Chapter 164: Town

AN: Extra-long chapter!

The man, after some prodding, handed over his valuables. It felt nice, turning a mugging around on the robbers, even though he didn’t actually have much coin on him. Well, not much objectively. But to us, the five one-hundred-eyt coins he put in my hand almost doubled our haul from tonight. Plus, the satisfaction Ainash had when she stared down at the coins gave me the impression she saw them as not only a resource to use, but also a trophy from defeating the “mean guys,” as she called them. So I supposed that was a plus.

Once we took everything off of the man, I looked back over at him, restrained and on the ground. “You know the deal, right?”

“I never made no deal with you,” he spat.

“Oh, but you did. See, when you were alone and vulnerable, lying on the ground—like you are right now—and I decided not to kill you, that was us making a deal. A deal where, in exchange for you fucking off forever, you get your life.”

He scowled. “Fine. We’ll leave you be. No revenge. Now can you let me go?”

“I don’t think you understand what I’m asking you to do. I’m not just saying ‘no revenge.’ That’s something you’ll do anyway if you value your lives. I’m saying that you do not interact with us. You do not talk to us. You do not look at us. You do not interact with law enforcement regarding us. If you see us hunting out here, you run off back to whatever hole you crawled out of. If we’re walking toward each other on the street, you cross to the other side. And especially, you do not mug, rob, extort anyone, ever again. And I know you probably won’t listen to me, and you’ll go out and get your coin from the pockets of newbie adventurers. I get that. But I do want you to be afraid every single moment while you do so. Because if we ever see you even speaking to another adventurer in any sort of adversarial way, we will not hesitate to execute you where you stand. This is your one chance.”

“Alright, fine, I get it,” he averted his eyes from me.

“I still don’t think you do. If you ever try to kill any of us, whether its some ambush on us as a group, or tracking a single person down and targeting them while they’re isolated, we will not hesitate to find and kill every single last person in your group. I will track down your homes, your families, and end them. I don’t give a shit if they’re innocent. I will do it just to fuck you over. If a single one of us dies—for any reason—you are all dead. Got it?”

He took a shaky breath. “Look, I’m really sorry we tried to hit you. W-we didn’t know who you were. I-I dunno if you’re some famous adventurer from the kingdom or something, but I swear we didn’t know.”

“I don’t give a shit about what you knew. Now you know that if I ever catch you breaking any sort of law, be it murder or fucking tax fraud, you are dead. So, y’know. Move with caution.”

He nodded over and over, like each nod had a better chance at reassuring me.

“Okay. Now go find your little group. Tell them what I told you. And be absolutely sure they understand the weight of my promises. Because when I make them, I keep them.”

I sent a message to Ainash asking her to take off the bindings around his wrists, and the moment they were off, he pushed himself to his feet and scampered off.

Erani watched him leave alongside me. “You sure you didn’t go too far with the whole threatening their families thing? Also, I do hope you realize I’m definitely not going out and killing random children if you die.”

“Oh, yeah, it was a total bluff,” I said. “But I’m not taking any chances. Obviously, I don’t want them to try and assassinate any of us or whatever, but I also don’t want to get involved with any sort of law enforcement. That’s just asking for trouble. So I thought being as intimidating as possible would be the best way to keep them silent. Plus, if they stop trying to mug people, that’s definitely a bonus.”

“Yes, I’m sure they’re totally reformed,” Erani rolled her eyes.

“Anyway, sorry for taking over that whole thing,” I said. “Didn’t really give you any chances to say anything you wanted to say. I kinda got into the role, y’know?”

“Oh, no worries, it was fun to watch you work. I would’ve gotten Ainash to message you if I needed to say anything.”

I chuckled. “Well, at least now we know how we’re doing things if we ever need to threaten more peoples’ families. Roles have been assigned. I’m the talking one, and you’re the muscle who stands in the back of the room menacingly.”

“Ideally we won’t need to fall back into those roles.”

“Hey, it’s always good to be prepared.”

Once we were sure none of the bandits were following us—which was somewhat easy, given the open nature of the surrounding fields—we got back onto the road back to the town of Salvation, and started walking down.

“Do you think we should stay outside with Ainash for tonight?” Erani asked as we walked. “I don’t want her to end up ambushed by those bandits.”

