“Are you joking?” Mary looked at him angrily. “I’ve lived in a forest for a month. I couldn’t take a shower or have a good meal. Helga is a strong warrior, but a bad hunter. She was chasing animals with an ax. And I’m a healing magician.” She sighed sadly. “We’ve been eating only berries and nut for a month.”
“Sorry, I didn’t intend to offend you,” Alex apologized. “I want to rent a room and buy a breakfast for you.”
“I don’t need such a charity,” Mary answered, but at the same time she was thinking about hot shower and tasty breakfast.
“Money isn’t important for me,” Alex noticed that she didn’t believe him. “It’s not a big sum for me. Let’s have a deal. I will pay for you and you will tell me all the news about this village.”
“That’s a deal,” Mary nodded. “Helga, put the ax away.”
“Great,” Alex was happy. “The best room for those girls!” He gave the barman one green stone.
“All the rooms are similar,” he mumbled, counted money and gave the change. “Upstairs. The third door.”
“Let’s meet here in an hour,” Mary took the key and quickly run upstairs.
“I’ll wait for you!” Alex shouted, ordered meals and went upstairs. “Wake up!” Alex broke into girls’ room. They were sleeping together and without clothes. Just a while ago Alex would get horny after such scene, but at that moment he was thinking only about Mary and didn’t pay attention to girls.
“Did somebody attack us?” Trix didn’t even put on the clothes, she took the bow immediately. Rina has already made a fireball.
“No, nobody attacked us,” Alex waved away. “I have a surprise for you, so dress and go.”
“We decided to do laundry yesterday,” Trix put the bow away and went to her trousers. “They are still wet,” she said disappointedly, having touched the trousers.
“What surprise are you talking about?” Rina asked impatiently. She was putting the clothes on.
“I’ve bought new weapons for you.” Alex gave them the bow and the staff. Girls were extremely happy. “But I have something to tell you.”
“We are listening attentively,” Trix nodded and put the bow away.
“Didn’t speak about our yesterday’s game today.” Alex asked. “Let’s focus on quests now.”
“Okay,” Rina nodded. “Something else?”
“I’ve met a girls downstairs,” Alex started, but they interrupted him.
“Did she attack you?” Trix asked anxiously.
“Did you run away from her and want us to kill her until she betrayed us?” Rina suggested.
Alex was listening to their questions ironically.
“I’ve spoken with her and I’m sure that she’s not going to kill us or betray,” Alex decided not to tell all the details. “We will have a breakfast with her in half an hour, so go downstairs, I will order meals.”
“Rice with vegetables, fried wings and dries fruits compote.” Alex sit near Mary and helped her. She was eating like there’s no tomorrow and completely ignored Alex.
“Well, ask what you want,” Mary had eaten enough and it seemed that she just noticed Alex near her. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you like me?” Alex wanted to say, but shut up. “I wanted…”
“What do you want?” Mary couldn’t understand him.
“I wanted to offer you help,” Alex dodged.
“Then I should share the reward with you,” Mary thought for a second. “And, as I understand, you want more than half.” She added.
“You will get the whole reward,” he interrupted her.
“What’s the benefit for you?” Mary looked at him thoughtfully. She was speaking coolly, without any sympathy.
“Well, I want to show you that…” He didn’t know how to express his feelings.
“Oh, of course,” she realized immediately. “You need some experience to get a higher level. Having completed the quest, you would be able to use new weapons and carry out any missions. And now you don’t want to risk. Am I right?” Mary looked at Alex victoriously.
“Why don’t you believe in disinterested help?” Alex didn’t even think about such a plan.
“Why would you want to help anyone with a heartbeat?” She asked distrustfully.
“I know that you’re a good person, who needs help,” Alex shrugged his shoulders. “That’s why I decided to help you.”
“We’ve talked only for some minutes,” she looked at the water-bottle thoughtfully.
“That was enough for me,” Alex said confidently and filled up her glass.
