Chapter 63: New Adventure

Well, that certainly was an interlude chapter. I hope this keeps Jeff happy for some while. This chapter was supposed to appear a little later, but it would be foreshadowing anyways. No harm, no foul. If it makes sure he'll stop breaking into my office when I'm on toilet breaks, that's good enough for me.

Sorry, back to our scheduled program now. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

/Order, the combination of law, freedom, and justice, interwoven and connected into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Yet, why exactly those three parts?

Law is first, and will always be first. Laws need to be laid down, a foundation to the very things that define us. The system has its laws, and its order, and so does nature. If we do not mirror these laws in our society, then true order can never be achieved.

These laws then allow for the foundation of freedom. It is impossible for true order to exist without freedom, yet it is also impossible for freedom to exist without laws. Sand will never become human, for example. Yet, there is still freedom in many ways. Freedom to go wherever, to be whoever, so long as you do not infringe upon the freedom of others.

For that would be unjust. And justice needs to be given. All people are equal, if one hurts another, that is unjust. One of them is no longer free, the other is no longer within the laws. It goes against order, it is unacceptable, and judgment must fall.

To preserve order, these three must always, always be in balance. It is only on these principles that it is possible to erect a society, to live together, bound by a common order. To go against these is to forsake the greater, overarching order, and it must be relentlessly suppressed.

These principles must be above all, upheld by any sapients, be it men or kin, elves, dwarves, demons or spirits. The law might be different in some places, but the order by that law must always, always be upheld./

The third scrolls of the series "The grand Church of Order" by bishop Nemo the faithful.

- - - - - -

Things had been quiet in Stormbraver. Esmeya had spent some time with Mercury, getting blood, saliva, and some tissue samples from him. He refused being carved up with a knife, but he certainly didn't mind giving her some of his hair that had fallen out already. It got everywhere, anyways.

In exchange, he had also earned himself some intel on other travellers to this world. She had heard of three of them in total, Hypatia of Alexandria, claiming to hail from greater Greece. Mercury wasn't quite sure if Alexandria was actually in modern day Greece, but he certainly remembered they had a chonky library that burned down.

Next on the list was a much more familiar name, being Genghis Khan, a warlord. Like holy fuck, thinking of meeting a historical figure like that dude face to face? Something about it didn't quite feel right to Mercury, like he was stuck in a feverdream or some shit.

The last name Esmeya remembered was Jeanne d'Arc. Mercury wasn't too solid on European history, to be fair, but he was pretty certain he had heard that name somewhere before. Like, it definitely sounded French and old, so that was something.

Honestly, if he had known there were that many travellers on this world, perhaps he would've done a little more research into historical figures. All of them sounded pretty familiar, but if it wasn't his good ol' pal George Washington, he wasn't 100% on giving a full list of their deeds, heck, he wasn't even sure about that when it came to Washington!

Oh well. At the very least he certainly had more knowledge on them than the average inhabitant of this frigging world, nothing much he could do about it now. He didn't have any of the books he had access to on Earth. Life was tough, being a cat.

Of course, he didn't neglect to practice his runecarving skills. No chance he was getting another rank-up anytime soon, but at the very least, he was improving. Just keep adding runes to the log, eventually it'll be unbreakable, that was the plan.

Avery had gone out to hunt a couple days ago and things were looking rather boring, with Mercury taking a couple quests every now and then, saving up some money, as he talked to the mages guild. They had a couple trackers in there, but none that could help him. It was hard enough to look at someone else's status, and finding a familiar on it? People were unwilling to even give it a try. "Waste of mana", apparently.

He was a bit salty about it, but again, not much to do. Just unfortunate. Instead, he started to read more. He found quite a few diary entries, some incidents on tunnelling, and honestly, by now he was curious to see how a gate looked. Maybe it was time to form a hunting party?

There were a couple around the city, and he certainly could think of one person that would go along with him. Avery might, if he were here, but no point worrying since he wasn't. Mercury also thought about inviting his very favourite priestess once more, but quite frankly, he hadn't seen her the last couple of days. She'd locked herself up in her room, but if she didn't ask for his help, there wasn't much to do.

