“How?” Mika asked. “There are no caravans.”
Jace smiled. “We can afford a teleport now, but we’d have to do two teleports to get our entire group and that’ll be at least 20,000 gold, probably more since we’re not in a guild. Then there’s the servants. I know they’re just NPCs, but I don’t feel right leaving them behind.”
Mika nodded. “No. That would be wrong.”
“Maybe we could just leave Yvette to mind the store,” Diana offered with a wink.
Mika seemed to consider it but shook her head. “We can’t do that.”
“Oh, I know. I know,” Diana said. “Jace is the hero in this little story and heroes don’t leave big chested bimbos to be eaten by dragons. They rescue them.”
“Are you sure?” Mika asked.
“Look at him,” Diana gestured to Jace. “Do you really think he’d leave her behind?”
Mika and Diana stared at Jace for a moment, then Mika shook her head. “No, he is too nice.”
Jace looked from one girl to the other. “Do I get any input in this?”
“No,” they both said and then, realizing they spoke the same thing at the same time, they both giggled.
“Fine, fine,” Jace said, holding his hands up. “You two talk about me all you want.”
“Wait,” Mika chimed in. “You didn’t say. How are we all going to get out of here?”
“A ship,” Jace said. “We have more than enough money to commission one and I’ll find one with enough rooms for all of us. But I need to do it at first light. Once word of the dragon gets around, I suspect the ships will get full very fast.”
“That sounds exciting,” Mika grinned. “We will sail the seas!”
“Where will we go?” Diana asked.
“I'm not sure,” he shrugged. “I’m thinking it will depend on what ship we get passage on. I definitely want to make sure it's one of the capitals though. Or at least, close to one of the capitals. I don’t know the good faction cities as well as I know the evil.”
“In the meantime,” Jace said. “Mika and I need to make a quick run to the thieves guild. I’d like to try and get a quest in before dawn. Maybe I can make level 10.”
“Yes!” Mika agreed enthusiastically.
“Hmm,” Diana pursed her lips. “Actually, I need Mika. She and I need to go shopping in the Central Market. They’re open, right?”
“Shopping?” Mika gave the older woman a quizzical look. The older woman favored her with a pointed look, and something seemed to pass between them. “Oh yes… shopping!”
“Most of the shops should be open,” he told them, looking between the two women suspiciously. They were obviously up to something. “It’s one of the few places in the city that never sleeps.”
“Excellent,” Diana replied and held out her hand. “If only I knew a handsome, young lord with lots of money, who could help out two penniless women.”
Jace rolled his eyes and looked into his inventory. “How much?”
“5,000 should do it,” Diana said.
“5,000!” he exclaimed. “What are you planning to buy?”
“Women things,” Diana said, waving his objection way.
“Yes,” Mika giggled. “Women things.”
He waited for her to elaborate but she continued to look at him expectantly. “Fine.”
Jace took the remainder of his money, just under 7,000 gold and handed it to her. “There’s some extra in there. Can you see if you can find a nice present for the princess? It is her birthday and I suspect they’ll expect us to bring something.”
“Oh,” Diana purred. “A present for a princess… on a budget. That’s quite a challenge.”
“If you find something that you think is suitable,” Jace sighed. “And you need more money, just let me know. But try to keep it reasonable. This place could be gone in a few days and that money will be all we have to live off of.”
“I am the epitome of reason,” Diana said with not even a touch of sarcasm.
“Okay,” Jace said. “You two go shopping and then meet me back here for breakfast, okay?”
“Yes, yes,” Diana said, putting her arm through Mika’s. “Ta-ta! Run along!”
“Come on,” Jace said to Luna, who had been cleaning herself.
He left the girls to go shopping. He knew he didn’t have much time left so he jogged all the way to the thieves guild. When he arrived, he was greeted by Thom and Gerry at the door and then immediately went looking for Webley. He found the guildmaster at one of the tables and the man looked up as he approached.
