Discovery

I was stunned.

One moment I am soaked, the other I am dry and confused.

Is this how they use magic, for drying people?

I quite like it not going to lie. Gotta keep walking tho, people are still waiting behind me.

It's better to choose another place to be surprised.

And so I get out of the bathhouse and back onto the streets, I cover my face with my hands and lean forward a bit, that gets a few eyes on me, but it's nothing major.

I was so scared that something would happen to me, my heart was still beating rapidly

People fear the unknown for a reason, and magic is a total mystery to me therefore it is scary, easy as that.

I calm down and start walking, I need clothes then knowledge, I can't be oblivious to everything anymore.

I did not find a tailor while heading to the square so I just chose a random stall selling clothes.

I don't care how they look as long as they can keep the cold at bay.

I chose a faded red tunic that reached just above my knees, made of something similar to wool. It is wide enough to allow me to wear my shirt underneath, and much thicker, thankfully.

As for pants I really didn't want to discard my own, they were great, had lots of pockets, were sturdy, and fit in quite right, as long as no one touched them, so I went for a slightly embarrassing option, leggings.

Manly leggings tho, I think, they too were made of warm material and looked as if would feel great to wear when sleeping.

Shoes were much harder to find, to begin with, they sold none, I would need something like a cobbler for that.

I got some socks though, they felt leathery and my intuition tells me that they are made out of some sort of animal part, probably internal, I really didn't want to know.

I chose these as the other furrier variants would not allow me to wear my shoes, they were too thick.

No underwear for me either, all they had were oversized diapers.

The total cost was a modest 11 coins, seems fair enough for clothes I guess.

Time to change, and what better place than a back alley, where people can see you if they look.

Don't even care anymore I am much too cold right now, how I managed to last this long amazes me in a way, human resilience at its finest.

I'll get some food and get going on my way.

This is true happiness, not only do I fit in now, I don't smell, I have food, I am comfortable wearing my clothes, I look stylish, not really, and most importantly I am ready to find the library.

----------

Getting here was a journey, it took me hours, who even hides a library in a place like this.

I asked at least a dozen people and most of them had no idea where the library was, I even chose the better-dressed ones.

But I finally found it, located in the north-western part of the city, it seemed as if hidden, which it was not with how big it is.

A lot of scholarly looking people go in and out of it. I judge them as scholarly by their fancy hats, no normal person would wear such pointy things.

I too need a hat, it's not like my hood doesn't do its job properly, it just limits my side vision.

So I walk in, head held high, no one stops me nor pay me any attention.

And so I, Caspian Season, found my first book. A truly touching moment.

It was brown and it had written on the first page with the same ugly font, ''Rules and regulations of the common man''.

Perfect.

----------

And so the day passed and the dust settled.

After speed reading through most of the common sense type of books, I have reached one conclusion,

I have to return here tomorrow.

The time wasn't nearly enough to touch on all the subjects I wanted.

Although the ones I did read were both unsurprising and mindblowing. The library is separated in section and I only have access to the first floor, so the free to play content in a way.

After reading the ''Rules and regulations of the common man'' I discovered that everyone but the king is a common man. Every single one including nobles.

Nobles fall into two categories, warlords with enough troops to rule over others, and merchant lords rich enough to buy people's loyalty.

Guess which one rules this city.

The answer is none, it belongs to the king and the already established forces can't interfere.

In other words, it is ripe for the taking, yet no one is doing it, and I can't figure out why.

I can't say that I am a political mastermind after reading a handful of books, but it still makes no sense.

Being ambitious is good, but the world goes on and tomorrow is another day, I haven't even begun exploring this city, it should be obvious soon enough.

Two other books I had enough time to browse through were called ''Local monstrous legends'' and ''Bestiary of the western realms''.

The names are quite intuitive but the books are ambiguous and with insufficient drawings, mostly because, and I quote the book by saying.

''Not many survive the encounter with such beings even though they are quite common, by rough estimates only one in several hundred stand a chance, and those that manage to keep their lives do not take kindly to answering questions''

This is a direct quote from the book ''Bestiary of the western realms'' by Master Scholar Orin of Tuland.

If before I was scared by what Georg had told me, right now I am simply terrified of the mere thought of walking alone, anywhere.

Just a rough list of beings named in that book and could have easily killed me on the way here are as follows.

Undead, both corporeal and incorporeal, that is ghosts. Water dwelling beings, they feast on the living and live in most bodies of water, humanoid in shape, unintelligent. Vampires, also known as high undead, intelligent monsters, not humanoid in shape as we would believe them to be, extremely dangerous and proactive hunters. Corpse feeders, tiny humanoid beings, unintelligent, they scour battlefields eating the dead, extremely common. And the list goes on until reaching.

Forest monsters, those come in all shapes and colors, the one that got me falls into that category, not quite sure what it is as the bestiary did not mention it, but the book of legends did.

I again choose to quote a paragraph of the book ''Local monstrous legends'' by scholar Ruben of Westerngrad.

''The creature that stalks the forested areas outside the city is known to be ancient and fearsome, several attempts have been made at exterminating it, yet whenever we succeed, it somehow reappears, no body had been recovered to date. Attempts have been made at establishing a forward garrison in the creature's territory, reports say that the watchtower had garrisoned fifty armed guards. As of this date, the watchtower has been abandoned and all soldiers lost. No further attempts have been made at dealing with the creature. It is to be treated in a ritualistic manner with a mage supervising the ritual site.''

This thing tried to eat me.