The inside of the shop was dim, lit primarily by the sunlight that bled through the windows. A handful of candles made up for the spots which the sunlight hadn’t reached. To his dismay, Lucius found the counter abandoned.

  It was doubtful any of the pieces on display would provide him with what he was looking for, but at least browsing would be a productive way to pass the time.

  The shop was lined with racks, each of which was sparsely adorned with weapons of all varieties of quality. However the nicest pieces were still reserved for the wall behind the counter, out of reach from any would-be thieves.

  Lucius perused the aisles, glancing over the weapons as he searched. With just a glance, he could tell most of the weapons were not what he was looking for. About half of the stock wasn’t even swords, and among the swords, about half of them were taller than himself.

  But even still, Lucius admired the craftsman ship. Back on Earth, kitchen knives were the only blades he ever interacted with, and he had never given them much thought.

  Despite his lack of expertise however, he could tell the pieces in front of him were not the work of an amateur. Regardless of the level of craftsmanship though, he didn’t find any he could realistically wield.

  After a short wait, a large man emerged from the back of the shop, eyeing Lucius with suspicion. “Oi kid, scram. Didn’t you read the sign outside? Customers only.” he dismissed Lucius with a wave of his hand.

  His face was adorned with several scars, but they were not what surprised Lucius. It had been over a decade since someone had addressed him so rudely. Lucius remained shocked for a second before he remembered he had been wearing common clothes.

  It was part of the stipulation his father had demanded in exchange for letting him become an adventurer. Lucius would not be allowed to invoke the family name or benefit of his true identity in any way. His father didn’t believe in nepotism, believing his own strength was a result of the hardships he had overcome.

  It was for that reason that he had forbidden Lucius from any of the comforts his last name could award him. If he could not survive on his own, he would never have what it takes to become head of the family.

  Lucius hadn’t disagreed with his father’s assessment, but he was already starting to feel like a fish out of water. Perhaps it was a sign that he had grown soft in the lap of luxury. Lucius shook his head, returning to the moment at hand.

  “I’m here to buy.” Lucius showed the man his coin purse, shaking the pouch so the coins could be heard.

  “I don’t accept stolen coin lad, now scram.” The aged man propped open a book in one hand, growing more aloof by the second.

  With a sigh, Lucius flashed the man a golden coin, peeling his eyes off of the book in his hands. “By the gods, where did you get that son?” The man’s voice grew stern. “Stealin’ from nobles will land your head on a pike you know.”

  “I told you, I didn’t steal them. I just happen to have a—connection with a noble.” Lucius retorted unconvincingly.

  “Welp, can’t say I didn’t warn you.” The man folded rather quickly to Lucius’s surprise. “The day I pass up on a gold coin is the day I go senile.” The old man added under his breath.

  “Well get on with it, what can I do for you?” The man offered eagerly.

  “I’m looking for a sword, something like that.” Lucius pointed to one of the swords on the rack behind him. “But you know—shorter.”

  The man held back a chuckle before regaining his composure. “I don’t have anything like that one in stock, but I could forge something for you if you’d like?” The man offered.

  Lucius knew it would have been an incredible waste of money to custom order a sword that he would just outgrow in a short time.

  “I don’t need anything that fancy, just something that could last a year or two.” Lucius shook his head, declining the man's offer.

  The man pursed his lips and thought for a moment. “I got two pieces that might work. I’ll be right back.” The man declared before disappearing into the back of the shop.

  After some time, he emerged with two short blades and placed them on the counter. They were both clearly short swords, but for Lucius they were effectively medium length.

  The first sword had a black hilt and a slight curve in its blade and a single edge. The edge was riddled with numerous small chips, evidence of its long history.

  The second blade was far less flashy. Its hilt was unassuming, and the steel that comprised the blade was darker, a clear indication that the steel's purity was lacking.

  But unlike the first one, the second blade was straight. It had two edges, and both in great shape as far as he could tell; It even came with a scabbard to boot.

  Lucius picked up the sword. “How much for this one?” He examined the blade closer as he waited for an answer.

