"17…18…19…20…" A boy with long white braided hair counted the various stones putting them into a bag. He paused and looked at the paper to confirm it was the right amount sighing when he realized he needed 5 more. He stood up straight and looked out at the scenery. White as far as the eye could see, though luckily it wasn't snowing today just cloudy with small gusts of wind here and there. He closed the bag and tossed it over his shoulder.
A request for 25 glacier mana crystals. They weren't rare by any means but because of Lyukan's harsh conditions, the punishment for entering the snowy land as a foreigner, and the lack of natives made them hard to come by. As the boy walked he saw a pack of Jackel rabbits sniffing the ice. He observed them for a little while before going in the opposite direction of them. Jackal rabbits stuck their horns into the ice to gauge their thinness. If the ice was thin enough they'd stab their horns into the ice to break a hole and catch the fish underneath. As he walked away he heard the ice shatter behind him with a sigh he continued to trek along the snowy desert. He passed a few dead trees slowly succumbing to the harsh climate. He adjusted the straps on his shoulders and bent down to the ground uncovering the glacier stones hidden below. 7 to be exact he could turn the 5 needed and sell the extra for his profit. The boy smiled at his good fortune and tucked the stones away in the back with the rest.
He turned east and quickly decided the best route would be along the tree line. As he walked he heard the various sounds of life that the forest hid. Yeti's, wrights, vultures, Unum-wolves, etc. Sure the glacier stones inside the forest were of even better quality, but for such low pay, it wasn't worth the trouble.
In about 20 minutes he crossed the bridge back to Bayfire and entered the gates nodding at the guards in acknowledgment. Snow gently rested on the rooftops and fell onto the streets connecting the walled city. Two rights and a left later the boy opened the doors to the jeweler's shop.
"Mikhail right on time." The shopkeeper greeted and a man with long black hair and fins adorning the sides of his hair turned to look at him.
The boy put the stones one by one on the table for the jewelry to count himself.
"Excuse me for just one moment sir." The shopkeeper explained moving away from the man at the desk to the boy. Counting the rocks he nodded and signed the commission he had put out. The boy collected his bearings and took one last glance at the man at the counter before leaving, however, he could feel the man still following him as he left. He took a left and 3 rights opening the doors to a blacksmith and setting the glacier stones on the counter.
Raising an eyebrow the lady at the desk inspected the stones and the purity of the mana they provided. "I can make 2 rank C staffs or 1 rank B with these. 15 silver is the highest I'll go." She explained bluntly. Not waiting for an answer she tossed the coins on the counter for the boy to collect. He quickly put them in his satchel tied around his waist and went to leave when the same man from earlier walked into the store. Their eyes met again and the man fish-like pupils studied the boy intently in the brief moment they had eye contact. He walked down the street 7 doors before entering the adventurers guild. He walked into the building the noise from the louts vastly different from the silent winter outside. Only one line was opened which was occupied by a party.
"Why can't we enter the tundra!? There isn't a wall or anything it doesn't make sense. Why won't you let us take this job?" The presumable swordsman yelled waving the paper around in the air and mocking the poor attendant.
"I told you, sir, only snow elves can enter Lyukan beyond the city. There may not be a wall but every non-elf who has tried never makes it back the same. Whether it be death or a permanent injury it's simply not worth the pay. It's in the guild's policies to deny any party not composed with a snow elf any commission evolving going west or Bayfire."
The man was about the protest further but another one of the party members sighed and grabbed his arm shaking there head. The other party members started to leave and left without a choice the man yelling at the poor attendant left as well.
Mikhail watched them leave and slowly stepped forward looking at the poor girl who looked like she hated her job. Gently he put the paper on the desk which was just under his chin. After verifying the signature's authenticity she handed over the satchel of coins as payment for the stones. As he was about to leave the same man from earlier appeared again walking passed him to the the counter. Mikhail couldn't help but stare as he took care of his business at the counter. The lady left to grab a paper for the man to sign which usually meant a commission was being put in.
Mikhail tilted his head but that did nothing to satisfy his curiosity, as he couldn't see anything. He turned back around hoping to not get caught staring though as he exited the building he felt eyes back on him. He walked to the western wall of Bayfire and walked along the road before he found a familiar inn. He entered the Inn. No one was around the western wall was a bad spot of an Inn nowadays but from the art on the wall you could see what it was like when it wasn't a bad spot.
He rang the bell and slowly elderly women walked out from the kitchen. "You're early today Mikhail. Good luck collecting today then?" Mikhail nodded as he gathered 25 silver from his satchel and put it on the table. The old lady nodded and spoke once again: "Same as normal Mikhail?"
