by Phoenix Grey
Will you accept this quest: Yes or No?
An overlapping quest, was the first thing that came to Azure's mind. This was the first time he'd been given two quests at once...which was kind of interesting to him considering that he had been questless for a little while there. Azure couldn't help but wonder if he accepted the quest if it would cancel out his quest with Lonnell. He highly doubted that he would be able to rescue the women and make it to the mainland before Lonnell was able to find Bronna.
The next thing that caught his attention was that the quest was rated as Very Hard. The only other Very Hard quest he'd taken on had been the quest to Defeat the Dark One. That quest had gotten Uden killed. There had been three of them for that one, a party of companions working together to achieve a singular goal. If he accepted this quest, it would just be him. And if anything went wrong, it would likely mean his death.
Saving the decision for later, Azure dismissed the notification and returned to the barn. While the day hadn't been physically stressful, it certainly had been emotionally. The death of his friend still weighed on him, topped off with having a fight with Lonnell, and Azure was in a foul mood. Of all people, he had expected Lonnell to be on his side with the plan for saving the women. Since Azure had woken up in The Realm, he'd considered Lonnell to be the most morally upright person he'd met next to his father. That's why his refusal just didn't make sense. Shouldn't freeing the women be important to him, too?
Whatever, I'll just do it myself, he thought stubbornly again, then spent the next several hours pouring over the plan in his head. The cage had been in a central area of the settlement, placed strategically so that it could be watched by not only the guards but everyone else. Sneaking in wasn't going to be easy. It was in a fairly open space, so Stealthing would only work until he got close to it.
There were also the unknown variables that made rescuing the women risky, such as how they'd react when they saw him. If they called out to him or made a ruckus, they would alert the guards, and soon a whole swarm of goblins would descend upon him. Would the women be able to Stealth effectively? He doubted it. They had all Analyzed as blue to him. Being held captive, there was no way for them to level up. More than likely, they didn't possess any skills. And even after the rescue...they would undoubtedly be pursued. Would the women be able to keep up in their fragile pregnant states? Would they even be able to run? Thinking realistically, it probably wouldn't be long before the goblins caught up to them. With no other backup, Azure would have to face them alone. And if they sent stronger goblins than his level, which they most certainly would, the odds would not be in his favor.
"Fuck," Azure cursed, feeling a ball of anger and guilt forming in his stomach. No matter how he spun it, rescuing the women and making it out alive seemed to be an impossible task. Maybe if Uden was still alive and it was the three of them...But neither brother was on his side with this one.
Despair for the women filled him. If only he were stronger. If only there weren't so many goblins. If only the cage was on the outskirts of the settlement instead of right in the dead center of it. He had no advantage, only hindrances.
Maybe if I sleep on it, something will come to me in the morning. Something I might have overlooked that would make this easier.
Discontent but tired, Azure settled down in the straw, hoping that endless scenarios wouldn't keep him awake. If he was to save these women, the last thing he needed was his own body going against him.
CHAPTER TEN
THE REALM – Day 39
The morning came with no new revelations and little sleep. Azure groaned awake, feeling stiff and cranky. His first thoughts were of the quest to save the women and how overwhelmingly against him the odds were. It bothered him that he couldn't find a solution. Surely, the game wouldn't have offered him the quest if he wasn't capable of completing it.
Azure rolled over and sighed, thinking of some of Uden's last words to him, that this wasn't a game. Uden had died and not come back, but Azure had always suspected him of being an NPC. If that were true, then why had he been so human. More human than Lonnell and Manny. Azure couldn't be sure anymore. Maybe they were all real.
He dragged himself to breakfast and felt the tension between him and Lonnell immediately.
After sitting there in silence for a few minutes, Manny looked between the two friends. “Are you two ready for the big boat ride today?” There was no enthusiasm in his voice.
"I'm not sure I'm going to go," Azure confessed as he listlessly cut into his eggs.
