Chapter 12: Chapter 11: an implication

Sitting down at the table next to Jools, I ask "why is she giving me that knowing smile?" 

Jools answers "she noticed me entering your room last evening and leaving a while later" with a smile. I sigh and put my head in my hand at the implication. "Tell me you at least dissuaded that line of thought." I continue. 

"I only told her that I undressed in your room." he says with an even broader smile. Sighing yet again, I turn to the proprietress and say "the only thing he did was pose in front of my mirror and inspect himself. I fell asleep waiting for him to finish, so the evening was probably a lot less exciting than you imagine." turning his implication against him. She then proceeds to turn to Jools with a disappointed expression. His smile disappears as he puts up a futile defense “She was undressed as well!”, prompting her to start “That really doesn’t help your case, mister, to disappoint a woman like that.” then she turns to me before continuing “Why are you even with him if he is such a dunderhead?”, prompting me to explain.

“To be fair, neither of us intended for anything to happen. I got a tattoo recently that I checked up on, and I forgot to lock the door. He came waltzing in since he was worried about me, because I have been a bit stressed lately and I left without telling him. Though he decided to use my mirror to check himself out after finding me to be fine. 

As for why we are together, it’s because we have been friends for a long while. Him being a powerful warrior and me being a powerful mage, we have fought together on quite a few occasions. We met up here, because a third party recommended that we do, and this town being in between our locations.”

After clearing up the misunderstanding, I ordered breakfast, doing the same trick as yesterday. As we eat, I ask “Where should we go next? I think we should go to a big city next, if for no other reason than to get our bearings.”

“I don’t know where the closest city is. The direction I came from has no other settlements for quite a while.”

Upon hearing our lack of knowledge, the proprietress chimes in, “The closest city is Draumr, two days travel along the road eastwards.” Thinking about where I have heard that name, it comes to me. It is one of the starting cities that has been added to the game. In it is an academy that houses the tutorial missions for new characters. Unlike the filler town we are currently in, the developers put a great deal of effort into that city. You can get everything you need in that city until you enter the late game contents, though as you progress, missions will have to travel for longer, only returning occasionally. There are several large markets, the central castle, the adventuring guild and the academy as primary features within it’s large walls. The gates acted as loading zones, so there were no identity checks or fees for entering the town, but there were always at least a dozen powerful warriors stationed at each of the six gates. Hopefully that hasn’t changed, otherwise we’ll need some way to prove our identities, something I don’t feel like thinking about at the moment. The adventuring guild hosted randomly generated quests that players could do in the game and increase their standing in the guild. Increased standing yielded more difficult quest and higher rewards and I spent a lot of time doing those types of quests, though not in draumr, but in other areas more suitable for end game players. 

As I am about to say that visiting it would be a good idea, Jools beats me to the punch by saying “We should go there. It’s been a while since I was there.”

Agreeing with him, I add my thoughts “yes, though I wonder what has changed since I was there last.”

“Seeing that it is early morning, and we have food in our inventories, should we leave immediately?”

“We can do that.”

After finishing our meals, I give my key to the proprietress and wave goodbye as we leave the galavanting hare for what is probably the last time. As we walk through town, we realize that neither of us knows where the cardinal directions are. The game had a HUD that showed them, as well as quest markers and the like. Has it become a spell like the inventory or something else? Looking through Zenas memories, I learn that it has always been a vague feeling that she sort of focused on when needing to. Focusing at the feeling, I find the cardinal directions and a mysterious fifth direction heading north east. I tell Jools to do the same and he also find that mysterious fifth direction. Ignoring the ominous Quest marker for now, we start our travels east, which turns out to be the direction I entered town from. I tell Jools that I know of a great location to take lunch as we walk towards the edge of town while talking. Once again we speed up once we pass the last house. This time, we do not slow down once we pass the edge of the forest, but continue at full speed, well not full speed, rather a cruising speed. 

A little after the sun passes the zenith, I slow down looking for signs of the lake I woke up at. Not seeing anything obvious, I decide to try something new. I fire my thrusters so that I fly straight up. Enjoying the spectacular view and weightless sensation, I spot the lake a little further ahead. As I start to fall towards the ground, I start to panic, causing me to flail my arms in desperation. Despite my panic, fall damage reduction kicks in, taking a bit more mana than previous times, leaving the only result of my flailing that I fell on my ass immediately after landing, causing Jools to laugh as soon as he realized that I was fine. Ignoring his laughter, I get up and start traveling towards the lake.

As we enter the clearing, Jools can’t help but exclaim “Woah, this really is beautiful!”

“I know, right?” David replies, sitting on the rock.