“Whirling round and round and round….” Alak sang as it whirled around Weed head in circles.
“Could you please stop! For heavens sake!” groaned Weed as he could barely see the road ahead him, partially blinded by Alaks glowing body.
“GRRRRR” growled Snappy.
“Not you Snappy. Just the annoying fairy.”
“Woof!” There seemed to be some mutual agreement there.
Weed continued to push the wheel barrow which carried the bag of gold, through the muddy path all the way back to the city and towards the Eastern Gate. It was a slow and tiring journey back. “How did it come to this?” asked Weed to himself.
“Well, you kept complaining how Snappy would be unmanageable and tried avoiding taking on this quest. But my great and kind master, who is ever so helpful decided to lend me, the almighty fairy, Alak to you. To which I strongly refused but my kind and ever so great master understood you were to weak otherwise and thus refused my request. Then you tried avoiding accepting the quest by speaking of your obvious inability to carry a bag of money. To which my master so generously offered his horse pulled cart. However, you being so innately useless meant that you even lacked the skill to sit and drive around a cart. Fortunately, Emily happened to be around and you decided to be more of a man and that is how we ended up here pushing a wheel barrow.” Replied Alak as she started swinging to and fro, dancing merrily.
“I was being rhetorical.”
“Woof!”
“Oh and Snappy says, he still thinks you’re a squirrel.” Translated Alka.
“Woof! Woof!”
“And that if you tried running away with the gold or the wheel barrow, he will eat you alive.”
“Sure Snappy, I always planned to cheat the old man and run away with the gold bag, I can barely carry.” Replied Weed sarcastically.
“GRRRRRR”
“Snappy says, he will bark since his bite will kill you, little squirrel.”
Weed decided to stay quiet. He didn’t most certainly want to anger Snappy, whose bark was a Lion Roar. He most definitely didn’t want to know what his bite would be like. Snappy wasn’t really an ordinary dog, as the old man described it, he is “a legendary beast that grew fond of the sword master and Lisa.” Weed didn’t doubt the beast bit, he was highly skeptical of the Legendary bit. The old man only gave three rules with regards to being in Snappy’s care as he put it. Firstly, never call Snappy a dog. Snappy hates being called a dog, as he may look like one but really isn’t one. Weed checked Snappy from most visible angles…most definitely a dog. The second rule was, that Weed should always listen to Snappy, for this Alak would provide the translation. The last rule was, never touch Snappy’s treat bag without Snappy’s permission (unless of course, he was asked to being fed).
Weed really wanted to turn down the quest, he had no intention of accepting such a pointless quest. There were all sorts of ego issues and valid ego issues as Weed thought of them but they mainly boiled down to; Weed didn’t think he needed a baby sister, much less a dog and an annoying fairy. Then there was the bit on journeying from the West Gate (where the ranch happened to be) all the way across the centre of the town making a fool out of himself (somehow that does seem to be a matter of concern now but not before) to the East Gate, cross the forest of doom (as he imagined it to be) to the sword masters house in seven days. Maybe, if it was a simple walk, sure no problem, Weed would have done it in 3 days…maybe even 2 days. But with pushing a wheel barrow weighing a ton and given the fact that he was level 0, the quest limit of 7 days was impossible achieve! Plus, there are bound to be problems along the way…failing your first quest, isn’t what an adventurer wants. And he would then have to go all the way back just to return Snappy and the fairy. The way Weed imagined it, it was best not accept the quest if he wished to progress through the game. But then Emily just had to turn up and scorn at him. In the end, he really wanted to knock some sense back into the brat of a girl, so he accepted the quest.
“Woof!”
“Snappy says, to stop, he senses someone following us.”
Weed froze. ‘Great, Doggie says and I do. Just the game I wanted to play.’
“Grrrrrr” Snappy growled and suddenly dashed into the thicket nearby. Weed looked, somewhat astonished, ‘maybe the dog’s not half bad…’ but he soon took his words back when he saw Snappy return with a dead rabbit in his mouth. Apparently, very happy with the hunt.
“Wuff” (somewhat of a muffled bark).
“Snappy says false alarm.”
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Darkness soon swept the lands. Weed had been pushing the wheel barrow all day. It had been rather uneventful, apart from the rabbit hunt. They met a few NPCs on their way, but nothing more than that. From what Weed could gather with his brief conversations with Alak, to the West of Lavias began the Fire Kingdom. Lavias was located terrifying close to the border, very few users would dare to venture outside the western gates for the fear of being shot down by border patrol.
