by A O Storm
"Bob was certainly offensive," Kano chuckled.
This time, Abnoba laughed as well and gave him a friendly smile. Kano had considered his options and, unless a goddess would straight up lie to convert somebody to her following, he could not see a logical reason to deny her request. Even if she would help him retain the inn, he knew that if he was not a member of her faith, it could spell disaster in the future if he wanted to remain in the village.
Kano recalled what Bob had said about the name of the place. "This place is called Two Rivers right?"
"No, this village is called Three Rivers," she said.
"Isn't that like naming that big mountain up north Big Mountain?"
"Why would it be? We have three rivers that run through this valley and no nearby cities for many miles. Geographically, people who talk about the village usually refer to this place as a trade route to another destination so the rivers are important. Some people perhaps might refer to the herbs they export from here as well." She narrowed her eyes. "Are you trying to be funny? I know Bob already shared this with you, Kano. Did you hurt your head?"
"Ah, no, just something I remember from when I was younger," Kano said, realizing that perhaps the game developers had paid an homage to the Wheel of Time, which famously started in a village called the Two Rivers. Of course, like anything else from his past, the game world characters were unaware of things outside the world. Kano would find out, much later, a rural village in Oregon, not five hundred miles from where he lived, was referred to as the Three Rivers. When he found out, of course, he was embarrassed about his lack of geography skills.
"Tell me, what do you think about my offer?" Abnoba tried to sound casual, but Kano knew that his decision was important to her. She sounded concerned and contrite about her previous druid, as well, and Kano gave her high marks for that. Still, this early in the game, it felt stifling, somehow, to be so tied down and he said as much.
"That's what you're worried about, Kano?" She gave a throaty chuckle and brushed her blonde locks back away from her face, sitting up straighter. The pink hue to her cheeks was still there and her eyes were glassy. Kano could easily believe she was a bit tipsy, but he also knew that it was probably just her attempting to make herself seem more human.
"I see," she said, rising from her seat. "I'd like very much if you could consider," she said, "but not take my offer for now."
Kano was surprised. "You are withdrawing? I thought I was going to be the one trying to pull out." He couldn't resist the joke. Three shots deep, his wits had started to unravel for any serious thinking. However, the innuendo went over her head completely.
"If you don't want to chart your own course, if you fail to appreciate the goal of defending your species' very ability to survive," she said, "well, I'm not going to try to dissuade you from your own beliefs." She chuckled. "Ironic, right?"
Kano could certainly appreciate the thought that a goddess, standing in front of him, would first go for a hard sell and then back off completely. It was strange and, while it worried him, her earlier promise to allow him to keep the inn made him relax a little. Breathing a sigh of relief, he grew more comfortable and confident everything would be all right. He had the inn, a goddess was recruiting him and surely, with Bob gone, the other villagers would be thrilled, right? No more human sacrifice, no more people disappearing.
"I think it sounds great," Kano said, smiling in a friendly way. "However, you’re also willing to give me enough rope to hang myself," he said, shrugging. "I might as well see how it holds up."
"Stop!" she shouted, the room growing dark once more. "You will not hang yourself, Kano, else you will end up in the worst of the ten thousand hells and you will know the meaning of eternal suffering."
"Uh, What?"
He was bewildered. The fire from the blonde goddess was something he did not expect. Idiom, he realized, berating himself for being an idiot. She furrowed her brows in confusion and anger.
"Sorry, Abnoba, it's been a, well, it’s been an interesting day," he said, smiling weakly. "The rope thing is a saying where I’m from. I only meant that you seem good, you offered to allow me time to think and gave me assurance that you wouldn't take revenge against me if I deny you." Then he paused. Looking down at the bar he traced lines in the wood with his finger, thinking about the Yin and Yang symbol, the idea that all was not black and white but shades of gray.
"I'm not religious," he said, meeting her gaze, "and can't see worshipping you in that way." He quickly continued when her brow furrowed. "But I love the idea of environmental protection, of ensuring that humans have a sustainable quality of life. I've seen what's happened with my own job in the past. Each year, the season ran shorter and the forest fires grew larger." He took a deep breath and then looked at her again, all thoughts of his attraction gone as he grew more sure of himself.
"If I get to make the rules, if I get your help, if..." Kano trailed off, looking to the side. "It's a lot of if, you know?"
"Exactly!" Abnoba took a few steps back and then strode toward the door. She paused, her hand on the doorway, and looked over her shoulder to Kano. "People will never believe my religion is a peaceful one as long as there are half-concealed corpses littering what the villagers call the Sacred Tree." She turned around, raising an eyebrow at Kano.
"Clean it up completely if you wish to accept my offer. If you do not, well, I've given you a day and this inn. The village mayor will stop by eventually and ask you a few questions about Bob."
"Also, Kano," She said, trailing off after a moment, laughing.
"Yes?"
