Alex hurries through the streets, following the direction pointed out by the beggar woman. The roads are narrow at first, and she feels as though someone is watching her.

  She glances over her shoulder but doesn't see anyone. The creeping feeling of fingers running up her spine continues.

  The houses lean in at places, obscuring the light. As she walks, she squints at the ground, noticing odd shadows her brain had previously disregarded. Squinting up, she sees the ring. It makes her feel alien all over again, but then she notices two burning orbs in the sky, making it even worse.

  "Alex, you are fine. Get to the merchant."

  She turns a corner, and the path opens up onto a larger road, transitioning back to stone under her feet.

  The way this city jumps from poor slum to well-maintained is insane.

  The people on the road crossing her alley are better dressed, the difference stark from where she just was. There are fewer beggars, and more people look well-fed. Her stomach does a backflip as she sees a patrol of guards moving down the far end of the road.

  They seem to be looking at people as they move, their armor rattling with each step. Five of them push through the crowd steadily.

  Looking across the road, she sees the sign for Miria's Mercantile Co. and heads straight for it, trying to blend in and rely on the crowd to obscure her. A few people stop short as she cuts in front of them; most just ignore her.

  She finds her way to the door quickly. Glancing back down the street, she can see the guards have moved closer but don't seem focused as far forward as she is. Taking a deep breath, she turns back to the door. Her skill helpfully marks a weak point in the door near the handle.

  Great, if I need to enter to save someone, I know where to hit. She thinks wryly.

  Opening the door to the mercantile, a bell rings deeper into the building. She takes a deep breath and closes the door behind herself.

  The interior is well organized. A wall to one side displays what looks like a timeline with notes on it, "Miria's Mercantile Co." proudly engraved above it. Shelves line the other walls, general goods on display like bags, canteens, rope, and other assorted items. Deeper into the store, shoes take up a few shelves. Further back, spread across a counter, are maps.

  The store smells of spices, leather, and oil. The scent is distinctive but not unpleasant. She starts glancing over prices, seeing 1 sp and 5 cp for a pack not much smaller than the one she took. A canteen costs 8 cp.

  She hears someone shout from the back, their voice gruff. "Be right there!"

  "No rush!" she calls back, moving toward the timeline wall to read through it.

  Looking over the wall, Alex sees the first mark taking place before the Node Stabilization era whatever that means. It's marked as "Founding." According to the wall, Miria was the founder, a brave merchant of famed renown. About 20 years later, it marks her death, where she slew a group of bandits alone while protecting an injured guard named Fin.

  The wall goes on to highlight several generations, moving down with major events leading to the growth of the company. Scattered among these are other events like "the balancing" and "the purging," listed with no context as though everyone should know what they are.

  Alex does some quick math when she sees a number under Miria's death: 24 NS, up to what looks to be a more recent listing of a son taking over the business at 322 NS.

  Wow, this company is over 300 years old? That’s insane.

  A paunchy, balding man comes out from the back with a puff. "Hello, miss, and welcome to the mercantile. Anything I can help you with?"

  Alex looks at the name on the wall. Bernard Miria is listed as the latest in the line to take over the business. "Are you Bernard?"

  The man beams. "That I am, miss. Took over the family business five or so years ago. Looking forward to passing it on to my son. You looking for help with anything?"

  "Actually, kind of the opposite. I heard you might hire someone traveling to help out around the store or with errands."

  Bernard nods slowly. "That entirely depends on your skillset."

  Alex smiles. "Well, I'm damn good at breaking through walls and roofs. I’m not too bad at moving heavy things, chopping wood, doing dishes; honestly, you name it, and I can probably figure it out."

  Bernard thinks for a moment. "What kind of pay are you looking for?"

  "Not much, just a few coins to help me along on my journey, maybe even a canteen and boots?"

  Bernard sucks in his teeth, seeming to think. "I do have work, as it happens," he says slowly. "Though I hesitate to send a traveler into that particular mess. The Guard won’t even touch it."

  Alex waves a hand dismissively. "Honestly, you had me sold at 'danger.'"

  Bernard laughs, obviously surprised at her response. "Well, I suppose I can tell you about what I need, and if you think you can do it, I’ll hire you. Sound fair?"

  Alex gives him a thumbs up and then worries it doesn’t translate well, so she just says, "Sounds good."

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  Bernard lets out a startled, dry laugh, looking at her with a mix of pity and admiration. "You’ve got spirit, I’ll give you that. Here’s the trouble: My youngest is heartbroken. A thief snatched a family heirloom right out of her hands while she was playing out front. Just a simple thing; a wooden horse been passed down forever. The Guard have looked into it and reported it’s unrecoverable. The thief was cornered near the Ringside Gate grate and pitched the bag into the spillway before they took him down."

  He takes a deep breath. "It’s a long shot, but it’s possible it’s lodged in the sewer still. The issue is the sewer is known to have an opening to one of the local nodes, so it sometimes has monsters inside, making it fairly dangerous. To the Guard, it’s not worth the risk when they can just seal the exits and do occasional purges of the sewers with mages. One of those purges is set to happen in three days, and the horse would be destroyed."

  Alex twists her mouth in thought. "Can you explain the significance of it being connected to a node in this city?"

  Bernard gives her a confused look. "The sewer having an opening to the local node allows monsters to cross from inside the node and walk through the sewer."

  He looks over Alex for a second before continuing. "The nodes keep magic and the system stable so we don’t have monsters rampaging the streets and mana storms." He says the last bit as if explaining something everyone should know.

  "Right," Alex says quickly, nodding as if it finally clicked. "I knew that. I just wasn’t sure if this node was... special or something."