The Kingdoms, it seemed were in a warring state. The NPCs of each kingdom were prejudiced against the other, thus the players / citizens of each kingdom were prejudiced as well. Depending upon the relationship kingdoms had with each other, players holding a particular citizenship would be treated accordingly. Wind Kingdom did not get along well with Fire Kingdom, being a weaker Kingdom, it could only ensure to keep Fire Kingdom at bay. Thus, to conclude, players who strolled close to the borders risked being captured and killed even if they are still within the Wind Kingdom’s border!
Weed looked around; if he remembered right they were still only half way to the central town. He could have used Alak as a torch but then figured it might bring too much unwanted attention. There were no monsters in the city, but fairies are very rare and players would soon ask questions. With only 7 days to complete the quest, it was best to avoid confrontations and proceed as smoothly as possible.
They treaded through the muddy trail. Often, the wheel barrow would get stuck in mud, or Snappy would want a treat. Lisa had packed them some water pouches (and a bowl for Snappy as well) so they had adequate supplies for the journey. Weed also had to rest after every 1000 meters or so given his low stamina. ‘7 Days!’
“Okay Snappy! Alak! Enough rest! Lets get a move!” Weed had been walking at this slow pace for over 12 hours and he didn’t intend to stop.
Snappy who had been ferocious to begin with began to accept Weed. Alak largely disapproved of Weed, was still a complete nuisance to talk to…tired herself out. She just followed them invisibly. Weed wondered what Alak ate…it was a curious thought that kept him entertained for a significant part of the journey.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The sun finally rose again, Weed had reached his first stop the central town. Snappy looked worn out, he wasn’t used to walking this slowly for 18 hours at a stretch and his ego didn’t want to lose to Weeds. So he pushed himself on. Weed wasn’t sure if Alak followed them till town, he called her out many times, but she didn’t appear.
After stopping by a ‘Express Inn – Open 24 hrs’. Weed bought some breakfast for himself (cold stale sandwich and coffee – 5 copper) The streets were empty, most players weren’t awake right now, but every now and then you could see errand boys scurrying around or large bandwagons unloading goods into the city. After finishing his meal and resting for 10 minutes, Weed got up and began pushing the wheel barrow again. “Lets go Snappy! We have only just reached the entrance of the central city.”
Snappy’s ears and tail drooped… ‘Is this really a squirrel? Or a baby Orc?’
As the hours flew by, Weed reached the central square where he had began just 2 days ago. It was fairly late into the morning and many players had just began arriving. Merchants, cooks, artists, blacksmiths had just finished setting up their stalls and early began scanning the market for potential customers.
“Free packed lunch with every breakfast!”
“Get your starting amour set here!”
They all began calling out and waiving their goods in the air. ‘Typical.’
Weed continued to push past the town square, when he noticed trouble. The players who had killed him, were standing at the entrance of the eastern town alley. It was the only way into the eastern part of the city. Weed quickly pushed the wheel barrow to the side and hid behind a stall. ‘Why did they were construct a city such that the only way to get from one side to another is via the central square?’ Weed would have loved to know the reasoning of the design, he had a guess in mind, but it appeared too farfetched. He wasn’t going to let his imagination get the better of him this time!
Snappy stared at Weed and then at the Eastern Gate. ‘What happened little squirrel? Tired out? Or are you hiding from someone?’
Weed didn’t understand anything Snappy barked. “Shhhh!” Weed said.
Snappy really didn’t want to listen to Weed. He started making his way towards the Eastern Entrance.
“Kyaaaaaa!!” the women screamed seeing such a big dog roaming freely in the city. As it was a starting city, most players ran away from animals at sight. Pets usually roamed around with collars, but Snappy wouldn’t stand for one, so he didn’t have any to begin with.
“Is it a wild beast?”
“Looks like it!”
All players took out their weapons and stood facing the dog. They weren’t sure why they didn’t see it before but it was in front of them now! (Did they mistake it for a small horse?)
“Where are the City Guards?”
“Hey, they still haven’t reached here have they?”
“What are they doing slacking off?”
“Air Kingdom is really the worst kingdom to start off in!”
“Are there any high level players here?”
