by G. Akella
"Do you know what time it is? It's midnight. Why the hell would we roast anything in the middle of the night?"
"You just lack the appreciation of how romantic it is to be in the great outdoors," the mage grimaced as he pushed away a bowl of boiled vegetables.
"I'm not that big on idiocy—that's all. What I really want is to wrap up our business here as soon as we can and proceed to the mainland. What's gotten into you?"
"While you were filling up the water flasks, I finally managed to get in touch with Xenia on the phone..."
"And?"
"It's just like you said," Luffy sighed heavily and looked away.
"Listen, brother, didn't I tell you that whatever happens, happens for the best? Now you're free to start a new relationship with anyone you want. A new life and a new woman! Have you seen all those beauties out there?" Max eyed the inn's dining hall. "Have you seen this many beautiful women in one place back home?"
It had taken them six hours to get here. The remoteness of the village from the central location notwithstanding, it was packed with people, and they were lucky to have snagged the last free table in the dining hall. Oddly enough, the players behaved perfectly proper—sitting at their tables, drinking beer and wine, and conversing in hushed tones. Although Max didn't see much joy on their faces, he'd have to note there wasn't any despair to be seen here, either. Judging by the fact that most of the players were level 13 to 15, one might guess that most of those who gathered here ended up stranded inside the game against their will.
"Stop trying to comfort me, will you?" Luffy gave the warrior a push in the shoulder. "I know you don't have it any better than me. I, at least, can turn over a new page... But don't worry—we'll find your crush and her brother, how could we not?"
"May we join you guys?" A quaint couple was standing next to their table—a ranger and a priestess.
The girl's hair was bright red, and there was an elaborate tattoo of the same color on her right cheek. The guy wasn't any duller—his ashen gray hair was woven into numerous little braids. Max could only guess at the amount of time required to style one's hair like that.
"Sure thing," the warrior moved the dirty bowls to the side of the table, and nodded toward the opposite bench.
"Thanks," the ranger waited for the girl to sit down before he followed suit. "I'm Van Leek, or just Leek, and she's Esthera. We're from Amsterdam."
"I'm Max, he's Luffy," Max smiled back at him. "I'm from Moscow, and he's from Kiev."
"Where's your straw hat, Luffy?" asked the girl in a pleasant voice, making the still sullen mage smile. "Are you so sad because you lost it?"
"Right you are," nodded Luffy. "But I'll definitely find it."
A waitress appeared without making a sound. Having quickly taken the new acquaintances' order and collected the dirty dishes from the table, she disappeared just as silently.
"So, have you gotten used to how things are here?" The young man spoke with a slight accent.
"It's hard to say," Max shrugged. "It's only been a little over four days."
"So you're newcomers?" exclaimed the ranger, surprised.
"Yup. And you're not here of your own volition, as far as I can see, are you?"
"We didn't mind too much," the guy smiled a completely childish smile as he hugged his girlfriend's shoulders. "We went to a special boarding school together—we both have musculoskeletal system disorders."
"So how long have you been here?"
"Almost a month. Esthie wanted a tattoo, and you need over forty points in Herbalism to get one. It's easy enough to level it to thirty here, and then you'll be lucky if you advance by one point per day. And redleaf is a rare plant, even on the mainland, and really hard to come by, so this is why we've been hanging out here for so long."
"Cool tattoo," Luffy smiled at the girl. "Does it give any benefits?"
"Thanks," the priestess smiled back. "It does—once you get to the Temple of Loaetia, you can get a special quest from the high priestess there, and they'll replace it with another tattoo—not quite as pretty as this one, but a five percent bonus to healing is not to be scoffed at. I see you're a herbalist yourself—I can tell you more about it, but the quest is only available to the priest class... I'd never have managed by myself without Leek," the girl looked at her boyfriend affectionately.
"No, thank you," the mage shook his head watching the waitress set the table with bowls and cups. "A few thousand people came to Armilan today; I think there'll be more tomorrow, and the day after the place will be packed. We finish our last quest tomorrow and then we're out of here."
"Why, we must drink to that," Leek took out a quarter-gallon flask. "Empty your cups. We leave tomorrow morning, too. We have friends waiting outside—we've arranged it through a contact on the outside." He poured the dark viscous liquid into their cups. A smell of herbs permeated the air.
"Where'd you get such a marvelous thing?" Max finally finished blinking after downing the beverage. "There's nothing but wine available here, and this infusion of yours is 100 proof at the very least."
