Chapter 19, Departure

It had been a weird but wonderful night of skill gains and love but the sun is now rising. Freshening up, manifesting my clothes and tying my hair I start making my way towards the town gate where the merchant caravan will set off from. It’s still a bit chilly from night air shaded from the warming sun by the houses lining the streets and only a few people are out and about this early.

When I reach the gate I see a line of 8 fully enclosed wooden wagons, two horses tied to each one and their drivers going around poking and prodding different things to check that all is in order. One of the drivers that fits the description provided by the posting is chatting merrily with the middle aged guardsman while James is half asleep, leaning against the guardhouse wall.

“I sure hope that there isn’t anything as exciting happening on this trip as our last one. I told you about that right? About all those wargs coming at us from seemingly nowhere.”

“You did Gilbert, and yes let’s hope your journey goes smoothly. I can’t stand it if we don’t get that shipment of Golsom Wine as every liquor store in this town has already sold out their stock.”

“You’ll like it when our caravan returns then. There’s going to be both Golsom Wine and Mulbrook Ale traded in large quantities this trip. Who do we have here?”

I’d been listening to their conversation while walking up to them and the driver and caravan manager, Gilbert, had finally noticed me. He was a plump and bald man clothed in expensive looking silk that wasn’t too ostentatious in its design. Quite conservative as far as merchant garb goes.

“So it’s you girl. You managed to sign up at the guild then, I take it?”

“That’s right. I’ll be escorting mister Gilbert here and the caravan both ways.”

The guard looks pleased that I hadn’t lied to him and actually done as we agreed by taking the loan and signing up with the guild. Gilbert looks at me appreciatively while beaming before going in for a vigorous handshake.

“Pleasure to work with you, miss?”

“Zelaria. Likewise Gilbert.”

“Show me that token of yours and I’ll imprint that you’ve arrived here on good time. The clerks at the guild always like having as many timestamps as possible for their records.”

I summon the token in my hand from my new fancy storage ring before holding it out for Gilbert to touch and mark its contents with his mana signature. He would be doing the same to confirm the completion of my posting when we reached our destination and when we returned. I can then show it to a clerk at any Adventurers Guild and get paid. It’s quite a good system for efficiency and record keeping.

“You may stand or take a seat at one of the wagon roofs as you see fit Zelaria. We’re not going to fuss that you have to walk all the way as long as you keep at the ready in case we need your protection. Pontus, I have a few more notices to give out to the caravan and a few more postings to confirm. I'll see you in a month.”

Saying his goodbye to the middle aged guard, who apparently was called Pontus, Gilbert takes his leave after I’d thanked him and walks towards another driver. I also say a farewell to Pontus and walk up to the caravan to inspect it. The wagons themselves are pretty basic in ornamentation but look quite sturdy. The horses pulling the wagons also have a seasoned and experienced look about them as they stand calmly awaiting our departure, snorting softly and swishing their tails slowly to keep flies at bay.

Not seeing anything of real interest and not sure if I’m allowed to take a peek into the wagons themselves I do as Gilbert suggests and leap onto the roof of the wagon 4th in line. It will probably be quite a bumpy ride from up here but it has to be more pleasant than constantly walking.

Five minutes after taking my seat, soaking up the morning rays, Rolas arrives and talks with Gilbert. He’s greeted like an old friend and I assume he’s a regular at this particular posting. He gets Gilbert to mark his token before taking a stroll around the caravan and stretching his legs. He also waves at me and I wave back but we are in no hurry to catch up and he seemingly wants to stretch his legs.

It isn’t long after Rolas arrived that a fairly standardized adventurer party makes their way towards us. I look at them curiously. There is a mage, healer, tank and two warriors. They lack a physical ranged damage dealer but having two warriors instead isn’t anything uncommon.

The mage is a woman, probably in her twenties with rusty brown hair and blue eyes. She has an average build and height wearing brown robes with red trimmings. Probably an earth mage if she went the standard mage route and dressed in colors relating to her element.

