I left the guildhall and out its front gate to wait for my escort. This Rogers fellow should be here within a few minutes. I did not see anyone in particular coming down the roads yet, so it looks like I had a brief moment to myself. A perfect spot and time to 'save'. I deposited the three quest papers in my left into the Ring of Storage Space and prepared myself mentally for this.

Thus far, I was rather lucky (all things considered) since getting virtually dumped here by the RPG World video game. Meeting Elisha, the lady Sage, and Genifer was a trio of good experiences. First, what I learned from each had been very informative in getting to know where and how this magical setting compares to what I had ever known in terms of fiction. And second, it gave a boost to my manly self-confidence. I hardly ever held conversations with women, outside my mom or a school teacher.

The thought of having to redo all of this again was not something I think my sanity could bear, even if I could at all. But I had to know if my [Phoenix Heart] bonus skill would even work. Most my spells and even the [Scan] skill look to be voice-activated, so I could only try that out first.

"[Phoenix Heart]," I spoke in a low voice. At first I thought nothing would happen until it ALL hit me in a split second. My body froze, as if it was encased in ice. Then my heart burned, its sensation feeling physically real. I wanted to scream... then it all faded like it had not happened at all.

After its release, I was panting heavy in trying to catch my breath. My whole body felt numb from its tension, and I went to flexing my right hand in trying to bring back some sensation. That was when I realized I had dropped my rod, again. Life before - it did not roll very far, so I walked over to pick it back up. Then as I made myself upright, I took a quick look around to see if anyone else caught on to anything I just did. I wasn't alone on this street, but no one else seemed to had noticed.

Well, [something] had obviously happened. I could confirm that atleast but nothing happened other than giving myself a mild heart attack. Perhaps there was no 'save point' to return to? I felt fine now as all my senses returned to normal, but I had no way in knowing for sure. Then the thought came - perhaps I have to be dead in the first place to use this skill proper? A dreadful prospect for sure and not one I can really field test here.

I had one convenient way to give myself a checkup, using [Scan] on myself to see if anything was out of the ordinary. My character window looked entirely the same except for one red indication under Skillset, [Phoenix Heart] being highlighted. But I did not even get the chance to game this 'what' out as the skill faded to 'black' a few seconds later. Perhaps this meant nothing at all... or it failed in its task, maybe?

I had only one real way to test it further - getting killed (or suicide) - but I was not crass or bold enough to try either option. Of course I could just use [Phoenix Heart] again to see if the scenario before merely repeats, but I was too wary of experiencing 'that' again. I would just have to turn my thoughts on this for later understanding.

Another five minutes passed, and I was still waiting for my escort. I even doubled back to look at the guild's entrance area to see if I missed his coming. I realized I was starting to look like a kid on the corner who missed his school bus fidgeting around in why it is not showing up. So I took another breath to calm down and was about to sit on the ground when I saw it.

My hand instantly gripped tight on my weapon while my skin broke in goosebumps. Was this a monster encounter? Coming down the road was what looked to be a feathered raptor. A friggen dinosaur was casually strutting down the street here while pulling a little carriage with rather large wheels.

That was when I noticed - none of the other town people seemed to care. Some took notice but only to move out its way. It was a little relieving to see, but I used [Scan] on it just to be sure. Its character window came up as a lv.40 Feathered Raptor with its high physical Stats of 150 values but Luck which was strangely at 0. It had a sizeable HP sphere around it, but no MP bar. However its little window did have some cursive text saying its nickname was Rhoady, a male of good breed (6 gen), and 34 years old.

The scene was almost laughable, this going to be my first vehicle ride in this new world. This Rogers is suppose to be one of the Explorers Guild's best runners (whatever that is), but with this kind of mount, it did not take much thought to know how or why. As it came closer, I could see it was easily larger than a horse, even a clydesdale. It had a strange beauty to it. It had no scales but a colorful feathered pattern instead of the former. From the distance, it just looked an orangey brown but up close, its more detailed coloring could be seen. On Rhoady's back was a high back saddle and in it a rider I could only presume was Rogers.

"Ahoy," came his teasing voice as the rider waved from atop. I waved back, struck a little silly at the sight. "You're Mister Rikku." He said this as though he held some familiarity with me.

"-uh... yessir." I did not know how else to answer him.

