“Brice!” Patricia snapped her fingers.
“Coming!” Brice scurried over and began inspecting magic items. Standard magical gear in the rank 1 to 4 range, he quickly returned it. “All normal, tier 1 to 4 artifacts most are weapons.”
“Right, here you are.” Patricia returned their gear and saw the sun setting. She clapped her hands. “Time to close the gates, finish up, and set up watch.”
The gates creaked shut and the sun dipped below the surface. “Brice. What are your plans tonight?”
“Oh um… nothing Miss Conway.” Brice sheepishly answered.
“Come eat with me.” She tilted her head. “My treat.”
“Oh. Uh… Wow… I’m uh… Sorry Miss Conway I’m not interested.” Brice gently rejected her.
“Not a date your dense mage. I just think you need a good talking to.” She snapped her fingers. “I can order you instead if you want.”
“Um, I’ll come. I just didn’t want to mislead you.” Brice nervously explained.
The pair went to a restaurant outside of the jail called ‘The Last Plate’. They entered and Patricia ordered for both of them. While waiting for food Patricia began to inquire. “Brice. We’ve known each other for a long time.”
“Since I arrived in Wonora!” Brice cheerfully straightened up before hunching back over.
“Right. I will ask it directly. What do you want to do with your life, Brice?” Patricia asked.
“Well, I want to learn more about the world, have a good job, and hopefully find a family. “Brice wistfully leaned on his arm fantasizing about a dreamy future.
“Do you think you’ll find that in Wonora?” She seemed deeply interested in him.
“Why?” Brice was confused.
“I know I try to be professional but a youngster such as you sometimes need some guidance. The other day when you inspected that book, you were afraid, but it was clear to me you were excited too. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.” She leaned back with a smile on her face.
He nodded. “I enjoyed inspecting the artifact. It felt so out of place, like a storybook come to life. An angelic knight stepped off the page and into Wonora.” Brice showed a sudden burst of enthusiasm. “And I held an ANGEL!” He was so excited a few heads turned and eyebrows rose to watch his enthusiasm. He felt suddenly embarrassed. “Sorry.”
“It’s alright Brice. That enthusiasm is why I decided to spend the night talking to you.” Food arrived as she said that. “Well dig in. Thinking about your life is best done on a full stomach.” The pair ate while they talked. “What are you looking for in a woman?”
Brice sheepishly avoided the true answer of someone immortal. “Um, someone about my age I guess, tall with long hair, and kind, are the only real things I want.”
“Well, there is an abundance of those everywhere in the world so as far as a job what about those? Tell me what you actually want in a job. You aren’t going to get fired, I need as many men as I can get but I have to know is this what you really want to do?” She pressed him.
“Well, if I was able to do anything I’d probably live in the forest amongst the dryads and spend my days carefree and happy with a family. A job isn’t what I want to do at all, but if I had to do a job adventuring, artifact hunting, or traveling merchant would be nice.” He pondered.
“Interesting, so if you had to have a job you’d want to travel around, that does not fit the life of a guard at all.” She smiled at him. “You’re like the son I never had if I’m being honest. I want to see you do well in life.”
“Well thanks, but you’re a little young to be my mom.” Brice joked.
“You can be charming when you try!” She rolled her eyes at him. “You just have to put effort in.”
“Well, um… It’s just intimidating to do something with a lot of risk.” He slumped farther down.
“I understand that, but you should consider taking more risks. You definitely won’t get what you want if you don’t try.” She smiled at him.
“That’s simple to say…” He looked down at his food.
“Simple to do too.” She countered taking a drink. “Hard, but incredibly simple. Take risks or you’ll be stuck here forever.”
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“What about the last thing?” Brice asked.
“Learning about the world?” She raised an eyebrow.
“The only place you can learn about the world is in lost tomes and ancient libraries. There’s not much risk in reading a book after all.” He shook his head.
She laughed and slapped the table. “You know for a man so tall his head might as well be in the clouds your head is buried in a book. Get it out of those books and go to the places they talk about. See the people they mention. Travel to the mythical lands and write about them for others to read. You learn about someone in person, not through pages of a book.”
“It’s too dangerous for someone as weak as me to travel around the world.” He shook his head. “You’d need to be at least level 15 or 20 to feel safe on the road.”