"You forgot the serving woman, you know, the one who brought you food not three hours ago? She's been hiding in her own quarters, behind the inn, since Bob decided to introduce you to my faith. It was her prayers that brought me here today."
She opened the door and tilted her head, one brow raised as if a new idea had occurred to her. "You might want to ask her about managing the inn. After all, she does have experience."
With that, she was gone, and Kano could feel a monster headache coming on. On the positive, he knew that he had a place to stay, a business and plenty of opportunity. The downside was if he denied the goddess, he might end up in a world of pain, even if she did promise to leave him Bob's inn. Kano also knew that, if he stayed in his blood-soaked clothing and near ruined leather armor, he would only scare away potential customers.
Thirteen - New Management
"Well, where to start," he said out loud, still looking at the front door after Abnoba left. "That waitress, or whatever," Kano said. "She might answer a few questions."
Kano started to walk around to the back door, then thought better and locked up the front. He tucked the key into his pocket and went to the back kitchen, hoping that Bob's former employee didn't hate him.
Why didn't she come out when I was searching through everything? Kano couldn’t imagine unless Bob had more sacrifices in mind. Thinking for a moment longer, Bob's behavior seemed to be escalating, based on the team Kano defeated. Abnoba had also been in disapproval of his off-book practices and Kano could not guess what dark intentions had driven him.
Still, he also kept in mind what he'd shared, with emotion, and Abnoba had taken in stride. "Maybe," Kano said, not comfortable with suddenly managing anybody. Teaching a class was one thing, but, in his experience, managers were usually jerks. At best, they forced you to work extra hard for pennies and at worst, they treated you like a disposable object.
From the kitchen, Kano exited out the backdoor. There was a small courtyard behind the inn and beyond he saw a small guest cottage. Kano realized after a moment Bob might have used it as his personal quarters, since the upstairs rooms were all clearly held aside for guests. That told him where the waitress might be, allegiance-wise. Sighing, he hoped the woman wouldn’t try to kill him or otherwise get revenge.
"Bob is gone," he called out. "I'm sorry for your loss if he meant something special to you," he continued, pausing only a momen
t in case she said something from within the building. Nope. "My name is Kano. Look, I am taking over as owner of the inn. And, as I recall you were Bob's most trusted employee."
"Feck yourself," she called, from deep within the cottage.
"Listen, " Kano said, ignoring her comment. No matter what she said, all he could imagine was the poor woman weeping uncontrollably. "You know a lot about running this place, and I wanted to ask for your help, if it was okay. If not, I understand," Kano said, turning away.
He called over his shoulder as he left to return to the main building. "I am truly sorry. Bob, well, if you don't mind my saying, wasn't all that right in the head."
Kano re-entered the main building and heard the sound of the serving woman trailing after him. "Now, if you don't mind my saying," she said, "Bob was an ass."
"I'm Bertha, by the way, Master Kano," the woman said. "And while I'm not regretful at Bob's demise, I must ask, what do you plan to do with the White Rabbit?"
"To start with, I'm instituting a new customer centric policy, as in, we never kill customers or guests, that kind of thing." Kano turned and gave Bertha a shy look. "Any objections?"
Bertha chuckled and shook her head. "None, naturally," she said. "But then again, Bob was a right pain, and you seem to have better intent, at least." She wrinkled her nose. "Before we talk more about how you want to run this place, let me show you the bath. I’ve smelled pigs who stank less."
In no time at all, Kano helped Bertha haul hot water from the kitchen to the bath, a room adjacent the kitchen, for some reason. He guessed it was to make hauling the hot water easier, but had no idea how traditional or fantastical plumbing systems might work, so he paid it little attention.
Stripped and settled into the bath after giving Bertha a polite request to see if she could clean his clothes, if possible, Kano summoned up his display. The warm water relaxed him and he tried to wrap his head around the day so far. It'd been a wild ride. "The attribute points," he said, bringing up the attributes screen to figure out how to allocate his newest points.
Attributes and Scores
Physical
Score
Mental
Score
Strength
73
Intelligence
51
Speed
73
Wisdom
57
Endurance
73
Memory
57
Constitution
73
Magic
57
Beauty
61
Linguistics
51
The fight, he was certain, had gone better due to investing those points into his physical skills so heavily at the beginning. Now that he was settled into a bath, comfortable and clean for the first time since waking, he thought he should even out the scores a bit. By dumping six into his Intelligence and the remainder in his Linguistics skill, he felt a little better prepared for whatever challenges lay ahead. Linguistics, he understood, might help him avoid using expressions people wouldn’t understand in New Lands Online. Dismissing the window, he luxuriated in the water for a moment and then started to consider his meeting with the goddess.
He was still debating the offer from Abnoba, for a few reasons. The warrior and fighter type classes didn't sit well with him after having killed multiple men. The musician class, well, he had never studied music so that seemed like it was out, as well. He started to review other options he had yet to explore in the interface while he lay in the hot bath.