Hearing the word high level players certainly got the attention of the killers of Weed. They moved from the Eastern entrance and walked towards the central square.
“Hey! Hey! Hey! What’s going on here?” One of them asked in coarse voice.
“That dog just appeared out of nowhere!”
“Can’t even take care of simple dog can you?” exclaimed another member of the Weed Killer Trio (as Weed thought of them).
“Can’t you just get rid of it!” Exclaimed a merchant. “Its ruining our business here!”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“No problemo.” The trio said as they drew their swords. “Think of this as a favor from the Three Blades of Wind!”
“Did they say the Three Blades of Wind?” Players whispered to each other excitedly. Weed had no idea, what was going on, but he was starting to understand that they were strong.
“Aren’t they the strongest Class F?” asked another player. Weed’s suspicions were confirmed.
He hoped that the trio had forgotten about him and moved on in life. He took the risk, “WAIIIT!!” Shouted Weed. He wasn’t sure how strong Snappy was, but he certainly didn’t want Snappy dying. ‘Stupid Mutt! If you die, then this journey would be pointless! I haven’t slept in 24 RL hours and it better be worth it!! If only you stayed with me, people would have thought of you as my pet!!’
The trio held their swords in the air and looked at Weed.
“And you are?” “Possibly?” “The?”asked the Trio in sequential sync.
Weed wondered, since when did they become bigger fools? “The master of this dog!”
“GRRRRRRR.”
Snappy began growling at Weed. ‘No squirrel is my master!!”
“Yes.” “So true.” “We can see it.” Again in the annoying sequential sync.
“No wait, I am not its master! I am taking care of it for someone. That is all.” Snappy stopped growling.
The trio withdrew their swords and sheathed them as it was getting tiresome holding it in the air.
“And why does it not have a pet collar?”
“Snappy doesn’t like pet collars?” replied Weed meekly.
“Snappy, eh?” answered the one in the centre who also appeared to be the leader of the group. “Well, just make sure you keep him close to you. You are frightening of the newbies here and get it a collar!”
“Yes Sir!”
The Trio were pleased with this outcome by not killing they won the affection of several women who were afraid yet animal lovers. With that Weed pulled out and began pushing his wheel barrow towards the Eastern Entrance and Snappy trailed him. ‘Idiots! Didn’t even recognize me!’
As he crossed them, one of the trio placed his hand on Weed’s shoulder. “Wait!”
Weed froze. Sweat rolled down his temple. ‘Did he remember?’
“Have we met somewhere before?” He asked suspiciously.
“No Sir! I am completely new here Sir!” Weed answered while avoiding to look at him.
“Yes, I can see that. Traveler outfit…” He removed his hand of Weed’s shoulder and turned to give his attention to the women who were requesting their autograph.
Weed slowly started heading towards the Eastern Entrance again.
“WAIT!” screamed another of the Trio.
Weed froze in his place again! ‘What now?’
“Eh? Mark, doesn’t he seem to be familiar? Like that fellow we met then?”
“I know Joe! He does right? But see he is wearing those traveler outfit clothes. It’s been what 6 months I reckon we last saw him right? He would be easily a class +FF and would have found better outfit too.”
“Aye! I guess there are similar people in the world, Mark! Go on mate. Sorry for stopping you.”
Weed nodded in agreement and picked up his wheel barrow. He had just reached the entrance when for the third time…”WAIITT!!”
Weed could have seriously stabbed the trio to death, but his low level would not allow it. This time the leader of the trio approached. “Sorry, all goods being brought into Eastern Side, need to be inspected. We work closely with the magistrate here and our aided was requested to inspect all goods.” He said the last bit particularly loudly to grab the attention of the newbies.
“Did you hear that?” murmured players to one another.
“The magistrate’s office! They really live up to their name!”
Weed nodded acknowledging he understood while hiding his face as much as he could. He feared once they recognize him, they would take him to some deserted alley and kill him again, so he preferred to hide.
“Snappy, want a treat?”
“Woof!” replied Snappy while wagging his tail enthusiastically.
‘A treat? Reward? Food? Why not? Hurry up Squirrel! Best idea you have had all day! WOOF!’
Weed opened the bag with Snappy’s treat and showed them to the Trio. “See nothing but treat for Snappy! Two bags but nothing but treat.”
