Chapter 138
Outta the Park
Erin and Zeldana had been enjoying as many of the rides and other activities in the park as they could, but it was starting to get late. The redhead knew that they needed to get their group back together, so that they could prepare for the journey they still had ahead of them. She just hoped that they wouldn’t have to search around for the others.
“I hope the others are alright,” Erin said. “I know that they’re all more than capable of handling themselves in tough situations, but you never know what might happen. Considering how we’ve been attacked by at least one assassin in every place we’ve gotten into, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them was lurking around here. I just hope this whole amusement park trip wasn’t just one big mistake…”
“You worry far too much. Calm your ass down already!” Zeldana said, having grown tired of the redhead’s constant woes. “You know just as well as I do that the people we’re traveling with aren’t some snotty wimps that need to have their butts wiped for them. If things go south, I’m sure they’re more than capable of handling themselves!”
“Well, excuse me for worrying about people that I care about!” Erin said angrily. “Not everybody can be inconsiderate like you!”
“Hey, just because I’m not pissing my pants with worry every second I’m not seeing those guys doesn’t mean I don’t care about them!” the elf shot back, before snickering to herself, thinking about the assassin she had met. “Besides, I wouldn’t worry too much. From what I’ve seen, the threat in this place is pretty low level.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if it means that the others are safe, then I guess it’s good,” the redhead said as she rolled her eye and shook her head. “Still… This is a pretty big place. It could take us hours to find the others. Where should we even start?”
“How about from right there?” Zeldana asked sarcastically as she pointed straight ahead of them.
Erin looked over to where the elf was pointing and saw Ryle and Arkay sitting on a nearby bench. The blonde had a wide smile of pure bliss on her face, as she had the cat boy resting his head on her lap. Meanwhile, Arkay seemed to be completely asleep, most likely tired from their day at the park.
image [https://i.ibb.co/k9nd291/Ch-138-Pic-1.jpg]
“So do you want to let them have some time alone or do you think we need to get over there, before Ryle does anything?” Zeldana asked.
“While I doubt that she would do anything too bad while out in public, I think it’s about time we started getting the gang back together,” Erin said. “Besides, I’m pretty sure some of the people are giving her weird looks.”
Walking up to their two friends at the bench, Ryle took notice of them quickly. While the expression on her face changed, she still kept sitting down and stroking Arkay’s head like she had been so far.
“Oh! Hi, Erin! And Zel…” the blonde greeted the two. “How has your day been?”
“It’s been pretty good,” Erin replied. “What about you? Were you able to have enough fun?”
“It certainly seems like you’re enjoying yourself now,” Zeldana said with a smirk. “Did he fall asleep naturally or did you have a hand in making that happen?”
“Hey! I’ll have you know that I was NOT at fault for this! The poor guy just suddenly fell asleep in my arms!” Ryle said back, not liking the accusation made by the elf. “Not that I’m complaining, of course…”
“Yeah, I doubt you had any complaints with this,” Erin mumbled. “Anyways, back to my original question. Were you able to have enough fun here?”
“Oh, I definitely got to have loads of fun and excitement! Thanks for letting me come here!” the blonde said happily. “I know it was a pretty selfish request from me, considering what we’re doing. I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, but I just… I just needed something to let off some steam, you know? I really appreciate that you let me do this.”
“Don’t worry. We completely understand. After all, all work and no play would make anyone dull. Good to know you were able to get it out of your system,” the redhead said with a small smile. “By the way, we were starting to look for the rest of the group just now, when we happened to spot you two. Have you seen Lex and Durge anywhere?”
“Not since we first entered here,” Ryle said with a shrug. “Considering how Lex wasn’t going to be going into any of the rides, I doubt he was in any of the places we were at.”
“Good point,” Erin said as a slight look of concern came over her face. “This raises the question, though, how are we going to find those two? This is a pretty big place…”
“For the love of… Does the thing that resides between your ears only count as interior decoration or something?” Zeldana asked with a sigh. “Don’t you remember what we saw just a moment ago?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” the redhead asked.
