Chapter 44
Leon entered the Laughing Bard’s Inn. The dank air and smell of dried beer filled the area, and a few grumpy-looking men sitting at the rustic wooden tables gave him a quick glance before going back to their tankards. A woman in a purple feathered hat sat in the corner of a larger room to the side, playing a sad melodic tune on a lute with some notes sounding somewhat off. The area was dark compared to the first time he’d entered the inn, making the soot on the stained stone walls less visible. The bar was divided in the middle with three tall wooden stools on each side, and the middle part revealed the first steps of a staircase leading into the building.
“Oh, hello,” croaked a voice.
This time, Leon had a fair guess where it came from and approached the bar, where he leaned over to see a very short and very old man climb a step-ladder. He had thick gray hair, an enormous nose, and his ears, though fully human, almost spanned the length of his face.
Leon waited until the man had reached the top of the ladder before he spoke. “Hey. Um… do you have a room I could rent for a couple of nights, maybe more?”
“Of course.” The old man squinted as he looked into Leon’s face. “If you’re decent. I won’t have any rascals running about in my prestigious inn.”
“Well, I’m going to be out most days, so you’ll probably only see me when I come to take a nap or sleep.”
“Aren’t those two the same things?”
Leon shrugged. “I suppose so.”
“What level are you?” the man asked, running a crooked finger over a heavy set of keys.
“Nine.”
“Right.” The man looked up. “It’s nine coins per night, and two for each meal. However, during the night market, we don’t serve food; you’ll have to get that elsewhere. How long will it take you to get to level ten?”
“Don’t know. Hopefully not long.”
He nodded and wrote something in a book. “So, let’s start out with seven nights, unless you want more?”
“Sure. And two meals per day, breakfast and dinner.” Leon confirmed the purchase and his balance sunk to 148. He was glad for the coins he’d picked up from the fight earlier. Somehow, it would feel like a defeat to sink to a two-digit number when he’d been at four figures yesterday.
The man jumped down from the ladder and waved for Leon to follow him up the staircase in the middle. Leon did as asked and looked at the chipped stone steps. It definitely wasn’t as refined or fresh as Margaret’s inn, but it would do. Especially since this was the only place left for him to stay now that he’d been booted from there.
The old innkeeper led him to the last room on the first floor and pressed the key inside. The lock clicked, and the door swung open to reveal a hay bed on the floor, a window facing the square, and a small wooden storage chest. Basically the same as his other room, but slightly downgraded and made of stone. Even though Leon was sure he’d seen a stone missing in the wall of this room when he looked at the building from the outside, he couldn’t see a hole now. It would do.
“Thanks,” he said.
“I assume I don’t need to inform you about the basics, since you’ve probably stayed at an inn before.”
Leon nodded. “Yeah, I got it.”
The man gripped the key in his hand and it glowed faint blue. “Alright. It’s just to open the door now. You don’t need a key to go in and out. Dinner’s served between five and nine, same with breakfast in the morning.” Then he left Leon in the room.
Leon sank down on the bed. A lot of weird things had happened today. On top of that, he’d lost the items he’d stored in the previous room. At least most of it had been junk. He rubbed his temples. It didn’t matter. He had to focus on his goal.
What he needed most was to get to level ten and enter the second floor. It was early afternoon, meaning he had some time over to get stuff done today. Yet, his mind didn’t really keep up. There were the experiences from the tower, the new skills, Troublemaker becoming Trouble and all that entailed, the dissonance between Hert and Ava, and being banned from the inn where he’d stayed for over two months.
He laid down on his back and stared up at the stone ceiling. Somehow, it felt like being in a dungeon or prison, and someone else had thought that too. Or at least the white markings on the far wall implied they had.
Leon rose, having a feeling of needing to get out of there, to do something.
He stopped at the middle of the first floor, where the staircase would take him down to the pub, and looked at the wall. Two boards. Quests. Maybe that would help stack up some experience, if not serve in taking his mind off other things.
Leon looked at the map first. As Finn had said, there was a second gate, just a couple of streets down from the portal to the first floor. Unlike Margaret’s map, this one also had more details about the structure of the streets in the Slums. If the two inns combined their maps, it would actually be very helpful.
He looked over at the quest board and as the box popped up, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around.
“Hey, man!” Finn grinned. “I knew you’d come looking for me.”
“Oh, uh… I was just heading back to my room.”
“We’re roomies?” Finn looked over Leon’s shoulder. “I thought you said you had a room at that other place.”
