In the morning, before Sophie woke up, I went to the guild for a short visit. There was no empty space left on the board as employees took down requests and replaced them with higher paying ones. The lower paying requests went into a box in a secluded corner.
The number of hunting quests have spiked significantly but these bastards are still being so cheap with the reward money. 'Mushrooms and any other edible monsters', is the general summary of the quests.
Due to the limited sunlight and miasma, crops aren't able to grow. People are already beginning to panic and rushing to stock up food.
Water pollution is going to be a larger issue the longer it rains. Some monsters may be edible for the time being but sooner or later, they'll become dangerous to consume as well.
The entire continent will collapse. The elites may be able to hold out for a while. Greenhouses should be able to grow crops despite the poor circumstances, mixing in expensive holy water as a temporary solution for the miasma. Those priests are going to be working overtime. But even then, I don't think the limited crops will be enough to sustain livestock and humans at the same time. They'll have to go without their lavish meals.
Speaking of meals. Sophie! She'll be in a bad mood if we don't have anything nice to eat. I need to be panic buying too!! Before the prices shoot sky-high. I can't be leisurely looking over these quests! While searching for the quest with the highest offer, the receptionist tapped me on the shoulder.
"Good morning, Claud. Waking up early today, I see? Where's Sophie? Is she still tuckered out from last night?"
-Willpower: 43/44-
"Receptionist... Does the guild have any meat for sale?"
Her face went blank, as if greatly disappointed.
"You too... Even though we're getting a lot of money in with all these commissions, the supplies are in a real tight spot."
I see... Sigh.
"Ah, right. A personal quest came in for you."
Another personal quest?
"A merchant, Jacob is requesting an escort for his person and goods to Perlim, a town West of here."
Perlim... A far-off location. The train tracks don't pass through that area. I don't really know a lot about it. It's not in any tourism brochures, there's no mention of it in any newspapers either.
The receptionist passes me the quest details. Immediately the red flags set off alarms in my brain.
Situated on plains and surrounded by forests at a low altitude. An unremarkable farming town. No notable features or produce.
Why did we receive such a high paying transportation request for a place like this? Something reeks. A merchant typically flits about locations teeming with people.
"A reward of 100 gold coins. Are you interested, Claud?"
The client is a merchant, they have a large social circle. Declining a personal quest this early in our careers could be harmful to our reputation. That's a lot of money too.
Despite all the arguments in favor of accepting, I decline the quest, pushing the paper away.
"Understood. I'll inform the merchant."
Who know? The merchant could have family waiting for him at home. Not every person is bad. But I won't drop my guard.
A request from an unknown merchant leading us to an obscure place. He could be trying to murder or kidnap us. If they slipped a drug in our meal that'd be game over for us.
Maybe I'm being too paranoid, however the current climate is pretty dangerous.
We've spent a month in this town. More time than I wanted to. It was fun being independent living in a new place, but we've played around enough. A crisis is about to hit this continent, let's return to the Empire. Our noble households will suffer a lot, but they'll survive. The same can't be said for the poor and middle class. Staying out here, the biggest threat won't be procuring food and water. It's other humans looking to take what we have.
Sophie and I can pour holy power to make holy water and cleanse the food we eat. People will want to take advantage of that. Sophie's kindness will be used against her. I can already see it happening. So, before that happens, we'll return home, staying in relative safety till the danger passes us by.
I return to the inn.
Reaching our room, I see Sophie still lying on the bed, tossing and turning in her sleep. I ought to pinch her for some easy quest completion...
No. That's not very nice. She could be having a nightmare.
Plus, she's worked hard these past weeks helping to assemble that trap from scratch.
I nudge her shoulder gently and pass some mana to her. The warmth of her blanket is too inviting, let's lower the temperature a little.
-Willpower: 42/44-
"Wake up, Sophie."
"Mmm..."
-Willpower: 41/44-
"Sophie, we're leaving town. We need winter gear. Let's go shopping."
"I wanna sleep in a little longer... You can buy things without me..."
-Willpower: 40/44-
"No, I can't. You need winter clothing before we can set out. It needs to fit."
She doesn't respond but I notice she slyly peeps at me through one half open eye.
I try to pull Sophie off the bed, but she pulls back harder.
-Your Stats are halved when fighting the Hero-
Tsk.
I can't win against her with pure strength. An old-fashioned strategy is needed.
I slide my finger against the bottom of her foot. I applaud you for withstanding the first blow of the T.T arts. But can you endure the remaining onslaught?!
Tickle, tickle, tickle.
Feet, armpit, stomach!
She twitched but steadfastly refused to get up, hiding her weak points under the sheets.
To be this reactive, you're already properly awake, aren't you. Stop resisting and get up already.
I tug the sheets and start tickling her sides even more mercilessly.
"S-stop~"
She managed to weather throughout the entire torture. I'm exhausted from doing something silly. Speaking gently didn't work, the tickle torture failed. Let's trying appealing to her conscience.
-Willpower: 39/44-
"Come on, Sophie. You'd rather stay indoors sleeping instead of going shopping with me?"
