I promptly hit yes.

“Alright then, let's go get a quest.” Arther gestures towards the quest counter. The desk is a simple wooden desk with a clerk window between the clerk and customer. Behind the counter two bunny ears danced around. Singing emanates from behind the counter.

We get up and head to the counter. Lisa pouts and hides on Arther’s left-hand side.

What is her deal?

“Hello, we’d like to see some of your delivery quests please.” Arther tries to get the clerk’s attention.

The ears stop moving and the singing pauses. “Welcome in!” A high pitched voice came from below.

Oh, the clerk is a rabbit person. Her coat was white and fluffy with a brown spot around her right eye. She hops up onto a stool to get eye level with Arther, who seems to be six feet tall, about four inches taller than me.

“Hello! Hello! Hello! Sure thing!” She gets a big book , seemingly from nowhere, and slams it down. She swings it open.

<”DELIVER A PACKAGE TO RITTEN”(B RANK)(TIME DUE 2 WEEKS)(3000 GOLD)>

Arther’s jaw drops. “That's a lot for a delivery mission, even if it is at B rank.”

“Just how far does that get you around here?” I ask.

“For the whole party it could purchase really great equipment.” Arther says.

That could be a great benefit, but I might buy some books too. I look at the time due

<2 WEEKS>

“How far is Ritten?”

“Twelve days by foot.” Arther says. “That is probably why it pays so much and the rank is so high.” He turns to me. “Up for the trip?”

“Yeah, I can spend the trip learning my new spells.” Maybe we could even run into some low level mobs to farm. This is a really good idea.

“That settles it, accept the quest everyone.”

///

Arther bought me some novice robes for the journey. I insisted that he take the cost out of my share but he declined.

After I slide on my robes, we head out of the town through the West gate. “So, can I ask?” I glance over to Lisa. “Why do you not seem to like me?” The question has been on my mind for a while now.

She turns and scowls. “You stink!” She yells.

“Lisa! That's rude!” Arther scorns Lisa.

“Well it's true he smells like the—'' She stops herself.

“Lisa be careful, don’t even mention him.” Arther warns.

“You’re too superstitious Arther!” She yells again. “He smells like the Necromancer.”

Necromancer? As that thought crosses my mind, I get a cold feeling in my chest. What is this feeling? “Who’s that?”

They both look at me with ridiculous expressions.

“We don’t need to go into too much detail, but he's a very powerful, very evil mage.” He pauses and sighs. “He also killed King Reinhardt.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

I pretend to know who that is by nodding along. “Sounds like a powerful dude.”

“Evil.” Lisa adds.

Why do I smell like him? Did he have something to do with this curse?

///

We continued on into the afternoon when we stopped to take a break.

“I’m going to go practice my new spells.” I told them both.

“Okay go ahead, let me know if you need any advice.” He starts setting up camp.

“Will do.” I walk over to a clearing in the trees and take a look at my spells again.

Think I'll start with this. I hold out my hand and concentrate on the spells title in my mind.

Fire starts to sputter in and out in my hand. “Come on.” I try to imagine deeper, an image of a small fire ball appears in my mind. I feel power creep up from my elbow into my palm.

A fire ball appears.

<-2 MANA>

Wasn’t that supposed to cost 5? I marvel at the magical fireball in my hand. “Maybe it's because I imagined it small.” I think aloud. “Okay, we’ll try bigger.” This time I try to imagine something bigger and more detailed. The fire ball grows to the size of a basketball.

<-5 MANA>

So cool

I practice some more until the evening, getting to where I can make the fireball spin. I even worked on the earth spell a little too, making tiny little toy soldiers with them. It's getting late.

I walk back up to camp and see that Arther made a campfire. “Hello Arther.” I nod “—and Lisa.”

“I’m sorry for saying you smelled like the—“ She pauses and grimaces at Arther. “—you know who…” That was probably the best she could do, given her age.

“Thanks little lady.” I flash a smile at her..

<-1 HP>

A punch flies out of nowhere, striking me in the abdomen. I howl as air quickly leaves my lungs. I realize I’m already on the ground and look up.

“I’m not a little girl!” She screams

“Lisa!” Arther shouts. “Heal him right now!”

<+1 HP>

“There.” Lisa somehow looks like she's the victim in all of this.

Okay guess that's a soft spot for her, but. I feel the tingling numbness from the healing magic. Why did she hit me so hard?

“Lisa is a spirit.” Arther’s face is cloudy all of a sudden. “A spirit who was contracted to my wife.” Arther was obviously pained by saying those words. “She was commanded to protect me when my wife passed.” He took a deep breath. Then exhaled.

So that's why she can punch so hard. “I’m sorry for your loss.” I didn’t know how to relate or help him. Have I even processed yet I may never see my friends again, in the old world? I just feel kind of numb.

“It’s alright.” His expression rises into a warm smile. “We should get to bed, I’m sure that practice made you tired.”

///

He was right, even though we were sleeping in sleeping bags, I passed out as soon as I hit the hay I passed out.

Nice, thats how it works. Kind of like A tabletop rpg. I start to smell smoke coming from the fire. I could lie here forever.

That text and the weird feeling in my chest arrive again. Has It gone up since last time? I try to remember what it was before. Does it just not like when I start to relax. Kind of a messed up passive. I feel more concerned now. —or whatever you are.

“I made eggs—“ He stares at me for a second. “What's your name?”

Oh my god, I’m so rude. “Sorry, my name is Jason.” I stammer out.

“That’s a strange name.” He says, passing me a plate of eggs. “Here you go Jason.” He smiles as he starts to eat his own.

“Do spirits not eat?” I ask.

“They don’t have to, but they can if they want.” I giggle a little bit.

Lisa grumbles. “I don’t like eggs.”

Thats the response I expected.

“I wanted to bring up something to you guys.” I pause to take my first bite of the eggs. These are nice for eggs cooked over a fire pit. “After this delivery I think I’m going to use the money to go and live in a village somewhere.”

My muscles contract, all at once. “Why wont this curse mark leave me alone —“