The Isolated Mountain of Skin and Bone

Chapter 1 (PART 2)

Soon enough, eventually, I found my way to the exit of this giant community. That was quite the long run, really, and I've been thinking for a long time during this. Perhaps I shouldn't tell my grandfather just yet.. look at our situation right now. I'd give it a couple days. Oh, wait. I forgot to buy myself some food (luckily I have some spare coin).. as I sulked over this revelation, I made my way running back, lest I live to regret.. my feet already feel like they're burning, despite them being slightly protected by some measly shoes. Honestly, should I have brought Stormrider? Eh, probably not.. we've overworked her these past few months, if I remember correctly. Not to mention, horses aren't allowed INSIDE the city slash town, I think. Plus, training her so hard... the poor girl.. actually, now that I've said that, both me and my grandfather are poor, or in other words, below average in terms of wealth and welfare (in the eyes of Athen). Honestly, I'm surprised we even managed to afford to take care of both ourselves AND our two horses, Stormrider and Atlas thus far. We must be pretty good at being poor, huh? Anyway, uhm.. what was I supposed to do again, why did I come back here.. oh, right! To buy some food! After all, in this journey we will soon be preparing for, we have to have some supplies, right? Actually, we may already have just enough.. but hey, why the heck not get more? So with those words, I approached one of the local stores and browsed the bread. This croissant seems really good.. it has flavoring too.. my mouth slightly began to water, but I snapped myself out of it and picked it up. I approached the shop owner and asked, "Excuse me sir, how much is this croissant?" he replied with a positive attitude, heck, I like this guy. "That is 11 coins, young man!" He had a smile on his face the whole time too.

Luckily, I have just about enough coin to be left with the lucky 5. So I reached into my pocket, and paid the man by tossing (gently, since I didn't want to seem rude) the required 11 coins on the counter. "Here is the coin, sir." I replied. His smile seemed to grow even wider. Maybe I can visit this guy some more if I have enough coin. "Thank you, young man! That croissant is now yours to take, child." His vibrant grin made me smile in response as well, eventually. So I left his store with a smile and a happy thought that I met someone who wasn't so bad as my grandfather makes them to be, and also that we now have one more food to add to our total. Good thing I didn't have to steal it this time.. actually, I shouldn't be saying that. I shouldn't even be stealing in the first place.. oh well. Actually, wasn't the label on the croissant saying it costed 17 coins? Maybe it was discount day. I don't really know how those discounts work though, and there wasn't any like -20% off or something. He could've also just took pity on my state, and gave it to me for cheaper than it should be.

It's just a possibility, really. Anyway, after I left the store, I heard a mumble from afar, maybe it was the guy in the store, "The poor kid. His clothes don't look like our own, maybe he's struggling with his family," well damn, I was right. But I heard more, "I hope he spends his remaining coin on what he needs, I gave him a discount after all, maybe he has enough." so he did take pity on me and gave me a discount! These thoughts entering my head, about taking advantage of my own state and appearance for discounts.. wait, no! I shouldn't do that.. my grandfather wouldn't like that, probably. Uhm, anyway, I held my croissant tightly to myself (I probably should've gotten a plastic bag(7) to carry my things in it), but a thought came across to me. It was a good idea. So I went to one of those necessity stores and browsed their wares. I saw a perfect, large enough bag to carry alot of stuff with us in the journey, just incase our equipment or already filled bags were too little. I asked the woman by the counter, "Miss, how much coins is this plastic bag?" and she replied, smiling gently at me, "Only 3 coins, young sir. We like to keep things cheap as possible in this side of town." I smiled brightly at her, I could afford it.

So I went up to the counter and gave her the 3 coins, and walked off with the plastic bag in hand. Not forgetting about my still not yet eaten croissant, I stored it into the plastic bag, happy and at peace. With my remaining 2 coins, I hoped to find something else I could afford and make it worth it. Oh, wait. We could get a journal and write down some things about our journey in there, maybe some notes on the dragons' behavior if we ever get to live from them, and where we suspect the treasure to be. Maybe we could also draw the landscape of this myth, I was always very good in art after all. Hopefully a journal and a pencil is cheap. I went to another necessity store, and it seemed word traveled quick, as the man behind the counter smiled at me and spoke up, "Ah, you're the kid buying stuff from us shopkeepers! I assume you're here for one of my journals and a couple pencils?" wow, he knew quick. I replied, "Yes, sir, how much is one of those 100-paged journals and 5 pencils?" hoping it was cheap and affordable.

He replied in response, getting to the point, "Young child, that is supposed to cost about 16 coins, but in your current state, I assume you don't have much.. I'll give you them for only 2 coins, okay?" and I breathed a sigh of relief. "You are much kind, sir. Thank you very much." I gave him my remaining 2 coins and he went to the back of his shop and gave me an empty journal with 100 pages and 5 pencils. "By the way, what is your name, and the names of the two I visited before you..? I'm simply curious." I asked him. He replied, happy to get to know me, I suppose, "I am Alex. The woman owning the other necessity store was Qia, and the man who owned the bread store is CJ. What is your name, young man? I will relay this to them." I smiled at him in response, happy that he told me. Maybe I can be friends with all three of them in the future. "My name is Nikolaos. Me and my family live outside of town, on the mountains in the plains. But please, do not visit me, and do not tell my grandfather I have met all of you.. he will be mad at me, unfortunately.. and so you can keep away from him, his name is Pythagoras." He nodded at me understanding. "Very well then, Nikolaos. Go on then, and be safe now, you hear?" I only chuckled at him, "Of course, Alex." I left his store with a smile. These people aren't as bad as my grandfather makes them out to be, really. Anyway, I stuffed the journal and the 5 pencils into my plastic bag. Luckily the plastic bag I got was indeed quite big as I thought it seemed to be.