Origin ARS (Origin A.R.S. Book 2) (2 page)

“Such as?”

Rhea smiled at Scott. “Cities and towns with a merchant guild branch office. If the guild exists in a town in any meaningful manner, they control commerce in that area and can enforce contracts.”

“Does Meaden have such an office?” asked Scott.

“Yes, of course they do. Only small villages and unincorporated frontier towns will lack a merchant guild office, normally. Though, towns can refuse the guild and start their own local commercial laws. Most of the towns in this part of the world work with the guild since they also offer extra commercial protection.”

Learning that bit of information brought Scott back to his original thought. Why not just hire people to carry your goods? Carts and wagons were just targets for thieves. If Meaden did not have a Merchant Guild office, he could understand it. However, since they could enforce contracts here, it made no sense to the man. He mentioned that to Rhea and she chuckled at him.

“Well, you might want to take a look at what they are hauling.” The elf maiden gestured to the closest wagon.

Scott looked it over then checked another. “Produce and Hay? Farm supplies and things like that... Oh, I see now.”

“Yep, a lot of these people are probably local farmers. Why hire someone who might run off with your merchandise, when you live close enough to town just to haul it here yourself.”

“That makes sense.” said Scott. He could carry over a few thousand items in his inventory, but they had to be extremely similar if not identical. A farmer might have to walk back and forth several times with items in their inventory if they were not nearly identical.

The wagons made sense, now. If he ran a business where he had high value items, like armor or accessories, to sell he would use his inventory. The value in produce was found in how much of it that you had to sell. Individually, a potato is not worth the cost in time or labor to walk a few dozen of them to town in your inventory.

While they waited, another wagon moved into line behind them. Scott turned to see that it was driven by a middle-age man. Next to the driver sat an attractive woman with a baby on her lap.

“Mornin’.” said Scott.

The farmer looked down at him then nodded his head. “Mornin’. Been waitin’ long?”

Scott shook his head. “Nah, we just got here not too long ago.”

The older man nodded again then settled back to wait. Time passed, and a wagon moved forward into town. Once that wagon managed to make it inside; the other wagons moved through at a steady pace. Three more wagons appeared behind them while they waited, but no one acted like the wait was unusual.

Scott heard discussion behind them. After the discussion grew heated he turned to see that the farmer was trying to silence his wife in a gentle, but firm manner.

The man gave up when he saw Scott looking at them, and he apologized. “I’m sorry. My wife was just excited. She wants me to ask you if your companion is an elf.”

Rhea winced then sighed. She had not kept up her former disguise after partying together with Scott. It was obvious that she was not human, but that did not matter to her. There was only one opinion besides her own that she cared for at the moment. That opinion belonged to Scott.

Scott turned to look at Rhea and she nodded at him in a casual manner. He looked back at the farmer and smiled. “Yes, sir. She is an elf. Though, she does not like to make a big deal out of such things.”

“Oh, I’m sure my wife meant no harm by it.” said the farmer.

“I didn’t! She’s just so pretty... Like some sort of fairytale princess.” said the woman excitedly.

Rhea’s face darkened slightly then took on a reddish tone. She spoke softly, “Thank you.”

They moved forward in line. Only one wagon was ahead of them now.

The farmer and his wife argued back and forth for a moment. Eventually, the farmer sighed in exacerbation and asked. “Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you two. My wife wanted to know if you’d like to come to our house for dinner tonight?”

Scott blinked then quirked his eyebrow. They did not even know them, but wanted them to come over for dinner?

Rhea tilted her head to the side and smiled. “That would be fine with me...”

The sorcerer glanced at her then rolled his eyes. Of course it would! She was supposed to pay for meals and lodging while they were in town. He composed himself then turned to the farmer. “My companion and I would be delighted to join you and your lady wife for dinner.”

“Lady wife? My wife?” The farmer‘s face took on a strange and confused expression.

His wife slapped him on the shoulder in response. “If I wasn’t such a refined lady, I’d whip you good Jacob Rasnell!”

“Yes, Honey.” replied the long suffering husband.

Rhea placed a fist to her lips and giggled into her knuckles. Scott shook his head.

Scott looked at her flatly then asked her in a playful manner, “Remind you of anyone?”

“Whatever do you mean? I am a sweet and delicate flower.” replied Rhea.

Scott looked as though he might say something to the contrary. Rhea placed her hand atop her sword pommel then quirked one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. “Right?”

He tossed her a wry smile then looked her squarely in the eye before speaking in a flat monotone voice. “Oh Rhea, you are the most delicate and beautiful flower in the garden of life. The sun obviously rises in the morning only to see your smiling face.”

She made a little gasping noise then slapped him on the shoulder before turning away. He had been joking, and she knew it, but to hear him say such a thing was quite embarrassing. Her face heated up greatly and turned bright red.

Scott stared at the strange special effect. Her face had literally turned bright red! How was that possible?

“Aww, Jacob... Look at them. Isn’t that sweet?”

“Yes, Honey.” said the farmer. He did not say anything further and his wife looked at him with annoyance.

The wagon in front of them moved into town and it was there turn to speak to the guard. They answered a few brief questions about their purpose for visiting Meaden then were allowed inside. They waited for the farmer and his wife.

<<< You have entered the town of
Meaden
. >>>

The music of the road changed to a quirky tune with a rural theme. Scott nodded in time to the tune while he took in the sight of the second town that he had entered since coming to this world. It was a tidy looking little place. The people seemed happy, and there were children playing near a large water fountain up ahead.