"Oh?" Manny sounded surprised. "Why not? Want to stay and help me on the farm." He cast a smile at Meva who returned it in kind.
Azure felt guilty for declining, but farming had never been on his list of things to do. “There are some women at the goblin settlement that I'm thinking of rescuing first.”
Manny guffawed. “Look at you trying to be the hero.”
The mockery in his words made Azure scowl. “What's so wrong with wanting to be a hero?”
"You have to be alive to be a hero." Manny turned his attention back down to his plate. "That's a suicide mission."
"I hate to say I told you so," Lonnell chimed in from across the table.
"Uden was a hero," Azure mumbled.
All of the laughter drained from Manny's voice. “And now he's dead.” He gave Azure a pointed look. “Don't go chasing after lost causes. The world is full of wrongs that you won't be able to right.
"Sure, you could save those girls, but what about the hundreds of others held captive in other goblin settlements across The Realm? Where's their rescue? Their justice? And if you did manage to rescue them all, then how would the goblin race survive? No woman is voluntarily going to want to breed with them. You have to think of the ecosystem. Everything has a purpose."
That's a little warped, Azure thought, but he didn't say it. "And what's the purpose of the goblins? All I've seen them do is raid, pillage, and rape."
"Goblins can subsist on a lot of aggressive plant and animal life that humans and other creatures cannot. And although they're a nuisance, they also take on other threats, often killing dangerous monsters around their settlements which keeps them from making their way to human villages. Every creature in The Realm has its purpose. It's not their fault that they cannot procreate on their own."
"I personally still think we should kill them all. Or at least most of them," Meva said in a near whisper.
It's the fucked up circle of life.
"That still doesn't make it right," Azure insisted.
"No. But it's a necessary balance," Manny told him. "More often than not, the goblins buy women from slaver ships. As sad as it is to say, these are people that no one will miss. Most of them don't have families, and the ones that do probably wouldn't even be able to make it back to them if they were freed."
"Again, that still doesn't make it right," he reiterated.
"Listen, Azure," Manny leaned back in his chair. "If you want to make it your life's work to liberate these women, that's all well and good. But if you're going to rescue them, you also have to be prepared to care for them. To feed and clothe them. That takes money. You also have to be willing to help the ones that want to return home to do just that. That takes money AND time. And while you're busy doing all of those things, the goblins will just keep buying new slaves to keep their race alive. Unless you plan to annihilate them all, in which case you'll need an army. It's too big of a job for one man on his own. So think about that all very carefully before you choose this as your path."
Azure deflated. Manny had a lot of good points, many of which were the same that Uden had made. It just killed him to think of those women suffering. He knew better than to hope that he could commit mass genocide on the goblins and end this problem of women being used for breeding stock. Even if he was able to escape with the women and not die in the process, Manny was right, the goblins would just find more women. The problem was cyclical. Perhaps his time would be better invested in finding a diplomatic solution to
the problem...if goblins were even capable of diplomacy. Like scouting out women willing to bear goblin children for a certain amount of coin. Surrogates. But if he were to make it work, first he'd have to find women willing to be on board with the idea. From what he could tell, there weren't many unmarried women in Cragbell. He highly doubted that any that were available would be willing to volunteer for the job.
For a moment, Azure wondered if he should be more outraged that there were slaves in The Realm. That was the perfect way for the goblins to find breeding stock without bringing down the wrath of the human settlements around them by kidnapping women. But even if he were somehow able to end slavery, it wouldn't end the goblins' need for human women.
"So what are you going to do?" Lonnell asked him, interrupting his thoughts.
Azure felt sick. He had vowed to save those women, but it didn't seem possible right now. As long as they were held captive, the quest would wait for him. His joint quest with Lonnell, however, probably wouldn't.
With a long sigh, he submitted to defeat. “I suppose I'll be getting on the ship with you.”
"Good." Manny lightly banged his fist on the top of the table. "I'm glad you've come to your senses."
