5: Chapter 5 The First Pot of Gold

In the Storm Sea, east of the continent of Essos, lie hundreds of islands of various sizes that have gradually formed the Free Cities Alliance over the centuries.

The Free Cities are jointly governed by the Merchant Council and the Pirate Council, and also serve as the headquarters for the Adventurers Guild, making them a paradise for smuggling, black market trading, and illegal magical research.

Many warlocks and heretical scholars wanted by the Inquisition on the mainland have fled to the Eastern Archipelago.

Blackwater City is located on a reef island within the Eastern Archipelago; it is a port city built by the sea, situated at the mouth of a wide river.

Gray city walls stretch along the coastline, with torches stuck into the battlements, their light merging into a single expanse in the twilight.

Inside the city walls, the spires of three tall towers can be seen, one of which is particularly towering, its peak emitting a milky white glow.

That high tower is the magic tower of the City Lord, Barbatos, and is one of the core landmarks of Blackwater City.

The group soon arrived at the city gate.

Caravans with covered wagons, fishermen carrying fishing nets, adventurers with weapons on their backs, and farmers herding livestock all lined up in a loose queue.

The guards at the gate wore uniform chainmail, but the styles of their helmets and weapons varied wildly; some were standard equipment for Blackwater City, while others were clearly personal gear.

A clerk in robes also stood at the city gate, responsible for registering those entering the city.

William's caravan paid the entry tax at the gate, and the wagons filed in one by one.

The streets inside the city were even livelier than Richard had imagined.

The cobblestone paths had been worn smooth and shiny, the buildings on either side of the main street were packed densely together, and wooden signs creaked in the wind.

"Come take a look, fresh-baked bread!"

"Cheap jewelry on clearance! Pure silver jewelry!"

"Young man, do you want a divination? If you want to know your destiny, come to my crystal ball hut."

There were also fishmongers hawking their daily catch, their voices so loud it sounded less like business and more like a street brawl.

At the entrance of a tavern on the street corner, a half-orc sailor sat on the steps, clutching a wine bottle and sleeping soundly.

Several scantily clad women leaned against the wall at the alley entrance, batting their eyelashes at him. One of them, revealing a smile with half a front tooth missing, shouted, "Hey handsome, want to have some fun? I'll give you a fifty percent discount~"

Blackwater City was filled with all sorts of races: humans, dwarves, halflings, half-elves, half-orcs, and even some individuals with clearly strange bloodlines mixed among them.

The factions within the city were also dizzyingly numerous—the wealthy residential district displayed various family crests, and there were the Adventurers Guild, the Alchemists Guild, the Merchants Guild, the Blacksmiths Guild, and so on.

The dock district was the territory of several gangs, and there were also several temples to different deities erected throughout the city.

As for the City Lord, Barbatos, he usually didn't participate much in the management of Blackwater City's affairs.

He basically stayed in his magic tower year-round, maintaining a lazy attitude toward city matters: "As long as you don't cause too much trouble, I won't interfere."

The merchant William reorganized the caravan at the city gate, the injured guards were carried off to the temple district to seek healing from priests, and the wagons carrying the cargo turned into the warehouse alleyway of the merchant guild, after which he beckoned to Richard.

"Richard, I have to go inventory the cargo."

"If you're looking for work, come find me at the Copper Furnace Inn in the dock district; the owner and I are well-acquainted."

"I might not always be there, just leave a message. I need help escorting caravans every now and then." He patted Richard on the shoulder and turned away.

Richard watched William and his wagons disappear around the street corner, then took a deep breath, his nostrils filled with the salty scent of the sea breeze.

He wasn't in a hurry to find a place to stay; the gold nugget in his pocket had been jabbing him the whole way, and now he needed to get some money.

The general store was at the corner of Blacksmith Street, with an open palm painted on the sign, underneath which was written: "Honest Purchasing—We buy everything, we sell everything."

The owner was a thin, gaunt middle-aged man with a face that looked like he was good at crunching numbers.

He looked Richard up and down, and a basic judgment formed in his mind.

A young adventurer, dressed in worn-out gear, though the weapon he held was quite good—a well-crafted halberd.

Richard took the tightly wrapped gold nugget from his pocket, placed it on the counter, and opened the cloth wrapping.

The owner was still thinking to himself that this young man probably didn't have anything good.

But his gaze instantly froze on the gold nugget.

He picked up a magnifying glass, brought it under the oil lamp, and examined it over and over again, pinched it with his fingernails, and finally placed it on a small scale to weigh it.

"Natural?" The owner's voice was very calm, but it was so calm that it seemed deliberate.

Richard said unhurriedly, "The natural gold purity is over ninety percent, containing only a small amount of quartz and silver."

"Boss, I don't need to say much about this shape. It's a pure natural gold nugget. If you take it to sell as a collectible, you could sell it for at least eighty or even a hundred gold coins. Even if you melt it down at the normal gold price, fifty gold coins is the floor price."

The owner put down the magnifying glass and glanced at Richard, knowing this kid knew his stuff and wouldn't be easy to fool.

"Forty-five gold coins." He stated a number.

Richard tapped the table: "Fifty."

The owner said earnestly, "Forty-five is my final offer. This is a purchase price, not an auction price."

"If you can find a collector willing to pay a high price, that's your ability, but this is a general store, not an auction house... Honestly, if I buy it, I don't know how long it will sit in my inventory."

Richard remained silent for two seconds.

Forty-five gold coins, plus the two gold coins William gave him, brought his total assets to forty-seven gold coins.

This was already a considerable sum in this world—an ordinary laborer might not even be able to save a few gold coins after working for a year.

Richard felt the price was fair enough; after all, the general store was a middleman, and suppressing the price was normal. He nodded and said, "Alright, deal."

The owner nodded, turned around, and counted out forty-five gold coins from the safe behind the counter, stacking them one by one on the counter.

The gold coins were engraved with the emblem of Blackwater City—an imposing dragon turtle—with the minting year inscribed below.

After confirming the count was correct, Richard swept the gold coins into a leather pouch, tucked it into his pocket, and walked out of the general store.

Before he left, the owner shouted to Richard, "If you have any more gold nuggets like this in the future, I will still give you a satisfactory price."

Richard waved his hand; his next goal was to get a new set of equipment.

As an adventurer, the first major expenditure of initial funds is always equipment.

He had his main weapon; what he lacked was armor.

The sign for the dwarf equipment shop on Salted Fish Street was an iron shield with crossed hammers embedded on it; although it was already night, the shop was still lit.

The walls of the shop were covered with various weapons and armor, from cheap leather armor to shiny chainmail, from ordinary longswords to giant axes engraved with runes.

The shopkeeper was a dwarf, standing only as tall as Richard's chest, but his two arms were thicker than an average person's thighs, clearly the result of constantly swinging a hammer.