Chapter 38: Chapter 31, Playboy heroism

Chapter 31, Playboy heroism

 

 

I open my eyes to the real world and look around the bedroom. It looks the same as before and telling the time spent in the mental space is difficult. I roll out of bed and stretch before walking into the bathroom, luxuriating in the hot and steamy air hitting my face as I open the door.

Closing it behind me I approach the shelf with bath salt in jars and pick up the spring flower scented one, sniffing it curiously before emptying half of it into the bath. The steaming water immediately takes on a slightly green color as the salt blends with the steaming water, multicolored bubbles rising to the surface. It gives it the look of a field of flowers. How does that even work?

Lowering myself into the bath I sigh in contentment as the warmth and nice flowery scents settle into my skin. I scrub myself before dunking my head beneath the surface, coming up and leaning back against the pool wall, arms draped across the ledge and wet hair dripping with fragrant water.

“This is the absolute best bath I’ve ever taken.”

“Most hot baths will be better than a cold brook, I’m sure.”

Ari’s response is reasonable as usual but I can’t be bothered to care. This really is quite the satisfying bath.

“Ari, did you have to exit the mental space separately?”

“Yes, after you left I was there alone for a few moments before following after you. I suppose we could enter it separately as well. I wonder if we can communicate with each other when we're not in the same space?”

“Something we’ll have to test another time.”

My relaxed mind jolts itself into a slight panic as I bring out the magical key tied to the property, checking the remaining time left to us.

 

 

[Hullinger Key 43B]

Rented time: 5/7 days.
Return key to the Hullinger establishment 24 hours after expiration at the latest.

 

 

“What the fuck?!”

“We were in the mental space for 5 days?”

“I can’t believe this. Did we fuck or sleep for that long?”

I don’t understand how we could have been out of it for five whole days. It seems impossible but there’s no reason for the key to lie about it as it would be easy to confirm just by asking someone.

“Don’t you remember us smoking all that Devil’s Haze, Zel? It must have been over a week's worth of smoking in a few hours. Maybe that distorted our sense of time that badly? And thinking about time, the mental space skill description said we kept it active for a long time in order to even get the skill.”

“Damn, you’re right. Well, I can’t really be too mad about it since we rented this place to get some privacy for just an occasion such as this. We’ll have to be careful with the Devil’s Haze though and not smoke it where we don’t have locked doors and walls to keep anything away from us. Image us being out cold for 5 days in a dungeon or something. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

 

Exiting the bath after a few more minutes of soaking I dry myself on a warm and clean towel before moving out into the living room. Sitting down on the sofa I stare out into the night through the window behind me. The capital’s nightlife is still going strong as I can see couples and groups moving about in the street beneath me, intoxicated on either drugs or each other as they make their way home or towards their tavern of choice.

Most people are smiling and some of them are even singing and laughing out loud. A bard with a flute skips and twirls down from the path going towards the inner district, blaring a fast paced melody of joy and celebration through his instrument. The intoxicated people he passes cheer and some even dance, going along with him for a few dozen meters to add some more chaos to the crowds outside.

I almost feel like joining in the merriment going on outside but abstain as I really should be spending a little more time enjoying the sofa I paid so dearly to have access to. Not wanting to tempt myself anymore I instead turn my focus on the living room. Standing up I approach the fireplace and put a few pinkish looking logs into it before lighting it. It isn’t cold in here and the warmth of the hearth isn’t needed but the crackling wood adds a cozy ambiance to the place.

It even smells nice as there is some sort of honey and herb fragrance that I haven’t smelled from any other wood before. The heat from the fire spreads the fragrance into the room and makes the experience even more enjoyable. Curious, I use [Identify] on one of the remaining logs.

 

 

[Violi Log]

 

 

“We’ll need to buy some nice wood for our campfire before we leave the capital, Ari. This strange pink wood smells so good and maybe the smoke from it will act as a nice seasoning for any meat we’ll cook.”

“Definitely. I haven’t ever heard of Violi wood before though. Do you think it might be some sort of expensive and special type?”

“It’s certainly special considering the fragrance. Maybe we can ask someone about it? A carpenter or someone else working with wood might know.”

“Or you could try reading a few of the books on the bookshelf. There might be some information in there related to the property itself.”

Not having anything better to do I follow up on Ari’s suggestion, approaching the bookshelf and reading the names on the spines for anything related to wood. There’s a lot of different subjects from what I can see. Books covering economics, bathhouse specific information, history of the capital and kingdom, a holy book from a religion I’ve never heard about and of course stories to read merely for pleasure.