“Is that so? The trio put his hand in the bag to check and then threw a treat to Snappy.”
Who leapt and caught the treat in his mouth in mid air.
Several NPC women went “oooo” and “aaaa”. The Trio leader smiled, he totally intended that.
Weed hurriedly tied back the bag. “Well then good day sir!”
“Wait! What about the other bag?” Asked the leader.
“Just Doggie treat as well sir.”
“Open it.”
Weed hesitated, if he opened a bag full of 1000 gold coins there would be an uproar. The Trio would definitely want to seize it if not question him about it. There would also be other players, who would then pester him all day to find out where he is headed with so much money.
“Well?” asked the leader.
“You see, I am rather in a hurry. I have to finish this quest in the hour and deliver Snappy and his treat to his master. So I’d rather….”
The Trio leader didn’t buy it. If anything he happened to learn was never trust anybody other than the other two of his group. He had already been led astray once before by a player who claimed to be an NPC. He had sent the three of them on a journey to the Western Borders on stories of great treasure…needless to say, the Fire Kingdom’s border patrol was merciless. The trio lost a class, were stripped of their amour and items. The trio then swore to live by three rules, the first rule was never to trust anyone other than the trio. The second rule was always to be suspicious of an elf. Lastly, kill the elf that lied to them on sight.
Weed reopened the dog treat bag, hoping that the trio leader had not been paying attention.
“See Snappy Treat!” Weed exclaimed as if to say see I am right.
The trio leader didn’t even bat an eyelash. His morbid expression said you have to be kidding me.
“You just reopened the same bag. There’s a huge difference in the size of the treat bag which is huge and the other smaller bag…pouch…not to mention that they are of different color too!”
The trio leader, cut open the pouch and out poured the gold coins into the barrel!
“Boys! I think we have caught our thief!”
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The hooded figure watched through a window Lisa’s archery training.
“The student is quite the prodigy, Rodriguez the Wise.” He exclaimed.
Rodriguez warily nodded in agreement. “You can drop with the formalities. I know you detest me. You made it pretty evident last night. So tell me why are you here, Shadow?”
“You know why I am here, Rodriguez.” The voice lost all warmth and sounded menacing. “Have you found it?”
Rodriguez passed a sealed envelope lying on the table to Shadow. “It’s all in there.”
Shadow snatched it away quickly and broke the seal. “He opened the letter quickly and broke the seal.”
His eyes quickly glanced through the letter and put it away in his inventory bar (even NPCs have those).
“Have you told anyone else about this?” He asked with a black sword pointing at Rodriguez neck.
“No, even I haven’t read the letter. You have my word that its content is authentic. Stolen straight from…”
“SHHH!!” said Shadow. “Even the wall has ears. It is not your word that I have Rodriguez, but your life and Lisa’s life as well.”
“What happened to you Shadow! I thought we were on the same side!”
The sword extended, till it touched Rodriguez neck. Rodriguez silently stared at the hooded figure, whose sword then disappeared into nothingness.
“Well then, Rodriguez the Wise. I guess I should be on my way. By the way, what happened to the young rascal from yesterday. You seemed to pretty excited about him. If I am not mistaken you boasted how he may be the one.”
“I sent him on the quest.”
The hooded figure who was on the door, stood there. “Already? Without training him? What level was he at?”
“FF/000.”
“I see…sent him to his death didn’t you. I guess he wasn’t the one then, was he?"
The hooded person stepped out and Rodriguez exhaled. 'I hope you fare well son.' He thought to himself, when suddenly the hooded figure took a step back in and said, "How about I pay him a visit, just to make sure…you know….that he is dead. At the very least, I should see the face of the person who was praised so much. What was it that you said to him, yet to come across someone who accepts challenges as willingly as you do. You have won my trust with your honesty!”
The hooded figure gave off a cruel laugh as he left.
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Authors Note:
1. Happy reading...took a while, but here is the chapter. Removed teaser status.
2. Snappy is a Great Dane...
3. A map of Versailles continent.
http%3a%2f%2fi.imgur.com%2fuOlkMQC.jpg%3f1%3f9871 [http://i.imgur.com/uOlkMQC.jpg?1?9871]
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Authors Note:
1. Editing Credits: Knaivvs
2. In case you skipped the prologue, I strongly recommend reading it. Otherwise the starting of this chapter would come across disconnected.
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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