“Okay,” she said. “I took your deal.”
“Girls, will we help Mary?” Alex asked his assistants cheerfully.
“I’m always for completing quests,” Trix nodded.
“And I cannot wait to use my new staff, so I’m also for it.” Rina agreed.
“Why do you advise with your assistants?” Mary looked at Alex in surprise. “Well, everyone is strange a little. I will go and find a mission with good reward,” she looked at Alex, waiting for his reaction.
“Okay,” he nodded calmly, “I will just buy some healing pots and we will be ready.”
“You’re really strange,” Mary didn’t expect such an answer. “Wait for me neat the exit. Don’t worry, I won’t choose too difficult quest.”
“I’m not worrying at all,” Alex shrugged his shoulders. But indeed, he was thinking how not to foul up during the mission. There could be a dog, for example.
Mary hemmed and went to those part of the hall, where she could choose quest. Alex went to the barman to buy healing pots, but it turned out to be not so easy.
“Which one do you want? Small or medium?” He asked.
“What’s the difference between them?” Alex wasn’t aware of it. “I’ve bought only small pots before.”
“Medium pots restore more energy and quicker, but they’re more expensive. Their price is 100 coins.” The barman explained.
“I will buy medium pots,” Alex gave the barman the last nine green stones. “Girls, which one do you prefer?”
“Two energy pots and one vitality.” Rina answered quickly.
“Now I have energy,” Trix thought for a minute. “Then I will take two vitality pots and one energy.”
Alex said it to the barman. They left the public house and saw Mary with her assistant, who were waiting for them, ready to go.
“I didn’t want to get brazen, so I’ve chosen a quest for two thousand.” Mary showed her quest map. “There!” They walked along the south road, turned to the east and went thought the forest. “We should kill a ninth level bandit. I think it would be really easy for all of us.”
“You promised to tell me all the news,” Alex interrupted her.
“Do you really know nothing?” Mary was surprised. “Or do you just try to see whether I lie to you?” Mary smiled slyly.
“I’ve already said that I think you’re a good person and I believe you,” Alex said,
looking in her eyes.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to offend you,” she was embarrassed. “You understand, the situation is strange. I’m here for about a month. I’m a healing magician. Firstly, I’ve completed starting quests, I had a group of battle magician, warrior and archer. We went to the north and lived in the forest for a week. Fortunately, I didn’t go to Grink, Grock was already ruling there. Hank prevented me from doing it. He was at Level Fourteen and remembered the time, when Gunther was the King. As I understood, Gunther was a good King, he followed the law but somebody killed him. Hank wanted to join together all the tenants and force Grink, but nobody supported him. To be honest, I didn’t realized that his plan was really dangerous, so I agreed. And we succeeded. We attacked unexpectedly, they killed our assistants but we managed to capture the village. But we had two problems that we didn’t take into account. We had no money for new assistants, so we couldn’t complete quests. Hank came up with a scheme, and we started to let everyone into the village
for a small fee. For two days we have saved enough money and hired new assistants, made friends with the tenants of several groups, and the situation improved. By the end of the second day, the village was full of people, someone was resting, someone was changing their trophies or drinking rye beer in the public house, celebrating successfully completed task. On the third day Grock returned, but we beat him without any problems. And a day later he came with Skull... Fortunately, I escaped, but lost part of the group. I will never forget that day.”
“Astra told me the same story,” Alex said sadly.
“Do you know this bitch?” Mary said scornfully.
“We killed her,” Alex didn’t want her to be nervous.
“But you’ve been here not for a long time,” she looked at Alex attentively. “If you don’t lie, how will you manage to do it all during such a short period?”
“Fortune favors brave and courageous,” Alex quoted the movie.
