Chapter 45

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I poured the juice into the glass, put it next to the other two with vodka, and covered it with a piece of black bread. Lelik was interesting and didn't drink alcohol "as a matter of principle," so let the juice stand as a memento for him. He was a guy with a sense of humor. So he wouldn't be offended.

I live dimly. Four years ago, I didn't go to the cemetery for the first time on this day, and today, as if relieved, I don't even listen to the news of that day, with the declaration of a state of emergency on the record. No need to. At first, you carry it like a stone on you, then the stone dissolves in your soul and, if you're lucky, grinds away. I guess all the dust of those years has finally been kicked out of me.

I was the fiercest in our company. It's even funny to remember. At some moment, I sent everyone to hell for a stupid reason and rushed to the army recruitment office. Two years in the army was not the worst place to be, especially at that time. I'd had worse. I'd been a lot worse. And the guys got in trouble a month later at another protest, consulted a lawyer hired by their parents, and got a suspended sentence. When the "merry year" began, they were transferred to social citizenship and sent to a settlement, where they perished. Only their mass grave remained. Who knew? Well, they managed to get Ninka out of it. She waited for me from the army... but what's the use? Time changes people. It does.

But what the hell kind of "change" is that I'm still doing it now, just as I used to do it all the time.

So, what's on my list for today? I should check the sewers - there must be a way out of town for the smugglers, right? Maybe I should do a quest to find their secret passageway. Because the walls of the city are solid, so there's no way out. Or try to sign up for a caravan?

I was distracted from my thoughts of escaping from Adar by the phone call.

"Hello? Hello, Vitya. I am free as the wind. Yes? Easy. In an hour... okay, I'll be there."

As I hung up, I smiled and shook my head.

A year ago, there was Andryukha had an urgent need to sort out a contract to supply new equipment to his lab. And the year before that, the Werewolf had the good sense to send a young kid to the company to check it out. Biggboss had to call an ambulance afterward. He'd relaxed in his peaceful years. But that's all right, let him, he'll be healthier.

We dragged an antique cabinet, with vignettes, bronzes, and other artistic trimmings, around a friend's flat for about fifteen minutes. The weight of the years had pressed the damn furniture too tightly to the ground, we had to make up "socks" for the legs, and in a couple of places, the parquet was scratched to the anguished groan of Vitka. At last, it was all over. The three-legged beast took the place assigned to it by the family council, and we, tired but contented, crawled away to the kitchen to sip our tea.

"Vitya, why are you so sad?"

"Hmm? I rushed home from work yesterday, went to bed for an hour, and then went to see a man you don't know. I came in, said hello, took off my hat, and it turned out that the cute kids had put tangerine stickers on daddy's forehead. They matched their mother. She also has great taste in art."

I couldn't stand it, I chuckled, and Vitya stared at me reproachfully.

"And what?"

"The man laughed too. He had the same thing once. We got to talking. It worked out well. I wasn't expecting it myself."

"Why so sad? Afraid next time they'll saw your head off and put it on your nightstand?"

"No way! They have a good upbringing; if they cut it off, they'll put it in the fridge."

"And you will learn the great secret of whether the lights go off there when they close the door!"

"And I'll finally get some sleep! At least like this."

"Speaking of food!" I took a bag of biscuits out of my bag and handed them to my friend. "It's for your little creative troublemakers."

Vitya looked into the bag, sniffed, and stretched thoughtfully:

"A lot of sweets are bad for children!"

"What do you mean, you eat it yourself, you don't even share it with the brain-eaters?"

"Why alone? I'll treat my wife!"

"Valya doesn't like biscuits and grains. She's more of a muffin type, isn't she?"

"She loves everything these days. From biscuits to plaster."

"Oh, yeah! Come on, Teethpicker, give us a boost! You do the demographic plan for us, and we'll give you moral support!"

"Vovka, you should open a restaurant. You love to feed people, and you can cook!"

"Yes, I can just picture it - a big hall, heavy velvet drapes, tables covered with snow-white tablecloths. And I'm chasing a visitor around the room who dares not compliment my cooking."

"Chasing with a knife?"

"With a ladle. A big, two-liter ladle with a one-meter handle."

