DMS Chapter 43

Flinx avoided drinking any alcohol since he did not want to get drunk. He was after information and would not be able to learn any knowledge if he were roaring drunk together with the other adventurers. The problem was that when Flinx joined a table full of adventurers and told them that he would treat them to a drink, and that they just needed to share information about the different places they had been, the adventurers did not hold back at all.

He knew that he should have said that he would treat them with just one drink and not “all the amount you can drink in the shortest amount of time”. After talking with the adventurers, he did not learn anything. All the things they had said were incoherent and full of boasting, and Flinx knew that most of those boasts were lies.

Flinx just sighed internally and decided to learn what he could while traveling with the merchant caravan on the way to the capital city of Ilioven. If he was being honest, he was not truly interested in learning any deep knowledge about this world. He just needed enough know-how so he could function without any issue. He knew that once he had reached a place where he could delve into a high-level dungeon, most of his attention would be focused on killing dungeon monsters and leveling up as fast as he could.

Still, he valued what the local adventurers were saying. Most of their advice was to take care of himself since some of the people in the capital city were the vilest creatures in the world. They told Flinx that some people there would not hesitate to scam, rob, betray, enslave, and even murder those close to them to further their goals.

They told him that the people in this town were extraordinarily kind since it was a very small town bordering a forest full of monsters, and that they could only rely on each other for safety, so he should not expect that people in large cities would be the same. They told him that most of those who returned were locals who had experienced the severe cruelty of people in large places and were disillusioned with staying in those places.

In their drunkenness, they told Flinx that they were glad that there were no dungeons that appeared nearby because if one did, there was a good chance that this small town would become a large city, and soon after that, the people would become as cruel as the people in large cities right now. They kept reiterating that he should not trust anyone in the big city because sooner or later, they would stab him in the back for the low-level mana stone in his pocket. He had to keep assuring the adventurer that he would make sure that he was extra vigilant while he stayed in the capital city.

Because of what the adventurer had said, Flinx thought of his earlier decision to join a party to delve into dungeons. If the people and the situation were as bad as they have said, it might be better for him to delve solo.

Flinx did learn something positive. Slavery was illegal in Ilioven. Not that it did not happen, it was just that people who catered to that sort of activity kept everything hush-hush.

Flinx had experienced how cruel people could be, and how hard the life of an abused slave was, and he did not know if he could not act if something like abusing a slave happened in front of him.

He knew that he had decided to turn his gaze away if he had encountered such cruelty because if he became something like a hero vigilante, he would not be able to achieve his goal in the amount of time he wanted them to reach. He felt deeply the need to rescue his fellow Earthling dungeon miner slaves, but he knew that it would take some time since it appeared that leveling up was not an easy process. He just hoped that his fellow dungeon miner slaves would survive till he or somebody else rescued them.

After a while, he was surprised that a minstrel suddenly started singing inside the tavern. Apparently, the minstrel was with the merchant caravan. Since the night was still young, the minstrel chose lively songs, and most of the adventurers joined in the singing. The songs that were chosen were extremely catchy and repetitive, so it was easy to learn. Soon, Flinx was singing along with everyone else.

When the night had deepened, the minstrel switched to singing slow ballad songs, which signaled that his performance was ending. He threw gold coins into the minstrel’s hat in appreciation. The man nodded at Flinx since his coins were the few gold coins in the bunch. Most were copper and silver coins. The fact was, he did not have any currency other than gold coins. He did learn from Anuel that most kingdoms in this world used Iron, Copper, Silver, and Gold as currency, and any trade higher than gold would be conducted using mana stones. Basically, 10 was to one when it came to the coins, so that meant it's 10 iron for 1 copper, 10 copper for 1 silver, and so on.

Flinx also learned that things were not cheaper here compared to cities. There was even a chance that everything was more expensive in a border town, aside from the land and items that were locally grown, since most items were imported from somewhere else. Border towns usually survive because of the mana stones that adventurers receive from killing monsters located in the places near the town where it was established, like the forest outside.

While listening to the songs from the minstrel, Flinx was forced to admit that any singer from Earth that he had seen on the short video platform was better than the man. That was one of the advantages of a platform where any artist from all over the world could post the recordings of their singing. He even thought that with a little practice, Flinx could be better than the minstrel. Still, he was greatly entertained because the songs that he heard were all brand new to him.

During the next day, Flinx just walked around town and spent most of his time talking to others in the tavern, and soon, the day to leave had arrived. Flinx was already near the caravan while everyone was preparing. He had nothing with him since everything that he owned was in his 4^th tab space. He had already said goodbye to everyone he knew in town.

Flinx felt a stirring of excitement. He felt like he was starting a brand new adventure, and his excitement was brought on by the fact that he was not a helpless traveler, but someone who could wield magic and could purchase things that would make his journey comfortable. He also arrived in a season that was convenient for travel, which was early spring. The weather was nice, and the temperature was perfect. There were scattered showers now and again, but they only lasted for one to two hours.

Since he was considered a valuable customer, Barthos assigned him to a nice wagon that was only half filled with items that they were selling, and that meant that the other half was the place where he could stay during the travel.

Unfortunately, there was no furniture inside the wagon assigned to him, but it was not a problem for Flinx since he could purchase anything he needed from his System Shopping site.