“Hm, that might be smart,” I said. “I tried my best to keep them from trying something stupid like that, but it’s still definitely a possibility. Maybe we should just run in to grab some food and supplies before coming back out here with her. Safety in numbers and all that.”

“Do not need to do that!” Ainash interjected. “I will be fine.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “I mean, if they decide to come after you…”

“Mean guys will not find me if want to kill me. I am very sneaky. Will go far far away from them, to other side of Human territory, and will be very careful to not be followed. Also, if mean guys decide to try kill me, that means they are bad guys! And I will kill bad guys. So if they become bad guys, I will kill them anyway.”

I sighed. Aside from her assertion that she’d just kill all of them, she did make a good point. As a native creature of the forest, she certainly had an advantage when it came to moving without being noticed. So maybe the danger wasn’t as bad as I thought.

“It’s still a risk I don’t want to take,” Erani said. “If you need help, it’ll take way too long for us to get to you.”

“That is why you need focus on getting me into Human settlement, not protecting me while I am out of it. Protecting me is only making problem not as bad, but putting me into settlement gets rid of problem totally! So should spend time trying to do that. I will be okay for now, because those Humans are stupid and weak. But if smart, strong Humans decide to become bad guys, then we should be together inside of protected settlement. So put me in there!”

Erani pursed her lips at that.

“I kind of agree with her,” I offered. “I mean, in the long term, it is kind of a waste of effort to spend all of our time out here protecting her from some random thugs that she’s most likely able to handle on her own. But if the Demons are able to infiltrate the empire and come after us, that’s when she’s going to be really vulnerable. We all need to be in a city—preferably some place with a good military—when that happens. Not still out here worried about bandits. If we spend the night in town, we can make sure we get an early morning start and head down to whatever place we need to go to in order to get that license to let her in, instead of spending all morning walking there.”

Erani nodded. “I suppose. But be sure to stay safe while you’re out here, alright?”

“I will!”

“Good,” she sighed.

As we walked, I suddenly got an unexpected notification.

Time Loop has refreshed its uses.

Recycled Loop has activated. Due to 2 uses being leftover, you have gained the following Stats:

+1 Strength, +1 Endurance

8 Stats remain until you must Level up.

“Oh, hey, there it is,” I said.

“There what is?”

“It just turned to midnight, so I got my uses of Time Loop back. And the other two got recycled into Stats.”

“Right, I forgot about that,” Erani nodded. “So, if you got two today, that means you can get eight more before you have to Level up?”

“Yep. Probably gonna stick with the plan of getting another Spell Crystal use from those guards tomorrow, too. So I’ll get another two then.”

“I’m sure you’re excited,” Erani laughed. “I need to get Spell Crystals for my Spell Upgrades, too. Just about locked out of practicing by now, since Firebolt is nearing 20.”

“That’ll probably be what we save up for soon, then,” I nodded. “Or maybe we’ll find some bandits with a couple of them on hand when we counter-rob them.”

Erani laughed. “Great idea. We should just rely on stealing from bandits to make all our money from now on.”

Eventually, we got to the town gates, and had to say our goodbyes to Ainash, going through our reminders to stay safe and stay within range of our telepathic communication in case anything went wrong. And to tell us if she was at all worried she was being followed, so we could get to her right away.

Once that was over, we reentered the city. It still somewhat messed with me to be in here, surrounded by so many people—so many potential enemies—and being forced to act normal. I had to turn my back to people, opening myself up to potential attacks, I had to watch as individuals walked past me with weapons on their sides or backs, or Magic-Types whose hands were their weapons, I had to move through tight alleyways where ambushers could corner us with no means of escape. I knew these fears were irrational, for the most part, but that didn’t stop me from at least feeling them. I just had to ignore them.

Despite my uneasiness, though, we walked to the guild lobby and entered. The bar had emptied out just barely in our time away, but the place hadn’t gotten any less rowdy. Honestly, it was probably even louder than before, with everyone inside considerably more drunk. But Erani and I just moved along the walls like usual, taking care to avoid any of the dozens of arguments threatening to escalate to fistfights at the various tables on the floor.

We made our way to the receptionist’s desk at the back, where we turned in our twenty-three Gloomspur teeth without issue for six hundred and ninety eyt. Combined with the five hundred we’d taken from the muggers, that made around twelve hundred in our possession.