The healer is a man who looks to be in his thirties with black robes but carrying the white and green emblem of the Healers' College. He has black short hair and a very long and lush beard.

The tank looks almost too small to be a tank but their armor can not be for anything else since they are clad in heavy full plate and carrying a shield on their back. I can’t make out anything else about them.

The two warriors must be twins of different sex. They both have pale gray eyes and ashen hair with streaks of black. Both are quite pretty as their facial features work well on both sexes. They are clad in leather armor and chainmail while each carrying a basic looking shortsword on their hips.

They are apparently the last of the adventurers escorting the caravan as Gilbert jovially announces to start the departure as he skips to the first wagon, his own, and flick the reins. One by one the wagons start forward and gain speed before exiting through the gate.

Rolas and the adventurer party chose to continue on foot alongside the wagons for now and I lean back on my hands while looking out over the steadily brightening landscape. I’m finally off on my first adventurer posting.

“Zel, what do we plan on doing on this trip while not lazing around or killing things?”

“I have no idea, Ari. You got anything interesting to work on?”

“I have a few ideas of things I want to try modifying in our body and a few ideas of something you might want to work on.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“I’ll leave what I’m going to work on as a surprise until it’s finished. No peeking using [Mana Sense] you hear me? And you could be working on our clothes. I quite like the simple, utilitarian and tantalizing design overall but it wouldn’t be too bad to maybe add a few decorations. We’ve got the [Wisdom] to afford a little luxury such as this after all.”

I send my assent to Ari as I’ve been thinking the same thing since first arriving at White Rock. I have a few ideas of what might look nice but it will have to wait until later as I just want to enjoy the morning of our departure in peace for a while.

When the sun reaches its zenith and the town has been left behind, hidden among rolling hills, Rolas seems to have had enough of walking and jumps up on the wagon I’m occupying. He looks the same as yesterday when he’d given me his friendly advice except for what has to be a new dagger strapped on one leg. He sure seems to like them.

“Hello, Rolas. New dagger?”

“Hi. Yes, I got it yesterday. Had been eyeing it for a while and finally got out my coin to purchase it. Enjoying the posting so far?”

“It’s fine for now. I might get a little bored if there’s no action on this trip but taking a moment to just relax and make some gold isn’t wrong either. You’ve accepted this posting before haven’t you?"

“Sure have. This is my third run with this caravan. Gilbert is reasonable and a good manager. I’ve been staying in White Rock for half a year and doing a few things while using this posting as my income.”

It isn’t a bad town really. I could see why someone might make a temporary stop there but I’d personally never take on this kind of mission three times. This will probably be my only escort posting if I don’t come across one that takes me somewhere interesting.

“Say, those daggers of yours, I’ve been wondering what they’re made of. I haven’t seen any daggers like them before.”

Rolas is eyeing my daggers visible through the clear crystalline sheaths with childlike enthusiasm. He should have picked a rogue class and not become an archer. I pull one dagger out soundlessly before tilting it to show it off.

“It’s just mana.”

“What? Like a skill?”

“Yup.”

He stares at the daggers before staring at me with envy. Can’t say I’m not pleased that someone fascinated by my weapon of choice approves of them.

“I designed them myself, you know. Got a skill for it since The system seemed to think it was good enough.”

“Damn. They’re vicious looking daggers alright. I don’t fancy being on the other side of that tearing edge.”

“Yeah it’s quite gory to use but it’s effective. It’s also quite fun tearing instead of slicing as there’s more of a visual effect and fear factor to consider when your gut has been torn open instead of just invisibly sliced.”

Rolas gives a slight shudder at that response and looks at me with an odd expression in his eyes. He doesn’t seem to understand but I can’t blame him. If he killed the same monsters for years stuck in a dungeon he’d like to have some variation in the carnage like me. I decide to pull us away from the topic of daggers for now as I don’t want us to continue down that vein.

“So you’ve been in White Rock for half a year? Where do you originate from?”

“Riverflow kingdom. I’ve been there for most of my time as an adventurer and White Rock is my first stop on my way to seeing new places.”

