Chapter 68: Sunburns for Birds

“Make sure you don’t forget to let the runist into the store,” Arthur reminded Lily.

“Got it. No problem.”

“What’s next?” Ella asked. “I’ve done a fair bit of traveling in my day. I can help make sure you don’t miss anything.”

“I was thinking I’d buy a bag of miscellaneous hygiene stuff. Bandages, soap, razors, extra toothbrushes. That sort of thing.”

“Good idea. Not as good if it was a walking trip, but for where you’re going, those things should help you avoid a lot of nightmares. Are you set for clothes?”

“Just what I have for around town.”

“Stop by the tailor and tell him you need two or three sets of traveling clothes. He should have something he can cut down to your size. Make sure you get a big hat. Do you look good in hats?”

“As far as I know? No.”

“Get one anyway. Sunburn is no joke. Especially when you’re going to be on the road for a whole week.”

“What about food?”

“Pack light. Milo will probably hire someone that knows the route well enough to time things well for town visits. But you never know when you’re going to be out overnight. They provide food in those cases, though it’s pretty simple fare. Bring some treats if you need. And that should be about it, honestly. Milo will probably force some weapons on you, so there’s no reason to arm yourself. Otherwise, you should be good to go.”

“So just the tailor and more two more stops that I need to make,” Arthur said.

“Oh?” Ella smirked. “I never took you for the overpreparer type.”

“Not those kinds of stops. I still haven’t told Mizu, and I should be able to catch her at her work if I hurry up. I also wanted to ask Eito why I got so many stat points on my last level up.”

“So… many?” Ella looked confused, then shocked. “Arthur, are you already at level 20?”

“Yes? So that’s normal?”

“Possibly. How many points did you get? Everyone gets some, but it’s class dependent.”

“Ten extra, plus the normal two.”

“That’s… awfully high. Not unbelievably so, but about as high as anyone gets. You’ve assigned them?”

“I brought up my physical stats with about half of them and my class stats with the other half. I should be pretty set to just split my points between perception and wisdom from now on.”

“Sure. But I think you are burying the story a bit here, Arthur. You got started later than everyone else. You know that, right?”

“Yeah?”

“And Milo is leveling about as fast as anyone in the city. Guess what level he’s at? Eighteen. Probably close to nineteen, but nineteen is a bottleneck for most people. It can take months of work to break down the barricades for last level, and you just strolled past it like it was nothing. How?”

“I wasn’t doing anything weird. The shop is doing well, I guess. And Itela gives me plenty of people to treat with tea. But beyond that, I haven’t done much.”

“Hmm.” Ella tapped the table, then shrugged as she gave up on the problem. “I suppose it’s nothing we have to figure out right now. It’s not a negative, at least. Just another odd thing happening to an odd boy. And Arthur, have you really not told Mizu you are leaving yet?”

“Well, yesterday it was getting off work and then straight to bed. And she’s busy in the mornings.”

“You’re leaving for a week at least, Arthur. Maybe a month if things don’t go smoothly. She’s not that busy, I assure you.”

“Got it. I’ll go to the tailors on the way, and then head straight there.”

“Good. And I’ll get back to work cooking.”

—

The tailor took Arthur’s order and a bit of extra coin to compensate for the rush order. The big hat, it turned out, was a part of the package as far as the tailor was concerned. Arthur had his measurements taken again when it occurred to him. How did sunburns work for bird-demons? Did Ella burn through the feathers, somehow? Did the feathers themselves get irritated? He thought about asking her, then dismissed the idea in favor of asking Milo during the trip once they got sufficiently bored.

And then he was off to Mizu’s work. In all his time coming here, he had never dared to knock on the door to the weller building. Every single soul that worked there treated that door with all the reverence they could muster, and he would have sooner banged the hinges off a confessional door than accidentally do something wrong at Mizu’s workplace.

At the same time, it was never hard to get Mizu’s attention. As soon as he showed up, it was only a matter of time before someone entering the building on business told her that her peculiar offworlder boyfriend had shown up. This particular visit turned out to be a new record. Someone leaving the building for a break saw Arthur almost as soon as Arthur saw the building himself, yelled something he couldn’t hear down the staircase, and managed to get Mizu up the stairs in less than a minute.

Mizu was pretty to Arthur at all times, including now, but he wasn’t completely blind to factors like what she was wearing or how she had done her hair. Her coldfall dress had been stunning. Most of her normal clothes were cute in a long skirt kind of way and sometimes, she swapped that look for something more functional, like she had done when they had been camping. Today’s outfit was harder to judge than either of those, not because of cut, color, or fabric, but because it was completely and totally covered in mud.

