Today’s Earth date: October 11, 1991

We accepted a quest today.

A noble family’s daughter was kidnapped by bandits, and they’re demanding a ransom. A peasant out gathering herbs claims to have seen them go into the Underway Mountains, so we’re heading to where they were last seen. The rest of the group seems confident we can pick up the trail there and get her back.

Fighting humans worried me at first, but when you think about it, they’re just another type of monster. Right?

-The Journal of Laszlo the Paladin

***

Wayne kept notes on Fergus’ progress, recording everything in his word processor, like the new wizard’s stats and spells. Carrying Fergus to level 4, he unlocked the spells Missile, Repel, and Poison. That confirmed for Wayne that all of Fergus; magic was pulled from Ultima III, suggesting that switching to Phantasy Star II would allow him to learn abilities from that game instead. None of his other games or unlocks appeared as options, however, and he wasn’t sure why.

At level 4, Fergus had the following stats:

Hero: Fergus the Wizard

Level: 4

HP: 50

STR: 2

AGI: 6

VIT: 3

LCK: 12

His stat progression seemed similar to Wayne’s, minus the onetime boosts to strength, vitality, and hitpoints. Going up a stat or two every level was slow, but relative to what was possible outside of the system, the improvements were exponential.

Fergus said he felt younger with every level.

To Wayne’s surprise, all three of their hires made it through their first week of training.

At the end of that week, they signed contracts Fergus’ drew up to secure their discretion, clarify payment terms, and outline the extreme liability of joining a party with the Zero Hero. No one balked at any of the terms.

The new party members moved into the guesthouse, selecting their own bedrooms from the six remaining. All three of them carried only a single backpack because they owned nothing else. Even Hector, who hadn’t left Cuan or lost anything to fire, had few belongings to bring along. Seeing that was more so a little sad to Wayne rather than anything concerning.

The first morning after everyone stayed in the guest house together, Wayne revealed that each person would get a version of system access. Armond especially thought that was a joke, laughing hard at the notion of being anything like the Chosen Heroes. When he saw a system screen for the first time, he didn’t throw himself backward in fear like Fergus had, but he was plenty mystified.

All three received the same class options as Fergus. Armond selected Cleric. Hector chose Barbarian. And Margo selected Thief after Wayne explained the rogue class and how it sometimes went by thief. He assured her she wasn’t choosing to be evil by picking the Thief class.

Picking Cleric unlocked Heal and Undead spells for Armond. Wayne assumed Undead worked against undead enemies rather than create them. Assumed, but also hoped.

Margo got Disarm and Steal, and Hector only got Disarm. With experimentation, they learned that Disarm could be activated when weapons met for a chance to knock the weapon out of your target’s hand. Steal seemed to work similarly, but instead of disarming the enemy it took an item from their inventory and put it in Margo’s bag. If she wasn’t wearing a bag, the item fell to the ground behind her.

None of them were sure how useful that would be, but the only test subjects they had who carried items were goblins. Snatching smooth rocks and old teeth wasn’t exciting, but perhaps that would change when they encountered the right monster.

Martial classes received less abilities in general, Wayne explained to Hector and Margo, the idea being they make up for it with raw power or agility. Wayne hoped Hector would at least get a rage-style skill, given that he chose Barbarian, but if these were classes from Ultima III, perhaps that skill didn’t exist in that game?

He couldn’t remember.

Carrying all of them to level 4 didn’t unlock anything new for them, but that was okay. The stat increases were most valuable in Wayne’s mind.

Fergus’ carriage driver declined to work with Outlawson–the bug scared the shit out of him, actually. The cook was still in, Fergus was happy to report.

As for the wagon, well, on Earth it resembled what a few of Wayne’s old friends would call a product of “redneck engineering.”

The wagon Fergus purchased was old and oversized, made bigger by a dozen or so additions and expansions nailed onto the frame to create more storage space. The wagon was like that when they bought it, and whoever did the work didn’t know enough about carpentry to cut wood to consistent lengths. It seemed sturdy, though.

Fergus had a custom harness made for Outlawson. He terrified everyone at the tack shop at first, but they came through. The old scholar was proud of it. The tack looked more like a web of leather than harness to Wayne, and the wagon tongue had been extended with a crudely nailed on board to give Outlawson a more appropriate turning radius for his size.

