We arrived north of the metro area I called home, after another three days. Fiona had been the model of good behavior the entire way. She could have left at any time and I wouldn't have stopped her. While I still didn't trust her fully I had to admit she was trying to make up for her mistake. While she didn't have a weapon she did have a few useful skills that came in handy in the few encounters with monsters we ran across. Mostly just local mutated wildlife.I had decided to stop using the old city names for most places as it didn't quite seem to fit the new reality that was our world. Despite that, this entire sprawling urban area had been known as the Fox Valley. It stretched from Lake Michigan down to the southern part of Lake Winnebago. Of course, it wasn't all the same town.There were three or four major towns connected by a slew of smaller communities and somewhere in all that mess was the Bazaar. It wasn't on the scale of Chicago big but there had still be

The bridge came into view a few minutes later and we got in line to cross. I didn't realize it was this busy the night before. I could easily see a dozen soldiers decked out in full battle gear. There were two 50 cal machine guns set up on small podiums surrounded by sandbags on the far end of the bridge. Each of these was manned by two soldiers that eyed everyone warily. There was also a man towards the back that seemed to exude an air of authority; it felt a lot like the Commander's had. As the line in front of us filtered through the checkpoint a soldier looked us over."No fighting within city limits, if we catch you, you will be arrested or killed. No warnings."Then the man moved on, repeating his message to anyone that looked like they could cause trouble. We were waived through a minute later and I stopped to ask the soldier a question."Do you know where the Bazaar is?""Go down three blocks and ask for Gertrude at the market, maybe she k

"Unfortunately, no, I learned this skill by myself, and as you can see my work is rough at best."The Dwarf seemed to be disappointed by this news, handing me back my items."I will purchase the normal plates for a single credit each. If you had been more adept with your skills I would buy the ones you modified. Perhaps when you reach expert rank you can come back and teach me this skill.""I could teach you what I know now," I said not understanding why I had to be an expert."Doesn't work like that lad, only experts can impart a crafting skill unless I wished to learn from scratch like you are and I can't invest that kind of time."I just shrugged, "Well I'm not sure if I want to sell the plates yet as I feel like I could upgrade my armor.""That would be a good idea, it is always cheaper getting materials yourself than buying them from a market or the Bazaar, unless those materials are in low demand."He waved the cen

"It's fine. I accepted their deaths long ago. I'm just grateful that they didn't have to live through this insanity. My sister may have been ok but my parents would not have been able to cope. You mentioned parents, any other family back in your world?""I have an older brother that joined the military and my parents are knight retainers. I would have joined our military as well but our military didn't allow women so I joined the Royal Guard. My parents objected but it was my choice.""I was also betrothed to the son of some lesser noble but he ended the betrothal when he found out I joined the guard. Good riddance to the pompous dilettante," she said, disdain in her voice."My family managed to find another suitor to marry me, and I was scheduled to meet the man a few days ago but as you can see I was transported to your world first," she said not sounding all that sad about it.I got the sense she had a bit of rebellious streak to her, it remind