After the older couple entered town, Scott and Rhea discussed when they should visit their house. The location of their farm was added to the dynamic duo’s map-screen and the quarter parted ways.

“What do you think?” asked Rhea.

“It seems nice. Though, I haven’t checked any prices yet so my opinion might change.” said Scott. He grinned at Rhea and she shook her head.

“I’m paying this time, remember?” She poked him in the shoulder then shook her delicate finger at him.

“That’s true. You tell me if your opinion of the place changes then, and I will take that into advisement.”

The blue haired elf sighed at the blue haired human. “I will.”

“Excellent, I win.” said Scott.

She rolled her eyes then pointed toward a sign that had a large pig on the front. “That’s the Tenderloin Tavern. It has the best food and rooms to rent in town. Of course, it is also the only place with rooms that also includes meals.”

Scott’s stomach grumbled suddenly as it realized what she had just said. “Please pardon my angry stomach; it knows not what it does.”

Rhea looked at him then slowly shook her head. “I’m not sure if feeding you is a good idea. You become a bit feisty after you have been fed.”

“Hey, don’t steal my lines.” said Scott. He had said the same thing to her the first time he had cooked dinner during their trip into town. He considered himself to be only a reasonably efficient cook. She had taken her plate of food and acted like it was the most precious thing that anyone had ever given to her. The silly girl had looked almost heartbroken that she had to eat it!

Rhea giggled at him then smiled shyly. She looked down at her hands and fidgeted a little.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“Uhm, our lodgings...” she replied.

“What about them?” Was she short of funds? He did not mind sleeping in the woods again if they needed to do so.

The elf girl took a deep breath then said, “We should share a room for the sake of keeping expenses low.”

“Sure.” He saw no problem with that. They frequently slept next to each other on the road. Well, actually Rhea always put her bedroll down next to whatever spot Scott had chosen for his own bedroll. They then took turns keeping watch.

Rhea nodded then spoke to him in a tone of voice that was strangely calm. “Good, let us share a room then Scott.”

A sudden flurry of motion nearby caught Scott’s attention. A little girl had pounced on a little boy and they were wrestling near the water fountain.

Rhea leaned back smiled triumphantly then and punched at the air above her in a double-fisted fist-pumping motion. She was on the verge of shouting with joy, but she managed to restrain herself. By the time Scott had turned back to Rhea she had regained her composure and nothing seemed out of place.

“Hmm?” asked Scott. Nothing seemed out of place to the man, but he had a sudden suspicion that he had missed something interesting.

“Hmm?” asked Rhea. She smiled brightly and gazed upon him with wide and innocent eyes.

He stared at her curiously for a moment, and then asked, “Nothing I guess. I just thought that you had asked me something.”

She shook her head back and forth. Her hair swayed captivatingly in the light, and it caught Scott’s attention like a shiny fishing lure catches the attention of a fish. “No, I already had an important question answered.”

“OK...”

Rhea took a deep breath then turned toward the Tenderloin Tavern. She strode forward purposefully with her chin up and her chest out.

Scott quirked his left eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. Had he missed something? He had definitely missed something! The sorcerer snorted then ran to catch up with the rapidly moving girl. She was suddenly in quite the hurry.

The Tenderloin Tavern was a brightly lit and cheery sort of place. Rhea purchased a single room with meals for two. They ate their lunch happily while discussing their plans. They would set out for the mine in the morning. Today would be a rest day. They also had that dinner date, as Rhea decided to call it, with the farmer and his wife later.

“This ham and cheese sandwich is good.” said Scott. He did wonder where they got the ham, though. He had not seen anyone raising pigs on the way to town.

“Yes, isn’t it? Thunder boars are a good source of meat for people in this zone.”

“Thunder boar?”

Rhea nodded at him. “Yes, you can often find low-level ones in the forest and fields south of here.”

“I see.” That would be useful information once he acquired those survival skills that he lacked currently. It was his hope that he would be able to increase his level to the point that losing eighty thousand experience points to learn a skill-set would be worth the loss.

They finished dinner then headed toward their room. Once inside Rhea immediately started to fuss with the bed excitedly. She giggled and made weird little happy noises that unnerved Scott. She bounced around the room happily, her hair flying around due to her sudden movements.

The poor girl’s jaw dropped when she saw that Scott had moved to the far corner again and had laid out his bed roll. “You’re sleeping in the corner?”

“Well, yes. I can’t very well take the bed and have you sleep in the corner.” replied Scott.

Her expression changed from surprise to annoyance. “No way! You’ll sleep in this bed like a normal person!”

“Where will you sleep?” asked Scott with faux-innocence. He knew exactly where the girl planned to sleep.

Rhea pouted at him. “You don’t want to sleep next to me? What about the sacred bond of comrades?”

“That’s the first time that I ever heard of It.” said Scott.

“Right, well... The ... The sacred bond of comrades dictates that you must sleep in the same bed for the purposes of becoming better comrades!”

Scott smirked. “You didn’t just make that up did you?”

“No! If we had more comrades we would all have to sleep in the same bed together.” replied Rhea.

“I’m sure you’re making that up.” said Scott.

She pouted at him again. Rhea began to sniffle a little. Tears began to well up at the corners of her wide and innocent eyes. “Don’t you want to sleep next to me?”

“No, not that face!” Scott pulled away from her in absolute horror. She was unleashing a devastating expression. She had unleashed it only once before, when he told her that he would not cook a second helping of dinner for her the other day.

She pouted a little, and her lower lip began to quiver. “Please Scott... Please sleep next to me in the big comfy bed.”