"Yes, please" He replied as he walked up to the stares. From his pocket, he pulled out a key to door 12 the last door on the second floor. He took off his boots and set them down next to the door and took off his cloak hanging it on the coat rack above it. He put on his slippers and closed the door making sure it was locked. He emptied his pockets for the day setting the contents on the desk.
He dumped out the remaining coins in his satchel and began to count. "1…2…3…4…5" he continued until he reached the number 10 and started grouping them in tens. 28 sets of 10 making 2 gold coins with 87 silver to left over. He opened the box hidden under the bed and put half the money into the box and the rest back into his satchel. He looked down at his savings with a hint of fondness knowing he worked for every single one of the coins. Someone brushed against the door and Mikhail got up to answer it. Sitting on all fours a tamed Unum-wolf holding a tray of Mikhail's food with its magic. He took the tray and smiled as the wolf walked away. He closed the door once again and set the tray at the small desk provided by the inn. It was a little cluttered with books he had managed to buy from merchants who passed threw Bayfire occasionally. The recounts of the heroes who came to Roska from another world were more often than not his favorite. The first hero Atsushi Kaito saved the world from darkness thousands of years ago. Thanks to him the demons once terrorizing Roska were vanquished and sealed below the world. The seventh hero Chiharu Sato set off to the unknown and discovered the Atlantic Archipelago. There were tons of books written about the numerous heroes but Mikhail was more interested in the party that formed around the hero. Patterns began to emerge such as the genders of the party members usually depended on the gender of the hero. If the hero was a male his party usually consisted of mostly females and vice versa if the hero was a female. Another thing he noticed was that the Hero was always human. They were summoned by the humans, as a human, and fought for the humans. Sometimes it leads to wars that wouldn't have happened without the summoning of the Hero but the Hero always wins. Those were rare though a Hero wouldn't be summoned with malicious intent.
Aside from that, the Hero's party consists of the normal party makeup. A party usually consisted of a mage, an archer, a shielder, and a healer. The main damage dealer in a Hero party was almost always a swordsman except for Masami Hirito the fourth hero who was a mage. On the books, he collected where the stats of the various party members and the blessings each of them had. He particularly admired Asclepius of the Hero Yasu's party. He was the first sea person to join a hero's party and he was a healer. After a Hero completes the mission they where assigned when summoned legends say they go back to their home worlds and the party members are left to look after Roska. Despite being the world's finest healer there aren't any recounts of his patients which made him all the more mysterious. Mikhail smiled to himself and readied another spoonful and only when he put it in his mouth did he realize his bowl was empty.
He sighed and put the utensil down standing back up. He did some metal math and decided he did have enough coins to spare to buy some hot water. He gathered his cloak and put it in his bag then gathered the pile of dirty clothes sitting in the corner of the room and shoved them inside too. He opened the small dresser and took out a pre-folded set of clothes to hold. He grabbed his key and set out down the stairs of the inn. He rang the bell again and this time the old man answered. Mikhail set down 2 silver coins. "4 buckets of warm water, please."
The old man grunted in response slowly walking to the back room before returning with 4 buckets of snow. One by one Mikhail brought them to the inn's furnace and set them inside the fire for them to melt. As he waited he set out all the clothes to be washed 4, shirts, 4 pants, his cloak, and 4 sets of undergarments plus the clothes he was wearing now. He readied the old wine barrel never used anymore and set the clothes inside. The first 2 buckets were ready and he took them and poured them inside. He tossed a pill into the water compacted with the all-in-one soap that could be used with anything. It even cleaned the water. He got the other 2 buckets and poured them in mixing his clothes with the water. He stripped and wrapped a towel around his waist throwing the clothes he was wearing into the old wine barrel as well. He washed each garment one by one setting them on the old wine racks to dry and ironing them with the steam produced by the hot water.
After he was done he stirred the water around and it became clean again. Impressed Mikhail made a mental note to buy more of these compacted soap balls when the merchant came to town again. He then stepped into the water soaking up its heat. The benefit of washing his clothes first was by the time Mikhail went to bathe the water was already cooled enough. He took out the braid in his hair and washed every part of himself before stepping out. He used the towel to dry his body before wrapping his hair up and getting dressed once again. He opened the door and the steam dissipated when met with the frigid air of the outside. He poured the water outside and it only made it a few meters before it froze. Mikhail collected his bearing and went back to room twelve. He folded all his clothes and put them back in their spots before retiring for the night.
Mikhail woke once more when someone brushed against his door. He groggily sat up and took the breakfast from the Unum-wolf. Like normal he set it on his desk and quickly ate it before using the ice gathered at the window as a mirror braiding his air and resting it against his pointed ears. He switched out his slippers for his boots and grabbed his bag and satchel before wrapping his cloak around himself. As normal the boy walked to the adventures guild and scanned for any commissions regarding going into the west of Bayfire. As expected there were requests for Glacier stones from merchants, jewelers, blacksmiths, and more people wanting to get their hands on the mana stones only found in Lyukan. Normally Mikhail would just pick the commission that paid the highest but today there was a commission for Emery. A plant found in the deep forests of Lyukan that not many people desired, what's more, the person commissioning offered a gold coin for only one bundle of Emery.