There’s also as Ari had guessed a thin book covering the history of this property. It even has a guestlist in the back with a few names written in different elegant handwriting from the wealthy patrons having lived here before I did.

 

Opening the book and skimming the pages I actually come upon some information on the Violi wood in the first few pages, reading it aloud.

“Having Violi wood for the fireplace was a requirement of one of the patrons renting from the Hullinger family and since no property made use of the expensive material in such a wasteful manner they came to an agreement. The Violi logs were added to Property 43B as this was one of the more expensive properties for rent suiting the patrons' other requirements.

"The inhabitant met an untimely death in a robbery after 2 years of living here and using the Violi wood in the fireplace each day. The Hullinger family decided to commemorate his loyal patronage by supplying the property with a few such logs for each patron renting this place from that day onwards.

"The exotic wood is imported from the faraway Jungle of obfuscated paths, or the Mistveil Maze as it’s more commonly known as. The distance and difficulty of procurement makes their worth staggeringly high.”

I look into the fireplace, the dancing flames consuming silvers worth of wood and sigh. It’s going to get a little difficult procuring this specific type of wood for us to use. I can’t imagine the quantity of a wood this rare is shipped in large quantities over such a large distance.

“You know, Zel. We could always go to this Mistveil Maze ourselves and get some of the wood. Sounds like a fine adventure to me as long as there’s plenty of interesting creatures to kill there.”

“You’re right! Let’s get some more information on this jungle and we might set it as our next course after we’re done with the Riverflow kingdom.”

I return the book to the shelf and select another one titled ‘Boras and the disaster bear’ before settling myself on the sofa and starting to read. It’s a light hearted story of adventure and tragedy and I consume it with mild interest as the fire continues to crackle and burn ever lower, casting dancing shadows across the room and spreading the pleasant fragrance. Just spending some time engrossed in a tale and talking about its twists and turns with Ari is a good way to spend the remainder of our second to last night here.

 

As dawn arrives and we finish our third story both of us feel like going out and stretching our legs a bit. I put the book back on the shelf, manifest my clothes and head down towards the bathhouse below me. There’s a few people going into the bathhouse early in the morning, no doubt freshening up before an important day or some such and Ari and I nod politely to the few who greet us first.

“Where are we going, Zel?”

“I was thinking we might want to check out the Adventurers Guild for any interesting postings or just to gather some information about the nearest dungeons. I’m itching to get out and adventure again.”

“Me too. There might even be postings related to the dungeons if we’re lucky. Aren’t there usually gathering requests for materials found in them?”

I grunt in affirmation as Ari is absolutely correct. We might not need the coin from postings to survive but having more of it can’t go wrong as we’re spending most of it on luxuries. It would be nice to be able to rent a place like our current property the next time we stay in a city or the capital for any length of time.

“We should try to get back early in the afternoon though as we’ve not been able to meet with Alysha in five whole days. It’s not like we planned a date or anything but saying that we were going to be around and then never showing up feels like breaking our word to someone. It reflects very poorly on us.”

“I agree, Zel. I don’t feel the same animalistic need to fuck her now that we’ve properly satiated ourselves but she was nice to us and she might be pleasant to speak to for a bit. How about you?”

“Same here. I mean she’s stunning and all and I bet she’d be an amazing partner in bed but I feel satisfied for now.”

Ari sends me a wave of love in response and I even pick up on an underlying current of relief in it.

“Ari, dear, were you anxious that I wanted to pursue her?”

Ari squirms slightly in what seems to be embarrassment.

“Well, you know…”

I laugh slightly in amusement at her discomfort.

“Zel. Please don’t laugh.”

Ari sounds a little put out and I now feel bad about my insensitive response. Ari might be really anxious about this and I should’ve let her finish speaking or promptly reassured her, not taken amusement out of it.

“Oh, my darling Ari. You’re more than enough to fill my heart and satiate my sexual desires. Don’t you worry about me getting drawn away from you to chase someone else. I’m all yours, you understand? We won’t get intimate with anyone else unless both of us are willing to share each other with a third person.”

“I just feel so greedy. I know we’re both pretty selfish and self absorbed and all that but I think I’m the greediest between the two of us. I just can’t see myself willingly giving you to anyone else. You’re all mine and seeing the smallest hint of someone attempting to take you away from me has me enraged. Never at you, love, but at the thief brazen enough to come between us.”

