I returned to the tavern on the other side of the city, after having purchased a soft, baggy, white shirt with a high neck, and a black skirt that stopped just below my knees. I also bought undergarments, since wearing nothing but a skirt was just inviting trouble. Strangely enough, the clothes had no weight, but also didn’t have any stats, and when I looked at my ‘Equipment’ screen, the pieces went into their own separate category called ‘Town Clothes’.
The thought of Iberius actually being able to carry out my plan for getting rid of Kerebor was darkly amusing, but whether he decided to go through with it or not, it seemed I was momentarily rid of my stalker, as I had seen neither hide nor hair of him when I passed by the ruined tournament grounds. Granted, I had made sure to take off my cloak, so I would’ve been hard to spot in the masses, since my choice of armour wasn’t particularly unique.
I put on my new clothes while I cleaned my armour in the tub. Then, after rinsing the tub and having it refilled, I scrubbed myself clean and submerged my body in the water’s warm embrace. I soaked in the water until my fingers were wrinkled and soft, then crawled out and rolled myself up in the bedsheet and fell asleep.
The following morning, I visited the collector, Alexander Tobias, who dutifully handed me ‘The Key to the Forbidden Catacombs’. He even went so far as to thank me for killing the Forlorn Intruder, but also explained that it would not be possible for me to obtain the tournament reward money, as I had not actually won the tournament. I imagined this bit of news would have stung quite a bit more, had it actually been my own money that were spent paying the entrance fee, but since Alexander had sponsored me, I didn’t really care. I still had most of the coins from the bounty on Red Rian’s head and the subsequent sale of his two daggers.
I saw no sign of any quest-givers for the Stage that I’d skipped thanks to Iberius. ‘The Hamlet’ he’d called it. I assumed that normally it would have popped up after the Tournament, but seeing as I didn’t have to complete it, I assumed that my next step was to return to Father Adam.
So, hedging my bets on this, I went to the city gate, where the merriment of street entertainers had returned to normal despite the sudden appearance of the Forlorn Knight, and found a carriage heading through the Forgotten Village.[1] Though it was a bit more expensive than my ride to Gothershall, it didn’t make me fear for my life, as the driver set a leisurely pace that saw us reach the town just after sundown.
I reached the Ornery Pig tavern as darkness fell across the town and was fortunate enough to run into Jakob there. Patrik wasn’t with him.
We had our dinner brought to my room, so we could talk without being eavesdropped on[2], and I told him about the Tournament, trying to describe each fight as best I could, knowing that he’d eventually have to fight those same fights. I even told him about my side-quest involving Father Adam, as well as the bet with Alexander Tobias. When I got to the finale he said, “Poor Patroclus.” It surprised me a bit that he knew the name, as I’d just referred to him as ‘the Champion’, but he then went on to explain: “Patroclus is kind of a famous character. A lot of people talk about how it’s funny that a character with so much detail and hype would be killed off immediately.”
“So, there’s no way to actually fight him?”
“Not as far as I know. You know, there’s actually a group at the Frontier that calls themselves The Widows of Patroclus. They are all female characters as well, which makes it all the more hilarious. I think Winged Heiress is part of that group.” Another mention of this ‘Winged Heiress’ person, I wondered who they were, though, clearly, she was quite famous.
“I’m sure half of them are guys,” I commented.
Jakob smiled at bit awkwardly in response.
“What?” I asked, I wasn’t sure if I had offended him or not.
“I’m actually pretending as well,” he said.
“You’re what?” I asked as if I hadn’t heard him right. You know, one of those things where you hear something, and you aren’t sure whether or not it’s just your mind inserting the words you want to hear.
“My real name’s Alisé.”
I’d toyed with the idea of Jakob being a woman in the real world when I first saw him, but despite that it was still a shock to realise I’d been right. I wasn’t sure why, but I was fairly sure women becoming men in this realm was less common than the reverse. I wondered if it was to avoid being harassed by guys, but I got the feeling that probably wasn’t it.
Alisé continued, “I don’t remember much from my life before this, but the one thing that always comes back to me, is my desire to be a… to be a man.”
“I won’t lie to you and say I understand how you feel, but I get it. It’s important to be true to yourself.”
Jakob, err... Alisé, smiled. He looked fragile like that. I guess anyone who opens up themselves would look that way. We are all at our most vulnerable when we expose our true selves.
“I know this realm is cruel to the ones who live in it, and that it drives players to madness once they’ve died enough, but I can’t find it in myself to hate it. After all, here I can be my true self without being judged.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
While I wasn’t sure if Alisé’s desire was a common one, I was sure that many people shared the same bittersweet sentiment. It is hard to hate a world that lets you be the person you’ve always desired to become. Had memories of my real life prior to this ‘Trial’ still been within my mind, I was sure I’d find in them my own reasons for liking this world. Again, the thought of my forgotten family occupied my thoughts. Perhaps I couldn’t remember them because they hadn’t been important to me… or maybe the most important memories went first? The latter seemed quite likely, considering how sadistic this realm was.
I got up from the hard floor we were sitting on and shuffled towards the window, watching the dark rooftops of the town through it. I sighed. There was something magical about this place, and yet, beneath the pretty cloth, death and sorrow and madness lay hidden.
“How was the Hamlet? Was it as nerve-wracking as I’ve heard?” Alisé asked, returning to our original talk.
