Rest and recovery were always worth the time spent. There was the temptation to go full speed constantly, but that just led to stretching yourself too thin. In this world there were dozens of things waiting in the wings for that to happen, just to snap you in half or pierce you through. On the flip side, you didn’t want to get to used to the easy times, lest you found yourself a pincushion for the hard times eager for a share in ending your existence. A balance had to be struck.

We ate the amazing stew. Several helpings, in fact. Just sat and enjoyed the moderate weather, and some time not being under constant threat. I dozed off a few times, always waking to see that Ren was nearby. It comforted me as much as I felt guilty about my current predicament. Was I holding us back? Could I look after her just as well if something similar happened to her? I hated to think she may get as injured as me. As if I could choose to solely take on the burden on myself.

Now that my mind was closer to being in one piece, I withdrew the journal taken from the Crimson Shadow camp. Given that it had only been a handful of days, it wasn't exactly information-dense. The start was a few weeks prior. A group of them had been an adventuring party, and they were... disillusioned with the System. Not a particularly villainous take. I would admit that I held my own disdain for the world I now found myself in. Well... parts of it. I gave Ren a sly glance before returning to the pages.

There was a marked change in the tone and language used after the point where they had met the Lady. For a moment, I considered someone else had written the rest of the few entries—but no, same idioms and structure, just... less concise. My tongue rolled around in my mouth as I tried to read the bigger picture that the writing wasn't really telling me. Eventually, I sighed and snapped it shut, returning it to my Inventory with no accompanying trick.

"What is it? Mind control? Is she a vampire?" Ren had been patiently waiting for me to finish, not wanting to rush my brain and turn it to slurry. I presumed, at least.

I rubbed at my forehead. "No, it's not something so... cliche? Uh, do you remember when you first came here, there was a Soft Landing buff?"

She nodded. "To smooth over our initial acceptance of the System."

"Imagine if there was an opposite, something that took your rejection and amplified it. And then someone came along and told you-"

"That there was a way out. If you followed them?"

With those sharp blue eyes, she had no issue reading between the lines. I looked into them for a second longer than I intended before I nodded. "If my assumption is correct, it reduces some Stats as well. Unless the author was an anomaly, his writing simplified after the... change."

"Lower Int and Wis would certainly explain their reckless actions. And how easily they fall for your tricks." She narrowed her eyes, testing the waters. It mostly reminded me of how close I was to success before the equine interruption.

“I’m never going to live down almost dying to a horse, am I?” I groaned and sunk into my chair further. On my to-do list, I added stealing a more comfortable chair to the bottom.

“Probably not. But you also almost died from falling out of a tree, so…”

“Touche.” It seemed as though I could overcome any odd danger aside from things that would be an anticlimactic way for me to die. No doubt, after besting the rest of the Shadows, I would slip off the bridge and drown myself after hitting a rock in the river. That said, I did come into this world with a head injury. Perhaps the System like repeat things like that. I was doomed to slowly batter my brain on the regular until I couldn't survive it any longer.

I rubbed my fingertips on the wooden chair arms, feeling the texture. “Where are we?”

There was brief concern on her face, as if my traumatic brain injury may have knocked something loose. “We went north from their camp. Wolf carried you in a sling I had fashioned until we felt we were far enough away.”

I smiled, unsure why I didn't just check my Map. That prompted my lagging brain into action, however. Thoughts spinning back up as if I had never been out for the count at all. “Perfect. We can hit a couple Quests on the way back to town. Level up and then make plans for our assault.” Things were really coming together now. Knowledge was indeed power.

“How is your recovery?” Her words a damp blanket on my ambition ablaze.

[Health Status]

[Minor Trauma]

“Down to minor now. That stew is powerful stuff.” I gave her a grin, and she rolled her eyes.

Wolf returned to our camp having been out ‘patrolling’. He had seemed fulfilled enough to sleep and laze most of the day away, quiet and content. Ren had helped him with his STAR at some point during my on and off napping schedule, using the same sausage-pointer method. Got some items equipped on him, and even used some of the Tokens we had saved for him—although my brain was too mushed up to hear what they had settled on.

“There’s some System-created to the northeast.” He yawned, now in close proximity to our fire again. “And to the northwest there’s a house that smells bad.”

