After 15 minutes of lying down on the bed, Sam was bored and decided to get up and go out for a walk around town. He had about 3 and half hours before he had to be back which was plenty of time to check out his favorite shops and maybe pick up a small predinner snack. He slipped his boots back onto his feet and slung his backpack over his right shoulder and walked over to the door. There was a small latch on the lock so that it could be locked from the inside without needing to use the key. He opened the door and flipped the latch before closing the door behind him. He gave the door handle a test to make sure it had actually locked, you never know with some of these inns he thought. Confirming it was locked he headed down the hallway and lightly jogged down the squeaking stairs. He entered the dining area and saw a few people eating lunch. It wasn’t very busy, but he suspected it was because it was close to the end of the lunch period, and they had likely closed the lunch service already. Sam wander through the dining room and up to the front door eyeing a sword sat beside a man wearing a leather chest piece and thick cloth pants. It was a fairly plain sword with no embellishments and after some consideration he decided the man was a guard for a merchant passing through the area. It was unlikely that he was an adventurer considering the lack of a guild branch and a lack of monsters to hunt in the region.
Sam passed through the front door and out onto the dirty cobbled street. He stood there for a couple of seconds getting his bearings. Once he had deduced his position, he turned left heading towards the shopping district. He continued down the road passing a large tavern and another inn before making another left-hand turn. After walking for a few minutes, he finally walked out onto the main shopping street. It was reasonably quiet, but he supposed that was to be expected since it was the middle of the week in the middle of summer and it was pretty hot out as it was the middle of the day, so most people were probably avoiding it. Sam took a moment to eye the closest shops before he chose his target. Sam walked diagonally across the street stopping in front of a small store with a wooden front with a sign written in bold white letters reading Betties Books. Sam pulled on the door handle and walked inside the store.
It was a lot cooler in the bookstore, likely due to a cooling magic item to help prevent the heat from damaging the books Sam thought as the cool air relieved him from the heat. Sam walked down the centre aisle and at around the halfway point turned to the right to face a small display slightly protruding out into the aisle. Above the display was a sign that read ‘skill books’. As Sam had been taught early on at the Rimour Junior Academy, a skill book was a book lightly enchanted with mana. The books contained information on how to unlock skills with the light enchantments, making it easier for the reader to learn the contained natural skills. These books had a lock on them to prevent people from reading them and using up the enchantment. Sam browsed the books on display reading the titles. “Swift Feet” was the first book which he looked at. He activated his ‘item identification’ skill and read the summary. ~ The swift feet skill book contains information on acquiring the Swift Feet natural skill. This skill allows one to run 5% faster than normal and makes it less likely for one to stumble when moving their feet ~. Useful Sam thought but the price of one small silver coin for it didn’t seem worth it. The next one however caught his eye “Jumping Jack” ~ This skill book contains 3 jumping natural skills which once leveled will give the Jumping Jack Pseudo skill. “Long Jump, High Jump and Power Jump” ~. Wow Sam thought 8 small silver pieces but that seemed worth it for 3 skills and a guaranteed Pseudo Skill.
Sam continued to look through the last few skill books on display, but nothing really caught his attention. He wandered through the rest of the bookstore occasionally stopping to check out a book but there was nothing he wanted that fit into his budget. He only had 8 copper coins, so he needed to be careful with his money. Deciding he had seen everything he wanted to in the bookshop he headed back around to the front and walking out of the store. As he stepped out the heat hit him like a sack of potatoes. It was by far the hottest summer he had experienced so far, he thought.
Sam walked down the street of the shopping district occasionally stopping to look into a shops window to see what was on display. Once he reached the end of the street, he made a right turn down a narrow-cobbled street. About a third of the way down he made another right and walked down an even narrower cobbled street before reaching a small square. The square was dark as the building surrounding it blocked out the sun. There were 3 shops in this square but only one he intended to visit. On the far side of the square was a stone building with a crooked sign that read “Barlow’s Blacksmith”. Sam walked across the square and over to the store. As he reached for the handle, he could hear banging coming from inside. He opened the door and a bell chimed announcing the arrival of a customer.