“If it isn’t our own Baronet,” Webley grinned. “Still associating with your friends in low places?”
“You know it,” Jace returned the smile.
“Taking a little break from the noble life to do some honest labor,” Webley asked, then amended himself. “Or should I say, some dishonest labor?”
“I’d like to get two jobs if possible,” Jace told him.
The guildmaster chuckled. “Had least the soft noble life hasn’t curbed your enthusiasm.” Webley waxed thoughtful for a moment and then looked back at Jace. “I think I have just the thing.”
The jobs were both easy. First, he had to plant a crate of forbidden dark elf wine on a ship docked at the docks. Next, he needed to sneak into the harbor master's office and place a note on the desk of one of the customs agents to search the ship.
In the morning, someone would find the note and the ship would be searched. Once they found an illegal crate of dark elf wine, the captain would be fined and or imprisoned and the ship would be impounded. Idly, Jace wondered what the guild was getting out of it, but he knew not to ask too many questions.
He made it back to the guild as dawn was breaking and turned in the quest, earning himself level 10 in Mage. This meant he was now in the next tier of play and had access to tier 2 weapons and armor, which would make him much more formidable. Because he had crossed the tier, he was also given a new thieves guild jerkin but this one was level 10!
He checked his stats to see what else he gained but there was nothing. Jace thought he would have earned new spells but then he remembered that after 1st level, all spells had to be bought from the mages guild. He smirked. Yet another expense.
He thanked the guildmaster and headed back to meet the girls. As he walked, he became curious about how his new level affected the Kraken’s Claw, since it was a scaling weapon. He brought the weapon out and examined it.
Kraken’s Claw
Type: Saber
Level: (10)
Damage: (15) + (6) (Legendary) + (2) (Sharp)
Wt: 3 lb
Special: This item is Legendary and scales to the wielder’s level. In addition to normal damage, blows from this weapon inflict an additional (6) Acid damage. This weapon also carries the Puncturing quality and ignores 3 Defense.
Description: Forged in the heart of a volcano, the smith who created this blade is rumored to have embedded it with a fragment of the soul from the legendary Kraken.
Soulbound: This item has been soulbound. It cannot be sold or traded and appears in the wielder’s inventory when they respawn.
Sheathing his weapon, he couldn’t help but grin. It was an awesome weapon and he really hoped they’d let him keep it when they put him back in Mordred.
Feeling good, he made it back to the Dwarvish Fork. Technically, he was still a guest since he had the room until midday. It didn’t really matter since the dining room was open and he found the girls waiting for him at the table.
When they spotted him, Mika waved enthusiastically with the big grin on her face. Jace walked over and saw they had a package on the table between them.
“We have something for you!” Mika blurted out the moment Jace sat down. “You will like it so much!”
Diana rolled her eyes. “So much for the surprise.” She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Go on, go on. Open it before she bursts.”
“This is for me?” Jace asked.
“Yes,
” Mika said. The almond-eyed girl was practically vibrating with excitement. “It’s a wedding present.”
Grinning, Jace pulled the package to him. “Thank you. You didn’t have to get me anything.”
“Of course, we did, darling,” Diana said. “Personally, I wanted to get you the diamond studded codpiece.”
Jace stopped unwrapping as he felt the heat in his cheeks. “You got me a codpiece?”
Diana waved away his worries. “I said that’s what I wanted to get you. But Mika insisted on something practical. As it is, I think it’s stylish and practical.”
A little more wary, Jace finished unwrapping it to find a bundle of red cloth. As he unfurled it, Mika couldn’t seem to resist and blurted out, “It’s a cloak of invisibility!”
Chapter 47
“A cloak of invisibility?” Jace asked incredulously. He pulled the bright red cloak free of the wrappings and held it up. It was definitely a cloak.
“Well, as close as we could find and afford,” Diana admitted. “And the lowest level we could find was level 10, but it looks like that’s not a problem any longer.”
Bringing up his HUD, Jace examined the item.