I ponder Ari’s words as I make my way southwards towards the intersection between the main veins of the streets connecting the outer district, the morning sun on my left cheek, the sound of hooves hitting cobbled stone as a carriage trundles past on my left and the chattering morning crowd moving all around me.

“Well I suppose your origins might explain why you feel greedy. I mean you were part of a dungeon core weren’t you? And not for one year or even ten years. You were stuck as a machine of greed for possibly millenia.”

“I guess you might be right in that.”

“I still love you dearly. Don’t you think anything less of yourself, you hear me? I’ll allow you to be as greedy as you want with me.”

Ari seems a little more cheerful now that I’ve clarified with more certainty where my romantic interest lay. I don’t know if she’s ever going to grow out of her protective greed though as it might just be part of her personality by now. What does she mean by me being selfish and self absorbed, though? I know I love myself a little more than what might be normal but am I really presenting myself that poorly? A thought for another time.

 

After walking through almost half the width of the outer district and reaching the middle part of it I come upon a partially familiar sight. I don’t think I ever visited the Adventurers Guild on the southern part of the capital as there are guildhouses in each cardinal direction in the outer district and even a larger one in the inner district.

I’m fairly sure I usually hung around the northern part of the capital and might have visited the guild to the east and west but there’s really no difference between them as the postings are the same in each locale and their architecture almost identical.

It’s located in the inner right corner of the southern main intersection as viewed from someone coming from further south. From my perspective, having walked southwards, it’s located on my left. It’s a five story building made of dark wood and with a white marble base. The windows are large and kept clean and I can see the bar and restaurant on the ground floor through them.

The building is quite luxurious in its decoration, metallic ornaments hanging from the lower portions of the roof and various depictions of warriors, beasts, treasures and wonders on the walls in bronze alloy-lined engravings.

I cross the street to the left side after the last carriage passes before walking along the windows and coming upon the entrance. The entrance is two large double doors of heavy wood mounted in the wall pointing towards the intersection center. There’s the standard Adventurers Guild emblem on the facade above the doors depicting a crossed shortsword and pickaxe, embossed in gold on a metallic shield looking to be made out of some extra shiny steel alloy.

The doors are almost constantly swinging as adventurers enter and exit the building, coming to get their payment, acquire a posting or to just chat, drink and eat. Some gold ranked adventurers only take on a posting every other week and spend the rest of their time in the guild drinking, gambling or gossiping with others doing the same.

I walk into the guild, dodging between its patrons with fluid grace as I make my way towards the enormous notice board on the left side of the staircase. The staircases in here lead up to a wide balcony circling the entire room where adventurers drink, eat and laugh while looking down upon those beneath.

There’s some alcohol available to order up there in concert with your food but the real bar is located on the ground floor to my right. It’s a long counter with four bar-keepers dressed in professional or skimpy clothing as they each see fit. The skimpy clothed bar-keepers get the most tips however and I can see why they might choose to dress that way.

The bar isn’t that packed at the moment as it’s only morning but the upper balcony is practically full as people eat their breakfast before setting out. The overall atmosphere is jovial if not loud and it suits someone needing to wake up but not wanting to get a headache doing it.

Reaching the noticeboard I look at it with a few other adventurers who speak to each other about the different postings or merely walk up and copy a few before returning to their table or party. I move towards the section for gold ranked postings and skim through it, reading a few of the more interesting ones a little more thoroughly.

 

 

[Gathering] - Gold
Gather 10 stalks of Farilograss.
50 Silver. (Limited)

(Location)

 

[Gathering] - Gold
Gather 20 venom sacks from Hex Luridea above level 190.
4 Gold & 50 Silver

(Location)

 

[Gathering] - Gold
Gather 1 Azelian Blood Cap
2 Gold & 30 Silver

(Location)

 

[Extermination] - Gold
The group of outlaws known as The Dripping Blade Bandits have been sighted to the northeast. They have massacred 2 villages and 1 town in the last month.
30 Silver per confirmed kill of a group member.
4 Gold per confirmed kill of a leader.
90 Gold for confirmed extermination of the whole group. Split between involved parties.

(Location)

 

[Extermination] - Gold
A nest of what is believed to be Straw Spiders has been unearthed in one of the larger farming communities south of the capital. The nest is believed to contain no less than 2000 monsters. Exterminate the whole nest.
10 Gold

(Location)

 

[Capture] - Gold
The recently notorious thief, The Golden Goose, has to be caught. Believed to be female and of small stature. Always leaves goose imprints on the scene of the crime that always leads back to where the investigation started. Capture her and bring her in.
100 Gold.