“Riverflow kingdom? You wouldn’t happen to know anything interesting having happened there in, let’s say, the last 60 years?”

“The last 60 years? Quite specific but sure. There’s always something going on in a kingdom that large and I take it you're going there next?”

“That was the plan. I want to know though if anything has changed since my information is quite outdated.”

“Alright. Let’s see. There have been a few minor rebellions in the last 30 years or so since the previous king abdicated the throne to his son. The new king has raised taxes by quite a large margin and is positively vicious when putting down the rebellions. Slaughtering whole towns who had any part in it. He isn’t hated or anything but many say his father was better.

"Then there’s of course the undead invasion that started 50 years ago but you have surely already heard of that.”

“Undead invasion? What? No, I haven’t heard of it.”

“You must be from quite far aways then.”

I only nod since I have no need or way to explain my origins and silently urge him to continue. This was a huge change and something that had happened when I was below the earth. I had to know what I was getting myself into when entering the kingdom.

“Well as I said it started about 50 years ago. The then neighboring Terosvar Empire to the east of the Riverflow kingdom had a couple of civil wars and the empire was torn apart from within. It is said that a few former brainwashed slaves of the previous emperor started a cult to resurrect him while this was going on.

"Apparently they got all the death and sacrifices they needed to invoke some ritual that killed everything left in the empire's wartorn capital. They say that the previous king rose as a lich but I don’t know if that’s true. I do know though that after the death of the whole capital the dead rose and started killing everything living in the surrounding lands of the capital before slowly spreading to cover the whole empire.

"There must be some kind of being controlling them though as they are quite organized in their chaos and they’ve launched several invasions into the neighboring territories of the previous Terosvar Empire. Killing everything and dragging their corpses back or straight up turning their victims undead on the spot.”

“That sounds awful! And this has been going on for 50 years?”

“Yeah. We’ve got a few diamond ranked adventurers keeping them at bay and the organized military stationed at the border usually keeps any fighting from getting too far into the kingdom.

"Luckily Julie ‘The Lightsaint’ and Howard ‘The Huge’ arrived at the start of the catastrophe and killed the general leading the first invasion. We weren’t prepared for it then and the kingdom would have probably fallen if the undead still had their commander to guide them for any long period of time.”

I freeze with my mouth hanging open and eyes wide in shock. It can’t be them right? Julie a saint? AS IF! But Howard ‘The Huge’?

It can’t be a coincidence, right? How could a man named Howard and being described as huge be mentioned in the same sentence as someone named Julie not be the people I know? That settles it. I’m not going anywhere near the undead as I have no interest in meeting a Julie who is seemingly worshiped as a kingdom saving hero.

“I know it’s shocking but your reaction seems almost too much. You okay?”

I close my open mouth and relax my posture at the curious look Rolas is giving me. Ari mischievously strikes with a slight blush on my cheeks and I look down to hide it, then realize I’m only making it worse by acknowledging it in front of him. Sending a mental playful swat at Ari and getting a kiss and laugh in return I make my excuse to cover my awkwardness.

“Seems I’m lucky to be able to go there today then, if it was such a close call. Have the undead managed to breach any of the other neighboring territories?”

“Sure. The Alvian Kingdom to the east of the empire was supposedly conquered ten years ago and they claimed almost a fourth of the Nirvada forest before getting sent back by the elves 30 years ago. The damage had been done though and the miasma killed almost all of the vegetation in that area.”

It was quite the tragedy then. I could go and kill a few undead from another side of the empire if I so chose but for now there’s a lot of other places to explore and mysteries to uncover that don’t reek of rot and undeath.

“Alright. Thanks for telling me.”

“No problem.”

We sit in companionable silence for the rest of the day before the caravan stops at the top of a hill as the sun sets and starts setting up camp. There’s literally nothing to hunt here on the rolling hills if I don’t manage to shoot down some kind of bird flying high overhead so I settle myself on the grass a ways away from the cooking fire before manifesting my pipe.

