Chapter 17: Almost There
I miss padded seating. A few hours on this wagon had made my butt extremely sore. Oddly enough the other 3 people in the wagon seemed fine, maybe they are used to it. Luckily it was easier than I thought to hitch a ride. It seemed to be a normal service at the rest stop, sort of like a bus service except it was individually owned and operated.
After asking a random passerby I found that this driver would take me to the closest town, the Town of Walfrey. It seems that I just came from the Village of Walfrey and this region was governed by the Walfrey family. Baron Ernest Walfrey seemed to be the current head. They seemed to be tired of my questioning and wouldn't answer anything else after that.
I wasn't sure if it was expensive of not, but the driver ended up charging me 20 Bronze. I was down to just 5 Bronze and 3 Silver. I didn't even try to haggle as I just wanted to get to the next place. I needed a place to sleep and hopefully find some work.
I had then paid one of the passengers on the wagon my remaining 5 Bronze for more information. It seemed like a ripoff, but I was desperate for information. I had said that I was coming from a remote village and didn't know much as an excuse for all the questions, but it seems the other party couldn't care less. Money talks in any world I guess.
It seems that this region under the Walfrey family is part of the Reztef Kingdom, the capital of which is Vingrade. The Victus Imperium was to the north, the Elven Enclave was to the east, the Great Forrest of Triton to the south, and the sea to the west.
Something that immediately drew my attention was the Elven Enclave, that means Elves were in this world! After some prodding it seems that Dwarves, Beastmen, and even Demons were also in this world. I wonder if other things like Dryads or Spirits were as well? This man didn't seem to know.
The Victus Imperium seems to be..... imperious. They are one of the most dominant forces in the area. The only reason they have not steamrolled everyone it seems is because they are surrounded by 4 different factions. The Reztef Kingdom to the south, the Elven Enclave to the east, the Dwaren Republic to the northeast, and a Beastmen province to the northwest. Apparently the Beastmen province used to be the Garuda Republic, but the Victus Imperium had slowly conquered their lands, pushing them back to the edge of the sea.
Besides the 4 different factions around it, one major hindering factor for the Victus Imperium was their open border to the north. While it was only bordering a large water channel, the issue was on the other side. On the other side of that water were the Demon Lands. While the water was better than land, Demons still made their way across. Even with all these issues, the Victus Imperium was still a dominate force in the area, it spoke volumes about how truly powerful they were.
It also seems like I might be able to cash in on my victory over the bandit leader. If there was a bounty on his head I would be able to collect it as long as I kept a personal item of his. There seemed to be magic that could be used to tell if someone was dead or alive using a personal item and their blood. As far as who killed them... well it was first come first serve. They went with the idea the the person who killed them would be the first to know. Well I guess it is good the necklace I have is covered in blood.
There seems to be a Bounty Hunter guild and an Adventurer's guild I could join. They were always looking for people due to the death rates... maybe I should just work at a tavern? While I was thinking about this I heard a yell from the driver.
"We'll be there soon!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
slm5189
slm5189 Sorry if the last few chapters have felt slow. I wanted to try to bring to details into the world and get some more details about the leveling system during his travel downtime. As for the map I was thinking something like the African continent with the Demon Lands being Europe on the other side of a large body of water.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone