Chapter 64

Red had better condition than Leon had thought, and after completing the lap, she ended up running with him to the crafting fountain. There they sat, Leon still a bit winded from earlier, but less than Red, whose face had taken on a pink hue. She’d taken off her hat before running, but now she took it out from her satchel and waved it in front of her face.

Hert exited his smithery and walked toward them, raising an eyebrow toward Leon. “Morning.”

Red looked up at the voice and glanced at Leon. “That’s your Tank?”

“Yup.” Leon rose. “Morning.”

Red gave Hert a once over, but her eyes lingered on his woolen tunic with the cracked iron plate. How it had survived without being completely destroyed after the hits he’d taken when fighting with Finn was beyond Leon. But it couldn’t take much more, that much was certain.

“And you must be the Cleric Leon talked about,” Hert said, approaching. He did the same once over with her. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Red stood and brushed over her clothes. “I guess I should get going.”

“What have you two been up to? Or is it something I don’t want to know?”

Leon smiled. “Running. As always.”

Hert nodded. “You too?”

“Me?” Red asked. She put the hat back onto her head. “Not until now, but we did two laps together. I hope it will help me, too.”

“Let’s see if you can keep it up longer than Ava. I think she joined Leon’s runs two times before she quit.”

“And you’re not running at all?” Red asked.

Hert shrugged. “Leon hasn’t asked, and I haven’t really thought about it.”

“Maybe you should. We could run together, just like the guards do.”

“Maybe.”

Leon frowned. Hadn’t he asked? Perhaps not. Hert always came out on time for the meet-ups and disappeared into his house when they were back. But it would be nice with some company from time to time.

Red started walking away, raising a hand in goodbye.

“Her again?” Finn asked, walking toward the fountain. He came from the direction of the Drowned Goblin inn. “She never gives up, does she? Even when she doesn’t stand a chance and she knows it.”

Red’s steps slowed, and then she stopped.

“Morning, Finn,” Leon said with a sigh. “Where’s Ava?”

“I have something to do today, so we won’t join. She’s caught up with Margaret. Actually doing something useful, building meaningful relationships.” Finn sneered toward Red’s stiff back. “Wanting to do her best to become stronger by getting the help she needs.”

Red spun around and stomped toward him. She pressed a finger onto his chest, and her face flushed in anger. “And you’re the one who’s helping her? If you hurt another…”

“Hey, hey!” Finn said and stepped back, holding his hands up. “I never hurt your sister. I helped her reach higher levels, and if you don’t want that for yourself, that’s your problem. You could meet with her again if you just took the chance, you know?” Finn raised his eyebrows and smiled. “It’s not too late, you know. I keep telling you.”

“Go to hell.” Red shoved him, causing him to take a step back.

Finn just smiled and shrugged. “See, that’s your problem.” Finn snorted and turned to Leon and Hert. “Some people can’t just see the easy way out and take it.”

“And the only ones privy to this easy way are women you flirt with?” Hert chuckled. “Why not take this easy road yourself, after what you said yesterday?”

Finn clenched his jaw, but never let the smile falter. “Where’s the glory in that? Can’t let people say I cheated my way to the top when I’m actually useful and can do it myself.”

Red’s lips tightened, and Leon walked over to stand between them. “So, what are you up to today, Finn? I thought you’d be the leader?”

Finn waved him off. “Got stuff to do. Go do your own thing today. That’s what you do best, anyway.” He looked over his shoulder. “Anyway, gotta go.” He turned on his heel and returned into the Drowned Goblin.

“I don’t know how you can be in a party with him,” Red said to Leon’s back.

“I’m starting to wonder if it’s worth it, yeah.” Leon turned around. “Sorry for stepping in, but there’s no use in getting riled up over his opinions.”

“But I got to wonder,” Hert said, crossing his arms, “is there actually a way to do that? Raising people’s levels?”

Red nodded. “My sister was helped to do that. But now she’s dead.”

Hert frowned. “How? Was it Finn?” He looked at the inn. “He doesn’t seem to know about it.”

