Chapter 6. Zaun

It was the day after I had run away from Piltover and I had just woken up. I had found myself a decent wooded area so I climbed on of the trees and rested there for the night. It wasn't as bad as I thought, the sounds of the night were soothing and the animals were minimal. After I had woken up I climbed down from the tree and decided to start heading towards Demacia. Since it would be a long time before I reached my destination I decided it might be smart to stop at Zaun. Both Piltover and Zaun used the same currency so it would be easier to get food as well as a weapon. I had to be careful though, Caitlyn might be waiting for me at Zaun. It wasn't too far until I get to Zaun but it was a day worth of traveling. It didn't take me long to find the dirt path that led to Zaun and I even got lucky and hitch hiked a little shortening the time to get to Zaun.

By the time I had reached Zaun It was dusk, anyone who was normally outside would be inside now. Only a few people stood at the game, The guards gave me a look before I had walked in but didn't give me trouble. Zaun the city of Privileges, It's a large city with a lot of it being factories or laboratories. Even just as I enter I could see plenty of the city. It lives up to what the books say. The streets were in fact not empty as I assumed but had people showing off or testing experiments. Shopkeepers selling what appeared to be useless items to me. All I wanted was a decent sword and some food but in this city looks like I might have problems. I kept walking down the streets, I must have given a aggressive look off since people didn't try to approach me. I kept walking and looking for food and equipment, I was quickly getting fed up and was about to leave when I saw a store about to close up. I had most if not all adventuring items so I quickly moved in before the man closed. He took notice of me "Oh hello, Would you like something? I'm about to close up so I'd prefer you make it fast" he said. "Nothing to special, just a short sword and rations if you have them" I said swiftly. The man disappeared behind a door before coming out with a sword in a sheath. "Would this do?" he said holding out the sword. "Thats fine" I responded. "As far as food goes I don't have any here, but if you go down the road there is a tavern called residue. You should be able to get food and rest there" the man said. "The sword is 110 by the way". I put 11 coins on the table and took the sword. Walking down the street I noticed a something strange. Everyone had gotten off the streets and gone inside rather quickly. I kept moving while keeping note of my surroundings. Before long I reached the tavern the man had been talking about. I walked in to see a quite a few people inside. The tavern wasn't full but it didn't have a lot of empty table either.

I took my place in a corner and waited for service while I looked over the sword I had just bought. The sword wasn't anything special. It had a iron blade with a normal hilt and a black handle. It didn't feel to light, in fact it felt a lot like my old sword. I tugged the blade out of the sheath but not out all the way and felt along the blade. It was sharp, very sharp. I put the blade back and strapped it under my overcoat. After a little bit more waiting someone finally approached my table. I opened my eyes to see it was one of the waiters. "You looking to buy something?" the waiter asked. He clearly wasn't having a good night so I kept my request short. "A meal for me and a room, if you have one open. Also would you happen to carry rations?" I asked. "Yes we have a room open, I'll have the food in around half an hour. We do in fact carry rations as well. Can I get you anything to drink while you're waiting?" The waiter asked. "No, I'm fine. I'll talk to the owner about the rations tomorrow. Reserve the room for me as well" I responded. "Alright, Just so you know it's 35 a night" The waiter said as he turned to go get a room key. I had the money prepared for him before he got there and after handing him the money he handed me the key. "Your room number is 13" the waiter said before turning away. I sat there looking around the tavern for most of the time I waited. A few other people came in after me and one large group of 6 left while I waited for my food. No one really gave me strange looks here, Some caught my gaze and either they looked away after a bit or I did. I enjoyed not having people judging me to much, it didn't matter if they were drunk or not but people not getting protective because I was there is... relaxing. "Here we are" the waiter had finally arrived with my food. It wasn't anything special, just a simple steak and a few veges.

"How much will it be for the meal" I asked.

The waiter eyed me for a moment "Depends, Would you like something to drink as well?".

"What do you have" I asked.

"Mostly ale" He responded.

"Do you have any non-alcoholic drinks" I asked.

He started talking to me like I was much younger "There's juice and water, other then that no"

I sighed, annoyed by his tone "Fine just get me a glass of water then".