  “I think I can part with it for one gold. What do you say?” Lucius noticed a thinly veiled smile on the man’s face.

  “I say you're full of shit. We both know this sword is practically worthless. If not, why would you keep it in the back?”

  The man was taken aback by his words. “Sure, it might be worthless to me, but the question is how much is it worth to you?”

  Lucius considered the question for a moment. There was no way he was going to pay a full gold coin for the sword, but determining its actual worth was difficult.

  “If you throw in a good set of armor, I can do 50 silver, but not a copper more.” he gave a counter offer to the man.

  It was more than he would have liked to pay, but his options were limited. A gold coin in the Altorian Kingdom was worth 100 silvers, and each silver itself was worth 100 coppers.

  It was no small amount of money, but Lucius could live with acquiring the bulk of his gear with only 10% of his allowance. Aside from the armor and sword, he had planned to grab some potions and a mask to accommodate his cloak.

  The mask would pose no problem, but potions were notoriously expensive. He knew some basic healing spells, but they really only served as first aid or to ease the pain. On top of that, it was not like he could cast the spells in front of others.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  So he had planned to spend as much of his coin as possible on as many healing potions as he could afford.

  “I don’t sell armor, but I’ll tell you what. I know an armor smith in town and he owes me a favor. I’ll write you a voucher and you can go and get fitted at his place. What do you say?”

  “Deal. I’ll give you half the silver for the sword now, and the rest when the armor is finished.” Lucius flicked him a gold coin, holding his hand out for change.

  The old man erupted into a roaring laughter. Through chuckles he spoke: “You drive a hard bargain kid, but you got yourself a deal.”

  Lucius received his change and the voucher, leaving the store after confirming the scrap of paper was legit. He slung the sword and its scabbard over his back, on top of his cloak where it could be drawn from.

  He then made his way to the address the man had scribbled on the writ of paper. ‘225 Renald st.’ Lucius searched for the name in his memory.

  Being the only city in the Ironside Barony, Lucius was quite familiar with the streets of Ranok. While he hadn’t been allowed to travel the city without an escort growing up, it wasn’t that large of a city.

  The Ironside library had retained a map of the city, and Lucius had vaguely memorized the layout of things.

  He made his way through the crowded streets of Ranok, shifting like a grain of sand through a desert. People sifted all around, several of them brushing shoulders with him.

  Yet instead of being annoyed, Lucius felt nostalgia. It had been so long since he had been surrounded by strangers. They walked by him uncaringly, his identity unknown to them.

  He had grown accustomed to the life of a noble, but his humble origins from earth allowed him to find peace in such a setting.

  It had not been 15 minutes before he had found the address. He was relieved to see it was actually an armory and only hoped the old man wasn’t lying about the debt.

  The shop stunk of metal and tanned hides, but Lucius didn’t find it all together unpleasant. Lucius shuffled his way up to the counter and handed the paper to the man behind the desk.

  “I was told you could help me.” The man read the paper, then looked Lucius up and down.

  “Old Lionel’s still kickin’ huh?” The man clicked his tongue as if he seemed surprised. “The name’s Arthur, How can I help you?”

  “Lionel told me you owed him a debt, and I need an armor set.”

  “Of course, but I don’t have anything in your size, so it will have to be tailor made. Accounting for current market prices and a full set of…”

  “I don’t need the helmet” Lucius interrupted the man’s calculations.

  “As you wish, without the helmet it should come around to—ah yes. Good news and bad news, Lionel’s credit comes out to about 25 silver, but given the current market rate steel is out of the question, is leather ok?” he paused.

  Lucius had been hoping for at least a steel cuirass, but leather was not a bad alternative. It would not provide as much defense, but in turn would offer more flexibility.

  “That’s fine.” Lucius nodded.

  “Great! Then let's go get your measurements done.” Lucius followed the man into the back of the shop, removed his gear, and stepped up on the podium. Arthur took a thin measuring tape and started taking Lucius’s measurements.

  “Say, what's a fine young man like you going to do with a set of armor? Aren’t you a tad too young?” Arthur asked while scribbling something into what appeared to be a clip board.