“Things changed.”
“Oh, you left your party? Or are you here to convince me to join you?” Finn wiggled his eyebrows. “Maybe I don’t want to anymore?”
“That’s a pity.” Leon looked behind his shoulder, then decided to head downstairs instead. There was no guarantee this man wouldn’t just wait outside his room.
“So you do want me to join? Great! Send me an invite.”
Leon stopped halfway down the steps. “I never said I was here for that reason. I’m sure you can find something fun to do while waiting to join a different party.”
“But…” Finn clamped down the stairs after Leon. He wasn’t very quiet for being a Ranger and a Scout.
Leon nodded slightly backwards. “You have a quest board up there; you could post about searching for a party.”
Finn cleared his throat. “I’ve been too awesome for those who’ve showed up so far. They always get cold feet when they see what awesomeness I’d bring to their groups.”
“I bet. You’re probably too awesome for our tacky group, too.” Leon raised a hand to greet the old man and continued toward the front of the building. Now, where to go? Maybe it would be a good idea to check out the other exit from the Slums?
“Well… I…”
“I’m sure you’ll find a suitable party one of these days.” Leon patted Finn’s shoulder and turned to open the door. “Sorry, gotta go.”
Leon listened as he walked down the square and toward the arch leading into the Slums and the portal to the first floor. It would basically be a straight shot to the gate he’d seen on the map, and since he didn’t hear any footsteps following him, he’d also have peace of mind while he explored the new place and figured out how it would do as a training area.
He dismissed the boxes from the Scabs as he walked, but that also prompted the quest to pop up in his mind. There had to be a way to complete it, otherwise it wouldn’t be there. It was supposed to be hard, but not impossible. That’s at least how he thought of it as he’d read the amount of coins required to complete it, combined with the hidden text. Usually, when text was hidden, it was because the level or power difference was too large, meaning the reward would reflect the difficulty of completing it.
Leon walked past the portal to the tower and continued down the street, in between two rows of ramshackle one-floor stone buildings. There were surprisingly few groups of Scabs lingering around the area, considering that the Slums was supposed to have about 2000 inhabitants. As he stared at one group of three approaching him, an idea popped into his head. It wouldn’t be good to start up the Beggar’s Curse when he was so far from the arch where he’d be safe, but if he could just confirm his thought, he’d know what to do. 100 000 coins for 2000 Scabs would amount to about 50 coins per Scab.
“Sir, do you have a coin to spare?” A teenage girl asked, prompting the box.
“Do you want more than one coin?” Leon asked. “I could give you fifty.”
The girl blinked slowly and took a step forward. “Will you give me a coin?”
The same box showed up.
“Ignore.”
The girl backed off while the other two male Scabs asked the same question as her.
Leon ignored them and continued down the street. It had been worth a shot. The quest would require him to give the Scabs over 200 coins per day, but he could only give one coin at a time, and that single coin would basically start a riot.
Stolen story; please report.
He shoved the thought aside as he saw the opening in the stone wall surrounding Pura. He supposed there should have been an arch there, but all that was left of it had crumbled into rubble, littering the line dividing the city from the two forests outside. Between the forests was a dirt path, wide enough for five people to walk side by side.
There was no question which one was ranked E. To the right, the sun shone through the yellow and green leaves, onto some round stones and bushes that sat scattered through the area. To the left, the forest was more dense and the colors of the trees had shifted into a soft red and purple, and the sun that should have lit the ground barely fought its way through the leaves and gave off a slightly ominous feeling.
Leon looked back and forth between the two, deepening his focus on the feelings they gave off as he looked at each. Maybe now would be a good time to distribute the points he’d amassed from reaching level nine. When he’d used his skill to call on the wolves, his sense had told him three were coming, but in the end, he’d met five. And that was while his insight skill had been activated, increasing his sense. Of course, it could have been a side effect from having leveled up and the sense only picked up on the three wolves that were level five and six, but…
He kneaded his eyebrows and looked at his page. Twenty points to distribute. What to do? The merchant in the shop by the night market square had said that a Warrior was basically a weapon in of himself, and since he couldn’t increase his defense and had to rely on Hert, the only option that would make sense would be to increase his strength, and maybe his vitality and agility. The sense stat was useful, but not useful enough to take points from the others. Intelligence would probably increase his MP, but he had done well without putting points in there previously, so he’d probably skip that one. He sucked in a breath and distributed the points.
