It only took a few hours before Anise and Felix also got their ID’s handled. After they emerged from Markus’s office, Markus emerged as well.
He turned towards Old Mo and gave him a friendly nod. Old Mo responded in kind, before Markus joined us.
“So, before we …… anything, you’re Old Mo, right?” said Markus, still speaking in Semurrian. “You’re the …… of this group?”
Old Mo paused for a moment and eyed me. Then he nodded. “I’m essentially the ……, I suppose.”
Markus paused, as if thinking about Old Mo’s words, before he nodded. “All right, good enough. I already …….. about it with the kids, but I wanted to talk about it with you as well. Do you have a final …….. in mind?”
“We decided that …….. out Vintella was a good idea. I don’t know if we’ll stay there …….., but some connections would be nice. Your doctor friend could be a big help as we get settled in. We’re going to …….. there and see if the town suits us,” said Old Mo.
Markus’s expression brightened up. “I’m glad to hear my ...... were useful! I can only imagine what your group has gone through over the past …….. .Starting a new life can be hard, and I was hoping that I could make ........... a bit easier for you." Then, Markus looked at the three kids in our group for a moment, before he frowned.
"You know, I imagine all this walking has been hard on the kids. They don't have the same ...... as adults do. Do you guys want some help with ……?” asked Markus. “We have some horses ……near the edge of the encampment. They’re normally for ……., but, well,” he grinned. “Felix mentioned that one of the people on guard duty ......... your guns. We owe you some kind of .......... for that, right? I’d say a few horses are about …… in value?”
Old Mo's eyes widened at Markus's words.
“Unless the horses are half-dead, a horse is worth way more than a gun. Are you sure?"
Markus winked at Old Mo. “Come to think of it, the horses looked a little ….. to me when I glanced at them last week. Maybe they’re coming down with something. I'm sure that lowers their value a bit. They seem about ...... to some guns.”
Old Mo’s eyes widened a little further, before he guffawed. “You’re a good man, Markus.”
Markus's grin grew a little wider, before he shrugged. "Just take care of the kids. I don't want to see ......... get affected by wars like this."
Markus turned his attention towards the sky for a moment, as if lost in thought. “The country is pretty safe these days, so I doubt you’ll run into any ……..while you’re heading back. If you do, you’ve got three ability users in your group. Do you have a roadmap?”
Old Mo shook his head. “I have a rough idea where everything is, since I’ve visited Damilius before. But it has been a long time.”
“In that case, wait here for a second.” Then, Markus paused, and I could see his face turn slightly red. “Erm… since you’re taking our …….. horses, could you also deliver something for me? The actual ........ is a day late, and I have a few letters I was planning on sending to a friend.”
Old Mo gave Markus a strange gaze, but nodded. “We can do that.”
Markus turned towards me. “Miria, you remember the doctor I was telling you about, right? Were you planning on visiting her?" I nodded. Getting a way to make money would be really important when we settled down in our new home. And I was starting to think that my mother needed more than just healing spells to get better. A doctor might help me figure out why my mother was still practically a zombie, even after healing her for years. "Well, if you're going to see her, could you ……. her those letters for me?”
I blinked in surprise. I was now pretty sure the word Markus kept using that I didn’t understand was ‘messenger’ or ‘deliveryman’ or something like that, based on the context. But why did Markus look so embarrassed about sending the letters to his doctor friend?
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I thought about the conversation I'd had with him. He had mentioned that he knew a nice female doctor in the city he recommended we settle in. He had recommended that we contact her. He now also wanted us to deliver a few letters to that doctor. He looked embarrassed while mentioning those letters.
Could it be…?
I grinned.
If I got to know the female doctor well, maybe I’d see more of Markus in the future. Markus had left a pretty good impression on me. I wouldn’t mind seeing him around more often.
“I’ll give them to her, and let her know you’re thinking about her lots!” I said, and watched as Markus turned a brighter shade of red.
“You don’t… need to include that last part,” he said.
I gave Markus my best ‘innocent six year old’ grin. I saw Old Mo roll his eyes behind Markus, but he didn't say anything.
“Well, if you've agreed, I’ll be right back,” said Markus, before he went to go fetch the letters and the maps.
A few minutes later, he returned and handed a few sealed letters and a map to Old Mo. He also handed Old Mo a small stack of money.
Old Mo seemed surprised.
"You don't have to-"
"Relax. It's not much, but you can get an inn room and a nice meal when you arrive."
"Thank you," said Old Mo.
“All right, I think that’s everything,” said Markus. “Does anyone in your group know how to ride horses?”
Old Mo nodded. “I can ride well enough to get by.”
“Good. I don't have to worry about you breaking your necks on the way in, then. Safe travels,” said Markus.
After that, our group was off.
* * *
It took another day before we reached Vintella. Navigation was a bit difficult after we left the fort, but once we found the main road, it became much easier.
Which, oddly enough, left me with nothing to do. When we had been travelling through Verne, I had been responsible for scouting, because of my soul vision. Now we weren't in danger of getting caught up in a shootout. Since I didn’t need to scout for danger, I spent some time talking with Sallia as we plodded along.
Sallia sounded very sleepy when I talked to her. I was beginning to realize that Sallia had a hard time staying awake for long periods of time now. After only an hour of talking, she started to sound exhausted. And even during that hour, she had a harder time focusing than usual. It was a sharp contrast with her usual vibrant, active self. Still, I was happy that I could talk with her at all. It helped hammer in the fact that even though Sallia was dead, she wasn’t gone.
Sallia also mentioned that she had purchased a TV subscription. It would let her access a catalogue of shows for a small price, so that she had something to do besides talk to us.
Once Sallia fell back asleep, Anise, Felix, and I all convened and decided to cover any expenses Sallia incurred during her time in the void. She had died to protect us,. The least we could do was cover her television shows while she waited for the rest of us to die. They weren’t that expensive - a one year subscription for television cost fifteen Achievement. Slumber Mode cost at 20 Achievement a year. In other words, every year that we stayed alive, we needed to pay Sallia 12 Achievement each.
It was a manageable cost, and one that I was happy to pay.
About an hour after we figured out how we planned to handle Sallia's entertainment expenses, we saw Vintella.
The town was beautiful. I could tell that it was on the larger side for a town - my very rough guess was that there were around 100,000 residents, based on its size. It was nestled right against Damilius’s coastline, and there was a lot of ships in its harbor. Most of the ships were metal, but I found a few large ships made entirely out of wood docked as well.
I found the sight interesting. It looked like the merchants in this world were starting to upgrade their ships from wood to metal. But not all of them had switched. I wondered if the wooden ships would disappear another decade, or if they had some uses metal ships couldn't cover.
The rest of the town was unremarkable, save for one thing - it was clean. All of the factories were outside the town. Unlike our previous home, the city wasn't filled with factory fumes.
It was close to nighttime when we made it into the city, so when we entered, most of the people were asleep. We found our way to a nearby inn, paid for the night, and luxuriated in the baths and our first hot meal in over a week. Washing off a week’s worth of grime and filth felt wonderful, and I spent quite a bit more time in the bath than I strictly needed to.
It was the most relaxed I had felt since being born in this world. As I relaxed in the water and sent mental messages to my friends, it started to hit me that we had really arrived. We had escaped Verne and found a new home.