Chapter 9: Shadowy Figure

Finn looked at the coin in his hand, flipping it over several times. Silver, a pure silver coin. He ran his finger across it, feeling the raised metal that formed the emblem of a shield and the words 'Proteciod Exhoche' — Exalted Protectors.

Protectors my ass.

For so many years, he had been just getting by on copper coins, mostly dropped on the ground by those who thought of them as nothing more than a hassle to carry around. Every now and then, he had been graced with a silver piece, it had been enough to carry him and his sister for a week. It had meant so much then.

And now it hardly meant a thing. After this job, They were going to have so many that his sister casually tossed it to him. He was an Adventurer now, this coin to them was nothing. In many people's eyes, he was seen as royalty.

He bawled the coin into his fist, feeling the edges push into his skin. To have all that power, to be greater than human. It wasn't right.

In the corner of his eye, he saw the man who had been standing on the other side of the building. The man threw down a cigarette onto the ground next to several other finished ones and stomped his foot on it. The light that had lit up that portion of the building was now gone, all except for a spark that flew between his sole and the ground. The only ember left of the dead flame. The man went back inside the inn, presumably to go to sleep, leaving that ember to still burn. It was such a small thing, barely even a crumb of what was left of the cigarette. Yet, it was enough to have the power to burn down an entire village if it was allowed to. So much power in such a small thing.

He squeezed his fist tighter. The pain didn't matter, it would go away. All pain eventually did and even quicker now that he was an Adventurer.

Now that he was an Adventurer.

Those were keywords for any solution of his.

Now that he was an Adventurer, he could heal faster. Now that he was an Adventurer, he was stronger than most average beings. Now that he was an Adventurer, he had money, he had power, he was allowed to do whatever he wanted. Now that he was an Adventurer.

No one deserved that kind of power.

Especially me.

He loosened his grip on the coin. But he had it, so what did he want from that power?

He shook his head and pushed off the wall.

I want to go to the brothel.

Just as he began to turn that way, however, a figure walked through the dirt road. He had seen a few others walking around here, it wasn't an unusual sight even this late at night. But this one seemed odd.

He narrowed his eyes, seeing the figure clearly from the bright moon shining down on the town. He assumed the figure was a man from their physique, and wore a flowing, hooded robe, and seemed to be wearing gloves. The man's walk was quick, yet Finn noticed the figure look over his shoulder every few seconds, revealing a pointed beard and an arched nose each time he did so.

He had seen someone like this before, the town wizard, when they had first arrived at this town. Before La'Quet.

What are you doing at this time of hour?

Finn slipped his silver coin into a pocket and waited for the wizard to walk quite a ways away before he began to tail him. Finn walked slowly, casually, toward the wizard, staying behind him, and then went behind the side of a house, peeking just slightly around it. The wizard glanced over his shoulder and continued walking.

He let the wizard go further along before he ran swiftly past the house to the next one, getting behind it just like the last one. The wizard continued to walk, unnoticing. There was only one more house until the town turned into trees. The wizard glanced behind him once more before continuing past the house.

Finn watched as the wizard went into the tree line, going his same, steady pace as he did so. He followed, he ran to one of the larger trees in the tree line and went behind it just before the wizard took another glance behind him.

He continued to follow the wizard, ducking from tree to tree as they went ever deeper into the forest. He had gone so far now that he was beginning to wonder if the wizard was trying to escape to a new town when he arrived at a small clearing. In the clearing was an abandoned, wooden shack that seemed to be nearly collapsed with how many boards were broken or missing. The man went to it and Finn watched behind a tree as he slipped inside.

So the town wizard goes on a long stroll in the dead of night, checking all around him as he goes, only to go inside an abandoned shack. Not suspicious at all.

In a crouch, Finn silently made his way to the shack and looked inside through one of the many missing boards. With his half-elvish eyes and with the help of the moonlight that shone through the gaps in the ceiling, he could see inside. The place didn't have much, only a desk with a chair and a bookshelf. And no wizard.

