It was a short walk back to town with Butters and the other guards and after a few quick farewells and promises to get drinks later I trudged through the streets to the townhall.
Immediately, I was greeted by Margie who escorted me to the mayor’s office. Inside, every seat was filled, mostly by people I recognized but there were two I hadn’t met yet.
“Ah, Bye-bye, you are back,” the mayor greeted me boisterously. “Did everything go well? Were you able to catch the brigands?”
“Yes sir, killed one but captured the other. I’ve already turned over the prisoner and body to Sergeant Butters and his men. I also turned over all of the men’s property,” I answered. I felt it would be best to be thorough.
“All the property?” asked Duke, he sounded slightly unsettled.
“All but the personal item you asked me to collect for you, but we can go over that in private later if you are alright with waiting a little while,” I answered, hoping it would be sufficient, I still didn’t know the other two people in the room.
“I am afraid I will have to insist you return the personal item now,” said one of the two people I hadn’t met yet. This
“Bye-bye, this is Lieutenant Graves. He oversees the garrison,” explained the mayor, I couldn’t help but notice the man looked slightly crestfallen.
“Very well,” I said, pulling the two wedding bands Butter had me hold onto, I guess he was thinking Duke and his wife would want them back immediately. Or he knew what I was bringing back to Duke and felt the need to protect them and me. “Here you are Duke, Mrs. Johnson,” I presented them both with the rings.
“Please Bye-bye, I think you can safely call me Mary now,” said Mrs. Johnson, happily taking her ring and slipping it back on.
“I see,” said Graves stiffly. I could see he was expecting something entirely different. Meanwhile, both the mayor and Duke looked the parts of a pair of cats just ate an entire opera of canaries. “I will go question the prisoner. Good day gentlemen.” The man said nothing further and left, but not before giving me the stink eye.
I wasn’t sad to see the Lieutenant go.
“I suppose I should move on as well,” said the last person, an older woman in white robes, I assumed she was Priestess Trinico, her nameplate changed instantly from
“You brilliant boy,” said the mayor, positively giddy.
“I have the other item but again, we can deal with that once we can be sure Graves isn’t going to suddenly pop back in. Are you two alright?” I asked, concerned for both Duke and Mary.
“We are fine, you patched us up just enough to get back here and Trini patched us up the rest of way,” said Mary, reassuring me and lightly squeezing my forearm in a surprisingly comforting manner.
I couldn’t help but sigh in relief. “Before I forget,” I began as I removed the bedsheets from my bag and handed them to Mary. She snorted in amusement once then she began to laugh heartily, wiping at a few tears in her eyes.
Quest Alert: Laundry Service - Complete
Mrs. Johnson has asked you but a new set of bedsheets to replace the sheets destroy by the boar.
Reward: +40 Experience, 10-Copper
“I do not get it,” said Duke, looking from Mary to me and back again. “You know our house just burned to the ground, right? Bed and all?”
“Oh, he gets it, Duke, it is what makes it funny,” said Mary, wiping away a few tears of laughter.
“Well then, I will start to organize some volunteers to help with rebuilding your farm. I am afraid there is nothing we can do about the lost crops but not all is lost. At least you still have what was retrieved to sell, it should be enough to rebuild the house, but the barn may take some time,” stated Homer, trying to provide solutions to their problems and offer hope. “For now, I will arrange a room for you at Dogson’s, it is the least I can do.”
“Mind me asking about Graves? Why did I get the feeling he was looking for the moonshine?”
“Because he was. He does seem to have a hatred of anything alcohol related, not even the beers and spirits Dogson has. Now, Dogson acquires his through legal and licensed means, and as such Graves cannot touch him. So, when he had a chance to nab Duke for making a less than legal beverage the man jumped at it. I should warn you. You have probably made an enemy of him now, too.” The mayor’s explanation was clear enough. However, to me, it meant Graves might have an interesting and unique backstory worth investigating.
But that could come later.
“Duke, would you agree justice has been served?” I asked.
“Assuming you got the right guys and given you have returned our wedding rings, I think it is safe to assume you got the right guys. As such, I would say yes, justice is served.”
Class Quest Alert: Seek Justice for Farmer Johnson and his wife - Completed
Duke Johnson’s farm has been sacked by a pair of bandits. You have been charged to serve justice and capture or eliminate the criminals. Time Limit 02:00:00
Reward: +500 Experience, Bounty Marker, Collect your reward from the Temple of Issara at Root City.
That was well-earned experience.
Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 4!
+1 to bonus Holy Spells, +1 Intellect, +1 Charisma
So much for a quiet day of reading. And of course, there were a bunch of exclamation points in the corner which I had ignored earlier.
I wasn’t sure what to expect as the stats I usually raised were already maxed out for level 3. So, when I opened the messages I was pleased. Very pleased. This was different from what I thought it would be. There were no stat increases except for two new levels in ‘Lesser Heal’. What was surprising was the two new skills or rather skill and subskill, ‘Stealth’ and ‘Ambush’
Stealth
Level: 1
Experience: 0.00%
Non-Combat Movement: Speed Reduced by 80%
Chance of Being Revealed: 60.00%
Skill Stamina Cost: 2 per second
Subskill: Ambush
Critical Strike Chance: 100.00%
Skill Stamina Cost: 20
Now that was awesome.