The waiter left and came back with a tall glass. "The meal and drink together are worth 7"

I handed him a coin and started eating. It didn't take me long to finish my meal by the time I had the tavern had died down quite a bit. There was only roughly 11 people here including myself. I left the plate and glass on the table and started to head towards my room. The tavern was rather large and it turned out my room was on the third floor. I reached my room, unlocked the door and walked in. A basic single bed with a dessert stood there waiting. There was light coming in from a single window and a unlit lantern in the middle of the room. I kept the lantern off as I looked around the room to make sure everything seemed safe. I closed the door and locked myself inside. I threw my sword onto the bed and stretched. It might have not been eventful day but I was still tired from the travel from Piltover the here. My plans for tomorrow were to buy more supplies and head to Demacia. As I lay on the bed dozing off to sleep I could still hear people outside. Must be a interesting city... The city of Privileges.

I woke up to the sun glaring in my eyes. I rolled over only to have the heat from the sun on the back of my neck. Since there was no escaping the sun I got up and rubbed my eyes while putting on my overcoat. I fixed up my bed head before strapping my sword to my waist and heading out of my rented room. I went downstairs to find a few people awake. Most of them were still drowsy and waking up. I looked to the clock to see it was only 7:41 am, Quite early. I placed the key on the bar stand and just as the bartender took it "I hear you guys sell rations" I asked. The bartender gives me a weird look before realizing what I was talking about. "Ah yes we do, we don't have a whole lot but we do sell rations" The bartender said sluggishly. "How much would you be buying exactly?" He asked. "How much do you have" I responded. "Last I checked we had roughly six days worth of rations for sale" He responded. "It's 5 per rations by the way" he followed up. I placed 36 on the bar stand in front of me "I'll take them, along with two waterskins if you have them". The man looks at me then takes the 36 before disappearing into the back room. After a few moments he comes back out with a large sack. "Here you are" he says while handing the sack to me. I start to head for the door when someone stops me. "Your not planning on walking out into the streets now are you?" The bartender asked. "I don't have time to waste, Why is there a law saying I can't?" I responded. "No there isn't but" The bartender looks around nervously. "It's quite dangerous in the mornings here in Zaun. I can tell your not from here so I thought I would tell you" The bartender followed up. Part of me just wanted to leave while another wanted to stay in case this 'danger' what a proper problem. I decided to stay, I could buy something to eat sparing today's ration and avoid said danger. "Fine, I might as well have something to eat as well" I said sitting at the bar stand. The bartender just nodded and went into the back room again. I took a better look at my surroundings, a few people were sipping on coffee while others were simply eating or reading. None of them looked like fighters, in fact most of them looked like bookworms. Some of them had goggles on the're heads along with glasses and notepads attached to them. I found it a bit weird but payed no attention to it.

I ate my food, paid for it and left around 8:15. I was planning on heading straight for the exit however something, or someone caught my attention. Caitlyn, I cursed the name under my breath. Not even 1 more minute and I would have been out of Zaun but she arrives just as I'm about to leave. I backed off into a alley before she saw me and started running in the other direction. I don't remember how long I had ran but before I knew it I was alone on a street I haven't seen before. I walked around back the same way I came when I noticed something strange on the ground. It was covered in filth but it still shined in what little light there was. I crouched to see what it was and after brushing it off it turned out to be a knife. It felt a lot lighter than other knifes and it also had no hilt. The blade was shaped oddly too, I had never seen a knife like this before. It had a tear-drop shaped blade along with a small handle and a ring on the bottom of the handle. The blade was also very light and entirely black. I took the knife and slipped it into one of the pockets inside my coat. I found it strange for a black blade to shine in the light but I payed little attention to it. I started walking towards the exit of the city I was in again. By the time I had reached it Caitlyn had left, or gone into the city. My first plan was to make a break for it but the longer I stood there the more I saw better and better ways to go about leaving. I wanted to leave in a way that would have very little notice or attention drawn to me. I waited for a crowd of people to head towards the exit and just as one moved towards it I followed behind. I did my best to blend in, Taking off my hood and stepping through the group. However not much longer to the exit and they all stopped looking around for someone. I wasn't paying attention to them and did my best to keep walking forwards and before long I had just passed the gates. I left out a sigh of relief and started running as soon as I was out of sight of Zaun.