Chapter 88
Familiar Findings
After resting at the abandoned mansion for a couple of days, Erin was finally allowed to move once again without worrying her friends. This meant that they were once again ready to set out and continue their journey, which was something the redhead had been looking forward to. Not only was she tired of laying around all day, but she really wanted to get out of the mansion they had been using as their base. Not only was all the filth and pests that covered the place reason enough to want to leave, but she couldn’t help but fear that there were actual ghosts lurking around and watching them.
The group was standing just outside the house as they were making their final preparations before setting out. Erin turned to face her companions, who were all looking at her.
“Alright, you guys ready to leave this nightmare house behind?” the redhead asked with a small grin, hoping to motivate the others.
“Hell yeah!” Ryle replied enthusiastically.
“Absolutely,” Lexton said with a nod.
“S-Sure!” Arkay said somewhat awkwardly.
“Yup,” Durge replied lazily.
“Good. Because we are finally leaving and hopefully we never have to come back!” Erin said with a smile. “What do you guys say we go to town and get ourselves something good to eat for a change?”
“Sounds great!” Ryle said. “Although, I do have one question.”
“What’s that?” the redhead asked.
“Why the hell is SHE here!?” the blonde yelled while pointing at Zeldana. “Why is this goddamn psychopath looking like she’s going to be traveling with us!?”
“That’s because I am going to traveling with you, genius!” the elf yelled back. “Why the hell do you think I’m here at all!? To enjoy the weather!?”
Before a fight could break out, Erin quickly stepped between Ryle and Zeldana, hoping that she could prevent such a thing from happening.
“The reason she’s here is because I asked her to join our group,” Erin said, shocking everyone except Zeldana, who smirked smugly. “The thing is that we need someone who can help heal our injuries after the battles we are going to be facing and we currently don’t have a reliable way to do so without her. While Lexton’s potions have helped us greatly, what if we run out of them and can’t make more? Not to mention, Zeldana can help us no matter what type of an injury or illness we might face.”
“I… get what you’re saying, but… can’t we look for someone else?” Ryle said as she was trying to desperately hold back her anger, as Zeldana was sticking her tongue out at her behind Erin’s back. “Preferably someone who is a bit more sane…”
“Look, all I know is that we need a healer, she is one and she even managed to save my life! I don’t see how inviting her into our group could be anything but the best decision for me to make!” the redhead said. “As far as I’m concerned, this matter is over and she is now one of us. End of story.”
The blonde was showing clear signs of wanting to protest further, but the way Erin had stated that Zeldana was now a member of their group had left no room for argument. Not only that, but the look on the redhead’s face told her that she had no way of changing her mind.
Just as Ryle was about to give up hope, Lexton walked up to her with a confident smile.
“I think I’ve got an idea on how to solve this,” the kobold said before turning his attention towards Zeldana. “Ms. Zeldana, while I’m certain that our group would be more than happy to have you around, are you sure this is what you want?”
“What do you mean?” the elf asked.
“Well, our journey isn’t one to be taken lightly at all, as we are going to be fighting against the Five Overlords themselves,” Lexton explained. “Surely you know just how dangerous they are and wouldn’t want to face them again?”
“Are you kidding me? I’m not afraid of going up against those five! Did you forget that I was part of the resistance!? I’ve faced them far more times than all of you combined!” Zeldana said. “Besides, the only reason I never went after them again wasn’t because I was afraid! I just wasn’t all that interested in any of the people who have been fighting them so far! You guys are at least entertaining, and even if you do lose, I’ll just run away before getting caught!”
“That’s… certainly one way to look at it, I suppose,” the kobold said as he slightly grit his teeth from anger. “However, you wouldn’t want to abandon your precious bottles of wine, would you? After all, those were some very exquisite drinks you had there and it would be a waste to just leave them behind.”
Ryle smiled slightly as she realized what Lexton was aiming at. In the short time they had known Zeldana, they knew that she liked her booze. There had almost never been a single moment when they hadn’t seen her either with a bottle or intoxicated after drinking from one of said bottles. There was no way she would abandon her precious drinks.
However, the blonde and the kobold were quickly disappointed.