Mikhail took the paper and put his guild ID number on the paper before heading out into the tundra. Emery wasn't rare itself but getting to where it grew was difficult. Mikhail walked passed the Jackel Rabbits and into the forest, he had avoided the day prior. He dipped in and out of the trees hearing the howling of the Unum-wolves followed by the screeches of vultures. He walked further into the forest pulling up his cloak hood in response to the winds picking up. He walked up the slope slowly and carefully making note of all the sounds in the forest. He reached the summit and scanned the area before walking leftward to pick up the patch of Emery growing under a fallen tree. He held the bundle in his hand and looked around for any other Emery growing and walked over to a small patch growing by a rock. He picked it up and stood up putting it in his bag carefully. He was about to walk away back to Bayfire when he heard a thump, followed by another thump getting louder with each repetition.
He immediately straightened up and looked in the direction of the sound. He cursed in his native language and started running back to Bayfire. The thumping followed and a Monster taller than the pine trees came bursting into the clearing setting its sights on the boy speeding up to chase after him. Mikhail ran dashing in between the trees in a failed attempt to lose the Yeti. He ran onto the flat ice to focus on running to see the Jackal rabbits in his way. He stepped onto the ice and felt it crack under him. The Yeti was not deterred and chased after him ignorant of the cracking ice. With no other choice, Mikhail jumped onto the ice running faster than the ice could crack. The Yeti pursued and fell onto the ice letting out a roar as it struggled. Mikhail made it back onto the thicker ice that wouldn't crack under his weight and turned back to the drowning Yeti. He stood there for 20 minutes watching as the movements became slower and slower until they stopped moving back together. Carefully he came back hoping between the floating ice until he came close to the Yeti's corpse. It was times like this where he wished he had a bottomless bag but his savings weren't nearly enough to consider that. With the pocket knife tied to his waist, he cut out bits of pieces of its hide and put as much as his bag could carry. The meat wouldn't rot soon thanks to the climate so he would come back for that later. He jumped back across the bits of ice and walked into Bayfire. He took out the commission paper and followed the address. Strangely enough, it led him back to the inn he was staying at. He walked to the written room number and knocked on door 7 the room down the hall from his own.
The door opened slowly and out came the man he had seen earlier. Staring at him with his yellow fish-like eyes and fins at the side of his head he stared at the boy with a poker face. Slightly intimidated he held up the commission paper which seemed to spark recognition in the man's eyes. Slowly, Mikhail retrieved the bundle of Emery and handed it to the man. The man inspected it and looked at Mikhail intrigued.
"You must be Mikhail," he spoke in a deep voice that could even make a snow elf feel chills.
"Uh, yes sir that's me." He responded awkwardly. "How…how do you know my name?"
"Every local I inquired to buy Emery from said they didn't have it and to commission you."
Mikhail nodded seeing the logic behind the man's words. They stood in awkward silence before Mikhail broke it.
"Can I just have your signature, so I can complete the commission?"
The man nodded and quickly signed it with the flick of his finger. Mikhail put it back in his bag and was about to leave when the man stopped him."
"Wait, What is that in your bag?" he asked.
Confused and not seeing a reason to Lie Mikhail told the truth. "It's Yeti fur. I came across one while gathering the Emery and it drowned while chasing me."
That seemed to have some type of effect on the man as his eyes widened and he stepped out of the door and closer to Mikhail.
"How much for all of it?" he inquired.
Mikhail stuttered caught off guard but quickly gathered his thoughts estimating how much his bag full of Yeti hide would be worth. "Um, is 80 silver ok? Yeti hide is rare to come by so It won't be che-"
"1 gold" the man interrupted.
Standing there like a fool Mikhail was handed the money and looked confused before handing over the rest of the yeti hide to the man. He studied it and looked impressed. "Is it possible for you to gather more Yeti hide?"
Mikhail nodded and the man quickly offered more money to Mikhail didn't refuse. As Mikhail turned to go back to his room the man stopped him once more.
"Is it possible for you to bring me into the tundra?"
Mikhail stopped and stared in silent confusion.
"Is it possible for you to guide me into the tundra?" He asked again.
"I-I don't know, I've never really taken anyone with me."
"Would you be willing to try?" He questioned stepping forward with such composure, yet determined gaze Mikhail couldn't help to agree. The man nodded and agreed to set out tomorrow and returned to his room shutting the door. Dumbfounded and hungry Mikhail returned to his room and laid on the bed looking at his hand where the man flippantly gave him a gold coin.