A path up the side of the mountain led them to a plateau where a large hot spring bubbled, sending clouds of steam wafting into the clouds. The spring overlooked Clifton and the valley beyond. The sight was quite beautiful.

Edgar turned away when Mirai suddenly dropped her robes by the side of the bath and plunked in. He waited a moment, then dropped his own robe and plunked in, only to find Mirai looking at him with an eyebrow raised.

“What?” He asked, looking away.

“Nothing…”

There was a lot of steam…

He couldn’t see anything…

She floated away towards the edge of the pool overlooking the valley and the mountain. Edgar moved into a corner. The bath was amazing. He could feel his body relaxing and the muck of their adventure melting away.

The smell was amazing, like orange zest, and he soaked for a long while. Through the steam, he could occasionally make out the bodies of other bathers, but there didn’t seem to be any staff. The only semblance of rules was a sign along the edge.

Have a soak,

Crack a joke,

Melt the muck,

Just don’t…

No Funny Business.

Edgar chuckled, leaning back and closing his eyes. After a few minutes, the sound of low voices drifted through the steamy clouds, slightly louder than the bubbling water. A group of adventurers.

A man was speaking, probably the leader. “…and how’s everyone’s armor?”

“Good.”

“Fine.”

“Good enough.”

“Are you sure?” The leader paused. “Ok, we can always visit the blacksmith afterwards. Weapons?”

“Good.”

“Sharp.”

“Two stacks of arrows. One stack of throwing knives. Full up.”

“Great, it sounds like we’re ready.” The leader sank into the water of the bath. “Enjoy the soak and tomorrow, we’ll hit the rift.”

With their quick meeting finished, the voices went quiet. A moment later, Edgar felt a slosh of water.

Edgar opened his eyes to find a man appearing out of the all-encompassing steam.

“Oh, sorry to disturb you, friend. As you were.”

He recognized the man’s voice as the leader of the group he had just overheard. The man had a distinctive scar across his eyebrow. Then, a second man appeared behind him, his body large enough to make the pool suddenly feel small.

Edgar nodded. “No worries… Are you all preparing for a rift?”

“The Sword sent us to clear out a rift, if it’s even still here. The call came in a few days ago.”

“Well, good luck… And you can never have too many healing potions.”

“Amen.” The second man gave Eyebrow Scar a look that said, I told you so.

“Heather has tons, and they seem affordable. Look for the building with the flower.”

Edgar smiled, happy to drum up some business for the woman who had saved Mirai—and himself too.

“Affordable? This far from Central? Well, we’ll check it out. I was expecting to pay through the nose for anything half decent.”

Edgar cracked a small smile, shaking his head. “If I can afford it. I’m sure you’ll be just fine. You all seem like you know what you’re doing.”

Eyebrow Scar gave him an appraising look. “What do you mean by that?”

Edgar coughed. “I just mean I’m rather new to… ahem, I mean, I only just cleared my first rift. Today, actually.”

Edgar wiped his forehead, but his awkward sweat mixed right in with his sweat from the steamy bath and the stranger didn’t seem to notice. Edgar was still weary of telling people he was a [Friend of Pharaoh]. Raiden had made it seem like reincarnated people from other worlds weren’t all that uncommon, but he didn’t want to broadcast the fact and draw any unwanted attention.

Eyebrow Scar raised a fist. “Congratulations! Oh, well done! You must have stories. I’d love to hear them. I love for my—”

The other man gave him a light punch on the arm. “K, read between the lines. The man cleared a rift today and now he’s sitting in a bath with his eyes closed. Let’s give him some space.”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Edgar chuckled, not denying the fact that he was drifting in and out of sleep, sitting in this steamy wonderland of orange spice and… maybe just a touch of cinnamon.

“Sorry, Friend. I didn’t mean to disturb you. I guess one final question, if you don’t mind, since you seem familiar with the town. Any accommodations you’d recommend?”

“Definitely, there’s the… oh shoot…”

Edgar gawked. His twenty-first century, technology-dependent brain hadn’t even registered the name of Raiden’s inn! He had some more adjusting to do.

“There’s a good one a couple of doors down from Heather’s place. Can’t miss it. Clifton’s pretty small.”

“Thanks, appreciate it, Friend. We’ll leave you to your well-earned rest.”

“Good luck tomorrow.”

The other men floated away.

“New friends?” Mirai’s voice sounded through the steam as she floated towards him.

It was surprising to hear her voice so relaxed. If he was being honest, her tone was usually rather severe.

“I guess. I didn’t catch his name.”

Mirai looked at him owlishly for a second and then shook her head, smiling. “Sorry, I keep forgetting you were born yesterday.”

“Eh, to be fair, it was like four days ago.”