Red sighed. “He didn’t do it himself. But it’s not a topic I’d like to delve further into, if that’s okay.”

Hert looked like he wanted to ask more, but just as Leon had, he stayed quiet. Instead, he turned to Leon. “So, what should we do today?”

“I don’t really know,” Leon said, looking behind his shoulder at the inn. “We could still fight, and I think I will, no matter if they come with or not. You’re welcome to come with, of course.” He turned to Red. “We could also fight together, like we did yesterday.”

Red rubbed over the port wine stain on her neck. “I mean, sure. If you have nothing else in mind.”

“That was our deal, too,” Leon said.

“Deal? What deal?” Hert asked.

Leon and Red quickly explained the fight and weight training agreement, and Hert nodded. Leon had expected him to laugh.

“Sounds like something Leon would do,” Hert said. “But since I’m also coming with, I’d like today to be a bit different.”

“You’re coming?” Leon asked.

“Well, I can’t let you be the only one fighting to do something more to raise your strength,” Hert said. “Especially with the meet-up yesterday. Too bad both Finn and Ava will profit from our hard work.”

Leon shrugged. “It is what it is, at least until we reach level 10. We could break off from them, but then you’d need to gather the experience in a similar way that Red’s doing. And that’s fine, but would take some time.”

Hert shook his head. “That’s the beauty of it, isn’t it?” He looked Red up and down, opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it. “Let’s go, then.”

Leon could guess at what Hert had been about to say. It had to be one thing; to ask Red to replace Ava and Finn in their party. Then he either remembered what Leon said about her not wanting to join, or stopping himself from jumping into something, when all he knew of her was what Leon had told him. Leon smiled to himself. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t relate to that line of thinking. But a promise was a promise.

They bought some bottles of antidote, then continued by jogging back toward the Drowned Goblin, over the bridge, and toward the wheat field. There, they veered off into the tutorial swamp. Leon considered going into the labyrinth, but since they had no knowledge of how the monsters behaved in there, he’d feel better for someone else to make ranged attacks until they knew how the beasts behaved. That had become a little of a crutch, and it might be the only thing Leon would miss when Finn left the party. Leon sucked on his cheek. Maybe he’d start trying to throw weapons against targets, just to see how it went. Maybe it was a skill to unlock?

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“Damn, it’s empty here,” Hert said, looking at the closest round area. No toad and no frogs were in it.

“Shouldn’t they have respawned since we left yesterday?” Red asked, scanning the area.

“I don’t know,” Leon said. “Maybe we should try further in.”

A thought popped into his mind. What if the duo of mages from yesterday were trying to do that haunted spirit thing here? He shook his head. No, that probably wasn’t possible. But the mages had said that they sometimes entered the forest to get ingredients, so… Leon took a deep breath. Whether they were here or not, they should be careful so they didn’t run into anyone, and definitely see to it that they didn’t hurt someone by accident. He hated that he needed to think about that too now, even if all their attacks were melee today and they couldn’t be harmed by players. And that caution would only need to grow from now on.

“We didn’t do five toad groups yesterday,” Red said, frowning at the empty area. “Only two.”

“Someone’s probably close by, or they’ve already done their work and left,” Hert said, scratching his neck. “We could try further in.”

“It would be early for someone to return already. But I guess we could head to the tree-cave.” Leon stopped and looked around. “We’ll likely find something to fight there.”

“I don’t have my torch though, so Kavanask is out of the question.” Hert said. “Unless we want to treck back to the city first.”

“Kavanask?” Red asked.

Hert explained what they’d found, and that they had fought imps, but left out the information about the special stone.

“I’ve never heard of it,” Red said. “But yeah, we’ll soon need to drink an antidote, so it’s basically wasted money to go back now. What if we follow the outer wall and see if we come across something?”

“If that’s even possible now,” Hert said. “The layout has changed quite a bit with the season.”

“It is. That path is always open, so those who get lost can find their way out.”

“That’s mighty convenient.”

Leon nodded. “Alright, let’s do it.”