Name: Leon Level: 9, 22% Class: Warrior Title: NooB Guild: None HP: 290 Fatigue: 18% MP: 12 Coins: 148 Strength: 32 Agility: 16 Vitality: 23 Intelligence: 9 Sense: 10 Available Status Points: 0
He confirmed the choices, and another box popped up.
Through increasing your Strength to over 30, you have unlocked the following boon: Brawler—You deal 10% more damage from non-weapon attacks
Leon closed his fists as the bracers tightened around his arms. A second later, they adapted. So, his muscles had grown without him noticing before? What had changed with the increase of the other stats? He half-regretted not putting more points into vitality since that would probably prompt a boon when it reached a threshold, too. He’d keep that in mind for the next level.
Dismissing the boxes, he stepped onto the dirt road and toward the E-ranked forest. It would be good to see what they had to expect if they decided to be bolder. But as soon as he put a foot outside the path, a message popped up.
WARNING
You are entering an E-ranked dungeon.
Rank: E-
Recommended level: 13 or higher
Your level: 9
Proceed with caution.
Leon dismissed the warning and took a step back. A recommended level of thirteen or higher would probably mean he’d die instantly to whatever monster he met. There was a chance they could take down a beast like that as a party, but he likely couldn’t do it alone—not even with Trouble’s help. Besides, he didn’t know how Trouble’s level counted towards damage or otherwise, and he didn’t want her to get hurt. Especially if it was to soothe his curiosity.
So, he turned around and entered the Tutorial Forest. Hopefully, stronger monsters than level six would show up when they started the grind as a group. He opened his backpack to take out his weapons and Trouble. A promise was a promise, after all.
*******
Leon threw himself down on the bed. He and Trouble had worked until he’d reached exhaustion, which, admittedly, took longer than before. Both because of her help and his increased stats. Now that he was aware of the effect, he could see the difference that it made. The wolves he’d met earlier that day had required much more fatigue than they did after he’d put in the points. And now, he could take down a level five wolf with only a few swings, and with Trouble’s help, he’d managed to take down way more than he ever would have before. Her level had also increased by one, but he had no idea what that meant.
Without selling the loot, he’d gotten a respectable amount of coins for his efforts, but the last fight had taken its toll since the penalty from the tower had kicked in before killing the last one. He’d basically been forced to leave it to Trouble, and then drag his feet back to his new inn. The dinner had consisted of a thick broth and a chunk of bread, and then he’d stumbled his way into the room while solemnly swearing he’d never pass the 100% fatigue again if he could help it.
The music from the somewhat off-beat lute reached up to him as he turned in the bed, facing the wall. Trouble leaned her head over his stomach and fell asleep there while Leon set the sleep timer, wondering what other weird things would stumble across his path come morning.
*******
The first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes was purple and black. He blinked up at the huge rabbit’s face.
“Something wrong?” he asked, rising. The window displayed a faint light from outside, but a look at the time told him he’d woken to the alarm. He rose to stretch his arms and back, and as soon as he left the bed, Trouble snuggled into it.
“Is the floor too cold?” He patted her head. “I’ll have a look at something you can lie on today, after we’ve finished fighting with the group.”
He lifted the backpack from the floor and held it out. Trouble glanced at it and kicked at the mattress to make herself more comfortable.
“I’ll take that as a no to coming with us today.” He stroked her between the ears. “Don’t make too much noise up here while I’m away. This is the only place I can rent right now.”
Her ears didn’t even twitch at his voice. She must have stayed up all night. Leon pondered that while making his way down into the pub area. She seemed to need sleep more for sleep’s sake than for her fatigue. It would be interesting to see her status window, if she had one.
Leon looked around the semi-sunlit lower area. All tables stood empty, and the woman with the lute had also gone.
“Good morning,” the old man said, and Leon spun around. He seemed to have appeared out of thin air.
“Morning. Is it just to sit down for breakfast, or how does it work?”
The old man nodded, making his earlobes dangle back and forth. “Wherever is fine. I’ll be out with your meal in a minute.”
Instead of sitting, Leon approached the stairs that divided the bar and looked to his left, where the man walked to the furthest end, pulled a sting, and a sort of trapdoor sprung up. He walked down a set of stone steps lit by an everlight fastened to the wall. A kitchen in the cellar didn’t seem like the most practical thing, but if people mainly came here to drink rather than to eat or use it as an inn, Leon supposed it made sense.
