"A misunderstanding?" The Elder Lizaldon said. "Your 'misunderstanding' caused the deaths of seven Lizaldons. Yes, quite a 'misunderstanding.'"
"No, see, that is the misunderstanding," Reivyn argued. "I didn't bring the spiders. One of your sentries shouted really loud when he saw me. I was just trying to get away from the spiders after I ended up down there on accident. I tried to tell the sentry about the spiders, but he didn't understand me, and he got taken by a spider as he tried to stab me with a spear.
"The other Lizaldon you had down there saw what happened, and he and I fought side by side against the spiders, but they wore him down until they could capture him, too, and then that's when you guys came down and found me fighting the spiders all by myself. If you were down there and saw me, you would know that I never attacked any of the Lizaldons, even when I was being attacked by you and the spiders at the same time."
Reivyn was surprised the Elder Lizaldon actually allowed him to explain himself. He thought he would have a much harder time convincing the Lizaldon to just listen to him at all.
"It is useless to explain these things," the Elder replied. "Even if what you say is true, even if I believe you, there are many others who will not. They will only see that you brought the deaths of seven of us with you. Will you explain to every individual that you're not at fault? And will they believe you? No, it is safer for both of us if you don't come in."
"Fair enough," Reivyn conceded. He didn't really want to enter the town in the first place. He was just tagging along with this new Party. He turned to Fira. "It's fine. I'll just wait out here for you guys. Just get me something to eat."
"If you say so," Fira replied skeptically. She gestured to the other members of the Party, and they entered the now-opened gate.
Reivyn walked off a bit and hunkered down to wait. He had finally returned to a semi-normal state. He was no longer completely alone in an unknown environment. He could slowly gain a foothold using this new connection, and he would be able to find out where he was and eventually where he needed to go to get home.
He wasn't that physically tired because of his Stats, but he had been on a tight string, mentally, for an extended period of time. Now that he could finally relax a bit, it didn't take long before he nodded off to sleep. He wasn't concerned that he would be attacked by any feral lizard monsters this close to the town, and his Danger Sense would alert him if any of the Lizaldons snuck up with nefarious purposes.
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"Wake up," someone nudged Reivyn awake. His Danger Sense hadn't alerted him to the presence, so he didn't immediately unsheathe his weapon, though his hand did grab the hilt of his sword subconsciously. He was immediately awake, and he looked up to see Fira looking down at him, the rest of the Party waiting behind her.
"We let you sleep through the day and night," Fira said. "We didn't see any reason to wake you just to have you be bored out here by yourself. Here's the food you asked for," she handed him a parcel of some local cuisine. "We've accomplished what we came for, so it's time to go."
"That's it?" Reivyn asked.
"Yeah," Fira nodded. "The point of coming out here to purchase the silk directly was more about the experience of doing it. We all got to meet some of the locals, do some shopping, eat at a unique restaurant, and we got some rest in a real bed. It was almost as nice as my own bed back home. I could have just slept in it for days, but we don't have that kind of time. We don't have any reason to linger, so it's time to go."
Reivyn stood up and stretched the kinks out from having to rest on the hard surface. He felt a pang of envy at the mention of resting in a real bed. Fira smirked at his stretching. Oh, she was definitely rubbing it in. I doubt that bed was half as comfortable as she described it.
"I'm ready at any time," Reivyn said. "I don't have much to do, just standing around outside the gates to a town I was trying to get far away from already. I'm sure you don't need me to lead the way anymore, so whenever you're ready."
Fira turned to the Party and directed them to make their way back the way they had come once more. Sera lead the way this time, and Fira walked a bit behind her, next to Reivyn. Reivyn could sense some frustration coming from Sera at Fira's proximity to him. Reivyn felt like being mischievous.
"Where did you put the silks? I don't see any large packs with which to carry them," Reivyn said, stepping closer to Fira to inspect.
"Of course not, we have spatial storage bags," Fira said, patting a satchel at her waist. She looked up at Reivyn with a questioning look. "You don't have a storage bag?"
"My folks were going to give me one, but then I got swept away to here before they could," Reivyn explained. "They wanted me to get used to managing my space efficiently without one first."
"Probably having you work towards the Logistics Skill," Fira nodded sagely. "So where are your folks, then? Where are you from?"
"You know, nobody ever said the name of the kingdom out loud before. Everyone just referred to it as 'the kingdom.' Even the capital's name was literally just The Capital. Kind of strange, now that I think about it.