“How bad?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Like bad magic.”

Ren removed her hat to place on her lap and scratched at her hair that was tied up. Still radiant, as always. “Sound like it could be the witch for that Quest?”

I didn’t even have my hat on, and hadn’t for a while. No wonder my brain felt so exposed - it was definitely that and not the broken skull. “Could be. Was it made of wood?”

“We should probably double check first before we go immolating random buildings, trickster.” She tapped at the edge of the wide brim. “If we are careless, then we’ll end up falling to the bad side.”

She had a point, even if I was reluctant to agree. As much as I trusted Wolf’s nose to determine danger, it could easily be something unknown. Still, a fire arrow to the building followed up by an entangling arrow through the window seemed like a decent way to approach a witch. Of course, I didn’t really know much about them to say—it was a decent way to kill anyone with an allergy to being burned alive.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Some of the books I had read as a child mentioned witches, for all the good that was. Often just female spellcasters when wizardry was seen as a more masculine title. Some were like hags - demented and cruel, whereas others were closer to druids and crafted potions - were closer to nature. If the town board wanted the witch killed, then she was probably more likely the former and quite likely not to be so easily taken down with a little fire.

“Are you truly embarrassed about the horse thing?”

“Huh?” Her question took me out of the pondering, and it didn't look like she was teasing me. “Ah. Not really. It’s okay to fail sometimes, right?” I grinned. “There were a handful of moments I could have died if things didn't work out perfectly. Can’t plan for everything.”

Ren smiled.

It briefly alarmed me, and my heart skipped a beat - probably just due to the shock. My brain tried to reverse to see what I could have said to elicit such a reaction.

“You must have really hurt your head, trickster.” Her face softened to a normal neutral expression as her eyes focused on her STAR menus. “There is something I needed your help with, speaking of planning.”

Despite the initial surprise, I settled into a comfortable smile, too. I watched her eyes look around at the unseen screens as she gathered her thoughts. She had some ideas, and I was all ears.

We spent the rest of the late afternoon and early evening going over skills, Inventory uses, and Equipment. It was nice to have time to sit and mull over problems rather than be constantly traveling between battles. She was earnest in her attempts to learn, and I tried not to gush at having someone to share all the details of my tricks and illusions with.

Her brow furrowed as she looked at the pack of cards in her hands, the glow of the fire illuminating one side of her as the light of day faded away. Working her jaw, she withdrew the top card and held it up. Three of Clubs. “Is this your card?”

I shook my head and smiled. “No, I’m afraid not.”

“Ah.” She wrinkled her face up. “I think that’s because... you already have it.”

“Oh?”

She looked toward my chest, and my eyes fell to my jacket pocket. I reached a hand in there and felt the shape of a card. Out of the pocket and into the light. Nine of Diamonds. “That is my card,” I grinned. “Very impressive.”

“I learned from the best.” She stuck her tongue out and returned the deck to me.

“You’ll have to introduce me to them,” I murmured, eyes focused on shuffling through the deck. One of the cards had a slight defect, as expected. Very minor, yet I assumed easy for her elven eyes to pick up. No Dazzle icon for me. As I turned it over, it was also a Nine of Diamonds. “Placed the card in my jacket earlier and forced my hand into picking the same one from the deck.”

“Makes it less impressive when you explain it.” She pouted and leaned back in her chair.

“No, no.” I smiled and waved the card at her. “This is very solid. I am impressed.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Impressed, but not fooled?”

“Magic is my life’s work, and you are never fooled by what I do. We are both too perceptive for such tricks.”

Ren shrugged, but took the compliment without wanting to argue about it. “What about you, Wolf?”

“I am easily fooled. Everything Max does is beyond my understanding.” The bear rested his chin on his crossed paws as he watched us.

“What about the trick I just did on Max?”

“I saw you place the card when he was asleep, so I already understood the deception.”

Ren screwed her face up in defeat. I wasn’t sure if it was due my injury, but she was a bit more relaxed in showing her emotions. Somewhere between the scowls, unrelenting showmanship, and bloody murder, we had become somewhat inseparable. My brush with death had prompted the part of her scared of losing everything again into perhaps cherishing the time we did have before something really bad happened to one or both of us.