“Okay, let’s get something to eat,” Erani said the moment the money was in our hands. “I feel like I’m gonna shrivel up and die of malnutrition if I don’t have a piece of bread this instant.”

“Seconded,” I sighed.

We got some relatively cheap items from the menu and sat at a table on the edge of the room. Still, despite our position away from the main action, we still had people stumbling across the floor and coming close to us, each time worrying me that they’d somehow collapse into my injured leg, giving them a damage notification about my Class.

So I kept Noxious Grasp activated constantly. At least if I was spewing smoke out of my armor, people would keep their distance, and if someone did end up brushing past me, they’d get a little ping of damage to let them know to stay away. Of course, that could cause problems of their own, but I was of the opinion that the issue of someone getting pissed at me for hitting them for a couple points of damage was much less intense than the issue of my Class info getting out. At least I could talk my way out of a confrontation; if someone bumped into my leg in the wrong way, it’d pretty much require an instant reset with Time Loop.

So with Noxious Grasp on and my Mana being slightly drained every second, the cost of keeping it on one hundred percent of the time still above my Mana/Minute, we sat. But my mind was still occupied away from that threat of danger by one thing.

“Holy shit,” I said, taking a massive bite of a loaf of bread, “it’s so good.”

Erani shoveled spoonfuls of soup into her mouth. “There’s so much flavor. Good gods, the flavor.”

“If I could have sex with this bread, I would,” I said, tearing off another chunk while I still chewed the first.

Erani choked on her broth. “What?”

“It just tastes really good, okay?”

“I mean,” she looked off at the far wall, as if deep in thought, “technically, I can think of a couple ways you could—”

“Let’s keep that statement metaphorical, okay?”

“Fine. But only if you give me a bite.”

I tore off a piece and gave it to her, which she eagerly dunked into her soup, trying to soak up as much as possible for a juicy bite. While she was busy with that, I reached over and grabbed her spoon, sneaking a bite of her own food for myself.

“So, we’re definitely getting seconds, right?” Erani asked.

“Absolutely.”

We ended up getting a third serving, too. I’d noticed that Erani had a bit of trouble with some of the foods, due to her missing hand. Especially since her remaining hand was her non-dominant one. There were more than a couple times something spilled onto the table or missed her mouth with an awkwardly-held spoon. Every time it happened, I had an urge to offer to help her eat, but I wasn’t sure if doing something like that would just make her feel worse or not.

While we were shoving that food into our mouths, a bar fight broke out a couple tables over. Some guy fucked some other guy’s wife or whatever—I wasn’t paying that much attention—and now they were trying to kill each other over it. At first, I hoped it’d settle down, but after one of the dudes got knocked over into a table, scattering some adventuring party’s beers, they got up and started preparing to wail on people, and I decided that was probably our cue to leave.

So Erani and I got up from our seats so we could walk over to the receptionist’s desk once more and get our room. But just as I placed my chair back in its place and turned around to start walking, someone—the guy who started the fight—stumbled forward, knocking chairs and tables aside, and reaching out for anything to break his fall. He seemed to decide I was the perfect thing to crash into, reaching out to keep himself up, fingers grasping to grip onto my arm—my injured one.

Instantly, I turned to jerk my hand away from him so he couldn’t hurt me, and he ended up collapsing face-first to the ground by my leg. Groaning, he rolled over and reached up once again to use my body to help himself up to his feet, but to that I just let Noxious Grasp do its job.

“Augh!” He yanked his hand away the moment it touched my armor, and I got a notification about the few points of damage I’d done to the Level 12 man. He looked up at me. “Thanks for the flamin’ help. And what the hell was that damage?!”

I scooted a chair over he could use to pull himself up. “Just an aura my armor gives out. Can’t control it. I’d advise you not to try touching me next time.”

“Flamin’...stupid armor,” he grumbled as he climbed to his feet. I could tell he was extremely drunk from the way he talked—though the fact that he started an entire bar fight told me that, already.

Some guy—the guy this man was fighting, I realized—stomped toward us, fist raised and ready to pummel down on the drowsy man only standing because of the chair he leaned on. “Tyrus, I swear to the gods, I am going to end you!”