Still, he had a couple of friends left. Elliot would certainly come along, and he had gotten into a dry, humorous friendship with Gilah, so maybe he'd even ask her. With a little luck, he could ask Marcel to play as their healer. Heh, that would be funny.

It was decided then! His ribs were feeling fine, his exp was steadily increasing, and he was feeling in pretty good shape again. There was a lot he still needed to improve upon, but at the very least, he was getting better.

With the thought in his mind, he set upon the notice board in the gloryhall, grabbed the page on clearing out a decently doable gate, only day's walk from Stormbraver, and then he grabbed his pals. It felt like he was collecting stickers or some shit.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Elliot borderline threw himself at the opportunity, and Marcel was thankful for the break from all the bureaucracy. With Avery "slacking off", as he put it, there was all the more pressure on the receptionist, but Mercury got Nira in charge of some of it. She had a little more free time, and more hands backing her. Even though Foss was back out, the guild was now more run as a cooperation between the two rather than by either one.

The cat smiled a little at the thought. He remembered how the older lady had grumbled about the guild master, but it seems that getting into his shoes for a while gave her a little more respect for him. Well, that was usually how it goes.

Gilah was the only one who baulked somewhat at the idea, but she was swayed when Mercury told her about the reward. Apparently the village around the gate made great booze, especially letting some of it soak in barrels from the gate's exotic wood. He had never seen someone change their mind so fast in his life.

If they really wanted to be safe, finding a tank would probably be beneficial, but Mercury didn't know anyone, and while Marcel had a couple people in mind, most of them were busy with the rebuilding. Understandable, since pretty much everyone was on it. Quite frankly, most of Mercury's commissions these couple days had also been all about that, getting food until the imports rolled in, herbs for medicine, or even some furs to keep people warm.

In any case, the council was paying to have all of it done, luckily some count had given them a good rate on their loan, or things would've gone pretty south. Godseekers were good folk mostly, but not many of them would risk their skin if there wasn't even a reward up for the taking. Understandable, really, though some of them would still help, it definitely wouldn't measure up to the amount of manpower needed for something like this.

Still, Mercury had gathered his crew together, and they managed to rent out a carriage for half a page, too. They might be a decent team, but Marcel had heavily advised for this. They wouldn't be able to sell everything they got out of the place in the village, and hauling it back to Stormbraver by themselves would break their backs. He even said he'd get a porter on his own money if they didn't agree on it!

While Mercury wasn't a saint, something like that really just didn't sit right with him. Marcel was already coming along, trying to extort his share outta the guy felt pretty unfair, so the group decided to get someone who could reasonably drive a coach and haul some valuables. Godseekers and porters always went hand in hand when it came to dungeons, apparently.

Then, they were off. Early in the morning on a tudan, hopefully they'd be back in time for the pagend, though if it was needed, they'd take longer. Never good to make haste when exploring a gate.

In any case, the porter himself was a pretty decent dude. José, very tan, black hair and dark eyes. Honestly, Mercury found him incredibly handsome, and his accent was just gorgeous. Still, he didn't let himself get carried away, keeping their chats friendly, and just occasionally asking about how far it still was. Tough to keep track of time in this world after all.

Still, the journey was certainly something. Marcel remained pretty quiet and distant and Mercury really, really wished he could say the same for Elliot, but the kid was just so laden with energy. Mercury even let him sit on top of the carriage, casting some wind magic and staring at clouds for a while.

And not long after, everyone was on top the roof. Why the hell not, after all? The village was to the southeast, where the rolling plains turned more into hills, with the occasional small tree and bush dotted around. The road was a trampled dirt path, more than anything, compacted and free of grass through decades of use.

Mercury quite enjoyed the sight, the distant horizon, the up and down on the hills... but my god was it horrible sitting inside. You get pushed back for a minute, then you gotta fucking fight to stay in your seat, and a couple minutes later, gravity calls unexpectedly. Mercury smashed his head against the back of the carriage more than once, and he certainly wasn't alone.

