The Doppelganger: Book One - Steve's Chance Read online

  Chapter Two

  When Steve awoke, he almost wanted to work on his house some more, but he knew that he should go to Chance and explore around to know the town better and to see if he could find new people or interesting jobs. He wanted some new friends at least. Growing up in Daint, he had a few people he hung out with regularly, but when all was said and done, they weren’t really what he’d call “Friends,” just people whom he had associated with to pass the time.

  Steve left his home and went to the Chance gates. The guards let him in, and thankfully the town was a little less crowded this time around. He made sure to get up at the crack of dawn, when people were still asleep. He needed some time to allow the town to show him what it had to offer. His first mission was to stop at this coffee shop that was near the entrance. The shop was a cute little shack with tables outside where people would sip their cup of joe and talk about local gossip. Steve went inside, and the barista smiled.

  “Hello, and welcome to Chance Coffee, the freshest cup you can find,” the barista said in a happy voice. Then, as expected, “Say, you look familiar. Did you come in a few days ago or something?”

  This was the second time that Steve had been asked this, and Steve shook his head. “No, sir. I think you’re thinking about someone else. I keep getting asked this, though.”

  “Oh, sorry. I guess people start to blend together after a while . . . just like our fresh blends. What will you have?”

  “Just a cup of coffee, nothing in it,” Steve said. The barista rung up the amount, and Steve handed him the coinage. Soon he had a cup of hot coffee in his hands, and he decided to take a sip outside. There were two older men sitting on the benches, and each one had something to say about the town.

  “You hear about the new king?” one of the men asked.

  “New king? This place changes rulers so fast it makes my head spin.”

  “Well, they say he isn’t related to anyone in the family, if you can call them a family. No one who works outside the castle has even seen him yet. He will be seen during the initiation in a few days, though.”

  “I hope he’s better than the last king. That last one drove the economy a bit south, or so I think.”

  Steve ignored them and remembered that Chance had a ruler. It wasn’t a kingdom, per se, but it was a big town, and the ruler did declare themselves as king. According to some, the king had control over everything, yet according to others, the king was mostly there for show. The family who ran the place founded Chance a long time ago as a beacon for ambitious people to expand their dreams.

  Steve sipped on his coffee, savoring the rich flavor and wondering what his next move would be. He could always look for jobs, but right now he was comfortable with learning just where everything was. Even though the coffee was piping hot, he managed to gulp the rest of it down and feel his belly getting all warm. He put his cup away and went down the path that led to more stores. They had a store for everything here—a place to cut your hair, a store that sold shoes and only shoes, a store that had different weapons made of all kinds of material including diamond (though that was a bit out of his budget) and a store that had armor in its display windows. Steve could probably get any job he wanted to, but he would settle on the first thing he saw. Steve was also getting into the residential district. The districts were divided into different houses, from the small poorhouses to large mansions. He passed by this and made his way to the town square.

  The town square was starting to get bustling, with people hanging around the fountain in the center. The fountain was of a Creeper that had water coming out of his eyes and mouth. According to the plaque on it, this was built by a servant of the former king who had a sense of humor. He used a Creeper because Chance was “A booming place that was exploding in opportunity.” All around, small shops were being set up and children were running around in the grassy patch that was seen as the playground. This was all great, but Steve was busy eyeing the bulletin board that was located close to the fountain.

  The bulletin board system was the most famous feature Chance had, even though it sounded like it should have been common sense. Basically, Chance had it so there were bulletin boards scattered around where job hunters could look for new jobs. The one in the square was the most popular one. There was one job on every slip of paper that was tacked onto there, and all you had to do was take the slip of paper to the person who posted the job to apply.

  Unfortunately, there were slim pickings, as it was still early. However, there was one slip of paper that caught Steve’s eye. “Wanted: Person who can clean the weapons shop. Needs to keep the place free of dust at all times.”

  Steve wasn’t the cleanliest person at home, but he was good at keeping other people’s places clean. Steve nabbed the piece of paper and remembered where the weapons shop was. Steve walked toward it, happy about his new job. Maybe he could earn some decent money or even get a free sword. As he went inside, all of these possibilities kept swarming through his head. Chance really was a town of chance.