Soon you will see the most passionate and charming prostitutes of this city... However, on the way to the brothel, some events happen to you.

You are trying to move quickly through the crowded streets of the city of Granveith. However, now the former swiftness and agility are not characteristic of your wounded body. As you walk, you feel throbbing pain in your recently healed wounds. While you are unable to move with the same speed. It will take time for you to fully recover.

You leave the outlying slums of the city and you enter the territory of the Quarter of Big Market.

Your goal is in this quarter.

The number of people on these streets is much greater than you are used to. In the past, you, as a mercenary, traveled through small villages looking for lucrative orders. Such settlements usually had no more than a few hundred people.

Now your eyes see thousands of citizens on the streets of the Quarter of Big Market...

How many people live in this city? Ten thousand? Or more?

The luxurious appearance of the Quarter of Big Market buildings leaves an impression on you. Most of the buildings are made of stone; the facades of some buildings are covered with patterned bas-reliefs.

Trade stalls and shops sell various types of expensive goods. Silk fabrics. Exotic fruits from distant overseas lands. Expensive wines and other alcoholic drinks. Alchemical elixirs. Hardy riding horses from the eastern steppes. Armor and weapons that are created by the hands of the most virtuoso craftsmen.

The wide variety of products will take your breath away.

Along the way you see passersby who are clearly nobles or very rich merchants. Such persons move along the street accompanied by armed guards. Some of these rich and influential persons move through the streets not on foot, but by other means: in carriages or on horseback, splashing mud from puddles towards the side of the road (where ordinary townspeople are **** to huddle). At the same time, the guards push away the crowds of passers-by, making way for the corresponding noble person.

You keep walking.

Unfortunately, with every step you take, you experience increasing discomfort and pain.

This is not just pain in old wounds that have barely had time to heal.

This is something more serious: you feel pain in your chest.

You think bitterly: “They probably broke a couple of ribs for me after all... Damn those vile forest monsters!”

You notice among the large two-story stone store buildings one building whose appearance makes you think about how you can improve your current state of health.

This is a large temple building belonging to the Church of the Equal Great Deities-Brothers. This building has an impressive appearance, majestic columns and bas-reliefs on the walls. The temple rises above two-story buildings.

You decide to go inside.

At the temple doors you are greeted by a group of tall and muscular temple guards, who are dressed in steel cuirasses and who hold large halberds in their hands. Just one look at the tip and blade of such a halberd makes you realize that whoever angers these guys will have very... very painful problems.

One of the temple guards (a bald human man about 35 years old, he has a shaved chin, a small black mustache, an unpleasant look of black eyes and a bluish scar on his left cheekbone), who looks like a guard commander, demandingly asks you: “For what business do you want visit the Temple of the Illustrious Wave Lord Orlan, Our Great God and Victorious Creator of Civilization?”

Due to the excess of pretentious epithets, you are slightly confused.

You ask: “What... Are there any problems?”

Some of the temple guards chuckle quietly.

Are they laughing at you? Why?

The commander of the temple guards looks annoyed.

He speaks with a mixture of outrage and religious fanaticism: “This is the main temple of the Quarter of Big Market. This is a sacred building intended for the most pious and respectable residents of the city! The sacred relics that are located in this temple have outstanding spiritual power! Therefore, any dirty and smelly ragamuffins from the outlying slums who are not even able to have a decent appearance are not allowed into this temple! Only those who are worthy of it can enter the temple!”

It seems you are beginning to understand what the problem is.

Indeed, your clothes look worn and dirty. Peasants from the village of Olinsford sewed up the holes in the fabric... But still: your clothes clearly do not look like the vestments of a rich person.

However, you assume that... there are ways to convince the temple guards.

You reach into your travel bag, which is slung over your shoulder.

You take out a handful of gold coins.

Fifteen gold coins.

This is a large amount of money.

You present this money to the commander of the temple guard.

Out of surprise, he doesn’t have time to say anything to you. He just looks at the gold coins that you put on his palm.

You say with a smile, “I would like to visit this beautiful temple to make a donation... A much larger donation than the amount of money I just gave you in order to settle... a misunderstanding. I think that do you understand that I belong to the category of “the most pious and respectable” persons. Is not it?"

