System Break

The streets of Loctris were a maze and with rudimentary map in hand I set out to explore. The campus where the Reds were located was in one of the upper class regions. It was filled with moderately wealthy homes, food, entertainment, and other types of businesses. Most of the adepts were from noble houses so this made sense the campus was here.

It morphed into the merchants district with no clear line. Suddenly there were trade halls and open markets which acted like the centre of the city like a spoke wheel. I walked and explored without stopping; it didn't take me long before I realised Grimjack, the pathetic bully who I decked an hour earlier, and his friend were trailing me. Maybe they thought to discover some dirty secret or wanted to kill me in a dark corner. 

They were welcome to try.

A market stall caught my eye. A man with a face made of leather was selling hundreds of different knives. He peered at me as I ran my eyes over the range. I picked up a throwing knife, it shaped like a fish and was heavy but slender. I tossed it in the air and caught it. It's balance was good, much better than the general knives I had.

"What's it made out of?"

"Steel," he said the word like I was an idiot for not knowing.

I dropped all my silver on the table and my old knives. "I want seven."

He shook his head. "Three."

"Six."

"Don't be an idiot those knives are worth nothing and these are at least three silvers each. Four at best."

I sighed and picked up my coins and knives. "Maybe I'll come back another day."

"Wait," he said. "I can do five, but you're robbing me."

I grinned. "Deal." I slid the knives between my harness segments like it was made for them. They were all in easy reach on the harness which formed a cross on my chest. I wore the single sword on my waist and I never left home without my skinning knife.

When my grey cloak closed they were almost out of sight and I explored the next region north of the merchants quarter. It was like meeting place for all the classes. Whether they were noble, merchant, farmer or peasant. 

To the south were the lower nobility, which was where the campus was located. Then to the east were trades, like smiths, leatherworkers, carpenters and pottery to name a few. To the north was where the middle class lived but it became poorer the further from the marketplace. 

The furthest from the capital centre, past the merchants and the services were the poorest of all. They had their own markets which sold decaying food, cheap wares, and other peoples trash. 

I skirted around and was heading back when the idiots who were  supposed to be following me were suddenly in my path. They had probably lost me and were searching when I ran into them. Literally.

"Hey fucktards," I said.

Grimjack looked at his friend. The idiots didn't know what to do. He turned back to me and said, "I should kill you."

"Go on. You're welcome to try," I said and grinned at him.

"We saw you buy those knives," his friend said.

I scratched my head. "So?"

They looked at each other again. "You're up to something."

I nodded. "Yeah. I already told you. Are you a fucking moron or what?"

Their indecision was killing me.

"Look," I said. "Do you want to fight now? I'm good to go if you are … otherwise fuck off."

They looked surprised. "There's two of us and you're …. You're Gunt."

I shrugged. "Then why are you hesitating like a couple of bitches? Is it because we're in the poor district and when I leave your dead bodies in the gutter everyone will think you ran into some thugs who stripped you bare like the pathetic children you are."

Maybe that was too much, and I'd have to kill them because they thought there was no way I was Gunt.

They shook their heads. "Look. I see you've changed," the friend said.

I put a hand on a dagger.

Grimjack glared. "Don't think we're scared of you." Then they turned and almost ran down the street. What was with these fuckers. They said the opposite of how they acted and expected me to believe them?

"That horse has bolted," I said and chuckled. On one hand I was glad I wasn't piling up more bodies, but on the other I was sure they had plenty of silver on them and I could use more supplies.

I circled around the markets to discover to the east of them was a scholarly type district. Schools, scribes, legal types, funeral parlours and even a humungous Temple. I wasn't a huge fan of churches, but I was curious what the people here worshipped. 

When I saw a monk I was more intrigued. He wore yellow robes and was clean shaven including his head. He also wore no shoes and after I saw the first, I never stopped seeing them until I left the district. I was surprised there were just as many women as men in different coloured robes. And they were all bald.

South of my district was the upper nobility. The largest and most lavish buildings with  huge parcels of prime land. In the space a hundred thousand peasants lived were a cluster of large family estates. The largest of which belonged to the duke and that was where the Chancellor would be most of the time.

It was situated on a lake and on the other side of that lake was the marshlands where I was probably headed in a few days.

I was struck by the ages of some of the buildings in the scholar and noble districts. They weren't new, they were old, and I was no expert, but they looked very different architecture to the newer sandstone buildings. They were made from granite or basalt, a much darker stone and they were almost ominous in comparison to the light coloured sandstone. They were well worn; the years of rain had slowly added dimples in the centre of a block.

There was no way rain would do that over a decade or two. Not with the hardest of stone.

I walked back towards the campus; it was time to meet up with Leonell. I had wandered for five hours and only skimmed the surface of what was in the city, but now at least, I felt I had a grasp of what it had to offer. I was disappointed that I hadn't spotted the ornithopter pad or one of the flying machines above, but it was a massive place.