The Capital's Night Market
Starting with just one mercenary customer coming and going, the floodgates seemed to open. A nonstop stream of customers poured in after that. Since the shop dealt in weapons and armor, it was only natural that ordinary citizens never showed up. Even so, the place did surprisingly brisk business serving nothing but mercenaries.
“Why is business so good here…?”
Unable to make sense of it, I turned to the man sitting behind the empty chairs and asked. Merchant or shopkeeper, they were both merchants at heart.
“Hm? Ah, that’s because…”
He launched into an explanation as if the answer were obvious. Summarizing what he said: the royal capital had more mercenaries than any other city on the continent. Yet the mines and resources around the capital were relatively scarce compared to the demand for weapons and armor. On top of that, metal equipment was consumable. Blades dulled after cutting through monster flesh, and armor dented from repeated blows. A blacksmith could only sharpen a weapon so many times before it was done for.
“…So this neighborhood is always short on supply.”
“Aha.”
I let out a satisfied sigh at his closing remark. So it was the durability issue the game had never made me think about. Of course, a weapon that could slice through thousands of monsters without losing its edge would be legendary on its own.
‘Even this part of the world is ruthlessly realistic.’
That was why the man bought finished goods instead of raw ore. With mercenaries constantly needing new weapons and armor, there was no point hauling in rocks just to have someone hammer them. He did mention that broken or discarded metal equipment was sometimes collected and reforged, but the process was troublesome, the quality suffered, and the profit was small—so most blacksmiths avoided it.
“Whew, I can finally breathe again.”
After dealing with several groups of mercenaries in a row, the old man sank into one of the empty chairs with a weary sigh. Once he had settled, the man beside him spoke up again.
“Anything new going around these days?”
“Hah, what news? Same old thing every day—eat, sleep, fight, eat, sleep, fight.”
“Still, anything unusual at all…?”
The old man snorted, unimpressed by the persistent questions. He kept his eyes on a glass bottle as he twisted off the cap.
“How would I know? Ask the mercenaries at the taverns or the guild if you want that kind of talk.”
“Tch… Then at least recommend a place to stay.”
The old man’s answer was as indifferent as his earlier snort, so the man gave up on getting any real information and simply asked for lodging. The old man seemed willing to answer that much. He took a sip from the bottle, then glanced out the shop window.
“Hmm… Ah, see that over there?”
He pointed with the same hand holding the bottle. Following his wrinkled finger, I spotted a four-story wooden building. On the first floor hung a plain sign that simply read “Inn.” An A-frame board out front added the words “Rooms Available.” It looked cold and utterly devoid of fantasy charm.
“That place is cheap and decent. Two people would run about one silver and ten coppers a night. The only downside is they don’t serve meals.”
“One silver and ten coppers…? That’s not bad. I’d better grab a room before they’re gone.”
The man shot to his feet as if the downside didn’t matter. The wooden chair scraped loudly against the floor, and I stood up right after him.
“Heading there now?”
“Yes. Can’t leave the wagon parked in front of the shop forever.”
Without so much as a farewell, the man walked out. After securing the room, we dropped off the wagon at the city gate and the horse at the nearby stable. Unlike Windren, where inns had their own parking, land in the capital was expensive. We had no choice but to make the extra trips.
By the time we finally lay down in the inn to rest, I belatedly remembered the items hidden in the capital. Since it was an early-game area, there weren’t any high-performance pieces. That didn’t mean there was nothing worth finding, but most of the good stuff required rare materials from the late game. No matter how much I twisted my body, those items were far beyond my reach right now. The quest activation material was probably the “Heart of the Ancient Dragon,” wasn’t it? I was still mulling over a quest that felt like a distant dream when—
“Haaah…”
A long, sleepy yawn drifted over from the next bed. As I’d noticed before, there wasn’t much entertainment in this world. There were a few suspicious mini-games that mixed Earth culture into the fantasy setting—poker, shell games, that sort of thing—but they were mostly used for small-stakes gambling in the red-light districts. Ordinary citizens didn’t treat them as everyday pastimes, and the bets were so tiny there was no reason to bother. When people weren’t working, they were either resting or talking. The man, who had no energy to waste on anything else, closed his eyes and fell asleep at once.
‘I should go out, but…’
My thoughts drifted even as my eyelids grew heavy. My vision narrowed, then widened, then narrowed again. The comfortable weight of the blanket settled over me. My frail thirteen-year-old body, worn down by farm work, had apparently been exhausted by half a day in the wagon.
Consciousness returned when something shook me.
“Hey, Shen. Get up.”
“Ugh…”
I squeezed one eye shut and sat up at the sound of his voice. The window was already pitch black. Why wake me in the middle of the night? Rubbing my eyes with my fingers, I dragged myself out of bed.
“Let’s go get something to eat.”
‘Food!’
The word lit up my eyes. Realizing I hadn’t eaten a proper meal in ages, hunger crashed over me all at once. After getting ready, we stepped outside the inn together. True to its reputation, the capital remained peaceful even at night. Guards patrolled every alley. The security was so high that random thug attacks felt unthinkable. That explained why there were no night ambush events in the capital. In the game it was probably to keep clueless players from getting robbed on their first night, but either way, good security was good security.
Plenty of mercenaries and solid night patrols meant the city stayed lively after dark. That theory proved correct the moment we turned down one alley.
“Whoa.”
Bright lights filled the street, brighter than I would have expected at night. The energy under the moonlight drew an involuntary gasp from me. Even though scenes like this were common at night markets back home, I had already lived in this world for thirteen years. In Shen’s memories, the spark of ordinary life at night had been an extremely rare sight.
“Come get your skewers—tender young boar back meat! Three for five coppers!”
“Tooth snake roast! Two coppers a piece!”
The mingled scents of food and the lively voices of the crowd washed over me. Seeing with my own eyes that this was normal in the capital stirred emotions I couldn’t put into words. Everything I had once dismissed as game mechanics now felt vividly real.
While I stood staring blankly at the street, a voice suddenly cut in beside me.
“What do you want to eat?”
I jumped at the unexpected sound. Only then did I remember why we had come out. Clutching my growling stomach, I fumbled for an answer.
“Uh, well…”
I had no idea what tasted good here. Back in Pardin, meals had mostly been vegetable soup with the occasional nameless chunk of meat the peddlers brought. I knew a little about vegetables and greens, but meat was a mystery.
“Ah, right… You wouldn’t know, would you?”
Esmar seemed to realize my predicament. I nodded, a little embarrassed.
“No…”
“Then just eat whatever I get. Excuse me—”
He bought six skewers from a stall. We sat on a bench lit by the vendors’ lamps and brought our first meal in the capital to our mouths.
[Young Boar Skewer]
An early-game recovery item sold in the capital, usable only outside of combat. It restored a measly thirty health—nothing more than a common consumable. The gamer inside me shouted that I should save it for after a fight, but who cared? I was starving. I lifted the skewer to my lips.
‘This is incredible…’
The glistening fat from the meat roasted over the fire mingled with the crisp vegetables in a burst of flavor. I hadn’t realized thirty health could taste this good.