The colorful feathered lizard man in the wizard hat spoke next. "You said land, not a house. If money you do not seek, what interest would peak?"

Jennifer guessed the wizard cast a spell so she was compelled to answer. She could not see it in her log, but she did not want to share the information. Trying to hold back the words, as the spell took effect. "I’m on a quest to reopen Bishop's University of Magic, but I have no house and no place to stay tonight." Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the lizard wizard. With a voice filled with a venom she did not know she had, she said, "Because of that, I will never work for you."

"A house on a hill, that will fulfill. Next near a school, that will not be cruel, for you to anew." The feathers on this lizard man shimmered, changing colors as he spoke.

The vibrant display drew her in, making it seem like it was the most attractive thing in the world. As a calming breeze swept over her, she could not look away from the dazzling wizard lizard. But something within her screamed defiance.

"I am going to smash my mug on your head, rip your throat out with my bare hands, roast your hide, and eat what is left. I will use each of your wonderful feathers to decorate my future bedroom. Then I will use your bones as my summoned skeletons. Did you notice the plural? Because I know I will be able to do that over and over again because you come back each time. I will keep doing this until you can no longer come back." Her words formed from the compulsion spell; those words were something she would never say aloud. She also had the feeling that she licked her lips as she spoke but glared at the feathered lizard wizard, who interestingly enough, lost all of his colors except for his belly. Those feathers turned yellow.

The words that came out of Jennifer were not her own. They came from somewhere, almost as if she was possessed for a moment.

You have resisted further hypnosis. You cannot be hypnotized for another 24 hours.

Jennifer took in a deep calming breath. Waved the mayor over. When he arrived, she passed him a sling with Woozle sleeping in. “And please hold my drink.” She stood up and towered over the three dinosaurs before her. The only one taller than her was the triceratops lizard man, but he was not with them for some reason. Jennifer stepped up onto a chair then onto the table. Her hair brushed against the ceiling now towering over the warlords. Jennifer raised her voice, and she began a verbal bombardment.

Achievement unlocked: - Removed from diplomatic event - Ever get thrown out of a bar, after publicly insulting visiting nobility to their face? We recommend not doing that. Again.

Chapter 16: Where to Go from Here?

“I think after I threw my drink in the face of that ankylosaurus was when the guards came for me.” She rubbed the sleep from her face. “But maybe my comments about that lizard’s hammer were what made him the maddest.” Jennifer’s hand was on the side of the micro-foundry with the mending power active.

The robot avatar of the building moved his head up and down.

Jennifer assumed that the movement showed that the foundry was listening to her.

“So then what happened.” Lights lit up where a mouth would be on the face of its round head.

“Well you know how it goes, you find a weak spot and you exploit it, just verbally. It is when they go down crying that you know you have your own.” She took a swig of her stamina potion so her mending could continue. “Anyway, can you craft a house?”

“I can craft a doghouse. Guild rules bar me from fabricating more than cosmetic changes to a house. You would need a functioning door to your house before I can craft a house.” The machine bowed its head.

Watching her stamina, she waited until it was just under half before toggling off her mending skill. She walked to the front of the building. “That’s too bad because the inns are full. After a raid people like having a place to rest their heads.”

“I believe there is an old tradition of people sleeping in empty train cars. I am told the train is rather nice.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“From hero to zero before I even get a parade. Can you point me in the direction of the train? Also can you make a sleeping bag and cot for me? The first thing I’ll do tomorrow is find someone to build me a house.” A yawn escaped her lips, and she raised her hand to cover her mouth. She glanced up at the sky. The inky blackness contrasted with the silver moon hiding behind a smaller yellow moon. She paid for the sleeping gear, and started off towards the train with Woozle in a sling on her back. “It’s so different, and yet this place is feeling a lot like home.”

***

Jennifer went looking for the train. She had seen the machine a few times, but the whistle she heard far more often.

There were no tracks leading to the train, but the black cylinder stood out in the night. Three box cars were attached to the engine. The second segment had written in bright blue letters, “you are safe here” painted on both the outside and inside of the metal structure. The inside was larger than the room she slept in before. Without a bed, she had to put her head in one corner and lay with her feet on the diagonal opposite corner. The sleeping bag was also too small and ended up being a throw blanket. Woozle slept in a free corner with the blanket sling as a nest.

***

"Jim who?" Jennifer asked about the banging noise on the side of the train.

"Me. The mayor, Jim Gigawatts. Dude with a big hat. The guy who runs the town you are sleeping in. That Jim. The man who has a train running late because you are sleeping in him. That Jim." His voice sounded pleasant and upbeat but with hints of something Jennifer could not quite catch.

Jennifer rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned while looking around. She remained fully clothed under the too small sleeping bag. Her feet were too cold last night, so she had put her socks and shoes back on. She gave a half-hearted shrug. "Give me a sec. I’ll be out." Her head brushed a low hanging back in the train. Jennifer pet the car wall, “Thank you train. I had a good sleep.”

Leaving the box car, she left the door open and stood between it and the mayor. Kevin stood next to him. The look on the wolf’s face and the tilt of his head made her think how silly it must look for her to sleep in a train. Woozle was still curled up in the blanket, sleeping. She did not know where Rover made a web to sleep in.

"So, the town is now at war," the mayor said, while eyeing Jennifer.

She lifted a hand to cover a yawn and stretch before saying, "I’ll go make a recruitment poster."

The laughter that burst out of the mayor had her looking down at him in surprise.

"Jennifer, you had those dinosaur warlords running a code brown out of town. You yelled at a group of high-level, elite warlords as if they were kids with their hands in the cookie jar." The mayor was trying to control his laughter, while speaking, "There’s no way they are ever going to be threatening this town with you here."

"So no war posters then?" Her head tilted, as she tried to recall every detail of the night before. She remembered the feathered one hypnotizing her. Or was it a trance of some kind? Her sleep-soaked mind was not fully up to speed.

"The infernal levels have no rage like a woman who has been scorned."

The mayor’s saying didn’t sound quite right, but she let it go so that she could piece together the night before. She remembered being angry.

"As soon as the log out glitch is over, I’m going to have my grandson find out if anyone has a recording of it."

"Log out glitch?"

The mayor waved a dismissive hand. "You don’t have to worry about it. It’s something us parallels have to deal with from time to time. Now come, we have a mountain of food waiting at the inn. We can have breakfast while you tell me what you need to get the school open again." The mayor left the field with a wide smile on his face.

Confusion and sleep addled her brain. Looking around, her eyes came to rest on Woozle. He opened his eyes, stretched out his legs in front of himself, and yawned with his tongue curled up.

“Are you ready for the day?” She did not bother concealing the concern in her voice.

“Kid, I lost my tail, not my will.” When he moved to stand, he stumbled and fell over. Before Jennifer could reach him, he stood up and took a few practice steps. She watched as he tested each movement. The floor of the car was flat, making it better to practice here rather than outside. From the look of things, he was getting better after each step. Jennifer pushed her lips together and rubbed the palms of her left hand on her sweatpants. She had no idea how much of his balance had been lost when he had lost his tail. She also knew that when she leveled up again, he would get bigger.

As Woozle took practice laps around the encampment, Jennifer brought up her inventory menu. She had won everything she had bid on. Rather than needing to undress then redress, she was able to change her outfit from her menus. As simple as mentally dragging the clothes out of her inventory, and imaging the clothes appear on her. The clothes she was wearing automatically went into her inventory. She liked the new uniform but it did not have a hood that Woozle could ride in. Something she would miss. She was still planning on getting a robe to go over the uniform. With having leveled so many times last night, she was going to have to pick her new powers soon.