Player Log was one of the screens he had yet to explore and when he saw it, Kano brought it up in the display to see what it contained. There was a list in reverse chronological order, starting from the most recent notifications, which included experience gains, skill point notifications and attribute point allocation history. Some experience gains, he could see when he clicked through the log, were due to specific decisions, such as looting the bodies, chatting with Abnoba, and searching the inn for important paperwork.
The meter on his experience showed he was not too far from the next milestone. Despite that, at level four, Kano was more than happy with what he’d accomplished for his first day. The injuries weren't hurting him as much as earlier. He expected that perhaps the points he'd already spent in enhancing his physicality had something to do with that. Bringing up his main character sheet, he could see the health points had recovered, if only a little, since the combat earlier.
“That’s handy,” Kano said, “Just like real life, only here natural healing can be easily quantified.”
By the time he felt his hands becoming prune-fingers, the tub cooled to lukewarm and Kano felt refreshed enough to get on with the evening. Stomach rumbling, he also thought about food, since he had not eaten and the time was more than late enough for dinner. Home, he thought, looking over the rough walls of the bathing area. "The White Rabbit," he said. "Survival, at this point, should be easy."
Surely there's a mayor, he thought, I wonder if the man knew that the innkeeper was probably destroying local tourism?
Resolving to meet the man first thing the next morning, Kano dried himself off with a surprisingly modern towel and then stumbled to the second floor. It had only been a half-day in the new world; he'd been through a lot and despite the power ups, felt like he needed a nap more than he needed food.
When he entered the upstairs hallway, he was surprised to smell food and opened the door where he detected the smell. Entering the room, the smell grew stronger and he quickly walked over to the sleeping area and saw a tray with food next to the bed. The meat and bread were appreciated, but the paucity of vegetables left him wanting. He saw a note on the tray that was clearly from Bertha. "Your clothing will take a while," it said.
Stomach grumbling, Kano laid down on the bed, a straw-filled affair that was stuffed into rough linen. On his side, he could reach the meat and squeezed it together with a piece of bread, snacking contentedly. The frame was adequate and elevated off the ground, so he was not worried about bed bugs when he lay down. "Just a few minutes," he thought, eyes drifting closed, munching on the meat and bread until finished.
He drifted off to sleep soon after, thinking hazily about his future. Druid? Innkeeper? Adventurer?
The options were all interesting, but after the financially rocky time he'd spent as a snowboarding teacher, the idea of a permanent place to call home was too good to ignore. Bertha seemed confident, and with her help, he thought he could figure out how to run the place well enough he could expand the business. While Bertha seemed nice, anybody who served under a boss that believed in sacrificing the guests was still suspect in his mind.
Hours later, while Kano was dreaming about better things, he felt a cough and the sting of smoke in his throat and nose. "Hey, who left the fire going?" He coughed again, believing for a brief moment he was back in his apartment with Charlie in Lake Tahoe. "Come on, just open the vents," he said, sleepily turning over on his side and attempting to ignore the smell.
However, it didn't work and a minute later, he was up out of the bed and wearing the towel as he exited the room. "Well, I guess I know where my towel is, so I should be okay, right?" He smiled grimly as he stalked down the hall and then down the stairs into the common room.
The smoke was denser and stung his eyes as he descended; however, he still hadn't seen the root cause. Tying the towel to ensure it would not slip off, he threw open the entry door just as he heard the chant.
"Burn it down! Burn it Down!'" A crowd was standing there in the street.
"What in the hell," Kano muttered before raising his voice. "Excuse me!"
"No more, Bob!" he heard a woman yell, soon picked up by another, "You took my son and the crops are still suffering!"
He tried using his hands to get the crowd’s attention, afraid the villagers would burn the place down. "Listen," he yelled, still standing next to the front door, "Bob's gone!”
They stopped c
hanting and yelling at once, and the dozen or so men and women looked confused. A few of their torches were still lit, after their leaders promptly extinguished theirs. Kano was nervous, seeing so many people, so he raised his hands into the air. "He’s dead. It’s a long story. The goddess chose me to take over for him,” he saw some skepticism in their expressions, “Look, you can trust me!" His display lit up with an icon representing a new notification and he was curious so selected it to read while the crowd was momentarily paused in their outrage.
Skill Improved: Public Speaking, +50 skill points gained
Nice, Kano thought, happy that not only did the crowd look less murderous than before but also his public speaking skill improved. At that point, his towel slipped and Kano stood there, stark naked, in front of the village mob. The men were angry, a few women were curious, and one woman stepped forward with a stern expression. "We'll take your word about Bob," she said, waving to the others to stand back while she confronted the naked Kano. “So long as you put that towel back on, or better yet, get some clothes,” she said, frowning.
Before Kano could open his mouth to reply, a man shouted from the crowd. "Bob killed my brother!" Kano frowned, trying to find the accuser as well as figure out the most dignified way to pick up his towel. He arranged it while standing there in front of the villagers and felt a bit cold, as the sun was well past the horizon and night fell while he had napped.