He woke up early in the morning, his mind tired from thoughts and nightmares, but his body, fortunately, not in such bad shape.
It was the same as always.
He got up from where he was lying down and tried to peek through the small holes in the top of the tower.
Although the sun was shining outside, he could feel the cold air seeping through the stone walls. After making sure that nothing interesting was happening, he went downstairs, checking his equipment. Since she didn't talk about what a great job she did, Mag probably didn't manage to access the files. His expectations were already low and it was not a priority. So it didn't matter. He was enjoying the silence without a word being spoken. But he didn't hesitate to break it for a little bit of fun, if only for a short while.
"Good morning tin can, did you get access to the files you said?"
"Oh, no, state secrets are likely to remain behind encrypted walls for some time to come. But you already know that."
"Of course I know, I just wanted to hear it from you."
Chester pulled the trap on the gate, closed the stone door neatly, made sure no one was around, and went out into the street.
"If you were capable of breaking the encryption, they wouldn't have uploaded these documents to your memory anyway."
"That's not really true, they wouldn't let that happen in an environment where you're under 24/7 surveillance. While it might seem like a better option to not have it uploaded at all, it would be much easier and faster for them to give you the access key than to send you these huge files when you need access to ."
Chester nodded after some thought.
"That's a good point. Fortunately and unfortunately we are not under observation at the moment."
"Exactly, that's why-"
Chester shushed Mag.
"No, no. I can predict your answer and that's why I'm going to stop you now . And the answer is no, I don't want to get any closer to these freaks than necessary so that you can record everything you see when you're not under observation. And since I won yesterday's bet, your little metal ja-"
"Actually it is a voice synthes-"
Chester silenced him once more and continued.
"No talking unless I'm about to being grinded by a creature or need your help."
Mag was a little surprised.
"All right, champ, enjoy this day then."
She did not expect such a reaction from Chester.
Walking down the streets, he had stopped gripping the hilt tightly with his hand every time someone approached.
Although he didn't know much about the outside of the city, it was certainly safer inside. If he continued to perceive everything as dangerous, he might run out of energy and sanity. He had to remove some things from the 'dangerous' list. He sighed deeply and pretended he was walking in an 'ordinary' city. He was heading towards the guild.
The streets were bustling for the early hours of the day, there was no one in armor except the guards, and as usual he stood out with his strange clothing and a big eye on his shoulder. After a short walk he found himself back in front of the guild gate. He went inside and looked around, it was cooler and calmer than the outside.
Right now he had a mission and a planet to return to, but if he set out with no money and no guide, he could get extend the journey or lost. Instead he wanted to do something much simpler.
A protection mission heading in the direction he wanted would save him money and he wouldn't have to navigate unfamiliar terrain. This way he would lose some time, but if he did not take the right steps, his death would be inevitable.
No need to be fast and take risks, he thought. At least for now.
He headed towards the bulletin boards to his immediate left and took a look at the nearest papers.
He understood almost nothing. He naturally needed writing samples to read instead of analyzing the sound, but the longest writing he read was nothing more than the name of a shop sign. At least with some keywords he could more or less understand what contracts were. After looking at the bulletin board for a while longer, he gathered his thoughts. Most of the contracts were all about protection within the city and the constant shipment of needed items to nearby villages. It was for the immediate region.
Suddenly something occurred to him.
In a society reminiscent of the Middle Ages, it would have been foolish to expect everyone to be able to write and read. The boards were probably meant for busybodies who could read. And for those who could not read...
Stamps.
The upper corners of the papers were stamped with seals of various colors and symbols.
Fortunately, the stamps were not too complicated and were understandable even to him.
Stamps included a castle, a meadow, a chest, a sword, a shield, a wooden wheel, a stone oven, a shovel, a kind of flower, a dagger, the green pennant of the guild, a lizard-like creature, and the stamps of various regions
He guessed that the stamps he should look for were a wooden wheel and the stamp of his destination. Maybe a chest too.
