In a remote town in the outskirts of Denmark…
A cock crowed loudly, bringing the world alive to its timely cry, waking this remote town up to the excitement of a new day.
The golden brilliance of the sun was already piercing the veil of darkness, rising from the east and providing credence to the work of the cock.
This was a town that was even bigger than Tak Town.
It was fenced like a city but unlike the stone walls of the cities in Denmark, the fence surrounding this big town was one made of enchanted wood.
Enhanced by the sun enhancement of Apollo, the wood was incredibly durable, able to withstand an attack from demonic beasts.
And enchanted by the magic of Freya, this wood gave of a scent that was repulsive to demonic beasts, one of the reasons that the town remained so safe and protected from the wild.
There was a thick 3-meter-tall black iron gate connecting the wall of wood, and right behind the gate to its right was a wooden shed.
Guards dressed in black and red leather armor manned this wooden shed.
"Traveler!"
One of the guards shouted the next moment, rousing the shed and its inhabitants to life as the guards armed with bow and arrows aimed at the approaching man.
The culprit who made them alarmed was a man wearing a thick black cloak with a hood over brown leather armor. He wore brown leather boots that were stained with blood.
There was a visible dagger sheath on the waist of his brown leather armor.
While all the commotion went on inside the shed behind the thick black metal gate, this man reacted like he noticed nothing happening as he kept on walking towards the gate. By now, enough guards already manned the gate.
"Stop!" A deep loud voice called from on top the wooden wall.
The man stopped, and finally, he raised his head, paying attention to the guard who stood on top the wooden wall.
This was another guard wearing the same black and red leather armor. He held a long sword on one hand, and a helmet on another.
What greeted the honorary guard was a pair of eyes that made him reel back in shock. Sunken, emotionless, and absolutely devoid of life.
"What is your business in Drizzle Town?" The guard asked with an even look on his face as he stared at this man.
For a few seconds, the man stayed silent and when the atmosphere turned oppressive, he answered. "I'm just passing through," he paused for a few seconds as if thinking of what to say, then he continued. "I'm going to Greenland City".
"I hear that I have to pass through here to get there".
The guard finally nodded in understanding. "Yes, Drizzle Town is one of the routes to the trade city of Greenland. But traveler, it's not yet time for our town to open its gates, it's too early".
"Besides, you have to pay an entry fee of 1 bronze coin before entering".
Clink!
A silver coin materialized on the hand of the man the next moment, and then accurately, he tossed it towards the guard on the wall.
The guard caught it in one smooth motion, then he scrutinized the coin carefully. "Ahem," he cleared his throat. "It's not yet time to open the gates but for an esteemed gentleman like you, I think we can make an exception".
About a minute later, the thick black gate leading into this town opened as the man in a black cloak and hood walked through the paved road inside.
He located an inn with expert ease, signs that this was not his first time.
Entering inside the inn, this man paid attention to the inhabitants. There were mostly mundane people, a few awakened warriors or so in armor, but in a corner of this inn, multiple awakened warriors in gray leather armor gathered.
There were scantily dressed girls surrounding them, clearly desperate young girls who resorted to working as prostitutes.
Even with them, these awakened warriors in gray leather armor were not satisfied as they harassed a young girl on a white gown.
Ignoring what he saw, this man located a chair close to the owner of the inn. "2 bottles of strong Dionysus brewed wine".
The owner of this inn, a bald middle-aged man with thick brown beard looked at the newcomer. "Have you ever tasted our Dionysus wine? A mid one can easily knock an intermediate Ares out".
Paul raised his head and looked this owner in the eye. "Give me".
The owner shrugged. "Ok".
He went inside and soon returned back with a bottle of wine. Taking hold of the bottle, Paul popped it open and emptied its contents in one continuous gulp.
In seconds, he finished all the contents before putting it back on the table.
The middle-aged owner looked at him. "Half a bronze coin".
Clink!
Another silver coin materialized in Paul's hand; he handed it over to the owner. "Remember my face, I'll use the change later".
The owner threw a glance at the leather pouch on his waist before taking the silver coin. He turned to keep his money, then he muttered. "Friendly advice young man, it will do you some good to keep that pouch better hidden".
Paul looked at the pouch on his waist, he nodded. "I know".
The owner sighed. "Even if you can afford the trouble, to save yourself the stress".
Paul looked at him. "Do you have a room available?"
"Yes, 1 bronze coin per 12 hours".
Paul nodded and stood up to go to the inn but right at that moment, 3 young men in gray leather armor blocked him.
Feeling God essence circulate, he flinched but stayed composed.
Whoosh!
One of the men whose leather armor seemed custom-made with a zip unzipped it up from the middle, and from inside the armor, 3 short blades shot out before hovering in the air as if held there by an unknown power.
"See?" The young man said smugly. "That's my God power newbie. I'm factioned to Odin, the All father".
"My God power is telekinesis, deadly as it comes".
Paul relaxed and looked at this young man. "What do you want?"
"Bold, I see," the man chuckled before looking at his mates who also chuckled. "Well, you see, we work for the Butcher".
"I don't know who that is".
"Well, I'm not surprised newcomer, he's the worst pirate in these parts and even the guards fear him".
Paul stared at him. "What do you want?"
"You know, while you were over there with our buddy, old man Richie, we saw you materialize a silver coin".
This young man stepped closer, pushing his face closer to the newcomer. "That was a space pouch, right?"
"Well, like I told you, we're pirates, we steal and pillage". He introduced smugly. "Hand the space pouch over, I want it".
Paul looked at him evenly. "No".
"What? You're not scared of this?"
The blades in the air circulated even faster, coming closer to Paul now and this was when something shocking happened.
Before the 3 awakened warriors could react, the newcomer grabbed hold of a pointed dagger as the blades came closer and in mere moments, the dagger's tip was poking out of the head of their mate having stabbed from under his chin.
The awakened warrior froze, dying on the spot.
"Ahhhhh…!" The prostitutes screamed, running.
"W-w-what did you just do?" The others stumbled backward, falling on their butt. "You've done it! D-d-do you know who we are?!"
"Never draw your weapon if you don't want to kill". Paul looked at them coldly with his sunken eyes. "Scram".
They scrambled away.
"F*ck!" A loud angry voice bellowed the next moment. "Now you've done it boy, can't you f*cking threaten them? Must you kill when you unsheathe your dagger? Can't you show restraint? You've just ruined business today!"
Paul inclined his head to look at the middle-aged owner of the inn. "They should not have drawn their blades. When you draw your blade, it shows that you're ready for combat and the purpose of combat is murder".
"He used his weapon first, so I killed him".
This middle-aged man stared at him, flabbergasted. "What bullshit! Where did you hear that, kid?"
"My teacher," he said. "He taught me 5 days ago".
"Well, your teacher is a fool!"
Paul ignored the middle-aged owner as he finally moved to go to his inn through the suddenly scantier interior inn, but before he climbed upstairs, he paused and looked back. "Why do you call me kid?"
"It's obvious, boy, I can see through all that facade".
"How?"
"Hmm," this middle-aged man snorted without answering.
Paul looked at him some more, and then he went to his room in the top floor of this stone building to finally catch up on some sleep.