Really, there was no reason to stay in the army at the moment. I resigned from the army. I had to give all the gear that had been given to me by the quartermaster. I had all of my original gear. I also got my wages from the army paid out to me. My class was now veteran. Since I was here in the provincial capital, there was no reason not to look around. Other than possibly make good on the IOU, there was nothing I needed to be doing. There were shops to give patronage to and property to buy. There was even a crafting district where the guilds allowed people to make their own things using the free equipment. That was pretty nice in my opinion. There were some skillful bards that sang or played music in the taverns. It added to the atmosphere. Plenty of people were out and about on the streets during the day. At night, the entertainment sectors of the city came alive. There was also more crime as well. I happened to notice a thief tailing me for a bit. I ducked into a tavern to get rid of him. There were also brothels. I was interested, but I was not going to jump right in. That would be foolish.
I really did not want to stay here in Ainon Province longer than I had to. It was on the border. If we could go over there multiple times, they could come over here. Setting down roots here did not sound like a good choice. I would like to move closer to the capital. Gladiator combat was something I was interested in. I had to wait for it to be their equivalent of Saturday in-game before they opened up. I paid for entry. They billed the fights like a boxing match card. There were going to be 4 fights. 10 penal slaves were participating. The first bout was a man facing off against a lion. The lion ate him in front of the crowd. Everyone cheered. The second was a 3 on 3 team brawl for us. One team won. The crowd cheered for the losers to die. The winners executed them. The third battle was a penal slave facing off against a harpy. Fantasy races were apparently in this world too. The slave killed the monster. The main event was 2 of the penal slaves facing off 1 on 1. They were given sharp tridents and nets as their weapons. It was a brutal struggle for survival from start to finish. It was cool.
Since this was pretty brutal, I would need to invest in better gear if I wanted to be a professional gladiator. My current gear was not going to cut it. I was owed 10000 lin. It was also a side quest objective. From the menu, I got a small hint to find a courier's guild. That would be the best way to find a person of interest. They were not always accurate as they could move at any time. Higher skilled agents were a bit more precise with their descriptions of the location and the general condition they were in. The locals were able to help point me in the right direction. Finding the household head of Vesnius Protacius would allow me to afford all the stuff I would need. When I got to the guildhall, I waited quietly in line until it was my turn. I asked for the household head. The woman at the desk looked at me blankly. "You will need to give me a bit more information than that, sir." she said gently. "Can you tell me where the father of Lucius Vesnius Protacius is currently?" I asked her. She looked in the back and then returned a minute later. "He was last seen in Cirpio City." she said. He was in Ainon.