The map in the guild already had the crests of certain regions. The coat of arms of the place he wanted to go to was something resembling a stone blue lavender, which might be an endemic plant.
He could feel the stares of the people around him as he tore the papers he could barely read off the clipboard. A few people had their eyes on him because of the events that had taken place, while others seemed to be unaware of it. Without paying any attention, he collected all the papers with the stamps he was looking for and walked slowly to the Guild official.
In contrast to yesterday, he was surprisingly more relaxed.
"I want to know about these contracts."
He had the papers between his claws and was talking to Chester as he examined them.
"I imagine you had a rather difficult day yesterday, Mr. Chester."
"What do you mean?"
"There are not many people who have been thrown into the jail by the palace guards and then released back."
He was a witness when he was taken away, but only 4 people knew he had been thrown in the dungeon. If the trio he rescued hadn't been too chatty, the news must have traveled fast. But after some thought, what he said made sense, he nodded.
"You could say that, but I don't think it's any of your business."
"True, but my job is to help busybodies and to know as much."
"Good, I'm looking for a job near Mount Razgar. It can be protection or escort."
He was sorting through the papers in his hand without looking sheepish.
"Do you have a band?"
"No."
He put some of the papers on the other corner of the table.
"Do you have a mount for transportation?"
"No."
He put some of the remaining papers on top of the ones he had separated.
"Do you know the way to Mount Razgar?"
"Unfortunately, no"
He had sorted the papers again. There were only five papers left unstacked on the table.
"Well, have you done at least twen-"
After a moment's pause, he looked up to look at Chester, then back at his papers and separated them again.
"Sorry, habits."
There were only two pieces of paper left.
"Based on your request and what we have, there are two jobs available."
"All right, read what they are."
"Some merchants are looking for skilled people to work as guards for a pre-winter shipment of supplies to the village of Razgar, the daily wage is twenty-six silver pieces, but to save time on the way they will cross the Rachmun swamp. They will be escorting a convoy of twelve wagons of Kızıltoynaks. They are looking for ten people in total and there are currently three place available. The trip is scheduled for two weeks from now and the employer does not pay for the food."
Chester wanted to know what his other option was before making a decision.
"And the other one?"
"The other one is a family guard duty, it says here that they will settle to work the fief given to them by the Kingdom of Diomarl to cultivate the land and develop the village, they have two yarpan wagons. They are only looking for one person to guard, the wage is six silver pieces a day but the employer will pay for the food. It is planned to leave as soon as possible. It also says that they are looking for men to build the house when they get there, if they wish."
He had to choose between a crowded convoy, which was probably more risky but well-paid, or a solo journey, which seemed like a piece of cake.
For Chester the answer was obvious, time was what he needed most right now. It would also save him the trouble of looking for food along the way. Even though it cost less money than the other, it was also the one that would be on the road soonest. It would be foolish to waste two weeks just waiting.
"I want to take the family one."
"Very good, ten silver pieces."
"For what?"
"The cost of the documents I am about to prepare and the cost of preventing this contract from being taken by others."
"It is a small deterrent to those who take it just so that someone else can't take it. "
Chester added.
"Some people focus more on their wallet than their reputation."
"That's right, they're not very popular with other busybodies, Mr. Vegner."
Chester had put the coins he had collected from the pool yesterday on the table, there seemed to be enough. After a quick glance at Chester, the clerk counted the money and handed back the change.
"You should get yourself a math lesson sometime, Mr. Chester, they can scam you."
He could hear some of them trying to sneak a laugh, it was obvious that he was in a funny situation, but he didn't care. But tomorrow, he would probably be mocking material for Mag. But he was right, He had to learn the numbers too. At least this eagle-looking thing seemed reasonable. Maybe he could be useful in the future, he thought.
In the meantime, he made two copies of the paper, wrote a few extra things, put a different colored stamp on each, and gave one of the copies to Chester.