“Hey, man.” I held out a hand to stop the approaching man. “Just leave him be for now. His Health’s probably low, right? If you’re gonna make yourself into a murderer, you better have a damn good reason for it. I suspect this isn’t that.”

Someone else reached out and tugged him away, adding a little bit of calm to the still-busy tavern floor.

After a cough that made me worry he’d puke on me, the man who’d collapsed in the first place—Tyrus, his name seemed to be—looked over at me with a scowl. “You, you can’t act like you didn’t just totally let me fall without helping me, man. Flamin’ pushing me to the ground and then hitting me for even more damage, then actin’ like you didn’t do nothin’ wrong. Burn in hell, man.”

“I didn’t push you. And my arm is injured. If I let you break your fall with it, it’d be very bad for me. Much worse than a little tumble onto the ground. Sorry.”

“Whatever, man. Using your flamin’ magic on me…that’s, like…assault.”

“It’s self-defense. You were about to hurt me. I dealt some damage to you to ensure you wouldn’t. If you’re trying to touch me without my permission, I’m going to get you to stop. That’s just how these things work.”

He snorted, and walked off, and I barely caught him muttering, “Flamin’ evil, spiked armor creep.”

I sighed, and Erani looked over at me. “I know that defense technically works here, but it won’t always work.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “If someone else bumps into me, it’s fine, but if I’m the one who accidentally stumbles into someone else with Noxious Grasp on, then I’m definitely the one in the wrong. I just need to be careful.”

“Well, sure, but it’s also a problem if the person bumping into you is Unclassed. I guess it kind of depends on what the exact laws are here, but if they’re anything close to the laws in the kingdom, they’re definitely not going to tolerate any sort of ‘self defense’ against someone Unclassed, unless they’re literally coming at you with a knife or something.”

“Yeah, I guess. Probably fine to use in here, since I doubt there are many Unclassed people walking around in an adventurer’s guild lobby—and the ones who are definitely aren’t going to be walking around grabbing onto the Classers—but yeah. Not a good solution while out on the streets.”

“Anyway, we should probably just get out of here. I doubt that fight’s going to stay resolved for long.”

I nodded. In fact, I could already hear that drunkard shouting at random patrons to ‘stop looking at me like that,’ so there was bound to be more trouble soon. We walked over to the receptionist’s desk, gave her the required six hundred eyt for a room. That left us with a bit more than three hundred after the meals, plus a key to our new room. With that, she pointed us to the staircase up to our rooms, and we headed off through the tight doorway and up the even narrower staircase. After walking up to the second floor, we found a few hallways lined with doors, found the one with our number, and walked in.

Once we were in, I breathed a sigh of relief. There were still muffled sounds of the brawl that a few people were seemingly trying to calm down below us, but for now, we were safe. A room all to ourselves. It was small, admittedly. Barely enough room for a bed, a table, and space to walk to them. But it was more private space than we’d had for the past while.

I walked right over and flopped down on the bed, feeling its hard cushioning barely give way under my impact. Still, compared to what I was used to, it was like lying in the lap of luxury itself. Erani sat next to me. I couldn’t help but notice the fact that this was the first time we’d been in a bedroom together at night, sharing a bed, but I also understood that we were both way, way too tired for that. Still, the circumstances got my heart beating in a certain way.

Erani took a deep breath, and slowly leaned herself back, so we were both lying sideways on the mattress.

“Good gods,” I said. “This feels nice. Food, a room…It’s been way too long.”

“Mhm,” Erani said sleepily.

“So I guess tomorrow is going to be figuring out how to get Ainash in here, and then we go and try to find a longer-term job to make some better money?”

“Mhm.”

“Sounds like a plan.” We lay there in silence for a while, before I looked over at her, and saw her eyes closed, mouth hanging open and just barely snoring. I laughed. “Cute.”

So, trying not to wake her, I moved her so she was lying fully in the bed and under the covers, and slipped in beside her. The bed was small—obviously intended to fit one person, not two—but I was able to make it work by shifting us so she was pretty much lying fully on top of me.

And not long after I settled in bed next to Erani, I felt the drowsiness forcing my own eyes closed, as well. So before I drifted off, I looked down and kissed her on the top of her head. “Night. Let’s hope we get some good news tomorrow.”

And then I closed my eyes.