His, as in Outlawson was a he. Fergus made that declaration. Wayne didn’t ask if he did something to confirm that.

And thus, the first adventure of the Zeroes–also a Fergus-given name–began with a giant bug pulling a wagon out of Cuan.

***

Thanks to the time they had to spend grinding everyone to level 4, the group had several opportunities to practice fighting together. They had less than two weeks of training, but between the Fighters’ Guild crash course combined with the instant knowledge acquisition of a character class, they could hold their own.

Had Wayne not acquired Four Score, they definitely would have wiped. Training a party with so little experience to dungeon crawl in less than a month was monumentally stupid. He saw that in their early encounters with goblins and orcs. Even with the boost of adding a class, they had some close calls.

The ride to Asplugha had a steady cadence of one ratman attack by day and one troll attack by night. The attacks became so regular that their cook, a young pudgy blonde named Sammy, went from peeing his pants in the first battle to sitting in the back of the wagon, peeling potatoes by the sixth.

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As they approached Asplugha–a no-stoplight-sized town by Wayne’s estimate–Wayne hopped off of Outlawson and rapid-tapped Blitz. He did his best to explain that Outlawson was not a threat to the town guards on watch. That took some convincing, but the writ from the Governor of Cuan helped immensely.

The town opened the gates for Outlawson and the wagon to come inside. With the ratmen being so aggressive, Asplugha always had its gates closed and watchtowers manned, and they were quick to lock back up. Sammy hopped off the wagon and went into the only inn to book rooms for the party while the Zeroes got their bags and from the wagon.

Wayne and Fergus left in search of someone in charge.

***

“Haven’t heard from the dig site in a while, but that’s not unusual,” the Mayor said. He was a small man with a cane and squinty eyes. “They are always well-stocked, and with the rats, plenty of reasons to make their runs to town infrequent.”

That also meant the Mayor couldn’t offer any updates on the Governor’s son. All of the dig workers were on site, behind their own palisade. Last he knew, he was fine.

“What's your interest in the dig?”

“We were hired to help the dig team.”

The Mayor frowned. “That’s a shame.”

Wayne asked what he meant.

“When I saw the Governor writ, I thought we were getting help with the rats.”

“Ah, I'm sorry.” Wayne said. “What would you want done?”

The Mayor said that was a simple answer. “Kill the den mother. Only way to bust a nest like this.”

“Den mother?”

“Big mama rat. What the city folk call a nest is usually just a pack. Those don't have den mothers. We do. That's why there are so many so quick.”

Wayne wasn’t sure if “den mother” was a term for rat moms back on Earth. He could recall reading about rat kings–a cluster of rats with their tails tied together–and then there were the many legends of New York City rats, like the one that ran off with a piece of pizza. No memories of den mothers, though.

“You know a lot about ratmen,” Wayne said.

The Mayor shrugged. “Have to. They're a fact of life out here.”

In his mind, Wayne wondered how many levels he could squeeze out of a den mother. At least one, right? His mouth said, “I can't promise we can be the solution, but we’ll look into it and do our best.”

“I'll try to rustle up a reward to make it worth your while.”

Wayne said that wouldn't be necessary. “We can make it part of the job. Don't worry about it. I wouldn't mind some advice on getting around, though.”

“Anything you need.”

***

Wayne sat at a tavern table with his party, which included Sammy the cook.

“There is a wagon path to the dig. Unfortunately, it is not Outlawson-friendly. It's too narrow, so we are going on foot. Except for Sammy. Fergus will want your omelets on a hike for sure, but we should expect a lot of ratmen. You’ll stay here and guard the tavern.”

Sammy smiled. “I’m up for the challenge.”

Wayne finished by asking if anyone had questions.

“Are we thinking the diggers will still be there?” Margo asked.

“Miss Kryss isn't a copper pincher,” Fergus said. “I'd expect her to have secured proper defenses for her investment.”

Wayne agreed, and Ms. Galleia suggested the same.

“How many rats are we talking?” Armond asked.

“Smallest pack I've seen is twelve,” Wayne said. “Mayor says pack attacks are usual behavior. If they were smart enough to swarm, they'd own half the continent by now.”

