Author’s Note: I don’t really have anything to say here. Next chapter might not be in three days. I might need an extra day or two to write it but we’ll see. Please enjoy the chapter.
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Chapter 16
Today, I woke up feeling frustrated, uncomfortable and troubled. The source of this mood was because of my latest bout of dreams and I absolutely knew who was to blame for these dreams. I turned my head and gazed at Seran, who was once again cuddling me like I was a pillow. How did she even manage that? I definitely know I made sure to turn my shield back on before bed this time.
I did, right? After checking quickly, it was indeed the case that my shield was on. It seemed like Seran was just holding me primarily around my clothed body. She’s also too deeply asleep to notice my shield deflecting her away from any actual bodily contact when she adjusts. She’s even closer to me than yesterday, and the memories of those dreams are not helping right now at all!
I knew that type of memories would show up eventually, but I hadn’t expected or wanted them so soon. I wished they had never shown up at all! The last thing I wanted to experience was Seri’s relationship with some of her girlfriends. I had sex in those damn dreams! Sex with other girls, but still it was sex as a girl!
Oh fuck, why me!? Why did I have to make Seri a girl!? It had all been so uncomplicated at the time when I was creating the character. I had played a young elf boy in my previous game and Carol had likewise played a young elf girl and we had decided to play opposite gender for the next game. Carol cheated a bit with choosing the robot race. She could have freely made herself look like a girl at anytime if she just changed her parts. Of course, as far as I’m aware she never did so at least.
I was also a bit bothered by the sheer number of girlfriends it seemed like Seri had had. I know Seri is, or well I am now, 62 years old, but I never expected her to have had that many girlfriends. Even Holly turned out to be one! Weren’t you cradle robbing a bit there Seri? She was over forty years younger than me! Was the reason for Seri having a lot of girlfriends, my flirting around when I had played the game? I couldn’t do more than flirt and maybe a casual date here and there, but for Seri I guess this had led to other things happening.
It seems like Seri had never stuck with any one girl for very long, or she had kept the relationship casual with no chance of ever becoming a serious long-term thing. Maybe the most amusing memory was that one of the girlfriends had broken up with me, I mean Seri, because she said that she was jealous of Lynn and Seri’s relationship and closeness. What did you expect, you stupid girl. Lynn and I have been together for decades and she thought she could get between us?
Wait, stop! I’m letting myself get too drawn into the memories because of my current mood. I tried to calm down, but could only fail miserably because of the way too sexy elf currently cuddling me. I needed to make an urgent escape as soon as possible. Like the day before I slipped out of the bed but this time I didn’t bother being careful about it. I don’t think the deep sleeping Seran would have waken up regardless of what I did. I went over to my pack and pulled out one of my thermos. I poured some of the ice cold water into a cup and then splashed it into my face.
Ahh, that was refreshing and it definitely helped with my current issue. I don’t feel quite as high strung now. I slipped the thermos back away and then proceeded to get fully dressed. I picked up Coa and put her in her usual spot before leaving the tent.
After leaving the tent I got a bit of a surprise. There were a few wolf carcasses lying around nearby. Apparently an attack had happened last night while I slept. Judging by what Seran had said about the level of monsters in these woods though, they must have been pretty weak things. Isn’t there a problem to have the bodies just lying there though? Won’t the bodies draw in more monsters looking for food? I suppose it doesn’t matter if you’re confident enough in your ability to handle things. Gormon knows more about this area than I do, so he knows whether it’s a real risk or not.
Gormon, just like the previous morning, was sitting by the remains of the fire carving at something. The horse was tied up near him, which he probably did to make sure he could protect it in the night. I wasn’t sure what he was working on, but it definitely wasn’t a small, little carving such as the stuff yesterday. I wasn’t sure what it was from where I was standing at the tent opening, so I decided to get closer to see. It looked like he was carving at a long stick. I wasn’t really sure what it was he was making but I decided to leave him to it and not interrupt.
I wasn’t in any kind of rush to go wake up Seran. I wanted to stay away from her sleeping self and put any thought of those dreams out of my head. Seriously, what dreams might you be talking about? I don’t remember any dreams last night. Nope, I didn’t have any dreams at all.