“Think back when we were at the top of that one ride! We saw Ryle and Arnie enjoying a large drink, and we saw Lex and Durge doing… Is this starting to ring a bell or what?” the elf asked in a sarcastic tone.
“...That’s right! We saw them going through those game stalls!” Erin said, finally remembering. “But what about it? Those two have probably left the place we saw them at already.”
“Oh my everything… Do I really need to spell this out for you or something?” Zeldana muttered to herself as she facepalmed. “Look, Lex and Durge are not going to be going to the rides, right? What else are here besides rides? All sorts of food stalls and game stalls, where you win prizes, right?”
“Yes, I understand what kind of attractions they put inside amusement parks. Thank you for the explanation,” the redhead said with a frown, not liking the way the elf was talking to her. “What are you getting at?”
“Well, if those two aren’t going on any of the rides and I seriously doubt that they would be going through all the food spots, what does that leave you with?” the elf asked. “And need I remind you about the one way Lex has most likely found to have amusement in this place?”
Erin’s lone eye went wide as she now understood what Zeldana was getting at.
“Oh no… No no no no no,” the redhead muttered as she held her face in her hands. “Don’t tell me that he’s actually going to do that at every place here?”
“What else is he going to do? Try out all the different flavors of cotton candy?” the elf asked sarcastically.
“Hey, that’s something we did!” Ryle suddenly said with a big smile. “Although, I’m a bit confused here. What are Lex and Durge doing now?”
“They’re going through all the game stalls, exposing the ways they scam their customers and blackmailing them to pay them to stay silent,” Erin said with a sigh. “We need to find those two, before the park staff forms a lynch mob to go after them.”
Now that they had an idea as to where they could find their missing companions, the four of them, though one of them was still asleep, went on to look for the game stalls. It didn’t take long until they got to the area where all of the prize games were located. Picking one of the stalls, Erin walked up to the person handling it. The person at the stall immediately noticed her and put on a bright smile, expecting her to be a new customer.
“Hell there, miss!” the employee greeted the redhead happily. “Would you like to try out our game in order to win one of our prizes?”
“Maybe some other time,” Erin said in response politely. “I’m actually looking for some people. Have you perhaps seen a kobold and an orc traveling together? The kobold is red, wearing a fancy suit, and the orc is very large with a red cloak.”
“Oh… Those two, huh?” the employee said in response, his friendly tone now completely gone.
The redhead noticed the sudden changed in the person before her not just in his tone of voice, but in his whole being. The smile on his face had completely disappeared and she could notice one of his eyes twitch. The employee’s whole body had also completely tensed up and his hands had balled up into fists, with his fingers digging into his palms to the point they were drawing blood.
“Are you perhaps friends with those two… absolute… bastards!?” the employee asked, struggling to get the words out of his mouth without letting his anger blow up.
“Uhh… I’m somewhat… associated with them, yes?” Erin replied, trying to find a response that wouldn’t turn the worker’s anger towards her. “So have you seen those two?”
“Oh yes! I have not just seen them, but they actually came by!” the employee replied, as his face was now starting to turn red. “Thanks to them, I might lose my job, because I need to find a way to explain to my boss how I had to give away most of the money in my cash register! If you have any suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them!”
“I’m… afraid I don’t have any. Sorry,” the redhead said, as she was praying in her mind she would get out of this alive, while also cursing Lexton at the same time. “A-Anyways, did you perhaps see where they went?”
The employee didn’t say anything in response, as he was too busy biting his lip in order to control himself. Instead he just pointed at the direction where the two people in question had gone.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Having gotten the information she was looking for, Erin quickly thanked the employee and ran back to her friends.
“Damn. What happened with you?” Ryle asked, seeing the redhead’s pale face. “You look like you saw a ghost or some other horrifying monster!”
“At this point, I think I would have preferred that,” Erin replied. “What I do know is that Lex better have a good goddamn explanation for all the crap he’s been doing or else I might end up strangling him.”
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Following the direction they had been given, Erin and the others went on to find their missing companions. As they were walking through the park, they went past more game stalls that Lexton and Durge had most likely been at. They could tell because the workers at the stalls were either ready to blow from rage or were on the brink of crying.
