Testing My Luck in the New World

Though neither of us had been there before, it was easy to tell when we'd found the northern district of Amoranth. And it wasn't because there was a large, secondary wall complete with gate and guards protecting it from the rest of the city.

Each and every one of the buildings were several times larger than any others in the city. Where the merchant's district was packed with dozens and dozens of small shops and houses all closely knit together, here each building stood alone. Each large enough to call them mansions and each gaudier than the last. A few were so opulent and over the top that they could have easily been mistaken for some sort of historical government building. But the number of servants they had tending the grounds as we passed suggested I might need to step up that estimation and call them palaces.

A wealth gap was something I expected to see in a great trading city like this, but the disparity between what I knew and what I saw now was insane.

There were fewer people out and about here as well. Most of those that deigned to travel under the sun rode in horse-drawn carriages, usually with a professional driver behind the reigns to carefully steer the horses. Those being ferried around all looked about as stuck-up and self-important as anyone would assume they'd be. Fancy clothes. Faces caked with makeup. And of course, a haughty disregard for us peasants. We had to step aside to let them pass several times, only to have them scoff at or berate us for slowing them anyways.

It was thanks in part to them ignoring us that we had trouble asking for directions. Aside from them, everyone we asked made a pointed effort to either deny knowing where this Bellenfort woman sold her maps, or they warned us to stay away from her. A few even started to sweat a little under the miniscule pressure of our questioning like we had a gun aimed that their head.

When one of the knights patrolling the area fled after stuttering out that he didn't know her or where she lived, both statements of which Yua's ears were fairly certain were barely veiled with lies, a man called out to us.

"Hey! You're looking for Miss Bellenfort, right?"

He was a salt-and-pepper-haired man, who just so happened to be a level 48 Merchant and was dressed in some clothes so fine that Gideon over in the Threaded Spool might have flush with jealousy. Yet, he greeted us as though we were equals.

To our great benefit, when those around us grimaced at the mention of that name, his face instead brightened into a knowing grin.

"I heard you earlier," he said, lifting his hat to reveal a pair of rounded ears not unlike a squirrel's. "You're looking for the Cartographer, right?"

"Yes. Can you tell us where we can find her?"

"Heh. Another challenger, then. A young man like yourself. I see..."

He laughed and cupped his thickly bearded chin between his thumb and index finger to look me up and down. He prodded my biceps and chest with an inquisitive glint to his eye, like a master blacksmith testing the edge of a newly forged blade.

Getting the same weird vibe I got from Amoranth's flamboyant armorer when he tried to get me to put on his armor in the middle of his shop, I almost stepped back. He then shot an appraising look to Yua.

"Heh. Greedy, aren't you. You don't look half bad, but... I can't remember the last time someone without a title or heavy purse came knocking at her door. Hells, I tried myself and I practically got thrown out onto the street."

Confused, I looked to Yua to see if she clear up what he meant, but all I got was a shrug.

"I'm sorry, but what do you mean by challenge?"