“I skipped it.”
“Oh, that’s… wait, you what!?”
“I met the World Architect and because I fought his ‘pet’ instead, I got to skip the Hamlet.”
“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. I’ve never heard anything about this before.”
“Probably he isn’t well-known. It seems he only interacts with a few players. Apparently, he likes watching me.”
“What a creep,” Jakob replied ironically.
“Totally,” I responded with a laugh. “He’s called Iberius, by the way. Maybe you can find out stuff about him if you mention him to other players. He hangs out in Gothershall, and it seems he just made the Tournament so that he’d have something to watch. I guess he can’t really interact much with this World after creating it. I did get him to do something about Kerebor though.”
“So that’s how you did it!” Jakob exclaimed excitedly, suddenly holding up the coin-sized Scrying Mirror.
I took it and put it against my right eye. Through the mirror I saw out of Kerebor’s right eye. It was pitch-black around him, but I could tell that he was using his hands to paddle a floating platform he was on. While I watched, he suddenly jumped back from the edge of his raft, as a black shadow of something enormous moved underneath.
Iberius actually did it!
I’d told him to put Kerebor out onto Silt Lake with some kind of vessel that had no oars, so that he’d have to paddle with his hands to get back to shore. Given the size of the Lake, it’d take hours, possible even a full day. And of course, Barnacle Barney would be circling below the entire time.
“It was my idea,” I told Jakob proudly.
“You’re wicked, Aiko,” he laughed.
I thumbed my nose, slightly embarrassed, but also glad to have Jakob back in good spirits.
“Are you going to the Forlorn Castle next?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Is that the next Stage?”
“Yea.”
“You sure know a lot,” I replied, impressed.
“Too bad I can’t even act on all this information.”
“You can,” I replied. “Come with me.”
“Patrik needs my help. Besides, I’m two Stages behind you.”
“Sorry. I’m stupid for asking something like that of you. You’ve known him way longer than me.”
“It’s okay. I understand why you’d ask. And you’re not stupid, Aiko. You’re courageous, beautiful, and deadly with a sword. There’s a reason why you’re one of the most renowned Frontier players. People look up to you.”
I scoffed, kind of like a, “Pfff.”
“I’m serious.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
“You don’t like it?”
“It’s weird,” I said. “All these people I don’t know have this image of me in their heads. It’s like they worship me.”
“They do worship you.”
“Right, exactly. It’s weird. Like, I don’t even know why, but everyone seems to know of my ‘exploits’.”
“You can thank The Storyteller for that.”
“The what?”
“Nova, the Storyteller. He’s always recounting the stories of the Frontier players. He apparently writes it all down. I think you might even be able to find the book he wrote about you, if you look in the market. Actually, there may be several books, now that I think about it.”
“So, he just tells stories?”
“Basically. But he also shares strategies sometimes, and warns people to avoid certain player-killers, or holds eulogies for Frontier fighters who reset. They get kind of awkward, since those players usually attend their own ‘funerals’.”
“So that’s how everyone knows about me…” It seemed I had a bone to pick with this ‘Nova’ guy.
“Yea. He visits the Village about once every thirty days. When I met you the first time, he had just been here a few days earlier.”
Great… For a second, I contemplated staying a bit longer in the Village, so I could witness this ‘Storyteller’. Maybe I’d try to catch him next time, though I wasn’t gonna wait around for him to show up, but I could at least try to find his book about me, or books rather. Maybe I could learn a thing or two about myself. What a weird thought.
“By the way. Does Patrik know about your situation?”
Jakob looked at me, confused.
“That you were a… girl before you came here, I mean.”
“Oh… He used to, before he died.”
“Sorry.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t mean to bring up a bad memory.”
“It’s okay. It’s not the first time I’ve lost a friend. It’s par for the course in this realm, so you better get used to it.” Though his words sounded brave and stoic, his expression seemed unsure and distraught.
“How is he, Patrik?”
“I don’t know. He keeps going on about how he has all his fingers again.”
“Think he lost them in the real world?”
“That would be my guess,” Alisé, erm, Jakob, replied. “But he’s so different from when I first met him. These last two days he’s just been using the money I gave him to drink himself into a debilitating stupor. He’s been really mean, actually.”
I felt incredibly guilty all of a sudden. But I didn’t know what to say or do.
“If you need someone to talk to, I’m here.”
“With how fast you’re going through the Stages, you won’t be here much longer though.”
“I can stay a few days more,” I assured him. “After all it was my fault this happened.”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to.”
“But I want to.”
Jakob smiled at that. Then he got up from the floor and said, “Well, I won’t bother you any further. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” I replied.
Instead of leaving though, he just stood there for a moment.
“Promise me you’ll be careful, okay?”
“You know me,” I said and smiled. It was true, he probably knew me better than I knew myself.
“No one has cleared the Forlorn King’s Stage in a while, but no one knows why. Those who’ve unlocked the Stage recently have all been reset for some reason.”
“I’ll stay alert.”
Jakob smiled one last time and then left my room. I stared at the closed door for a while before I took a bath. Then I blew out the candlelight and went to bed.
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[1] The only words I had to go by were Tabian’s. He’d said to seek out Father Adam. That was it. I just hoped I hadn’t missed something important…
[2] Not that there were any people in the tavern other than us, but you never know.