Sam stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Sam looked around the room to see weapons and tools lining shelves and hanging from the walls. Swords, spears, daggers, hammers and pickaxes were the main things he saw on display. Sams eyes gleamed as they scanned over all the items. There were some weapons he didn’t know the name of, but his identification skills could take care of that issue. As he looked in wonder a gruff voice called out to him “Sam, nice to see you”. Sam turned around to see Barlow the blacksmith leaning on the counter. “Hi Barlow, how are you today?” he asked. “I’m doing well kid. What are you doing in town? Shouldn’t you be in the middle of summer break at the moment?”. “Here with my father” Sam replied to the man. “He had some business to take care of in town. He also said he had something to collect for my birthday.” “Aye, forgot you said that was coming up. Bet you’re struggling to get any sleep with the excitement of getting your blood skill so close” Barlow replied. “Yeah, it’s been a struggle, but I should be able to manage” Sam said scratching the back of his neck. “Talking about your birthday” the man suddenly said as he reached under his counter and pulled out what looked to be a box wrapped in paper. “Made this for you but don’t open it until your birthday” the man said as he placed the box on the counter. “Really, this is for me?” Sam said excitedly. “Well, you’re my best window shopper so I thought I should give you something for your birthday. It’s not much though so don’t get too excited.” Barlow replied. “Wow, thank you so much Barlow”. Sam said as he picked up the box and placed it into his backpack.
Sam chatted with Barlow for a few more minutes before Barlow excused himself and went back to his forge. Sam continued to browse the contents of the store before finally calling “goodbye” and leaving the shop. Time was starting to get on and Sam decided it was time to go and buy his pre-dinner snack. He decided to do a bit more exploring on his way there, taking some of the roads less travelled.
As he wandered through the narrow streets and alleyways, he heard what sounded like muffled shouts in the distance. Intrigued, he decided to walk toward the voices. As he closed in the shouts became clearer and the sound of footsteps could be heard on the stone pavement. Sam stopped short of the next street and pressed himself up against the wall and listened as the numerous footsteps and shouts got closer. He peaked his head around the corner and saw a girl who looked like she was around his age wearing a fancy dress and running towards him. Stunned momentarily by the sight of the pretty girl he was broken out of his stupor by the sound of more shouting as 4 men ran around the corner and one of them pointed towards the girl and shouted. The four men chasing her didn’t look like guards, it appeared like she was being chased by thugs. The type that hung around at shady bars down near the dock which the teachers at the academy had warned the students to stay well away from.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
As the girl closed in on him, he had a decision to make. Would he stay hidden in the shadows of the alley and let them run past him or would he try to help the girl out. While he knew he didn’t have a change of fighting the brawny men, he was just a kid himself after all he thought he could at least outrun them or lead them toward the guard station. Just as the girl reached the alley where he was hidden, he made his decision and reached out and grabbed the girl’s wrist, pulling her towards him. The girl shrieked and momentarily lost her balance as she was pulled into the alley. Before she could regain her balance Sam pulled her behind him through the alley. Without looking back, he said “Follow me” as he continued to drag the girl behind him. Sam felt the resistance from the girl lower as she regained her balance and ran behind him. Sam ran through the back streets taking lefts and rights, as many as he could to try and loose the men on their tail until he got to an alley, he knew the men couldn’t follow them through. He let go of the girl’s hand and turned side on as he pushed himself through the narrow gap.
The girl quickly caught on and followed Sam through the narrow gap between the two large stone buildings. Once they were through Sam once again took the girl’s hand and dragged her out onto the main shopping street. Sam paused for a moment before his eyes locked onto a clothing store across the street and ran towards it, the girl following close on his heels. Sam quickly opened the door and ran through, closing it as the girl followed in behind him. Sam quickly grabbed a random shirt off one of the clothing racks and pushed the girl into the changing room before he himself hid behind the clothing rack peeking out through the window.
A couple of minutes went by and just as he thought the men had been lost, he saw them walking down the street, two either side looking through shop windows. He quickly hid back behind the rack and waited to hear the door open, and the men walk into the store. It felt like hours as he knelt hand on the handle of his work knife. Before long a woman’s voice called out to him “Kid, are you alright?”. Startled Sam fell onto his behind as he looked up at blond middle-aged woman looking down at him and upon realizing it wasn’t one of the men letting out a breath he didn’t notice he was holding. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just playing hide and seek” Sam replied. “Okay then. Just don’t get in the way of any customers okay.” She said back to him as she turned and walked back behind the counter. Sam turned and looked back out the window and despite his racing heart he couldn’t see the men in the street. Taking a deep breath, he got back up off the floor and walked over to the changing room.
“The coast is clear” he said to the girl hiding behind the curtain. A few seconds went by before the girl peaked her head out. “The girl looked at him with a sharp assessing gaze before she finally walked out of the changing room. Sam took the shirt he had given her and placed it back on the rack. The girl took a tentative step out towards the front of the shop before walking to stand next to Sam who was peering out the front window. “Thank you for the help” the girl said to him with a confident voice that could only belong to the daughter of a noble. “It was nothing, don’t worry about it” he said. Finally confident the men were truly gone Sam open the door and stepped out into the street.