The guilt tripping failed. She stays completely stationary under the sheets doing her best impression of a bagworm.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Come to think of it... I don't have to compete with her in strength trying to wrest the blanket away. Her arms are trapped under the sheets.
I easily pick up the bagworm Sophie and start carrying her potato sack style.
"C-Claud?!"
-Willpower: 38/44-
"If you don't get up, I'm carrying to you to the smith shop as you are. Do you want to be seen like this?"
In response, she struggles. Eventually I lose my balance from all the struggling, falling to the ground with her knee landing perfectly in the center of my stomach.
Karma, a stat nobody has any idea of what it does. But deep down, I had a thought. Maybe it affects probability of things occurring. Things like this. An action has a reaction.
This is karma.
Sheepishly she leans over and asks, "Are you okay?"
I will be. Tis only a flesh wound.
I cannot be mad at her; I was overdoing the teasing. She could be feeling troubled over something.
-Willpower: 37/44-
"Is there something wrong?"
"Claud is a calc- careful person who doesn't like to take risks."
She was about to say calculative, wasn't she. Careful is a very positive twist of that word.
"I know that you only went on this journey because I wanted to. But then what I don't know is, why you are so eager to go on quests? Each quest we go on could be dangerous. Why do you want to leave town while your arm is still hurt? I don't know, you're confusing me. Please don't make us leave."
She held onto her head as if she had a headache.
I can understand why my actions seem contradictory to her. I was only eager to adventure when the world was relatively safe. The dark sky raining poison was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I should have properly told her my intentions.
-Willpower: 36/44-
"I want to return to the capital city actually."
Oh no. That was too blunt. She blue screened. She stared at me, blinked thrice and kept staring motionless. I've confused her too much.
-Willpower: 35/44-
"I was thinking about what you said and considering how the miasma is affecting everything. We should go back home."
"You really mean that? You're not playing a joke on me?"
When have I ever played a joke on you?
She hugged me tightly.
"Let's quickly go home then! Where it's safe!"
Yup. Glad to know that I've infected her with my safety-first mentality.
----------------------------------------
Before the prices rise any higher, buy up anything useful.
With 400 gold coins in my purse, I don't have to calculate the minute amounts anymore. Just a brief look at the price tags. This is the life...
How about a portable heater, Winter is coming soon...
Risk of Combustion
On second thought, no.
This town still has quite a few vendors despite the horrible situation. Or contrarily, more merchants are present to make money off the circumstances. Lots of merchants are selling faux potions, weapons and armors. I can tell the potions don't work. They lack the same feeling that using the Heal spell does. But I can't judge the rest of these shady street side goods.
Wait. Is that a...? A giant status orb with boldly colored signs to display the smith's crafting skills and stats. Most of the craftsman shared one community status orb to prove their skills but this store had one all to itself. I'll purchase from this one.
I was expecting their stats to be located mostly in Strength and Vitality but that was not the case. Blacksmiths' stats are in the 15-20 range, spread out evenly across all the five main stats. That makes sense. You need decent strength to work with metal, dexterity to handle your tools, vitality to sustain long working hours, intelligence to know what you're doing and luck to sway the odds in your favor.
None of the people had a single stat above 20, including seasoned blacksmiths with level 4 skills. Sophie and I really are in the top percentile stats wise.
You'd never find out about things like this if you just stayed inside reading all day.
----------------------------------------
I can see why some people get addicted to shopping.
Looking through everything, considering the possibilities, thinking about what you could do with your new items.
I'm getting sidetracked. Winter clothing. We'll definitely need some.
Oh, this armor is lined with fur and thick pads to retain warmth! The old man who worked on this has a Level 5 Smithing and Level 4 Leatherworker skill. Wow. A level 5 skill. That's truly an abnormal thing to see. He must have been working as a smith for a long time.
I pull the coat armor off the rack and hold it up to Sophie to see if it could fit her. It's not too chunky like the rest. It won't hinder her movement in battle.
"Claud, should we really spend so much money?"
What are you talking about, silly? It's only 20 gold. For an armor made by such a skilled person it's cheap, we're paying for quality.
I'll get one for me too.
Oooh... It's warm.
"Umm, does it look good?"
In the mirror, two people wearing matching coats gave off a sense of unity. I couldn't recognize myself. It's me and Sophie.
-Willpower: 34/44-
"We both look great."
Sophie smiled widely.
Heh.
"Quit peddling ya goods in front me store!"
Sophie and the apprentice manning the store's front flinched.
A muscular giant was yelling at a scrawny man in ragged clothes. That must be the smithy's owner. To be that muscular with a Strength stat of 20, how come Sophie and I don't have any visible changes. The imagination of me and Sophie as a muscular bodybuilder duo made me snort a little.
"Get lost you no good leech! Before I call the guards!"
He shouldn't have tried selling his items in front of another person's store. That goes against several ordinances.
He could be slapped with an obstruction of business charge. The store owner is nice to let him off so easily.
"P-please, give me a chance... I need to make some money-"
Bad mistake.
