Suara was nervous with everyone watching her. She fidgeted with her Deck Glove as she spoke. “I’m not a bad person,” she began. She knew there was nothing convincing about that statement. She had an idea though. The king had more power than the magistrate, and the best way to get him on her side was to convince his daughter. That is, if she knew dads at all. “I just like flowers and wanted to pretend to be a princess for a minute. I’m sorry if I scared you by being where I wasn’t supposed to be. I hope my actions don’t mean the view of the flowers has to be ruined for everyone else.

“Um, so if you’re going to kill me anyway, I’d like to finish my quests first.” She didn’t even know if her being killed this way mattered in this game; she assumed not. But if she returned to the Spawning Square would she end up in trouble forever? Would they forget about her? “Priestess Ayoe asked me to kill hobgoblins in Goblin Valley as part of my punishment for trying to pick an apple without permission, and I was also given the task to look for a missing person at a temple. I would like to do these first so no one else is stuck having to do my work.”

Magistrate Deshn returned to the stand. “Ignoring the ridiculous request, I think we are done here. My verdict is that Suara Kurisol is an ignorant, violent thief, who should not be trusted by anyone. She is not even capable of considering the safety of others, and her continued presence in Wreathmill is a detriment to us all. I recommend she be tortured in the dungeons until death.”

Princess Ziarra stood up, her fists trembling at her sides. “You vile old man!” The ruffles of her dress bounced to punctuate her words. “It has been so long since one of these trials I had forgotten how black and compassionless your heart is! There is simply no way this acolyte deserves torture and death! You would compound her few transgressions and mistakes and equate them to a crime greater than the sum of its parts!”

“Lady Ziarra,” the magistrate shook his head, “surely these matters are best left to the adults. We know best.”

“Unicorn’s arse you do! Guards, lock the magistrate in the deepest dungeon! See how you like it, you hideous pus-worm!”

The king took his daughter by the shoulder and pushed her back into her seat, but he did nothing to stop the guards from dragging the magistrate away. Deshn whined as they hauled him off, but didn’t dare protest against the princess’s command.

Once the magistrate was gone, the king leaned to whisper to his daughter. Suara almost couldn’t hear the words. “We can leave him there for a little while, but he’s not staying down there forever.”

The king stood and took the centre stand. “I would like to finish this quickly so we can all return to our busy lives. To that end, we will hear my daughter’s thoughts on what should be done with the accused, since she is the one who dismissed the magistrate. She will keep in mind of course the severe sentence normally associated with trespassing at the castle.”

Ziarra stood up and addressed the court with her arms crossed. Her voice carried as well as her father’s. “Suara will be sentenced to community service. If the testimonies tell that she is a well-meaning nuisance, then she should be given the opportunity to prove her worth to Wreathmill. I have the perfect task to this end. Since she is already eager to go to Goblin Valley and help with the issue of the raids, she will be charged with recovering no less than ten of our people’s stolen goods, and slaying no less than ten of the goblin rogues who steal them. It will not be easy, thus she either succeeds and the town is better for having her, or she dies and her debt to society is buried with her.”

~QUEST ACCEPTED~

-Revenge on the Rogues-

Task

Recover 10 Stolen Goods / Slay 10 Goblin Rogues

Reward

300 EXP

Location

Goblin Valley

“Then it is so,” the king declared. “Do not let the magistrate be proven right about you, acolyte.”

Suara nodded sadly.

The royal family exited first, and everyone else was allowed to leave once they were well gone. Suara was held until last, and then the guards dragged her through a tunnel and dumped her in the Lower City near the bakery.

She brushed herself off. It was morning. She’d been locked up all night! That meant she only had today to go to Goblin Valley if she wanted to investigate the temple on time.

“Hey Suara,” Xander said.

“Ah!” she jumped. The morning’s events had her on edge. “What? Hi Xander.”

He looked incredibly amused. “How did you get yourself into all that?”

Suara didn’t feel like explaining herself to Xander, so she walked away. He could follow her to Goblin Valley if he wanted, but she wasn’t going to explain what he already knew from the trial. She wanted to forget it if she could.

“Alright I won’t bug you about it. Are you leaving right away?”

“Of course I am!” she shouted. Xander would never understand. She felt so much shame and embarrassment. It was rotting her from the inside out. It was the opposite of everything she wanted. She felt like she was about to spiral into a pit of despair and needed to distract herself as much as she could.

“What?” Xander suddenly stopped. “Who th—” He stood still with a confused look on his face. “Wh-huh?” he said, speaking to no one. He cocked his head. “Sorry—uh.”

“Are you talking to something?” Suara asked. He blinked. With a sigh she turned and walked away. She didn’t want to think about more weird things. She wanted carrot cake.

“Uh, wait!” Xander called. He jogged up beside her. “Wait! There’s uh, before you go back you should get your reward from the uh, from the Emporium right? Then we can check out the shop for new cards before you go.”

Suara frowned at him. She did like cards, but he was being weird again. “Fine, the Emporium is on the way anyway.

He followed her to the Emporium with a scatterbrained wobble to his head, looking around everywhere as if he expected something to jump out at him. She entered the office alone.