He knew he shouldn't, he had already gone too far on his lonesome, but he couldn't resist himself. He put his hand around the doorknob and pulled the door open slowly. He pulled out his dagger and he went inside without a sound. His eyes darted all around, waiting for the moment that the wizard would take him by surprise. But the wizard didn't appear, the room was completely empty.

He let out a soft sigh of relief before he allowed himself to check out the room.

Where in Gahen did you go?

He knelt down by the table but didn't see a switch or anything to press.

Maybe it's more simple than that?

As his eyes scanned the bookshelf, he realized it was. In fact, it was very simple. There were deep scratches on the wooden floor next to the bookshelf, an obvious sign it had been moved many times before. He pushed on its side. It was loud but he only pushed it a little, allowing him a small peek inside to see what was hidden within. The wizard wasn't there, but there was a small closet with a ladder in the ground, leading to a secret basement.

There you are.

The thought of going down there to confront the man came to him but he knew it'd be way too risky to go all alone and with how loud just that small push had been it was obvious stealth wouldn't be on his side. He pulled the bookshelf back and left, satisfied with what he found.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

A necromancer just happens to be in the same area as a creepy wizard. I don't think so.

All he had to do now was tell the group his findings.

He touched the silver coin in his pocket. No one deserved the powers he had, but that didn't mean he could use them to his advantage.

I'll tell the group about this tomorrow, I have other places to be.

#

I felt something hard slam into my side and the air left my lungs. “Wakey, wakey sleepy head!”

I wheezed in response and opened my eyes to see Gronan standing before me, a wide grin on his face. He already had his battle ax in its belt loop and his bag strapped on his back.

“Hazel's already at a table, come on,” He went to the door and leaned on it, waiting on me.

With a long sigh, I pulled the bedsheets off and put my feet on the floor. I expected them to touch the cold ground like they used to in the morning but the cold didn't happen, I didn't even feel the rough wood floor. With sleepy eyes, I looked down and remembered why.

Oh yeah, I'm wearing shoes. I'm in a strange new land and wearing shoes I can't take off.

I doubted I was ever going to get used to waking up in this world. Or at least not the cursed shoes.

I got up and put my hands on my lower back, stretching. Only a slight pop came but nothing else. Actually, the stretch didn't even relax my muscles because they already felt pretty relaxed. I didn't even have a crick in my neck or anything!

Maybe the mornings as an Adventurer have their advantages.

The one thing that was still the same, though, was my bad breath which was so bad I could taste it. I picked up my new sword I had left on the wall and went to the bedside table where the small leather sack sat. I pulled out the cleansing wash stuff, popped open the top, and took a very small sip, swishing it around. Immediately, the taste was gone and my mouth felt perfectly clean. I set the vial back into the bag and went toward Gronan, who was staring at me with his arms crossed. “Finally.”

“I doubt you wanna smell my morning breath.”

“Humans, you guys can't even grasp the idea of bad breath, you should meet a real dwarf for once. Some of our elder's breath is so bad it can kill, literally.”

“Well, that's disgusting.”

He let out an almost wistful chuckle. “It was fantastic.”

Just as Gronan had said, Hazel was already at the table and four mugs were on the table. “Where's Finn?” I asked as I sat next to Hazel like last time.

“He'll be here soon,” Hazel assured as she took a sip of her cup.

I lifted my mug and took a sip, expecting coffee. I was dead wrong, it was ale. "Damn,” I coughed. “Do y'all not have coffee in this world?

“What is coffee?” Hazel asked. “And what is y'all?”

“Y'all is a southern term in- nevermind, coffee is something we like to have in the morning to help us wake up.” I rubbed my forehead, it was too early for this.

“Your planet is strange,” Gronan said as he sipped his drink.

“We have tea,” Hazel said. “Some people like to have that in the morning.”

I shook my head and stared down at my ale. “Us to, but not me," I let out a heavy sigh. "Guess this will do,” I chugged half of it, letting the overwhelming sweetness coat my tongue. As I set it down, I felt the aftertaste of alcohol and burped.

