Lion's Quest: Dual Wield: A LitRPG Saga

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “When you stole all of my money and then left me to pay for your lunch?” I laughed.

  “Oh no, the time we met after that! When we joined each other for the dungeon exploration.”

  “Ha. Okay, buddy. I’m just glad we are friends now.”

  “As am I, dearest Leo. I am glad that you got your piece, and I am pleased that I got my ring. I feel as though we are destined for greatness as long as we stick together.”

  Three whistles blew through the cabin, and I heard some doors open next to us in the hull of the ship.

  “Yep. I’m glad we got the loot as well. It was a great adventure.”

  “I can understand why you gave the staff and crown to the drow woman, but I wish we could have kept them,” the half-orc said with a sigh. “Would have made our next leg easier.

  “Oh, that reminds me. I took an amulet and ring off of the baron’s body. Let me identify them,” I said as I pulled the two pieces of jewelry out of my pocket.

  “Ahh. This could be good, but please hurry dearest friend. I feel as though I might need to go topside in the next quarter of a minute to rid myself of the lunch we ate yesterday. As you may recall, the sea and I are just a hair’s width away from being arch enemies and—”

  “Fucking shit,” I interrupted the man as I stared at the amulet.

  My hands shook, my stomach clenched, and the blood ran like ice water through my veins. I blinked a few times, and tried to wish that the amulet’s stats were somehow different than what I saw when I examined them.

  “Dearest Leo, what is wrong?” my friend asked.

  “The amulet. Shit, let me read it to you:

  Amulet of the Puppet- Cursed item. Wearer of this amulet falls under the complete control of the wearer of Amulet of the Master. Wearer of this item will serve the master in all things, question nothing, and believe that their actions are their own. Amulet of the Puppet can only be removed by another person, and if so removed, the wearer will attempt to re-don it immediately. If Amulet of the Puppet is not worn again within four hours, original wearer will fall unconscious for a full day with flu like symptoms. Then wearer will be free of the cursed effects of the amulet. Wearer of the Amulet of the Master knows where the Amulet of the Puppet is at all times.”

  Cornalic’s eyes widened as I read the item’s description, and he shot to his feet as soon as I finished.

  “My dear friend, I do believe that we need to get rid of that wicked thing as quickly as possible. Give it to me, please!” He held his hand out, and then took the necklace from me as if he was picking up an angry cobra.

  “Wait!” I said as the man dashed out the door, but he’d already disappeared, and didn’t return when I cried out.

  I looked at the ring and let out a long exhale when I saw that it wasn’t cursed.

  Ring of House Yinnia

  Armor Rating - 2

  Durability - Magical

  Br—

  Qu—

  In—

  Wi—

  Pe—

  Ch—

  Co—

  Lu—

  If injured, wearer of this ring recovers 1% of their health every ten seconds. Wearer must be standing in sunlight, and be wearing at least one article of green clothing. Each additional piece of green clothing worn grants another 1% of health regeneration, for a maximum of 5% every ten seconds.

  “That explains the leprechaun clothes,” I said. I wasn’t wearing any green clothing, so I slid the blue lettered ring into my pocket, and then waited anxiously for my friend to return.

  “The ring is fine,” I said to the muscled man when he darted through the doorway into our room. “What did you do with the amulet?”

  “I threw it out into the ocean. Dearest Leo, do you know what this means?” he asked as he collapsed onto his cot. The bed let out a creaking protest when he sat on it, but the half-orc didn’t notice.

  “Yeah. It means I got hustled,” I sighed. I tried to piece together every memory I had of Lady Feeyaz. I hadn’t recalled seeing an amulet on her, but it was now clear that the baron was being manipulated. She must have guessed that I had seen what the item did after I killed him, and then believed that I intended to kill her when I went down into her room. Then, when I had admitted that I liked her, she must have played me for a fool again, and tried to debate killing me.

