74 - Bookstore

Landon, who ran one of the few book stores in town, was a tall, thin man with large spectacles he needed to constantly readjust. Sable had more than a half-foot on him; brown eyes needed to look up to meet hers, as nearly everyone did. His clothing was finer than most of what she’d seen on the streets, both cleaner and better maintained—less wrinkles, newer, and better fitting. He was broad-shouldered despite his lankiness.

“Good morning,” Sable greeted him, having arrived to the check-out counter. “I’m looking for a map. Preferably of the continent, but Auldstone as well, or even regional ones.”

Landon took a few moments to reply, caught off guard either by her presence or her appearance: tail, horns, and unusually pale skin. Or both. Either way, Sable found herself pleased by his reaction. Awe, or at least surprise, was a fitting reaction from mortals.

“Uh—“ Landon said. “Of course. Maps.” He seemed to repeat the words by rote, still staring at Sable with wide eyes. He shook his head as if to clear it, then, with his brow furrowing, he focused. “Maps. Yes, I have some. Please follow me.”

Landon’s bookstore was hardly some towering Library of Alexandria, but that said, it held more shelves stacked with tomes than she would have expected from a small town. She’d already known this world had some equivalent of a printing press from the books scattered around Roman’s home, but it seemed the printed word was even more available than she had surmised—even to commoners. Could the average person here read? She assumed so based on the abundance of books, but maybe not. She knew startlingly little about the world, despite all her efforts to rectify that issue.

Landon pulled out various scrolls and allowed Sable to peruse them. She got her first good look at a continent map of professional quality. It was impressively similar to Roman’s quick sketches—the necromancer had done a good job, conjuring it from her memory. The focus was naturally on the human lands in the center of the continent. Both the northern regions and the southern lacked fine details, and were labeled simply ‘orcish territory’ and ‘The Reaper’s Wasteland’. The former had a few details, such as attempts at subdivisions, and a labeling of the capital city, but not much besides that.

“I take it this is unreliable for orcish lands?” Sable asked. “Even what little there is?”

“Just so,” Landon replied. “Unfortunately, a map of that sort would be much harder to get your hands on. Especially of recent make. Orcish borders are shifting even more than our own, and the only reliable maps are those taken from conflicts near the northern border. Defeated generals and such—which is something Auldstone has little access to. You’re in need of one?”

“No. Just curious.” Sable rolled the map up. “I’ll take this. And one of Auldstone, please?”

For the next few minutes, she perused the maps that Landon passed over to her. They weren’t uniform as might be found on Earth—each varied in the details, and some even by fair margins, with certain Kingdoms and provinces larger, and some smaller. Landon also had maps from various decades, and indeed, borders and names shifted constantly. She accepted the two most recent Landon had in stock so she could compare them for accuracy. In the end, she didn’t need a perfect map. Just something to study and to guide her to Wastehaven, which sat much further to the south than Sunstone, down near the border of The Reaper’s Wasteland.

Following that, Sable requested to be left alone to take a look through his regular wares. It wasn’t everyday she found herself in a new world that had its own collection of written works, and though she hadn’t intended to get distracted, she quickly found herself becoming so.

For nearly an hour, she looked around the bookstore. She ended up making several practical purchase, and some that weren’t so practical. In the first category, she picked up The Creature Catalog: The Definitive Encyclopedia to Beasts and Monsters as well as A Guide to Adventuring for the Uninitiated. Roman had closed many gaps in her knowledge during Sable’s conversations with her, but having texts to study at her own leisure would do wonders for solidifying her place as a native of this world.

The last of the practical purchases was The Kingdom of Auldstone: Structure and Society. Learning how a kingdom’s society worked from a textbook was certainly a half-solution, but would, like the other books, be useful to have on hand. She didn’t know whether she had the time to be studying a rather hefty textbook, especially one that seemed geared toward a scholar of this world, not some layperson—of which Sable might not even qualify as, being a foreigner not just to Auldstone but the entire world—but again, it was better to have than not. She certainly had the money for it.

Her less practical purchases were less bulky than the encyclopedias and textbooks. Being presented with an array of novels written by locals to a world she’d been magically transported to, she couldn’t push away the curiosity, and absolutely needed to buy several to take a look at later—but she reluctantly settled with only three. Six books total, along with several maps, was already pushing her carrying space.

Landon seemed interested, and a bit perplexed, at her purchases. Sable would admit it was a strange collection. His brow furrowed at two in particular: the adventuring primer and the monster encyclopedia.

