Beginning with the one he had just defeated, Max first collected the coins from its loot.
+6 Eldercoin
It was a measly amount, but if each of the grassgrots had dropped a similar number, it would soon add up.
In addition to the gold, it had dropped a tuft of its fur, a couple of fangs, and a claw.
It was then that Max realised he had foolishly forgotten to free up any slots in his inventory before embarking on the hunt. He scolded himself for not making a quick visit to his wagon beforehand to offload some of his stuff. It was an amateur mistake to make, but he knew he had to give himself a little bit of leniency; he had only been in this world for one day, and was still getting used to the way it worked. He knew that now he had made the mistake, he would never make the same one again.
Max picked up the tuft of fur and examined it.
Grassgrot Hide
And what use would you have? he thought. Maybe it could be woven into an outfit to provide a certain level of camouflage in grassy areas like the one he was in.
He estimated any potential uses for it would be few and far between, but the thought of leaving any of his spoils behind seemed wasteful.
He opened his inventory to see if there was anything he would be willing to swap it for.
1. Imanthia x8
2. Silvershroom x3
3. Mooncap x5
4. Tarramon x6
5. Terrorgawk meat x3
6. Arrows x7
7. Knife
8.
9. Apprentice alembic
10. Regenis potion x1
11. Bow
12. Crude hang glider
He had one empty slot that the broadsword had previously occupied, but Max was planning to put that back in there before returning to the village.
He briefly considered dropping some of the flowers to make room for the new items, but then a thought occurred to him.
Could I?
Max pulled the hang glider out of the inventory and placed it upside down on top of the thick grass, then he threw the grassgrot hide, the fangs, and the claw onto its exposed underside, and grabbed a hold of a bunch of dragonwhisker-reed-ends that were poking out of one of the hand-glider’s fastenings.
Should be just big enough to house 12 lots of loot, Max thought, happy with his makeshift cargo platform.
He placed his broadsword into the free slot in his inventory, and began lugging the upside-down hang glider around, which was a smoother experience than he’d been expecting; the long grass was soft and shiny, making the movement almost frictionless. It helped, as well, that the looted items were fairly lightweight.
When Max had collected 7 grassgrot hides, 19 fangs, and 14 claws, he was under the assumption that every pile of loot would consist of the same selection, but as he approached the 8th pile, he noticed there was something else sitting amidst the usual; a golden horseshoe.
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Max picked it up and examined it.
Gold Horse Shoe
Horse speed +5
Nice, Max thought. The grassgrot had to have eaten it after claiming one of Farnhal’s horses. He could either keep it for himself and attach it to his own horse, or he could give it back to Farnhal. He wondered if Farnhal might be willing to reward him for retrieving it.
He threw it onto his hang glider platform and proceeded to collect the remainder of the loot.
By the time he was done, he had gained a total of 70 eldercoin, 12 grassgrot hides, 36 grassgrot fangs, 24 grassgrot claws, and the gold horse shoe.
He had entered the grasslands with 50 eldercoin, so in gaining an additional 70, he now had 120 in total, which Max considered a success.
He now needed to get all his loot to his wagon.
Pulling the platform to the edge of the village was a breeze, but tugging it over the little bridge and through the village’s cobbled streets was another matter. At several points the whole thing got stuck, and Max had to dislodge the corners of its framework from gaps between the stones.
His actions didn’t go unnoticed; villagers stopped and stared as he traipsed through, and he was sure he could hear whispers between them.
After asking for directions from one bewildered villager, he found the wagon yard on the far east side of the village, where his merchant wagon sat beside just two others that looked like they hadn’t left the yard in years.
Max opened his wagon and dumped all of his loot inside, then he considered what else he might want to offload into it.
Checking his inventory again, he took out all of the flowers and herbs, the alembic, and the terrorgawk meat, and placed them in the wagon.
Once again, the meat looked as fresh as the moment he had collected it. He hoped it would stay just as fresh now that it was out of his inventory.
He briefly considered shoving the hang glider in there with it all, but it would have been an awkward fit, and if he were to do any more exploring, he’d want to have it on his person.
His inventory now consisted of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Arrows x7
7. Knife
8. Iron Broadsword
9.
10. Regenis potion x1
11. Bow
12. Crude hang glider
He had 6 free slots. Plenty of space for anything else he might find in the immediate future.
After locking his wagon back up, Max headed for the stables. It was time to tell Farnhal of his success.
“All cleared,” he said when he arrived, finding Farnhal polishing a saddle inside the stable’s barn.
“Blimey,” said Farnhal. “You made short work of that.”
“They were fast, as you informed me,” said Max, “but they were no match for me and my sword.”
Max could see a genuine glee on Farnhal’s worn face.
“You have no idea how much this is going to improve the quality of life for the horses. Thank you, Mr Knightly. I mean it. In one afternoon, you’ve done what Garrick and his Oakwatch boys haven’t been able to do in months.”
“The Oakwatch tried killing them and they couldn’t?” Max asked. Sure, the beasts had been difficult to manage at first, but once he’d gotten the upper hand, picking them off had been almost effortless.
“They ventured into those grasslands a total of three times, I think, but each and every time they received so much as a scratch, they came running back to the village crying their eyes out and declaring the beasts to be out of control.”
Max wondered how Garrick would feel about him putting his boys to shame. He guessed the brute wouldn’t be very happy about it at all, and Max was all for it.
“It’s a shame you weren’t around to sort out the problem two months ago,” Farnhal said, a sadness settling in his eyes. “Lost my favourite horse Gertrude to those nasty buggers, and her lucky shoe too.”
“Lucky shoe?” said Max, trying not to give anything away about what he had found.
“That’s right. A beautiful, golden horse shoe I’d had smelted at Bremmer’s - the blacksmith - then enchanted with a speed boost at Esme’s. It wasn’t anything special, to be fair. Folk outside of the valley would most likely laugh and consider it useless, but it had sentimental value, you know? I guess it wasn’t so lucky, after all, given that the grassgrots had her for supper while she was wearing it, but all the same…”
Farnhal trailed off, lost in his memories.
Max carefully considered what he wanted to do. It seemed the horse shoe was very valuable to Farnhal. He was tempted to simply fetch it from his wagon, hand it over, and make the stable master’s day, but he resisted. If he were to need any favours from Farnhal in the future, the lucky horse shoe would be an incredibly valuable bargaining chip.
He kept his mouth shut.
“Well, I’m a man of my word, Mr Knightly,” Farnhal said, coming out of his daze. “I’ll take good care of your horse here free of charge for two months.”
Max thanked him and paid a quick visit to his horse (who was once again very happy to see him) and then left the stables to make his way back to the Brass Lantern.
He had plenty of new orbs to spend on unlocking new abilities, and he didn’t want to wait another moment until doing so.
It was time for another trip to the Inner Sanctum.