The girl followed him as he made his way towards one of the snack shops near the street he originally came from. The girl ran to catch up finally matching his pace. “My name is Alice” the girl announced with a slight bow. “Sam Holdridge” he replied to her as they finally reached the shop. “Can I get two vanilla creamy cones please?” Sam asked the shopkeeper. “Coming right up” the man replied to him. A few moments later the shopkeeper turned back to him. “That will be 4 copper coins” the man said to him. Momentarily startled by the price Sam opened his palm and 4 copper coins appeared on it. Just as he was about to place them on the counter Alice placed a small silver coin on the counter. “Keep the change” she said to the shop keeper as she grabbed one of the cones. “My treat as a thank you for helping me” she said to him as she turned and walked off. Fair enough Sam thought as he grabbed his creamy cone from the counter and followed after the girl. The two walked over to a nearby bench and sat down as they ate their cool snack.
Once they finished their snacks Sam finally asked Alice “So, why were those men chasing you?”. The girl looked at him for a moment once again with sharp eyes before answering “I snuck out of the house and those thugs decided to take the chance to try and kidnap me. I’m guessing if they got ahold of me, they would have ransomed me back to my family”. “I see, glad I decided to help you then” Sam replied with a smile. “Tell me where to go and I will walk you back home” Sam said as he stood up and offer Alice a hand up. She took it and rose back up to her feet. “I’m not really sure where it is. I’m only visiting, it’s my first time in this town” she said dejectedly. “Well, I can take you to where all the mansions are located. They’re on a hill to the north of the town where the mayor’s mansion is along with most of richer residents of the town” Sam explained. “Okay, lead the way” she stated.
Sam escorted Alice through the town sticking to the main roads, where there would be the most people around them while remaining vigilant for the thugs that were previously hunting for them. Half an hour passed before they reached a street leading up the hill with mansions lining the road. “I can make my way from here” Alice said to Sam as they stopped at the end of the road. “I wouldn’t want to trouble you with the guards asking question about why you were with me”. “Okay, but make sure you keep an eye out for those thugs. They could be waiting to ambush you” Sam cautioned. “I’ll be okay. They wouldn’t dare to even walk up this street. I will be fine. And thank you again for helping me.” “It was my pleasure my lady” Sam replied as gave a deep bow. She giggled as she turned around and walked up the street. Sam watched the girl for a few moments making sure no one jumped out at her before he turned and began to head back to the inn.
It had gotten late, and it was already past when he was supposed to have been back. I can get back just before the dinner service begins if I run Sam thought as he picked up the pace and began running back towards the inn. It took him just under 10 minutes to run back to the inn. As he reached the front of the inn Sam stopped and leaned over putting his hands on his knees and gasped for air. He was not much of a runner despite his well-built frame that he had gotten working on the farm. As he finally caught his breath he walked up to the inn and pushed the door open, walking into the inn and past those already sitting at tables waiting for dinner to be served. He headed up the stairs to the room he and his father shared bracing himself for a scolding.
As he reached the top of the stairs Sam walked down the hallway and stopped by the door to their room. He took one final deep breath before he knocked on the door. For a moment he heard nothing and for a moment thought maybe his father hadn’t returned to the inn yet but as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he heard footsteps approaching the door. The door opened and Sam looked up to see his father looking down at him, appearing quite angry. “And what time do you think this is young man. I said an hour before 6 not five minutes before 6. I was about ready to contact the guards and send a search party out looking for you. What were you thinking?” his father said in a raised disappointed tone. “I’m sorry” Sam said “before I knew it, it had already passed half five and I was down by the Academy grounds. I ran back as soon as I notice the time” Sam lied. He wasn’t going to tell his father about what happened. He’d never let him walk around town alone again. His father let out a final sigh “Fine, I will let you off this once. But not again do you understand me” he admonished. “Yes Father” Sam replied as his eyes drifted down to his feet. “Well, let’s head downstairs and get something to eat. Dinner service should have started by now and I don’t know about you, but I’m famished” his father complained. Without another word he followed his father out the door and down to the dining room where they were presented with generous roast meal.
Once they had finished eating their dinner Sam and his father returned to their room and retired for the night. Sam took the history book he had taken from home out of his bag and read for an hour or so before finally blowing out the candle by his bedside. He pulled the sheet up to his chin before pushing it back down again quickly deciding it was too warm for the covers and quickly fell asleep with the fatigue from the eventful day finally overwhelming him.