  “I come from a family of hunters. It’s time to take up the family trade.” Lucius lied through his teeth, careful not to add too many details.

  It was not his first time lying, and he knew details would only dig him into a hole if the conversation continued.

  “You don’t say? Well if that's the case, I’ll make some adjustments to increase your range of motion. You should have no trouble wielding a bow. Would you like a shooting glove as well?” He continued.

  Lucius wasn’t sure if he had bought the lie, but it was too late to back out of it. “No thanks, I already have some at home.”

  “As you wish.” Once Arthur had finished, Lucius gathered his things and followed him back to the counter.

  “Alright, well everything seems in order. Come back in 2 days and you will be able to pick up your armor. One more thing, we also offer an optional dye application, but right now we only have black dyes. If you prefer something else, you must provide the dye yourself. Is that alright?”

  “Black is fine.” Lucius answered. As long as the color wasn’t bright, he didn’t really care, but black would match his cloak nicely and was free of charge.

  “Excellent! I’ll see you soon.” Lucius nodded in appreciation and made way for the next customer.

  When he stepped outside, the day had grown old. The sun painted the horizon orange, but he still had two more stops to go.

  There was only one apothecary in Ranok. Being a smaller city, there were not many patrons that could afford to buy potions.

  Most of their business was with the ruling Ironside house, and occasionally a wealthy wanderer would stop through town.

  It was rare to find talented mages in the northern fringes of the Kingdom, and healers even more so. Even if one could find a healer, it was unlikely to be any cheaper than a potion.

  With little competition and demand for its goods being almost inelastic, the apothecary could charge exorbitant rates to its customers, and there was little they could do about it.

  Only the ruling landlord had any real negotiating power over them, so adventurers were usually left footing the bill.

  Even so, when Lucius had arrived, the prices were worse than he could have imagined. The low grade healing potions were selling for 50 silver and the higher grades for 1 gold each.

  If he used his family’s name, he could have probably gotten a better deal, but it would defeat the purpose of hiding his identity.

  A low grade healing potion usually had the effect of up to a rank 5 spell while the effects of a high grade potion could go up to rank 7 if you were lucky.

  The quality of the potion would vary based on the quality of the ingredients and the skill of the alchemist.

  The lower grade healing potions could fix broken ligaments and repair most damage up to an intermediate level. But if the minor injuries were too numerous, or the patient sustained a severe wound, only a high grade potion would be able to save them.

  Lucius purchased 2 high grades and 3 low grade potions for a total of 3 gold and 50 silver. Not accounting for the 25 silver that he still owed to the weapon smith, it left him with 1 gold to get him by until he could settle into adventuring.

  If he didn’t indulge in luxuries, it was more than enough money to last him for a year. Luckily the potions themselves were not bulky.

  He had expected them to come in comically large flasks like was depicted in popular media back on Earth. But in reality they were more akin to vials, which fit perfectly into the potion belt his father had given him.

  The final leg of his journey brought Lucius to the slums of Ranok. The last item on his list was a mask. He had reasoned that if he had begun to make a name for himself, sooner or later someone at the guild would discover his true identity.

  While in theory acquiring a mask would be easy, there were still a number of considerations Lucius had to make. While great at concealing identities, masks were restrictive by nature.

  Especially as a swordsman, he worried that obstructions to his breathing or vision could hamper him in battle. The final consideration was cost, the reason he had made the trip all the way to the slums.

  He had split his last gold coin at the apothecary, and was looking to buy cheap with his remaining funds.

  The slums of Ranok weren’t as dreary as he expected. Lucius knew his father had spent much of his wealth helping the poorest citizens of his domain, but poverty was not an easy problem to solve.

  Despite Baron Ironside’s efforts, the slums remained unsightly. Children walked the street, covered in tattered rags. Buildings fell into disrepair, left to the mercy of mother nature. Gangs roamed the streets, accosting unfortunate wanderers.

  It was not what one might call a sight to behold. Shady vendors and quack doctors were about all who would dare sell their goods in such a place. Yet it was in such a horrid place that Lucius found what he was looking for.

  Because where crime flourished, so did disguise.