I passed the time playing with Coa. I noticed she was starting to have small cracks in some of her scales. I wondered if this was a sign of growth. I got her to stretch out to her full length and I estimated that she had grown four or five centimeters. The problem was that Coa found the cracks painful judging by her whining cries, but I wasn’t sure what I should do for them. I wrote out the question to Lynn, but she had no idea either. This wasn’t much of a surprise since it’s not like I ever put information about pet care in the ship’s core. Hopefully, Gormon or Seran would be able to tell me what to do. If not, hopefully someone in the town knows what to do for her.
At least the time spent playing with Coa reminded me of something I needed to do before we got to the town. I opened my status and switched my active title from Sniper Princess to the title I had gotten for taming her, Dragon Tamer. That might still stand out, but at least it was a title that should be easily understood by people here without them kicking up too much of a fuss. It was guaranteed that I’d have to use more of those status orbs in the future. Unless I learn of a way of tricking them and hiding my information, I’d just have to make sure the information they see is as straightforward as possible. I really hope there isn’t a way for one of those orbs to see beyond just my active title. Some of those would be really damn difficult to explain away, if not outright impossible. I definitely wouldn’t want to try to explain how I got a title like Titan Slayer or how about Mercenary Goddess? I don’t even want to imagine how that commander would have reacted if I had that one set displayed.
Coa finally curled back up and went to sleep in my lap. I kept stroking her small head while I looked up and watched the clouds go by. Judging by how yesterday went, it’s probably going to be hours until Seran wakes up. How does a soldier get away with this kind of slacking or is she only doing it because she knows she can get away with since she’s away from the fort? Well, I’m not really going to complain about it too much. I much prefer this kind of casual atmosphere than what I would have gotten if my escorts had been the too serious types. Plus, I don’t think I could have gotten these free lessons otherwise. I should probably consider owing a favor to Seran at least. I’m pretty sure about what kind of favor she’d request too, meeting her clan.
To Gormon’s and my astonishment, Seran woke up by herself only an hour later. Of course her clothes were totally in disarray as she stumbled out of the tent, but she had woken up by herself this time! Maybe she has a subordinate at the fort that takes care of her in the morning because she wasn’t like this that morning when we left. Or maybe her irritability with the commander had been more due to being forced to wake up early rather than actually complaining about the mission like it had seemed. Well regardless, I helped straighten out her clothes and then also helped her with breakfast.
After breakfast, I finally discovered what Gormon had been working on. He had made a shortbow for me along with a small bundle of arrows. It was pretty crude but it would be adequate enough for me to practice with. I thanked him pretty profusely, but in his usual fashion he didn’t react much. I consulted with Seran and Gormon about Coa’s scales and I was told that she needed some oil to coat the cracks, but that it wasn’t anything to worry about. Seran added that I should be able to find the oil in a shop in town once we get there and I felt relieved after hearing that. Coa would probably be relieved too if she was smart enough to understand, but sadly she’s still fundamentally a child.
Once we were again continuing our journey, I decided to direct questions specifically about the town that we would reaching tomorrow. Questions like for example, how large of a town it is or does the town have a library. From these questions I learned that the town sadly does not have a library which means my hope of finding easily accessible writing samples and information is out. I’d have to hope to find some samples some other way. Maybe the adventurer’s guild will have the usual request board? If it does, then that should provide a decent variety for Lynn to analyze.
The size of the town, Seran estimated it to be over thirty thousand residents. I was honestly surprised by this. Wouldn’t a population that high make it a city by medieval standards? Looks like the town was based on that large lake I had seen off in the distance back at the mountains and it has a navigable river it uses to conduct trade. I was also told the fastest way to get to the empire’s capital was to use one of the merchant ships that makes the trip regularly. Because the town is one of the first stops for trade caravans coming from the kingdom I had just left. Many people, merchants included, use it for that very reason. I guess I did end up saving some time after all, even if I did end up losing it on this current travel speed. Plus the fact that there is a low level dungeon less than a day away from the town means that many adventurers are in residence too. The town was sounding like a good place to make a temporary base, at least for a few days. Following that, I think I’ll head for the capital, that’s probably the only place to find a library for information gathering. I’ll probably avoid the boat ride though. I always got seasick as Aaron so I’m hesitant to go anywhere near that mode of transportation unless I have no other choice.