“Mizu, you are absolutely filthy.”

“Yes.” She grinned like a loon. “We’re expanding one of the channels. It’s warded up already so everyone is digging.”

“I sort of want to draw shapes.” He held his finger up to her cheek and wiped away some of the thick, black soil. “Like reverse face paint at a fair.”

“Go ahead.” Mizu presented her cheek, and Arthur drew a heart on it. “Don’t tell me what it is. I’ll look in the water later.”

“Deal.”

“I’m glad you visited. I wouldn’t have been able to come to the shop like this.”

“Yes, you would have. You are allowed in however you want. Even slimy.”

“Good. But maybe next time.”

“Actually, now that I think about it, you wouldn’t have been able to this time, either. The shop is closed right now.”

“Why?”

“That’s sort of what I’m here to talk to you about. Can we sit?”

Mizu refused to dirty any of the nearby benches, so they set up shop on a nearby flowerbed wall.

“So, I’m leaving town.” Arthur held up his hands a little defensively as Mizu glanced at him in alarm. “Not permanently. On a trip with Milo. His dad is stuck in some small town, and I figured it would be a good chance to see some of the world.”

“For how long?”

“That’s sort of an open question right now. It sounds like a week at least. Probably more like two or three.”

“Hm.” Mizu sat silently for a few moments, as unreadable as Arthur had ever seen her. “Lots of other towns?”

“I guess,” Arthur answered.

“Hm.”

The next silence stretched on for almost a minute.

“I’m not ready to talk about this right now,” Mizu said.

Shit.

“Okay. No problem,” Arthur said.

“Just… can you meet me outside of my house after sunset?” Mizu looked at the door to her welling work, like she wanted to escape. “I can tell you then.”

“Sure.” Arthur felt like the world was fraying around him, at least a little bit. “I can do that.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you then.” Mizu somehow walked back to the door in a way that gave the impression of her bolting away. Five minutes later, Arthur found himself back near Ella’s, a bit unsure of how he had made it back. Somewhere in him, he found the strength to believe that things were going to be okay. The demon world hadn’t let him down so far and every relationship had its up and downs. People were stronger after that, at least that’s what the conventional wisdom was.

“Arthur! There you are. I found someone who might work. You need to go meet him, I’m here to bring you,” Milo stood in the doorway yelling until he got a better look at Arthur. Then, he paused and fell silent. “You don’t look great.”

“I’m not. But it might be nothing. I’d rather we could ignore it for now.”

Milo examined Arthur’s face uneasily for a few seconds before apparently deciding on something. “Fine. I’ll let go. Are you up for meeting this guy? I can put it off, but…”

“No, let’s do it. A distraction would be great right now, actually.”

“Then let's go before mom sees you. She’ll want to know what’s going on once she sees you looking like the world is ending. I know that much.”

—

In a circular city, there wasn’t a strict definition for what counted as the far side of town. Ella’s house wasn’t in the city center, but it was reasonably central compared to much of the city. That meant most city gates were quite a distance away. And the one that Milo now brought Arthur to was about as far away from Ella’s house as a gate could be without being beyond the city.

Unfortunately, there were no fancy angles or shortcuts to save the day. And while the city never had traffic as such, the most direct route to the gate also took them through smaller, more pedestrian-choked streets. Arthur did his best to keep up with Milo and was minutes into the process when he realized Milo didn’t have to slow down much for Arthur to keep pace.

“Gods, Arthur. Did you make a new quick-travel tea, or something? You are so much faster,” Milo said.

“Oh, no, it’s not that. I just hit level 20 and invested in some body stats.”

Milo let out a choking laugh.

“Just level twenty, he says. Arthur, people throw parties for friends that pass level twenty. Mom would be planning one now if we weren’t leaving.”

“It’s that big of a deal?”

“Bigger. To the point where I lay even odds that someone still throws you a party when we get back.”

“Well, damn.”

“Damn’s right. Look at old Mr. Earth, just effortlessly passing me up. I feel small, Arthur. Diminished.”

Milo politely wove through a clog of shoppers at the end of an alley market, and when they burst out of the constriction, Arthur saw they were getting relatively close to the far gate.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll get to twenty soon. Especially, if you have to do any smithing on the road. Is that a possibility, by the way?”

“In a small way. The heat you need to smith with is pretty intense. You know the heat sources they use for cooking? There is a stronger, larger, and overdriven version of that. Except where yours lasts years sometimes, the kind I need costs the same. And is single use.”

“Ouch. You get any?”

“Not yet. We’ll see how much money I have left over after this. There’s the guy, by the way.”