And what of me? I had accepted that it was okay to be a little broken. To have a day off and not be so focused on perfecting my tricks. Failure and being miserable. Took a split skull to finally release the built pressure, but I felt… calmer than I had in years. Happier even despite the hardship. My eyes settled on the grumpy elf. It was hard not to be totally enamored with her. If anything, wanting to carve out a space in this world where she could be happy and safe was worth a dozen kicks to the head.

“What are you thinking about, Max?” Her head was tilted as my eyes had glazed over in thought.

“Nothing.” I smiled. “You have any magic wands?”

“I think a couple?” She sat back up and started looking through her Inventory.

I avoided certain thoughts by getting back to work. Ironic given my inner monologue just now, but I didn’t have the heart to address certain things yet, even as they swelled within my chest. “Wolf, could you grab me some… chunks of the treant, please?”

“Okay.” He yawned as he stood up and left for the pile of Hadrian-parts.

My eyes spun through my Inventory, as I started planning my next attempted bullshit maneuver. The System would end up regretting my existence, I was sure of it.

I spent some time cutting, carving, and attempting to sew parts together out of whatever junk I had managed to accumulate over the adventure so far. It wasn’t exactly perfect, and probably wouldn’t last more than a few days - but for a prototype it’d do.

“Here, hold your arm out.” I gestured for her to show me her right arm, which she did. I frowned in thought. Outside arm would probably be best so that it didn’t get in the way of drawing arrows. With a shrug, I placed my contraption on her forearm and began to tie it around her. An awkward, weighty silence sat in the background of the act as she watched me patiently.

“Only slightly less charming than the flowers you gave me,” she eventually said, as I finished tying the last knot.

“Don’t,” I sighed, and sank into my chair. “Another thing I’ll never live down.”

“You will." She looked up from the roughly created apparel to me, before gathering her composure. “So, what’s this thing you’ve burdened me with?”

“Probably something over-engineered that doesn’t work. But you can slot wands into it, and depending on how strict the System is, you should be able to focus and use them from this arm mounted thing rather than solely holding one out.”

Her furrowed brow returned, and she gave it a look over. “So if it works, it’ll give me some pseudo magical powers, essentially?”

“Essentially,” I said, and nodded. “Either that, or I just spent my evening making an ugly bracelet for you that does nothing.”

“If it’s the latter, then it doesn’t need to do anything. I’ll keep it as something you spent time and effort making.” Her eyes moved from it to me. “And I'll keep it nice and safe in my Inventory where it can't be seen by anyone.”

I waved her off. “Yeah, yeah. Give it a try already.” If it didn’t work, then I had other ideas, but if it did, then it opened up a whole can of worms for me to dig into. “It should fit Spell Scrolls in too, barely.”

“Don’t want to waste those on a test, though.” Her eyes were unfocused as she was looking through her items. “Here’s a plain Zap Wand. Does hardly any damage, but ten charges that replenish every day.”

My head nodded slowly, trying not to think of what I could do with that. Ren withdrew it and slowly inserted it in the grooves on the gauntlet. She flexed her fingers back and forth a few times and then leveled her fist towards the fire.

Wolf and I widened our eyes in expectation.

Nothing happened, and I began to deflate. Worth a try, but back to the-

A zap of yellow light arced from the wand and out into the fire, briefly causing it to flare up brighter before it simmered down.

“It’s not super intuitive,” Ren said, focusing on the gauntlet. “But…” She fired a second and then a third soon after, her face a scowl occasionally illuminated by the magic fired. She nodded slowly after the third shot dissipated and turned to me with a raised eyebrow. “Not bad, trickster.”

“I would bow, but my head would roll from my shoulders and crack on the ground.” Instead, I smiled and closed my eyes, looking up at the night sky. The amber light of the fire illuminating the darkness. “Best stick around," I said, mostly to fill the silence, "because the show is just getting started.”

“I intend to,” she said quietly.

Which I couldn't reply to, as I had fallen asleep once again.

Or was just about to, anyway, and could pretend that I didn’t hear it so that I didn't have to address it.

Possibly the least commendable show of Deception yet.