Dreamland

The skies were covered, but through the white clouds, one could see the contours of the two suns. The atmosphere was relatively pleasant, not too hot or too cold.

Geral raised his eyes and thanked all gods that Awa was coming back in one piece. He sighed and put his left hand on her shoulder.

“Let's go!”

“I cannot believe you kissed that brute after he insulted you!” - whispered Noviel with an angry face - “and you allowed him to touch you like that?”

Awa shrugged. It was worth it.

“He needed to lift me; I was just not tall enough!”

“He should have made his beast bow its head more. Such an ignoble animal tamer!”

“Fify is no animal! She is a girl like me!”

Noviel snorted and rolled her eyes.

Geral preferred not to say anything; he just sighed. He judged it wiser to keep away from the conversation else he would risk getting mobbed by both sides. It already happened when he tried to intervene between the two girls.

There was little to see in the market. Only about a couple of hundred people lived in the town, and almost all were now around the slavers' caravan, talking and looking at the slaves. A big slave market opening was planned for tomorrow, and one could already inspect the 'goods', which left those few shops closed.

There was one inn, and the lights were on; however, Geral decided not to go inside but rather go with the girls in the adventurers' guild. He pushed the door open, but apparently, there was nobody inside.

“Hello? Anybody here?” - wondered Geral, but then he found a table with some quests. As he was reading the quests, an angry woman entered.

“What are you doing here?!”

“Hello!” - said Geral nodding - “I was just looking for quests.”

She almost fumed, looking at him. "There are many dragons in this city!" thought Geral.

“I hope nothing is missing, or you'll have a real problem!”

“What should be missing?” - wondered Geral, and the woman pointed at a table covered with objects that were currently 'inspected' by Awa and Noviel. Geral swallowed. Preoccupied with the quests, he had forgotten to watch for the girls.

“Girls? What are you doing there?”

He sighed. Actually, they are almost grown-ups and shouldn't need his surveillance.

Awa had a light in her eyes as if having found gold:

“Papa! Look at this! It is a cup that keeps tea warm! It has a powerful spell in it! These were done in my village, but somebody changed the crystal! I used to assemble these for Ama!” - yelled Awa, then seeing the foreign woman added - “Oh, Hello?”

Somehow this seemed to appease the dragon.

"Papa?" - the woman asked, raising a brow.

He shrugged and addressed Awa:

"Awa, put that cup down, will you?”

The woman rolled her eyes but spoke more friendly.

“If something is missing, I'll feed you to Fify!”

Awa snorted:

“I've petted Fify! She knows I'm not food; we are friends!”

The woman rolled her eyes.

“Did that idiot let you pet his dragon? There is nothing left here to scare nosy children?” - she sighed and turned to Geral - “so why are you here, papa?”

“Hello, my name is Geral, and these are my daughters Noviel and Awa. We were looking for jobs or quests. Kawak had told us that we could find some good ones at the guild?”

“I am Dalia, so hello. Yes, we do have some quests, but those are too high level for you and your girls.” - she saw his disappointed face and added - “However, there is work for your level. You can participate in the culling of the monsters. It would come at about fifty silver per day for you three, seventeen silver per person. As the little one has a low level, we could round it to fifty for all three. You should come in the morning at about eight, and I can give you a zone that you need to clean up. Interested?”

Geral nodded. That was a generous offer, especially considering Awa's low level.

“That would be one gold in two days; sounds good to me!” - said Geral looking at Noviel. She nodded.

“OK!” - said Dalia - “Are you interested in the slave market tomorrow, or do you want to start questing as of tomorrow morning?”

“We would like to start questing!”

“Then come before eight in the morning tomorrow. I will look to buy one or two helpers. When you scan your area, you should enter all houses and gardens. Most should be open. If one is closed, don't break the doors, just mark it with red paint. You can take a pot of paint from there." - she pointed at a corner - "If you see any interesting items, you should keep in mind that everything belongs to the council. If it is something that interests you or you think it is a valuable object, you may bring it here." - she pointed at the table where Awa and Noviel had done their 'inspection' - "I may sell it to you, but I need to see it and evaluate it. Is this clear?”

Geral nodded:

“Yes.”

“Oh, one more point. Where do you stay? The inn is full. Do you have some accommodation?”

“We have our carriage; it is parked down the street. We sleep inside it.”

“Carriage? Where?”

He moved to a point inside the room from where the carriage could be seen through the dusty windows.

“There!”

“By that brown house? I see. If you are interested, I can give you the keys to that house; it is currently vacant.”

“Really? You can do that?”

She shrugged and pointed at another table covered with various keys aligned in rows.

“Sure. For the moment, we just handle the keys free of charge. You can stay there unless a citizen requests that house for his accommodation.”

“A citizen can request a house just like this?” - wondered Noviel.

Dalia nodded:

“Yes, we are currently giving houses for free to citizens, but only one house per person... or family.” - she added, looking at them.

Awa licked her lips:

“How can somebody become a citizen? Can one?”

Dalia laughed:

“Sure. Your papa needs to fill out an application and be endorsed by at least two citizens.”

"Not me?"

"But a slave, I could have become?!"

Geral somehow knew what she was going to say and put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. It was not the right time and not the right person for this.

To his surprise, Awa listened to his unspoken demand and turned to look at him.

“Ahm, then, can we get that key? Are there beds inside the house? Other furniture?” - asked Geral.

“There must be some furniture, but don't forget it belongs to the council, including everything else that's in the house... ah, here... that must be house number 45 on the third road. Here you are! If you want to leave the town, even if for a couple of days, don't forget to bring the key back!”

“Sure!” - Geral nodded and took the key - "But is it not a dangerous place to live in? I mean, there was a magic storm that killed the population! How many did live here before?"

Dalia sighed.

"It is true that magic storms happen from time to time, but we think that there will not be another one like the big one that killed the whole population. More than one hundred thousand people had lived here before."

"One hundred thousand? And all are now dead? Oh my!" - exclaimed Noviel shocked. Awa was looking at Dalia with big round eyes.

Dalia shrugged again:

"Well, all except a couple of very high-level who withstood the storm, like big G, our consul. I am positive that there will not be another such storm, and I'll explain why. The town had a Silver shrine before. I guess it worked like a kind of magical dam that stopped all those magic storms; however, I think that all that energy accumulated inside it. It worked like a giant accumulator and, at a certain time, was overcharged and exploded. That must be what happened. As you have realised, the area is saturated with magic due to the many ley lines that crisscross it, but there will be no more giant accumulation and, thus, no more giant storms. And you know something? It is perfect for levelling! This high magic density is what you find in dungeons or what rich people or noble houses do in their training rooms, spending a lot of money on it. Here we have it for free. If you stay here, you'll level much faster! Is this not a good reason to become a citizen? Think about it!”

They left shortly thereafter, talking between themselves, Geral holding the key happily in his hand. Maybe it was a good idea to stay here for a while?