Sharp

The city was fascinating. I didn’t use my Hunter’s Step much because I just wanted to look around. There were people flying, and there were flying boats and creatures that were being ridden. Most roofs were flat and were designed as landing pads, and the public buildings and some shops had outside stairs so people could land and get to the street. Higher-ranked people just jumped, although that seemed to be frowned upon. I saw someone riding a dragon. There were various birds. A lot of the fliers had wings. Some were like various bird wings, and some were made of fire, darkness or other magical things. Some people just flew without visible wings. I wondered if they had something like the Wind Essence. I climbed to the top of a shop selling flying vehicles and looked through the different ones. Some were for only one or two people, and others could take a whole group.

“Can I help you?” The sales assistant didn’t think she could really help me from her tone, but she was doing her job.

“How do you fly these?” I asked.

“For these ones here you need the Magic Essence and the ability to use magic tools. It is the same ability that allows some people to use wands. These vehicles over here are designed to be used by anyone, and our own craftsmen designed the control rods. You won’t find such an easy system anywhere else.”

Of course, they were incredibly expensive. I spent some time just watching everything. I don’t think I really wanted to fly. I am pretty sure it is not an option for me anyway, as I don’t have the right essence. Or the coin.

Every district had a fenced-off area designated for portals. You were only allowed to use portals in these areas.

On the streets, the modes of transport were almost as interesting as the flying creatures, but I had seen most of them before. I wonder if flying is more common here because of the higher magic?

As I worked my way west, the visible wealth decreased. There were fewer flyers and more walkers like me. The buildings were less ostentatious. I moved into a more residential area. The further I moved from the city, the less living space people required. It started with mansions, then nice houses, then townhouses, and then cramming as many people into a building as possible.

Most people were gold, silver or bronze rank in the expensive part of town. Here, they were mostly normal people with a smattering of iron-rank and the occasional bronze. I felt much more comfortable here.

The quality of the shops and wares also decreased the further out from the centre I went. That was understandable. People had less coin here.

This was also a more industrial part of the town. Blacksmiths, tanners, and alchemist factories put out a lot of fumes. I guess the goods were made here and sold in shops elsewhere. There seemed to be whole buildings of people just sewing clothes or making pottery jugs and all sorts of other things. I was used to there being a tailor running his shop with his family and making clothes, but here they seemed mass-made. I guess there were a lot more people to clothe.

The temple of the Goddess of the Lost and Outcast was not a temple. It was a converted warehouse that was divided up into areas. I saw a sign that said, “Bunkrooms” with an arrow and “Restrooms” etc. This definitely catered to ordinary people because once you became Iron-rank, you didn’t need restrooms, your body used everything you ate.

The main doors were old wagon doors propped open. There was a large area with tables and chairs and a servery to the side. The door next to the servery was labelled Kitchen - Staff Only.

“Come in, come in,” said an elderly Leonid. “Everybody is welcome here. Can I get you something to eat?”

I let him guide me to the servery, and I was served a bowl of stew. The Leonid’s name was Davu. He was an average-height Leonid but very skinny. That meant he towered over me, but we were about the same size muscle bulk-wise. Davu was Bronze Rank.

“I have served the Goddess for over sixty years now. I have been here in Vitesse for the last fifteen years. Before that, I was in various places, and for a number of years, I was a wandering priest helping those who needed it as I came across them. Those were the best years. Goddess-willing, I will do that again soon.”

“You don’t like it here?” I asked.

“It is a fine city. It still has those in need, but they tend to be hidden away and shoved to the side. Outcast, if you will. It is that attitude of pretending the poor and needy don’t exist that is difficult. For such a rich city, we are left here scrounging what we can for those who are most needy. The nobles don’t want to know we exist.”

“Do you need some food? I have a storage space with some veggies leftover, and there are always more ripening.”

“All donations are gratefully received. How much is there? Shall I take it now, or should we go into the kitchen?”

“The kitchen would be best.”

“If you are finished your stew, then come and follow me.”

He led me through the Staff-Only door, where there was a bustling industrial kitchen with about five people working steadily.

