Chapter 44 – Dark Iron Ore

Ice Wood?

The sled wagon was made of Ice Wood?

Alex's mind immediately went to the friendly villagers. Not only had they given him so much Ice Wood, but they had also created a sled wagon out of Ice Wood. They sure had gone all out with their repayment.

However, after some seconds, Alex looked away from the sled wagon and turned his gaze towards the slope.

Alex could see blood on the slope, as well as two bodies. Some guards were currently pulling the bodies to the side of the slope, and after they got there, they simply threw the bodies into the forest.

Apparently, bandits didn't get a proper burial.

Such a scene seemed unimportant, but it gave Alex a feeling of disconnect.

On Earth, even mass murderers would get a burial. After one's death, everyone was the same on Earth.

But here, these bandits were simply thrown to the side of the road.

No one minded such a scene, but Alex felt like this scene was showing the differences between this world and Earth very well.

Life truly wasn't seen with as much importance here as on Earth.

'I killed one of them,' Alex thought with discomfort.

Alex felt some guilt appear in his chest, but it wasn't as overwhelming as he had thought.

Every human had thought about how it would feel to kill someone else at least once. Some edgy teenagers might think that they wouldn't feel anything, but the truth was always different.

Taking a human life woke a certain feeling of pressure and wrongness in one's chest.

Even if a person hated someone else, when that other person died suddenly, the first person would still feel some discomfort.

This feeling would be far stronger if one was responsible for their death.

Wishing someone else to die was normal, and it happened all the time, but when it actually happened, one would still feel uncomfortable.

However, Alex's feelings weren't as intense as he had imagined them to be. He definitely felt something, but it was still manageable.

'Is that normal?' Alex thought.

Silence.

'I don't know.'

"Hey! Get your sled wagon out from below the rubble. We need to clean the slope for other merchants," the guard said, pulling Alex out of his thoughts.

"Oh, right, sorry," Alex said absentmindedly.

Alex went over to his sled wagon and pushed the stones off the sled wagon. After a bit of cleaning up, Alex could see the entire sled wagon again.

The cage with all the Ice Wood was displaced since the rope broke, but it was still close to the sled wagon.

It took a lot of work, but Alex managed to put the cage with the Ice Wood back on top of the sled wagon.

And then, the sled wagon was ready to be moved again.

"Anyway, welcome to the Central Wild!" the guard said with a smirk.

"Is that the name of the town?" Alex asked.

The guard nodded. "Yep. You need to leave through the southern entrance if you want to get to the Storm Eagle Zone. However, I would suggest that you stay here for the night. The Southern Wild is about a day of travel away, and it's already afternoon."

Alex nodded. "Thanks," he said.

Then, Alex pulled the sled wagon towards the town.

The guard and his men started cleaning the slope as Alex went to the town.

After a bit of pulling, Alex arrived at the gate, and he was allowed to enter without any inspection. The guards had probably already inspected his sled wagon earlier.

Alex saw that the streets actually had no snow on them, but that wasn't an issue. Alex went to the side of his sled wagon and loosened the ropes around the wheels. The wheels were fixed to the sled wagon with beams made of Ice Wood, and they fell down and hit the ground.

After loosening all four wheels, Alex went to a corner of the sled wagon.

Crk!

Alex lifted the corner and moved the wheel until the wood beam was straight. Then, Alex kept the beam straight and fastened the rope on the beam again.

After doing that for all four corners, Alex pulled the sled wagon into the town on its wheels.

He didn't need to put much force into the pull since pulling something with wheels was easier than pulling a sled through snow.

As Alex traveled through the town, many people watched him with interest. They had heard about the commotion in front of the northern gate, and they guessed that Alex was responsible for it.

However, none of the townspeople came up to start a conversation. They were more interested in watching.

The town wasn't really big. It probably was only a kilometer across.

Eventually, Alex passed through a marketplace, being careful that he didn't damage anything with his heavy sled wagon.

Suddenly, Alex felt his sword vibrate. Alex took out the sword and looked at it with interest.

An invisible force pulled Alex's attention to a stall at the side of the road. The stall was made of wood, and it was quite wide and deep. Alex saw stones, gems, and metals being displayed at the front, and he could see several different kinds of ore in the back of the stall.

Alex remembered that he could increase the power of his sword with ore, and he quickly realized that this was the reason why his sword was vibrating.

"Can I help you?" the salesman on the stall asked after realizing that Alex was eyeing his store.

Alex calmly took out his sword and put it on the counter. "Do you have something for weapons useful for warriors in the General Realm?" Alex asked.

Alex was in the First Realm, which was called the Soldier Realm for physical fighters. The General Realm was the Second Realm.

Alex knew that his weapon was probably useful for warriors in the Soldier Realm. So, if he wanted to increase its power with ore, he needed it to be of the second Realm.

When the salesman heard Alex's words, a bright smile appeared on his face. "We specialize in such ore. The Dark Iron Ore is the ore of choice for warriors in the General Realm," the man said.

Alex nodded. "How much to reforge this entire sword with Dark Iron Ore?" he asked.

"We don't do forging," the man said.

"I know. I meant how much for the required Dark Iron Ore to reforge the sword?" he asked.

The man looked at the sword on the table.

"40 gold," he said. "We get our Dark Iron Ore from a local mine, which is why it's so cheap. You would normally have to pay over 50 gold for something like this."

Alex's eyes widened.

"Oh, okay. Thanks. I'll be going then," he said.

The salesman deflated when he realized that Alex didn't buy anything. "Do come again," he said without any motivation.

"Seems like you have to wait," Alex said quietly to his sword.

Surprisingly, Alex felt like his sword vibrated a little.

Alex had already realized that his sword wasn't so simple, but he still wasn't quite sure about its abilities.

He probably had to wait until he had enough money to upgrade it to find out more.

After a while of pulling, Alex reached the southern gate, and he went through it.

The guard had said that Alex should spend the night here, but Alex didn't plan on doing that.

First of all, Alex didn't have any money, and he couldn't just pay in Ice Wood. There was no sense in spending the night in the town when he would sleep on the ground.

Second, it was still afternoon, and Alex could still get some hours of travel out of the day.

Third, Alex was used to sleeping in the wild.

So, Alex decided to directly continue to the Southern Wild.