(Location?)
(Location)

 

 

There are of course hundreds of other gold ranked postings but going over all of them in detail would take too long. I did find what I was looking for and a few more interesting ones.

The postings for gathering resources I study with more focus are all posted by the guild itself and the ingredients can be found in the dungeons nearby. They sound very boring but if I’m planning on delving into a dungeon I might as well make some extra gold. These resources should also be heavily guarded, rare or difficult to access since they’re this valuable.

The other postings are about killing things and capturing a thief. I honestly have no interest in chasing a thief but I might as well pick it up in the very remote chance I just so happen to catch her. The posting for killing spiders and bandits are merely attractive for their high reward but I don’t really feel like chasing bandits or killing the same monster over and over again. I’d like some variation right now.

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It’s therefore a foregone conclusion that I’ll be accepting gathering postings from the guild but the question is which dungeon I want to delve into. I can’t pick up postings not related to that specific dungeon as that would be stupid and a waste of time. I’ll need some time to deliberate and read through the postings more thoroughly.

I copy the three gather postings I’d randomly picked out and the capture posting for the fun of it before walking over to the bar. I choose a barstool not occupied between two parties of adventurers and get the attention of a skimpily-clad, dark-haired, elven woman behind the bar.

“What can I get you?”

“One mug of whatever ale you like the best.”

“Hm. That would be the dark ale from the Jargo Distillery. Just got another batch delivered last week. 80 Coppers.”

I pay her the copper and she goes to a barrel laying on its side, filling up a large mug from the metal tap inserted into the barrel top before returning with it to me and wandering off towards another patron. It tastes alright and I guess it’s dwarven ale since dwarven script is covering the barrel she tapped it from. Dwarves are known for making good ale and spirits.

I slowly sip on the cool liquid as I hold my token and browse through the information contained in the different postings. The posting for gathering the 10 stalks of Farilograss is limited in the amount you can turn into the guild each week. Looking at the location information for gathering it I can see that it appears to grow in a lot of different dungeons.

The limit on quantity the guild accepts from each adventurer is probably there to give as many as possible the chance to accept and complete the posting and to match the demand. I have no idea what it actually is but it might be used by alchemists in potions or something.

Then there’s the venom sacks of some creature that need to be above level 190 at the time of harvest. I have no idea how they’ll be able to tell the level of the creature by studying its body parts but there’s probably some sort of advanced appraisal skill that can manage it. The dungeon that spawns these monsters is called the Grizklesat Dungeon and I’ve never heard of it before.

 

A sudden commotion draws the attention of all the adventurers sitting at the bar towards its source. A large man without a shirt and sporting a skirt of leather instead of pants is bellowing at a barmaid who seems to have tripped and accidentally spilled ale in his face. The barmaid looks troubled and flinches at every word the rugged older adventurer shouts in her face, sending ale and spittle flying. I honestly have no idea why an adventurer would get this upset at getting a little filthy.

A younger male adventurer to my right stands up and approaches the shouting man who’s now managed to draw the attention of most of the first and second floor.

“There he goes again.”

The woman who had been sitting next to him sighs and watches the younger man walk away. She seems exasperated about him intervening. Curious about it, I ask.

“Is he usually the hero of the hour or why do you sound so exasperated?”

The woman looks me up and down before nodding.

“Yes. But don’t get your hopes up as he’s rotten to the core. He’s a playboy getting off on saving women and then getting them to show their gratitude towards him by giving him their body.”

I’m about to ask for clarification but the bellowing shirtless adventurer suddenly shuts up and my attention is drawn back towards the show.

“Stop harassing this young lady immediately! It was an accident and she’s not your employee, is she? Just shut up or go somewhere else to drink if you don’t like the service here.”

The young adventurer's direct confrontation draws a wave of whispers and gasps, most of them looking slightly worried while others grin widely as if excited about what’s going to happen next. I identify the two males to maybe get some clarity.

 

 

[Warrior - Level ??]

[Warrior - Level 196]

 

 

The bare chested adventurer is the higher level and he’s got a mean expression on his face and his eyes are burning with fury as he looks at the smaller man. He cracks his neck to the side while a grin spreads on his face and before anyone can react he’s in front of the other, a meaty hand gripping his neck, his face centimeters away from the other’s.

“YOU WANT TO FIGHT ME?!”

