Chapter 125: Chapter 113: Departure

I stood in front of Dawnhold's portal, wondering why Cluma was looking so nonchalant. Right, of course; this would have been how her family had got to the Emerald Nest last time, so not only had she seen it before, but it wouldn't hold good memories for her. Probably best not to dwell here for too long...

We waited for one of the porters to set up the walkway, then headed through the strange unnatural darkness to the Emerald Nest. A porter on the other side peered at me suspiciously, but this time I managed to get away without needing to explain myself. To think I went through such difficulty trying to get here five years ago, and this time it had been so trivial...

While I'd passed through the Emerald Nest before, I'd never been outside the warehouse that enclosed the portals. This time, we needed to go shopping for something to let us climb up sheer cliffs. Even supernatural high-jumping ability wouldn't be enough on its own, so we'd need proper climbing gear. At the least, ropes and picks. Both of us were strong enough that a couple of picks would be sufficient to climb anything, as long as the rock was sturdy enough to support our weight, but in case it wasn't, I'd take whatever an expert suggested.

We stepped out of the warehouse and into a street of unnatural green. This place looked like the Oz's emerald city, without the cheat of everyone wearing green tinted glasses. The buildings looked like they were made of literal emerald! I'd assumed the place was named because it was surrounded by lush green grass or something. What the hell was up with Erryn's construction sense?!

Putting aside the ridiculous architecture, I turned my attention to what we were actually here for. "Hey, Cluma, do you know where we should go, or shall I ask?"

"It's been five years since I was here, but we can try a place I remember. Umm..."

Cluma was looking fidgety, and obviously had something on her mind. In fact, she'd been a bit weird all day, the morning's hug being the shortest I'd ever received, after which she'd run back inside without saying anything. Was she ill, or nervous about something? "What's wrong?" I asked. Maybe this place was bringing back too many bad memories, and she would rather wait in the warehouse?

"Umm... If we have time, and if you don't mind, is it okay if I visit some people, since we're here?"

Of course... Just like she had to leave behind her village friends when she moved here, she would have needed to leave behind any new friends she made here when she came back... "We can stay here the night if you want. We aren't in a rush."

"No, that's fine. A couple of hours will be plenty."

The shop Cluma led me to was on the same street as the warehouse. I could see the walls around the city dungeon too, and a building that I strongly suspected was the local delvers guild, so these shops must cater to delvers. It wouldn't surprise me if there were dungeons around that required climbing, and being an original settlement, there would be a wider range of stuff here than what was required for the local dungeon. It all made logical sense.

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The walls were taller and far more imposing than in Dawnhold, despite the way the Dawnhold walls had been upgraded since the Emerald Caverns incident. They also looked very new. I could guess that everyone was now upgrading their walls, and were making no assumptions about the level of monsters that may emerge.

On entering the shop, I was really glad I'd brought Cluma with me. When I said we were visiting the Sapphire Peaks and needed climbing gear, I got some very strange and disbelieving looks. When Cluma asked, she also got some equally strange looks, but they thankfully lacked the disbelieving element. We came out with my [Item Box] packed with ropes, spikes, hammers, picks and some technical things that the clerk had told me the names of but that I'd swiftly forgotten. I felt they weren't the sort of thing I should be trying to use without some instruction beforehand, but I had my feather fall ring for when I inevitably screwed up and fell.

What we didn't have were harnesses or helmets, or anything else that would have checked the health and safety checkboxes back on Earth. Again, thank goodness for my feather fall ring.

Shopping done, I indulged Cluma in her desire to tour the homes of everyone she'd met when she lived here. Some had come of age and moved out since she left, but she knew who was where, having kept in regular contact with them by mail. Literacy in the city was far higher than it was in the village. Or far higher than it was in other villages, anyway. Maybe I should take the [Teacher] class next, given that I seem to have taken on the role almost accidentally...

...Wait, was that why education in the villages was so bad? Because they didn't have the manpower for someone to take the [Teacher] class, and with the mindset that you couldn't do things without skills, that meant that everyone felt they couldn't teach? Dammit, Erryn!

Of zero surprise whatsoever was the sheer number of houses we ended up visiting. Neither were all of them children; apparently she'd befriended a bunch of the customers, too. Again, given the current state of the Dawnhold delvers guild, where she was on friendly terms with everyone, that was not a surprise. Many of them were out at work, given the early afternoon time, but that didn't stop her trying.

And then we came to a stone house on the outskirts of the city, well outside the perimeter of Erryn's architecturally suspect emerald creations, and this time when she knocked on the door, her expression was... complex, and more than a little nervous, tail twitching from side to side. Who lived here? I looked through the place with [Mana Sight], but saw no-one. Another adult who was out at work?

"No-one's inside," I said.

Previously, she'd just left when the person she was looking for wasn't there, but this time she hesitated. "Who lives here?" I asked.

"...Daddy."