Chapter 14: Chapter 13: a zealous priestess

“Really, a divine quest?” I say sarcastically “Are we paladins going on a crusade or something?”

“Well, when you created Zena, you chose the priest archetype, which makes you a priestess, not a paladin.” David answers, sounding almost smug. The worst part is that he is right. Technically Zena is a priestess, though there were no religious connotations in the game since it only defined the starting skills, with the all important AOE buff being priest exclusive, but as I am literally speaking with a god now, I can’t even deny my connection to the divinity. I sigh, before throwing my hands in the air and exclaim “Fine, whatever you wish, oh mightiest of gods.” causing Jools to laugh.

“Oh holiest of gods, is it not within thyne power to smite this abomination of the face of this world?” I continue with my fake zealotry.

David, having none of it, answers in a casual tone “yup, easily, though I am not going to. It’s a perfect chance for you to practice, and you might even preemptively save someone's life by stopping it.”

“So, if we choose not to do it, you’ll just let people die?”

“Yes, because that is what abominations do, they kill and destroy. Want me to point you towards the abominations that are currently killing people?”

At that last statement, Jools chimes in “No thanks, I prefer not knowing that.”

“Me neither” I mirror his sentiment.

“Understandable, since there are more than a few. You don’t have to accept right now, nor do you actually need to tell me. You can just do it if you want to. You need to go a bit more east before heading north to get to it. You should discuss it after I leave. Anyways, have a nice day you two.” David gives us his final statement, before disappearing in smoke that’s distinctly different from last time.

We just remain there for a while afterwards, digesting the information he dumped on us. After we are done contemplating, I silently start my walk with Jools following close behind me. I take the exact same route as when I first left here, except, this time I turn left instead of right when I get to the road. We walk slowly and after a few minutes we start discussing our options. We can just ignore it and head to Draumr, we can take care of it after a short visit to the city or we can head straight for it. Since David did not tell us how far away it was and Jools doesn't have anything to sleep on, we decide on a short stopover in the city. Having made up our mind, we increase our pace in hope of reaching the city today. I hope the innkeeper didn’t know our travel speed when she told us it took two days.

Luckily she didn’t, since just before the sun fell behind the horizon, we see the city. It’s imposing walls standing taller than most building on the inside, leaving only a handful visible from the outside. Slowing down as we get closer, it becomes apparent that there are no queue into the city, which means that the open door policy of the game survived the transition to reality. The same dozen guards standing outside, looking menacing and what looks like archers and mages stationed on top of the wall. They seem less imposing since the way they move looks like idle chatter instead of standing guard. Maybe they would be more on guard if they knew an abomination was heading towards the city, but then again abominations have never been fast, leaving them with plenty of time to get organized.

No one stops us as we walk along the stream of people heading into the city, though a couple of the guards stare at us, either to see if we have hostile intent or because they noticed that we are more powerful than most people. I do sense mana in some of the people in the crowd, but no one seems to have a significant quantity of it, even the ones dressed in mage robes. They are probably equivalent to new players, although they are now probably referred to as recent graduates of the academy. It would be kinda interesting to visit the academy, since Zena predates it. Trying to attend would be meaningless, since I am probably better with magic than the instructors, but I would probably learn a thing or two from seeing how they do things. If nothing else I will learn what is considered normal.

As we walk through the streets, I am kinda annoyed that the average person is taller than me, making it difficult to navigate. Luckily the crowds thin out as we get further from the gate. Entering what appears to be a market, we find it mostly packed up for the night, which makes sense since the sun has passed below the horizon, soaking the city in darkness. There are light fixtures scattered about, but it makes sense that business is conducted in daylight hours.

I can tell the devs put a lot of work in the city, especially with how much is happening all around us. It looks kinda beautiful with the yellow light fixtures gently illuminating the cobblestone roads and the surrounding houses. We end up just wandering around looking at everything until we finally spot what appears to be an inn. Entering, we find a chaotic atmosphere with people drinking and chatting. It’s not full blown partying, but it’s loud enough to be slightly uncomfortable. Asking the reception for two rooms for the night yields an undesirable result. There are no single rooms available, just the two communal sleeping halls, one for women and one for men. It makes me kinda uncomfortable to share my room with others, but seeing as it is kinda late, I just decide to just bite the bullet. We order some food as well and join the noise. There is only ale available to drink, which I am not overly fond of, but needing something to take the edge of the shared accommodations, I skip over the detoxing of my ale.

After the meal, Jools decide to drink more and chat with random people in the room, while I just head to the sleeping hall. I only head to the men’s section by mistake once, before finding the women's room. It’s a moderately sized room with six bunk beds, with most of the lower ones occupied by others. I decide to take one of the upper beds and use my mana thruster to jump up and lay down. I hear a slight woah from the bed below me, but not feeling like engaging in conversation, I just lay there trying to sleep, not bothering to undress. It takes a good while to fall asleep, during which I contemplate using a sleep spell on myself, but I decide against it because I feel it would set a dangerous precedence.