Phirlax retreated and we were left alone. I said "Thanks for playing along." "Don't mention it. Playing dirty is something that I'll start to use more from now on. Especially if it can send someone as strong as him fleeing." Dulgron replied. In a few minutes, we were back on the road and Phirlax was especially quiet. When we saw some nasty looking bandits ahead, he charged them and began taking his frustrations out on them. We joined in the fight so that we could loot their bodies for gold and supplies for a bit of betting while on the journey. There were several villages that we had passed. We could barter for supplies or do some betting with the locals there. I liked the card and dice games that they had. Phirlax and Thalox liked brawling. Surprisingly, Dulgron was pretty good at holding his ale and wine. He did well in the drinking contests. It was nice to see. Helelin was mostly into fraternizing and fucking a guy she liked the look of. That was fine with us. The next morning we would be gone anyway. Killing a bandit or 4 actually helped fund our lifestyles as travelers. Using magic also got us money.
Eventually, we made it to the castle town. The guards let is in with minimal fuss. Apparently there was an ordinance to let the demons with similar features in without any hassle. It had not been that long since we left his service in the army. He probably needed more demons like us to settle there. Just like I was thinking, there was a nice discount on property for our kind. I looked at the others and asked if they wanted to pool our money together for a larger house. "Why would I want to live with you!? I will buy my own house." Thalox said. We each only had the money to buy small hovels in the poor district of the town. Phirlax and Helelin felt the same way. I was not keen on living in that district, so I was just going to have to save my money while I lived at an inn. Dulgron was of the same opinion. After we settled in, we met in the center of town. There were not as many options as one of the larger cities. There were only branches of the adventurer's guild, blacksmith's guild and merchant's guild. I wanted to join the blacksmith's guild. Dulgron and Helelin became merchants. The others were adventurers.
There were many uses for adventurers, no matter the settling or race. There would always be dungeons to be cleared, monsters to be killed, bandits to be crushed and peasants to be saved. In that same vein, you would need a blacksmith to make weapons and merchants to buy and sell loot. This was not a small section of the game's economy. I was able to join without issue because of the occupation. Each of the guilds had six tiers. Those ranks were Initiate, Apprentice, Novice, Journeyman, Expert and Master. I was going to start as an Initiate. The blacksmith that I was working under was the owner of the workshop we robbed. He had a pair of native apprentices. It did not take long to realize that they did not like me. I wisely did not bring the stolen sword out when I went to learn from them. Both of them looked younger than me. All of them made some snide comments at me. One slur that they mumbled was "wine eye". Demon's blood was a dirty black, so that would not apply to my kind. They were called "snow-skinned" because they were so pale. I never called them that. We got to work.