The commander of the temple guards nods and mutters something unintelligible. He quickly puts the gold coins into a small belt pouch. He then orders the temple guards to let you inside the temple.

You go inside the temple. The interior spaces will amaze you with luxury. Majestic columns. Stone bas-reliefs on the walls. Exquisite tapestries made from expensive fabrics. On the tapestries you see colorful images: religious scenes from sacred texts, images of saints, symbols of the deities Orlan and Alaratos.

Priests and their servants walk along spacious corridors.

You also see a small number of temple visitors: these are clearly very rich persons.

You stop one of the temple's minor servants.

You ask: “Is it possible to receive healing services in this temple? My chest hurts a lot... I may have some broken ribs..."

This young blond guy explains where you need to go. According to him, you need the senior priest-hospitalist Auguston.

Ten minutes later you find the right room.

The large iron-clad oak door is closed.

You knock on the door timidly.

From behind the door comes a muffled grumbling: “What else happened? Not a moment of peace! Is it really impossible to cope with problems without my participation?!”

The door opens.

You see a slightly hunched human old man in a silk priest's robe, which has a white-bluish tint. Wrinkled face, narrowed gray eyes, small grayish beard, large nose.

On the priest's neck hangs a golden chain with the religious symbol of the Church of the Equally Great Brother-Deities.

You explain to the priest the essence of your health problems.

The priest allows you into his room and examines you. It forces you to take deep breaths, bend over, wave your arms, and squat.

Then he asks you for a long time about your symptoms and your pain.

You're a little annoyed.

You think: “Why all this nonsense! You just need to use a divine spell and heal me!”

The priest says (as if he understood your thoughts): "It’s always the same! Ignorant commoners! "Just use spell!" In your stupid opinion it is “very simple and easy”! In reality, it’s not at all like that: you must first understand the essence of the problem, study reflexes, examine the symptoms... And one more thing: healing with the help of divine grace, which the priest relays through himself, is a complex process... You, ignorant ordinary people, should be more respectful of this!"

Still grumbling, Priest Auguston approaches the table and takes out a small bluish gemstone.

You don't know much about gemstones. You don't know what this gem is called.

The priest makes incomprehensible gestures with his hands and begins to monotonously pronounce the words of a prayer in the old Orlanian dialect.

The priest's palms are covered in a bluish glow.

Continuing to pronounce the words of prayer, the priest approaches you. His hands move closer to your chest. However, there is no physical touching.

The bluish glow pulsates and intensifies.

You feel your blood getting hot. Strong impulses arise within your body. The pain begins to subside.

After a couple of tens of minutes, the treatment procedure was completed.

You feel much better.

I had to pay a lot for this treatment... as much as 30 gold coins!

In parting, Priest Auguston told you: “Do not think that all problems have simply disappeared! Spells can speed up the regeneration of damaged flesh or bones and reduce painful sensations. But if your lifestyle is harmful to your health, then in the future you can bring your body to a state where even spells will be of no use.”

You thanked the priest and walked towards the exit of the temple.

Along the way, you heard phrases from a dialogue between two richly dressed merchants who were sitting on a bench near the exit of the temple. Before you leave the building, you catch a few phrases from this conversation.

One of the merchants says: “You shouldn’t send a caravan with goods to this city! Major fighting has recently begun in the eastern borders of the Kingdom of Orlania. Numerous orc raids... The young ruler of the Forest Reach duchy died... Armed clashes with orc tribes occur along the entire eastern border of the duchy..."

The second merchant replies: “Indeed: the risks for trade are increasing... But I am **** to look for new markets for my goods! By the way: sad events are also happening in our kingdom - you probably heard about the mysterious disappearance of one of the younger sons of earl Angus Macclarn? The young guy went hunting and disappeared... He probably died... The body was never found..."

The first merchant says: “Yes... I heard about this tragedy... Canlur Macclarn was not the heir, but I heard that his father had plans for him about a dynastic marriage. Now, earl Angus blames his old rivals for the tragedy - the noble family Virmund! There is no evidence... But the suspicions and anger of old earl Angus are too strong... This obviously will not lead to anything good..."

You leave the temple building without listening to this conversation.

You are again walking through the crowded streets of the city.