Dud woke up the next day with a smile on his face and adventure on his mind. He went to the bathroom to freshen up and took a good look at himself in the rather large mirror. He had deep violet hair and intimidating yellow eyes; he also had a subtle beard and a mustache that hid the natural ferocity of his face.
He removed his t-shirt to admire his muscular arms and torso. After enjoying his narcissism for a bit longer, he finished his morning routine, packed everything into his inventory, wore his significantly lighter cloak and boots, and left to explore the port city of Lvneel.
Dud grabbed breakfast from a street vendor and was exploring the market when a teen bumped into him.
"You okay, kid?" Dud asked, holding the teen by the shoulder with one hand, stabilizing him while the other held his breakfast.
The teen twisted, escaping Dud's grip, and looked up to Dud's face with a fury that died as he? locked eyes with Dud.
"I am fine, sir," she? said with a gulp.
Dud sighed. "Is my face really that scary?" asked Dud with a frown.
The teen quickly shook his? head. "It's more like your vibe?" said the teen, gesticulating at him, "like you are tall and muscly and feel like a brick wall."
Dud frowned and shrugged. "So you know any good places? Hopefully ones with a good view," asked Dud.
The teen looked around and spotted her? pursuers, "Um, I could show you around?" the teen offered.
"That would be great, but aren't you busy?"
The teen shook his/her? head desperately. "Not really; besides, I am hoping to be compensated for the tour. You won't find a better guide than me in this entire city," boasted the teen with pride.
"We will see about that. Name's Dud. What's yours?" asked Dud, taking a bite out of his breakfast.
"I am Reese. Follow me; I know the perfect place with an awesome view," said Reese as she/he? walked away.
"Don't take this as rude, but are you a boy or a girl?" asked Dud as he easily kept up with the power-walking teen, who stopped and slowly turned to Dud with an offended expression on his/her face.
"I am a girl! Why does everyone ask me that or call me a boy?" she asked no one in particular, a bit offended and annoyed.
"You look pretty androgynous; it may get easier to tell once you are older?" suggested/offered Dud.
She hummed and led Dud to an abandoned clock tower. They climbed to the top from where they could see most of the town. The view was nice but not really breathtaking; it would probably be better at sunset? Dud wasn't really sure.
"Not what I expected," said Dud as he looked through the clockface.
"What were you expecting?" asked Reese curiously.
"...Something more, I guess? I am not really sure; I am pretty... whelmed. Yeah, I am whelmed."
"Whatever. Where do you want to go next?" asked Reese with a shrug.
"How far away is Lvneel?" asked Dud.
"What are you talking about? This is Lvneel," she answered him confused.
"What?!" he asked, looking at her disbelievingly.
"What 'what'? This is Lvneel. What did you think this place was?" she said to him incredulously.
"A port city in the kingdom, not the kingdom itself," answered Dud confusedly.
"Are you daft?"
"Hey, this is my first time in a place bigger than an island town; cut me some slack," protested Dud.
She sighed, "This island is Lvneel, named after the first city/capital, which is where we are. There are towns and villages further inland where they handle things like agriculture, mining, logging, and other stuff, but everything flows into this port and another smaller one at the opposite end of the island." She explained.
"If this is the capital, where is the castle? How big is this island anyway?" asked Dud with his arms crossed.
"It's right there," said Reese, pointing at a clockface Dud had not paid attention to. "I don't know how big it is, though; I haven't left the city since I was born," she said with a shrug.
"Huh, well, what do you know?" Dud muttered to himself as he looked at the castle in the distance. It looked like someone mixed an Arabian and a Russian castle.
"Can anyone visit it?" asked Dud.
"What for?"
"For a tour or something. I want to see what it's like on the inside." Said dud with interest.
"Probably not?" she replied with doubt.
"Eh, I will check it out some time in a week. Do you know any good places for food? My treat."
Her face lit up in joy.
"That was seriously delicious," said Dud as he eyed his plate that he was poking with a fork as if it were magically going to fill itself with more of the godly food he just ate.
"I know, right?!" said his guide with her chin raised proudly. "Macies are the best in the whole kingdom," she proclaimed loudly.
"Alright, that's enough with you," said a fondly exasperated voice of the head chef as she placed a hand on Reese's head.
"I hope my daughter hasn't been troubling you," she said to Dud with a small bow.
"Not at all; she has been largely helpful since we ran into each other early this morning. I am Dud." Dud introduced himself as he extended his hand for a shake.
"I am Zay," she said as she shook his hand. "Welcome to Macies. I hope the food was to your liking?"
"I love it. Mind if I place a bulk to-go order? I am planning on sailing a lot, and having something like this would honestly be awesome." Dud asked with a grin.
She laughed. "Thanks for the compliment, but I don't do bulk orders."
"That's a shame; I would like to place an order of your recommendation. I am quite hungry still."
"Coming right up," she said as she walked away.
"Aren't you mad?" asked Reese as they waited for the new dish.
"Why would I be? Your mom makes super good food. I am not going to be mad about good food, let alone super good food," said Dud with confusion.
"Here you go," said a waiter as he placed a plate of seafood in front of him.
"Thanks," said Dud as he dug into it with gusto.
After paying for the food, Dud and Reese left the restaurant.
"So what do you want to see next?"
"Where is the shipyard? I want to see if I can afford a ship."
"Near the port, obviously," she said, leading Dud.
"So what do you want?" asked Dud as they walked.
"Hmm?"
"For showing me around, you said you wanted to be compensated, so what do you want?"
"Oh, money for sure!" she said as they turned into an alley, and almost immediately they ran into a pair of thugs, and the entrance was blocked by another pair.
"Got you, Reese. You aren't escaping us today," said a thug.
"Shit, should have stuck to the main roads, stupid Reese," Reese cursed herself. "I am not going to be your boss's plaything!" Reese yelled.
"What are you talking about? We just want what you owe us. You don't want us to collect it from your restaurant, do you?" said another thug.
"I don't owe you anything! You guys cheated, and I caught you red-handed."
"Only after you lost 5000 berries. You still got to pay up for all the rounds you didn't catch us."
Reese was about to say something but was interrupted by a sharp clap.
"Now, now, everyone here knows how this is going to play out, so I have one question before blood and tears start flowing," interrupted Dud with a polite smile.
"And that is?" asked a thug.
"Do any of you have a bounty?" As soon as Dud said that, all 4 thugs fell unconscious with a pommel mark appearing on their temples.
The fifth thug who was just outside SC's range fired a gun whose bullet was caught by the stand's invisible hand.
"What are you?" the thug asked fearfully.
Dud looked at him, a crazy grin spreading on his face seemingly out of his control.
"Run," said Dud softly, causing the thug to run in fear, nearly pissing himself. Dud heard a whimper, and when he turned to the sound, he saw Reese trying to merge with a wall, looking at him with eyes full of fear.
Dud sighed and muttered, "Guess that answers that question."
"Wha... Who are you?" asked Reese as she calmed down somewhat as Dud 'calmed down' so to speak.
"An explorer and a future bounty hunter," said Dud, causing Reese to immediately calm down.
"So you are a bounty hunter; why didn't you say so? scared me half to death," asked Reese, muttering the latter part to herself. "Are you here for Loren's bounty?"
"Is she the boss lady of these thugs?" asked Dud, kicking a thug's foot.
"Yeah, she's got a bounty of 600,000 berries."
"Hmm... nah, and consider yourself compensated."
"What?!" she squawked; that is the only way I can describe how she sounded.
"Also, you still have to show me to the shipyard," said Dud, walking to the opposite end of the alley.
"Hey, wait," shouted Reese as she ran to catch up to Dud.