"That's right, that sounds like you. Too bad. I'd take my wife there to rest. Anyway..."

"What?"

"You've changed, Vov. In November you were still the same, but now it's as if you've recovered."

I thought about it and shrugged.

"I've been taking it easy for three months now, living peacefully, having a good time."

"Are you still playing the game?"

"Yeah, well, they're young, you know, you hang out with them, you rest your soul."

"Gran-ny."

"I hear from a father with many children. I was a bit of a wreck when I got fired. I wanted to do something about it. And then I wandered around the game world, interacting with people and NPCs."

"Have you made new imaginary friends?"

You shouldn't laugh. The world is amazingly well-drawn. People are just too lazy to look at it. Funny. You almost think about the consequences, and everyone yells "roleplayer"; you help people minimally, with an eye to the future, and they almost take it as the epitome of good.

"I see what's going on with you. Already started to overthrow the next world evil?"

"Worse! I found a loophole there, probably getting ready for a new patch; I'm using it until they shut it down."

"Cheater!"

"Ha. But they're hunting me hard now. On the third day, I can't get out of town, and they kill me. Everyone wants to know about the bug."

"Masochist."

"A masochistic cheater! And I love it."

"Whatever the kid does, it's better than smoking."

"Why don't you come and play with me? Get some rest, and have some fun. I could really use a full-time heal."

"Why don't you go to your father as head of the department? I could really use you right now!"

"That's it, go off, I'm just getting free!"

"So play!"

"I play. But I'm sick of it. I've got to stop. I've had a rest, and that's it."

I left Vitya in the late afternoon, having spent a lot of time in the kitchen talking.

I wonder if today is a work day; did he make time for me? Although Vitya is in charge of his dentistry, he's still a busy man, and I'm no match for him. It's a problem with friends. There's no way to give back true involvement, and I don't like being in debt.

Stolen novel; please report.

Guys, guys, what would I do without you?

At home, after a quick snack, I jumped straight into the game.

"Brother Paladin? May I ask you a favor?"

I turned to the priest standing at the gate to the Temple. Something new. He hadn't followed me before. He'd sent an altar boy. It's not appropriate for him. He's in charge of the Temple.

"Of course, anything I can do. What can I do for the Temple?"

"Rather make it for yourself."

Quite interesting.

"A messenger has arrived from the Capital. The Abbot of the Capital Temple and his entourage are on their way."

VIP, General of the order.

"Do I need to meet him?"

"No. He's coming to you as well."

I acted surprised, wondering to myself why. Had the completed quest had such an effect?

"So I would ask you to be in the Temple in the evening."

"Of course. Do I need to be in the barracks all day?"

"No, but if you were tonight..."

"I will."

"Good."

Mechanically, judging by the expression on his face, after blessing me, the priest turned and went through the gate.

There was no sadness! What is this - a plot twist? Apparently, it is. The Watch is still finding and depositing the wreckage of armor in the Temple. Apparently, it's had some effect on the balance of power among the local NPCs. If they get so many things that hold the power of the goddess's touch, the temple will rise dramatically in influence: all the priests' power comes from Amala, more power means more purified lands... and there's suddenly such a flood of once-stocked divine energy. I had some suspicions, though, that it wasn't just about power.

I looked around as usual when I stepped outside. I had been shot by an arrow right here yesterday. Some enthusiastic mercenary, or maybe just a rookie, trying his luck, but the peace zone is a peace zone, and it hadn't worked out for him. I'm sorry; when I caught up with him and fondled him with Exile, it failed, too, because he wasn't filthy.

A man in a ranger outfit jogged past, followed by an almost naked little beastfolk with a long fluffy tail and a goblin girl. When they stopped at the well at the crossroads, the trio argued about something, and I listened:

"Girls, the cover is needed tomorrow, no time to draw it, and you know the plot of the session is descended from! So let's make cheerful faces and wait while I take screenshots! And what are you standing there like non-natives? Hugging!"

The "girls" looked at each other, grimaced, and started hugging each other. I wondered if he would finish the chainmail bikini himself later. Should I tell him there's a fountain down the street? Or should they continue to be photographed at the well? I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the "photographer". If he becomes famous, I'll use these shots of the "Master at Work" to my advantage.