I don’t fill it yet but simply run a finger along it while waiting for the sky to darken enough that the stars can make their appearance. The sky is perfectly clear tonight and out here, away from the town’s light, I’ll have a wonderful view of the night sky with a still young moon as backlighting.

When the stars show themselves and a fragrant and tempting smell is making its way from the cooking fire with the caravaners and adventurers sitting around it chatting merrily, I bring out my weed pouch. Filling the bowl with practiced ease in slow deliberate movements I put the pouch back in storage before lighting it and taking a pull.

A slightly more uniform and less wobbly smoke ring compared to my previous attempt escapes my lips and floats lazily away on a calm, almost imperceptible wind. It’s rare for the wind to be this still in an open region such as this but I suppose the rolling hills slow it down enough to not immediately break my smoke construct apart.

I continue puffing for a while while gazing at the stars and enjoying the calm. After my bowl and flame have consumed the pipeweed I shake the ash out before holding the pipe in my palm. I absently listen to the conversation going around the cooking fire between the sound of slurping and spoons hitting bowls.

“Some sort of stew then.”

“Hmm, what?”

Ari and I have melted together slightly with the euphoria settling in and we’re holding each other in silent comfort before my absent thought takes her attention away from her stargazing.

“Nothing, dear. Just an absent thought.”

With a peck on my cheek we return our attention to the night sky and sit there for the whole hour, riding the high and contemplating ourselves, each other and the world.

“You’re not going to eat anything?”

The high has mostly gone down by now and having finished their meal and drink, Rolas sits himself down next to me while gazing at the stars like I have been doing all evening.

“No. I don’t need to. I’ll catch something to eat if I see something that looks tasty but that will probably not happen before we reach the Delinu forest.”

“You don’t need to?”

“I do not.”

He looks puzzled at my calm confirmation that I don’t need to eat but decides not to push for any details.

“You got some pipeweed at least. That your poison?”

“It is. Alcohol is fine I suppose but I prefer the grass myself. It’s a habit as much as an indulgence.”

“I see. I’m personally more fond of drinking but to each their own.”

“Are we trading with elves, Rolas?”

Quite the abrupt change in topic but I’d been wondering about this since we’re traveling south towards the giant forest at the horizon that I had guessed to hold elves. I didn’t know where the trading outpost was located before accepting the posting since I’d be going back anyway.

“You didn’t know? Yes, we are. The Delinu trading outpost is managed by elves and they’ve got a settlement not far from there. There are a few human traders who come from down south to trade at the outpost at the same time as us so it’s really an exchange from three parties.”

“And we’re importing alcohol and more from the south I guess. Anything else?”

“You’ll see when we get there but yes. Mostly from the south though as the elves don’t export much except alcohol.”

“What are our wagons transporting there? I wanted to look but it seemed rude to investigate the cargo.”

“A few different metals from the north and different crafted tools and other such things from the Riverflow kingdom and the Damasus kingdom.”

“Damasus?”

He stares slightly awkwardly at me as if not sure of what to say.

“You don’t know in which kingdom we’re currently in?”

“Oh. I had no idea. I haven’t been in a town or city in forever. Mostly kept to the wilds.”

“Hm. Alright I won’t pry but you’re certainly quite the mystery. Well, yes we’re in the Damasus kingdom and moving towards its southern border. It ends at the forest which is claimed by the elves we’re going to trade with.”

“Thank you. I’m woefully ignorant.”

I summon my weed pouch once more and fill the bowl to the brim before lighting it and taking a slow, long pull. Rolas and I look at the stars while my smoke rings make their way down from the hilltop towards the valley in the direction of our destination.

I smoke much slower this time, trying to make it last as long as possible but when the pipeweed is gone I can only sigh in contentment before dispersing the pipe and making the ash join with the earth.

“That didn’t look like you put it in storage. How did it disappear? An enchantment perhaps?”

“No. Just mana.”