“No need to worry about that. I’ve got the last couple of bottles with me,” Zeldana replied as she patted her backpack. “The other bottles are empty. What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time while you guys were resting at my home and preparing yourselves?”
“But… We’ve only been here a couple of days and there were so many bottles,” Lexton said with wide eyes. “You mean to tell me you drank ALL of them? How are you still alive?”
“What am I? A doctor?” the elf asked sarcastically before thinking about it for a second. “Oh right, that’s what I’m supposed to be… Whatever. Doesn’t really matter.”
“...I’d say it matter quite a bit,” Ryle said before looking at Durge and Arkay, hoping that they would be able to help her in convincing Zeldana to not come along. The orc and the cat boy simply shrugged, as they had no ideas either.
Seeing as they had nothing that could persuade the elf to not come along, Ryle and Lexton simply gave up. All they could do now was hope that they wouldn’t have to suffer such injuries that would require her help.
“Since that matter has been resolved, how about we get going?” Erin asked. “You know what they say. No time like the present!”
“I’ll drink to that!” Zeldana cheered as she pulled out a new bottle of wine and started to drink from it.
As the group was walking away from the old mansion that they had used as shelter for the last couple of days, Erin felt something strange. It was like she could feel someone’s gaze on her, which caused her to look behind her. The redhead’s eyes soon landed on the lone window to the attic, where she saw a figure of some kind. Her one eye went wide, as she could clearly see the form of a young girl behind the window, staring down at her and her friends.
To make sure she wasn’t just seeing things, Erin rubbed her eye a bit to get whatever might have possibly been there to interfere with her vision. She then looked at the window again, yet this time she saw nothing. Not little girl standing there or anybody else for that matter.
For a moment, the redhead looked around the building for any signs of the girl, but couldn’t see anything like that. Had it all been in her head or was it an actual ghost?
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Erin, what’s holding you up!?” Ryle called out to the spaced out redhead, breaking her out of her thoughts. “We’re gonna leave you behind, if you don’t catch up!”
“Wait for me, guys! I’m coming!” Erin called back, as she hurried over to the rest of the group.
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As the redhead and her companions were making their way away from the mansion, two figures stood behind the attic’s window, looking down at them. One was a young girl, while the other one was a shadowy figure of a man.
“Thanks for the help, kid. I hate to bring you back from your eternal rest and all, but I kind of needed assistance with this one,” the shadowy man said. “I had no idea where that drunken elf could have lost the key for the vault. Good thing you had an idea of where to look.”
The little girl smiled and giggled a bit at the praise given to her. She then gave the man a questioning look.
“Oh, the prank you pulled? That’s okay. If I was in your position, I would have done the same thing,” the man replied. “To be honest, she kind of deserved it as well. That might sound mean coming from me, but I know her way better than you do, so trust me on this.”
The girl nodded. She seemed to have another question.
“What’s next? Well, I’m hoping Erin and her little circus group can get their act together and finally go after Golorath. It’s about time one of the big baddies themselves got handled,” the shadowy man answered, which brought a look of surprise on the girl’s face. “I’m surprised you didn’t know that. Guess you didn’t listen to their conversations close enough, huh? But yeah, they’re here to pretty much do what your parents hoped to see. Too bad they won’t get to see it for themselves…”
The girl looked down with a saddened look on her face. The shadowy man placed a comforting hand on her head.
“I’m sorry about what happened to you and your family. None of you deserved it at all. I just hope that you all can rest easy now that someone else has taken up the cause,” the man said in a kind tone. “You should probably go to your family now. I’m sure they’re waiting for you. And you can bet that they’ll be very proud of you, after you tell them what you helped me out with.”
The girl had a bright smile on her face as she nodded, before running away towards the stairs leading out of the attic. However, before she even reached the stairs, her body seemed to vanish into thin air.
image [https://i.ibb.co/W6MK5WK/Ch-88-Pic-1.jpg]
“...Let’s pray that this gamble of mine pays off,” the shadowy man mumbled to himself, before also disappearing.
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Some time later, Erin and her group had made it back to Burrow’s Deep. Once there, they began to look through the market district in hopes of finding a nice restaurant to eat at. This was proving to be much more difficult than one would imagine, as the selection of places to eat at wasn’t exactly the best.
