“If only what were that simple?” Asked a voice full of sunshine.
The barmaid had returned with a bowl of food and a pitcher of Ale. She put the plain looking food in front of Edgar. A variety of steamed root vegetables, including something potato-like, with thick stew ladled over the top.
“Oh, heh. Going home. I’m afraid it’s not so simple.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I hope it all works out for you, hun. The Network is big enough that if you don’t want to be found, you won’t be. Take it from somebody who knows… Anything else I can get for you?”
“I’ve got quite a few questions, if you have any answers.”
She chuckled, extracting herself from what she clearly saw as a weak attempt at flirting, “aw, well food and drink is my specialty, hun. If I can get you anymore of that, just give me a wave.”
After his meal, the feeling of a full stomach was comforting and, with the warmth of friendly conversation buzzing around him, he glanced into his inventory, finally able to check out the spoils of their encounters in the Rift. There wasn’t that much. There was an [Essence of Darkness (Shadow)], 10 iron coins, 56 copper coins, and six piles of Ash.
Item: [Essence of Darkness (Shadow)]
* Crystal of hardened Essence, used in Leveling Rituals.
* Aspect: Darkness (Shadow)
He closed his inventory and shook his head, lifting his mug, “so much to learn.”
Clearly this was a close knit town. The villagers were warm and friendly to each other, and they were even welcoming to him, a random newcomer. A few patrons clinked pitchers with him as they passed, joking about his shirtless torso. One woman even introduced herself as a seamstress and invited him to visit her shop in the upper tier the next morning. Eventually, as the dinner rush came to a close, and some of the more sober patrons began filtering out, he noticed Mirai wander through the tavern’s entrance.
He stood and waved her over. Her clothes were bloody and torn, including a massive tear in her cloak. She looked like hell and her face was equally grim. The laughing and chatting patrons stepped aside to let her pass, but the sight of blood didn’t seem to upset them or dim their mood all that much. She kept the hood of her cloak pulled down over her face.
“I’m so glad you’re alright. I was scared to death. That Prince of Imps was-”
She took a seat next to Edgar’s and clasped her hands on the counter top, “you paid for my healing.”
She stated it plainly, as if she were reading the weather—she was clearly restraining her emotions.
Edgar blinked, “huh?”
“My healing, you paid for it!... You shouldn’t have.”
Edgar was taken aback by the gruff response. “Don’t worry about it? Ms. Thorne didn’t really seem interested in the money, to be honest. She insisted I just buy some potions instead-”
“How much?”
“What’s up with you?”
Mirai pulled the hood of her cloak tight over her face, glancing around the bar.
“How much for the potions?” she hissed.
“A hundred copper, it was nothing really. I was meaning to split the potions with you anway, here-”
A bag of coins dropped onto the wooden bar-top with a dull thunk.
“Just take that for the potions and keep the extra for… well…”
“It’s really not a problem, you would’ve done the-”
“What, save the life of some random, naked creep I found in a rift? Yeah, probably not.”
Edgar deflated. Somehow, he had imagined his reunion with Mirai going better than this.
“Anyway, I’ve gotta go. I can’t believe that the Rift would spit us out on Black Mountain. One of my uncles lives around here and I can’t let him find me.”
Edgar was struggling to keep up, “wait, slow down. One of your uncles is looking for you?”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“He’s not looking for me or anything. I just… Ugh. It’s complicated.”
She glanced at him, her eyes peeking out from the hood of her traveling cloak for a brief moment, “Look, thanks for everything. Especially saving my life, that was a very… non-creep thing to do.”
Edgar frowned. Mirai had a unique ability to make her complements sound like insults.
She stepped off the stool and began slinking away, “but I’ve got to get to the nearest portal and get out of here before-”
“Mir?” A voice sounded.
Mirai froze.
The tavern keeper was walking over, “is that you under there, Mir?”
Mirai lowered her voice in an awful impression of a man, “n-no? Name’s Fred. You’ve got the wrong… person.”