Following the trail of upset employees, Erin and the others eventually found Lexton and Durge sitting on a bench, eating cotton candy calmly, despite the glares some of the staff were giving them. The kobold and the orc noticed their companions walking towards their location and waved at them.
“Hey, Erin!” Lexton greeted the redhead with a smile. “What brings you here?”
“What brings me here is what you’ve done! What the hell have you been doing here!?” Erin asked, trying to hold back her anger. “Are you trying to put this whole place out of business or something!?”
“What? I would never do such a thing!” the kobold said in a mock hurt tone, like the accusation had affected him. “I simply taught these people a valuable lesson!”
“And just what lesson would that be!?” the redhead asked as she grit her teeth.
“If you try to scam a pro like me, you better bring out your best tricks,” Lexton said with a smile before taking another bite out of his cotton candy. “Mmm! This is really good! Have you tried out their cotton candy yet? They have a bunch of different flavors.”
“Yeah… I’m sure it’s tasty alright,” Erin muttered before glaring at Durge for a change. “And you’re okay with what he has been doing?”
“Meh. It was a bit concerning at first, but I got used to it,” the orc replied with a shrug. “Besides, they’re the ones trying to scam us. I don’t see any issues with giving them a taste of their own medicine.”
“You two are just the worst,” the redhead said with a sigh.
This caused both Lexton and Durge to look up at her with genuinely offended looks on their faces, before pointing at Zeldana.
“...Fair enough,” Erin said with a sigh.
“Hey!” Zeldana cried out.
“Zip it! I’m not in the mood!” the redhead snapped at the elf, actually scaring her a bit for once. “Let’s just get back to our hotel room, okay? I’m too tired for any of this right now…”
The group agreed and began their walk to their room. As they were walking, they all noticed how several employees were glaring at them, obviously due to Lexton’s actions. However, only Erin and Ryle were bothered by the looks they were getting. Arkay was still asleep and neither Durge or Zeldana seemed to care. On the other hand, Lexton seemed to be enjoying himself, as he took pleasure in making the employees seethe. The kobold even went so far as to smile and wave at some of the people glaring at them, adding fuel to the fire.
Erin swore that if they make it out of the park alive, she would find a way to torment Lexton for the rest of her afterlife.
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After a walk that felt like an eternity to Erin, the group finally got back to their hotel room. The redhead wasted no time in getting the key out of her pocket, hoping to shield herself from the piercing glares that she had been receiving so far.
“I swear, the only decent one in this group is Arnie, who is the youngest out of all of us!” Erin said angrily as she put the key into the lock. “The rest of you are going to get me killed one of these days!”
“Hey, I was just trying to enjoy the park! Isn’t that what you wanted!?” Lexton asked. “What else was I supposed to do to kill the time!?”
“And how am I anywhere near as bad as he is!?” Ryle asked while motioning towards the kobold. “Compared to him, I’m practically as harmless as a lapdog!”
“Oh, just shut up, both of you!” Erin said as she finally unlocked and opened the door. “If you want to know, how about taking a good look at yourselves and-!”
The redhead cut herself off, as she walked into their room and saw something that took her by complete surprise and shocked her to the core. In the middle of the room before her was someone planting what looked like a bomb in the middle of their hotel room’s table. The others followed behind Erin and soon saw what she was looking at.
Having been finally pushed to her limit, Zena had decided to abandon all subtlety and finesse her work usually had. Instead, the assassin had simply decided to find out where all of her targets were staying at, sneak inside and plant a bomb in their room in order to kill them all. Even though she had been told that Erin was to be captured alive, Zena no longer cared. This day had been the most humiliating and painful days of her life. The way she saw it, she had to kill the whole group in order to appease her vengeful spirit. That was the only way she could ever live with herself.
However, even that very crude and simplistic plan had turned out to be a failure now that her targets had returned to their room earlier than she had thought. Upon realizing that she had been caught, the assassin’s mind began to speed through any possible methods to turn things around for herself.
image [https://i.ibb.co/jZV3r76/Ch-138-Pic-2.jpg]
“Excuse me, but who the hell are you and what are you doing here!?” Erin asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. “Also, have met before? You seem strangely familiar…”
In the end, Zena’s mind came to one possible way for her to save herself. It was a method that she had wanted to avoid, but there were no other options anymore.
