Even Malissa looked like she wanted to throttle the small mage. She massaged her forehead and closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath to calm herself.

“Ming, how do you forget about a hat that’s nearly as long as you are tall?” Malissa asked.

“I got hungry.”

Arek put a hand on Malissa’s shoulder. The tall woman rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“I’d do unspeakable things to figure out what goes on in your head,” Malissa said.

“It’s mostly food,” Ming said. Arek noticed she glanced away from Malissa as she spoke. A pensive frown flickered across the orc’s face, but he wiped it away as the old man reappeared from the upper floor, a large bag slung over his shoulder.

He handed the bag to Ming, who counted out nine silver and placed it in his palm. Ming took some of the food and put it into her extradimensional bag before Malissa took the bag and stored the rest of it.

“Was the map in the bag?” Malissa asked.

“Give me a second, young lady,” the old shopkeep said, slowly making his way across the store to one of the shelves and starting to shuffle through it. After a few minutes, he pulled a curled piece of parchment from the shelf with a victorious grunt.

He strode back over to the group and handed it to Ming. Ming took it and immidiately passed it off to Malissa, who unfurled it. Belmont and Arek peered over her shoulder. The map was very basic and only depicted Red Mount and the surrounding areas.

The village they were currently in was at the bottom left of the map – it was marked with a red circle. There were a few landmarks sketched onto the map, and it had a basic legend.

“Was this map made here?” Belmont asked.

“It was,” the old man responded.

“Was the cartographer reliable? If this map is wrong, we could get lost and die,” Belmont said.

“If you don’t want the map, you don’t have to buy it,” the shopkeep responded, crossing his arms. “The map has gotten me to Red Mount a good number of times, so I’d say it’s perfectly fine. To be honest, once you get close to Red Mount, you can’t miss it. It’s a massive mountain in the middle of nowhere. Just get to the top.”

“I think the map will be more than sufficient,” Malissa said, shooting Belmont a warning glare. “Could we also buy some water? I don’t see many rivers on this map, and I’d rather not get stuck without anything to drink.”

Arek’s face turned several shades lighter and he swore under his breath.

“I’ll be right back,” Arek said urgently, reaching inside his travel bag and vanishing before anyone could say anything.

He appeared within the world of his portable garden and instantly let out a sigh of relief. His crops had grown significantly since he’d last checked on it. They were all lush and green, and none of them appeared dead.

Arek strode over to the water tank and knelt to get a better look at the meter. The arrow was just beginning to touch the red zone. The orc sighed and mentally slapped himself on the wrist.

“No more forgetting to get water,” Arek said aloud. “I am going to be a grumpy orc if all my plants die.”

He reached for the medallion to return to the real world, but a flash of green caught his eye. Arek turned towards it, his eyes widening in shock. He made his way through the rows of crops, making sure not to step on anything, and arrived at the small row he’d designated for the cuttings that Farmer Lewis had given them.

What had been plain sticks just a few weeks ago had transformed into miniature trees. They weren’t as dense as they should have been and many of the leaves looked on the small side, but they were trees nonetheless.

Unfortunately, not all of the cuttings had made it. Only four had branched out with leaves, while the rest had turned shriveled and grown thin. The orc nudged one of the shriveled sticks. It felt dry.

“When do I get the fruit?” Arek asked the living trees.

Predictably, they didn’t respond. The orc grunted. A grin spread across his face. He hadn’t put in a lot of work, but he still felt particularly proud of the four measly little sticks that had leafed out.

He reactivated the medallion and popped back into existance beside the rest of the Happy Sunflowers.

“Forgot to check on your plants?” Malissa guessed.

“Yep,” Arek said. “Nothing to worry about, luckily. I just barely had enough water to keep them alive. I’m going to need more.”

The shopkeep, who was in the middle of climbing back onto the second floor, paused and glanced back at Arek, cocking an eyebrow.

“Two barrels, please,” Arek said, pulling two gold out and placing the money on the counter. The old man flashed him a toothy grin and nodded, disappearing back into the upper floor.

“The second floor doesn’t seem like a great place to store water barrels,” Ming said. “How do you think he’s going to get them down?”

“I’m sure he’ll figure something out,” Belmont said. “It’s not like he’d just throw them down. Maybe he’s got a pulley system.”

They didn’t have to wait long to get the answer to their question. The ceiling creaked loudly and the shopkeep grunted. He leapt down from the hole in the roof in a blur, landing with a heavy thud on the ground.

Arek’s eyes widened. The man had three large barrels. He had one on each shoulder, and the third was balanced on his head.

“Are those empty?” Malissa asked.

“What do you take me for?” The old man asked, frowning. He set the barrels on the ground and gestured for Arek to pick them up.

Arek strode over and picked one up. It was definitely full.

“How did you jump with all this weight?” Arek asked, impressed. “I think I’d have had trouble doing this myself.”

“You aren’t the only adventurers in this building, kids,” the old man said, laughing at the looks on their faces. “In fact, most people in the Red Mount area have been adventurers at some point. Not everyone is a ranked team, mind you. But it just happens to run in the blood.”