“So a good few inside then,” Armond said.

“Lots of experience points,” Hector added. When Margo and Armond gave him a look of disappointment, he said, “Easy for you guys to say. You all got useful abilities.”

“Wayne warned you it was a straightforward class.”

“I didn't know straightforward meant one skill.” Hector turned to Wayne. “You had an empty screen like mine for four years? That sounds like hell.”

“It will work out, Hector,” Fergus said. “The Chosen Fighter has a similar trajectory, earning his greatest boons late into the journey, but they are worth the wait.”

“Get some sleep tonight,” Wayne cut in. “We need to be sharp tomorrow.”

Leading by example, he thanked everyone for their attention and went upstairs to his room. Fergus went with him.

“How are you feeling about tomorrow?” Fergus asked quietly, accepting Wayne's invitation to follow him into his room.

“I think we’ll be fine getting to the dig. Clearing the nest worries me. Seems like an easy way to get surrounded.”

Fergus agreed. “I’ve also been meaning to say, thank you.” He held a hand up to hush Wayne before he could protest. “I'm very grateful I got to come along for this.”

“I was miserable here at first, and then I got lucky enough to study under you,” Wayne replied. “And now, because of you, I'm getting my second chance at my second chance.”

“I'm getting one too, except I'm smart enough to do it in my first life.”

“I’m serious,” Wayne said. “I've had so much fun already. With everything we've chosen to do, I don't recognize myself sometimes. I'm enjoying getting to know this version of me.”

“Yeah, he's not so bad.”

“You know, I used to be afraid of everything. I was terrified of getting in trouble for any reason. I'm not saying I should have been shittier in my first life, but I was always too afraid to stand up for myself or to put myself out there. And all this time, all I needed was a set of superpowers.”

Fergus laughed. “Then there are those of us who just need a push.”

Wayne opened Goods Storage and returned with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“Good thinking,” Fergus said, taking a seat at the small table in Wayne’s room.

“We had a practice back on Earth that we called ‘study abroad.’ Basically, you attend another University some place far away, another continent, usually.”

Fergus said they did something similar in this world too.

“Well, I had the chance to study in a country I always wanted to visit. It was a lot of money, though, and I didn’t want to be away from my girlfriend that long, so I didn’t go.”

His friend listened quietly, enjoying his wine.

“We broke up halfway through the semester I would have been away.” Wayne chuckled into his wine. “Never did visit.”

“Our friendship has made me reconsider how I feel about reincarnation. You got a second one, yes, but looking back on your first life? I don’t think I’d want to do that. This life is enough time to overthink every choice I’ve ever made. Doing it twice sounds awful.”

“Which one do you overthink the most?”

Fergus thought. “Her name was Yula.” He swirled the wine in his glass, more out of habit than anything else. “I was a miserable young man. I took myself and my work too seriously, and I had to fight every problem I saw or had. Had to be right, you know?”

Wayne nodded.

“So Yula. She adored me. I choose that word specifically because her love was so pure. It wasn’t over the top. It wasn’t desperate. It was perfectly sincere and perfectly honest. Then I took on a new project, big career opportunity, all that. I had to move to Teagaisg for six months, and I broke up with her by letter once I got there.”

“Ouch.”

Fergus nodded. “Yep. I wanted the freedom to be my own man and didn’t want to be tied down. When I moved back, she moved on. Of course she did, right? I was arrogant enough to think she’d still want me. Seriously. I was shocked when she turned me down.”

“Where is she now?”

“Last I heard, married with three children. He’s a lawyer. I try to make it a point to not seek that information out but someone always feels like they have to tell me.”

Wayne refilled Fergus’ glass. “I know what you mean. Block them on everything, and it still finds you.”

“Block?”

“Basically cut off all communication. There are more ways to do that in my world than there are here. It’s kind of like not opening her letters but then reading about her in the paper by accident.”

Fergus grunted a single laugh. “I know exactly what you mean.”

“So the way to make up for losing the girl is to take up dungeon diving?”

Fergus laughed again. “It is a round about way of coming to terms with a particular truth, I’ll give you that. Working out well so far, though.”

“It sure is.”