Novels2Search

Chapter 3 - No Funds, No Party

[5 Tranquil Rabbits], [5 Blazing Snails] and now, at last, [5 Bear Cubs]. Sam emerged from the forest victorious and was ready to hand in the now completed quest. His accomplishment now also showed, not only in his journal, but in his appearance, as he was now wearing the [Light Gear], which was the reward for finishing the quest.

Main Quest:

[Let’s Eat!] [COMPLETED]

* Talk to the guard at the front gate.

It’s weird how quickly habits are formed and how fast the human body and mind can adapt to new circumstances. Now that he had finally gotten rid of his makeshift caveman outfit, he actually had to get used to wearing “regular” clothes again. Not that he would describe leather armor as regular, but in this world (for now, at least) it was probably the next best thing. He most certainly didn’t want to run around in heavy armor.

And not only did Sam complete the quest, but he also went back and finished the other quest objectives as well, which netted him some extra resources and two extra levels. His [Inventory] now contained:

* [Bear Claw] 5x

* [Snail Magma] 5 x (neatly contained in jars, which is how they dropped.)

* [Rabbit’s Foot] 5x

* [Momma Bear Trophy] (also dropped shortly after the carcass magically dissolved.)

* [Health Potion] 4x

And these were his stats:

Gitaroo-Man’s [Lvl.5] Stats:

[Strength]: 4

[Vitality]: 5

[Agility]: 7

[Perception]: 6

[Wisdom]: 1

[Charisma]: 1

Available Stat Points: 12

He went back to the settlement and approached the Lizardman guard again.

“Ah, there you are. I was already wondering what kind of a time unit that jiff of yours was. It means three days, yes?” the Lizardman said.

“Sort of. If everything goes wrong, then yes,” Sam answered expecting a laugh, but was met with a confused face.

“It’s supposed to mean I’ll be back in a moment. It’s not really used a lot anymore, but it’s kind of an inside joke I have with a friend. Her name’s Veronica and—”

Suddenly, Sam grew silent. He had reminded himself of Ronnie. The friend that broke off contact via mail. He wondered if she was here, too. If she was, he hoped for her sake that she was sitting in front of a screen, and not trapped in this world like he was.

“Well, anyways,” he decided to change the subject, “I managed to get by thanks in no small part to you, actually. Without that potion, who knows if I’d have made it out of there.”

“I am glad I was able to help,” the Lizardman said, and gave a courteous bow.

He had an overall stoic demeanor. It was the first time Sam had met anyone like that. He didn’t really like to venture outside much and had a tough time meeting new people IRL. But even when he did, he found that people like that are rare in today’s world. The disillusioned and cynical often see stoicism as a mask the powerful and mighty put on to hide more devious intentions. If not that, they see them as fools. Sam believed this guard was neither.

“Have I proven myself now, do you think?” Sam asked.

“Yes, you have proven yourself indeed. You may enter the settlement now.”

“What’s awaiting me in there?”

“Well, this settlement is the final stop before the road towards the capital of the realm. That is where all the newly proven adventurers, such as yourself, find their respective guilds and embark on bigger quests.”

So that’s where all the other players are, Sam thought.

“You should proceed with care, mind you, for the road ahead is fraught with dangers that go beyond what you might find in the Shumerian Forest.”

“What kind of dangers? Do you think I’m ready for it?”

“Well, I think before you go you should find—”

Suddenly the gate to the settlement opened and a mob of people, complete with pitchforks and torches, appeared behind it. They were led by an intimidating looking man who was so tall and wide that the mob almost disappeared behind him.

“There he is, fellas!” the giant of a man said to the mob.

He approached the Lizardman until they stood face to face, but the Lizardman didn’t flinch. Not even one inch.

“Wait, Boyan! He’ll burn ya!” someone in the mob yelled.

“I ain’t afraid of his kind. I’ve seen plenty of ‘em fighting in the rebellion. And I’ve slain my fair share, too,” the giant said, while giving the lizardman an intense staredown. “What is one more?”

He stood almost a head taller than the lizardman.

“Will you not ever grow tired of this, Boyan?” the lizardman replied, reciprocating the staredown, while keeping his usual stoic demeanor.

“Well, will I? What is your guess?”

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The tension in the air was so thick, Sam felt like if he took out his [Dual Butterknives] he could cut it. Or not, seeing as they were the most useless weaponry in existence.

Boyan grabbed and was about to unsheathe his sword when a voice broke through the tension.

“All right, gentlemen! I noticed that my tavern was unusually empty today and I was worried that I had lost all my valued customers to some other fine establishment, but then I remembered that this was the only tavern for hundreds of miles around and just knew you knuckleheads had to be up to no good.”

It was a barmaid. She seemed to hold sway over the mob with relative ease. What helped her, no doubt, was that she did seem to be the embodiment of the phrase: “You don’t want to mess with me” and made the entire mob look like a bunch of children who were misbehaving. The mob dissolved and they all felt obliged to apologize to her on the way back into the tavern.

A “sorry, Marika” here, and a “won’t happen again” there was all one heard for a little while. Then she turned her attention to the only one left, which was Boyan, the giant.

“Come on, big fella. Don’t make me have to come over there and knock sense into that big head of yours.”

He let go of the sword, but he visibly had to ring with himself to let go of his anger. He was clearly the type of person who wore their emotions on their sleeve.

“You’re lucky today, lizard. We’ll continue our little talk soon.”

The giant briskly turned around and made for the tavern. The lizardman, seemingly unphased, turned around again.

Marika, before also turning and giving Boyan an earful on the way back, apologized to the lizardman on the mobs’ behalf: “Sorry, Fafnir.” Suddenly there was a softness in the eyes of a person, who seemed as sturdy and unflinching as a rock before.