The old smith lost his temper, sending the peddler crashing into a pile of items. Fluid and glass went flying.
"You halfwit! Selling your worthless scrap on my territory! I'm not telling you another time, leave!"
"C-calm down, sir."
Crap. Sophie stepped in between the towering old man and the cowering peddler.
"P-please don't hit people."
"Are you siding with this fool, missy? He's the one in the wrong."
Why are you getting involved, Sophie? We haven't bought our stuff yet. What if he kick us out?
"It doesn't matter who's in the wrong. Please don't hit people. I'm sure he doesn't want to do this too. He just needs money."
"He would have money if he spent his time training and honing his skills. It's his own fault that he is lacking."
True. I agreed fully with the smith.
Quit defending the peddler, Sophie.
"Step aside, girlie."
He shoved Sophie and she fell backwards towards me. I quickly hold her in place. Fuck. Don't get into a fight with the store owner. We could get arrested for assault on a store owner. This is his territory. With the wonky laws in place, we are considered to be the ones intruding.
Given the West's history with invaders, the laws are very much in favor of him. And we're the Eastern invaders. Please don't drag us into this farce.
-Willpower: 33/44-
"Apologies, sir. My friend here doesn't like seeing violence."
"You should tell your little friend to mind her own business. Pay for the goods and leave."
I leave the money to the assistant and drag Sophie by the waist out of the store.
"Claud!" She was angry that I'd been trying to leave.
Yeah, the smith's actions may have been a bit overblown but who was going to stop him? The peddler is the one committing a crime. The victim's business was affected by the obstructing peddler. The smith gets to decide what to do.
"How could you stand there watching? Why didn't you help the poor man?!"
This idiotic golden goose. Quit yelling at me outside, you're drawing attention.
I pull her into an alleyway.
-Willpower: 32/44-
"I understand your gut instinct to protect someone-"
"Then why-?!"
Don't you raise your voice at me.
-Willpower: 31/44-
"IF! The store owner decided to press charges against us for assault, we would have no way out. Do you realize that?! The status he holds as a respectable owner of a smithy. Versus us, the foreigner adventurers here for a quick buck."
I shouldn't be this angry with her, lower your tone. She hasn't experienced it the way I have. The difference in status that is so hard to overcome.
"But we didn't hit him-"
-Willpower: 30/44-
"Do you think that matters? All he has to do is say we did. We're lucky that he was a good person."
"G-good person?!"
-Willpower: 29/44-
"Yes! A good person!"
The indignance in her voice made me livid and I inadvertently raised my voice again.
"He hit that poor peddler down on their luck, how can you call that good? He's mean...! H-he's. He's... He's evil!"
Don't be frustrated with her. She's just sheltered.
-Willpower: 28/44-
"If he were truly evil, he would have used the full weight of the law to punish that peddler. But he let him go. What else would you call that mercy but good? In comparison to a lot of people, that smith is one of the better ones. He may have lost his temper. He may have struck the man. But he never did it out of maliciousness."
"B-but... It's not right. He still hit him..."
So what?
-Willpower: 27/44-
"As long as the smith didn't kill the sod, the guards wouldn't have lifted a finger. No, even if the peddler was killed, nothing would have happened. They wouldn't have punished the old smith who had contributed so much highly skilled labor and equipment to his community. Compare that to the peddler who had no worthwhile skills and items."
"... That's not... Why...? Just because someone has skills, they won't be punished? That doesn't make sense!"
It makes perfect sense.
-Willpower: 26/44-
"The jury are formed from the community that the smith contributed to. Have you not noticed the status orb? That expensive status orb only possessed by big, important associations like the guild, the church, the guards and the nobles. They know and recognize how much work he has put into his craft. The judge wants to be reelected next term by the town, so the judge isn't going to overturn the jury's verdict. No matter how grossly obvious the crime was. Their statuses were completely different."
"Why is it so unfair? There's no way they could let that happen... You're just assuming the worst."
-Willpower: 25/44-
"It has already happened. Multiple times. Throughout the history of the continent."
Even the heroes were not perfect. Many of the arrogant ones committed various crimes during their journeys but were let go due to their status.
But I don't want Sophie to fall into that depravity. To be so twisted.
She's got me to protect her. I'm the one that's supposed to be hiding this kind of stuff from her. It's not beneficial at all for the naive hero to find out about the bothersome grey.
Sophie had stopped expressing any emotions in her face and just gingerly stood, knees shaking.
"It isn't right-"
I hug Sophie before she can collapse.
-Willpower: 24/44-
"I'm not saying it's right. It's just the way things are. It's okay, Sophie. Everything's going to be okay."
Empty comfort. But there isn't anything else I can do besides this. The dirty laundry has already been aired.
You already know how people with low stats were treated in the Empire. Did you think it'd be any different here? Status is important. It's exactly the same no matter where you go. Regardless of whether it's here or the old world.
"Claud, I... I want to..."
-Willpower: 23/44-
"What do you want? I'll make it happen."
Sorry, Keith. I'm making another careless promise.