“Our fresh food storage is this way,” he said, leading me through another door to an enchanted cool store. He opened the door, and it was the size of a large pantry with shelving. There was a single half-filled box with a root vegetable I did not recognise. That was it. “We use most of the food as it comes in,” Davu explained. “There is never much to store.”

I went to one of the wooden shelves and traced a large rectangle with my finger. Then, I reached in, pulled out a crate of carrots, and handed it to Davu. Then I followed it with two crates of sweet potatoes, called Kumera, where I was from. They were one of my favourites, so I was growing a reasonable amount of them. Then I found a half crate of cabbages and started handing him large pumpkins. It turned out I had five of those. Then peas, because I liked peas. A bag of onions and some garlic. I only grew the vegetables I liked. I had a small box of leeks, and some tomatoes. Then, there was a bag of ulmreti that was unique to Stillwater and the leafy tricorn which I found very tasty and was nice raw as well as cooked.

“Sorry, I don’t have many herbs,” I said to the stunned Davu. “I just sold them to the Alchemist Association. I would normally keep the ones that are good for cooking, but I figured I wouldn’t need many for a while. Do you want any fruit?”

“Sure,” Davu said, “We will take whatever you are willing to give.”

“I don’t have any trees, so it is mostly berries, and I have some pineapples. I have just a few verai, which are like apples but actually grow underground like root vegetables. I found them and liked them on my way to Vitesse, so they are only just coming to fruit.” I kept handing him bags and containers. I would have to get some more containers.

“That is a lot of food,” Davu said.

“Yeah, it has been stockpiling for a while, so I won’t normally have anywhere near this much. It is good to get it out of my storage actually.”

“You have some method of growing food?” Davu asked.

“Yeah, It is a skill, a divine skill, so I will keep the particulars to myself if you please.”

“I thought you had a divine feel. The Goddess of Fertility, I assume. They are our largest donors.”

“You would think, wouldn’t you? No, it is actually the Goddess of Death.”

Davu nodded, “The gods work in mysterious ways,” he said.

“That they do,” I said. “Hey, I have some time. Do you need any help around here?”

“All donations are gratefully received, including those of time and effort. What can you do?”

“I am an adequate cook, but other than that, general labour is probably about it.”

“Why don’t you come with me? I am going to repair some bunks that were smashed in a fight in the dormitories last night. Alcohol was invloved. Then, we can come back and help with the dinner prep.”

Davu retrieved a tool kit and some pieces of wood, and we went to the dormitories. Each dormitory slept eight, and each room had four bunk beds. One of the beds was smashed, and the upright post was broken. Davu hammered it straight and prepared to nail a patch over the break to hold it together.

“It doesn’t look like it will hold it for long. Why don’t you replace the post?” I asked.

“It will hold long enough,” Davu said. “Sister Freda should be around in the next six months or so. She has the wood essence, so it only needs to last that long.”

“I should be able to create a new post for that,” I said.

“Oh?” Davu said, indicating I should proceed.

I created the longest and narrowest shield I could. “We can trim that up, and it will be stronger than the original,” I said.

“It would,” Davu said, “except it is iron rank, and my saw is only normal rank and won’t cut it.”

“Pass the saw here. I can sharpen it up so it works.”

I really enjoyed working the afternoon with Davu. We helped with the dinner, and I learned some tricks for bulk cooking and being efficient with ingredients. I also helped with the dishes. I sharpened all their knives before I left and told Davu I would try to return every week or so with what fruit and vegies were ready. I would plan to spend some time there helping as well. I enjoyed it.

When I got back to the Temple, it was very late. I got lost several times, but in the end, a guard escorted me. I don’t actually think she believed me until we arrived, but I could understand that.

The next day, I spent time in my garden and helping the Temple gardener with his tasks. This Temple had two large gardens. One was open like Stillwater, but the other had hedges creating smaller alcoves for individual remembrance and meditation.

I was collecting more and more ideas for my garden. Each area had some unique plants and flowers as well. In the centre of one garden was a pond with some lovely water lilies. I wonder if I would be able to get a pond when I rank the skill up. The area grew a little with each level.