CHAPTER TWO – A KING IN DEED
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“Grreelll,” Bugbear whimpered from underneath one of the benches in the teleportation square. I cringed, a flush burning down my cheeks as I watched him.
Variak in all its splendor was still an awe-inspiring sight to me. I’d been prepared before coming though. Iron and… and Amy… had told me of the sprawling towers, the beautiful buildings, the landscape, the lights, and all the people. I’d had some idea of what to expect when I first visited, even though I’d never seen anything like it.
Bugbear had no such advantage. Not that I hadn’t tried to tell him but he just wasn’t yet at a level of understanding where he could take my words and develop expectations from them.
It really shouldn’t have surprised me that the big city with all its people and buildings, not to mention the sky that he’d fled to the Jungle to escape after leaving Dungeon Home, all terrified him.
“Come on out, Bugbear. It’s okay! I promise it’s okay!” Akwa said, kneeling down beside him.
Bugbear himself, no longer an actual Bugbear but now an Orc who stood roughly the size of a small tree, had buried his face under a bench and was hiding his eyes under his arms.
The cutscene had triggered, showing him the same view of Variak that I’d seen the first time I’d arrived, and apparently a bird’s eye view of the city was every bit as scary as being in the city itself.
“Not okay! Not okay! Never okay! Go ‘way! ‘Vaders go away!” He shouted, growling at Akwa like he always did. He’d hated Akwa ever since he’d met her and now was no exception.
People were looking at the big orc and the scene he was making. Well. Gawking really.
“What!?” I shouted at a particularly interested-looking elf, who couldn’t seem to take his eyes away from the terrified Orc. “This isn’t any adventure you need to be looking into! Go stare at someone else!”
Bugbear peaked out from under his arm shelter, his shoulder shifting enough to dislodge the bench. The sound of metal scraping against the brick floor startled him and he buried himself once more.
I groaned. “Bugbear, c’mon! There is nothing to be so scared of here, I swear! Adventurers like us can’t even be hurt here!”
He wasn’t budging.
Akwa suddenly snapped her fingers. I stared at her hand, shocked. I’d never known humans could make sounds with their hands like that…
“I’ve got an idea!” She exclaimed before darting away. “Be right back!”
“Wait, Akwa!” I shouted, but the Paladin was already halfway down the street, heading towards the market district.
I turned to look down at Bugbear, not certain whether I should feel amused or annoyed. “What am I going to do with you, Bugbear?”
“Home…” he whined. “Jungle home!”
“Here!” I heard Akwa shout from down the road. “Here. This will work. If anything will convince him not to be afraid of Variak, it’s this!”
Sure enough, she was holding some baked delight. As she approached the aroma reached my nose, filtering out the usual smells of Variak and replacing them with something wonderful. My mouth watered a little as I gazed at the flakey pastry.
The orc had also noticed the new scent. He kept sniffing at the air with his nose, peeking out and eyeing the plate and the food on it.
“This is called a turnover. It’s strawberry flavored!” Akwa declared proudly.
“Ohhh!” I found myself saying as I edged closer.
“Nah ah!” Akwa declared, holding out a hand and stopping me from advancing on her. “This is for Bugbear, not you! You can buy your own!”
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I scowled. “But… well, where’d you get it!?”
“Bakery down the road! Make that first left if you want one!” Akwa declared as she knelt down near the curious Orc.
I was almost tempted to run down the street and do just that, but I hesitated. I was still worried about Bugbear, and he’d never liked Akwa. Always calling her Spiker for some reason. Maybe the… turnover would draw him out?
I took another look at the treat and couldn't figure out why it was called a turnover. Did it maybe roll as it was eaten or something? Did you have to turn it over to eat it?
“Here. You can try this, Bugbear, but only if you stand up for me, okay?” Akwa said soothingly.
He reached out for it but she backed away, retreating out of his reach.
He growled menacingly, but Akwa was unfazed. “Get out from under the chair, stand up, and it's yours! Okay?”