“You know what level I am right?” She asked.
“Yeah.” He nodded and gulped looking up to her despite her short stature.
“Do you think I feel safe on the road alone?” She paused. “Do you think I feel safe traveling with a party of guards?”
“Well yeah, you’re much higher level than me. Why wouldn’t you feel safe?” Brice asked.
“Everyone feels safer around someone stronger than them Brice. You feel safer around me because you know I’ll fight to protect you, but what makes you think I’ll win?” She asked.
“Well, you’re experienced, and your level is high.” Brice pointed out.
“Level is relative. If I fought someone 10, 15, or even 20 levels higher? I’d die. There’s no way I’d survive, and you know deep down exactly how doomed I’d be if we encountered a level 100, not even a level 70 that wanted to kill us. I can’t fight the guild leaders alone and you know it. What happens if I encounter who made the blast to the south? I’ll fight it but when it comes to dealing with something like that, I’d be lucky to survive a loss. Winning would be impossible.” She sighed.
“Then why should I go adventuring into all that dark and danger?” Brice asked.
“The world is dark and dangerous. Whether on the road or in the center of town danger always exists, you need only decide what to do when you are in danger and what you will do before you are in danger. Will you learn the best places to hide, or will you gain strength and prowess so that you can face it in the open? I chose the latter but have not been able to reach the heights of those who put their lives in danger like Lightless Lidia or Father Reynold to rise beyond what mortals can normally reach. You on the other hand, I think you could surpass both of them. I think you could be just like them.” She looked at him fondly. “I wish that you could see yourself the same way I do.”
“I think you’re overestimating me. I’m just a simple mage. I can’t possibly do all that.” Brice rejected the offer.
“I wonder if that mage, Victor I think was his name, feels the same.” She took a sip before slyly asking. “What do you think?”
“Oh no, someone like him oozes confidence. He’s stronger than me, and probably smarter too. It’s why he’s got an angel. He’s an exception among the exceptions of this world. I bet he thinks of himself as such too. A hero among heroes.” Brice ran his finger along his cup wistfully.
“That wasn’t my read on the man at all. He’s nervous. He might be a little more confident than you which is not a high bar mind you. He has little to no idea what he’s doing and is making it up as he goes. He had no plan when he showed us the book. When he presented Swordie he just nakedly told the truth, the whole time! It was mind-boggling someone could be so innocent. What you read as confidence was simply ignorance.” She explained.
“Really? He seemed like he exuded confidence in me.” Brice slumped down.
“No offense Brice, you’re abysmal at reading people.” She shook her head.
“What should I be reading about people?” He asked.
She spit out her drink. “Good Goddess Brice. You’re dense.”
“What do you mean?” She asked.
“When I say reading people I don’t mean like a book.” She thought for a moment. “Not always. You need to be able to understand people better Brice. I don’t want you to get fleeced out in the world.”
“I’m not out in the world, I’m in Wonora.” He countered.
“Sometimes you pick up on literally nothing.” She shook her head.
“Huh?” He was so confused by the implication he had missed something, and he frantically thought back to the conversation.
“The point of asking you here was to try and push you to talk to them. You should see if they have a spot in their group for someone like you. If I don’t spell it out, we’ll be here all night.” She finished her food.
“What!?” He gulped. “You mean like now?”
“Not right now, but the next time you see them consider it. If you don’t, you’ll probably regret it later.” She nodded. “I feel it in my bones Brice. It’s time for you to set out. You came here needing protection and assistance, but I think it’s finally time for you to go, unless you truly want to stay here you should go. It’s the perfect opportunity for you.”
“But they already have a mage! He wouldn’t want me.” Brice protested.
“Couldn’t hurt to ask. They have 2 clerics already, so I wouldn’t say they seem married to the traditional party.” Patricia stood up. “Give it some thought, but don’t wait too long. I just wanted to make you think about it now instead of a decade from now knowing you could have been part of their group and missed out because you just didn’t think about it.” She paid and left leaving Brice stunned into silence for a solid 30 minutes. He looked at the ground as he walked out into the cool air. He looked up at the starry sky and wondered, did he deserve to be a Star of Verdan?