Equipment

Pink light was starting to shine through the paper windows, and birds were singing songs that marked a new day. Marcus woke up with Clair still in his arms. Last night was a pleasurable experience, and he was in a very good mood. Trying not to wake her, he extricated himself as gently as he could. Opening the window, a warm midsummer breeze found its way in. Looking at the people getting their storefronts ready, he smiled, also ready to start his day.

"Good Morning Marc."

He turned around to see Clair sitting up in bed. Her hair was a bit messy and she was covering herself with a wool blanket. He smiled back at her and said. "Good morning to you to Clair. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes I did, very well. Would you like some breakfast? I bought some eggs the other day." Clair said as she slipped out of the blanket and grabbed a robe hanging on the wall.

"That'd be great, thanks."

.......

"So, what do you have planned for today Marc?" She asked as she was putting the cleaned dishes away. She had made eggs with hardtack and goat cheese. Afterwards, Marcus insisted that he clean up, but he didn't know where the dishes went so she had to help him.

"I was planning on seeing what missions were available, then probably go buy some more equipment. I was thinking about getting a shield and some armor. I'll have to see what I can afford." He said as he was finishing off his glass of water, then cleaning the glass.

"OK, I have to open the store in about half an hour. So I'll be busy most of the day. You can come back by after I close at sunset. If you want to, that is." She mentioned this as she put her apron on around the blue dress that she picked out for today.

"Of course I'd like to. I might just have to cancel my stay at the inn." He said with a chuckle.

"I wouldn't do that just yet." She said with a slight look of panic.

"I'm only joking, I don't want to move too fast."

"I like you Marc, I just don't think I'm quite ready to live together." She said with a look of relief.

"I know, that's why I was only joking. Don't worry, I won't pressure you." Marcus said as he grabbed her shoulders and kissed her on the forehead. He really did like Clair, but he had many things that he still wanted to do, so he couldn't be tied down for now.

"Ok, good, I appreciate that. Now I have to get going and so do you Marc." Clair said as she was practically pushing him out the door and down the stairs.

"Oh Marc, one more thing."

"Yeah?"

She walked closer to him, cupping his face, she gave him a long and passionate kiss. "Be careful ok. You remember the two suitors I mentioned last night? They're small, petty men. They may get jealous and try to cause trouble for you ok. They won't bother me too much, I'm just worried about you."

Smiling Marcus said "Don't worry about me Clair, I'll be fine."

Giving her one last kiss, he walked down the stairs and out the door.

...........

Walking into the Mercenaries Association, Marcus made his way over to the mission board. He was looking for a high paying Iron rank mission. He needed one-hundred missions at copper rank in order to rank up, but only needed fifty iron rank missions to level up to iron rank. It just made sense to him to rank up as quickly as possible.

It was still pretty early in the morning on what was considered a Monday in his old world. Although this world didn't have time off on the weekends like on Earth. They still had a rest day before the beginning of a new week. Marcus figured he could attribute the lack of mercenaries to them nursing hangovers from last night.

Gazing at the available missions, one stood out to him. It was an escort mission that required ten mercenaries to accompany a merchant convoy to another city. It was to take two weeks to get there and back. The merchants would supply the food and water, everything else had to be taken care of by the mercenaries. Marcus had heard of storage items, the fabled items in every other world story, that allowed you to carry many things in a ring or pendant. They were prohibitively expensive, many people would never see one in their lifetime.

Not taking the mission slip off the board, he walked up to the counter to ask about it. According to the clerk they still needed two more mercenaries to fill the request. It would take place two days from now, and the meeting place was the west gate of the city. Like the slip said, the merchants would take care of the food and water, but the food was just hardtack and cheese.

Marcus was getting very sick of eating these two things all the time. He understood why, they were the easiest and cheapest to make, and they lasted a very long time. You could salt or smoke meat, but meat was considerably more expensive, especially for the common citizen. Still the pay was very good, at one gold coin for the two week trip. They were willing to pay this much because the route they were to take would pass by known bandit activity.