To the roof it was! Why José followed them he wasn't sure, but eh, the reptile-horse crossbreed looking motherfuckers were smart enough to stay on track. Were there horse-dinosaur girls in this world? Actually, maybe he didn't want to know.

As the seconds ticked by, Mercury watched the sun slowly get lower on the sky, and by the time they arrived in the small villages, their butts were sore and their backs ached. No more gate-clearing, just them and some clean sheets in an inn. A dream date.

Next day started early again. The rooms had been split up decently, so that they wouldn't have to pay too much. Gilah and Elliott in one, Mercury, Marcel, and José in the other. But while the kid didn't sleep in Mercury's room, he certainly woke them the fuck up. Early. Actually, before sunrise.

Where he took the energy from Mercury would love to know.

Breakfast, and off they went again.

"Hey Marcel?" Mercury asked, on their way to the gate. They decided to walk this time, since none of them were too keen on riding the carriage through the rowdy landscape again.

"Yes?"

"What're these gates like?"

"No idea," the receptionist answered, unabashed. "Never been in one before, but according to Avery, pretty unpredictable."

"You've never been in one, mister Marce?" Elliot asked, leaving out the l on purpose. He had learned it very mildly annoyed the man, and insisted on doing it thereafter.

"Sigh. No, I haven't. Never saw the sense in it, felt like it was more danger than it was worth, but honestly, I'd give half my organs to get away from work a little right now," Marcel answered, his sarcasm a little too dry for comfort.

"That bad?"

"That bad."

"Drink a little, kid," Gilah said, uncorking a bottle and holding it over. "Makes all the stress vanish." The stench it gave off was putrid, like spicy and minty sewage, and Marcel quickly took his distance.

"What is in that bottle, señorita?" José asked, maybe out of morbid curiosity.

"A drink for the road," Gilah replied with a smirk. "Worst you'll ever have, heavy enough to drench your belly for a couple of days, and certainly bad enough to not make you want any alcohol anytime soon. It's called Black Yinks."

"... But whyyyyyyy????" Mercury asked.

"Addicts, kid. I don't want my fingers to start twitching when we're in there," Gilah said, nodding at the gate, "and this is how a lot of us prepare. Now, let me get it over with before it stinks up this whole village."

And with that, Gilah pinched her nose shut, took a swig from the flask, and Mercury could almost see every fiber of her body trying to reject the vile thing she just insisted on shoving into herself. Whatever the fuck it is, he certainly didn't want it anywhere near his insides.

"Back to the topic at hand," Marcel said. "We don't know everything about what's in there. Generally, this is an E-Rank gate. Rare, but persistent openings, that never close, and never disappear. Annoying pieces of crap, really. Require godseekers to visit places like this, clear them out. They have a good amount of value in them for poorer places though, and they're often used for actually getting newbies some combat training."

He simply rattled things down very receptionist-like, though he certainly had a more pointed undertone when he was speaking off the clock.

"So, in short, while we're not the best balanced team, most of us are actually competent in a fight, and while we definitely won't get out easily, at the very least we can expect no one to die. Now, there is one iron rule in the gates that all of you need to know."

He then gave a quick look around to check if everyone was paying attention.

"If the porter is in danger, you die for them, capiché? No ifs, whens or buts, doesn't matter how old you are, or how experienced. Porters are the last in, and the first out. If everyone on a mission dies, the porter should still live. Because if any of us make it out, and he doesn't, it'll be a really, really bad look for you, and everyone in the group, and everyone in the guild, and everyone else. José is making it out alive before any of us."

"YESSIR!!" Mercury yelled, snapping out an army salute with slightly awkward balance.

"Thank you, amigo. It warms this one's heart," José said with a big smile, giving M&M a pat on the back with maybe just a little too much force.

"Well, no more use in stalling," Mercury then said with a smile. "Let's head in."

Man, his back honestly hurt a little now.