Chapter 7

Happenings in Appletown

Tira's POV:

Tira looked on as Phenaquar showed their papers at the entrance to the town. The town guard was different here, as the caravan had finally left the area under the control of Lord Lark. Phenaquar was questioned by the guard.

Guard #1 spoke, "So we are just supposed to take your word, High elf, that this is the seal of Lord Lark and the great oracle? Your party appears underwhelming for such august purposes. You look more like bandits to me, wanting to loot our fair town. Maybe looking for loot from our town monster?"

"Oh, you mean the dryad? You must not be up on your monster lore to not even know that!" exclaimed Phenaquar, having learned the monster’s identity a few hours ago.

Guard #2 said, "It is a tree with a spirit, not a dryad!"

Phenaquar sighed, "Brightbough is both, as that is what a tree with a spirit is, as opposed to a spirit enchanting a tree."

Guard #2 nodded then said, "Wait!" "How do you know her name?"

Phenaquar said, "Obviously, we took a tour of the museum."

Guard #1 looked at Phenaquar suspiciously. "You took a tour? What does that mean?"

Phenaquar was taken aback. "I mean, we looked at her weapon collection, and gave her a couple of weapons in return."

"You're stupid; she would have let you in for free if you had praised her," Guard No. 2 said.

Guard#1 nodded.

"It’s fine," said Phenaquar, "but maybe we can buy a few weapons here; I assume you make them to trade with the dryad."

Guard #1: "Sure, but we need to look over all your people to make sure you are not bringing criminals through here!"

At this point, Tira sighed and approached Phenaquar and the guards.

Guard #2, "Oh, a sword maiden, that's more my style! Give us both a kiss, and we will let all of you through."

Phenaquar growled and was growing very angry at this point, but Tira put a hand on his shoulder and glided over to the two guards. "Don’t bother, Phenaquar; after all, the oracle has foreseen this sort of problem. I have been trained for this."

Tira approached the guards like the dangerous predator she was. She grabbed the first guard's helmet and used her perform (sex) skill to give him a deep kill, leaving him gasping for air; she then kissed the second guard, and his eyes glazed over as she kissed him next. Tira mused to herself, "I didn't think the whole sex appeal thing would come in handy so soon."

Stolen novel; please report.

The caravan rolled into Appletown without a fuss.

The wagons were all opened, and Phenaquar addressed the young elves. "We are going to trust you and let you walk around the town this time. Do not abuse our trust and try to run off. We have taken some precautions, so don’t think you can get away with anything."

The elves were divided into groups. and dispersed to the wind to explore Appletown! The town with a monster—it was bound to be special!

Star dissolved the party except for Tira and set up a new one with three girls and a boy who were not waggoneers that the heroes didn’t trust yet. One of these was her cousin Grey, who had run away before, though it could have been the bugs biting people or something, so she hadn't been punished. Mistmoon, the other boy, was of the Lark coloration. He had been very moody, homesick, and so forth. The second girl was named Slyphianne; she was a faerie elf and had been constantly complaining about something about humans on her status sheet. She had also taken some very sus skills. The last was a girl named Rixende, with midnight blue hair and colorless pupils. She had no relationship to the Lark clan, as her family was visiting. Her father was a hero, and they were not happy about their daughter being sent to Starwick. Blue, her other cousin, had tagged along, as he was very protective of his twin. The suspicious ones being in her party meant they could track them down if they tried to escape.

Because Star had a ridiculous amount of coins in her bug-out bag for a young commoner elfess, she decided to take them out to dinner before the other groups took over the majority of the room. There was a tavern that served food called the Lost Souls. They entered the tavern, and a waitress immediately rushed to them and brought them to the largest table at the tavern. The chairs were poorly made, and the table was basically some logs lashed together with animal sinew.

A few elves lost motor control and their drinks or spoons, seeing the prettiest elfess they had ever seen, and walked through the door with more teenaged elves than they had ever seen in one place before! Was this a new hero and her harem? The group walked in like they were protecting her, a sure sign of an inexperienced party. Appraisals went off; the elfess was actually a noble, complete with an elven blade! What the heck was going on? This wasn’t even the apple cider festival! Had the government sent them a new noble?

Star waved shyly at the gawkers and bought a round for them, as she felt badly that some of them had lost their drinks for some reason. The waitress asked if she was some sort of famous singer or something, noting the lute she carried that Tira had bought for her in the large city they passed.

"No, I just recently learned singing and stringed instruments from the system; I am only a beginner, I’m afraid," replied Star to the waitress with stars and stars in her dark eyes.

"If I do a good job serving you, will you sing me a song for my tip?" said the waitress, sighing.

Fighting the urge to blush, Star, grateful now that she had learned how to act more stately by interacting with Raythiel’s advances, told her, "If you do a good job, you will receive both." The waitress was very attentive.

They ordered the most expensive things on the menu, and then a hunk walked into the tavern. Wearing brigandine armor, he walked like he had already had a few drinks. He had on very high boots, and was well over six feet tall! His hair was white as snow.

Slyphianne said she needed to use the privy, but then headed over to the snow-haired man, sat down by him, and started talking to them. They strained their ears trying to make out what she was saying, but she was whispering. The snow-haired elf matched her volume. It was apparent that he was enjoying the talk, though.

"What the heck is she doing?" asked Blue. He moved his chair back a bit in case he needed to go drag her back to their table.

"Give it a turn," said Star, staring at the tall, muscular elf talking with Sylphianne. There was something strange and yet, familiar about him.