Chapter 9

I promised to tell about some specific events during the stay in the academy.

Day 92 of the training is done and Garis convinces me to come to the city with him.

The first day when we could have left the academy after hours was two days ago, but most of us were quite tired after a night exercise, so very few have gone so far.

There are three of us going as a group Me, Garis and Nedia.

Garis is a high man and at 15 summers is much larger than most full grown men at more than 6 foot and more than 220 pounds of muscle. He is of noble blood and tends to speak Higar, the court language when he forgets that everyone else speaks Logar, the common tongue.

Nedia is a wood elf girl of 30 summers and with a seeming constant frown on her face. In reality she is a quite happy person, but there is something in her facial muscles that pulls her face to a frown when it would be neutral for everyone else. She is also taller than me but weights only about the same.

We prepare and I leave most of my money in the chest and only take two bronze and 10 copper. At Garis request we all dress in togas, so I put my coin pourch around my neck and inside the toga.

As we leave the academy the guard warns that Magnimar is a dangerous place for the unwary and we should have our wits with us, stay together and avoid getting drunk.

I just want to see the city and Nedia does not really have a plan either, so we let Garis lead where we go. He takes us towards the harbor and I am again struck by how much the city changes on the harbor side.

We are immediately accosted by some beggars when past the harbor gate. I stop to explain that I really do not have money to give to them, but Garis and Nedia just hurry past. When Garis notices that I am left behind he yells "Come on, we do not have all day, we have to get a move on." So I make my excuses and run after the others.

After that Garis explains that in situations like that it is just best to be impolite and just walk past such groups quickly, not talking to them, as they tend to try to steal from you and so on. He then goes on to explain that most cities in the central kingdom, including Magnimar, have food programs, where anyone can go get a daily bowl of soup and plenty of bread to survive.

During the walk quite many other beggars approach me. Somehow it seems that I look like a likely candidate to give them some money, but the others in my group do not.

Garis asks if we mind that he visits a family friend quickly, saying that it should take less than half an hour. Nedia and me do not mind as we are there mostly just to see the city more, so exactly what we do is not so important.

We then go to a quite large and expensive looking house near the docks and Garis uses the knocker on the door.

A servant in a toga opens the door and asks us who we are and why we are there. Garis says that he is Sir Garis, Knight Baronet of Sleysen and is there to see Master Uiseman, who is an old friend.

The servant bows and lets us into a foyer and tells us to wait why he fetches his master.

Soon after another young high man dressed in a toga enters. He is also huge like most high men, but has maybe less of a martial, muscled look than Garis.

They hug and clap each others backs and ask how the other is and such. Then Garis introduces us to Chamb Uiseman, who is a long time childhood friend of his. He is a son of a powerful merchant family and has just recently come to Magnimar to manage the family business here. Next Garis embarrasses me by introducing me as the direct descendant in line of Sammak Dameira. I wonder how he knew, as I did not think many in the academy know about it and I definitely have not told anyone.