“So… Do any of these places look good to you guys?” Erin asked as she eyed the few food stalls that surrounded them. “I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but I don’t find any of this exactly appetizing. Are these just some local delicacies that only look and smell bad, but are actually very high class treats?”
“If your idea of high class is prison slop, then I suppose this could qualify,” Durge said as he looked at one stall, where they were offering a dark brown substance as food. “On second thought, I’m sure even most inmates eat better than this…”
“Yeah, I think it’s best for us to not eat here. No matter how hungry we might be, I’m not sure it’s worth getting sick over,” Ryle said as she eyed another stall where she could see the “food” move around. “That is if it doesn’t eat YOU first.”
“Well, I guess my idea of celebrating my recovery at a nice restaurant is now a complete bust… I should’ve checked this place out better before making such a declaration,” Erin said with a sigh. “Is there anything in this place that’s worth our attention or should we just move on?”
“Durge and I already saw their black market. If that was any indication as to how bad this place is, I’d say that-” Lexton answered only to suddenly stop talking as he saw something that made his eyes go wide.
The others quickly picked up on their companion’s strange behavior and turned towards him.
“Lex?” Erin called out to the kobold. “Is something wrong?”
“...I can’t believe it,” Lexton said before suddenly running off.
“Hey! Wait for us!” the redhead called out as she and the others ran after their wayward friend.
Erin and the others soon caught up to Lexton, who was standing still while staring at something with wide eyes. It didn’t take long for the others to find out what had gotten his attention so suddenly.
A convoy of trucks and other vehicles had come to the town, seemingly belonging to wandering merchants of some kind. One could simply glance at just one of the numerous vehicles and see that it was packed completely full of potential merchandise. There were cars filled with weaponry, others filled with rare herbs and some had parts of wild beasts stuffed into them. It looked like you could get whatever you needed from there.
“Hey, nicely spotted, Lex! Maybe these guys can sell us what we need,” Erin said with a smile, before realizing that the look on the kobold’s face was one if shock and not surprise. “Lex? Is everything okay?”
“I can’t believe this,” Lexton mumbled. “These people have my car!”
Upon hearing the kobold’s cry of anger, all eyes went to where he was looking at. Just as he had said, Lexton’s RV was in the possession of the merchants, as it was being dragged by a tow truck.
“You used to own that hunk of junk?” Zeldana asked. “Seems to me that it is now with its proper owner. Garbage peddlers.”
“Hate to say it, but I agree with her. That junk box doesn’t exactly seem all that reliable to me,” Durge said before sniffing the air and covering his nose. “Plus I think it smells bad…”
“Thank you!” Ryle exclaimed. “That was the issue I had with it the whole time we used it!”
Seeing that Lexton was lightly shaking from what she could only assume was anger from the comments, Erin tried to defuse the situation before it got too bad. A public blowout was one of the last things they needed.
“Lex, don’t mind them. We know that your car was more of a workshop than a hotel,” the redhead said as she put a comforting hand on the kobold’s shoulder. “But while I get that you want to get it back, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. I mean, look at the state it’s in. I doubt we could get far with it, even if we somehow managed to fix it.”
“How is it that none of you understand that the car itself wasn’t important!?” Lexton shouted angrily. “It was the stuff inside that was important! The materials for weapons and potions, as well as the tools to make them! That’s what was important!”
“Oh that’s right! You had that enchanting tablet in there, didn’t you?” Erin asked. “Don’t you think that you can just get a new one?”
“If I want one at the same level, it won’t be cheap. The types of tools I used cost a lot of money and you need to be lucky to find them at all,” the kobold explained. “Not only that, but there’s… kind of a different reason as to why I want those specifically.”
“What’s that?”
“...They used to belong to my father.”
Erin’s lone eye went wide as she heard the tone in Lexton’s voice. It was hard to pick up, as he was very good at masking his voice in order to scam people on the regular, but the redhead was able to pick up on it. It was a tone of fear and desperation, like a lost child asking to see their parent, as they were afraid they’d never see them again.