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At lunch, I started learning how to use my new bow. It wasn’t very complicated, and with my high stats I picked it up pretty quickly. Of course, I had to make sure to tone down my abilities quite a bit. It wouldn’t make sense for me to have absolutely no problem hitting the target Seran designated for me, on a tree that was about twenty meters away, within thirty minutes of picking up the bow. I made sure to miss much more often than I was hitting and I felt bad hearing Seran praise me for how well I was doing. She told me that as long as I get some more practice in and replace the bow and arrows with suitable ones I should have no problem fighting with it which should award me the Hunter class. The only thing I was missing to unlock the Class was that it was necessary for me to kill some beasts with the bow, since I already trapped one successfully.
With bow instruction finished, we got back on the road. We had some mild excitement when a pack of wolves attacked, but Seran and Gormon easily dispatched the dozen of them in under a minute. I took advantage of this to finally ask Seran and Gormon for their levels since I had been unable to find a good time to scan them safely, though I suppose with how deeply Seran sleeps I could have scanned her at any time in the morning after I woke up. Regardless, both of them were past level 60 in the Scout Class with Hunter exceeding level 40 as their Subclass. I was kind of surprised to learn that Gormon was actually higher in level than Seran. I had assumed that as a 212 year old elf, that she’d be the one with a higher level.
That night we continued our magic practice with Seran still helping me to find my mana pool. I used my psi to manipulate the magic power that she inserted into me and to feed that tiny node that I had felt the previous night. I had noticed that it seemed slightly larger than when I examined it previously so maybe it was growing naturally over time the longer I spend on this world? The growth rate was dreadfully slow though. I didn’t know how long this process would take and I wasn’t sure how I was going to continue the training after Seran and I separate tomorrow. Maybe I can practice looking for and manipulating the ambient magic with my psi? At least it’s an idea with fun possibilities for the future.
I went to bed quite happily afterwards but this time I tried to set up some extra bulwark with the blankets between me and where Seran will be when she comes to bed. I’m pretty sure it’s going to end up useless in the end though.
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Of course, I woke up once again in Seran’s embrace. I didn’t really expect otherwise, and if I had been that against it, I could have just said something to her. I repeated the actions I had taken the previous days and once again left the tent to find Gormon carving again. No surprises there either. Unlike the previous days, this morning I tried to engage him in conversation.
Yeah, that was a complete and total failure. I don’t think he understands that you can’t just nod or shake your head to everything. The sum total of information I acquired in that fruitless endeavor was that we would probably reach the town around noon, which was pretty good news. We probably would have reached the town yesterday evening if it wasn’t for all the tutoring I was being given taking up some travel time. I had some slight regrets at the thought that I could have slept in a bed last night, but what I was learning from Seran was definitely more valuable.
I had a brief dialogue with Lynn about the magic sensor idea and she said that so far the ship sensors were unable to detect anything. I told her that it seems that psi can interact with magic, so to try her tests along that range. I made sure to scratch out the words again. I might be overdoing it, but Gormon isn’t paying any attention to me anyway.
I ended up waking Seran up again, since I wanted to get to the town sooner if possible. I have a lot of errands to run once I get there and I don’t know how long those are going to take. Plus, I want to take some time to scope out the town a bit. She grumbled a bit, but she follows orders pretty well when she first wakes up and while she’s still drowsy. <((If you are reading this series on any website other than royalroad.com, then you are doing so without the permission of the author, Xacual. If you have paid money and bought the story on Amazon or some other store, please file a report and request a refund as it has been stolen and is being sold illegally.))>
About an hour later, we were underway. It only took us two hours before we exited the forest and into farmland. I saw the town off in the distance, but it looked like we’d be riding through farmland for the rest of the trip. Gormon, now that we were out of the forest and traveling along a much more well used country lane, was back to his total listless state and staying near the horse. Now that I think about it, wasn’t it normal in the medieval ages for towns to have lots of farmland immediately nearby? Why didn’t that town in the kingdom have any? Not like it matters now, but it is a bit curious.
