid, I suppose. But you are correct, this town, or rather this whole region, has common currency banned by law."
My eyes widened in surprise, I murmured, "Huh, the whole region? Are they dumb!? This is just inconvenient!"
Solitaire shrugged, his smile never faltered, "Quite a predicament for someone who came from a society as greedy as yours, is not it? To be honest, I am not sure about the reasons myself. But I commend your adaptability in such situation, dear friend."
And why the hell you did not tell me this before? Or rather, why did you tell me about it now? As far as I remembered, Solitaire told me to figure out this world by myself. He did not help me at the time, but now he decided to spill the beans? He was surely plotting something, and I needed to learn what.
"You commend my adaptability, why is that?"
"Well, this is simple. You were quick to figure it, perhaps, even considered the possibility of the whole region having the same rule on your way out of town. That's, I believe, why you wish to stay in the forest, correct?"
"Do not be ridiculous, I want to stay here only because I am done with people. I do not need anyone and wish to live by myself."
Solitaire laughed once again, now with a clear undertone of mockery. Just who did he think he was? I turned away from him and took a step forward, but then I felt a sudden chill on my shoulders. His face peeked right out of my blind spot. By his heterochromic eyes alone, I could feel his smirk.
"My, tired of society? How curious. I could swear that you are simply scared to adapt to a world where your skill to steal is worth less than a coin."
"Shut up! Just get into the stone already, I am sick of your stupid—"
A sudden roar spread from across the forest, so loud and vile that all the birds flung up at once and immediately fled from the area. The tree tops were shaking, not by the wind, but rather by something huge passing through. My instincts screamed in panic, knees gave out, and I fell to the ground, all without even seeing the creature. After a moment of silence, Solitaire once again spoke. His expression was not quite as cheerful, but still relaxed.
"You sure have bad luck, dear friend. Even if we assume that you really want to escape society because you are merely tired, right now you will witness why you need the safety of towns the most at the moment."