Despite my gut instinct telling me otherwise, part of me was flattered by it.
Somebody had created an effigy of me. Well, the assumption was that it was me, however the culprits had a difficult time finding any sort of fabric that matched my gaudy outfit. Instead, dark purple linens wrapped around what looked like a scarecrow. Just off a beaten path, rather than in a field.
“I have trouble telling you apart,” Ren admitted.
“They made him far too handsome,” I said, narrowing my eyes at the loose ball of dried straw.
Quinn was pulling a face, not too enamored by our casual response to someone making a dummy out of me. Someone other than myself, for a change.
Wolf went up to it and sniffed. “Not a scent that I recall. Nothing fresh.”
“Interesting,” I said, although my thoughts were a little further from that statement. That meant that it was put up during the time we were in the first area, most likely. “Anything else in the area you can note?”
He huffed and made the show of circling around the area. “Some… monster tracks, I think. Something odd, but also very faint.”
Nothing I was currently worried about. It reminded me of the drawing one of the Crimson Shadows had of me, for tracking purposes. This was just a poorly designed statue in the middle of relative nowhere, however.
“You must have really made an impression on the Lady in Red,” Ren eventually surmised, giving me a glare as if that could have been through my own fault. We hadn’t even seen each other face to face.
Quinn unfocused as he looked at his Map. “There is no spell attached to it. The only other thing I can think it might be used for is… target training.”
I raised an eyebrow and turned to the area behind us. If the Lady wanted me dead, then whatever lay down this south side of the area might have been told a man like this—but more handsome and awe-inspiring—was to be killed on sight. In fairness, I expected that reaction from most people we met, so other than being slightly more alert, I wasn’t worried.
“Top prize goes to whoever kills my would-be assassin.” I grinned.
“What is the prize?” Ren and Wolf both asked in unison, while Quinn looked as though he was getting there a second too late.
“Prize will have to be tailored to the recipient,” I shrugged as I continued. “Although… if I kill them, then you’ll all owe me a favor.”
After a couple of grumbles, they eventually accepted my proposition. Now I had three others looking out for my safety even more than before. Not really a trick, or the intention of my proposal… but things worked in my favor, as I designed it that way.
“I see right through you,” Ren said, her eyes narrowed as we started back down the path.
“Of course,” I replied impassively. “That’s why you’re my most trusted ally.”
Her eyes rolled, and I noted her hands were busy holding her bow and an arrow. She must clearly want that prize more than she was letting on. The question then was… what was she hoping to get from me?
I smiled and looked out at the scenery. More trees, but they were starting to become sparse as we headed down toward the coast. I could see the ocean out on the horizon over the short hill on our left. The sunlight reflected across the soft waves, totally paling in comparison to how enrapturing the blue of Ren’s eyes was. I made a note to say that sometime.
“Say, Quinn,” I began, if only to distract myself from the radiant elf beside me. “Before all this hardship came upon the land, were there a lot of Players?”
“Compared to now? Yes.” He rubbed at his eyepatch as his eye searched the terrain for anything untoward after me. “It had always been relatively quiet, though. Depending on what your Party was doing, you might see one or two other groups during the day.”
“First area was like a ghost town.” I pulled a face. “No friendly groups at all.”
“Much must have happened during the time I was shamefully hiding away,” he said, accompanying the statement with a shrug. “Quest is just to the left here.”
Ren seemed keen to protect our rear, which made it awkward to exchange glances with her. Given that was sixty percent of our interactions, I felt a little put out.
“Roger behaving better now, trickster?” she asked, just outside of my peripheral.
I nodded and looked out to the horizon, as Quinn took us down a stepped path. “Seems my stern voice works on most people, huh?” As much as I would have liked to see her expression, sometimes it was more fun to try to pick out on any changes in body language.
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A slight change in pace as a brief hesitation waylaid a single footstep. The longer exhale as her mind wandered to a replay of the time I gave my pact demon a dress down. Perhaps it was unfair to try to break down our interactions like I would a trick. These things always had more nuance, and I was enough of an unreliable narrator without reading into things in Ren’s normal movements that weren’t there.
Her hand touched my shoulder, and she leaned in close to my ear. “I can’t wait until we have some more private accommodation.”
As soon as the words finished exiting her mouth, she was away from me. I turned with a raised eyebrow to see her with a neutral scowl out at the surroundings.
“Eyes on the steps, trickster.” She said, narrowing her eyes. “Don’t want you tripping and opening up that delicate skull again.”
I did as she said and tried to discern if I had imagined some of that or not. She was good. My churning internal organs aside, we would actually need to decide on a plan for the evening. Camping near the coast sounded about as safe as we were able to get… or perhaps in the Dungeon? I couldn’t remember if there was something that would prevent that or not.