"Anyway, it's just a little Tier 1 kingdom. It's attached to a Tier 2 kingdom called Eldiar, which is under Pernius, which is part of the Quron Empire. Ever heard of it?"
"Can't say that I have," Fira looked up and to the right, thinking about it. Reivyn took a couple more steps closer to her. "I don't think it's in the same local group as we're in now. I don't know if it's in the cluster or not, but you can always find out at a major city with a decent Adventurer's Guild, assuming you are a registered Adventurer." Reivyn fished out his token and held it out for her to see.
"If it's not in the cluster, then the local Adventurer's Guild won't have the information, locally. You can always petition to get the information, though, at a cost."
"How does that work?" Reivyn was walking almost shoulder to shoulder with the girl now. Well, shoulder to stomach. Fira looked up at him.
"You are very tall," she suddenly said. Reivyn frowned and then shrugged.
"I'm not particularly tall, it's just that you're short," he teased. Fira shoved him in the stomach with her shoulder.
"I'm not short. I'm pretty average for a girl, you know."
"I wouldn't say you're average," Reivyn said. Fira's face reddened a little from the quip. "Most of the girls I've met have been pretty close to my own height."
"Do you come from a land of giants?"
"I don't think so? Anyway, how does one request the information I need, again?"
"Oh, well, you just put up an official request. The staff at the Adventurer's Guild can accept commissions, most of them are Adventurers, too. They'll use their communication network to check with other branches across the Realm, and once someone finds the information, they'll relay it back. You pay the commission, and they give you the information."
"And then I'll have to go to a teleport station and jump from place to place until I end up in the right place."
"Exactly," Fira nodded. "Though teleportation is prohibitively expensive for the common person. It might take some time to wait for the information, so it would make sense to do some Dungeons or quests to get some money."
"How much does it cost?"
"It will depend on how many jumps you need to make. Teleportation platforms are only found in Tier 4 Capital cities, and they only teleport to other empires they don't have a rivalry with. It typically costs 1 gold coin per jump. If you have to do a hundred jumps, then it'll cost a hundred gold."
"Yeah, I can see how that would get expensive," Reivyn was worried he might never have enough money to make it home if it was too far away. "So do you guys have a spot open on your team?"
"Sorry," Fira turned her face to look Reivyn in the eye. "We already have enough close quarters Martial Classes. It's not much of a problem on an expedition like this, but it could cause problems to have too many if we ran Dungeons or quests with such a Party."
"Oh, well, I'm not a close-quarters Martial Class," Reivyn said. Fira quirked an eyebrow at the statement. Reivyn chuckled as he held his hand out and summoned a Light Ball. "I'm a Light Magus."
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Reivyn took a couple of steps before noticing that Kefira wasn't walking by his side anymore. He looked up and noticed that everyone had stopped in place and was staring at him. Kefira could sense despair fill her companion, Sera. She had already conceded that their new addition would be able to overpower her within about thirty seconds, and that was before his casual display of magic.
The magic itself wasn't anything impressive. Light Mages weren't exactly uncommon, and they weren't particularly powerful combatants. The problem here, though, was that Reivyn had already displayed a shocking competency in melee combat, and he was heavily armed and armored.
He had casually strolled through the caves, easily dispatching countless feral lizardmen, and not once had he shown any indication that he was a Caster.
And what's this Magus designation? I've heard of Mages and Weavers, but never a Magus. I'll have to do some research when I get home.
Serilla was trying to get her attention - No doubt trying to tell me to get some room between the two of us, she rolled her eyes - but Kefira simply walked back up to her position next to Reivyn, waving for everyone to keep going.
"In that case, if you can utilize your Light Spells in an offensive, defensive, or supportive manner, that would change things," Kefira said, resuming their walk.
"Yeah, I can manage something for all three situations," the young man nodded.
Kefira contemplated the information as her worldview crumbled. It was common knowledge that people had to sacrifice proficiency in a subject in order to excel at another, and yet Reivyn had shown more Skill than her friend, dedicated to a lifetime of training with a sword and shield, had as a Caster.
"Don't tell me you're secretly an expert archer, too," Kefira chuckled.
"I've dabbled. I don't know how to track or stalk or anything like that, though."
"Good."
"Good?"
"Yeah, if you knew how to do all of that on top of what you've already shown, I think my brain would break." Reivyn laughed, but Kefira just looked at him with a serious expression. "I'm not joking. I think my brain would literally stop working.