"Lots of things are available to us alchemists," Leek chuckled. "Ethanol is one of the most basic recipes in this profession. Hardly Jack Daniels, but just fine if you make a herbal infusion. You can get the recipe from Veliessa in Venlamin. You must have passed that village on your way here. She made us collect a bunch of different mushrooms so that we could use her lab, but we know our mushrooms well in Holland."
"We know her. However, our alchemist here asked her for a tea recipe instead of alcohol."
"What's wrong with tea, eh?" Luffy exclaimed indignantly.
The four of them shared a mirthful laugh.
"Say, what kind of a quest are you doing?" Leek asked Max. "We might be able to help. We have completed nearly every quest available here. We won't be able to participate since our friends are waiting, but we might be able to offer counsel."
"Nothing serious—we need to deliver a letter to the Yltarin Outpost. It's something like three miles if you cross the forest direct."
"Mind that you're careful there," said Leek in a suddenly serious voice. "There's been weird stuff going on there after the patch."
"Such as?"
"There's a chain quest that involves the werepanthers from Maeglyn Woods. If you complete it, you get a seven percent increase or so in reputation with our race. Nothing special, your typical hunter quest: first you kill about a dozen young werepanthers, then some mature ones, and finally there's a boss fight with Phylatrim, the leader of the pack." Leek took a sip from his cup, winced and continued. "What was I talking about? Oh year. The werepanthers are gone. Well, not quite—they used to roam among trees like regular mobs, and now they have formed packs—it appears that they're using the local beasts to level up. A few dozen players died there already—some of them while trying to collect their equipment—several times in a row. Dying here isn't fatal, of course, but rest assured there's nothing pleasant about it. Me and Esthie died three times already, and we'd rather not do it again."
"You think the patch affected the werepanthers that way?" Max asked. "I have a very rough idea of the differences between werepanthers and druids."
"I wouldn't want to mislead you—I don't see much of a difference, either." Leek shook his head. "Don't accept this chain, it isn't worth it."
"Thank you." Max gave the ranger a firm handshake and nodded the red-haired priestess goodbye. "We've got to go. Good luck on the mainland."
"Take care of your woman, Leek," Luffy squeezed the hand he was offered, patted the ranger's shoulder, and looked at Esthera. "I guess I don't have to tell you that your man is the best, huh?"
"Nope," the girl smiled blissfully. "Good luck to you guys, and take good care in those Maeglyn Woods."
They set off the next morning after a filling breakfast. The morning woods were wrapped in a thick fog, almost completely opaque. Nature was still in a state of calm, when everything sleeps for miles around, enjoying the last bit of rest befo
re the dawn. Droplets of crystal clear dew were falling from dozing trees onto the grass, and their sound seemed to reverberate through the entire forest.
"Why are you so grumpy?" the mage asked Max, carefully stepping around a root sticking up from the ground.
"You know, something has just occurred to me—I haven't been in a proper forest for ten years or so. Work and more work... and whenever we'd go on vacation with the missus, we'd go to Thailand, Turkey, the Emirates, and the like..." Max sighed. "Not much in the way of forests there. But I still have a plot of land near Moscow inherited from my parents—right next to Taldom, a small town in that region. Grandma got it as far back as the twentieth century, right after the Moscow Olympics. I've only been to that plot once."
"Why once?"
"So many plots have been bought since then that there's no sign of nature. An enormous human anthill with fat women in tracksuits digging their veggie patches."
"You're a connoisseur of the finer things, brother," chuckled the mage. "I traveled the whole world with the squaw—we've even been to the Amazonian jungle. But I too haven't been in a regular forest in over ten years."
"We were planning to go fishing to the Akhtuba or to Karelia with Roman someday... But there was always something—the missus objecting, or tight deadlines at work. And then Roman went to America, and life became that much duller. Although he never was much of a fisherman," the warrior smiled. "His idea of fishing was to pour a shot, send it down the hatch, and then repeat... Like you and your alchemy studies..."
"I promise," the mage gave a scout salute, "that as soon as we get to the mainland, I'll accompany you on a fishing trip! Scout's honor... I'll even help you put whitebait on the hook. Just let me learn the recipe of alcohol first, and I'll be ready anytime..."
"Deal," the warrior laughed.
The only difference between Yltarin and a regular village was two watchtowers—trees that grew special platforms for archers. Otherwise it was a simple village with thorny bushes growing all across the perimeter that looked more decorative than functional. They approached the fort when the risen sun had chased away the fog and started to glisten in the drops of silvery dew on the roadside blade of grass as it filtered through the canopy of the firs.