Mountebank’s Cloak
Type: Cloak
Level: 10
Wt: 3 lb
Special: +10 Stealth. When outside of combat, Stealth checks automatically succeed. Any effect that normally cancels Stealth, causes the cloak’s magic to fail.
Description: Worn by the famous cat-kin Rogue, Qroccar Meminoh, it was lost when he climbed into a bedroom window to woo a maiden, only to find her father waiting with a crossbow.
Jace whistled. For a level 10 item, it was amazing. Diana was right, it was the closest thing he’d find to an invisibility cloak at this level. With the boost in his Stealth and checks automatically succeeding, even against higher level creatures. “Wow! This is awesome!”
“I told you he’d like it,” Diana said. “Especially with his proclivity towards the practical.”
Smirking, Jace swapped the cloak out with his armored cloak. His Defense went down, but if the cloak did its job, he shouldn’t need to fight.
Now that he was level 10, his skill rank maximum was 20. If he could reach rank 20 before they went to the party, his effective score would be 30. With his Stealth checks automatically succeeding, he would be invisible to all but the highest-level characters. It truly was a powerful gift. “Thank you. And you were able to afford this with the money I gave you?”
Mika and Diana exchanged looks but it was Mika who spoke. “We sold our wedding dresses to get the extra money.”
Jace wasn’t sure how much virtual wedding dresses meant to the girls, but he appreciated their sacrifice. “Really? You sold your dresses? Thank you.”
Mika beamed but Diana just waved it off. The older woman cleared away the wrappings and beckoned him to sit down. “Since you are now level 10, I take it your nightly activities were a success?”
Nodding, Jace slid into the chair across from the two girls. “Yup, level 10 in Mage now. I guess that means I can switch classes again but I’m not even sure what to switch to. Should I switch to Rogue now and get that to 11 and then go back to Fighter?”
The waitress showed up then and they all ordered waffles, except for Luna. The little cat was in the chair next to Jace, looking up expectantly. “And fish for my cat.”
The waitress nodded and headed back to the kitchen. Once she was out of earshot, Diana spoke up. “Why are you even worried about switching classes? Won’t the WorldCog people just zap us back to the way we should be once you find the thingamabob?”
Jace grinned. “It doesn’t work quite that fast. It could take them a while to set things right, so we could be stuck in these bodies for a few weeks.”
“So?” Diana asked. “You’ll still end up losing anything you do or gain here, right? Not to mention, you’ll be waking up any day now and will be back in the real world.”
There was no bitterness in Diana’s voice, just a statement of fact. She didn’t seem to resent the fact that Jace was alive and he was glad. Mika, Diana and Charlena were really the only real friends he had.
“What will you do when you wake up?” Diana asked and Mika perked up at the question.
“I don’t really know,” Jace told them. “Hopefully, I’ll still have a job. Otherwise, that’ll be the first thing I have to do.”
“What about WorldCog?” Mika asked. “They are bad.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. We don’t know for certain. I definitely need to blow the whistle on them, even if they fix the issue. Their process needs some oversight and accountability, so this type of thing doesn’t happen again.”
“Do you think anyone will listen?” Diana asked. “After all, aren’t they like the biggest company in the world now?”
“There’s that,” Jace frowned. “I don’t even know who - if anyone - would listen. I’ll take my case to the Department of Justice if I have to.”
“Will you visit us in the game?” Mika asked, her voice suddenly very small.
“Oh, darling,” Diana told him. “You must come back and visit. I plan to have a huge manor house once I get my fortune.”
Jace raised an eyebrow. “How much money do you have?”
The older woman gave him a wicked smile. “That would be telling. But suffice it to say, I shouldn’t be lacking for anything.”
“That much, huh?” Jace said wistfully.
“Oh, dear one,” Diana smiled. “You married well. When you come visit, I’ll take good care of you.”
“He married two rich wives,” Mika broke in, smiling. “I am worth a lot too. I would have left it to charity, but I never got a chance to update my will after I inherited my grandmother’s estate.”
