Elmar gave the silver bracelet to Garry. It was enchanted with ice and air, and it was level 9999 on the scale. The gnome looked at it like he was given the most precious thing in the world.

Garry held up the bracelet and the people in the inn cheered.

“Friends! I may not be able to stop old Warrick’s curse, the dreaded rainy season, but I can promise to become the best dungeon core possible. A peaceful one.” Said Garry and the bracelet disappeared and, in its place, appeared a crystal.

The crowd cheered and then went back to what they were doing. Carry rubbed his hands and went to the back, probably searching for his mother. Diana clapped Elmar on the shoulder and smiled. Elmar smiled back.

“It was a good thing you did. Now Garry can repair the inn even in the rain.” Said Diana.

Dereck took the platter with the special and began to eat. In between bites, he spoke.

“And maybe they can have more food delivered. Different kinds, I mean. I don’t think we can survive off apples, ginger bread and soda for four months.”

“On military training, we survived on crackers.” Said Lucius with a shrug. Compared to his time in the army, this was a feast. He dipped the ginger bread in the apple caramel and then ate it. Perfection.

“We can write to Theanore to send us food, if we start to get sick.” Said Diana. The little nymph might even make the food herself. She always liked to cook.

“We can, but better not. She has 300 mouths to feed.” Said Dereck. He’d rather eat this than deprive some of his fellow orphans of a meal.

“What do you plan to do today?” Asked Lucius. He looked at the surrounding guests and sighed. “Not that there is much to be done here.”

“I was thinking we can find a map of the area.” Said Elmar, and his eyes found the surrounding bookshelves. “And copy it, so we can be ready for when the four months are up.”

“That is a good idea, Elm.” Said Dereck. He was scooping up the apple caramel with his spoon and eating it in small bites. “This place has numerous books. One of them will be an atlas, for sure.”

“Ok, eat up, and we will start searching.” Said Diana, and they returned to their meals. When they finished, they washed their hands and mouths and went to a different bookshelf to search for an atlas.

The books were interesting and Elmar made note to come back to some of them. Grandpa Thinker’s Might and Economy sounded like something to keep in mind. And, of course, his Green dwarf alchemical recipes sounded like something they could try out in the kitchen. Provided that Aleida let them use the kitchen.

Lucius waved his hand and the other three came to him. He was holding an old, tattered bock in his hands, and his eyes were shining.

“They have Roads and Landscape here. We learned geography by it in the army. I think even the forest of plenty is mapped out here.” Said Lucius and the four went to the bar as there were no free tables to be had.

As Lucius opened the book, a cloud of dust rose from it.

“What edition is this?” Asked Dereck as he poked the book. His finger came up dirty.

“First, not revised.” Said Lucius. “But the roads of Eomis are rarely changed. I am sure we can find what we are looking for here.”

They carefully began leafing through the book, and they found the forest of plenty, finally. There was a big, folded, map of the whole area. Lucius unfolded it and they looked at the swamp.

Finding it, they next looked for the inn. Again, they found it only to groan.

“We are a day away from a teleportation outpost.” Said Dereck disappointed. “I can’t believe our luck.”

“Well, that means that we will have less to travel in four months. And there is no telling if the teleporter is out of commission by now.”

Then, they began studying the map. If the teleporter was still working, it would cut their travel time by 200 kilometers. Then, they would need to travel another 50 kilometers to the next teleporter, which will cut their travel time by 150 kilometers. There were no more teleports between the last one and the capital, but there was a big road that didn’t seem to be stopped by any roadblocks.

“The path ahead is straightforward.” Said Lucius. “But we can still get lost. Some teleports lead to more than one spot, and in this map the names of the stations are not written.”

“What if we walk through the road, then? Or, in our case, fly?” Asked Elmar. Their boots were sturdy, and the enchantment was reliable. They could cover a thousand kilometers and their feet wouldn’t even be sore.

“That is a better idea than the teleports. But there is one problem. On the road, we are vulnerable to an attack from bandits.” Said Lucius. He placed his finger in a spot that had a cave painted on it that was next to the road.

“This does look like a good place for a bandit’s hideout, or a dungeon.” Said Diana. “But if we get lost in the teleports, then this map will be useless. The teleports can take us as far away as Alerion, for all we know.”

“So, we take the road?” Asked Dereck. He made the calculation in his brain going by their movement speed with the air enchanted boots. “It will take us two months to reach the capital. Half a year with our wait time here.”

“And another half to make it back to where Luca dropped us off, so he can take us back to the grotto, if there is another rainy season.” Said Elmar. A year was a long time, but Elmar was determined to see his mission done. He was sure that he could do it too, but for now, he had four months to prepare.