Someday, he told himself, hoping that it wasn't just a lie. There had been many things in his real life that he'd vowed to do that he'd never gotten around to completing. This seemed more important, though. He didn't want it to be the same.
They finished breakfast and then went about preparing for the trip. Azure restocked his arrows one last time, then he met up with Lonnell to head down to the pier. The journey took them in a direction that he hadn't traveled in before, but was rather uneventful.
Eventually, the treeline broke to reveal a small pier built off of the sandy shore. Aside from a rowboat pulled up next to the pier, the only vessel present was a cog about twenty meters long. Its one mast supported a single plain white sail.
Two men were standing on the pier talking, one of which was Ruthren. His cart was nowhere to be seen, so Azure assumed that it must already be on board. Lonnell took the lead as they stepped foot onto the old wooden pier. Neither of the men seemed to acknowledge them, deeply engaged in conversation, until the adventurers approached. Even then, Ruthren's eyes flicked toward them a few times before he deigned to address them.
"Hey. You made it!" He threw up his arms in welcome. "I wasn't sure you would. Captain Gail here was about to leave you behind. I was trying to stall him." Ruthren winked at them.
"Is that what ya were tryin' ta do?" the captain laughed. "Yer usually long-winded, but even I thought this was a bit much."
Captain Gail's long white wavy hair was loosely tied back with a black ribbon yet still appeared wind-beaten. There were strands of color running through it that suggested he might have once been blond or auburn-headed. A thick red bandana was wrapped around his head and tucked under his ponytail in the back. Dark splotches covered his weather-worn face, but Azure couldn't tell if it was a mass of freckles or sun spots. His skin looked rough like leather and had a deep red tint to it. A mix of salt and pepper whiskers blanketed his jaw and neck. Adorning his body was a simple white shirt with a blue captain's jacket and black breeches. On top of those were black boots that went almost up to his knees. He was tall and lanky in build, and while he looked like he could mean business when he wanted to, his dark brown eyes were warm and welcoming.
"Ruthren can talk a lot," Lonnell pointed out with a nervous laugh.
"He tells me ya want ta buy passage aboard my lovely vessel." Captain Gail gestured back to his ship, cutting straight to business.
"We would." Azure nodded. "How much is it?"
The captain looked them up and down critically as if the fee was dependent upon how he assessed them. “For ya gents, one gold and five silver a piece. Since yer friends with ol' Ruthren here, I knocked off a whole silver for ya.”
That was a lot more than Lonnell had guessed it would be. Luckily, Azure had budgeted extra just in case. While he wasn't thrilled about the price, there was no way he wasn't going to pay it.
They emptied the coin into their palms and handed it over to the captain. There was no greed in his eyes as he took the fee and placed it in the satchel at his hip. Once he was done, he addressed them again. “I hope ya enjoy your ride on the Shropshire. Now that that business is taken care of, we should set sail. It's a bit of a journey, and I'd like to be deep into The Misty Waters before nightfall.”
"The Misty Waters?" It was all Greek to Azure.
"That's what the sea between here and Squall's End is called," Lonnell leaned in to inform him.
"Ya not from around here?" Captain Gail raised a bushy eyebrow.
"I was thinking the same thing of you." Azure smiled, not sure how to explain himself. "Your accent is very similar to his girlfriend's." He nodded toward Lonnell.
The captain guffawed before responding. “No, I'm not from around here. Not many people are from around these parts. I hail from the far north in the Land of Air. And you, sir?”
"He has amnesia," Lonnell quickly butted in. "We're still trying to figure out where he's from."
Captain Gail scratched his whiskers. “Ya have a Patheanian accent, so I imagine yer from around here somewhere. Probably the mainland, though, if no one here can identify ya. Maybe you'll find yer family when ya return.”
