Reidar moved through the streets of Sweetwater with his head low and his hood pulled forward.
The town was crowded. Refugees, hunters, and merchants filled the streets. It was loud. People shouted prices, argued over food rations, and called out for party members to settle bets with violence.
The perk Stealthy Presence was working wonders. No one had noticed Reidar yet. The perk reduced the attention he attracted from other survivors, but it wasn't perfect.
It didn't make him invisible, but it made him uninteresting. To the people he passed, he was just another background detail.
It made people less likely to notice him, not invisible, and if someone looked at his face, they would still see the floating nametag above his head.
But he couldn't rely on the perk alone.
He adjusted his hood, pulling it lower. The real danger wasn't being seen; it was being identified. If anyone focused on him for too long, his name tag might pop up.
—[Reidar Miller—Level 557]—
If a member of the Church saw that, the alarm would sound instantly. The entire garrison would descend on him. He could kill them, of course. He could summon the Vorathid Sky-Hunters and turn the town into a slaughterhouse in minutes.
But that would ruin the plan. He needed information, and to get that, everything had to go on as usual. A massacre would just ruin everything.
When a patrol of Church guards marched down the center of the street, Reidar stepped into an alleyway and waited for them to pass.
The church members he passed in the streets were dangerous, but they weren't the ones he worried about. Church members were obvious; he could see them coming, and they wore their affiliation like a badge. No, the real danger was the average survivor who might see his nametag and talk about it later.
<If someone tells the church that a level 557 survivor just walked into town, I'll have a problem.>
Reidar kept to the side streets, avoiding the main thoroughfares where the crowds were thickest.
People's eyes slid past him, their attention drawn to other things—a merchant calling out prices, a child running through the street, a pair of church members arguing about patrol schedules. A woman haggled over dried meat at a nearby stall. Two hunters compared weapons outside a smithy.
Reidar used every distraction he could, and then he checked the map. The vendor district was ahead.
Most vendors in these settlements were locals selling scrap or low-tier crafts. Reidar needed a System Vendor, as they were the only ones connected to the global—and interdimensional—marketplace.
He found the vendor's shop on the eastern edge of town, tucked between a blacksmith and what used to be a general store, which now had been repurposed for something else Reidar wasn't interested in.
Reidar paused outside and checked the street behind him. No one had followed, and no one was watching.
He pushed open the door and stepped inside.
The shop was small, with shelves lined with goods. Reidar immediately identified them as low-level goods. They were low level even for the low-level people. No sane person would risk losing valuable stuff to thieves. Luckily, Vendors were still stronger than the average survivor, so the chances of that happening were still low.
There were three other customers in the shop. Two were arguing over who had to buy a batch of mana potions while one accused the other of trying to cheat him.
One was inspecting a sword, holding it up to the light and frowning at the blade's condition.
A Thalassari vendor stood behind the counter, dealing with another customer. He looked up as the doorbell chimed, and his eyes found Reidar.
For a moment, nothing happened. The vendor's black eyes focused on Reidar's face, then moved up to the nametag floating above his head, and he froze.
The vendor's expression shifted for a second before smoothing out. There were other customers in the shop.
He made a subtle gesture with one of his tentacles, pointing toward the back of the shop, where a curtain blocked the view of the other area.
Reidar walked past the other customers without making eye contact and slipped behind the curtain.
<A storage area?>
The space was cramped, filled with crates and barrels stacked against the walls. There was a small workbench in the corner, covered with tools and half-finished crafting projects. There was no one else here, of course, as that was a private area.
<He is also a crafter, huh? Well, I guess it cuts the cost of having to buy everything from other people.>
Reidar waited.
A few minutes later, he heard the front door open and close twice as the other customers left. Then the vendor's voice came through the curtain.
"The shop is closed for inventory. Please return tomorrow."
It looked like someone tried to enter the shop, but the thalassari refused entry. As soon as the door clicked shut, the vendor flipped the sign in the window to [Closed] and locked it.
Then the vendor pushed through the curtain and approached Reidar. He could not believe what he was seeing or better, who he was seeing.
"Reidar Miller," the vendor said.
"You know me."
"Every vendor in the network knows you," the man said. "How are you alive? I'm Garran, by the way."
Reidar crossed his arms and smirked. "Luck. Pure, dumb luck. Also a minor miracle, three near-death experiences, and possibly selling my soul to a very confused interdimensional entity who still hasn't sent me the receipt."
The vendor shook his head. "Luck does not explain survival on a dead world. Your companions reported you were pulled through a portal opened by the Church of Unbinding."
<So Jake and Lena told the Allied Worlds what happened.>
Reidar felt a weight release from his chest. He kept his face neutral, but his shoulders relaxed hearing that. After he was sucked in by the portal, Reidar had no idea what happened to Jake and Lena.
"They're alive?!" Reidar asked.
"Your companions?" The vendor's tentacles rippled. "They were alive when I last received updates from the vendor network."
That made Reidar feel even better.
"Good," Reidar said. "Where are they?"
"That's the complicated part," Garran said. "We vendors talk to each other. We share data because it helps with pricing and stock. Your friends made a lot of noise after you disappeared, but after that we heard from them no more."
"Noise?"
"They went to the Allied Worlds representatives," Garran said. "They told them everything—that the Church opened the portal, that you were sucked in, and they asked for a rescue mission."