  Bernard relaxes a bit. "If you go down and retrieve it, I will happily pay you all of the items you listed, flush out any travel gear you need replaced like bed rolls, and pay three gold on top of that. If you just attempt it, I’m happy to provide the canteen now and five silver up front. If you need something else to make it more possible, I will be happy to negotiate."

  "How do I get down into the sewers?"

  "Just head to the Ringside Gate. You should be able to slip into them, although make sure you’re out before they start purging it."

  Alex nods, thinking. I wish I still had my breathing apparatus. For that matter, I wonder what happened to my Halligan. "I’ll need some travel food. A few face cloths to use as masks, and do you have a heavy axe?"

  He nods slowly, thinking. "I can do all of that without much issue, but the axe will cut into the amount of supplies I can replace in your standard travel gear."

  Alex holds out her hand, calluses and scars prominent. Bernard grasps it and gives it a firm shake. He starts moving around the mercantile, collecting goods and bringing them back to the counter.

  "It’s time-sensitive, so I’m willing to make this attempt. To be honest, I didn’t think anyone would want to make the attempt."

  Damn it, maybe I should have pushed for more from him, Alex pushes the thought away, wanting to help the father out and knowing it will balance out in the end.

  Alex hefts the axe; it has a heavy side. She instantly misses her personal axe but knows it will do the trick. She loads the other supplies into her pack.

  "Any other advice?" Alex asks, looking over to Bernard.

  The man shrugs. "Not really my area of expertise. You could always try to find a team, though I’m not sure I could put up funds to hire more people."

  Alex just nods. "I will figure it out. Besides, there’s only a chance of monsters."

  Bernard laughs. "That’s the attitude. I’ll be here during business hours. Be careful."

  Alex turns, heading for the door.

  Well, still don’t know how much money is really worth, but I have a canteen, axe, and a line on gold, which I’m sure is good. Alex thinks as she heads into the street, not seeing any guards. She holds the axe by its head, walking down the street.

  Wait, Ringside? Alex looks up, seeing the ring overhead and just starts walking down the street in the direction it seems to be heading. Interesting method of giving directions, but honestly, more useful than the sun and a star if it’s constant day and night.

  Heading down the street, she sees people bustling around; some carrying things, others seeming to be in a rush from one place to another. It's interesting how even in a completely different world, the city still feels like a city. People focused, going somewhere. The poor and homeless sitting on the street sides begging or just staring at nothing.

  She sees a few small groups of people that at first she thinks might be guards, but she notices differences. The guards are fairly uniform, where these groups are just well-equipped.

  Getting near to a gate, she sees a line of people and a few guards talking to them. Well, that might be an issue.

  Looking around, she spots a grate and turns from the line, heading in that direction. A latch holds the grate shut, and deciding not to risk anything, she pulls a cloth from her backpack, ties it around her face, and then opens the sewer to head in.

  She hears someone call out behind her but pretends not to hear and starts into the tunnel. It’s tall enough that she only has to slightly crouch, and water runs down the center. She hesitates to think about what’s in the water. Following the flow, she quickly rounds a corner and is out of sight from the grate.

  Alex stops and listens. When she doesn’t hear anyone, she pulls her pack around to her front, fishes out her flashlight, and clicks it on.

  How do these people deal with this? I can only assume most of them use torches or some other open flame. She thinks about it, realizing the lights in the inn were shielded but constant. They could have been a lantern, but it seemed odd for how consistent the light was.

  Well, if I’m lucky, they have electricity and I can charge this thing.

  She keeps moving deeper into the tunnel, the flashlight in one hand and the axe in the other as she walks down the tunnel, looking for a sack or a wooden horse. The sewer smells horrible, just as bad as she imagined. She is unwilling to go without it but is pretty sure the face covering isn’t doing much.

  Following the tunnel, it soon combines with another, increasing slightly in size. As she keeps walking, she hears a scrape echo from deeper in the pipes and stops, watching ahead of her.

  "Alex, it was probably a grate or someone flushing contraband or something. Monsters were probably hyperbole," she mutters to herself.

  She goes to take a deep breath, second-guesses that, and instead rolls her shoulders before clipping the flashlight on her chest and turning it 90 degrees so she can grip the axe better, walking forward more slowly.

  After the sound, she feels on edge. The sound of running water and her heavy boots on the stone seem too loud and quiet at the same time.

  "Come on, where the fuck is this sack?" she mutters, continuing to follow the water.

  She hears another grinding sound, closer now, followed by silence. The sound of her heartbeat seems loud in her ears in the following moments.

  "Fuuuuck, monsters are probably real and not the flashlight scares them kind," she mutters under her breath, continuing forward.

  She stops when a shadow moves further down the tunnel. Her heart is racing until she realizes it’s just her light reflecting off the tunnel wall in an odd way. Glancing back, she sees nothing in the darkness.

  "Fuck, sewers are creepy," she mutters, continuing forward, planning to look at the spot her light reflected off of. Only then does she notice a spot highlighted by her skill. "Well, that’s great, structural issues..." She keeps moving forward.

  The sound of water starts to get louder as she rounds another corner, steadily increasing as the tunnel gets wider and wider. Her flashlight causes odd shadows around her as the tunnel widens until she can stand.

  A feeling like fingers running up her spine makes Alex shudder as she feels like something or someone is watching her.

  She looks around but doesn’t see anything and continues forward, seeing a grate in the sewage with a sack stuck on it. She moves forward in the tunnel, lifting the absolutely soaked sack. She opens it, seeing a wooden horse, a necklace, and a collection of children’s toys.

  She hears a low growl and looks behind her.

  Tuesday and Thursday.