Chapter 22

After Leon finished, Hert shook his head. “You’re shitting me. Why did Ai decide to have fun with you two? Did you piss her off or something?”

“She was bored, as I said.”

“Nah. Nah, that can’t be it.”

Leon leaned back where they sat on the floor in his room, and Troublemaker took the chance to hop onto Leon’s crossed legs. He stroked the fur.

Hert frowned and pointed at the almost grown rabbit in his lap. “And what is that? Where did it come from?”

“My baby rabbit, Troublemaker. Hasn’t caused any trouble, though. Just looks like he would.”

Hert bent over to stand on his knees to inspect the creature in Leon’s lap. “How…”

“It’s corrupted from the time in the dungeon.” Leon shrugged.

“So you probably can’t eat it? That’s a shame.”

Leon shielded the rabbit with a hand. “So, what do you want to do? Will you complete the first floor with us?”

Hert sat back and stared at the blackness outside. “I… I don’t know. You put me in a dangerous position. Now I won’t dare to go out into the woods, even if I wanted to. That’s limiting when you have five years left—especially with the iron mine being a day’s trip from here.”

Oh, so that must have been where he gained the experience from before. “Why not complete the first floor with us? Then you wouldn’t need to worry. If you do, we could always try to get the stone later. Besides—do you know how many wolves we’ve killed since we became a party? You definitely won’t reach level seven by slaying a few of them.”

Hert tapped his temple with a finger. “But in here, I’ll always worry.” He sighed and stood. “For now, let’s disband the group.”

Leon nodded. “We’ll probably head into the tower in a week. If you want to come with, you’re welcome. We put you in this situation, after all.”

“Don’t hold your breath.” Hert exited the room without looking back, and Leon laid down in the bed.

How much experience had the wolf given them, really? It was a level five wolf, and even though it was enormous, it shouldn’t have given that much. So why?

Leon’s mind flashed back to Ai. She’d been nice enough to gift them with this, both the experience and the loot, but that was the unnerving part. Ai had proved, several times, that she wasn’t nice.

He thought about when he got slammed into the ground and got the message that he’d died. About Ai forcing him to face four wolves in one go. That she wanted to restart the challenge with the behemoth if Leon had weapons, and stopped because he would die too soon. He wasn’t foolish enough that the gift Ai said she’d give them was the actual loot, and she’d shattered before she could deliver it. Maybe it was better that way.

Leon stared at the ceiling, trying to block his mind from going further into those thoughts. That road led to madness. Instead, he started counting the planks in the ceiling, and soon, he was fast asleep.

*******

The next morning, Ava waited for him outside the inn. She leaned on the building in her usual spot.

“You don’t need to get up this early anymore, you know?” Leon asked as she joined him. “Now that Hert has left the party, you wouldn’t get experience, even if we went hunting.”

“Just because we’ve stopped fighting doesn’t mean we can slack off,” she said in an airy tone. “Or were you going to do something else?”

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“I’m not sure. Since we aren’t going to fight, we could head to the first level in the tower, but first I’d like to know what to prepare and gather what information we can. I don’t think we can do much more. That said, I think you’re right that we shouldn’t stop with the training we’ve done so far.”

“And how do you suppose we get information?” Ava asked as Leon stepped up to Hert’s Smithery.

He frowned at the sign, saying that the store would open at nine. Even if Hert didn’t view them in high regard right now, it would be good to show that they could contribute to his business.

“I have a personal quest that I’d like to follow up on, and I thought I’d stop by the portal to the first floor to see if there’s any information that I’ve missed. Then, I’ll probably head to the general store to look at different things—we’ll probably need some potions and other such stuff before we head into the first floor. Hopefully, Hert can help me out with a weapon.”

“Mind if I tag along? I wouldn’t like to train without you, or let you do all the preparations alone. I’m going with you, after all.”

“Sure.” Leon nodded at the guards as they passed them. “What do you think we would need before we venture into the tower?”

Ava pulled on her earlobe, looking up into the sky. “Potions, as you said, and you also need a weapon.” She turned her head toward him. “You know, when you came up on the wolf’s back like that, I actually thought you planned it.”