"How is it that you're so Skilled with a sword and shield as a Caster? Have you been wasting your time on a hobby or something? Or did your parents fill your head with nonsense and have you spread too thin? You mentioned something about them having you get a Logistics Skill, and you have Forced March, so it doesn't seem like you have no idea what you're doing."
"My first Class wasn't a Caster Class. My first Class was Fighter."
"So your Tier 2 Class was Fighter. Your Tier 3 Class was Light Magus... What's your Tier 4 Class? Some sort of hybrid?" Kefira peered up at the youth. He was taken aback by the question.
"Tier 4? I don't have a Tier 4 Class."
That's not a lie, but there's something weird about his reaction, Kefira studied his body language. She glanced at Sera, but she was no help with a simple shrug in return.
"I can offer you a probationary position. It's not that I doubt your abilities, we've seen what you can do, but we need to make sure we all mesh well together."
"Understandable," Reivyn replied. Then he leaned down real close to Kefira's face, and she could feel her ears burning. "But to be clear, I want to join your Party."
He wants to join my Party?! What does he mean by that? Does he want to take me away from the others? He should have recognized that I wouldn't leave Serilla behind.
"I know that you and Sera are a separate group from Sten, Dowell, and Cinna. When you guys leave, I want to go with you, not them."
Oh.
Kefira felt a twang of disappointment, but she couldn't tell from what. She squashed the feeling as she addressed Reivyn's issue.
"Of course. We would be happy to have you."
"You and Sera? Or just you?" Reivyn leaned in again. Kefira leaned away as she swished her hands in front of herself.
"Don't be silly. We'd both be happy," Kefira said. She straightened up and lifted her chin. "Sera will go along with whatever I say, anyway." She heard her companion snort ahead of her, but she chose to ignore it.
They continued their journey. She would converse with Reivyn about his past experiences in the Lord's Retinue, the Dungeons he had explored, and his time as a Magic Academy student. That last part hadn't come as much of a surprise to her. She didn't know the extent of his magical abilities, but if he was half as good with Mana as he was with a sword, then he would be one of the elites.
Well, one of the elites in a Tier 1 Region, she amended. He would be at least in the upper echelons even in a Tier 3 Academy, but his lack of focusing on one aspect might prevent him from standing out in a Tier 4 Academy. I don't doubt that he would at least be able to pass admission into one, though.
Reivyn had a glib tongue, and he was able to hold a conversation quite easily. Kefira noticed that he must have been using a social Skill or two. She had some herself, and she had seen many other people use them as well over the course of her life.
That tells me that he at least has 20 Charisma. It's the bare minimum requirement to get Gab, which is the most basic social Skill for holding conversations. I wonder how his Skill Level compares to mine. I don't think I've been doing that good of a job displaying my mastery of the Skill. His, uh, closeness, has been distracting.
After she regained her composure, though, she was able to hold her own. While he described some of his past exploits, she regaled him with tales of the Tier 3 Region they were in and the various things she and Serilla had seen and done. Reivyn was also considerate enough to draw Sten and his friends into the conversation, though Serilla maintained her silence and vigilance.
It wasn't strictly necessary to remain silent and not join any conversation in order to maintain one's alertness, as both Kefira and Reivyn were able to react nearly instantly whenever a threat appeared. Serilla wasn't quite as fast as Reivyn had been in dispatching the ambushing enemies, but it was still enough that most of the other Party members didn't have to participate unless multiple groups jumped at them at once. She was definitely displaying more of her Skill than she had previously.
In order to display his abilities, Reivyn started slinging Spells instead of engaging in hand-to-hand combat. He only used the most basic Spells, but he had access to all of them: Bolt, Flash, Beam, and Blast. That was slightly surprising in and of itself, but what really shocked Kefira was that he had the ability to use the Spells through the System for all of the Affinities he had unlocked.
He mainly stuck to the four Tier 1 elements, but he also displayed several of the Tier 2 Affinities, like Ice and Plasma. Kefira wasn't surprised that a student of one of the Magic Academies, even if it was a Tier 1, had access to so many Affinities, but most people could only use the base Affinity of their Class for System-assisted Spells.
"It's because of the Magus designation," Reivyn explained. "I got access to it because I worked on unlocking so many Affinities before I took the Caster Class. The Magus is all about experimenting with different Affinities with just a slight bit more focus on one of them."
