After weeks in the wild, cold and thin,

I stumbled my way to an inn.

With a fire so bright,

And a feast set just right,

I drowned in the comfort within.

Goldie Honorhide.

The farmer let us put the sled on the half-empty wagon, and we headed to Ocova with him. He was going to purchase some farming thing I had never heard of, and we paid a few coins to ease his way. He had a large wagon that was pulled by two bullocks. It was slow.

Yoboc spent the time pumping him for information on the town and area. Ocova housed about two thousand people but served a large rural community. It was exclusively dwarves, humans and orcs. The mayor was a human. It was not big enough to have a Mercenary Guild office. You have to go to travel to Becov for that. The local Duchess had a small garrison of guards stationed there to keep the peace and deal with rogue monsters. Duchess Zofka Bevc was a dwarf living in Becov, which was another week away as the slow wagons rolled.

He had never seen a Shark Mer and was full of questions. Makara would get a lot of this, and I could tell she was sick of it even before we hit town. Goldie was smirking the whole way.

Ocova had proper walls, with stone in the lower half and wood above. Guards patrolled them. We rolled up to the main gate, and the farmer left us to deal with the guards. Makara was already drawing a crowd. I stood out as well.

Yoboc and Godie used their Mercenary Guild ID and something else to prove who they were and were citizens of the Kingdom. Makara identified herself with her Mercenary ID, but she was not a kingdom citizen. The guards were a bit flustered. I don't think this had come up for years in this quiet rural place.

Then they came to me, and I had no ID at all. One of them ran off to get the local magistrate. Apparently, the magistrate is the Duchess's representative and authorises a bit of paper to say who we were. I still wasn't clear why this was necessary, but it had something to do with the last war with the Empire.

The magistrate was a skinny Human. "Call me Magistrate June," she said. She looked around at the growing crowd of gawkers. "Let's move this to my office," she said, "Sergeant, if you could provide an escort."

We moved into the town. Most of the buildings were single-story wooden structures. There was the occasional stone building, one of which we were heading towards. We got there and had to leave the sled outside under the protection of the guards. The magistrate led us into an office and called for her scribe to record proceedings.

"Please state what you have come to Ocova and what your intentions are in the kingdom."

We kept things simple. We were lost, which we were. We were heading to Jern on a Mercenary Guild Contract, etc. Makara got a grilling, but it didn't faze her. I got the impression this was not the first time. Mer are generally not trusted, even way out here. Her teeth were unsettling, and she liked to smile a lot. Those two facts are related.

I grew up in the wilds, and Yoboc and Goldie found me soon after I was orphaned. I owe them a lot for looking after me and training me. As Yoboc said, stick to the truth, even if it is not the whole truth. People like the Magistrate will be in that position because they have some sort of skill to detect lies or bad intentions. In the rural areas, it is probably a minor or low-level skill.

She did ask direct questions about whether we intended to cause harm to the Kingdom or the town.

In the end, Yoboc and Goldie had to sign papers that they would be responsible for our bad behaviour. I was registered under the name Ivan Medved, which was a generic last name I had chosen. Two names were a human custom and would reinforce the idea that I was human. Makara only had one name.

When we were released, the magistrate said, "If you are heading to Jern, you will be going through Becov. I will send a copy of this interview there, and the Duchess' office will expect you. You can get proper ID's there."

"Thank you, Magistrate," Yoboc said.

"The regular caravan for Becov is due in tomorrow," she said. "There will be a market the next day, and then it will leave the following day. You can get transport for you and your gear with that. It is a safe way to travel and not too expensive."

"We will investigate it. Thank you," Yoboc said.

"Peter at the general store is the agent if you want to book passage. Enjoy your stay."

"Good day."

We moved off towards the town's only inn. When we were away, I asked, "She never asked me what species I was. How come?"

Goldie piped up with, "Probably because she is not allowed to discriminate."

"She was fine asking me all sorts of invasive questions," Makara said.

"Well, of course," Goldie said, "You are a Mer."

"Bloody discrimination," Makara muttered.

"We have been sent to the Duchess' office in Becov, and there will be a higher-level truth sensing person there," Yoboc explained. "She essentially passed it up the chain."

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"Are we going to Becov?" Goldie asked, "Or are we going to bypass it?"

"If we bypass it, a description and warning will be circulated," Yoboc said. "It happens slowly, but we don't want our names circulated yet. If we get an ID there for Makara and Ivan, then it will stay local. We are best to comply."

"Riding with a merchant sounds positively luxurious then," Goldie said.

"And there will be regular Caravans between Becov and Jern," Yoboc said.

I guess that was decided then.

"Welcome to The Horse's Cart. How can I help you?" The innkeeper was a rather rotund dwarf.

"Four rooms, baths and meals," Yoboc said. "We will be booking passage to Becov with the caravan."

"Do you want above or below-ground rooms?"

"Goldie and I will be underground, thanks," Yoboc said. "What about you two?"

I didn't realise there would be underground rooms, but it made sense. Dwarves, Gnomes, and a good number of Orcs prefer the underground. That made me reevaluate the single-story buildings, which were probably two stories with an underground level.