He watched the forest as they made their way closer to Pura again, looking for any players or the snake he’d seen. Nothing seemed to lurk in the shadows or follow them.

“Hert, was it?” Red said from the back of their line. “You said that you wanted us to adjust the fighting today. What did you mean by that?”

“Just that we’ll need to fight too, to gain a bit of loot. You seem to know Finn in a way, but have you fought with him?”

“No,” Red said.

“Well, he isn’t that keen on splitting loot, and much too keen to let others take damage. Equipment’s expensive, so if we don’t fight for at least part of the loot, we’re gonna lose out, big time.”

“That’s fine, then,” Red said. “As long as I get to fight some, too.”

“Of course.”

Leon held up a hand and stopped. The others walked up to stand beside him on the trail. He pointed toward the forest. “I think this is a good place to head in again. We’ve walked for a while, so we should have some distance from the people who fought the other groups.”

“As good a place as any,” Hert said. “Lead the way.”

Leon sought the ground for a decent path to follow, but there was none leading from where they were. He thanked the game for not letting them get wet, and started walking inward, stepping on the stones purtruding from the ground. Vines crossed between the trees above them, some spiraling down the trunks and into the ground. He looked up at a cluster that had formed between three trees. That could be helpful in preventing a bat attack.

He took a few steps further, alternating stepping on rocks and moss, and saw two sunken circles. “Two groups.” He squinted toward either side. One had a group of five frogs and a toad, and the other had three and a toad. He motioned toward the right, where he saw the group of three, and pulled out an antidote. He drank it, and took out his weapons as he walked closer, and Trouble jumped out. Leon cursed.

Trouble looked up at him.

“Trouble?” Hert asked. “It’s been a while.” He walked up to touch her head, then turned his head to Leon. “Does she fight?”

Leon nodded. “Also sometimes when I don’t want her to.” He crouched and looked at the rabbit. “You better not get eaten. That toad,” Leon pointed with his short sword at the offending party, “will start grabbing living beings when we’ve defeated the frogs. So when we’ve done that, come over here.”

Trouble blinked a few times, then she bent her head. Leon took that as a yes and smiled.

“Does the antidote work on her?” Hert asked. A tongue lashed out at him, and Leon stepped forward, trying to grab it. He did, even though it slipped a little. Two more followed, but he wasn’t able to take hold of them.

“She doesn’t get poisoned,” Red said with a smile, watching Trouble leap toward the frogs. “Something about her being corrupted at one point.”

“Hm,” Hert puffed. “Well, we better get in there, I guess.”

Leon looked from them to Trouble, just as she stomped down on a frog. It sunk down immediately. The other one croaked while the one in Leon’s grasp stood still, having its tongue out. Red took out her lute while she ran toward it, and Trouble sank down to leap.

“No, Trouble, leave that one to Red,” Leon said.

Trouble glanced at him and jumped. She landed on the other frog. It didn’t go down immediately, but the bite that came after it finished it. Red raised her lute over the immobilized frog.

“Wait!” Leon motioned for Trouble to come. “Trouble, get onto the path.”

Trouble tilted her head to the side, her ears turning back and forth. Leon raised his eyebrows toward her. With a sort of grumble, she did as he told her. When she stood safely on the path, Red slammed the lute onto the frog, immediately raising it again as the toad snapped up the dead body and chewed on it. Leon sprinted forward, and in one go, he took it out.

“Where’s the pile?” Leon asked, looking around.

Hert shrugged.

Leon looked at the path. Trouble wasn’t there. He ran past Hert, into the other area, and sure enough, Trouble had already taken out three of the five frogs. They croaked, and their tongues lashed out toward her. She ducked, and they slammed into each other. A heartbeat later, Trouble had killed the remaining two.

“Trouble, get back here,” Leon shouted.

A purple tongue coming from a mouth full of frogs shot toward her. It grabbed one of her legs, and she let out a whine, trying to kick herself away by pushing onto the ground. Leon ran toward her, but his speed was no match for the toad. It opened its jaw wide as Trouble closed in.

