Chapter 3: Chapter 2-Winding Decisions

After many more tussles like this, we come to a stand-off. They are just glaring at me, waiting for me to make a move. I can tell if I try to get closer, he’ll try to rip my eyes out.

To end this standoff, I pull out a silver coin and raise it in front of the kid. The kid’s eyes immediately lock on to it and he freezes.

“You want this, right?”

 

The kid stares at it for a bit and with a subtle gulp, locks on to me.

Cautiously, he nods.

 

“Do you have any others you are taking care of?”

The kid almost nods instinctively, but immediately stops and stares with intensity at me. Like I’m a threat.

Oh wow, that came off wrong.

Waving my arms desperately, I exclaim,

“Wait, no, not like that, I mean, I’m just trying to figure…” I pause, trying to get my thoughts in order.

“Just. I just want… Here. Let me just give you this coin first and I’ll ask you some things. We can talk about giving you more, based on what you tell me.”

I toss the coin at the kid, who deftly catches it and bites it. Quickly putting it somewhere on his body. Warily, he looks at me. He sits in silence for a little, then speaks up. “Alright… what do you want to know?”

“Outstanding, thank you for listening. Take this half-silver for working with me on this. Can you answer some questions for me and give me some tips on what and who to look for? I’m obviously not from the area.”

 Tossing another coin at the kid, he looks incredulously at me, but still pockets the coin after biting it.

Warily answering my questions, we go from subject to subject and it becomes apparent to the kid that I’m an idiot or know nothing about this world. This goes on for a few hours, as I press him for more information on certain details and relationships.

Once we get to things like the city, cultivation groups, who to look out for, where to go to rest and food, how to address different people, and who to trust, the kid seems to have an air of warped pity for me.

“Man, you really don’t know what you’ve gotten into, huh? This isn’t the place for naïve people like you.” He sighs and takes a seat on the ground, relaxing a bit.

“Oh, where’s my silver coin?” I quickly toss a silver coin over to him.

He catches it and bites it. “See? That’s exactly what I’m saying. You just trusted what I said and didn’t even haggle. That’s naïve to just go with whatever price I ask. You know what this information is probably worth? A few coppers.” Placing the coin in his pocket and laying on his back, he stares up at the ceiling.

“It’s a good thing you got me, otherwise you would be an easy mark for some of these other folks. What kind of idiot are you to believe a kid on the streets? And to give silver coins out, like some kind of rich noble, but not know anything about the merchant or noble clans. You’re lucky you haven’t already been gutted or stripped bare.”

He continues rolling onto his side, his stomach revealed.

“Sheesh, even now I feel that if I asked, you’d still give me more money.” I reach in my pocket as a joke.

“Seriously, stop. You really will get scammed if you continue like that. At first I thought you were some pervert noble… but you really are just a foreigner with no knowledge of how things work.” I look up quickly at that, asking,

“Oh, that reminds me. What country would most people assume I’m from, based on my looks?” He looks at me weird, but then just shakes his head again.

“Most people would say the Plains of Akir to the South, but I would say the Great Rondo Waters to the far west. It’s far enough that most people won’t have a connection, and you should be safe to say without people questioning you too much.”

With a thoughtful pause, he continues, “Now that is advice worth a Big Copper.” I hand him two. He just sighs.

“You know, at this point I just feel like I’m the one taking advantage of you. And I pick pockets for a living.”

Even though I’m basically just teasing this kid, I am taking what he says seriously. I’m also verify everything he’s saying with my scanning ability. Overall, this kid seems trustworthy.

While it may be expensive, I think having this kid trust me is much more important than desperately holding onto the money I have.

In addition, the information on how I need to conduct myself is critical. Just by watching the air of this kid, I’m able to get an idea on how I should interact with people. The only issue is that this is a massive amount of cultural information to take in. It will be difficult to adapt quickly to this.

It’s unfortunate, but I just don’t have the instinct for these kinds of situations.

Jumping to his feet, he offhandedly says, “Well, that’s pretty much all I have to talk about with this. I have to get back to my family.” The kid casually walks past me and gets to the center of the alleyway.

Before he leaves, I call out to him.

“Hey, wait a second!”

The kid tenses and looks like he is about to run.

Obviously, because he is probably assuming that I want my money back.

“This may be a bit of a silly question, but could you be… my bodyguard?”

 

The kid’s face blankly stares at me. Like I’m stupid. “What?”

“Uh, not exactly a bodyguard, but more of an advisor. It’s clear to me, with all of this, that I do not understand what I’m doing. You also seem to be trustworthy.”

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The kid goes through several faces, first of disbelief, pity, condescension, thoughtfulness, pity, greed, and then finally a serious expression.