“He’s obviously a gold digger,” Diana said.
“Wait a minute,” Jace objected, keeping a deadpan face. “Right now, I’m the one with the money. Doesn’t that make you two gold diggers?”
Diana rolled her eyes. “No, but it does make you one heck of a lucky man.”
Mika seemed to consider and then nodded. “That’s right. You are a lucky man Jace.”
Luna looked up at that moment, made eye contact and meowed one word. “Yes.”
Jace held his hands up in surrender. “Fine! Fine! I’m a lucky man.”
Diana reached out and took his hand and squeezed it. When she spoke, there was no hint of teasing in her voice. “Jace, I mean it when I said I hope you come and visit. You will always be welcome in whatever manor I end up with. If it weren’t for you, I really don’t know what I would have done. I’d probably still be in the body of that mechanical-spider-thing.”
Not knowing what to say, he didn’t say anything and held her gaze for a long moment as she squeezed his hand. Finally, she released it and sat back.
“I don’t know if I will buy a house,” Mika said, breaking the silence. “But you can come on an adventure with me. We will have a good time together.”
“That sounds fun,” Jace said, but then added in a playful tone. “But you’ll have to gain some levels. Mordred is 95 and he’s ready to be a raider.”
Mika pouted. “That’s right. We are too many levels apart.”
Jace smiled. “I’ll be waiting for you and besides, it won’t take you that long. We… mean you, won’t sleep. You’ll be able to catch up while I’m working and sleeping.”
She brightened at his words. “Yes, I will catch up and then we will go on adventures!”
“We’re talking like this is all over,” Diana said. “And we haven’t even found the Help Desk thingy. Maybe we shouldn’t count of chicks before they’re hatched.”
“Jace will find it,” Mika said confidently. “You said it before. He is a hero.”
He hoped she was right. Even with the cloak, searching the palace would be a risky endeavor. There were bound to be high level guards all over. Even with the magical cloak, there was no guarantee any one of them - or all of them - wouldn’t be caught.<
br />
The worst part was, they could search the entire night and still not find the Help Desk. If that happened, Jace wasn’t sure what they’d do. With the dragon closing on Whitecliff, they’d be hard-pressed to find another opportunity to get into the castle before the dragon arrived. And if the dragon destroyed Whitecliff, then what? He’d have to start over in a new capital and figure out how to get into their palace.
“Why so morose?” Diana asked. “Married life got you down so quickly?”
Jace smirked. “Just thinking about tomorrow night.”
“We’ll find it!” Mika said with confidence.
“Is that all?” Diana asked. “Thinking about this evening and Charlena’s little visit to the hospital?”
Part of him had been thinking about that. No, not thinking about it. Dreading it. What shape was his body in? What would Charlena come back and report? He hated to admit it, but he was afraid. He was afraid of what she would tell him and what he’d have to live with for the rest of his life. Was he crippled? Was he missing a limb? An eye?
He knew it was silly to speculate and that his imagination was running away with him. Still, he had this gnawing dread in the pit of his stomach about it. It was irrational, he knew, but it was there, nonetheless. And the only way he could deal with it was to shove it to the back of his mind.
“Sorry,” Jace forced a smile. “I just don’t know what to expect.”
“She’ll say it is you and that you are still alive,” Mika assured him.
But Diana seemed to be reading his mind. “You’re worried about what state your body is in, aren’t you?”
Jace nodded.
“Darling,” she said. “I’m sure everything is fine. There’s no use in worrying about it until she gets back.”
“I know,” Jace sighed. “It’s still hard… not knowing what to expect.”
Diana nodded, her face taking on a more motherly expression. “I lived for a long time. Almost a century. In my years, I have had a myriad of health issues and I know the dread that comes with waiting for the results of a test that can irrevocably change your life. It’s a feeling like few others.”
Veil Online - Book 2: An Epic LitRPG Adventure Page 30
