Chapter 32

“A tag?” Leon echoed.

“A tag,” the man confirmed. “You know, one like the monsters have.”

“So, what kind of tag do I have?”

The willowy man put two fingers around his chin and stared above Leon’s head. “Well, I’m not sure.”

Leon crossed his arms and shook his head. “You know, having to pull answers from you doesn’t do you any favors.”

“Hey, I only know the things I know.” He pointed to the spot where he’d stared a few seconds ago. “It starts with an L and continues with a bunch of X’s.”

Leon felt over his head. “Why haven’t anyone else commented if it’s there? Are you trying to pull a trick on me?”

The man waved a hand in front of him. “No, not at all. It’s from my skill tree as a scout. But it’s the first time I see something on top of a player. Unless you’re a monster?”

“Not as far as I’m aware,” Leon said. “So, what kind of tags do you see? The ones on top of monsters are stuff everyone sees, so that can’t be it.”

The man puffed out his chest. “I see tags on everything, except for living creatures that aren’t enemies.”

“So, you basically see tags for trees and other such stuff?”

“M-hm.”

Leon looked at the man’s proud face. How was that skill useful in any way? But the real question was why Leon had a tag if no other player did. He decided it didn’t really matter, even if it was there. It didn’t affect him, whatever it was.

“Hey, man! Don’t walk away when I’ve shared such valuable information with you!” The man hurried his steps to catch up to Leon.

“Sorry, but I have enough on my plate. Besides, I have a party that I work with.”

“Oh, yeah?” The man licked his lip. “Well, I’m sure they can’t do what I can.”

“Which is?” Leon walked past the crafting fountain, which didn’t have anyone close by at this time of the day.

“See tags, shoot stuff, climb trees,” the man listed on his fingers.

Leon stopped, pinched the bridge of his nose, and turned around. His party had exited the tower just a few hours ago, and now that he’d purchased what he wanted, he didn’t have the energy to go into a long conversation, or even think of one. Especially when it would involve a stubborn person. “Look, stop following me. If you were as great as you think you are, you’d already have a party, right? And if you have a higher level, what are you doing here when you could be in the main part of the city?”

The man glanced up at the sign of the inn and stretched out a hand. “Name’s Finn.”

Leon didn’t take it, but continued to the door. “That doesn’t answer any of the questions.”

“So, when are you going into the E-ranked forest?” Finn followed Leon through the door.

Leon watched Margaret serve food, and his stomach rumbled. He’d hadn’t eaten since the bread he got from Hert in the tower, and now that he noticed his hunger, he actually felt weaker. But he had a suspicion that Finn wouldn’t leave him be if he sat down, so he continued toward the stairs.

Naturally, the man followed him there, but his foot stopped mid-air, just before they entered the first floor. “What the hell? I need to ask for permission?”

Leon continued up to his room and opened the door. The same room that he’d rented before going into the first floor greeted him, with a simple bed, a storage chest, and a single round window. Trouble, his giant black rabbit with a green lightning marking reaching from her jaw to her lower back, jumped up to him and pressed her head toward his stomach. He scratched the back of one of her ears and laid down in the bed. He’d have to wait until tomorrow for food.

Trouble put the front paws on the bed, and crawled onto it, where she laid down flat over Leon.

He pushed at her, gasping for breath. “I don’t think you can sleep in here with me anymore.”

Hesitantly, she stood up, looked at him, and jumped down on the floor. She sat at the head of the bed and stared at him with her purple eyes. Leon wished he had something for her to lie on, like the tattered shirt he’d thrown away before they entered the tower. Likely, he’d need something bigger, since Trouble had reached the height of a short person.

“Sorry, but it’s just not going to work.”

With a sort of grumble, Trouble turned her head and plopped down on her side on the floor, ears spilling out under the bed.

*******

Leon sat up and stretched out his hands above his head. It was nice to have slept in a proper bed. He froze a moment as the morning light glinted off his hands. It felt weird to keep the iron gloves on, but he didn’t need to take them off, so he hadn’t. They fit so smoothly over his hands, and he could move them without hinderance. He reached down to pat Trouble’s head, and she looked up at him, rising to her paws as Leon swung his feet over the edge of the bed.

“I’ll come to get you after breakfast,” Leon said, even though he didn’t know what to do with her now that she’d stay with him. He stroke her head and walked out the door.