Ari and I are currently not interested in having another conversation with Rolas as we’re currently back to basking in each other's embrace while looking at the stars and lightly kissing each other. Just a little love and nothing wild like the night before.

Rolas, obviously still curious, takes my contented smile and dreamy stare I direct towards the stars as a clue to keep silent and we’re thankful for it. He soon walks back to the rest of the caravan who are starting to prepare for the night and set up the shifts. I know I’ll need to talk to them and get my share of the watch but for now, Ari’s lips and the stars are everything on my mind.

Half an hour later when I can hear the caravan finally settling in with everything having been prepared for sleep, Ari and I, still partly melted in each other's love, make our way towards the rest of the adventurers who seem to be arguing about who will take which shifts for the night.

“-no George. We’re not letting you take the first shift. You’ll just fall asleep as usual.”

“Come on, Melina. I’m not even tired now. I can stay awake for a few hours.”

It’s the twins who are bickering. The sister obviously knows her brother to be a lousy first watch while he adamantly disagrees.

“Look at his eyes, Zel. Not tired? He looks like a raccoon.”

I stifle a giggle before giving Ari a light swat and inserting myself in the conversation.

“Sorry to interrupt. I haven’t introduced myself, have I? I’m Zelaria.”

The twins stop their bickering as the rest of the party and Rolas turn my way. I can feel everyone except Rolas identifying me, slightly rude but prudent and I reciprocate.

[Earth Mage - Level 89]

[Healer - Level 78]

[Warrior - Level 93]

[Warrior - Level 85]

[Warrior - Level 84]

Both male warriors and healer openly ogle me while the earth mage shoots me a quite hostile glare, not sure what her problem is, and the twin sister looks quite curious. It’s the twin sister who responds first.

“Hello Zelaria. I’m Melina and this is my twin George.”

She’s obviously waiting for him to greet me but when nothing comes out she looks to her brother and sighs.

“George, stop ogling her tits. And greet her.”

George and the two other men jump slightly at that and George looks quite embarrassed as he gives his twin a look filled with meaning.

“Yes. Hello, I’m George.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Clive.”

“Hi. I’m Tupon.”

The three men introduce themselves in succession and when it becomes the [Earth Mage]'s turn she answers with ill concealed hostility.

“Miranda.”

That was it.

“What’s her problem?! Feeling jealous of my Zel’s bust are we?”

“Getting a little protective are we, Ari?”

I still give her another kiss with a bit of tongue as thanks for her support. It’s as much her bust as mine but I know she only feels indignant at the open hostility that comes out of nowhere.

“I heard you talking about keeping watch and shifts and I came to tell you all that I will be awake the whole night. You can do as you like among yourselves but I wanted you to know now so that no confusion arises.”

“The whole night? You sure?”

The twin sister asks, responding first again.

“Yes. I don’t sleep.”

I don’t feel like explaining so I just leave them at that before getting back to my previous spot and sitting down again. It will be a long night but I don’t feel like doing anything productive yet.

I’ll spend the first night on this trip slowly exploring and contemplating the building love between Ari and myself. I don’t really care that it is quite insane to grow an intimate bond with someone that’s almost the same person but it just feels right somehow and it has taken us over 60 years to figure it out.

“I know what you’re thinking, Zel.”

Ari breaks away from my mouth and licks her lips as she continues.

“It isn’t strange that we suddenly grew this strong and intimate bond, you know? After sharing everything together, pleasure and hardship both without truly giving our all to each other we’d grown closer. It wasn’t emotionally intimate though.

"I felt it slightly during our time at the brook but it wasn’t until the pipeweed high came that we truly embraced every part of each other. It isn’t strange that the feelings contained by us keeping a small distance between our hearts would manifest this strongly now. People talk about love at first sight but we literally had over 60 years to build our love upon without really acknowledging it.”

Giving her a long, deep kiss and entwining our tongues before breaking apart a few centimeters I gaze into her silver eyes, brushing a few locks of raven black hair from her cheek with a finger and give a simple answer.

“I know. I love you, Ari.”

“And I you.”