"Don't you worry there. I was told to be on the lookout for a mage in a red robe." Genifer must have told Rogers here of my general appearance. Considering I was probably the only one in town with a garb like it, I must have stood out some.

"And none of that sir business, if you don't mind me saying." Rogers had a slight drawl as he spoke. "I'm not an old man yet. Call me Roge. All my friends do."

"Hai, Roge-san. Is that okay?"

"Better," he beamed as he began to dismount. I took this time to use [Scan] on him:

Name: Rogers, Rogers (surname)

Race: Haffu

Class List

lv.21 Tamer

lv.20 Apprentice

lv.27 Villager

Stats

Strength - 56, Vitality - 58, Agility - 69, Dexterity - 57, Magicka - 32, Spirit - 40, Luck - 5

Skillset

Tame Beast +Bonding, Beast Lore

Feats

Wild Empathy, Riding, Endurance +4, HP +20

Titles

n/a

Just about when I finished glancing over his window in my inner eye, Rogers was already before me with an extended hand. I took it easily while he said more formally-

"Rogers, son of Rogers."

"Rikku... well just Rikku." I wanted to avoid using my own family name for now but added, "Nice to meet you. I'll be in your care then."

"Sure thing. I'll get you where you need to be and back." Rogers looked a little guilty as he asked next, "Can we cut all the formality crap now?" He was half-turned and eyeing me like some jokester. I couldn't help but laugh at his shallow proposal.

"Great." He seemed to take that as a 'yes' then said, "Now, we can get to business as friends." Rogers first asked where I intended to go with me pulling out the three guild requests from my ring's storage unit to better explain. I handed each to him, since I couldn't read them out to him, and described each request in the manner Genifer did for me. My escort pointed out two of the locations out in the countryside were but four miles from the other and that I could probably make a visit to each this very day.

I said that was great but was hoping to add the third location, wherever that was.

"That new to town?" Rogers's eye was raised.

"Gomen," I could only pout to my lack of knowledge here.

"It's okay. I think this request," Rogers held out the sheet that I think was the girl with boils, "was made by one of the belles at the Verde House. That is here in town." He glanced once more at each paper and shuffled them into neat order to hand back to me.

"You really think you can do this in one day? It is already late morning." Rogers was a little perplexed so I asked-

"Are the country estates that far out?" Thing is - I didn't get an answer that was suffice to explain his confusion.

"Not at all. I can get you to the old Burg manor in less than an hour. Are you sure, you're not pushing it though." I had no idea what he meant here and said-

"I think, I will be fine. But... do you mean about the payment." I deposited the three quest papers back into my ring storage and pulled out a small pouch of silver. This was kindly given to me by the lady Sage after she explained to me the coinage used in this setting. I had not even asked for them. While it was only a couple silver dollars and a handful of half-dollars and silver dimes, I was not sure how much these taxi services were.

"I can give you these now and pay you any remainder amount if I can complete these quests. Will that be acceptable?" It seemed my response did not meet within his expectations because Rogers now had his hand behind his head, probably wondering how dumb was I.

Thankfully, the escort seemed to look around and made hand gestures as if calculating distances to and fro. He then checked the 'pony' carriage, did something with his large old looking duffle bag, whispered a few words to his raptor mount who cheekily grazed his cheek with the tip of his nose, and said-

"Normally... well, I charge a dime per mile. The distance from here to the Burg estate is roughly 20 miles east," and he pointed towards its direction. "And the farmhouse listed is about four miles from its border." I was already doing the math in my head.

"Then if you really insist, we can double back to town to the Verde House. Surely, the trek is doable before sundown, but... are you like, really sure here? I mean, you'll likely have to make multiple trips back, right?" I had just finished calculating: 20 dimes for one way and back, another 4, and lets just add another just to be on the safe side. 45 dimes is like two and a half dollars. I should even have some left over to make another venture.

I immediately held out one of the two silver dollars and said, "This now and the remainder after the return back, deal Roge-san?" I should get more funds after the first few quests, but the more immediate problem was the now.

Rogers still wore a look of pure confusion as he took the coin from me, "-uh. Yeah, hoss. Let's get you seated, eh?" and he guided me over to the angled two-seater cab behind his raptor. I could only wonder if he was so confunded over my ignorance or my stupidity.