I stayed in the mayor’s office for a little while as they conversed, asking the occasional question, taking in some of the town gossips and getting a few names of people I should probably talk to as they may lead to a quest or two or just have interesting lore to them.
“Alright, it is about time to close up the office,” Homer finally said. “I am sure Graves is long gone so if you do not mind completing your delivery, I am sure Duke and his wife would appreciate a good meal and some real rest.
So, I handed over the moonshine to Duke.
Quest Alert: Shiny Delivery Service 3 - Completed
Farmer Johnson’s moonshine has been stolen and asks you to recover it from the thieves.
Reward: +200 Experience, 2-Silver, Farmer’s Ring of Stamina
“Thank you again,” said Duke. “I want you to have this,” he then dropped a ring in my hand, not his wedding ring either. I’m not sure how he held onto it with the recent robbery but figuring it was just one of those game things. I was happy to accept the ring. I was even happier when I saw what the ring gave me, Farmer’s Ring of Stamina which gave me +2 Stamina and +4 Stamina Regeneration.
“I was happy to help,” I replied. I was happy to help. The ring was nice, but I had actually helped someone. It didn’t feel as if it was just another NPC for a quest, but a real person. I knew then if I wasn’t careful, this place could become more real to me than the real world and that would be a slippery slope into bad places.
A few more farewells and I walked over to Dogson’s with
the Johnsons in tow. I said farewell to them as they went to talk to Dogson himself. I, in turn, went straight to my room intent to take a nap.
I was woken from my nap by a knock on the door and Dogson advising me dinner would be starting soon. I didn’t remember setting a wakeup call, but I was happy for it, the growl of my stomach confirmed as well.
Dinner was good, a roast of some kind of meat, potatoes, carrots and another slice of pie. I had a few pints of the Orcish ale I fell in love with the day before. I ended my day recounting the day’s adventures for the patrons willing to listen. I flirted more with Trish but made no progress but did earn a few more points of charisma for my efforts.
As I was about to head upstairs to sleep, Dogson signaled me over.
“How can I help you, my good man?” I asked a bit more gregariously than I normally would, thanks to the liquid courage I had consumed.
“Before you head off to bed, might I suggest you take a bath or shower, you have begun to ripen,” he advised me.
In the three days since I’d been here, I hadn’t used the bathroom once which was normal for games for the most part. However, I hadn’t given a single thought to cleanliness. I sweat plenty with all the training I do. I had killed animals and been splashed with blood, I could still see some of the stains on my clothes. So, I did the one thing I hadn’t considered, gave myself a pit check and nearly choked.
“Do you do laundry too?” I asked.
“Thank Sirius, you asked. I was thinking about simply stealing your clothes while you bathed,” he said, a clear look of relief on his face.
“Do you have some spare clothes I could use for the night, while these are washed?”
“If you were to look in your armoire you will find a robe, pajamas and fresh towels,” he answered, and boy did I feel stupid for not looking earlier. “You can put your dirty clothes in a basket in the washroom and they will be returned to your room first thing in the morning clean. We can patch up any damages for anything cloth or leather, but anything chainmail or heavier will have to be sent out to a blacksmith and they have a 48-hour turnaround for the most part.”
“That would be great if they could be repaired.”
“Excellent, washrooms are the end of each floor hallway, only one occupant permitted at a time, so you do not have to worry about anyone walking in on you or walking in on someone else,” he explained.
“What if I wanted company in the bath?”
“This is a hotel, not a brothel. Everyone uses those washrooms, so any kind of activity other than bathing is strictly prohibited. And if you are thinking about trying to sneak someone in, do not bother. I paid a mage to put a barrier on each door only allowing one person in at a time.”
“I wasn’t going to, I was just curious, I swear,” I said, trying to sound as innocent as I could.
“I am sure you were,” said Dogson flatly, but I could see the corner of his mouth twitching a little trying not to laugh.
“Well, then, off to the bath I go,” I stated. I was quick to my room to grab a towel, pajamas and a robe which I took with me to the bath. It was thankfully unoccupied. I could have taken a quick shower, but the bath was appreciated. I could feel the hot water seep into my joints and muscles. I hadn’t noticed just how sore they were from all the constant running around and training. This game was something special.
After soaking for a good while in a nice hot bath, I was happy to put my clothes and armor into one of the baskets and return to my room. My head hit the pillow and a few minutes later I was dead to the world.
Chapter 8
ROOSTER MUST DIE! I wanted so badly to smite the demon fowl, but Dogson would probably get angry with me. Angry Dogson could lead to bad things happening with regards to my current home and I don’t want to be evicted over a chicken. It was these thoughts dominating my sleep addled brain as I slowly awoke. At least today would hopefully be a lazy day or a lazier day.
