Immortal Freeloader 7 (Patreon)

“Well, it was not a bad haul,” I said as I looked at another town. It was a week away from Dumassa with a walking pace, but I arrived it late afternoon … and that was with stopping by every caravan and traveler group on the way for begging. 

Not all of them gave anything, and the ones that gave something limited themselves to copper pieces and leftover rotten food. Though, one group I gave me a bunch of old clothes. Though, one group also gave me a set of their old clothes as well to replace my rags. None of them had a higher cultivation, meaning I was limited to ten times the pity multiplier. 

I threw away the leftovers, and ate all the Ordinary-Grade food, keeping one loaf of ordinary bread in the System along with the Cloak. The rest of the food barely gave me enough energy to throw one more Tiger Ascend punch at my full strength. 

While the small skewer had been digested, giving me enough energy to punch almost thirty times even after helping me recover from the drain of the breakthrough.  

The difference between the grades was even higher than I expected. Meaning, while moving between carts and begging was easy, the benefits were ultimately limited. 

Also, I had learned enough about the towns that muscle reinforcement stage artists were rare and revered, and skin refinement artists were non-existent, which made the state of that stall owner even more of a mystery. 

A mystery for the future. I didn’t want to go back before I was confident that I could hide my Martial level, or at least enough time had passed for my improvement to be merely exceptional rather than miraculous. 

Before going into the town, I once again washed before changing into the clothes provided by the System. They were still ordinary grade, but after the improvement of the System, they looked much better. A clean set of linen, better than what the guards had been wearing. 

It was another reason not to wear them while on the road. The towns were reasonably safe, but the number of nameless graves I came across didn’t fill me with confidence. 

I put the rest of my clothes, my blade, and the Tiger Fist Manual into a cloth bundle I made from the clothes, and walked toward the town gate, and joined the line. “What’s your reason for visit?” the guard said. 

“Traveling,” I answered, which didn’t seem like an appropriate answer considering the suspicious glare of the guard. Still, he didn’t bother saying anything else when I passed two silver coins at him and just moved onto the next visitor. 

I walked inside, with little money in my pocket, still not completely sure about my strategy of acting as the runaway groom, but it explained my situation well enough. I just needed to be careful not to convince them that my background was too strong. 

As my experience with the villager had shown, the System didn’t work when they feared my background. 

However, a hot meal was the best idea when it came to it. Hopefully, the other people would be chatty enough to give me some idea about what was going on. 

I found a reasonably upscale inn, mostly filled with guards and merchants rather than drivers and workers. No one stopped me as I walked inside, as I looked like the other clients. I found an empty table, and soon, a waiter came. “How can help you?” he asked. 

“How much for a meal?” I asked, and he immediately frowned. 

“Seven copper pieces for a stew. But if you can’t afford —” he started, quick to react to my perceived inability, but stopped when I pushed a silver coin as well. Not exactly peak customer service. 

“Give me some wine as well,” I said, not bothered by it. Instead, I waited in my seat, listening the gossip of the other people. The merchants were the most talkative ones, and they were more interested in the price of their goods, mostly comprising grain to sell, fur and dried meat to buy. 

The trade content showed we were away from the power circle. 

I also learned other, vital things, like the current year, 1072, and sixth day of Month of Cricket; the name of the political entity, Zaim Kingdom; and the nearest city, Markas. The way they talked about the cities implied that the place was mostly feudal, though there were several of mentions of Martial Art schools, and a few hushed whispers about mysterious cultivation sects. 

There was other news I grabbed. A Martial Arts competition that would happen soon in Markas, of some kind of border skirmish which several merchants mentioned when they were trying to explain why grain was more expensive, and a blood duel between two famous Martial Masters. 

Though, the repeated tales of bandit attacks suggested traveling might be more dangerous than I first realized.

Information I gathered was better than the food I received, which was delicious, but barely better than an ordinary piece of meat to recover essence. Which surprised me a bit, then I heard one guard that looked stronger than the others ordering a meal called savage beast steak. He paid twenty-five silver for it. 

And, from a distance, it looked like Mortal Low-Grade. The higher grade food had a different, more intense smell. 

Even if the inn was more expensive than other places, it was still clear that Martial Arts was an expensive work. 

I was musing about the best way to make money quickly so that I could improve my Martial Arts level enough to travel without being afraid of bandits, when a voice interrupted me. “Hey, fellow traveler. Why the long face?” 

It was some kind of musician, carrying some kind of string instrument, though it was smaller than a guitar. My music knowledge ended there. He looked bored. “Just trying to reach Markas,” I said. 

“Wow, a long way for a lone traveler,” he said. “Any reason why?” 

A musician was a suitable target to pull that nonsense about runaway groom. “I had a lady friend … until her father caught us.” 

The intensity of his wince suggested he was experienced in such matters. “I found out that traveling helps in such cases,” he said. “So, why Markas?” he said. 

“There was supposed to be one of my uncles there, but I never met the guy,” I said, acting like it would be the first time I would be there. “But, travel turned out to be more expensive than I expected, cards turned their back at me, and I ended up stranded.” 

“Tough turn. It’s why it’s always important to learn a skill,” he said, patting his instrument proudly. 

“True,” I said with a deep sigh, putting my voice as pitiful as I could. I expected nothing from a traveling musician, but it would be enough if I could mellow him enough to answer my suspicious questions. It would be the best. “I always learned how to play an instrument, but my father never allowed me, forcing me to count coppers in his office all day.” 

“Ah, taste of freedom, my friends,” he said. 

For the next ten minutes, I sucked up to him, trying to channel the attitude of a music nerd. The guy clearly had an ego, as he listened to my compliments with an ever-growing smirk.  “Well, I can teach you some if you want,” he said. 

“That would be incredible,” I answered. I wasn’t as enthusiastic as my words implied, but I still listened with fake rapt attention as he passed me his instrument — a lute, apparently — and taught me enthusiastically until one of the waiters reminded him it was the time to play. 

I was about to write the information gathering session a bust — as once his ego was stroked, he lost himself in the enthusiasm of teaching music — when the System gave me a surprise.

[Pity Bonus - 5]

[5x Return - Lute Technique Lesson, Ordinary, Beginner]

That was an unexpected benefit. Normally, after paying a small fortune to enter the town, I had been planning to find a cheap room and finally sleep under a roof, but a new feature of the System was too tempting to ignore. 

There were no checks while leaving the town, which was a welcome change. I used the road for a while, and only when there was no one, I took a turn into the forest. I didn’t know exactly how it would look when I pulled weird concept such as a lesson from the System Space, but I wanted to be prepared. 

In the end, that preparation turned unnecessary. I reached to the System space, and what followed was a flood of information, similar to Language Jade, only smoother and more instinctive. I felt like I had received a class from a more competent teacher.  

I doubted I could play anything with that as well, but that didn’t prevent my wide smirk. An ordinary lesson from a bored bard might be nothing … but what about a lesson from someone stronger, on a more important topic… 

Like, a lesson on Tiger Fist from that mysterious stall owner. 

The return suddenly felt far more tempting.