Chapter 1.12 Lizardia?

As it turned out, there were usually animal trails leading to all the clearings, and they were relatively free to walk on. Melinda, however, did not know that. She could hardly see the animal trail, even after the hunters had explained it to her.

It took less than an hour to get back to the road mentioned earlier. The group was returning the same way they had gone to the clearing and had already cleared most of the obstacles out of the way. The closer they got to the road, the rarer the forest became.

A couple of times they encountered small predators. But as soon as they saw or heard their group, they immediately fled into the forest.

The group turned out to be quite sociable. Melinda learned a lot about the new world. Lady Angelina was the most sociable, while Viscount James had grown cold toward her after the initial fervor.

Soon they saw the road. It was wide, paved with stone, and allowed three horse-drawn carriages to pass freely. And it was almost nine meters wide. On the other side of the road, they could see fields planted with something resembling wheat.

Two horse-drawn carriages and a dozen horses were waiting beside the road, guarded by four warriors and a mage.

"Young lady," Lady Angelina addressed her with anticipation in her eyes, "will you ride with me in the carriage or on horseback?"

Melinda looked at the standing saddled horses, one of which looked at her and snorted disapprovingly.

'No way,' she thought, and then said softly:

"I'm ashamed to admit it, but I've never ridden a horse," Melinda reluctantly admitted, causing Lady Angelina to smile broadly.

"That's all right, my dear, we'll ride together," she said, taking Melinda's arm, "I think we have a lot to discuss. Dear James won't mind, will he?"

The viscount didn't mind at all. Before he left, he had given Melinda a small leather-bound book titled "How to Become a Citizen of Lizardia." He said it contained all the basic laws and rules of the kingdom, and that she should at least read it. Melinda thanked him politely for the valuable gift.

Soon their enlarged group was on its way back. Two carriages rode in the center, with equally divided riders in front and behind. In the first carriage rode Melinda and Lady Angelina. Lady Angelina sent her companion to the second carriage, in which she rode alone. Surprisingly, the journey in the horse-drawn carriage along the stone road was smooth and quiet. The carriage itself was comfortable with padded seats. It could accommodate four people.

Melinda sat opposite Lady Angelina. As soon as they set out, she immediately wanted to ask a question, but she hesitated. Lady Angelina watched Melinda for a moment, not hiding her smile until she finally said it.

"Ask your question. Otherwise, you'll suffer with it all the way to town," she said and switched to a more informal language.

"Lady Angelina Daly, are you really an artificial intelligence?" Getting permission, Melinda finally asked her question and turned her head to the side in embarrassment.

'Stupid question. I hope she doesn't get mad.' Melinda thought.

The question caused Lady Angelina to smile even more broadly.

'How nice,' she thought.

"Yes, I'm a hundred percent artificial intelligence of the fourth rank," she confirmed aloud.

"Rank four?"

'NPSs have ranks?' Thought Melinda in surprise.

This was news to her. In fact, everything that had happened in the last four hours had been a bit of a shock.

"Yes. The dusk wolves you killed were rank one. Most of the people of Littlecreek are rank three."

"Аnd..."

"That's all I can say," she didn't give Melinda a chance to clarify her question and then added, "don't feel offended. You just don't have the authority to access that knowledge. Ask your next question."

Melinda thought for a few seconds about what to ask. But nothing substantial popped into her head. There was only one trivial question left.

"Well, besides the question of what to do next, I don't really care about anything else."

"How nice. You were kidnapped by a bunch of strangers in another world, but you're asking that question only now."

Melinda only shrugged her shoulders. She had no fear and was somehow confident that she could defend herself even in this new world. As a last resort, she had the option of leaving the game. Probably…

Lady Angelina sighed and then said:

"I take it you were expecting a whole different game?"

Melinda had tried virtual reality games a couple of times before. They weren't much different from regular games. Only the graphics were naturally three-dimensional, but without conveying the sensation to the player.

"Of course," Melinda replied without hesitation, "it's not virtual reality. It's like transmigrating to another world with swords and magic. The only difference is that I only have a time limit of eight hours.

"Is that a bad thing? " Smiled Lady Angelina. "And what makes you think you only have eight hours?

Melinda looked at the female magician in surprise, hesitant to speak. Would the NPS be able to understand what she was saying?

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"The game capsule is designed for eight hours. At the end of those hours, I will disconnect from the game."

To her surprise, Lady Angelina shook her head from side to side, disagreeing with what she said.

"You have made two false judgments at once, my dear. First, what makes you think that eight hours in a capsule is a hard limit? The human body can withstand more."

She stared at the magician with wide-eyed amazement.

"They told…"

"Weren't you given detailed instructions before diving into the game?"

Melinda nodded affirmatively. Lady Angelina was nothing like the AI. She knew too much about the world on the other side.

"Yes, we got one yesterday," Melinda agreed, "but I was somewhat out of it, so I only read it superficially," then looked away, embarrassed.

'I can't say I spent all day yesterday with Eve. And we didn't have time for instructions at all,' Melinda thought to herself.

"Humans… How typical," Lady Angelina sighed, "when you first dive, the capsule determines your maximum limit. And it's certainly not eight hours."

There was a brief pause. Melinda found it difficult to admit to herself that Lady Angelina surpassed her in knowledge and intelligence. She even became a little suspicious of her being a living person, an employee of the corporation.

"How do you know all this?" Melinda dared to ask a leading question.

"Because I'm one of the moderators of the game. That's the definition in your world. Isn't it obvious? And as for your second false judgment. Open your player status and look at what got written in the lower right corner."

Melinda looked at her suspiciously. She was in no hurry to open her player status.

"Don't worry, I couldn't see your status even if I wanted to. It's forbidden. Neither would you be able to see my status."

After waiting a few more seconds in indecision, she eventually opened her status.