My family? It was strange for Azure to remember that he had no family here. Strange...and lonely. Though he wasn't sure why it felt lonely. Once he'd moved from Ohio to California for his job at Radical Interactive, he barely saw his family anymore. In fact, he had only spoken to them on the phone once a month. It made him feel like a bad son. Never had he thought he would regret the distance.
"Well, that's enough small talk. Wouldn't want ta run inta the sirens in the daytime just because I was chitchatting." Captain Gail winked again, though Azure was missing the joke...if there was one.
"Ah yes, the sirens," Ruthren said with distaste.
"The sirens." Azure's eyes lit up. "I should like to see them," he told his companions as they walked to board the ship.
"No, ya wouldn't lad." The captain waved his interest away. "They're overrated."
"Sea bitches." Ruthren grunted.
"Sea bitches," Captain Gail parroted with a chuckle.
"Well, I would like to see these sea bitches," Azure insisted.
Once they'd boarded, Captain Gail branched off from them to head to the bridge while Ruthren took them below deck to show them where they'd be sleeping. Before they'd even come back up, the ship was pulling away from the pier. This was it. Azure was finally leaving Crescent Island, and a new adventure was about to begin.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE REALM – Day 39
Azure and Lonnell stayed on deck, leaning over the railing watching Crescent Island get smaller and smaller in the distance as they sailed away from it. Lonnell's expression was unreadable, and Azure could only assume that his friend was having some anxious thoughts.
"We'll find Bronna. Don't worry," he said in the way of comfort.
"I know."
"Your parents will be fine without you, if that's what you're worried about."
"I know that as well."
Lonnell didn't seem to be in a talking mood, so Azure left it at that.
The cog was manned by a crew of ten. All were men except for one, a woman only slightly younger than the captain. She hung out mostly on the bridge, spending her time speaking with Captain Gail. Since she didn't seem to be doing anything particularly productive, Azure assumed that she was likely his wife. There was no ring on her finger, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. On a ship, it probably wasn't very practical to wear such jewelry. Also, Azure wasn't even sure if rings were part of the wedding customs in The Realm.
Once Crescent Island disappeared from sight, the voyage quickly became boring. There was nothing for Azure and Lonnell to do besides stare at the sea or lounge around below deck. It should have been a nice reprieve
from all of the walking and adventuring they'd been doing, but Azure found it incredibly dull.
Most of the men were busy helping with running the ship. Ruthren had stowed himself away below deck to drink. Azure planted himself next to the merchant, hoping for a handout and some interesting stories. He stared at the bottle of whiskey in Ruthren's hand, but the man seemed to have no intentions of sharing.
"Do you have any whiskey for sale?" he finally asked, willing to pay for entertainment at this point.
"Libations are not something that I trade in," the merchant told him, still not willing to offer him a drink.
"I should have bought some before we boarded this ship. I had no idea how boring it would be." Azure sighed, leaning against the wall next to Ruthren.
"Aye. There's nothing glamorous about traveling this way. Lots of motionless hours. No fun for guys that are used to being on the run. But your money is probably better spent on something to read than on something to drink. Unless, of course, you plan to drink until you pass out." The merchant raised an eyebrow at him, sniffing for a sale.
"I am admittedly nauseous," Azure confessed, feeling it even as he said it. "Somehow, I've been able to keep from vomiting, but I fear that reading would send me over the edge."
"Then you don't want any of this." He raised the bottle. "It's one of the quickest ways to puking. Actually, your next meal should be quite entertaining."
That wasn't a pleasant assumption. Azure didn't want to make his motion sickness worse, but he knew he couldn't go without eating forever.
"Who is the woman?" he asked.
"The woman?" Ruthren raised a bushy eyebrow.
"The one on board this ship. The only one I've seen."
Understanding hit him. “That's Jade. She's the Shropshire's sea mage.”
"Sea mage?" Azure had never heard that term before in any game that he'd ever played. It sounded like a specialized class.
"Yes. That's what they call casters that work on ships like this," the merchant confirmed Azure's thoughts on the matter.