Right. First, there's Khramm.

"Esteemed Drori, is everything OK with my order?"

The dwarf jumped up, slipped a mirror under the thick book and looked at me, then sighed in relief:

"Brother Paladin! You scared me!"

"Am I so scary?"

Fearful of my much-esteemed host, the worthy Kramm, Uncle is not too fond of fashion, considering it a waste of money.

"What is it this time?"

"Moustache glitter! Fresh from the elven forest!"

I took a closer look. There was something really glistening on the dwarf's right lush mustache.

"And for the beard?"

"How could you?! The beard is the dignity of a dwarf. It is inappropriate to decorate or dye it! It is beautiful in its own right!"

The dwarves in the game, by established stereotypes, were reverent about their beards.

"Then forget the glitter. They can fall on the beard, and it won't look good."

"Yes?" Drori must have been thinking about it himself and sighed sadly: - What if we put it on the glue?"

"It's still not worth it. It's better to use varnish and give your mustache some kind of nice shape. And, by the way, what about my order?"

"Just a minute!" He ducked under the counter, pulled out a box, and handed it to me. "It arrived last night! It is exactly as ordered."

"Do I owe you anything else?"

"No, no, the current account covered all expenses!"

I slipped the box into my bag, bowed to the dwarf, and left. From the clerk's movements, I could tell he was in a hurry to get back to thinking about the glitter glued to his mustache.

"Pal, look who's here! Miss me, lad?"

"I think about eternal things." I quickly distributed the contents of the parcel into the boxes, checking the supplies. We need to break out of the city and get underground, like in the mines, and I made sure I had a full set of everything I might need on hand.

"Have you thought about my beauty? How sweet! Are you coming with us to Weird Forest?"

Hmmm... Coming or not? It's not much of an area, but it's just right for a group of three or four. It's like a forest, only in strips. Legend has it that it's the remains of an ancient god of nature who had control over all the greenery on the planet. Now only scraps of trees and animals are left, and each such scrap consists of the wildest mixture of trees and animals as if someone sliced a salad from forests in different climatic zones. There was only one such zone around town, and I didn't like it, the virt calculating the force of the blow, marking the sword's passage through objects, and the long blade clinging to branches and vines all the time. On the other hand...

"I'd go. But I'm being hunted hard."

"Who?"

"The guys are from some senior guild."

"A contract has been announced for our paladin," Piglet said in an extremely sneering voice, "and the bonus is of-fucking-good."

"Pal, tell me, what have you done?" Nika was stern. "Killed? Robbed?"

"Worse, Nika, much worse. I've taken away someone's hope."

"Ah, that's nothing. You can always hope for something. If only you'd deprived someone of their prey!"

"Ruined any hope of prey."

"Monster!"

"I'm a good monster. But now I'm useless. I'm getting killed. I'd like to get some local smugglers to take me out of town. Maybe as a cargo."

"You've already found it." Piglet smiled. It looked rather unpleasant on the beast-man's wrinkled and furry face. "For a small fee, I can take you out through the paths of the local 'underground guild'. For an extra fee, I'll take you out in one piece.

Here come the smugglers, and I didn't have to look.

"Deal, I owe you gold!"

"Pal, I can just see you taking money out of your big wallet! Do you have a wallet?"

"Yes. From the skin of a certain common amphibian. It bugged me too many times, and once, it ended badly."

"Poor toad. But there is. There is justice! Now everything I've spent on you will start coming back to me!"

"It's actually for me..."

"Silence, Piglet!"

"Pal, why did you give me that nickname? They don't call me anything else anymore, even underground!"

"I have immortalized your name, be grateful."

"By the way, I'm under contract too!"

"Just try it and Nika will kill you."

"No way! I'm not going to stand up for you!"

"You will. He won't share the contract money with you!"

"Piglet, just try it!"

We bickered and reached the familiar and almost hated descent into the sewers, passed the table of the assistant warden, who had deliberately turned away at the moment - well, I had no idea! - and went deeper into the underground part of the town.

"Ugh, it's so authentic. It's even nauseating!"