“You fucker!” Leon jumped forward, but wasn’t even close. Trouble turned around, and as she entered the toad’s massive mouth, she bit down on its upper jaw. The mouth started closing around her body, and with a strangled cry from her, a hole appeared in the back of the beast, where her paws stuck out.

The toad disappeared in a flash of pixels.

‘Trouble has leveled up!’

Leon ignored the notification as he got to his feet and ran to Trouble. She was panting, but didn’t act like she was hurt, sitting on the toad’s stone.

“Why?” Leon asked as he came up to her. He put the weapons into his inventory and grabbed her cheeks, making her look at him. She struggled to look away, but he wouldn’t let her. “I warned you this would happen, so why?”

When she couldn’t move her head, she moved her eyes away instead.

“Don’t you see?” Leon shook her. “You could have died!”

“She did a good job, though,” Hert said, looking at the loot pile. “Never expected a rabbit to be so… fierce.”

Leon glared at him, then let Trouble go and sank into the water, leaning his back against the stone. He rubbed his hands over his face. A splash sounded in front of him. Trouble sat drenched in the swamp, tilting her head to the side. She took a hesitant jump toward him, then another. She looked at him, then laid her head carefully on his shoulder. The whiskers tickled his cheek and ear. Leon took a few deep breaths, the smell of wet fur itching in his nose. He was equally angry and scared. After everything that happened to her recently, why didn’t she ever listen when he told her something? It was one thing for her to have a will of her own, and he didn’t begrudge her that, but she needed to listen to what he warned her about. He was responsible for her life now that she’d chosen to stay with him. She hadn’t been this size for that long, hadn’t fought for very long, and despite that, she took risk after risk for no reason.

“I think she’s trying to apologize,” Red said in a soft voice.

Leon breathed in deeply through his nose and let it out through his mouth. He glanced at the wet stripes in her coat and lifted his arm around her neck in a hug toward his shoulder. “What am I to do with you?” He mumbled.

“A leash?” Hert said, earning a glare from Red. “Just a joke,” he added. He bent down and picked up the loot pile.

“What about you train her?” Red had put her lute away, and now she crossed her arms, walking closer.

“She’s very intelligent,” Leon mumbled. “I don’t think…”

“She’s still very young,” Red said. “Maybe not by a normal rabbit’s standards, but considering what she is now. She doesn’t have any of our experience yet, and I think her fighting is more instinctive than anything else.”

“Red’s right, you know,” Hert said, closing his pouch and stepping forward. “I think her fighting is more than instinctive, though. I think she’s actually watching and copying you.”

Leon scratched at Trouble’s head, frowning. Maybe Hert had a point. He also rushed in, trying to beat the enemies as quickly as possible, and doing anything he came up with to do that. Though he hated to admit it, he also did some risky moves that in afterthought might not have been necessary. Maybe she could somehow view the world with him from his inventory. Crap. If that was the case, he was the cause of this development, and he’s the one who taught her to attack without thinking of her own safety. And she must be learning quickly.

“How do you think I could train her?” Leon asked, gently pushing Trouble aside. He rose.

“I don’t know,” Hert said. “But it might be wise to leave her at home when we go out to fight, and think of sessions you can do with her, to teach her to fight properly.”

“I don’t know either,” Red admitted. She looked at Trouble. “But I guess you could do it in Crag’s dungeon. It being a closed space and all. Maybe he also has some ideas.”

Leon nodded. Crag also had his box of lures. If he could be convinced to part with it, lures might prove a useful training tool. The problem was that he barely knew how to fight himself, and that was probably the main issue. He looked at Trouble, his mind reeling. What had he done to her?

Trouble faced the forest behind Leon, not looking at him directly. Her ears twitched, and her body started shaking. Leon turned around. “Activate insight.”

Red and Hert joined him, looking in the same direction.

“What do you sense?” Hert asked.

“Something strong is headed this way, not sure what.”

A roar sounded throughout the forest, and the heavy thuds came closer.

“You don’t think…” Red said, not finishing the sentence.

“Run!” Leon said. He opened his backpack and shoved it toward Trouble.