Today, it was Aleksandr's off day. He had been working non-stop for some time, and he thought he deserved a break. 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.' Of course, he hadn't needed to work very hard to complete any of his clients' requests. And he liked it, but rest was also important. Currently, he was strolling through the streets of Hargeon while sipping a coffee, sightseeing. As he had been in Hargeon for some time, he was somewhat familiar with the city. But, he didn't know about it enough. Especially considering he was planning on staying here for a while, or at least in the immediate region. While he wasn't comfortable with the weather yet, perhaps never will be, but he had started slipping into a routine. But even they become tiresome after a while. Maybe he should join a guild? He had never been in one, and it was about time. They definitely had their perks. There were some repercussions, however, as he would get bound to the guild for quite some time. And he didn't have any intention of giving up his freedom. Plus, if the guild gets attacked and then there's protection and blah blah blah. Self-preservation is a virtue, and Aleksandr's reserves had not run out. Yet. He was almost at the docks.

As he was rambling about, he noticed that there was some construction going on. Reconstruction to be precise. There were laborers in the street, lifting the materials to renovate a run of buildings. Opportunity? Perhaps. While in his childhood, he grew up accustomed to a life of leisure, that was, before being shipped off to the middle of nowhere, he was now quite used to doing physical labor. He didn't mind, even if the pay was low and the energy consumed was high. It was almost a workout. He stopped to look. There was one man that stood out from the rest of the rowdy bunch. The man was young, blonde, and dressed in fine clothes. But he was assisting with the work. How strange. Maybe he was supervising it, but it was still peculiar. His kind usually relegated this work to his juniors. It was admirable of him.

"Would you like to assist us in some reconstruction?" the blonde yelled across the street, looking right at Aleksandr. He didn't have an answer quite yet. "Uh..." but he took a deep breath and then said to himself his motto. 'Money, contacts, money.' He was not going to let this slip past. "Sure, what should I assist with?" he shouted back at the blonde and walked across to him. "Whatever you want to work with."

"I'm Reign Valystasia, by the way." 'Reign' spoke to him. "I'm Aleksandr Sokolov, nice to meet you. " he answered back, and they shook hands. The man seemed surprised as if he was shocked that Aleksandr didn't recognize him. Aleksandr was baffled by his expression. Was he a noble? It was likely, as he was head-to-toe in fine clothes. But still, Aleksandr had no reason to know of him. He had only recently come across Hargeon, and was not very familiar with the social structure of the city. "I'll help with the construction itself." Carrying materials around was boring. He'd rather be inside the action, so to say. "Alright then." and Reign gave him a tour and thorough introduction to the work he had to do.

Aleksandr spent the rest of the day hammering away at nails and bricklaying. He was absolutely exhausted and had barely any energy left. "Hey, the blonde, who is he?" Aleksandr asked a fellow worker. "You don't know him? He's the lord of our city." and chuckled a bit. This exchange made Aleksandr feel stupid. "I'm new here." he said and walked away on his way to find Reign.

He soon found Reign around the edge of the docks, still supervising the whole building. "My lord." he greeted the blonde. Reign chuckled, and simply said "You finally found out." which made Aleksandr smile. "Anyways, here's your reward." the young lord said and handed Aleksandr a sack full of jewels. "Thank you, my lord." Aleksandr nodded and departed. Thank god Reign didn't hold him in contempt for not recognizing him.

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Word Count: 697/500