“I’ve seen a lot of such guys. Do you know where they are now?” Mary smiled ironically. “But you’re at Level Nine, you have good weapons and you’re still alive.” Mary looked at him thoughtfully. “Just be honest, are you a wise leader and good warrior? Are you just trying to deceive me with those stupid quotes?” She was quite nervous. “You can take half of the reward or even more. Don’t kill us because of the money.” He saw that she started to panic. “Well, this is our destination,” Mary pointed at huge, bearded warrior in light armor. He was sitting on the big rock and stoning the ax.
“Mary, I won’t make you any harm,” Alex took her hand and looked into eyes. “Moreover, I am ready to protect you from any dangers. You correctly noticed that I’m a good warrior and to prove it I will deal with the bandit alone. The reward will be only your!” Alex nodded cheerfully, took his sword and walked quickly towards the thug.
The thug waited for Alex to come closer, and when there were only a dozen steps left, he whistled loudly. Two more thugs, who were dressed in the same light armor and were holding short swords, jumped out of thick bushes immediately. The leader grabbed the ax comfortably, and all of them run towards Alex.
“Mary was obviously right and I was just lucky,” the wise leader and a good warrior thought sadly. “I'm far from being clever, but it’s quite offensive that she said I’m stupid.” He didn’t remember what happened next.
Chapter 13
“Mary, I’m sorry,” Alex saw her face opposite him. There was a green light. “We died because of my stupid plan to fight with him alone...”
“Shut up!” Mary interrupted him rudely. “I will heal your wound easily, but unfortunately, I cannot heal your stupidity. Why on earth have you decided to fight alone?”
“I wanted to amaze you,” Alex mumbled. “I’m an idiot, I love you.” He thought.
“Congratulations, I’ve succeeded,” Mary hemmed. “Fortunately, your assistants reacted quickly and managed to beat to thugs. Then Helga helped them. By the way, I’ve spoken with them for some minutes and it seemed that they are real people.”
“We’re real!” Trix said. “And we are already used to Alex’s ideas, each quests starts in such a way.”
“You’re the strangest team I’ve ever met,” she looked at Trix. “Stand up, I’ve healed you.”
“Mary,” he took her hand and plucked up courage. “I want you to marry me. We will live in Grink happily.” Alex thought that she also loved him if she healed him.
“Of course, we will live happily ever after and die on the same day. On the day, when Grock will come back to Grink.” She added ironically. “Looks like you also has head injury. Better don’t move now.”
“Would you like to drink healing pot?” Trix asked.
“I’m okay,” Alex turned his back on Mary.
“No offense,” she said cheerfully, “I see that you’re a good person, you helped me as you had promised. So now I will buy you dinner and rent a room. Let’s come back to the public house.” Mary helped him to stand up. “We will talk later, we don’t have enough time.”
“Thanks,” Alex looked at his shirt and was surprised, because it was torn up and blood-soaked, but he didn’t see any wounds.
“I’m quite a good healer.” She smiled. “But we should hurry up, we should complete a lot of quests until Grock comes back.” She was walking quickly and hurrying him up.
“We’ve kicked him away once. We will do it again.” Alex said bravely.
“I talked with your girls a little while you were unconscious,” Mary glanced at Trix appraisingly. “They behave very strangely...”
“Alex told us a lot of things, and now we can make our own choices,” Trix boasted.
“I first meet assistants, who behave like ordinary people,” Mary frowned. “Well, we will talk about it later. They told me that you caught Grock drunk and asleep. Believe me, he is a good warrior at Level Fifteen, I saw him in battle only once,” the feat appeared in her voice. “But I will never forget that day.”
“Don’t worry, I can protect you,” Alex tried to calm Mary down and raise his self-esteem. “Now I can use new weapons.”
«Armor is also important,” Mary said sadly. “You don’t have money to buy even cheap jacket. What is more, you have little experience.”
“What are you getting at?” Alex said gloomily.
“I suggest completing simple quests, buy provision, hide in the forest and wait for a next opportunity.”
“We can also buy armor and fight with Grock,” Alex offered his plan.