Nika stopped, looked around, and gently poked at the mossy and moldy wall.

"Pal, don't you ever want to live in a world like that?"

I thought a moment, then shook my head in the negative:

"No. Not at all."

"What's the matter? Don't like exploits? Or are you a latent xenophobe, for Piglet's sake? Wouldn't you like to be a paladin?"

"I am already a paladin."

"In real life?" Nika was clearly interested in my answer, she even stopped in front of me.

"In real life, I have a warm toilet. Have you ever seen a toilet with a flush in here?"

"I've heard there are some in the elven cities. Damned long-eared ones, they've taken all the good things in the world for themselves!"

"Men! Is filthy pleasure more important to you than a chance at a heroic deed?"

"There's always a chance for a feat. Piglet, is there no security here?"

"There are guards, magic guards. Guild members are given a medallion."

"Can I buy one?"

"Nope. It's name-brand."

"Pal, don't dodge the question! Don't you want to save the girl from the bullies?"

"That's what the police are for."

"What if she is dragged away to be raped?"

"Would it make her feel better to be raped on my corpse?"

"So you're just going to leave it like that?"

I sighed, took off my helmet, and rubbed my forehead. Oh, those women...

"Nika, in my experience and in the experience of everyone I've asked, not once has a rescued maiden shown up at the police station to stand up for the 'noble rescuer'. And I am not kidding about the corpse. Moreover, if the lady didn't call for help, then by intervening in any conflict, you and only you will be the instigator."

"So you're just going to stand there and watch?"

"I will. At throwing distance with an empty bottle. Stand there, call the cops, film what's going on, and yell for them to stop. They come at me, I'll run away. If they drop the victim and try to run away, I won't chase them down. In the real world, heroism is not about fighting evil head-on, but about patience and calculating the consequences of your actions."

The girl turned and walked on in silence. We walked through the dark tunnels for a while, hopping over puddles and streams of filth.

"If you could create a virtual reality no different in authenticity from the real world, what would the scenario be?" Nika's voice was deliberately indifferent.

"Real life. Just real life. You live, you study, you work. And you always have a chance to download a save point."

"I see."

"The sore spot?"

"I recently had an acquaintance stand up for a girl like this."

"And?"

"His parents came to the country ten years ago."

"Partial citizenship?"

"Yeah. Got into a fight over a girl. Three bastards with Social Citizenship dragging her somewhere. He's the one on the tape who looks like the firestarter. What's he gonna do now, Paladin?"

"Go into the army, take a contract for five years or more. Come back full-fledged Citizen and start with a clean file."

"Is that why he studied so hard?"

"Then accept probation and go on the same five years in Social Citizenship. Four thousand kilocalories a day, a guaranteed eight square meters in a dormitory, five TV channels, and two hours of the Internet a day. And the job is secured. You don't even have to think: do as you are told. He will work with a shovel and a broom. He will get to know life."

"Pal, it's all a giggle for you, isn't it?! A man's life is falling apart!"

"It's always falling apart for someone else. That's life, Nika. That's the way it works."

"Looks like we're not going into the woods? I was going to get some ingredients for poisons... eh."

"Let's go." Nika stepped around the halted mercenary and stood at the stonework, under which a stream of water was running with a hiss. "Where to next?"

"One moment."

The mercenary stepped to the wall and made a strange gesture as if he was swiping something from the wall into his pocket.

The masonry cracked, parted and opened up a passageway.

"This way. Stay out of the way. There are traps."

Well, stay out of the way, so stay out of the way. I found two of the traps before Piglet could disarm them. I could not even see three more, only noting the clicking of something in the walls when the beast-man ran his hand over the stones.

Nika walked in silence, looking strictly at Piglet's back.

After two minutes he stopped and lifted the camouflaged lid.

"The exit is here. If you go any further, you may not get back. There's a trap."

Still silent, Nika crawled through the hatch.

"Pal?"

"Thanks."

Grasping the outstretched hand, I climbed out, Piglet jumping out briskly without holding on to anything, jumping two meters up from the spot thanks to an agility bonus.

"Follow this path. I have a map. Follow me, and don't go in front, or you'll open up another location."

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