“How are you going to get the food?” said the priestess.

Ryu was sitting in his throne, which was currently still a white lawn chair, debating where to go in his head. Like everything teleportation wasn’t free, and the fact he had to manually cast it only exacerbated its cost. Ryu was lucky he still hadn’t chosen a class, as if he’d gone for something like a warrior he wouldn’t have enough mana to cast the spell at all.

“I’m going to teleport,” said Ryu, as if it was obvious.

The priestess nodded in approval.

“I suspected as such. How about teleporting the survivors somewhere more hospitable?”

“You don’t seem all that surprised,” said Ryu.

The priestess bowed her head.

“The goddess has been kind in sharing her observations of you.”

“So teleporting is why she’s taken an interest in me?”

“It is not my place to speak on behalf of the goddess without her permission.”

“Okay…”

Ryu returned to his internal debate. His teleportation method, [Blink], had an important limitation: he had to have a clear image of the destination. Recalling a picture perfect image in his head was easy with Dot’s assistance, but it didn’t change the fact he could only teleport to places he’d been before.

It was there that a another problem arose. Ryu didn’t leave Sanctuary much. The further he got from Sanctuary the more likely he was to die; hence, most of his activity was within walking distance of Sanctuary or near established roads.

“May I ask you a question?” said the priestess.

Ryu tsked.

“Just ask the question.”

“I do not mean to offend, but are you normally so… erratic?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I am merely curious if your behaviour is an act or not. However, naturally, there is no need to answer.”

“It’s an act,” said Ryu, paying attention to Dot’s progress in the background. “But is there something wrong with it?”

“It depends.”

“You can literally say that about anything.”

“It depends if you want your people to like you or not.”

“They don’t need to like me,” said Ryu, skipping to the next option in his head.

The priestess raised an eyebrow.

“They only need to listen to me,” said Ryu.

“I see, but that wasn’t what I asked,” said the priestess, looking Ryu in the eye. “I asked if you want your people to like you, not if they need to. So?”

“Time’s up,” said Ryu, jumping out of his seat.

“Are you-” said the priestess.

“It’s truly unfortunate but I gotta go.”

Ryu shut his eyes.

“Where-”

In that instant Ryu was gone, leaving behind a burst of glowing particles and a priestess, mouth still open.

“... are you going?” said the priestess, to no one but herself.

The priestess wouldn’t be getting an answer, at least not right now. She could only guess as to where Ryu had gone; however, such a task was easier said than done. For NPC’s travellers teleporting and logging off looked the same, and as far as NPC’s knew they were.

Sighing to herself, the priestess’ eyes jumped to the now empty lawn chair, and she stepped forward and allowed herself to take a seat.

“Finally...”