Cindy woke up and headed back to town. No more resources could have been gathered according to her new goggles and the skill it came with. She was all smiles as she led her dad back to town. She was so curious about what kind of gear the fish would make. It was almost too hard for her not to skip along the way.
Heading to the blacksmith the last few steps were too much for her to wait for so she ran up and clapped her hands excitedly. “I’m back!”
“Oh if it isn’t our favorite hunter! What can I do for you today?” Dark Smith responded
“I caught some Red Striped Lake Bass. It says it can be made into something! What does it make? Show me please?” Cindy waited impatiently as the smith smiled at her with a nod.
As the man’s eyes glazed over and flashed a little his face grew into a smile. “It makes a staff of the lake gods. Gives you water, and trap runes. Takes four bass and some bugs, seems like a gatherer weapon for people that have more time on their hands. My skills say you have the correct materials for it. Would you like to have me make it? It’ll be 40 tennies.”
Cindy nodded and the golden orbs flew from her chest into the smith’s hands and soon he was hammering away on the orbs shaping them into whatever he was making. Slowly the staff slowly grew into a massive thin fish shaped staff. The head of the staff was carved into the shape of a bass leaping out of water with a bug in its mouth. Cindy held it up above her head and giggled looking at it. The knowledge of the runes slowly filtered into her mind as her cheat skill kicked in.
Trap runes let her place elemental spell traps that if stepped on by a monster would explode. Since it was so limited it seemed to do a lot more base damage than the projectile ones. She twirled it around her head and aimed it at Dad. Pew pew! Cindy’s mind raced with all the sorts of things she could do while Dad was keeping a monster busy. Lay a bunch of traps he could push them into? That would be cool!
Smiling up at her dad she raised her voice, “I think this is the last of the gear I’m going to need for a while. I have a lot of spell runes that I’ve learned and I’m pretty sure we’re ready to head on to the next town. Your gear seems pretty limited since the elizards would need to be farmed for a few days for you to just gain some lightning resistance and the boroclops gear didn’t seem too interesting either.”
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Dad took a knee to be closer to his daughter and nodded as she spoke. “If you think that is a good course of action I support it. We can head out in the morning. I don’t want to be caught traveling at night. We don’t even know how long it will take us to reach there and what we might have to fight in order to be safe when we arrive. Does that sound reasonable?”
Cindy nodded and tapped her chin in thought. “Well, I don’t think there is anything like tents that I have seen. So we just have to hope that we can get there in one day. I’m so excited to see if there are giant places for you to sleep. Imagine cuddling on such a huge bed. That sounds so nice, you aren’t as comfy as I thought you would be.”
Dad hummed in thought as well, “We will see tomorrow I guess. I’ll sleep back in the field again. It was warm enough last night so I will be fine. I would prefer it if you sleep in a locked room to be safe. Who knows what might happen if I roll on top of you.”
Cindy frowned at this, “I would really prefer if we were in the same place to sleep. You didn’t roll over last night so I think it will be safe. So let’s do my plan and you can hold me all night again.”
Dad and her devolved into an argument as the villagers looked on with smiles and giggles that the two would bicker about such a silly thing. The thoughts of them being a true father daughter combo was truly solidified in everyone’s minds. Eventually though Dad had to give up on the fight and sigh.
The fight ended with one sentence, “You said you would look after me.” It was only a whisper that shattered her dad’s resolve. A close look at her showed that her eyes were filled with tears as she sniffed for the first time. Her cheeks grew red as she fought back whatever was tearing her up inside.
Worry boiled in his gut that she would be so emotional over the thought of being on her own in a safe room. As she wiped her eyes recovering from her emotions Cindy kept the sobs at bay memories of her first week here in Gaia and what had happened plaguing her. She prayed that tonight she wouldn’t dream of what had happened. As she quietly tried to recover her dad wrapped a hand around her back rubbing the entire surface knocking her hat around every time he went up her back.
It took a few minutes for Cindy to wipe away the thoughts of being alone again. She kept telling herself that she was going to be the hero. That nothing was going to stop her from saving this world. Taking deep breaths she remembered the grief counselor, what things she could see, hear, feel, smell, and taste slowly focusing on the world around her. Shuddering went away first and her eyes dried.
Dad used his thumb to rub the top of her head and soon Cindy was leaning into the touch. One final breath and Cindy stepped away brushing off her witch’s robes. “Well, that is settled and I have another fish. I want to go cook it. You can also make a meal. Then we will call it a day. Cuddle, and you can sing to me like you used to. Is that ok?”
Dad nodded and stood up letting his daughter lead the way to the field they had rested in before. She whipped up a fire once more like magic and materialized the fish on a stick in her hands. Carefully the fish was put in the fire, whatever music played in her head seemed to entertain her as she stopped thinking about not being with her dad.
She pulled a steaming golden fish that looked like it should have been too heavy for her to lift. The scent of it filled the air as she began to munch on it quickly. The sounds of her satisfaction caused Dad’s belly to rumble so he summoned his own hunk of meat and had his own meal.
“Ok Dad, what’s next?” Cindy looked up at her father.