  But even that didn’t make much sense. The plot seemed too twisted, and it meant that the woman had to have planned two dozen steps ahead of me. I was about to die to her dagger, and she had really seemed to debate saving me. If she was controlling the baron, and ordered my death, she probably wouldn’t have agonized over the decision.

  Perhaps I was an idiot, and I looked for the best in people, but the woman hadn’t seemed evil to me, she’d come off as sexy, sensual, and wicked, but if she really had played me she was one of the best actresses I had ever seen. Did she actually have the baron under her control? Or was there another player at work?

  Either way, there was a dangerous loose end still in Arnicoal, and I was going to need to warn my friends. I might even need to teleport back there once we reached Tylue.

  “If Lady Feeyaz is really the mastermind behind all this, it is bad news, friend Leo. She knows Allurie’s name, and she will probably be able to find the location of Artus and Gratia by just asking around the city for long enough. Elves are not made for manipulation, and the pretty girl will not try and hide her identity.” The half-orc seemed to read my mind with his words, and I nodded at him.

  “And I gave her the staff, and the crown.” I sighed, and tried to recall every word that we had said to each other. I felt like an idiot for falling for her manipulations, and I felt like an even bigger idiot for thinking that there still might be another player involved. The woman was so good at her wiles that I still didn’t want it to be true. I wanted to think that she was innocent, and that our attraction wasn’t some sort of scam.

  Ugh. Leo Lennox. This is just a fucking game.

  “My dearest friend, we shall figure out a way to protect your friends. The real liability is Allurie, since the drow knows her name. It will be harder for the dark elf to find out the identity of Artus, Urllia, and Gratia. Also, there is a possibility that she fears you, and won’t seek retribution. You have also given her the staff and crown. Those are worthwhile items that I would think are more than a fair exchange for my ring and your glove.” The man nodded as he spoke, and I hoped that he was right.

  “Even knowing what we do now, I think you still should have had sex with her,” Cornalic said with a bob of his head. “I do believe it would have been more than worth it.”

  “Haha! Now I feel like I dodged a— crossbow bolt.” I almost said bullet, but knew that the man wouldn’t understand. “If she really was the one that put the amulet on the baron, she might have used the time in bed to get the thing on me, or she could have done something else.”

  “Still would have done it, dear friend. Drow sex.” He nodded as he spoke and then winked at me.

  I was about to reply, but I heard a knocking sound at the door. Cornalic raised his hand to stop me from standing, but his other hand suddenly held a dagger. He gestured with the blade, but instead of pointing at the door to our room, he pointed to the chest at the foot of my bed.

  There was another knocking sound, and I realized that it was coming from inside of the chest that Artus had given me.

  “Oh no,” I moaned as I grabbed the key that Artus had given me. Half a second later I figured out that the lock on the chest was not actually locked, and I’d opened the trunk to reveal what I had already expected: Allurie was curled up inside of the small chest.

  “What are you doing here?” I moaned.

  “Leo isn’t allowed to mate with anyone besides the man he loves. If he wants to mate with a woman, then I’m here for him. He definitely isn’t going to mate with an icky drow. No. No. No!” she shouted as she sat up in the chest and leveled an accusing finger at Cornalic.

  “I am terr
ibly sorry to have angered you, dear friend Allurie, but I do think that Leo’s question was valid. Why have you stowed away in his chest?”

  “And where is the gold?” I gasped as I looked closer in the chest. The inside was empty besides the elf girl, and a crumpled pile of clothes.

  “I had to take out all the bags of gold so that I could fit!” she exclaimed with a large smile on her face. “There were also some bottles of beer, and some bags of food that kind of smelled too salty. I left it all in Artus’ house. I couldn’t bear to leave you alone, especially with drow women around. Leo, they are not nice girls.”

  “You took all the money out,” I repeated her words and felt my head spin a bit.

  “Yes, there was just too much in there. I couldn’t fit.” She nodded and then stepped out of the chest with an athletic pounce. “Wow! This is the inside of a ship? It is so wonderful! How long do we get to live here? It will be easy to clean because it is so cozy. There are only two beds, though. Cornalic, are you going to be sharing one with Leo?”