“People rarely share their names when they first meet, since sharing your name reveals your level, and that is information people don’t advertise… Just as a precaution. If they share anything, it’s usually a nickname or an Adventurer name.”

“What’s an Adventurer name? Do you have one.”

“A name that sounds cool, I guess. The point is it lets you introduce yourself without revealing your level. And no, I don’t have one. Not yet, anyway.”

“Does Raiden have one?”

“My understanding is that Raiden Ashford was his Adventurer name and at some point he made it his real name. A lot of adventurers who make it into the twenties and thirties do that.”

Edgar nodded, simmering on the thought. Clearly, there were some nefarious actors in the world. It was a good thing to be mindful of, but he’d worry about it later. For now, he pushed any dark thoughts away and slipped back into bliss. Mirai settled in next to him and they both relaxed until the night set in.

Donning their bathrobes, they made the trek down the mountain, feeling relaxed and ready to sleep. Back at the inn, Raiden gave them a wave, calling to them that their bed was made. The next thing Edgar knew, he was face planting into the sofa, welcoming the first real sleep he’d had in days.

***

Next morning, Edgar woke to the potent ache in his shoulder where the Amalgamation’s arrow had hit him. After his daily swig of Heather’s bone regrowth serum, he could feel the magic seep into him, fixing the breaks and cracks. Mirai was up too. Edgar asked if she wanted to split the hefty system reward for clearing the Ancient Tomb rift, but she had received the same bonus.

“You got the same amount? What are we supposed to do with all this money?”

Edgar whooped, dumping coins onto the bed until he realized that thirty-four silver wasn’t actually all that much money. He realized he could convert the silver coins into stacks of iron coins using his inventory, but somehow the iron coins just weren’t as exciting as the silver ones. They were kind of drab looking.

“We’re supposed to live on it! It’s usually enough to get by for a year, but that doesn’t factor in weapons, armor, potions, supplies, travel… You know, adventuring costs. We’ll have to keep clearing Rifts to get by, for now, but as we reach higher levels, our income will eventually outpace the cost of living.”

“So, someday we’ll be rich?” Edgar tossed all the coins back into his inventory, undoing all the stacks of boring iron coins.

“If we live that long. It’ll be a while before we start making that kind of money.”

“What was it they say about becoming immortal? Oh, yeah… It’s not like it hasn’t happened before.”

Mirai smiled. “Well, thankfully, the odds of getting rich are way higher than the odds of becoming immortal.”

Edgar grinned ear to ear. “We’re gonna be rich? I love this place!”

Mirai shook her head, but couldn’t help smiling at Edgar’s antics as he flipped up on the couch and began dancing.

“Whatever, I’m going down for breakfast.” Mirai turned to leave.

Edgar jumped down. “Me too!”

Down in the tavern, Raiden was in his usual spot, behind the bar, with a dirty rag over his shoulder. He waved and shouted a greeting. He also shouted that breakfast was on the house. Edgar almost felt bad with all the support Raiden was giving them.

“Hey, we just got paid. Shouldn’t we offer to pay our tab? I feel bad about everything Raiden’s given us for free so far.”

“We could probably afford to pay for breakfast, but this world is level eight. Don’t expect our level one rift rewards to go all that far. When I said we could live for a year, I meant on a level one world. The cost-of-living scales with the salaries of local adventures.”

“Huh… So… We’re still broke?”

“I wouldn’t say we’re broke, I’d just say… baby steps, ok? Let’s be grateful for whatever help people are willing to offer us until we’re high enough level that we can give back in our own ways.”

“Speaking of leveling, we can level now, can’t we?”

Edgar glanced inside himself. Even now, he could feel his core bubbling like a witch’s cauldron—full to the brim with essence. He hadn’t even cultivated the massive amount of essence they got from the Amalgamation.

Edgar followed Mirai towards a table with a booth along the wall. She glanced over her shoulder as they walked, wagging her eyebrows and smiling excitedly. “My good man, you are absolutely correct and I’m so looking forward to it.”

Just as he sat down, a familiar voice called out.

“Good morning, Friend! We meet again.”

He glanced up to see Eyebrow Scar and his companions approaching. There was the second man from the bath; a lanky man with daggers and a bow; a woman with a floppy, pointy black hat; and another woman wearing leather armor and a sword.

Edgar smiled at them, waving them over.

“The ones from the bath?” Mirai asked, and Edgar nodded.

She smiled at them as well, although Edgar could see her putting up her guard.

“Want to eat together? We had a bit of unfortunate news this morning. The rift we came to clear is already gone. Somebody cleared it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, go figure. It was a level one rift, so the guild figured there’d be no chance anyone that low level would be crazy enough to wander this far out in the Network. I’m honestly shocked.”

Edgar scratched his head and Mirai glanced out the window.

“Hah, yeah. They must have been some real crazy folks, alright.”

~~~~~~~~~~

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