Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Mr. Montgomery's PoV

Charles had just left the room after finishing his report. Mr. Montgomery had held in his anger but finally lost it and slammed his fist on the desk.

The FDA had done what they were told and had given the substance their rubber stamp. But first thing in the morning his lawyer informed him that they were breaking off negotiations.

His PI had screwed up. There could be little confusion when someone came snooping around right after a delivery. They can't have known for certain, but with how hard he had been pushing to make this more than a one time deal, it wouldn't take a lot of brain power to guess who was breaking in.

He had gone to his doctor after taking the doses of the so-called weaker drug. They were shocked to find how healthy he was, at least relatively. Before they had given him only six months to live. Now that figure jumped to two years. And so far they couldn't find any side effects. If he could get a supply of this, how much longer could he live? Five years? Ten? Fifteen? With so little time left, he felt like now was the time to make a gamble.

Mr. Montgomery had to have this drug. One way or another. His mind went darker as he remembered a time when he first started out in business. Back then, business was done more often with fist than words. The man named Jim had fled and was nowhere to be found, but Charlotte was still around.

He would try things the nice way first. But if things would not progress soon, he would have to return to another time. A time when he had not been known as a nice old man.

***

Jim's PoV

Jim asked "Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Will we be there soon?"

"Probably another week and a half at this pace."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Jim pouted. This adventure sucked so far. Five hours of walking and nothing. No encounters with evil wildlife or bandits. No damsels in distress. Nothing. Just walking.

Jim asked again, "Will we be there soon now?"

Forrest answered dully "No."

Jim looked to Forrest and asked "Is this normal? For it to be this peaceful?"

Forrest glanced at Gwen and Maria and reluctantly said "Actually no. It's very odd. Generally the only time it's this quiet is if a large predator is around, but if that was the case they would have attacked us by now."

Jim perked up and asked "Large predator? Like what?"

Forrest responded "Around here, probably the big cats are the most common. They can get up to four times the size of humans. There are groups of kobolds around here too, but generally they won't mess with a group of humans this size. They will attack humans if they are found alone. There are plenty of other things, but generally the big cats are the worst of it."

Forrest scratched his chin and said "There are tales of some demons around near the temple, but no one has seen them in the past twenty years. Also in legends there were rock giants. Even at this pace it will probably be a week before it's even possible to see them. It's been over a couple hundred years since the last one was reported to have been seen."

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Confused, Jim asked "Rock giants eat animals?"

Forrest shrugged and said "No one knows. The only people to have seen them and lived were far away. General knowledge says if you are close enough to see one in detail, you're probably about to die. Regardless if they want to eat you, if they see you, they will attack."

Jim mumbled to himself "I wish I could have a rock giant mount. That would be awesome."

Trying to keep his mind occupied, Jim scanned his inventory list. For some reason he had "Helmet x 119."

Weird. Why did he have over 99 of them? Pulling one out he examined it. Just a normal crappy low tier helmet. Shrugging, Jim tossed it away.

Speaking of mounts, the little brat from the caves seems to have found one. The entire journey she has been on the back of a wolf. He was slightly jealous, it looked like a lot of fun. She would weave in and out of the walking groups making a figure eight pattern. A few times she went too far ahead and her mother called her back.

Jim exited out of his item menu and looked at the main menu screen. He was kind of happy to see the empty spots for party members filled out. What was even cooler was that he could add them to the party.

Outside of Alextria the first person the party could recruit was in Jacksberg. But it seemed like his menu didn't care if party members were the original party members from the game. He could add anyone!

Wait… anyone could join? Jim looked at Fluffy, the wolf who was not currently giving the little girl a roller coaster ride.

"Fluffy! Come here for a second!"

Breaking off from his sibling, Fluffy began walking beside him and cocked his head. Jim said "I want you to try something for me. When I ask, I want you to say 'accept invite.'"

The wolf cocked his head and gave him a skeptical look. "Don't give me that look! I know you can't say the words, but try to use your own language or something. Please!"

The wolf nodded and waited. Jim found a small little button below the party menu that had a plus sign next to it. Tapping the button he pointed to Fluffy next. "Try to accept!"

The wolf made a varied tone growl and was quiet. Jim expectantly looked at his party menu. Nothing happened. Was the party too full? No that couldn't be it. Normally the max party number was five, but including himself, it was currently six.

It only showed five members on the main party screen but there was now a scroll bar. So it seemed like he could have as many party members as he liked, or at least that was his guess.

Normally there was an extra button on the menu for members who were not currently in the party. Generally for plot line reasons party members came and went. This button's main use was for retrieving gear. But that button wasn't showing up on his menu.

There wasn't an error noise or anything either. Thinking out loud he said "Damn, I think the response needs to be in english. The request went out, but nothing is happening. It's like it's still waiting for a response."

"One more time, I know it's dumb but can you try to speak in english?"

The wolf nodded. The dog made a four syllable bark, but it still didn't work. About 20 seconds passed and then he heard an error noise. Seems like the request was timed out.

"Probably going to take an elven beast tamer's magic to teach you two how to speak. I guess it doesn't matter. It would have been nice to see you two in the party menu. Oh well, it was worth a try. I guess it really doesn't matter. Thanks Fluffy!"

Giving Fluffy a vigorous head rub, he returned to his sister who was still zooming around the party with one passenger on board.

Gwen yelled "Maria! Be careful! If you fall it's really rocky here!"

Princess heard her and slowed down a bit. This seemed to happen in a cycle. The pair would speed up faster and faster till Gwen got worried, and then they would slow down for a time.

Going back to his blue boxes, Jim checked out his party's new equipment status.