“I believe this guide is intended for beginners, miss,” Landon said, turning A Guide to Adventuring for the Uninitiated to face him. “I was under the impression you were an adventurer of some experience.”

“I am,” Sable said, not bothering to pretend otherwise—thought the claim was both a lie and not. If by experience he meant strength and levels, then she was certainly the strongest entity to have passed through this town in some time. But by years spent in the profession? Obviously not.

She didn’t expand on her response, despite Landon’s silent prompting, but he hardly seemed offended. He shrugged, then stacked the books up on top of one another. “The capital would have more reliable guides. The Adventurer’s Guild has their own library, there. Just so you know.”

“Thank you.”

“We’ll call it six silver even, miss.”

That was twice the guild’s registration fee, which Liana had already called expensive. But Sable didn’t get the impression that Landon was a man who would try to swindle her, and six silver was nothing compared to what she’d brought along—much less her total worth—so she simply paid without complaint or haggling. Books and maps were just expensive, she surmised. For a semi-medieval world, that made sense.

She felt oddly reluctant to hand over the coins, hesitating slightly before dropping them in Landon’s outstretched hand. In a way, she was passing over physical representations of her strength. Her hoard determined her stats, and each bit of worth traded for items detracted from her progress toward her next upgrade. She knew that was illogical for such a tiny purchase, but the thought entered her mind nonetheless. She wondered whether she’d be even more reluctant for larger exchanges, which would certainly be coming at Wastehaven.

Before the transaction could quite complete, a bell jingled at the entrance of Landon’s shop, announcing a new customer. Sable glanced over, as did Landon.

Standing there, red-faced and sweaty, as if she’d run some distance to Landon’s store, was a stout woman with brown hair tied up in a bun. Her eyes locked to Sable with the intensity of a predator—though there was no hostility in the look, but rather, concern.

“Miss Draper?” a confused Landon asked.

Miss Draper stalked toward Sable, and while Sable wasn’t intimidated, exactly, she had to resist the urge to take a step back.

The woman was dressed in the way any of the other town’s folk would have been. Not an adventurer, obvious as first glance. Just some commoner woman. Sable also noticed something more than concern in her eyes—which didn’t leave Sable for a moment, locked like a panther’s to her own. Panic. Even desperation.

She stopped a few feet away from Sable, hands clenched to her side.

“You’re the adventurer? I was told someone arrived to town. A newcomer, someone who looked high rank. That’s you?” Miss Draper didn’t seem to have much doubt as to whether it was; the question was rhetorical.

Sable paused, then shared a look with Landon. He seemed as confused as her. He didn’t know what this was about.

Miss Draper took Sable’s confused silence as permission to keep speaking. She took another step forward, then almost made to reach out—she had to pull her hands back into their clenched position at her sides.

“My son, Ethan. He’s part of the guild too. One our stronger. A [Ranger].” The response was scatterbrained, spoken breathlessly—and only half because it seemed the woman had run here. Sable got the impression these words would normally be given with pride, but instead, Miss Draper only sounded distressed. Based on that alone, Sable could predict what the next half would be before it came, even if not the exact details.

“He’s gone missing,” Miss Draper said, confirming her suspicion. “He should have been back two days ago. He’s very punctual, Ethan. He knows I worry if he’s gone too long, so he never gets sidetracked. That means something’s gone wrong, I’m sure of it. But the Guild won’t send anyone to look for him. We don’t have anyone to send. Not to help someone of Ethan and his group’s level.”

A part of Sable repressed exasperation at this development. She’d come to Sunstone wanting a quick, uninteresting event where she could explore the guild outpost, the market, buy a few items, then be off without incident. But less than an hour and a half into the trip, a complication had found her.

The other part of her wasn’t as heartless. She saw a distressed, panicking mother worried sick for her missing son.

“I can pay,” Miss Draper said. “Not much, but something. And the Guild would arrange a reward too, I’m certain of it. There’s not an active quest, but that’s because it hasn’t been long enough. But I know we’ll be too late if we keep waiting.”

Again, Sable shared a look with Landon. The bespectacled man adjusted his glasses, seeming concerned. He returned Sable’s gaze with a passive sort of curiosity, waiting to see how Sable would reply.

Sable fought down another a sigh. She faced Miss Draper. For a moment, she studied the distressed mother.

“I see,” she said. “The details, please. Where did he go? What was his mission? And what level was he, exactly?”