"Above ground, please." I liked looking at the sky and the open spaces. Makara joined me.

I looked around while Yoboc negotiated with the innkeeper. There was a cosy fireplace with lounge chairs in front of it. The fire was not lit, as it was late spring now. There were eating tables, and through a door, I saw a bar and more tables. To the left of the reception was a set of stairs that went up and down.

The Inn was stone on the ground floor, but wood upstairs.

I stopped my inspection as the talking had stopped. Everybody was looking at me. "Sorry, I missed that."

"Bert, here is afraid he won't have a bed that would fit you. Makara has taken his double bed to sleep on an angle, and the others are only single beds. He is also worried about your weight damaging the bed," Yoboc explained.

"Oh," I said, looking down at the dwarves. "Just remove the bed, and a mattress on the floor will be fine," I said, as I liked sleeping in my bear form anyway. Then I had another thought: "There is no problem with Felix in the room, is there?"

"As long as he does not annoy the other guests," the innkeeper, Bert, said. "Just a heads up. Some people around here are stuck in their ways regarding some species," he nodded at Makara, "especially when they have had a few drinks. I will remind everybody that there will be no fighting inside. The Guards visit frequently."

Makara grinned at him, which made him flinch slightly. "We will defend ourselves if needed," she said sweetly with a wider smile.

We got our rooms. Yoboc took the safe as the underground rooms were more secure, and he could more easily set a trap on the door. My room was not ready, so I went to the public bathhouse next door.

Apparently, Dwarves and Orcs have no problem with shared bathing, but some humans were sensitive. The bathhouse didn't want Felix in the main bath anyway, so I paid extra for a private bath. I washed Felix, and he then promptly lay down in the warmth and went to sleep. I relaxed in the warm, scented bath.

When I got out, I still felt strange without decent-length fur. I will have to try to use Transform to make some fur longer than others. Maybe I could make a beard.

On my way out, I passed Yoboc and Godie heading in.

"Ivan, we will meet for dinner at 6. What are your plans now?" Yoboc asked.

"I was goin' to look around town," I replied.

"That won't take long," Goldie muttered.

"Have a look at some clothes and armour, but don't buy anything. The caravan will probably have some different choices, and, to be quite frank, you have no concept of bargaining."

Right. I had forgotten that was a thing. I will need to learn. I nodded to him, "OK."

Goldie was right. It didn't take long to look around town. My Void Sensing told me that I was right and that almost every house had a basement, and some bigger houses had more than one level below ground.

I looked at the shops. There was one Tailor, one Blacksmith, and a General store. That was it. Oh, there was a stable with horse gear for sale at the edge of town. There is probably a proper name for that that I should learn. There is a carpenter next to the stables. And a cooper next to that. There also seemed to be a Tanner down there, going by the smell.

Outside the wall, on the opposite side to where we entered, was a larger area of pens and open space. I asked what it was for and was told, "Stock Auctions." At my blank look, he reiterated in a tone that made it clear he thought I was a bit simple, "for buying and selling stock on auction day."

I wandered around a bit, but there was not a lot to see. I did notice that the guard barracks had three levels underground, and one seemed to be a bunch of closed rooms with steel doors. Holding cells, I suppose. The Barracks was across the road from the Magistrate's Office, and my Void Sensing picked up a tunnel that joined the two.

Before going back to the Inn, I decided to do a circuit of the inside of the walls just to get a feel for the size of the town. There seemed to be only two gates. The town was not that big in terms of space. I guess walls were expensive, and once they were built, you packed into the space. There were a lot of small alleys between buildings, and a lot of buildings seemed to have shared walls. A road inside the wall ran the circuit around the town, and no one was allowed to build against the town wall.

I was about halfway between the gates when my Void Sensing located a tunnel that was deeper than the ones I had previously located. My Cosmic Aura currently has a 26m radius, and this tunnel was about 20m deep. The occasional house had a tunnel to an adjoining structure, but they were usually only 3-4m deep. Not only was this tunnel deeper, but it seemed to connect a house and then travel out beyond the wall.

I looked at the house that it joined. It was a normal-looking single-story stone house, maybe a little more run-down than others. The house door suddenly opened, and a large, scarred orc stepped out. He had dual knives, and he stood there staring at me like it was a challenge or a threat.

I almost let my bear out and growled a warning at him. Almost. I was out of my home environment and not the top predator. I was probably not the top predator. This was a backwater town. Felix let out a growl.

My Identify was telling me this guy was dangerous, but not necessarily something I couldn't handle if I had to. He was a huge orc, so he was only 20 centimeters shorter than I was. He was well muscled, and so was about three-quarters my mass.

I decided to move on, so I looked him up and down to show I was unafraid. I then gave him a nod, turned my back, and walked away. According to Makara, my eye patch makes me stand out and look more sinister.

My Hearing Aid picked up his growl. My turning my back upset him, and it proved I did not think he was a threat to me. He didn't know I was watching him with Void Sensing.

He took a step to follow me, and a voice from the house stopped him. He stepped back and stared at me till I lost sight of him around a corner. I had been extending my Void Sensing to keep him in view.

I went back to the Inn.

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