The bellow is even louder than previously and before the adventurer held about the neck can respond he’s slapped hard enough to turn his head sideways, flopping over a table filled with food behind him and coming down in a tumble covered in sauce, potatoes and wine.

A clerk comes running, shouting at the bare chested man to get out or have his adventurer membership revoked and the large man obeys after giving the clerk and the room at large another nasty grin. All the while the barmaid that caused the accident is standing frozen, eyes darting everywhere except at the dirty hero struggling to rise to his feet. She darts back into the kitchen on the clerk's suggestion and the noise from the crowd picks up again.

“What was that all about? He seemed enraged at nothing at all.”

The woman gives another sigh, giving her companion still struggling to get up from the floor a pitying look before answering.

“He’s a berserker. They’re often short tempered and easy to anger or lose control but I guess he might have been on something strong as they’re not often stupid enough to cause a scene such as this in the guild for a reason this petty.”

“Hm. I see. I guess your friend isn’t getting laid tonight though.”

She laughs heartily at that and nods.

“Yeah. I’ll pray he learns from this but he’s probably never going to change. The idiot would probably face someone at level 500 without hesitation. It’s a wonder he isn’t dead already.”

“Hey! Don’t spout bullshit about me behind my back. I’m a gallant man and just had a bit of bad luck there. I managed to save the barmaid though, didn’t I? I didn’t get her name though. A shame.”

The bedraggled looking younger male adventurer tries to put on a front of indifference but it only makes him look even more ridiculous as he’s filthy and a black eye is starting to show itself around his right eye, a red palm imprint covering half his face. I can’t help but laugh at his visage and he scowls slightly at me.

“What? You think this is funny? No appreciation for chivalry nowadays.”

He proceeds to try and sit down between us again and both the woman and I stop him from moving any closer.

“Yes. It’s funny and you’re not going to sit down next to us looking and smelling like that. Go clean up or you’ll get this girl here dirty and spoil her expensive ale you idiot.”

“But how am I supposed to clean up and come back before we leave here? Just let me sit, dammit.”

Just wanting to get back to reading up on the copied postings and drinking my ale in peace I sigh before manifesting the arcane mist Ari usually cleans me with. I scrub him down, collecting the wasted food and drink in a manifested crystal bowl. The woman watches curiously but the younger man twitches and curses while giggling like a girl at intervals as I purposefully make my cleaning a little ticklish to get some entertainment out of it.

 

I grin as he’s cleaned up and looking around embarrassedly while a few other patrons chuckle appreciatively at the show of a man squirming and sounding like a damsel. Bringing the bowl of food a bit aways from anyone I set the contents alight with my digestive flame and let it burn away before dispersing the bowl and turning back to my ale. I bring out my token and prepare to get back to reading as I sip on my drink.

“That was so cool. What did you do to make it all disappear like that? There isn’t even ash left and no smoke rose from the fire. Only ambient mana.”

I turn my eye towards the woman as the young man settles himself down once more. Still looking embarrassed.

“Just some magic flames.”

“The flames were quite impressive but the fog thing you did tickled like mad. I’m not as impressed with that.”

I grin again before responding to the huffing male adventurer.

“It normally only feels like a chilly soft blanket but I gave you special treatment. You should thank me.”

The woman joins me in grinning at him while he scowls at me. She then turns her attention back to me.

“I’m Maya. This idiot here is Daniel. You’ve been staring into space holding your token for a long time now. Found an interesting posting?”

“I’m Zelaria. And no, not really. Well the golden goose capture posting is quite funny but I’m looking to delve into a dungeon around here and I can’t decide on which gathering posting would suit me best. I’ve never been to the dungeons listed in the postings.”

“I could try answering any questions you have. I’ve been delving into a few dungeons around the capital and know a bit about the ones I haven’t set foot in yet.”

 

Both Ari and I perk up at that. This information is exactly what we need to proceed with our adventures.

“Please do tell. Here, put your hand on my token and read the postings yourself. You might know about the dungeons listed there.”

I stretch out my hand over Daniel's mug, preventing him from taking a sip and he scowls at me again as Maya touches my token. She quickly skims through the information before giving me the answers I need.

“You can find the Farilograss in most dungeons around here and there’s even one dungeon that has all of these resources as it says here in the postings. The Grizklesat Dungeon. It has Faroligrass between floors 1 and 15 while the venom sacks can be harvested on floors 14 to 16 if I remember correctly. The Azelian Blood Cap is quite the rare mushroom but it has been known to be found on floor 17. It’s supposedly quite the difficult floor from what I’ve heard.”