He made another grab for the plate, scooting the bench along with him a few inches. It was too heavy for him to move far though and Akwa didn’t need to back away. Instead, she picked up the turnover.
“I guess you didn’t want it then?” she taunted, holding the thing to her mouth at one of the triangular corners.
Bugbear whimpered and backed out from under the bench before leaping over it, every bit the wild Bugbear he’d been in Dungeon Home.
Instead of attacking though, he grabbed the confection and shoved the whole thing into his mouth. He took a moment to sneer at an amused Akwa before the taste hit him. His eyelids fluttered comically and he stumbled back to sit on the abused bench, clearly enjoying the treat as much as I had the first time Amy and Iron had…
Amy…
I did my best to shake off the melancholy that came with thoughts of her. I’d been happy, for a minute there. I’d been able to smile, watching Bugbear’s antics. Akwa was outright laughing.
“Okay, okay, I take it you like the turnover, eh?” She asked as she sat down next to him.
Bugbear turned to her for a moment, still wary, but then began licking the remains of the turnover off his fingers.
“That seems to have worked,” I told Akwa. “I wonder if I could use that to get him to learn the language better. Give him a turnover when he gets a word right?”
“Good…” he rumbled, licking his lips wildly before turning back to Akwa. “More? Spiker, more?”
Spiker. Where had he gotten that nickname for her? She carried around a big sword, but I would never have called it a spike. Strange.
“Sure, we’ll go get you a few more, Bugbear! Gosh, Gell! Haven't you shown Bugbear food yet? I know you’re still obsessed with steak and broccoli. I bet he’d like that more than you! Bugbears and Orcs both like meat, I think.”
My mind suddenly went blank as I remembered Steak-and-Broccoli. Gods, how long had it been since I’d eaten one? Hell, since I’d eaten anything? Ten Cycles? Twenty?
I shuddered. Maybe Akwa had a point about regressing. I hadn’t even really thought about food since Amy had died. Well, no more! I would not become that blithering idiot jellyfae I’d been back in Dungeon Home! I was a free AI and so was Bugbear and we planned to stay that way! No more idling around for me!
“I hadn’t really thought about it. I’m sorry, Bugbear. I haven’t been fair to you. You got free of Dungeon Home all on your own, but you haven’t gotten to experience any of the great things about that because I’ve been moping around.”
Bugbear didn’t seem bothered by my apology though, instead just patting me on the shoulder with a happy, “Jabbering Gell…”
Inwardly, I wondered about just how great being an adventurer was. Constantly under the developer’s eyes. Tyrone…
I was still angry at Akwa about that, but the emotion had faded. I’d really liked Tyrone and she’d destroyed my friendship with him almost irrevocably. Trying to keep me from learning coding for my own safety. The news article Vera had published had shown me what type of person Tyrone really was though. I’d been shocked when Bellcandy had shown it to me, but still so numb over Amy’s death that I hadn’t really cared.
Akwa had never stopped visiting. Sporadically yes, but her friendship wasn’t in doubt. Perhaps learning to program like a developer really would put me in danger. Well. More danger than trusting my life to a nameless-faceless ‘board of directors’ anyway.
We walked down the road, heading towards where a lot of different scents were all filling the air. Iron had called the place a ‘food court.’ Every shop sold a different type of food but you had a wide variety of options all in the same place. Bugbear stared longingly at the bakery as we passed it, but was soon distracted by the myriad of other scents ahead.
This time, something was odd.
I saw a crowd of players being stonewalled by a group of city guards in full plate armor, preventing anyone from entering the food court. An air of discontent filled the road, angry players throwing whatever worthless items they had on hand at the guards to no effect.
“By order of the king, all adventurers are to be removed from Variak. All adventurers have two cycles to collect their belongings before they are forcibly removed.”
“What the heck…?” Akwa asked curiously. “This must be the event I heard about. They’re kicking players out?”
By order of the king, he’d said.
The king.
The man I’d turned into an Artificial Intelligence like myself with Fae Touch.
…Jellycrap.
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