Layers, Sam thought, remembering, of all things, the scene from the movie Shrek in which the ogre explained to the donkey that people were like onions.

Fafnir replied: “Thank you, Marika.” But he didn’t turn back around.

Sam now finally knew the lizardman’s name. He noticed that he forgot to even ask, which made him feel a little bad, but he did have to grapple with this whole being isekai’d thing, so he decided to cut himself some slack there.

“What the hell was that?” Sam finally asked. “What’s their problem?”

“An all too valid one,” Fafnir replied. “But his anger is misdirected, I’m afraid.”

“What do you mean?”

“My kind has banished the people here, in one way or another. Many have escaped to this settlement. Escaped something in their past. And for many of them, my kind is to blame.”

“How did you get here?” Sam asked.

“I was also banished, in a sense.” He replied.

That last question made Fafnir sink into deep thought. Sam had questions, but didn’t want to pry, in case Fafnir didn’t want to talk about it.

The lizardman added: “As for where you should be headed next. You should head over to the Sorry Lot and talk to Marika. She can give you further instructions and tell you what you should do before you head on out to the capital.”

Sam decided that he should do just that, see what was going on and come back later.

The tavern stood at the center of the settlement. The settlement itself was a sorry sight, there was no denying it. He would be in a bad mood as well if he had to live here for all eternity.

Sam had to laugh a bit when he stood in front of the tavern and read its name for the first time: The Sorry Lot. It didn’t hit him until now that Fafnir was referring to the tavern, not the people.

Sam went inside and saw the mob from before. Some were drinking and laughing, some were eyeing him, and then there were those in search for life’s answers by staring down a mug; or drowning life’s questions with its contents. Boyan, the leader of the mob from before, was one of those, sitting at the bar, doing one of the two latter ones.

Marika was doing what the title barmaid suggested: tending to the guests and listening to whatever was on their minds. She did seem to enjoy it, though.

“What’re you buyin’?”, she asked Sam from behind the counter.

Sam had zero currency.

“Anything that comes for free.”

“Nothing’s for free. Not in this world, at least,” Boyan said without taking his eyes off his beer mug. “You want to get to the city; it’s going to cost you. I can see you’re one of them. One of those so-called “adventurers”. You come here from who knows where, pass through without giving a rat’s ass about any of the people here, don’t even listen to what they have to say, while they are stuck here with their problems.”

“What this knucklehead here is saying is that,” Marika cut him off, “if you want to get to the capital, you should first gather a party. There’s the [Notice Board] where all the parties for hire are listed, and you can be on your way.”

While Marika was busy telling Boyan that he shouldn’t pester people with their problems, Sam went over to take a look at the [Notice Board].

[MoistyBoy98 looking for a party], [Need_for_mead401 looking for a party], [PayToSpray69 is looking for a party]…

Those are player names! The capital is probably the hub, if I can get there, I can contact someone from the outside. Where do I sign up?

Then he saw something that killed his plan in an instant.

Join party for: 5x [Dragon Coin]

He went back to Marika.

“What are [Dragon Coins] and how do I get them?”

The entire tavern started laughing.

“That kind of coin is for the likes of you: adventurers. Folks like us only have access to regular coin. And to get even one [Dragon Coin] with our regular coin, we would have to toil away for five lifetimes.”

Sam’s heart sank a little bit after hearing this. Normally he would just pay without giving it a second thought. Now that he couldn’t, it made him realize how much it would suck to play this game without spending. And the little ways in which the developers made you do it. This should be free!

“Is there any other way? To recruit a party, I mean,” Sam asked Marika.

“Well, you could try to recruit the people here, but most of them would be no good. Been nothing but farmers their entire lives. Lousy ones, too.”

The entire tavern started laughing at that last comment. At least they are a happy bunch, Sam thought.

Then he remembered Boyan saying that he fought in a rebellion. He was one of the only ones who carried a sword, after all.

Sam grew desperate. He needed someone. Anyone.

He turned to Boyan: “Will you join me?”

“No.”

“There has to be something that I could do to convince you. Come on. Anything.”

Someone in the tavern yelled: “KILL THE BEAST!”

Sam could practically see the wheels turning inside Boyan’s head.

Boyan grinned for a small moment, then turned all serious.

“Ever stared death directly in the eyes, boy? I doubt it. Well, I have. And I say, what I will ask of you is far worse than that. Look at these marks on my face. They’re not from war, that much I can tell you.”

Sam gulped.

“It is a creature, taller than any man. Even myself. Scars that put mine to shame… it is a durable one. Survived many a fight. So strong, it cuts trees in half with one swipe of its monstrous paws.”

Wait a minute, Sam thought. That sounded familiar.

“I’ll tell you what, son. You kill that thing, yeah, I’ll join ya. I’d even hug that damned lizard if that was to be part of the deal.”

Sam thought to himself: “What the heck, might as well try.”

He pulled the [Momma Bear Trophy] out of his pouch, which was its head, and slammed it on the table.

The entire tavern grew silent for a moment. Boyan was baffled. The first time Sam had seen him like that. You could hear a pin drop in that room.

Then the crowd erupted into celebration like they had just won a football championship.

Mic-drop-moment succeeded, Sam thought. The [Momma Bear] he had defeated by accident was the monster that seemed to have been plaguing the village. Luck was a skill, too. Sam believed that wholeheartedly now.

The giant chugged the rest of his beer in one go, slammed the mug down and stormed out of the tavern.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s just gone off to sober up. That one won’t go back on his word. You have mine on that,” Marika said.

“That’s fine. I still need more members before I venture off,” he told Marika. He had to yell over the noise of the still celebrating crowd.

And I already know exactly who they are going to be, he thought.