“Oh? I hadn’t read about the dungeons that had the mushroom yet but if all of them exist in the same dungeon then that would be an ideal place to complete all three postings.”

“I suppose so.”

She retracts her hand from my token and I bring my own arm back towards me, finally letting Daniel take another sip of his drink.

“What do you know about this Grizklesat dungeon?”

 

She takes a few moments to deliberate while ordering another ale from the same elf that had served me.

“I’ve delved into it two times before. One time with Daniel here. We only went as far as the 13th floor though. The dungeon has 17 floors in total and is quite infamous for being tricky and annoying to get through.”

“How so?”

“The monsters often roam in packs and there’s more monsters on each floor than any other dungeon around here. The floor guardians aren’t that strong compared to other places but the constant alertness needed and sometimes getting sent running by an overwhelming number of monsters makes it difficult anyway.”

“So the floor guardians are weaker but the overall floor is more difficult?”

“That’s right. The floor layouts aren’t that complicated but there’s many paths going towards the guardian chamber and intersecting with each other, meaning you can get ambushed from behind if you're not careful or if you somehow manage to piss the dungeon off.”

I take some time to process this while sipping the last of my drink and asking Ari what she means by ‘pissing the dungeon off’.

“Well you know how the dungeon architect and subsystem are souls in control of the whole dungeon right?”

“Yes, Ari. Of course I know this by now.”

“Exactly. I might not have been able to directly kill another being as a core subsystem back in the day but the dungeon architect who has supreme authority of the whole dungeon and only a few guidelines to follow may decide to increase the difficulty of a region in the dungeon if a party of adventurers misbehave in some way. It might be by abusing the dungeon by building constructions in it to block off sections or other such things that alter the challenge or layout.”

“That makes sense. Let’s not piss off any dungeon architects then.”

“Let’s not.”

As my drink is finished I push my mug forward on the counter and lean my elbows on the tabletop before once more turning towards Maya.

“Is it a fun dungeon to explore though?”

“Fun?”

“Yeah, are there creatures that give good experience or are fun to kill?”

“Hm. The upper floors are quite boring if you ask me but you can move through them fast if you follow a plotted route. I personally prefer the monster types of different dungeons as my arrows have a hard time penetrating their scales. Most of them are quite sturdy.”

I identify her and am surprised. I guess I shouldn’t have been though. Not carrying a bow all the time doesn’t automatically mean you’re not an archer, even if she looks more like a rogue with the gettup she’s in.

 

 

[Archer - Level 187]

 

 

“What types of monsters are there in the dungeon?”

“Animal and plant based monsters, even a few quite horrible combinations of different animals. They’re all scaled though and the plants usually have thorns. A slightly annoying combination as you have to get through the armor of the monsters while avoiding the thorns of plants.”

I groan out loud at that revelation. I know that I can’t avoid battling more plant monsters but I’d hoped to avoid them as long as possible.

“It’s not that bad, really. Just stock up on some healing potions beforehand since the scratches can start itching if you don’t heal them fast enough.”

“No it’s not that. I’ve just developed a hatred for plant monsters since my first battle with one. I was level 0 at the time and it was almost level 20. It tore me to shreds and I had to fight it with my teeth as it had got a hold of my dagger with its thorny vines.”

Maya winces at that and Daniel turns to me looking slightly alarmed.

“You fought a thorny vine monster with your teeth? How?”

“Well, it had my weapon and I was stuck in its grasp, getting slowly strangled to death while it drank my blood with its thorns. Didn’t really have much of an option other than treating it like a meal and biting the vines off, thorns and all.”

“You’re crazy! Who would ever do that?”

“If it ever happens to you feel free to let it strangle you to death instead. It might do all women a favor.”

He almost drops his raised mug in shock at my jab while Maya laughs at him.

“You’re both so mean.”

He hunches his shoulders while trying to look hurt but it’s obvious he’s not really offended. Maya must have been giving him the same treatments for his various escapades in the past.

 

“I’ll have to be somewhere else later but it was nice chatting with you. Take care.”

“Bye, Zelaria.”

Maya waves at me while Daniel pretends to scowl my way as I walk towards the counter to accept my postings. The clerk has no problems with letting me take on the gathering postings I’d selected and I’m soon on my way out of the guild once more.

“Where do you want to go now, Ari?”

“I want some more sweets before we head back. I’d also like to just smoke and relax a little on the sofa before we go and take a bath and meet Alysha.”

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