If they don't have coffee, at least they've got alcohol.

Gronan lifted his mug toward me, “Now you're looking like a real Adventurer!”

The same waiter as yesterday came by and asked us if we'd like anything to eat. Gronan ordered waffles like last night and Hazel ordered two omelets, extra steak.

“Do you guys have biscuits and gravy?”

The waiter gave me a weird look, “We have musleig and egg biscuits.”

“I guess I'll take that then,” One more difference between here and Earth, no gravy. How the hell did they discover biscuits but not gravy? Hell, the musleig is nearly damn gravy!

The waiter nodded and walked to the kitchen.

Hazel nudged my shoulder. “I know things are different here, but you will get used to it.”

“I can handle everything else being different, but coffee? Mornings just aren't the same without it.”

“You act like you are addicted to it.”

“Gotta be addicted to something, right?”

“I suppose, well, I guess you will have to just get addicted to something else while you are here.”

I nodded and picked up my mug. “Like ale?” I downed the rest of it.

She smiled slyly. “Precisely,” She picked her mug up and chugged. As she set it down and wiped her mouth, the front door opened. “Look who finally decided to come in.”

Finn walked up to our table, his hair a mess and moving just a little too relaxed. As he slid in next to Gronan he asked, “How'd you guys sleep?”

“Good,” All three of us said at once.

He took a sip from his mug, “Me too.”

“You don't have to be so coy,” Hazel said, annoyed. I realized that she rarely used any contractions, except for when something got her emotions peaked.

“Fine then, let's get down to business,” He set his mug down and laced his fingers together, cracking them. “Did you guys order breakfast?”

“Of course we did,” Hazel responded.

“Alright, well secondly, where do you think that goblin got that creature from?”

We were all silent. The memory of the monster flashed through my brain, its many torsos, the talon hands, the sharp tale, the crushing weight of it on top of me. I shuddered.

“Way to bring the mood down, brother,” Hazel crossed her arms.

“What? We have to address it, we can't call ourselves Adventurers if we don't.”

She sighed. “Fine, then to answer your question, I have no clue.”

“What about the town wizard?” Gronan asked. “I heard they had one and he's the right hand of this place's mayor. It's the only lead I can think of.”

“Mine too,” Finn said, a sly grin shot across his face.

“What's with that look?” Hazel asked with a raised eyebrow.

The waiter came back, this time he held three plates in one arm. He slid them onto the table one by one and then placed the silver forks on the table. “And what would you like, sir?” he asked Finn.

“I'll take-”

“He doesn't need anything,” Hazel said, “Here,” She grabbed a fork and stabbed it into one of her omelets and flung it over to him but it went wide, toward the waiter.

I didn't even see Finn's hands until his fork was sticking in the thrown omelet just a few inches from the waiter. “What in Gahen was that for?” Finn asked angrily.

“I knew you would catch it,” she said defensively.

“And what if I didn't?”

“But you did.”

The waiter looked at the two of them intensely before he left without another word.

“Whatever,” Finn took a bite of the omelet and nodded his approval. I was surprised that the omelet wasn't falling apart but instead held together even as he bit into it.

“So go on,” Hazel said as she took her own bite.

Gronan began to dig into his food, listening to the conversation. I decided to do the same, if I didn't have coffee, I just hoped breakfast here was good. As I chopped a piece of my biscuit off, Finn went on to tell us about his night and how he tailed this town's wizard.

I knew I was supposed to be really into the conversation and all, but the food was too good to ignore. The musleig, with its candied yet bitter aftertaste, worked really well with the buttered biscuits and eggs.

“So we have a lead then,” Gronan said through a bite of waffles. “Let's turn in our finished contract first and then we'll do something about the wizard.”

“See, sister,” Finn said with a triumphant grin, “If I didn't go to the brothel, we wouldn't have this lead.”

She gave him a small smile, “Fine, your vices are useful...sometimes.”

I saw something in Finn just then that I hadn't seen before. His eyes seemed to shine a little, his smile seemed to become ever so slightly wider. Something almost akin to pride.