“Lex, I… I get why you’re so upset and I’m sorry for making fun of you earlier,” Ryle said, having heard the kobold. “But the problem is that we might not have the money required to buy your old tools. We might have gotten a bunch of money from the creepy haunted mansion, but it might not be enough to-”
The blonde was cut off by Erin suddenly walking towards the merchant caravan. Before any of her companions could do anything, the redhead had made her way to an important-looking member of the caravan and was talking to him.
“Hey. Is any of this stuff for sale?” Erin asked as she motioned to the caravan.
“Well, we haven’t exactly set up shop or anything, but this stuff is meant to be sold in the end,” the caravan member replied. “We weren’t planning to sell anything here, because there aren’t that many potential buyers in the area, but I suppose we could make a quick deal for those with money. Were you perhaps interested in anything particular?”
“Yes. I’m in fact interested in that,” the redhead replied as she pointed at Lexton’s old RV. “How much do you want for it?”
“That old stinky thing? That’s a bit surprising. We just came across it not too long ago and picked it up, hoping that it would have something worth selling. Guess it actually had it,” the caravan member said, a bit surprised by what seemed like a potential customer had her eyes on. “Now, I wouldn’t mind selling the damn thing at all. Just getting rid of the stench would be more than enough good reason to do so. However, there hasn’t been a price placed on it yet, so I can’t just sell it outright. If you want to make a deal for it, you’ll have to see our boss.”
“Where could I find them?” Erin asked and the caravan member pointed at a large trailer that was attached to the back of a truck. The redhead headed towards it, followed by her companions.
“Erin, are you sure about this?” Durge asked. “I get that the stuff you’re trying to get is important to Lex, but we’re not exactly in such a financial state that we can just spend money recklessly.”
“Trust me on this. This isn’t reckless at all,” the redhead answered. “In fact, it’s a pretty important investment for our future.”
Seeing as how determined Erin was, no one else voiced any complaints of their own. She proceeded to knock on the door of the trailer and then a voice from the inside called to them.
“Come in,” the voice said, most likely belonging to the caravan leader.
Having been invited, Erin opened the door and walked in, followed by her friends. The inside of the trailer was luxurious to say the least. There were numerous expensive pieces of art everywhere. These ranged from simple paintings on the walls to sculptures covered in jewels and gold on almost any possible surface the trailer had. The furniture was also lined with exotic furs. This caravan leader was someone who wanted to show off their wealth to the people who visited him.
The only thing that bothered the redhead was that said person was nowhere to be seen.
“Hello?” Erin called out. “Is anybody here?”
“Yes. I’m in the bathroom right now. I’ll be there in a second,” the same voice called out from the back of the trailer, where the bathroom was most likely located. “Please make yourselves comfortable.”
Seeing as there was nothing else to do for them, Erin and her group simply found themselves seats or other comfy spots to wait for the owner of the trailer to arrive. Erin sat on a couch, along with Ryle and Arkay. Lexton took a seat on a chair next to them, while Durge simply leaned against a wall. Meanwhile, Zeldana went around, inspecting some of the fancy art pieces and giving some of her own commentary on them.
“Oh, I know this one! I watched as he was painting it, saying that he will one day become a great artist,” the elf commented on a painting. “Glad to see he was able to achieve it, despite the fact that I didn’t believe in him. Wonder if he ever got paid for his work, though...”
The others decided to simply ignore the elf’s comments and focused on waiting for the caravan leader to arrive. Upon hearing the door to the bathroom open, all eyes looked towards it.
“Sorry about that. You guys kind of arrived at a bad time,” the caravan leader said. “I was in the middle of a shower when you knocked on my door. However, seeing as you all came here, I’m guessing one of my people sent you here to make a deal with me, right? Now, how may I be of service?”
Erin and her companions were wide-eyed at the sight before them. The redhead even had to rub her eye a bit to make sure she wasn’t seeing things, but her sight wasn’t lying to her at all.
Right before them stood a young kobold with green scales over most of his body, with the exception of the top of his head and back where the scales were light gray. He wore a light gray vest over a white shirt with a green tie, along with a white coat and pants. He was also wearing a wide-brimmed white hat on top of his head.
In short, he was pretty much a copy of Lexton, except the colors he had were different.
“...Is this some sort of a freaking joke?” Ryle asked.
image [https://i.ibb.co/MMHG0Lx/Ch-88-Pic-2.jpg]