"It says x30/41 in the bottom right corner," she informed her, after reading the writing. "And what does that mean?"

"The number 41 means the maximum time acceleration your brain can handle. The number 30 means the current time acceleration in the game."

'Time? Acceleration?'

It took Melinda a while to comprehend what she said. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"That's… 240 hours! " Melinda exclaimed, counting quickly in her mind.

"I'm glad you figured it out. I'll tell you a little secret. Only a small fraction of your players made it to the x30 server. Most are splitting between x3 and x10."

"That's the first I've heard of this!"

"It most likely is announced after the first day is over."

Melinda didn't expect to be in the game for ten days. This fundamentally changed everything. She felt faintly thirsty and asked for water before she departed in the carriage. Soon she would feel hungry.

'And what about sleep?' A myriad of questions swarmed her head.

"Ten days! What am I supposed to do now? Will I have enough gold coins for ten days?" Asked Melinda.

Lady Angelina thought for a moment before answering. Probably calculating what the money might be enough for.

"That's only enough money for food and lodging. And that's barely enough. Though a girl as capable as you will have no trouble finding a job."

"I have fired from my job five days ago," Melinda suddenly remembered.

"And what was your job?"

"A blacksmith," she answered, remembering her past work.

"Wow," Lady Angelina wondered, "I never would have guessed that. I can introduce you to a good blacksmith tomorrow who just needs skilled workers."

"Not that I mind," Melinda said, "but isn't there another job? Let's say an adventurer or a mercenary. Perhaps an apprentice magician or alchemist?"

Hearing what she said, Lady Angelina laughed out loud. She liked Melinda more and more now.

'Did I say something funny?' thought Melinda. 'She even laughs charmingly,' she turned her head to the side to avoid looking at her.

Lady Angelina laughed nonstop for a long time. This was beginning to annoy Melinda a little, and she was about to speak out, but they were interrupted. The carriage stopped and they heard voices outside.

"Let's go see," she said to Melinda, "I think you'll want to see this."

When they got up from the carriage, they saw a rather remarkable sight. Their group had stopped at the side of the road. A large caravan stood ahead, blocking the road. Viscount James Stonehead, as head of the guard, went forward to speak with the head of the caravan.

The first things that caught Melinda's eye were huge four-legged beasts, resembling triceratops. They were about three meters tall and up to nine meters long, with a short, powerful tail and horns that were one and a half meters long. Their torso and legs a protected by thick chitinous plates.

There was a total of 15 of these beasts in the caravan. Three of them were additionally equipped with a metal frame. It resembled an armored capsule with holes and turrets for crossbowmen. One such triceratops was at the beginning of the caravan and one each in the middle and end. The others were used as pulling power for the huge wagons, up to six meters long.

There were also ordinary carts, wagons, and horse-drawn carriages in the caravan. Afterward, Melinda counted forty-eight of them in all. A hundred armed riders accompanied the caravan. The caravan stretched all the way to the town of Littlecreek.

"Two such caravans leave once a week along this road. One from Littlecreek and the other from the Three Aspens. They spend a week on the road, meeting halfway."

"And what are they transporting?" Melinda asked.

"From us grain, fish and many other foodstuffs. Salt, spices, and metal goods. Including armor and weapons. And some imported goods. They bring to us woodwork from furniture to staves, also artifacts and gemstones. Many plants are brought for medicine and alchemy, as well as finished potions."

Suddenly there was a loud sound of a horn, followed by several more distant and muffled ones. The caravan began to move slowly, and it took half an hour to pass Melinda and her group.

"Littlecreek is at the crossroads of important trade roads. One leads to the Light Elven lands two days to the southwest. The other leads to the human lands to the southeast three days' journey. The river connects to the lands to the south three days' journey and the ocean to the north with a week's journey. Our country has a rather uncomplicated name, Lizardia. The capital is Lizardin about five days' journey north," Lady Angelina gave a short lecture as their group continued their journey.

Melinda took a quick look at the geography of the game yesterday. But she neglected Lizardia. It was too small a country.

"And how many people are there in the country?"

"About five million, half of whom are Lizardmen, and the rest are other races."

Melinda's stomach made a loud purring sound, demanding urgent food. She lowered her eyes in embarrassment.

"Be patient, we'll soon be in town," Lady Angelina said upon hearing the purring, "I just know a good place. My treat."

"Thank you. But that's too generous of you Lady Daily."

"It's nothing," smiled Lady Angelina, "you're my guest tonight and you'll stay with me, and tomorrow you'll be worrying yourself about unnecessary things. And just call me Lady Angelina."

'And what am I getting myself into?' Melinda thought but said something different out loud.

"And what's it going to cost me?" She could not believe such generosity.

"We'll talk about that tonight," Lady Angelina evaded the answer.

"Evening. Candlelight. Wine. Quiet music. A beautiful woman," various fantasies popped into her head. Melinda shook her head, quickly getting rid of them.

Soon the buildings beside the road began to appear instead of fields. And after a few minutes, they stopped at the entrance to the city. The city of Litlcreek was on the high left bank of the river called Zeya and had more than a hundred thousand inhabitants. The city a surrounded by a strong stone wall four meters high and a wide moat with water also about four meters wide. The entrance to the city is through an iron bridge and a massive double-winged gate of thick iron.

"Impressed?" Lady Angelina asked her as they reached the gate.

"Is such protection reasonable?" Asked Melinda, "I mean, from whom would such a wall defend?"

"From waves of monsters or undead, from nomadic raids, from greedy humans, from insane mages… The list is quite long."

"And when was the last time Lizardia was at war? Or is it still at war?"

"Let me think… The last time was fifty years ago… The father of the current ruler from a neighboring state wanted to take away part of the river coast to the south from us. He never did."