~PROFILE~

[NAME: Philadelphia Marie Ludwell]

[REGISTRATION: XTF2963]

[STRENGTH: 1.2] [AGILITY: 1.2] [VITALITY: 1.1]

[SKILLS] (Acrobatics IV)(Climbing II)(Dagger II)(Grappling III)(Longsword II)(Striking II)

(Shortsword II)(Wilderness Survival I)

[LANGUAGES: Common, Elven]

Marie examined her information in the implant’s GUI with a sense of accomplishment, focusing on the gains she had made in the last week. Private training everyday with Bjorn, combined with several outings against the goblin tribe, had helped her reach the same state of expertise with her longsword that several months of training had accrued with the shortsword.

Of course a lot of what I learned with the shortsword was applicable to the longsword as well, so it wasn’t like I had to start from zero. And after so long I actually increased my strength slightly, which is huge. Those growth hormones must still be cooking away in me; I just need to push the bounds of my own status quo to give myself room to grow.

The Adventurer’s Roost was starting to feel a little too much like ‘home’, and so Marie knew she needed to head out and find more challenges to push herself. She hadn’t tried to make any friends here, wanting to get out in the world and make friends with the locals, but somehow Bjorn had become something more than her teacher. The middle-aged man seemed to have taken a shine to her, and was always telling her about his adventures and giving hints and tips that he thought might help her make her way.

I think my new longsword should be done being made by now. Maybe I should go over and see how the bladesmith is doing? If it is ready, I can pack up and leave Arles at any time. I’m ready to see the real version of this world, and not just the sanitized version that is Bucks County.

Marie rolled off the bed, put her boots on, and headed downstairs. With a nod to Garret, she headed out the front door and down a nearby street for a few hundred feet until she came to a low-slung building from which the sounds of ringing metal echoed. She pushed open the door and stuck her head inside, looking around to make sure she wasn’t going to walk into anything dangerous and then pushed the rest of herself through the doorway.

“Heyla, Marie! I have your new blade ready for you! I finished a little while ago, but I am quite busy today and didn’t have time to send someone to find you.” The speaker was a balding, barrel-chested massive mountain of man, standing at least 6’ 4” and weighing over 300 pounds of muscle. He gestured over at a worn wooden counter on which laid a longsword in a scabbard.

“Thanks Gaspar, I wasn’t sure if it would be done, but I have been waiting anxiously so I thought I’d come check.” Marie moved over to the counter, and she laid a bag of clinking coins on it before picking up the blade. She drew the sword out smoothly, setting the scabbard on the ground. She checked the temper of the blade, and the solidity of the grip and pommel before a smile lit her face. “It’s really an excellent blade!”

“Glad you enjoy it, it should be really nice since I have been making blades so long! It’s got the weight set like you wanted in the hilt so that it’s easier to parry with.” Gaspar kept up his banging on his current project, not even stopping to speak with Marie.

The young lady put the blade back in its scabbard, and attached the scabbard to her belt. With a wave she left the forge and headed back to the Inn. She went and put on her maille, loaded her pack, and descended down to the ground floor of the Adventurer’s Roost for the last time. She bought a few strings of the delicious sausage from Garret, let him know she was letting her room go, and headed out of Arles without looking back.

***

Marie had been walking on the road north for hours and hours, and her feet were beginning to feel like they had been run over by a cart. It was one thing to practice walking around a track, or on a treadmill, it was another to carry a heavy pack up a roughly cobbled road mile after mile. She needed to find a place to rest soon, before the sun went down and she was left sleeping in a hedge.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The implant that Marie had was the most expensive version, and one of the special features it had was it came preloaded with a few maps that had been built up from data brought back to Earth by Travelers. Anyone’s implant could track their movement, but her’s had her movement overlaid on the map, so she could see that she had passed out of the northern side of Bucks County and into the southern edge of the Ancient Forest Marshallate.

There were no signs, or border guards, she simply kept walking and moved from one polity to the next with no fanfare. She wasn’t worried, the Marshallate was the home of the elves and she looked like one so she shouldn’t get messed with, as long as she didn’t break any laws.

She kept her eyes open, and about when she was going to just head off to the side of the road the first time she saw a spot to set up camp she saw some activity ahead. It looked like a crew of men were setting up a camp in an open area beside the road, and they had a merry fire roaring. Marie made her way over towards them, waving slightly as some of them noticed her. There seemed to be five of them, and they were all clad in armor and traveling gear.

