Chapter 179: The City of Loctris (1/2)

The streets of Loctris were a maze and with rudimentary map in hand I set out to explore. The campus where the Reds were located was in one of the upper class regions. It was filled with moderately wealthy homes, food, entertainment, and other types of businesses. Most of the adepts were from noble houses so this made sense the campus was here.

It morphed into the merchants district with no clear line. Suddenly there were trade halls and open markets which acted like the centre of the city like a spoke wheel. I walked and explored without stopping; it didn't take me long before I realised Grimjack, the pathetic bully who I decked an hour earlier, and his friend were trailing me. Maybe they thought to discover some dirty secret or wanted to kill me in a dark corner.

They were welcome to try.

A market stall caught my eye. A man with a face made of leather was selling hundreds of different knives. He peered at me as I ran my eyes over the range. I picked up a throwing knife, it shaped like a fish and was heavy but slender. I tossed it in the air and caught it. It's balance was good, much better than the general knives I had.

”What's it made out of?”

”Steel,” he said the word like I was an idiot for not knowing.

I dropped all my silver on the table and my old knives. ”I want seven.”

He shook his head. ”Three.”

”Six.”

”Don't be an idiot those knives are worth nothing and these are at least three silvers each. Four at best.”

I sighed and picked up my coins and knives. ”Maybe I'll come back another day.”

”Wait,” he said. ”I can do five, but you're robbing me.”

I grinned. ”Deal.” I slid the knives between my harness segments like it was made for them. They were all in easy reach on the harness which formed a cross on my chest. I wore the single sword on my waist and I never left home without my skinning knife.

When my grey cloak closed they were almost out of sight and I explored the next region north of the merchants quarter. It was like meeting place for all the classes. Whether they were noble, merchant, farmer or peasant.

To the south were the lower nobility, which was where the campus was located. Then to the east were trades, like smiths, leatherworkers, carpenters and pottery to name a few. To the north was where the middle class lived but it became poorer the further from the marketplace.

The furthest from the capital centre, past the merchants and the services were the poorest of all. They had their own markets which sold decaying food, cheap wares, and other peoples trash.

I skirted around and was heading back when the idiots who were  supposed to be following me were suddenly in my path. They had probably lost me and were searching when I ran into them. Literally.

”Hey fucktards,” I said.

Grimjack looked at his friend. The idiots didn't know what to do. He turned back to me and said, ”I should kill you.”

”Go on. You're welcome to try,” I said and grinned at him.