Ever since Leon picked her up, he’d believed he’d release her into the wild once the growth period had passed, but now that he couldn’t… Rabbits were likely an easy meal for wolves, but since she’d grown so big, Leon wondered if predators would act more rashly for the chance of more meat, or more cautiously because she was something they hadn’t seen before. Hopefully, Trouble could still go into the backpack and be out of harm’s way. For some reason, he knew she wouldn’t accept staying in the room for days on end anymore. He worried about what she’d do when alone and bored. It was one thing for a small rabbit, but an enormous one could make her name literal. There was only so much an innkeeper could tolerate.

Margaret served him by slamming the plate onto the table, making the boiled egg roll off the plate and onto the table.

“I trusted you to keep her out of harm’s way!” the heavy-set woman said at Leon’s bewildered look. “Ava broke an arm in there and almost died! You can’t imagine how it worrying it was seeing her stumble in with that blood-splattered dress of hers!”

”I—”

Margaret pressed a finger into his shoulder. “And now she says you will help her climb the rest of the tower.”

Leon picked up the egg and put it back on the plate beside the two slices of bread. “It’s her choice. I won’t force her.”

“So convince her to stay here!” Margaret put her hands on her waist. “You’re the adventurous type. I knew it from the moment I saw you. But Ava…” She shook her head. “She can’t make it through such a journey. Not without proper protection.”

“You’re implying that I should kick her from the party?” Leon said in a flat voice without looking at her. He’d once said he would have Ava in his party if she wanted to scale the tower, and he’d meant it. Though, if she decided to leave, he wouldn’t stop her. Changed or not, she had some issues to deal with, and it was up to her to decide if she wanted to continue the climb.

“Well…” Margaret cleared her throat and looked over her shoulder, stroking a short blonde curl behind her ear. She leaned closer. “If you could do something—nothing dangerous, of course—that would convince her it would be better to just stay here, with me, then I’d make it worth your while.”

Margaret has proposed a unique quest.

Make Ava leave your party

Rank: U

Leon stopped reading. “Decline. Look, if she wants to continue with me, it’s her choice. If she doesn’t, that’s her choice. I gave her my word. I won’t take it back.”

“But—”

“Besides, I thought that the system wanted people to get stronger, not stagnate.” Leon took up a slice of bread and bit into it.

Margaret puffed up her cheeks and crossed her arms over her bosom. “There are loopholes in wording. But thank you for letting me know your view on the matter.”

“Sorry I can’t help you.”

“Choosing not to.” She turned on her heels and stomped into the kitchen.

Leon finished his meal and continued upstairs. There, he managed to convince Trouble to enter his inventory, which he’d thought would be impossible. Luckily, the equipment he had on him didn’t count, or he’d be out of storage spaces. The bigger rabbit somehow took up two spaces instead of one. With the dagger, his new short sword, the iron shard, the rabbit’s foot, Trouble, and the boxes from his level ups, eight of ten storage spaces were full, and he hadn’t even gone out of the inn yet.

He put the iron shard in the chest in the room, pulled forth the boxes he’d gotten from his level ups, and placed them on the bed. One contained a rag doll, like the one he’d given to the girl in the Slums, and that had prompted his unique quest, Beggar’s Mercy. He’d given 8 of 100 000 coins to Scabs, and had over 495 days left. It would take a lot to complete the goal, and not just the monetary part. Since giving the coins triggered Beggar’s Curse, it would be troublesome to deal with, to say the least.

Dismissing the thought for now, Leon opened the other two black boxes and the gray one, which contained two bundles of straw and a wooden wheel, which could possibly fit a food cart. Leon lifted it and turned it in his hands, wondering what he could do with it. The doll had started a quest. Maybe that held true for the wheel, too? Then again, since you could develop a profession and work in the city, it was more plausible that the wheel was a repair part rather than anything special, just like the pants he’d received from a box before. He put all the rewards into the storage chest, leaving only Trouble, the rabbit’s foot, and his two weapons in the bag.

Then he headed downstairs. It was almost eight in the morning, and he wondered if Ava would meet him outside. Same with Hert. Actually, what would happen to Hert’s business, now that he’d decided to change his career path?

Leon looked toward the building while he walked to the side.

“Oh, hey!” a voice said, and Leon looked in its direction. “Fancy seeing you here.” Finn rose from the stone base of the crafting fountain and approached him.

“Well, yeah. I stay at this inn, so… Did you wait here all night?”

“Nah, not at all. Just felt like doing some crafting, that’s all.”

