“That’s not the only good thing,” Jack chuckled before gesturing at Tyler with his head, “Show him what we got.”
Tyler took off his backpack before taking out a black coat.
“Look at this beauty,” Tyler smiled as he showcased the coat. “Even the wealthiest merchants don’t wear something this fancy, and I have seen a lot.”
The black coat was adorned with silver-white fur that reminded Roy of the Crescent Wolf. Even the fabric itself had a moon and celestial patterns all over it.
Jack took the coat from Tyler before handing it to Roy with a grin, “Take it, it’s my gift for you.”
Roy was surprised for a second before he gracefully accepted Jack’s favor, “Thanks man, I’ll make sure to get you something as cool.”
Roy took out his worn-out jacket and put on his new coat. He looked down to check if it fitted him, only to find out that it was too big. Just as he was about to click his tongue, the black coat shone with a white light before shrinking to fit his body.
“What the hell? This is also a thing?” Jack was taken aback by the sorcery that happened just in front of his eyes.
“Seems very convenient,” Hassan scratched his chin. “I guess it makes sense though. If all the pieces of armor and coats that come out of the dungeon were of the same size, only one person in the world would be able to wear them.”
After he scanned himself up a down, Roy let out a sigh of relief. Finally, some good clothes that are not too big.
The Jacket that Roger had given him was full of holes and burn marks, but Roy did not want to get rid of it just yet. It was something that was gifted to him, he couldn’t disrespect Mr. Roger like that.
Roy carried the Jacket on his arm, “I will keep this one for Old Jeff. Maybe he can restore it later.”
“Do what you want,” Jack shrugged, “But I say just get rid of that piece of junk. It’s gonna be a waste of time.”
“Really?” Roy raised his eyebrow, “Remember last year’s winter?”
Jack clicked his tongue at Roy’s response, “Do what you want.”
“So, what’s the plan now?” Hassan cut in.
“You guys will go to the lake and join up with Marth,” Roy immediately responded. “I will go to the village and get things started on that end.”
“Well, good luck explaining to people what a dungeon is,” Tyler chuckled.
“Yeah, even after entering it twice I’m still confused,” Parker added.
“Well, I’ll try my best,” Roy smiled and put back his backpack. “See you guys later.”
With those words, Roy made his way out of the forest. As his ideas were coming to fruition, he couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of relief. Now that he did not need to leave a large portion of his manpower back to defend the villagers, his worries lessened by a considerable margin.
Reaching Roger’s house, Roy found Mr. Roger sitting among his children watching Jaimie train the other kids. His smile reached from ear to ear.
Seeing this sight, Roy took a deep breath before stepping toward the middle-aged man, “Mr. Roger, can I talk with you for a second?”
“Yeah, sure,” The man looked with surprise at Roy before gently taking Mary off his leg and letting her sit in his place.
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He then walked toward Roy before noticing the jacket in his arm.
“That thing went through hell,” he laughed heartily before scanning Roy’s figure, “That is a good coat you have there. I could have sold it for at least fifty gold coins before the apocalypse.”
Roy chuckled and looked at his coat, “Well, it was a gift from a friend.”
“That’s a good friend you got there,” Roger responding before continuing with a low voice, “But that’s not why you came here, right? Is there something wrong?”
The young man tilted his head before answering, “Well, as you know, we will be fighting the red bear today.”
“Oh, really?” Roger raised his eyebrows. “I did not know that. How are the preparations going? Will you be fine?”
Hearing the middle-aged man’s concern, Roy’s heart melted, “We are more than prepared for the fight, but the problem is not about us.”
“Then what is the problem?” Roger furrowed his eyes in confusion.
Roy took a deep breath as he formulated a sentence in his mind, “Well, when we will be fighting the red bear, all of the fighters are going to be in the forest. That means that there won’t be people to protect you and the villagers.”
The middle-aged man’s eyes opened wide in horror before he shifted his look to the side. He stayed silent for a few seconds in thought before looking back at Roy.
“Surely there won’t be much trouble even if you’re away for a few hours. The fighters have cleaned the whole place from the monsters.”
Roy wryly smiled at Roger’s analysis, “It’s not just the monsters that we have to worry about…”
As the middle-aged man understood what Roy was talking about, he looked and took a deep breath, “Is there anything we can do? Surely there is a solution.”
“Yeah, there is,” Roy nodded. “Deep in the forest, there is this magical place called the dungeon. If you go inside there, it is like you are completely isolated from the outside world. There are monsters inside the dungeon, but they do not move from their place until you get close to them.”
Roger furrowed his eyebrows at Roy’s new information, “So, do you want us to go inside there? What if those monsters move though, how will we deal with them?”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Roy shook his head. “Even if monsters come for you, you can always leave the dungeon and they cannot go outside. We will leave two men to keep you protected if you do need to get out.”
Roger took a few seconds to grasp Roy’s plan before nodding, “Okay, I just want to ask one thing, have you tried staying at the entrance of this dungeon? Have you seen if the monsters actually never move?”
“Yeah, of course,” Roy smiled. “I had both Jack and Hassan try it out for two hours each to see if the monsters will not move; they didn’t.”
The middle-aged man heaved a sigh of relief, “That’s good to know. With that, I think I can convince everyone to move,” Roger then raised his eyebrows as if he just remembered something, “Oh, on that note, when do you want us to move?”
“The sooner the better,” Roy replied. “I want Alfonse and his boys to take you there in small groups. That way, we don’t bring any attention from someone looking around.”
Roger understood Roy’s reasoning and nodded, “Okay, I will go and talk to them now. It should take around half an hour.”
“Thank you, Mr. Roger, you’re doing me a great service,” Row slightly bowed.
The middle-aged man laughed, “What are you saying? You’re doing this for our safety; no need for thanks.” He then looked back to the jacket in Roy’s arms, “Also, give that to me. I’ll give it to Jeff and he should fix it in a day.”
He handed Roger his jacket, before the latter walked toward Jeff’s house. Roy turned to look at Jaimie teaching the group of kids and smiled. Well, you don’t need to fight anything today. Have your fun.
With those thoughts, Roy entered Roger’s house where he found doctor Jacob drinking soup with potato and boar meat.
Seeing the young man come in, Jacob swallowed the food in his mouth, “You took your time there, young man.” He then pointed at the two spike traps at the corner of the room, “Take them, I have put the poison on them already. But be careful and don’t ever touch the metal, unless you want to vomit, have diarrhea, and have your muscles break down for days.”
“Jacob! What are you saying to the young boy?” Aunt Martha shouted at the doctor who almost spilled the bowl of soup from terror.
She then looked at Roy with concern, “But be careful Roy, don’t push yourself too hard, okay?”
“Thank you, Aunty,” Roy smiled. “I will be careful.”
Just as he was about to carry the spike traps, Fred walked down the stairs along with Conrad.
“Where do you think you’re going alone?” Fred grinned. “Let us help you carry this stuff, it’s too dangerous on your own.”
As Fred and Conrad went and carried the two traps, Roy stood in his place without anything to do.
The young man shook his head at how the situation turned out before saying, “Can you guys take this stuff to the lake? I need to go and talk with Alfonse about how we’ll smuggle the people to the dungeon.”