“Yeah…” Leon sighed. “I wish I had, because then I wouldn’t have lost the weapons. Even though they were made of wood, it was more comforting than I realized to have them at hand.” He dismissed the requests about giving coins to the Scabs and continued down the cobbled path, looking at the empty streets and torn buildings. “Why don’t the Scabs do something about this place? I mean, they should be able to think up some entrepreneurial stuff that could make them some money, right?”

Ava shrugged. “I don’t think it’s in their programming. There has to be a lowest point, and this is it.”

“At least they could try to give the buildings a bit of repair,” Leon said. “Do you know if they have?”

“Nope. But I’ve only been here a little more than a year, and they aren’t very talkative when you don’t have something that they want.”

Leon nodded and then started jogging, and Ava followed suit. They passed row after row of ruined buildings leading into streets holding the same, like someone had decided it wasn’t worth making the place’s layout diverse. The place was so monotone, it would bore Leon out of his mind if he ever got branded with the Scab title, and he’d wondered on and off what Ava had done during the months she’d been here.

He had tried talking about it, but anything even remotely private had slipped away into a more superficial conversation, no matter if the private thing was sensitive or not. Luckily, he’d known Ava for long enough to be a decent judge of her character, and though she’d seemed to be pitiful at first, a strong but insecure woman lived inside, with set ideas and aspirations.

Though he’d noticed this, he had a hard time figuring out which of her emotions were real, and which were overplayed. She seemed upfront enough, but the only things he knew about her background and actual feelings were the ones that came out when she felt powerful emotions.

“Hey, you’re going too far!” Ava said.

Leon slowed his steps and looked over his shoulder. Ava stood by the ill-fitting building that would lead them to the tower and pointed with a thumb at the board outside.

“Sorry.” Leon jogged back to her and pressed his hand against it. The same text as before showed up and asked him if he was ready to enter the first level, but there was no new information. He said no to the question and exited the board. “Nothing.”

“So, what do you think we should do? Question the guards?”

Leon nodded. “That was my next thought.”

They walked away, and a hooded figure rose from where he’d sat, close to the wall. He staggered toward them. “Do you want to scale the tower?”

Leon looked at Ava, and she stepped forward as the man stumbled, catching his black jute-clad shoulders.

“Sir, are you okay?” She grasped his hands.

“I will be,” he said. “If I get a drink.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have that,” Ava said, tilting her head to look under the hood. “I can heal you?”

The man shook his head and flipped up the fabric that shielded his face. A scar ran down his jawline and long, ruffled blond hair lay thick over his scalp and partway over his eyes. “Give me a drink, and I’ll tell you what I know.”

Leon and Ava looked at each other.

“Um… are you a player or an NPC?” Leon asked.

“Give me a drink, and I’ll throw that information in for free.”

“Where could one get that?”

The man licked his lips and scratched at the few hairs on his chin. “Market. In five days. There’s this woman with a blue cart that sells just the stuff.”

Leon pulled Ava to the side. “What do you think?”

She bit her lip and glanced at the rugged man. “I don’t know. But any information would be useful, I suppose.”

“So we say yes?”

Ava nodded.

“What type of information can you get us?” Leon asked, crossing his arms. “No one has been able to tell us much, except that it is tough to beat.”

“Ah, yes,” the man wiggled a finger at them. “That’s because the information is locked. Hidden away, for ulterior motives.” He shrugged. “There’s only so much I can give, but give I shall, if you pay the right price. Which, I have to admit, is pretty low for what I offer.”

“Where can we meet you when we’ve got it? Here?”

The man pointed to the alley. “You will find me in the last building down this road. Bring me the bottle, then we can talk.”

Leon nodded. “Then, six days from now, you’ll be there? I don’t want to get into the Slums during the night.”

“Of course.” The man pulled up the hood and ambled back to his place by the side of the building, where he sank down.

Leon got a pop-up for a personal quest, which he accepted. Then Ava and Leon walked away.