Tun Yeer didn’t look up from his papers when she entered.

“Sorry about the trial and the impalement stuff,” she said bashfully.

“It’s fine, just don’t forget the damn phrase again. Most people are understanding but I don’t need folks thinking I’m hiring weirdos.”

~QUEST COMPLETE~

-Tun Yeer's Backlog-

Reward

Merchant's Emblem / 5000 gold.

“At least you had the decency to finish all the deliveries before getting arrested,” he continued. “If you come back alive from Goblin Valley I’ll have more work for you.”

She thanked him and left. That was probably the closest she would get to praise from that grumpy bunny-man.

Xander was still standing outside, looking around nervously. She walked past him. Carrot cake and her mirror, then she could visit the shops. When they reached the Winged Rabbit, Xander couldn’t stop fidgeting with his tunic.

“I’m going to wait in the Spawning Square. It’s uhh… try not to keep me waiting alright? I’ll be outside the NPC shop there.” He hurried off.

Well, she wasn’t going to rush on his behalf, but she didn’t intend to take her time anyway. She helped herself to a slice of cake from the kitchen, thankful that Aurea hadn’t eaten all of it already, and then went upstairs. She knocked on Aurea’s door.

“It’s Suara.”

“Come in,” Aurea answered.

The innkeeper was sitting on her bed with a book. Suara gave her a long hug and thanked her for standing up for her.

“The mirror is on the table,” Aurea said. Suara took it on her way out.

As promised, Xander was waiting for her outside a shop in the Spawning Square called Card Crafting. She was so excited to see what she could buy with all her gold, that she barely noticed Xander mumbling to himself.

The shop was laid out like a library. Shelves of binders ran around the walls, with another through the centre. A tiny elf man stood on a stool behind a display case on one side. No other players were in the shop, and Xander didn’t follow her in.

“There you are!” the little elf said. “I mean… welcome, our… one millionth customer?” He cleared his throat. “You like rare cards, don’t you? There is a rare prize just for you! We also have a massive selection of nice commons and uncommons that even a brand new acolyte can afford.” He watched her intently.

“I bet I have less money than everyone else who comes here,” she said. She approached the case to see what was on display. They were all rare cards, and mostly ones she couldn’t even use.

The elf placed one in front of her.

“Huh? You want me to use that? I’ll just die!” Why did everyone in this game want to kill her?

The elf shook his head. “It leaves you with one point left, so you can heal yourself.”

“Oh.” Suara pointed to the horn and moon on the card. “This is a church card, why do you have it?”

“We get church cards sometimes! Why do you ask so many questions?” The shopkeeper threw up his hands. “Just take the card, it’s a prize!”

“Fine,” She liked the card, and added it to her deck right away, but she didn’t like how weird everyone was. “This better not be a stolen card. I’m in enough trouble as it is.”

“It isn’t stolen.”

“Good!”

The elf just sighed and pulled out some more cards. “If you want more healing spells, you will need more mana cards. The Single Elemental Manas are common, you can have them for a hundred gold each. These rare cards though… they’ll cost you a bit more.”

More cards that would kill her. “I don’t want to die! Can I see something else.”

The shopkeeper pushed the mana enchantment aside. “You don’t understand, these two are a combo. You only use them together, and you stay alive. Get it? Then you just heal back up.” He pulled a thick binder off the shelf behind him and picked out some more cards. “Here, these seem like your type. Some more healing as befits an acolyte, and some cute critters like the Bullet Sparrow.”

“Oh!” Suara clapped her hands together. “How much for them?”

“Tell you what, some of these cards are rare… but healing cards are hard to sell since most people would rather use potions.” He chuckled, “Buying potions all the time is better than getting stuck on that horn if you ask me. No offence. I’ll give you the fourteen cards for… let’s say forty-five hundred gold.”

“What?! That’s all my gold!”

He leaned over the counter with a sly grin. “I know.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled the gold from her inventory. It appeared in a little pouch with a ribbon. She placed it in his open palm and watched it vanish beneath the counter. It only took her a day to make it, she could make more.

“Thank you for your business, young lady. Do me a favour and flip the sign on your way out, hmm!”

As she was leaving, she saw the sign he meant. It read ‘OPEN’. She flipped it around so the ‘OPEN’ side could be read from outside and ‘CLOSED’ faced her.

“Xander!” she waved her finger at him as she stepped outside. “You didn’t tell me the store was closed! I just walked right in! Are you trying to get me in more trouble?”

Xander flinched. “Wha—you can read, can’t you? It isn’t my fault you weren’t paying attention. Did you get some good cards at least?”

“Yes, he didn’t seem to mind that I came in. I got some nice cards like a cute Bullet Sparrow.”

He sighed. “I really hope that isn’t the best card you picked up.”

“He isn’t, but he’s really good. Have you seen how cute he is?” She waved at him to follow her. “I’m going to die in Goblin Valley now. You can follow me if you want.”

He did follow her. “Don’t worry so much, you’ll be fine,” he said. “I have a feeling someone’s looking out for you.”