  “Allurie, you took all the gold out of the chest?” I didn’t know why I asked again. I just prayed that she would tell me that she was joking, and maybe there was a hidden compartment that she had put everything in.

  “Yes, but don’t worry! We can get it from Artus’ house when we come back.”

  “It was over 4,000 gold,” I moaned as I put my face in my hands.

  “Oh, I know! Exactly 4,488 gold coins, 45 silver pieces, and 23 copper pieces. It was a bunch! That was why I had to take it all out. I wouldn’t have been able to fit with it all in there.” The way she spoke convinced me that she had no idea how much the gold was actually worth.

  “We needed the money for when we got to Tylue. We’ll need to pay for an inn, and I might need to spend it to investigate the location of the next relic. I might need to get new skills. I also needed to teleport back to Arincoal so that I could deal with Lady Feeyaz. Allurie, this is not—”

  “Leo, you cannot visit that drow woman. She is not nice. I am very worried for you. You seem so lost in love. First you tell me that you prefer men—”

  “I never actually said that I preferred—”

  “Then you talk about a drow woman. I love you so much, and your sexual identity crisis really saddens me. I will do whatever I have to do to help you.” She threw her arms around my shoulders, and I felt her fingers lightly stroke my hair. “There, there, sweet Leo. I will always love you. We’ll get through this together. Love will find a way. Don’t have any fears.”

  “Cornalic, how much gold do you have?” I asked the man as I tried to gently pull Allurie off of my chest.

  “Dearest friend Leo, I have about five gold, and a bit of copper.”

  “How in the Light do you only have five gold? You gave me 4,500 as my share yesterday morning.”

  “This is true, friend Leo, but as you may recall, I owed you 200 gold, so I only had 4,100. However, I already spent it.” The muscular man shrugged after he spoke.

  “How did you spend that much money in a day?” I felt like the world was spinning out of my control. I only had a few gold pieces in my pockets, and I doubted that it would last us more than a few days in the new city. Shit, Allurie was a stowaway on the boat, and they might ask for more gold for her passage.

  “Dear friend, I actually acquired our gold the day before yesterday, so I had a bit of a head start on spending it.”

  “But it was 4,100! How? I don’t understand.”

  “Well, there are places in the city that have these young girls. They are quite pretty, and really need someone to take care of them.” the half-orc scratched his goatee as he spoke.

  “You spent over 4,000 gold on whores?” I didn’t even know why I bothered to ask.

  “Good friend Leo! By the Light, no. These girls need my help, and while it is true that they sometimes give me kisses, I do not expect any sort of sexual favors from them. They are—”

  “Okay, let’s just get off the topic for a moment.” I sighed and then managed to pull Allurie off of my chest.

  “That is probably for the best. The ship is bobbing now, so I will need to make my way topside. Allurie,” the man said as he turned to my friend. “I am quite glad that you are with us. We had concerns that the drow woman might go looking for you, but now that you are with us, you are safe from harm.”

  “Yay! I am happy to be with you both! Especially Leo, isn’t he wonderful?”

  “That he is,” the half-orc said with a smile. Then he made a slight gagging sound, and quickly made his exit from the room.

  “Leo, can I share the bed with you during our trip? I know that you are—”

  “Listen, Allurie,” I interrupted her. “I’m really upset about the gold, but Cornalic was right, you are safer with us than in Arnicoal right now. I’ll figure something out with the money.”

  “You don’t need money when you have love. I have a lot of love for you, Leo. Sometimes it feels as if my heart might burst.” She nodded her pretty head as she spoke, and then she fluttered her eyelids.

  “Okay. Well, don’t burst. I’m going to check on my stats real quick, and then I am going to go home for a bit. I need to have breakfast with my— well, just don’t leave until I come back, understand?”

  “I’ll stay right here.”

  I nodded at her and then opened up my UI to double check my stats.