“Fine, but I will need 20 Big Coppers a day.” “Completely Denied,” I immediately retort.

“Shoot, I was hoping I could get you with that one. Well, at least you are learning.”

He pauses for a smile and a breath.

“Fine. 1 Big Copper a day, but I need 20 upfront. You should be more than fine with that for a while, considering the amount you have. That should be enough to be worth my time. Also, for your information, that’s how much most people get each day working a job around here.

Though I could get potentially much more from pick-pocketing.” I hand him 20 Big Copper Coins.

“Let’s start with this.” He holds up one coin I just paid him.

“Lesson One. I can easily tell how much you have on you by the sound of the coins. Because of the unfamiliar material of your clothes, it makes it tougher to tell immediately, but with enough time around you I could find out. Merchants, in particular, can do this to guestimate your spending ability. One thing a merchant will do is show you around the store to hear how much you have on you. With that out of the way, let me show you a few places around town I mentioned to you earlier.”

Thus, the kid walked with me around the city and explained unique things to look out for and watch.

We passed by the market, when I mentioned there was someone, I had to thank… but it seems the old man had already left.

So, we moved on to the next few sights, with little ado. “Old Mo’s place is an excellent place to get some rest and food. At the end of some days, when a noble has come by and wasted food, he gives it to some kids nearby. Let him know Lin had recommended you and he’ll keep an eye out for you. Oh, right? My name is Lin, what’s yours?”

“My name’s James. Sorry about that.”

“Stop that, you shouldn’t be apologizing to someone of my status. It makes you seem like a regular person.”

As he says that, the sun seems to get close to the horizon. With the end of the day coming, but still some light out, the “tour,” seems to winding down.

As we walk past yet another alleyway, I can see out of the corner of my eye a kid warily watching.

 

Peeking at Lin, I see him shake his head, with the kid nodding in surprise, but understanding and walking back into the alley. 

Oh, it looks like Lin has been helping me this whole time. Looks like it was the right decision to work with him.

“Alright, this should be good enough for a tour. I need to head bac…back to my place. Here, take this string and hang it from your pocket. As long as you have this, you shouldn’t get too much trouble from the kids around here.” Handing me a long dull string with a knot at the end, I hang it from my pocket.

Lin continues without pausing, “Tomorrow you can meet me back here, at around…”

With a quick look at my face, the kid stiffens up and pauses.

Placing a hand on his head, “Ah, what am I worried about. It’s obvious you are a fish out of water. I can take you back to my place, so you don’t have to waste money on those inns. We can work out everything else tomorrow.”

He grabs my hand and begins taking me down some alleys, winding and turning. Even within a city of this size, there seem to be countless tight alleys.

Turn by turn, I quickly lose track of how to get back to the street. As we pass by another alleyway, I somehow get a glimpse of an open street, but it passes by like a dream as we dive deeper into the maze. The sun dips down even lower, on the cusp of turning to darkness.

After some further time walking, Lin stops me and pauses right before a corner.

With a quick peak around the corner, he holds out a Big Copper Coin to the corner. A worn and dirty gloved hand comes out and takes it quickly.

Before continuing on, Lin says, while motioning at me, “Can you keep this quiet and allow this guy through? Thanks.” Looking at me, he motions,

“Okay, we should be good now. Keep moving.”

As he moves forward, the hand grabs his shoulder.

“Lin. Rong is at your place again. It doesn’t look good. You should hurry.”

 

With widened and panicked eyes, he immediately begins sprinting off down the alleyways, leaving me behind.

Ah shit, it looks like something is wrong. I really don’t know my way around this place, and I’m worried about Lin. I should probably follow him and see what’s going on.

Holding out a Big Copper Coin, I quickly ask, “Can you lead me where his place is? I want to make sure he’s alright.” There’s a pause and the hand quickly snap out, grabbing the Big Copper. As I attempt to move forward, they keep their hand out in front of me, stopping me in place. The hand motions with 5 fingers.

“Ah shoot, whatever! Take it, we might not have much time.” I quickly toss 5 more Big Copper Coins and they are snatched out of the air.

A light giggle comes out ahead and above me.

The head and torso of an attractive, youthful woman with wiry black hair and pale dirty skin pops out… horizontally, on the upper part of the wall.

The shiny, smooth lower body of a spider appears as she creeps out, hanging between the walls of the alleyway. Hanging upside down, she lowers her face down to mine and with an airy, light voice she says,

“Well, don’t just stare at me, you’d better hurry. Go straight and turn right once and then left once. You’ll see his shack on the right.”

With a shocked pause, I regather my senses and thank her. I sprint down the alleyway based on her directions. I see the hint of a curious smile as I pass, running past the corner.

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