Chapter Twenty-Three

I really wish I could say I kept careful track of things around this time, but I just didn’t. I honestly could have eaten four more rat corndogs without even noticing it. Maybe I did. I’d be rethinking a lot of my meals in the foreseeable future, that was for sure. I could only hope the elves had better cuisine.

The important thing was that Dwarguy was with us now. I had a team of three and needed only one more. It’s weird to say, but I think I was starting to grow on Loysa, and I think I was starting to grow on her. I could be wrong, though, I’m not good with these things.

Perhaps that’s why when she said, “We’ll need to take an airship to Steelven, so if everyone is ready to go, should I take you to boarding?” She asked, and looked straight at me, I nodded with more confidence.

Up until now she’d more or less pulled the strings, barely letting me know I was supposed to be in charge. The more I think about it, the more I think she took the reins chiefly because I was new to the whole world. But now after we’d completed our first leg and I technically finished a quest on my own, she was handing more decision making over to me. Of course there was some option to refuse, and I think if I had, she’d have shrugged and gone along with what I wanted.

Still, even if I was rubber stamping what she phrased as a suggestion, it was still my call to make. I felt good about saying ‘Yes!’ and I know that smile was bigger than I planned.

You have to understand, in the old world, I wasn’t really as in charge of my own life as I wanted to be. Bad boss, good boss, I always had a boss, somebody telling me what to do and very few hours of my life were really mine.

But now I was making decisions, and yes, it was still kind of just pulling things out of my ass and rubber stamping Loysa, but still, it felt like it was my call to do what we were doing.

Loysa’s staff tapped along the ground as we made our way through the evening crowd and I turned my ear protection down to dim the roar, but somehow I was able to hear her tapping wood at every step of the way. That same steady rhythm and measured step, her shoulders were back, her eyes straight forward.

She might not have raised her voice to Yorgim, but she hadn’t shrunk from him either. But me, I’d kissed his ring and been deferential, maybe my way was easier, but how could I miss how proud Loysa seemed. Dwarguy had the same air about him, like they could take on the world and come out on top.

I’d just been ‘handed’ my first real decision, one I made consciously knowing I was making it, not going with the flow like I had been, but even so, I didn’t have the same sense of pride they did.

Was that my future? I wondered, to walk like that, so that people unconsciously just moved aside for them, where I had to brush past, bumping shoulders every two or three steps with someone who didn’t really even notice I was there?

By the time we reached the airship dock I wasn’t sure which I was more eager for. To get to Steelven or to be more like the rest of my party?

The airship wasn’t as big up close as I thought it would be, perhaps three hundred feet long and maybe fifty wide.

It wasn’t that much, not really. But even so, it was beautiful. With long slender lines of polished wood, the sides had what I can only describe as ‘sled-like’ rails secured to embedded halves of gears at the base and tied off at the rail to secure it flat against the side until it was time to lower it again.

The ‘dock’ was a long flat roof at the top of a building made of stone and interlocking metal segments, a walkway of winding metal stairs led up, and we got in line as the landing gear was slowly lowered one clicking gear at a time.

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The ship had actual ‘sails’ and a rudder, as well as a balloon over head, from what I could see, it seemed like the sails tacked left or right to steer the ship, and were in turn connected by a system of ropes that ran out of view but probably connected beneath the wheel where an oversized orc with muscles as thick as my body served as the captain.

Loysa turned to face me as we took our places. “You’re in charge, so you’re paying. Normally a party would each put a little into the ‘common pot’ to pay for expenses, but that’s when you have an officially registered party planning to stay together long term. But this is just a trial mission. Once I certify you and we get back, you can officially put up a notice for some other novices to join you. Then, everybody puts a little into a shared account for supplies, travel expenses, and so on, usually about ten to twenty percent of your share of the reward goes back to the party coffers. If you run the party, you’re supposed to manage it.” She narrowed her eyes and held up one cautionary finger, “Manage it well. People have died over embezzling party funds, or been sentenced to hard labor, or even in the best case, parties have broken up and the ones responsible never find another party to join. They come to bad ends.”

“Bad ends?” I asked and unconsciously put my hand over my throat. She gave me a steadfast stare.

“Aye, lass.” Dwarguy chimed in, “Nobody knows what happens to em, they just… disappear, it’s a big, dangerous world out there, who c’n right say what goes on out in them wild places, lotta monsters out there not one man can take alone. ‘Thout a party ye be good as dead.” He gave me a long hard look, “Nobody knows.” He repeated as if to hammer home the subtext that I had clearly missed.

“Well, then it’s a good thing I don’t plan on doing that.” I chirped cheerily and did my best to smile. Even though I did that, internally?

I winced a little, I thought I was growing on Loysa, but… I guess not. And I’d literally just met Dwarguy. But I went on to answer, “Yes, I’ll ah, make sure I set all that up when I get back. I guess I kind of have to form my own party anyway, what with Mr. Schnee expecting my party to honor a contract.”

“That’ll be rough, starting with newb adventurers. Most single tooth newbs join a more experienced group that is willing to train them.” Loysa pointed out.

I had to laugh, “I’m playing the game on hard difficulty level, I guess.” I answered, and she cocked her head at me before looking past me toward Dwarguy.

He shrugged his shoulders with his hands up and out, he didn’t get the video game reference either.

I was going to miss being able to make those to people, one more thing to get used to.

The line snaked up a step at a time as passengers disembarked on one side of the building, allowing us to rise on the other, one at a time, the passengers paid with their slates, and they got their places. It wasn’t until we were most of the way up that I thought to ask, “Say, how do you know this one is going to Steelven?” I asked.

“It’s not.” Loysa replied, “It’ll take us to a local hub, all the flights from here go there, and from there we’ll go to Steelven. We should arrive by some time tomorrow morning if we can get one tonight.” She explained and took another step up.

“What if we can’t? What if there are no flights?” I asked.

“Then we’ll use one of the inns that surround it, and you’re paying for a few rooms tonight. And meals.” She replied.

“And drinks!” Dwarguy chimed in.

“Great.” I said as our turn came, I paid for us, and we walked up the wooden gangplank on the next stage of my adventure.

The ship had a great deal of seating, but none of it particularly good. Just long benches where we were all packed like sardines with nothing to secure us. I guess it didn’t matter if the ship crashed or flung us overboard, after all, we’d already paid for the flight. I cast a silent thought of gratitude to my world’s many safety inspectors who would have had a field day with this thing’s outrageous slew of violations.

But the other thing on my mind was this.

‘No wonder it takes adventurers so long to rise through the ranks and make enough to retire. Being an adventurer is expensive!’ I thought, there’s definitely downsides to all this.

But when the ship went up and began to move and I tasted the clean air again as we sailed toward the horizon, I still felt I’d made the right choice.

This was the life for me, and I wanted more of it.

Damn the expense.