The road to the shop took them an hour. The sun beamed on their skin making them glisten in sweat, both were quiet as they pondered the events that happened today.

Usually, Ron would be talking Willy’s ears off but he was deathly quiet as was staring at Arthur in confusion.

Arthur knew a lot about the place they were heading to, as it lay on the outer borders of the forest, so many travellers were passing through here. Rogue adventurers were constant visitors to the forest through this place of the golden lion clan.

Demons here were low level and were easier to be killed, easier and safer. Though Arthur knew that while in Willy’s body he would find it difficult to kill a weak monster.

When Arthur was walking with Ron to the marketplace, he kept himself busy by sorting through Willy’s memories. He was astonished to discover that the clan did not have taxes. 

People of this world didn’t know the concept of taxes. However, sects like the one he belonged to gained most of their wealth and power from taxes.

In Arthur’s opinion, this clan had the foundations to be a tycoon, placed near the forest, plus a constant stream of mages who were trying to become more powerful. If the clan posed a new tax system here then it wouldn’t be hard to train a new generation of youths with strong bodies and good affinities.

The scope of future possibilities of this clan would be endless. However, he needed first to defend his life. Then he would think about the rules he would impose onto the clan when he became a leader or maybe he will be lucky to lead through his father.

He could be susceptible to listening to advice that Arthur would whisper into his ear, hell he would probably think that he came up with the idea.

The marketplace they were heading to was full of busy shops that lived on serving those rogue travellers. Grandpa Regil’s weaponry shop was one of them, as it was famous for its craftsmanship all over the region.

People would spend days travelling to the shop in hopes of getting fine weaponry. Arthur decided that he could exploit this in the future to help his clan by improving their trade.

He would not let it become a wasted opportunity as the clan would need more wealth to improve their standing with the other clans.

It would make them think twice to ever cross the Golden Lion because of the booming trade that Arthur planned to build.

When they approached the market place Arthur was amazed by how big the establishment was as it was bigger than Arthur’s home.

The market was all in wooden buildings with there being some stalls and some shops for the more established businesses.

There were crowds of people chattering, haggling and children were giggling as they ran between the stalls. While looking at the number of people in the marketplace, it gave Arthur a speck of joy as he had hope that his tax plan would not be a wasteful opportunity.

‘I will revolutionize this place once I take over the management of the clan,’ he muttered to himself as he walked through the place.

Each shop was selling something the mages wanted, like a healing shop, supplies shop, blacksmith shop, tailor shop, and even bars were open there. For him, this place was near perfect, as all he would add would be a fighting arena as the clan could hold tournaments for travelling warriors.

“This way, grandpa Regil’s shop is out there,” Ron said as he took a turn to the right to enter the market.

The place was rammed with people as people kept stepping on Arthurs’s feet and they kept wedging their elbows into his ribs. With great difficulty, Arthur and Ron manoeuvred around the shop to find the owner.

They found him in the back room of the shop as Ron barged in there as if he owned the place.

The man was bulky with muscle and had milky eyes with curly raven hair that had many streaks of grey in it.

“Grandpa Regil, how are you doing?” Ron said as he entered through the opened door followed by Arthur.

The place was spacious with many tables that had many weapons on them. There were also some weapons hanging on the wooden walls, however, there were fewer regarding the number on the tables.

“Isn’t this Mr Ron, how are you doing sir?” Said Regil concerned for Ron’s wellbeing as if he was looking at his grandson with a fond smile.

“Hi grandpa Regil, here is my master, Willy the son of the head of our clan.”

Once Ron said those words the old man’s eyes widened as he tried to move from his location behind one of the tables, intending to bow to Arthur.

However, the latter motioned him not to do so as he said, “It’s alright grandpa Regil. We are here for business, so I will trouble grandpa with my request.”

“Your requests are an honour to me and my family. Without the ancestors of your clan main house my family would have been homeless many years ago. Your family provided safety and that alone is priceless. Anything you want my lord is a gift from me, and I won’t allow you to pay anything to me here.”

The old man was determined not to accept any money from Arthur who intended to try to give the old man money. When Arthur lost hope in making the old man change his mind, he decided to remember this for future reference as this old man would be rewarded for his generosity.

“May I ask what my Lord wants from me?” Grandpa Regil asked.

“I want to buy a special bow and arrows,” Arthur simply replied.

“Something special, hmm… I have something that was made by my great grandfather. It’s like a family heritage to me, but for you, my lord, I’m happy to give it to you. Hold on a second, I will bring it now.” Regil said this as he moved slowly towards a corner that had lots of boxes over there.

After spending some time there moving things and opening boxes, a three-piece bow was in his hand when he returned. The bow was made of strange wood that was faintly red with there being some silver at the top of the bow.

Three pieces of one bow laid in front of Arthur on the table. Before grandpa Regil could assemble the bow, Arthur involuntarily moved to assemble the pieces smoothly like he knew what to do.

Grandpa Regil stood in his place with great astonishment all over his face. He muttered when Arthur stretched the elastic cord to be linked between the two ends.

“That’s amazing, even I doubted anyone of the young generation here could assemble it without returning to the booklet left by my grandfather… That’s amazing,” Regil said, surprised at Arthur.

“Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself when I looked at this amazing bow,” Arthur sighed as he realised that the youths in this clan lacked more than just good nutrition.

For him assembling this bow was a piece of cake, as it was a simple bow with some enhancements after all.

“It is indeed you who deserves to be the next head of our mighty clan,” grandpa Regil said with a grin full of pride.

Arthur didn’t know what to say except he returned the bow to Regil. He said in a try to shift the topic off how lacking his clansmen were, “I also want enough arrows to be used with this special bow.”

Arthur didn’t hold the bow for long but he sensed some power inside it. This bow was special as he could feel the power radiating off it. ‘It isn’t a simple bow then, good,’ he thought to himself with some hope.

Regil took the bow as he said, “as I recall, my great grandfather said this bow needed special arrows to be used with. It was to make them even more powerful as just one hit from them can cause effective damage to their opponent.

Unfortunately, there were no records of these arrows, but I can give you a handful of the best arrows here. They are highly requested from rogue mages who travel here all the time.”

Arthur was disappointed, as this bow craftsmanship was something good. He doubted any arrow here would be enough to show the true potential of this bow except if made by the same craftsman who made the bow.

He sighed, as he had no other option except to accept this offer, so he said, “thanks a lot Regil.”

“Don’t mention it… Do you know this bow was made especially for your great grandfather before he was assassinated? It seems this bow is destined to be used by the Golden Lion main house after all.. Wait for me here, I will arrange enough arrows for you, my lord.”