"When you get there, deliver this copy with the contractor to our guild on Mount Razgar. I will send a messenger to the family that you have the job. Wait here for a while."
After whistling a strange low-frequency whistle with its beak, a green bipedal creature resembling a grasshopper ran out the door from the back room. He didn't quite understand what had happened, his hand reflexively went to his gun, but he didn't take it off the hilt.
"Is this the first time you've seen a Zarnek, Mr. Vegner?"
A green grasshopper running out of a huge room in two seconds?
"Yes, it's my first time."
"They are very fast and disciplined. They are natives of the Nuwolrah continent, which I admire, unlike other savages."
Fortunately, it meant that he would not see many of these for the time being, so that was good news.
After a small crisis, he turned to the paper in his hand, a long parchment with two different seals on it. It would have been faster to ask than to try to figure out what it was.
"Hey-"
"Oswald of Rurguart"
"Hmm?"
"My name is Oswald Mr. Vegner."
He guessed that he did not have a surname and that was quite normal. Registering each citizen one by one was quite difficult given the period.
"Oswald, can you tell me about these stamps?"
"Are you interested in magic seals? Busybodies usually find them boring. Anyway, the yellow stamp bears my blood, it's the only one I can make and it's proof that it was made by a guild member, the blue one is a duplicate stamp, we have two of them now, if we make two more of these stamps they will disappear, my colleague there will do it."
"That's how you know the mission is over from this far away."
"Thats right. If you fail, the other guildsman puts his stamp on the paper and my stamp here burns."
"It seems to be a very fraud-prone method."
"Not really, our paper is only made to react to the stamps of guild officials."
It was much better than a monthly comparison of two different ledgers used in his world. It provided an almost instantaneous and reliable flow of information.
But it was not a measure that bribery could not solve.
He had no more questions to ask at the moment, after thanking Oswald he went to examine the various weapons on the wall, wanted to gather more information rather than spend his time idly.
There was not much to learn on these walls, decorated with swords too big and heavy for a human to lift, a shattered crystal shield and the skulls of many different creatures, things he already knew.
He went to a quiet corner, sat down at a table and began to observe his surroundings.
After a while of observing the comings and goings, a darkskinned thing, half a meter taller than himself, resembling a ram with two hoofed feet, huge biceps and curved horns, emerged from the door with the messenger. From what he could see of his surroundings, his clothing was simple and cheap compared to the others. If this was his contractor, he didn't seem to need much protection.
He approached to Oswald and they began to talk. After a while Oswald pointed to Chester, and after they had said something amongst themselves, the man-mountain approached Chester.
"Are you Mr. Vegner?"
Chester continued to sit without moving.
"Yes, I'm the one who will get you back safely."
"Thank you for taking the job, Mr. Vegner. Given the times and the money, it's not often anyone takes a job like this. By the way, I'm Ragul from OkVahrl. "
He bowed his neck. His voice was gentle and tremulous for his size too, a strange combination.
"To be honest, I have to go to Mount Razgar for another job. But don't worry, I didn't accept a job I couldn't do."
"I hope so, me and my family have no potential to defend ourselves."
He wanted to clarify some things before setting off.
"How many people do I have to protect in total?"
"Six people, including me, three children, my wife and a young laborer. When we get there, he will help me build the house and work in the fields."
It was a large group for one man, but it was not his first rodeo. He had been in a similar situation before, only then he was trying to protect four hostages from bullets flying at their heads.
"Can you fight if necessary?"
"I'm ready to do what I can to defend my family, but I don't think I'll be of much use. Apart from that, the young man may be more willing, but I don't think he knows much either.
Better than nothing, he thought. It would have been enough to buy time.
"When do we leave?"
"Today. We've been waiting here for days for someone to take the job. It's still early in the morning and if we leave in a couple of hours, we can make good progress before nightfall. If you have something to do, we can wait a bit."
It would've worked for Chester. He had nothing else to do.
"If you're ready, we can leave now."