“You don’t understand me!” Mary shouted irritably. “Grock will come to the capital, take money and hire new assistants. They will be well-equipped. Armor costs twice as weapon, so you will need about a week to buy it for everyone.” Mary said. “We don’t have so much time, Grock can come any day.”
“What about difficult quests?” Alex offered.
“There’re only two such missions,” Mary reminded. “First one’s price is ten thousand...”
“I will take it!” Alex shouted immediately.
“Don’t interrupt me. You’ve already completed it. And it’s still unavailable for my level. There is also a quest, which costs twenty thousand and it’s extremely dangerous.” Mary explained.
“Will this sun be enough to buy everything we need?” Alex clarified.
“Of course,” Mary nodded.
“We can complete it together and share the reward,” Alex offered.
“No, we cannot,” Mary nodded “no”. “The quest begins in special room, where only one tenant can be. I don’t think we will manage to complete it alone.”
“What monster is there?” Alex was afraid to hear that it would be a dog.
“Maybe nobody.” Mary shrugged her shoulders.
“What do you mean?” Alex was confused.
“It’s a special quest,” Mary tried to explain. “I know two tenants at Level Ten, who went there and didn’t come back. What is more, they have easily completed the quest for ten thousand.”
“Have anybody completed it before?” Alex asked.
“I’ve heard about the time then Gunther was the King. But people helped each other in those days.” Mary said.
“And what’s now?” Alex interrupted.
“Now people don’t join together. The last one who remembered Gunther’s times was killed in the battle.” Mary sighed.
“Nobody’s left?” Alex asked stupidly.
“Grock and Skull,” she said ironically. “Do you want to speak with them?”
“You said we had little time, so I’ve decided to complete the quest,” Alex said confidently.
“I cannot understand. You are either stupid, or brave.” She looked at Alex appraisingly.
“Both,” Alex answered funnily and realized that they were near the village gate.
“Don’t you want to have a rest and think about it in the morning?” Mary suggested.
“It will be better to have a dinner and find a quest,” Alex scratched the bully.
“Okay.” M
ary waves away sadly. “I just want to say that I will now take the night quest, buy provision and return to the woods. So if you want to meet me again, come here before sunrise.”
“Okay,” Alex nodded. “I will come.”
“Door in a hill?” Alex turned to his assistants. “Are you sure that’s our destination? We probably made a mistake...”
“No, we should be here,” Trix said confidently.
“Let’s open the door,” Rina offered.
“What if it’s closed?” Alex wasn’t sure that his decision was right. “We should return and fight an easier quest.”
“It’s opened.” Trix touched the door handle and it opened quietly. “Let’s come in.”
“Well,” Alex followed Trix and looked around. A small room was lit by a pair of crystals. The stones exuded a soft blue light. Because of it girls’ faces were palid. “I have a bad premonition,” Alex muttered.
“And I have a good premonition,” Trix was clearly in a good mood. “Finally, we have really difficult and interesting task,” she quickly examined the poorly lit room. “There is the door and the inscription.”
“Can we return?” Alex was afraid to complete the quest.
“I will read the inscription,” Trix ignored Alex’s suggestion and went to a small door. “If only the quest members are in the room, close the front door.”
“Close,” Rina, who had come last and heard the last few words, slammed the door from the inside.
“Stop!” Alex cried out, jumped to the door and unsuccessfully tried to open it. “Get away,” he pushed Rina away, took his sword and tried to cut through the door. The blow didn’t leave even a scratch, and the sword itself rebounded as if it had crashed into a stone wall.
“The other door opened,” Trix said. “Come on.”
“We have no other choice,” Alex admitted sadly and entered the room, holding his sword. “Girls, be always ready to fight.” Alex looked around the room, which wasn’t very different from the previous one. The next door was made from muddy blue glass.
“Strength,” Trix read the inscription above the door.
“It’s closed,” Rina tried to open the door. “You provably need to open it...”
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