“Hello the fire, got room for one more?” Marie called out to them before she got too close. If she got any weird vibes off them she was prepared to dash away in to the forest. You couldn’t always tell, but it was surprising how many times you could. She was happy to see that two of the five of them were women.

One of the women, clad in metal scale armor, put down a pot she was working with and walked a little towards where Marie was standing. She waved a hand casually in greeting.

“Hey there! We’re just setting up camp, who are you and which way you headed?” The woman seemed relaxed, her right thumb tucked behind her belt.

“I’m Marie, headed up from Arles to wherever I end up, just wandering for now, trying to see the sights. I might head to Elfhame if the road takes me that way.” Marie kept a small smile on her lips, trying to look like someone who didn’t want trouble.

The woman raised a red eyebrow. “Arles, eh? Hmm, yeah I can see that. We’re the Fire Crows, a party of Adventurers who usually base out of Bucks County so we’re familiar with it, of course. Alright, you can bed down with us tonight; strength in numbers, right?” The woman beckoned Marie over with another nonchalant gesture.

Marie adjusted her backpack as she headed off the road towards the little camp, a spring in her step that had been missing for several hours at least. She set her pack down on a spot near the fire that hadn’t been claimed, pulled her bedroll off and unrolled it. She looked over at a young man who had taken over fiddling with the pot, and cleared her throat.

“Can I help you with the cooking?”

“No, you can’t, and you aren’t getting any either.” The words came out dripping with venom, and the young man’s face scrunched up meanly.

“Don’t mind Delmor, he’s a dick. It is a party rule, though, that we don’t share our food or take any from others. You never know where it’s been.” The red-haired woman who had invited Marie gave her a grin and shrugged her shoulders.

“Not a problem, I have food of my own.” Marie kept her voice level, and went to find a branch to make into a hotdog stick for one of her sausages. She pulled out her dagger and started whittling the end as she checked out the rest of the Adventurers.

Don’t let them get to you, Marie. If you can’t deal with a snot-nosed kid you should turn around and go back to Arles right now. They are being cautious, which I guess tells you something about how you should be acting out here as well. If people messing with the food is such a big deal, it must mean that baddies are out here doing that. Note to self, don’t eat anyone else’s food. See? This was worth it just to learn that little tidbit.

The other people finally had all their stuff set up and started to gather around the fire, all of them watching the pot the young man was stirring like a bunch of buzzards waiting for a man to die. Marie thought that whatever they had in it smelled pretty good, but it made even her sausage smell better so they must be pretty hungry.

“You guys seems like you are starving, must have been a long day, huh?” Marie ventured a few words after they had all been sitting in silence a while.

The red-haired woman looked up at her over the fire for a moment, as if weighing what to say to her. “Yeah, we traveled a long way over the last day without stopping to eat. This is the first meal we have had in twenty-four hours besides some dried meat. I think we’re all ready to drink it down boiling at this point.”

Marie removed her cooked sausage from the end of her stick and took a bite off. The skin broke with an audible ‘ka-cha’, and the same sweet liquid fat and spices ran in to her mouth and threatened to overwhelm her taste buds. The Adventurers across the fire all looked up at the sound, making Marie pause as they looked like dangerous predators that had just caught the scent of a meal. She quickly chewed the piece she bit off and smiled at them, “Your stew smells really good…”

The people looked back at their stew when she mentioned it, and then they all moved to get wooden bowls out to eat. The surly youth dished them all out some food, and soon the environs of the fire descended once more in to an awkward silence. Marie ate her sausage as quickly as she could, hoping she wouldn’t initiate some sort of berserk assault on her by people driven mad by hunger.

It’s a good thing they don’t know how amazing it tastes…

“You guys must be in a real hurry to press on like that. I mean, to travel like that where you couldn’t even stop to make a bite to eat.” Marie ventured a few more words, and then immediately wished she had kept her mouth shut as the others all stopped eating simultaneously and looked up at her with those crazed eyes once more.

“None of your business, bitch! So keep your nose out of it, eh?” The young man spit his words out so violently a chunk of potato exited his mouth, flew across the fire, and narrowly missed Marie’s face.

The red-haired woman threw an arm out to push the young man back down in to his spot, and then turned suddenly unfriendly eyes on Marie. “It really is private business, and its time sensitive so we had to keep moving. It shouldn’t affect your travels at all, though, so that’s all good.”

“I’m sorry, I obviously touched a nerve there. I was just trying to start a conversation.” Marie wasn’t sure if she was intimidated by the quick change of emotions, angered by the unfriendly behavior, or some strange mixture.

“Well, don’t.”