Before my brain could even process the thought of more private and structural lodgings, the edge of my boot clipped the corner of a step that was slick with something vegetative. Not even Ren’s quick reflexes could save me.
This was my end.
Pain went up my left ankle as I hopped down the next couple of wide steps, almost barging into Quinn. I had beaten the odds and avoided dashing my brains out on the rocky decline. I would have been even more elated if I could put weight on my foot.
“Fucking asshole, Max!” Ren stomped up beside me and held me steady. As much as she was glaring at me, there was no anger on her face. Maybe just sad acceptance over the amount of bullshit constantly present in my existence.
“In fairness,” I began, “…ah…” I frowned back at the step, hoping to find it was a trap laid for me and it wasn’t just idle clumsiness that brought me to this malady. No, I bore the blame alone. I just shrugged instead of finishing the sentence.
“Just a sprain, right?” She frowned down at my boots as if that would give away the diagnosis. “I don’t think my heals would do much for that.”
“I’m sure I can walk it off.” With a sheepish grin at the fencer, I shrugged. “I have a habit of getting myself into near-fatal and totally avoidable accidents.”
Wolf grunted. “That’s unfair. If you hadn’t fallen out of the tree, then we’d never have met.”
Very true. How different our lives may have been without Wolf at our side. We’d probably be dead, no doubt. I took a step and stumbled as my foot gave way, almost sending me off into the bushes. “How inconvenient,” I murmured, as everyone watched me with a mixture of exhaustion and worry.
“It’s not much longer, Max.” Quinn pointed down the trail. “Look, you can see the bottom and there’s even a bench there.”
“There is?” I raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Last one there owes me a Sweet Cake.”
Before they could interject, I was gone. I sat down on the bench as my demonic dove fluttered around them where I had been standing. Now that I was out of the treeline I could see a few houses nearby. Open skies and the sound of waves in the distance. An immense feeling of calm.
I withdrew the potion pack that Ruby had given me and looked through at the contents.
[Potion of Gradual Healing (2)]
[Greater Antidote (2)]
[Action Speed Potion]
[Nature's Defense Potion]
Nothing in there to cure me of being an accident-prone showoff. I put it back away and turned my head to see Ren slide across the stone paving to a stop. Wolf wasn’t too far behind, whereas Quinn was red faced and disappointed. It amused me that they took things that seriously. We needed the levity.
“Should have known you’d win, Ren.” I gave her a warm smile. “You never let me down.”
“Stuff it, trickster.” She rolled her eyes and came to sit beside me. “Where’s my Sweet Cake?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps you misheard. The loser owed me one.”
Her bright blue eyes bore into me as she checked her memory for the truth. Eventually, she turned to the fencer with a narrowed glare. “Where’s Max’s two Sweet Cakes, Quinn?”
The man deflated and walked over, shooting a side-eye at the bear. “While I do not believe that was a fair challenge, due to the unscrupulous actions of those I will not name…” he looked over at Wolf again. “I am a gracious loser, and thus… here is your prize. One Sweet Cake.”
Into his hand, the promised goods. Further scowls from the elf in being denied part of the prize. Wolf had an amused look on his face. He must have pushed the man out of the way and then used his bulk to prevent him from overtaking. Ren, being more spry, had avoided the clog before it could happen and made quick her escape. Wolf might have even assisted her in winning, which tickled me, even if it wasn’t true.
I put the Sweet Cake into my Inventory. “Not hungry right this minute, but thank you, Quinn. I always appreciate a good sport.”
Ren was pouting, but her ire had diminished now with the hope that I had put the cake away so that I could share it with her later. I would, and that was the reason. How we had run out of them already I wasn’t so sure, but hopefully once we got to an actual town we could stock back up with all this otherwise useless gold.
“The town is to the east again now, right?” I brought up my map so see that we had gone west away from it, toward where the fencer had promised us places to level.
“Correct.” He stretched out and tried to cool himself off. While our outfits weren’t great to fight in—even with the adjustments made—his almost equally flamboyant padded long-sleeve shirt looked like it would hold in heat more so than our shirts and suits.
I wiggled my foot around. Better to a degree. The rest had certainly helped deal with the initial… inflammation? I wasn’t actually sure how it worked. Only that I preferred it when my foot was more functional and allowed me easier access to getting where I wanted to be.
Ren put her hand on my leg and pulsed radiant healing through me. I noted that she could cast the spell from range, so the contact wasn’t necessity. “That’s better.” I nodded slowly. “Still aches, but I could probably move now.”
As a demonstration, I stood up. Could keep weight on it now, at least. I took a few steps, only some brief pain radiating around the joint. “Not… perfect. How far is the Quest, Quinn?”
He narrowed his eye and raised a finger to point at one of the houses about a hundred feet away.
Ren stood up beside me, a wry grin forming on her lips as we looked at our destination.
“Double or nothing?” she asked.