From this distance the town definitely looked larger than the town in the kingdom. Five or six times as much at least.
I saw lots of people working in the fields and a lot of people were also on the road, though they tended to give way to Seran and Gormon. There wasn’t any kind of look of fear about them when glancing at the soldiers, It seemed like it was more out of respect than anything, so I suppose the soldiers of the empire have a good reputation. There was quite a variety in races for the people working the farms but they mainly appeared to be humans and beastmen. I didn’t see that many elves or demons.
When we finally got closer to the town walls, I blanched at the number of carts and other people in line to get in. How long will we have to wait to get in?
Contradicting my thoughts entirely, Seran and Gormon just skipped past the line entirely and straight to the gate. In retrospect, I realized it should have been obvious that soldiers wouldn’t wait in a line like this. Their identities were checked at the gate, but they were let inside without hassle. There was some brief hesitation about letting me in as well since I didn’t have ID, but with Seran and Gormon, well mainly Seran since Gormon wouldn’t say anything, vouching for me, I was let in as well. I did get a temporary ID card that was pretty much identical to the one I got back in the kingdom though. At least it will serve until I get a real ID card.
Seran left the horse in a stable that was just inside the gate for guard use. Afterwards she was looking at me with a sad expression and I knew it was because this was now the time for farewells. The escort was only until I was inside the town, and now she and Gormon would have to do their actual duties. I had a bit of an idea forming, though.
Seran finally spoke up, “Do you need a guide to show you around town? Gormon and I need to head to the lord’s manor and deliver the messages and reports, but we can at least point you to the right places.”
I shook my head and replied. “As long as you can point me to the Merchant’s Guild and Adventurer’s Guild, I should be alright from there.”
Seran looked more sad now. Maybe she had been hoping for an excuse to spend a little more time together. “Well, if you’re sure. The Merchant’s Guild is pretty much just down this road and then when you get to the central plaza take a right and head in the direction of the docks. You pretty much can’t miss the guild since it will be by far the busiest place down that way.” I nodded that I understood and she continued. “The Adventurer’s Guild, on the other hand, is at the central plaza. It’s one of the larger buildings at the plaza so you should find it easily enough. Just look for the large sign with the sword, bow and staff on it.” Seran sighed. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go along with you?”
It was my turn to sigh. “Yes, Seran. I can really handle myself just fine. You have your own work to do now.”
“If you’re sure then I can’t force you. After you take care of your business, make sure to ask for Old Huvreck’s shop. Either guild can point you there. He can supply you with a good bow and some quality arrows. Just give him my name and tell him you’re family of mine and there shouldn’t be any issues. Alright?”
“Yep, I understand, Huvreck’s shop. I will definitely visit there.” I decided to use my idea that I had earlier. “By the way Seran, what are you and Gormon going to do about lodging tonight?”
Seran was puzzled but she answered. “Probably just bunk down at one of the guard houses before returning to the fort tomorrow. Why?”
“Well I was thinking, since I owed the both of you for the escort, why don’t I treat you to a stay in an inn. What is the fanciest inn and best inn in this town?” I asked. I definitely wasn’t going to stay in any kind of inferior place and I could expect a good amount of money from the extra pouches of gems that Lynn had supplied me with.
She looked shocked. “Are you seriously offering what I think you’re offering?”
I replied back. “Of course, I’ll treat both of you to a night at a great inn. Doesn’t that sound fun?” I was of course not mentioning that part of this was because it would let me get one more night of magic training in with Seran.
“Well then we both accept the offer.” Gormon shook his head. “Oh, come on Gormon, Seri is offering us free food and lodging.” Gormon immediately stopped shaking his head and instead starting nodding more enthusiastically. “See, we accept. Should we meet you at the Moons and Stars Inn later this evening?”
I thought for a moment before answering. “Yeah, that would probably be for the best. I’m not sure how long my errands will end up taking.”
“Okay, then Gormon and I will see you later.” Seran was in a happier mood and waved as the two of them strolled off.
I guess time for me to go make some money. I walked in the direction of the plaza.