I had no urgent quests to worry about. The one quest I did have required research, but there was no rush to research the town history. So, I returned to my original hopes of a lazier day. The only non-lazy thing I had planned, was training with Sergeant Butters.
I suppose I did have one other major objective today, reading or maybe writing and drawing. I had so much reading to do, my pile of books hadn’t diminished at all since my first day. If I didn’t get it in gear and start devouring these books, I’d be in for a world of hurt later on. Especially if I didn’t do my utmost to learn as many skills as possible, while they were so freely given. On the other hand, I would love to start working on Writing and Drawing, the sooner I got them both up to level 10, the sooner I could evolve them to Runes and Cartography. I guess I would just have to see what the day held for me before I decided anything.
After breakfast and some conversation with Dogson and the Johnsons, I sought out Sergeant Butters for our morning training session. Walking toward the barracks I saw the troll trussed up in the stocks looking rather pathetic, his partner’s corpse still laid out next to him and starting to gather flies from the look of it.
Leaning against the barracks’ wall just behind the prisoner was one of the town guards I hadn’t met yet. He gave me a polite nod which I returned.
“Hey, spare some water,” the troll asked, seeing me walk closer.
I looked to the guard first who just shrugged, he didn’t seem to care one way or the other. I frowned but saw no reason not to give him some water. I pulled out my canteen and walked closer to him. “Open up,” I ordered.
The trolls mouth opened, his lower jaw stuck forward naturally due to the two large tusks he had instead of lower canines. I poured some water into his mouth, which he swallowed thirstily. “Thank you,” he said softly.
“Why’d you do it? Was it worth it to rob the Johnson farm?” I demanded.
The troll looked hesitant to reply before simply looking at the ground. Clearly, I wasn’t going to get an answer. So, I resumed my walk to meet up with Sergeant Butters. Just as I was turning the corner I heard the troll grumble, “We should never have taken that job.”
My eyes widened slightly even as I kept walking. The bandits were hired to torch the farm and kill the Johnsons. But by who? And why?
Quest Alert: Shiny Delivery Service 4 (Recommended Level 4-5)
Conspiracy? Who hired the trolls to attack the Johnson’s Farm and why?
Reward: Experience
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
Of course, I accepted the quest. It was just too good of a mystery to pass up. This was starting to get interesting and I was only day 4 in the game. I couldn’t wait to see what kind of mysteries I uncovered the rest of the month.
“Morning Sergeant,” I greeted the man. The sergeant was in the middle of doing pushups in the middle of the training ring, and as such barely acknowledge me with little more than a glance. I waited a few minutes for him to finish and when he stood, he finally greeted me in return.
“Morning,” he damned near shouted. “Ready to get to work?”
“Yes, sergeant,” I answered.
“Good, so what will it be today?”
“I was thinking it might be good to learn the other shield subskill you told me about, ‘Shield-Counter’,” I answered.
“Let us get to it then,” he said pulling out a one-handed sword. “First, you will only need your shield to start so set your spear in the rack,” he motioned to the weapons rack he usually kept his own gear in.
I set my spear next to his own, pausing a moment to admire the intricacy of his spear, even if his training spear was blunted. I quickly joined him in the center of the training ring, the spear would soon be forgotten.
“Now, you need to learn to block. Left!” he shouted suddenly, swing the sword toward my left side.
On reflex alone, my shield moved left in an attempt to block and I was successful in doing so. I was proud of my success for all of about two seconds. It was extinguished as soon a
s the sergeant spun back around to the right and struck a painful blow to my overextended arm, causing me to lose my grip and drop my shield. A moment later the sergeant unceremoniously knocked me to the ground and held his sword to my throat then shouted, “Dead!”
“Ow,” I groaned in pain.
“Get up, let us try again,” said the sergeant. “Now, assume your stance.”
I took up the stance he’d drilled into me the last few days.
“Right!” he shouted, swinging for my right side, again my arm moved and blocked the attack of the sword, but did nothing against the steel covered boot. The sergeant’s armored foot nearly caved my chest in when it went unblocked. The kick knocked me to the ground, push all the air from my lungs and left me in pain. Pain sucked in this game. Yes, I felt pain, I’ve mentioned it before when things have hurt me, but this time felt more potent. As to the pain itself, the game certainly reduced pain, any kind of painful death was very muted. When asked once, Mitchell Dawson said, feeling pain was an important teacher in real life, so should it be in the game. Now, torture was forbidden obviously, there was nothing to be done about emotional pain and some physical pain was good for us, even if unpleasant. Right now, I could have done without this particular pain.
“Come, up you get,” coaxed the sergeant, nudging me with his boot.
It was painful climbing back to my feet. “Rather than just beating me to death here, think you could give me some instruction?”
“Take your stance! Overhand!” he yelled, a swing already coming.
I moved my shield again on reflex, blocking the attack and was treated again with another kick, this one catching me in the gut.
“Up and take your stance,” ordered the sergeant.
I didn’t understand what he wanted from me here. I was blocking his first attack, but the second kept crushing me. I clambered back to my feet still in pain.
The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive Page 13