Marcus had never killed a person, and with this mission it was very likely he'd have to. Still, he thought himself prepared to do so. Marcus accepted the mission. The clerk wrote his name down to hand to the merchants so they'd know who to expect for the mission. Now all he had to do was show up to the west gate at dawn.

Now he had to prepare for a two week excursion. He needed to get some armor, shield, sleeping bad, and any other things he may need. Walking out of the Association's door, he made his way to the market.

..........

Marcus was in his room at the inn going over the supplies he'd bought. He managed to find a multi-day pack. It was like a backpack, but much larger with different compartments for supplies. The store he bought his satchel from was just for small everyday things, that's why he couldn't find anything like a backpack there.

He didn't find a sleeping bag, but he did get a bedroll, it was just a heavy duty wool blanket that you rolled out to sleep on. Being summer, he only bought a thin blanket to go with it. He also bought a small metal pot to boil water in, a small axe to gather tinder for a fire. There was some flint and steel, people could use everyday magic in order to make fires, but if you were exhausted you might not have the mental energy to do so. So flint and steel were still needed. Thirty feet of rope, because you never know when you might need some rope. And finally Marcus bought five pounds of jerky. He didn't know what kind of meat the jerky was made of, but he didn't really care. He found a good deal on it and only paid twenty coppers per pound, it could be rat for all he cared at that price.

He had wanted to get a shield, but after finding some leather armor, he didn't have enough money in order to get it. He'd actually managed to find leather armor that fit him perfectly, but it had a price to match its size. Marcus really needed it so he decided to buy it. He wasn't exactly a small target, so he figured he'd get hit more often than he would like. Now he was left with only two silvers out of the two gold that he'd gotten from the bear carcass.

Making sure that all his things were packed well, he grabbed his pack and warhammer. He was going to make sure to keep all his things on him, he'd invested way too much money to just leave it in his room. He was also going to ask Clair if you could spend these two nights with her until his mission, in order to save money of course. He didn't think she would mind just two nights. With this, he walked out his room to go find some lunch, it was still only three in the afternoon, so he had some time before he headed to Clair's.

.........….

"I'm certain she's seeing someone sir, that man has visited her for two nights in a row now." A plain looking man was kneeling on the floor staring at the wooden planks beneath him. Before him was a man with silver hair neatly combed to the side. He was clean shaven with a sharp jaw. His clothes were high quality silk, some of the best that money could buy. The look on his face was not anger, but more like frustration.

"When will she come to her senses. It's been over three years now and all I get is nothing. She can't make it on her own. I can't get rid of Trevor, all I can do is annoy him, but this man." He trailed off, thinking.

"Just get rid of him. If she won't give me what I want, I won't allow her to have the same."

The wealthy looking man turned, waving his hand dismissively, allowing the other man to leave. Nodding his head the plain looking man stood, turned on his hell and left the room. He'd have to go to the slums and hire some help, he'd seen the size of the man entering the shop, he wasn't confident that conventional means would work.

..........

"So I'll be gone for about a month." Marcus was sitting at Clair's kitchen table enjoying a cup of wine.

Clair was sitting across from him also drinking wine, she was listening intently to what Marcus was saying.

"Won't you need more supplies than what you packed? Two weeks both ways is a long way to travel." Clair said clearly concerned.

"I know I do, but that's all I could afford at the moment. It'll be fine, the merchants will supply the food, and I'll resupply in the next city. It said we were going to Clearmount, a small city not too far from the frontier."

"Alright, if you say so Marc." She said, taking a sip from her wooden cup.

"Now, since I won't see you for a whole month, we had better make these next two nights count, shouldn't we?" Smiling, Clair stood and walked over to Marcus seductively, shaking her hips back and forth. Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, she dragged him towards the bedroom.