The tavern keeper let out a broad smile and, in the blink of an eye, he moved from behind the bar to standing beside Mirai and Edgar, then he scooped Mirai up in a hug.
“Little Mir, it is you! What are you doing out here? Did you come all this way to visit Uncle Ray?”
At the mention of the tavern keeper’s name, his details appeared for Edgar to see.
Raiden Ashford
* Race: [Human]
* Level: 69
Edgar felt his mouth go dry. The man’s level was sixty nine? This man could probably sneeze and accidentally obliterate a level one like himself. He wondered if he should take a knee or prostrate himself.
“Oh, it’s you, Uncle Ray! I didn’t recognize you at first… hah, how funny? Fancy running into you here, of all places?”
Her Uncle laughed, clapping a hand on her back with a solid ‘thwack that nearly knocked her off her feet.
“Yeah, fancy seeing you, in my own tavern! Hahaha! What are you doing sneaking around here? Embarrassed by your Uncle Ray?”
He bellowed to the crowd, “a round on me! My niece came to visit!”
The crowd cheered and the bar staff began dishing out tankards of ale. Glancing at Mirai, Edgar could tell she wanted to melt into the floor. Then Edgar noticed Raiden looking at him and snapped to attention.
“Who’s this shirtless guy?”
“Some guy I met in a rift…” she sighed, “he did save my life, though. So I guess there’s that.”
Raiden jerked upright with surprise, turning to Edgar, “you saved our little Mir, shirtless guy?”
“I mean, I just did what anyone would have done.”
“Not everyone would, let me tell you. You could’ve let her die and then raided her inventory. People pull nasty stuff like that all the time. Plus, I’m sure it was a risk to your own saftey to save her.”
“Well, thankfully I’m at least a halfway decent person. Sigh… I just can’t believe we cleared the rift and got cursed anyway.”
Raiden froze. His eyes flashed to Mirai, bubbling with protective anger.
“You got cursed? Is this true?”
Mirai’s voice was small and sad. “It’s true. I didn’t want to worry you about it, so I wasn’t going to mention it. At least it’s not a death curse.”
Raiden’s anger roiled and his eyes snapped to Edgar. “What did you say your name was, boy?”
Edgar could have sworn he heard a distant crackle of lightning outside.
“Gulp… Edgar, sir.”
Raiden glanced at Edgar’s character details, his eyes narrowing further. “Did you get cursed, too?”
“Yes, I did. We both did.”
There was a second crack of lightning—much closer this time.
Mirai laid a gentle hand on his arm. “Your lightning is showing, Uncle Ray..”
Raiden turned away. “There’s something off about him. He’s not normal.”
“There’s a lot off about him, but he’s harmless.”
“Come with me, both of you.” Raiden grumbled, walking behind the counter towards one of the back rooms.
“I’m sorry, was it something I said?” Edgar whispered to Mirai.
She sighed, pushing Edgar along. She patted him consolingly on the back.
“You didn’t say anything weirder than usual… It’s just that being cursed is… sigh… Just do what he says and you’ll be fine… probably…”
Edgar did not like the way she said ‘probably.’
“You know—speaking as the guy who saved your life—this night is just not going the way I thought it would.”
“My family tends to be overbearing and complicated. Being the youngest girl can be a lot sometimes.”
Raiden led them to a door, which he unlocked and ushered them inside. It was a store room loaded with barrels and crates. One of the open barrels was full of fruit like blue apples.
Raiden pulled over a chair and roughly set it aside, gesturing for Edgar to sit in it. He tried his best to swallow his nerves and sit still. At least Mirai stood next to him.
Edgar gulped. “Well, if meeting your uncle is turning out to be this intimidating, at least you’re not bringing me back to meet your father.”
Mirai groaned, “I did try that once, bringing a boy home to meet my dad.”
“Oh yeah? How’d that go.”
“Well... he didn't come back.”
~~~~~~~~~~
* Check out the Stats Page for this Chapter here