“Alright, good luck with that.” Leon scanned the building behind his shoulder. Maybe Margaret got Ava caught up in some chores. He looked back to Hert’s door. It would be two hours until Hert opened up his shop, if he did at all. Maybe this would be a good time to test out his new skills.

“Hey, man, you’re doing it again!” Finn said as he caught up to Leon. “Come on, you can’t just walk away when someone’s talking to you.”

Leon plastered on a smile and turned toward him. “So, talk. I’ve already told you I’m not interested. I have a group.”

“Yeah, yeah. But you don’t have me in it.” He spread his arms and pointed with his thumbs toward his chest.

“I know.” Leon crossed his arms. “Did you want to say anything else?”

“Where are you going today?”

Leon started walking again. “Training.”

Finn followed. “Oh, neat. What kind?”

”Alone.”

Finn nodded. “That’s cool. I’m also going to train. Alone.”

Leon drew in a breath and looked around the torn buildings in the Slums, then walked past the general goods store and down the street that led to the arch out of the city. As they walked into the plaza close to the exit, he looked toward the road dividing the Tutorial Forest and a wheat field and stopped. A few groups of rag-wearing Scabs started toward them.

“So, Finn. Where are you going to train?”

Finn looked around. “Outside the gate.”

Leon raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Good luck, then.” He started jogging down the road leading to the other end of the Slums, where they’d gone through the portal to the first floor.

Why did the guy have such an obsession with following him? If he’d let Leon be for a while, maybe he’d considered it and talked to the rest of the party. It was a new class, after all. But the unanswered questions, the ego, and the personality of someone who was bound to get into trouble… it was too much. Maybe that’s why he didn’t have a party. Besides, every new member of their party would raise the bar for when they would level up, since they all shared the monster experience.

Leon slowed, creasing his brow. Then he stopped and turned around. A red-faced Finn huffed as he came to a stop in front of him.

“Look, dude, I’m not following you.” He brushed his hands over the brown tunic to smooth it out.

“Obviously not.” Leon nodded to the side. “Don’t let me stop you. Go on.”

“Nah, I’m doing interval training. It’s good for you, you know?” He sucked in a deep breath. “Run, then stop for a moment, and then run again.”

“If you’re going to train outside the gate, you’ve missed it.” Leon started jogging and increased his speed to a run when he heard footsteps after him. Soon, he reached the portal to the first floor. He stopped by the board outside the intact building, surrounded by ruined ones, and turned around.

Finn, with a face red as a furnace, sprinted toward him, and as he saw Leon look at him, he slowed. Leon crossed his arms and tapped the sleeves with his fingers.

Finn came up to him, panting, “Best sort of training.”

“Careful so you don’t stumble with those pointy shoes.” Leon said. “If you want to work on your stamina, I hear the guards run in the mornings. You could join up with them. But weren’t you going to train outside the gate?”

“Sure, sure,” Finn huffed. “I’m just warming up.”

“You know we passed the gate, right?” Leon started jogging again.

“One of them, sure. I’m going out the other one.”

Leon stopped and looked back. “The other one?” Shit. He couldn’t help his curiosity.

Finn tapped a finger on his nose. “You didn’t seriously think there was just one, right?” He pointed to the right side street that led away from the tower. The one to the straight left would lead to the night market square, but Leon hadn’t stopped to explore more than the main streets of the Slums, seeing no reason to do so.

“So, what’s beyond that gate?”

Finn chuckled, then gasped for breath again. “Newbie mistake, thinking there’s only one. It leads into an E-ranked forest to the left, and the F-ranked one if you go to the right. Everyone knows that.”

So, another entrance into the Tutorial forest, and another E-ranked one. Leon thought back to the map he’d seen in Margaret’s inn. It only stretched to display the portal to the first floor, and not much further. It could be true. Still, he’d check it out later. If he asked this guy to show him, he’d never get some time alone to read about and try his new abilities. It couldn’t be so hard to find, as long as one followed the road Finn pointed out.

“Great. Well, have fun.”

Finn looked from Leon and down the street, chewing on his lips. Then he took a hesitant step away. “Yeah, this… this is where I’m going. You’re gonna miss out if you don’t come with me.”

“I’m sure I’ll survive.” Leon jogged to the left street leading away from the tower, and stopped by the gate leading from the Slums. He turned around. Finn wasn’t following him anymore. With a chuckle, Leon greeted the guards and kept running.