  Leo Lennox

  Body (Overall) - 33

  Body (Magic) - 0

  Body (Stats) - 33

  Brawn - 17

  Quickness - 16

  Mind (Overall) - 31

  Mind (Magic) - 0

  Mind (Stats) - 31

  Intelligence - 15

  Willpower - 16

  Light (Overall) - 56

  Light (Magic) - 10

  Light (Stats) - 26

  Perception - 13

  Charisma - 13

  Shadow (Overall) - 32

  Shadow (Magic) - 0

  Shadow (Stats) - 32

  Comeliness - 16

  Luck - 16 (17)

  With 49 unspent attribute points.

  It was a lot of unspent attribute points, but I wanted to wait again until I needed to use them to learn a new ability. I felt confident that I would be playing a hybrid healing and fighter type role in this game, but I didn’t want to commit all my points to Light until I had an ability that required it.

  I tabbed over to my list of abilities and reviewed them:

  Impart - Returns the user to Earth. User lies down and closes eyes for 20 seconds.

  Ember- Light 1, Mind 1. Enchantment Spell. User causes item held in hand to gently glow. If enchantment is maintained for eight hours, item will glow permanently.

  Rwunidar’s Might- Body 25. Stance. Take on the fortitude of Rwunidar. Attacks that hit you do 50% damage. Stance is broken if you speak, or use another ability. If stance is broken you cannot use the ability for another eight hours.

  Breath of Life Light 25, Body 10. Enchantment Spell. Intended target is healed for 1% of health every second for 100 seconds. Once Breath of Life has ended, target cannot be healed by another Breath of Life spell for 1o minutes.

  Guardian of Fortune Light 55, Mind 25. Enchantment Spell. Intended target is enchanted with Guardian of Fortune . While enchantment is active, attacks against target will do 0 damage 75% of the time they hit. Enchantment lasts caster’s Light attribute divided by 20 in seconds. (2.75 seconds).

  Then I gestured over to the part of my UI that showed all of my equipment. I carried 3 daggers on my belt and two short swords. One of the short swords was just a standard white one, but the other I had taken a green labeled magical blade from one of the baron’s men when they tried to kill me in the alley:

  Short Sword of Minor Damage

  Damage: 20% above standard - short sword

  Durability - Magical

  Br—

  Qu—

  In—

  Wi—

  Pe—

  Ch—<
br />
  Co—

  Lu—

  I also had the blue titled broadsword that Gratia had given me:

  Broadsword of the Charming Mind

  Damage: 20% above standard - long blade

  Durability - Magical

  Br—

  Qu—

  In +2

  Wi +2

  Pe—

  Ch+3

  Co—

  Lu—

  Once every thirty six hours, a user can either reset their mana fatigue, or charm a person of equal or lower Charisma attribute.

  I had 2 more healing potions and another potion of Cat’s Grace on my belt.

  I also had the Ring of Luck that just gave me a +1 to the attribute, as well as the ring I had taken from Baron Yinnia’s body.

  Then there was the bracelet on my wrist, and I moved my finger over the slot on the UI to take a look at it again.

  Bracelet of Deflection- for one minute every four hours, the user can generate a three foot by three foot weightless shield that will deflect all non-magical missiles. The effect appears on the users outside forearm as if it was a worn shield. Trigger word is ‘shield.’

  I read through the description a second time, and realized there was a bit of an error with the words. It said that it would deflect all non-magical missiles, but I had used it when I fought with the ogres, and the shield had blocked their melee attacks without much problem. I would have to remember to talk to Jennifer or Zarra about the bug when I logged out in a few moments.

  The last item I had, besides the 8 gold and 3 silver that my UI said I carried in my pockets, was the relic. I almost wanted to take it out to look at it again, but Allurie was still sitting on the bed next to me, and I didn’t want the elf girl to ask about it. I really should have been more upset with her, but part of me was glad that she was here, and not in danger back at Arnicoal. I would make more money. I was Leo Lennox, the world champion of Astafar Unlimited, and the best video game player in the world.