The trip back to the surface was quite pleasant, Kefira enjoying the company and conversation of Reivyn much more than that of Sten. Their fundamental outlook on life was different. Where Sten would constantly open up a conversation with a complaint, Reivyn would point out something that he found interesting. She never heard half a word of complaint; the only time he ever came close was when they first met and he mentioned that leading them to the Lizaldon settlement would have him backtracking several days.
Now that Reivyn was going to join them on a probationary period, which Kefira was more and more sure would turn out fine, she wasn't anticipating parting ways once they reached the surface.
The encounters with ambushing feral lizardmen also dropped off the closer they got to the exit, and the last couple of hours were spent without having to fight off any at all.
They stepped out into the blessed light, and Sten dropped to his knees, thanking whichever church deity he believed in for their deliverance from the depths of the caves. Kefira rolled her eyes.
"It wasn't that bad," she said. "At least it was a lot cooler down there than it is out here. Now we have to deal with the desert sun and heat."
"I'm used to that," Sten retorted. "I'm not used to not being able to see the sky for such a long time."
"So this is the desert?" Reivyn walked out of the cave on the rocky ground, surveying the surrounding area.
The area they were in was rocky and barren, though there were hardy shrubs and other flora able to survive in the desert. The entire Tier 3 Region was mostly desert with pockets of greenery scattered throughout, mainly where the cities were located.
The area the entrance to the Lizaldon's underground town was located, though, was in the middle of a vast swathe of sand dunes. Most of the desert region wasn't sandy, but the place above the underground cave system was unusually barren, even for a desert.
Giant rocks protruded from the ground in several places. The entrance to the underground was a hole in one of the larger rocks.
"This is the most desolate part of the desert," Kefira corrected. "The whole region is technically a desert, but it doesn't all look like this. We'll need to wait until nighttime before making a move. We have about five days of travel time ahead of us before we reach the less desolate area.
"The dangers of crossing this part of the desert aren't monsters or beasts. We'll have to keep an eye out for scorpions and sand tarantulas, but those are regular creatures. They're a bit hardier because of the Mana density, but they're more of a nuisance than a danger.
"The real danger is the sun, heat, and lack of food or water."
"I can see that," Reivyn said, "There's hardly any moisture in the air, so drawing any out of the environment is out of the question. Do you have enough water to account for another person?"
"Of course! Who do you think I am?" Kefira took up a pose, hands on her hips. She flipped her hair over her shoulder before continuing. "We made sure to pack an extra for ten more days, twice as many as needed for the journey, for each person. There's plenty of water."
"That seems a bit excessive, actually," Reivyn commented.
"Eh, we had the space, and water's cheap when you have it in abundance. One of the goals of coming out here was to beat the market price of the silk. If we run into any lost stragglers in the desert, that water will be worth more than liquid gold to them. Everyone's priorities change based on the circumstances. A man wouldn't be willing to pay more than a couple of coppers for a water skin, but that same man would pay his life savings for a full one if he was dying of thirst."
"And you're just going to give me that 'liquid gold' for free?" Reivyn quirked an eyebrow.
"We~ll, that wasn't the plan originally," Kefira admitted. "But you're a Party member now, so I'll loan you some. I'll even charge you a fair interest rate, too."
"I'm so grateful for your generosity."
"I know, right."
Reivyn rolled his eyes at her as she pulled a fresh water skin out of her spatial storage pack. She handed it to him and watched as he took a healthy swig, feeling unusually pleased with herself. He noticed her watching and gave her a questioning look.
"The deal is sealed," she said. Serilla rolled her eyes at her from behind Reivyn.
"How much did I just agree to give you?"
"Didn't I just say it?" She smirked. "A man dying of thirst would part with his life savings. You just need to give me a portion of your life, with interest, and we'll call it square."
"Hmph, I'm not dying of thirst, though," he pointed out.
"You would be, though," Kefira countered. "We're not talking a lot here. Let's say... Ten years of indentured servitude. With 10% compound interest, you'll be free to leave in 15 years or so. Quite a steal for hundreds of years of continued living, if you ask me."
"Sure, a steal," Reivyn sarcastically replied. Kefira giggled.
"Alright, alright. You're one of us now, so obviously you can just have it. Just give me the water skin back when we get out of here."
"Sure," Reivyn nodded. "And thanks."
"Don't mention it."
Reivyn handed the water skin back to Kefira, who took it with a confused frown.
"Just leave it in your storage pack for now," he answered. "I have my own in case of an emergency, and this way it'll stay cold and refreshing. I can always just get it from you when I need it."
Kefira nodded and stored the skin away again. Serilla smirked at her, but Kefira chose to ignore it.