He sat at a clean table by one of the few windows and ate the porridge the man had served him. He took a spoonful, trying to figure out what it was made of, but gave up and dipped the piece of bread into it. Even though it looked bland, it was quite rich in both flavor and texture.
As he scraped the last remnants from the bottom, the door opened. Leon looked over his shoulder and sank deeper into the chair.
“Hey, innkeep!” Finn smacked the bar with a palm. “You’re old as the city, so tell me—have the guards always been so grumpy?”
The old man walked out from behind the counter and smacked a stick over the lanky man’s legs. “Manners, boy! Manners! What have I told you?”
“Ouch!” Finn rubbed his thighs and stared into the short man’s face. “It’s true though.”
The response earned him another whack. “You young whippersnappers have no idea what toll you take on an old fellow like myself. Now, say sorry, or I’ll whack you again. Just know that every heartfelt beat hurts my back, and you don’t want to hurt the only fellow willing to put up with your antics.”
“Yeah? Well—”
The man raised the stick, and Finn jumped to the side, holding his hands out. “Sorry.”
The old man hit the stick over one of the bar stools. “Sit. I’ll get you some hot sap brew.”
Finn did as asked, and the innkeeper disappeared behind the counter. Even though Leon and Finn had their backs against each other, Leon didn’t move in case the sound would catch his attention.
The old man climbed up the stepladder a minute later and pushed forward a steaming tankard. “Now, tell me what happened. And boy, keep your manners in check.” He laid the stick in front of him, like a barrier between them.
“That guy I told you about said I should run with the guards in the mornings. So I did.”
“Mhm. I wondered why you got up so early.”
“Yeah. Well, it all went okay at first, but then they ran faster. And I told them to keep down the pace, they’d hurt themselves.”
“Not because you couldn’t keep up, then?” The old man smirked as Finn flushed red.
“I could beat them in a race whenever I wanted to.”
“And of course you told them that.”
Finn mumbled something Leon couldn’t hear. He took this chance to sneak toward the door.
“And now they don’t want you there anymore?” The man shook his head. “Finn, my boy, have you ever stopped to consider why people have a tough time sticking around you?”
Finn mumbled something else and took a swig from the tankard.
Leon opened the door to the inn, but froze at the sound of a loud voice.
“Hey, you! Didn’t your mother ever teach you to say thanks?” The old man pointed toward him with the stick, and Finn turned around. “Tsk. Another one without manners.”
“Oh, it’s him!” Finn said, turning back to the bar. “He’s the one I told you about.” He threw the rest of the brew into his mouth and jogged toward Leon, his cheeks expanded. A few drops ran along his chin as he swallowed and Leon held back a groan.
“Thanks for the breakfast,” Leon said, and looked from the old man to Finn.
The old man glanced at both of them with narrowed eyes, which expanded into understanding. He nodded and jumped down from the stepladder.
“Finn, don’t cause trouble for people who don’t want you in their party.” He trotted forward, faster than Leon thought was possible, and pulled at Finn’s arm. “You’ve got to prove your worth for someone to consider you, not just brag about it. Leave him be. There will be more people coming along who might team up with you. Hone your skills, but also your manners.”
Leon nodded in thanks and stepped out the door to the plaza. Even though he disliked how Finn behaved, it felt good to know that someone could hold his leash and maybe teach him one or two things. Maybe, someday, he would change enough to get companions of his own. Ones who wouldn’t get affected by his current personality.
He made his way through the slim passageway of the buildings and entered the plaza where he’d started all of his mornings so far. Even though it was ten minutes before their set meeting time, both Ava and Hert stood waiting for him. Hert outside his smithery and Ava outside the inn. Leon was surprised that he didn’t see Margaret there too, pulling on Ava to get her inside.
“Hey!” Leon called, and they both startled. Hert walked toward him while Ava ran. She bumped into Leon’s chest and hugged him for a few seconds before tilting her head.
“I can’t believe you left me behind! I thought you’d kick me from the party!”
“What?” Leon looked into her red hair.
“Margaret said you left the inn. That you wanted alone time. Away from me.”
“Did she?”
“I’d want that too,” Hert said with a smug smile.
Ava glared at him. “You’re such a—”
“I wouldn’t want to spend a minute away from a beauty like you,” a voice said from behind Leon, cutting her off. “Even if he does.”
Leon’s heart sank. He stepped away from Ava’s hug. “Finn. What are you doing here?”
The slim man leaned onto his longbow and pushed his dark hair behind an ear. “I’m here to prove my worth.”