“...I give up. I can’t do this anymore,” the assassin said with a depressed sigh as she stood up.
That’s right. The only solution she could come up with was to simply give up on her mission and go home. However, that was not all.
“Don’t worry about the bomb. The instructions were so awful that I couldn’t figure out how to set it up,” Zena said as she walked past Erin and the others, who were too stunned to really do anything. “I’m going… I’m going back home and rethink my life… Maybe I’ll study business or medicine, like my mom wanted…”
There was a moment of awkward silence as Erin and the others simply stared after the assassin as she disappeared behind a corner. They then looked at each other, as if trying to confirm among themselves that what they had just witnessed had been real.
“So… that just happened,” Erin said, breaking the silence. “What do we do now?”
“Maybe start with the bomb?” Durge suggested. “She may not have been able to set it up, but I don’t like the idea of having an explosive ready to go off right next to me.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that thing, if I were you,” Lexton said calmly as he walked up to the bomb to take a closer look at it. “As I suspected. It’s a crap model that has only one good quality to itself. Its cheap price. You should always pay for the stuff that’s worth the price. Not the cheapest or the most expensive.”
“Don’t you buy your stuff from actual junkyards?” Ryle asked.
“That’s because I make my own masterpieces, you mongoloid. I take what otherwise would be trash and turn it into gold. That’s what makes me such a master at my craft,” the kobold explained. “This thing, on the other hand? I could hit it with a crowbar and there would be no reaction from it.”
“That’s… comforting to hear, Lex,” Erin said awkwardly. “But let’s not actually-”
Before the redhead could finish talking, Lexton roughly shoved the bomb off the table and let it crash on the floor. This sudden act caused a jolt of shock to shoot through almost everybody else, as they jumped back in terror, expecting the bomb to explode. Only Arkay had remained calm, but this was due to the fact that he was still asleep and didn’t know what was going on.
Erin, Ryle, Durge and Zeldana each had frozen in a position that was readying for the incoming explosion with their eyes closed and hands up in front of their faces. When their sudden deaths didn’t come, they allowed themselves to open their eyes and relax their bodies. Upon seeing the bomb rest on the floor without any signs of imminent danger, they all let out deep sighs of relief.
“See? I told you it was just a hunk of junk,” Lexton said with a smug smirk.
“Lex, you goddamn arrogant asshole!” Ryle shouted angrily. “Did you really have to go and scare the crap out of us all!?”
“Hey, if you simply believed me, then there wouldn’t have been any issues, right?” the kobold asked nonchalantly. “Maybe you all should take this moment to reflect upon yourselves and finally get it through your heads that I’m someone you need to have faith in.”
Lexton walked away, as the others glared at him. Once he was gone, Zeldana turned towards Erin.
“And you have the nerve to say that I’m the worst!” the elf complained.
“...If it’s any consolation, he’s a very close second,” the redhead said back.
With a long day behind them, the group decided to go to sleep, as they had a long drive behind them the next morning. Ryle had tried to take Arkay with her in order for them to share a bed, but was stopped by Erin. Despite her disappointment, the blonde decided to let it be, as her day had been more than fulfilling so far.
However, one of their members, a certain elf, decided to go to the kitchen before going to bed.
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The next morning, the group got up early and got in their van. They were soon back to driving towards their destination, Graven Hills.
“Ryle, do you think you can handle the rest of the trip?” Erin asked from the front seat.
“I’ll be fine!” the blonde replied with a smile. “While I’m probably going to be bored beyond belief yesterday was more than enough to get me charged up for this. Thanks again for listening to my selfish request.”
“It was no problem. I’m sure we all were in the need of a chance to let out some steam,” the redhead said with a smile. “Besides, if it makes you feel any better, boring trips might be a thing of the past soon.”
“How come?” Ryle asked.
“Well, due to certain circumstances, Zeldana and I were given a bunch of coupons that we could use in the shops,” Erin explained as she dug through her cloak. “While we couldn’t find anything that interested us in particular, we did get these.”
The redhead pulled out several video games out of her cloak. The blonde’s eyes went wide and a big smile spread over her face at the realization of what this meant.
“Glad to see you’re already getting excited. These were a good pick then,” Erin said with a slight chuckle. “However, we still need a game console in order to play these, so you’ll have to wait a bit longer, I’m afraid.”
“Maybe not,” Lexton suddenly said as he walked up to some of his stuff that was piled up on one side of the van. “You see, when Durge and I were at the park, we came to this one game stall that had this rope pulling game. However, even when we didn’t play it, one of the workers suddenly came to us and offered us something as compensation for what we had gone through. I didn’t really get it, but I still accepted this.”
The kobold then pulled out a box that contained a video game console, same one that was meant for the games Erin had.
“Oh… my… God! Lex, this is awesome!” Ryle squealed in joy. “I had no idea you were such a cool guy! I’ll take back about fourth of the things I’ve said about you!”
However, as the blonde went to grab the box, Lexton moved it away from her. When she looked at him, he had a smirk on his face.
“Now, that won’t be enough, I’m afraid,” the kobold said. “You’re going to have to do better than that in order to please me.”
“...Oh! My bad!” Ryle said awkwardly, as she rubbed the back of her head. “I’ll take back a third of the things I’ve said about you.”
Lexton didn’t move.
“…Okay, I’ll take back half of the things I’ve said about you.”
He still didn’t move.
“...A bit over half?”
The kobold was now now looking at his nails in a bored manner.
“...OKAY! FINE!” Ryle shouted as she bowed down so hard she hit her forehead on the floor. “Please, oh great Lexton! I have been a fool and an idiot for ever doubting or badmouthing you! I take back everything I have and will ever say about you! Please show your mercy on me, as you are truly the better of us!”
Satisfied, Lexton gently pushed the box over to the blonde.
“See? That’s all you had to say,” the kobold said with a smug smile. “It wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“...Harder than you could ever imagine,” Ryle mumbled angrily as she took the box with the game console.
Back at the front, Durge gave a questioning look towards Erin.
“Are you sure about letting them go at each other like that?” the orc asked.
“Hey, the children didn’t throw any punches, okay? I’d say that leaves us at a positive end result!” Erin said as she rubbed her temples in order to ease her headache. “Just let it be with this. I don’t feel like going over there to play referee again.”
With an uncomfortable air now hanging over the group, Zeldana decided to brighten the mood. She clapped her hands together and got the attention of the others.
“Okay! Now that we’re back on the road, how about we have a little snack to lift our spirits?” the elf suggested. “And I’ve got just the thing for that!”
The others watched as Zeldana pulled a bunch of containers out of her jacket and handed them over to everyone. They looked inside and smelled the contents. It seemed to be some sort of a sweet drink of some kind.
“These seems nice, Zel,” Erin said. “But what brought this up?”
“Yeah, are these poisoned or something?” Ryle asked bluntly.
“I would never do such a thing!” Zeldana said in a mock hurt tone. “I just wanted to do something for the whole group as a way to show my appreciation towards you all! That’s it!”
“...You just want me to say that you’re no longer the worst, don’t you?” Erin asked, realizing the elf’s real goal.
“Hey, is that so bad!?” Zeldana asked. “Anyways, try them out! It’s something an old friend of mine taught me!”
Albeit a bit reluctantly, the others tried out the drinks they had just gotten. Much to their surprise, they were really good and everyone seemed to be enjoying them.
However, Erin’s enjoyment was soon replaced by a feeling of shock. The taste of the drink had been rather familiar to her and reminded her of things way in the past.
“Zel, who taught you how to make these?” the redhead asked as her body began to tremble a bit. “And what exactly are these called?”
“Hmm? Oh, it was that friend I told you about yesterday,” Zeldana replied. “He called them smoothies.”
Shock ran through Erin’s body, as her lone eye went wide. This was just like the drink Gabe had made for her back when she had first gotten to know him back in the day.