Duh, I was expecting something of this sort, Max sighed as he caught the heavy smell of putrefaction brought by the light wind blowing from the side of the fort. "That soldier must have had a good reason to head toward Armilan."
"So, Holmes, what do you believe to be the cause of these soldiers' demise?" the warrior asked, turning his head toward his companion as they entered the fort through a wide passage in the bushes.
"It's not just the soldiers," Luffy tried not to take any unnecessary breaths as he pointed toward a number of corpses wearing green druid cloaks. "Everything else is the same—marks left by teeth and claws." He shrugged. "Or maybe not," the mage took a few steps forward and bent over two corpses lying next to each other, barely managing to keep from retching. "These two were killed by regular weapons."
"Do you think they're the werepanthers Leek was warning us about?"
"Max, why would you care? Let this Ibrahim handle it himself..." Luffy could no longer hold it in and vomited onto the grass. "Daaaamn," he muttered as he wiped the tears from his eyes, "let's leave this place, I didn't subscribe to this shit."
"Hold on, we need to loot the bodies," Max examined one of the closer corpses. "This is the very Neytan who was supposed to receive the letter from us."
Trouble in Maeglyn Woods quest has been modified.
You've accessed the quest: Trouble in Maeglyn Woods.
Quest type: rare, chain.
Return to Armilan and report to Garrison Commander Istadior on what happened in Yltarin.
Reward: experience, increased reputation with the Dark Elves, 2 gold and a rare weapon of your choice.
Attention! The time for completing this quest is limited: 14.59.59… 14.59.58
"Do whatever you need to—I'll wait for you outside the palisade," Luffy pointed in the direction opposite to where they came from. "It should probably stink less there."
"You doing all right? Back to your senses yet?" Max sat down on the grass next to the mage and passed him a flask. "Have some of this."
"It appears I'll have to get used to some things," Luffy returned the flask and stretched out on the grass with his hands clasped behind his head.
"We'll all have to get used to them," Max fiddled with the tinderbox, lighting up, and took two deep tokes. "This never happened before—the corpses didn't stink like this, and there weren't as many worms, either."
"Why didn't you throw up right there?" the mage nodded toward the fort.
"Well, I've never been the squeamish type," Max shrugged. "By the way, there was no loot on the corpses."
"None whatsoever?"
"None at all," the warrior nodded. "Let me finish the cigarette, and we'll head back—I don't like it here. Werepanthers are only supposed to come out at night, but better safe than sorry, as they say..."
That very moment a loud female scream of pain and despair sounded some twenty yards away. Without thinking twice, both dashed in that direction. Once Max tore through the bushes, he saw a young level 40 woman with dark hair, and a gray tentacle coming from a nearby stump coiled tight around her ankle. The girl's HP bar was in the yellow, and the expression on her face reflected such unbearable pain that the warrior had a chill run down his spine.
"The scroll! Luffy, heal her!" he bellowed, grabbing his sword and attacking the vile gray thing that was stretching forward from the stump.
"But it's... Ah, damn it!" Luffy realized he was doing something exceptionally stupid, yet he took out a scroll and used the spell of complete restoration on the dying werepanther woman.
A moment later he noticed that Max, who had slashed through the gray tentacle, losing more than half his HP in the process, was falling down on the grass with a moan, letting the sword slip out of his hands, and that the girl whose health they'd just restored still couldn't quite come to her senses, while the severed tentacle was reaching for her leg again. Afterwards, Luffy tried to explain to himself what had happened, but without much success. He quickly jumped forward, grabbed the girl with both arms, and started to roll with her across the grass. Something hit him hard in the teeth, and his mouth filled with salty blood. In another moment, the girl, who was already fully conscious, threw him off with strength that was incredible for her constitution, jumped to her feet and started walking backwards in the direction of the forest, casting haunted glances around herself and hissing loudly.
"She's strikingly beautiful!" the mage whispered as the girl turned around sharply, licking off the blood from her split lip, shifted into a black panther and vanished in the trees in a few short leaps.
Your reputation has increased. Tasha, a fighter of the Night Hunters clan, relates to you with suspicion.
Your reputation has increased. The Night Hunters clan is unfriendly to you.
"What did we do just now?" Max got up, wincing from the pain, and picked up the sword that had fallen out of his hands. "I even had my Toughness increase to three percent."
"She's so cool," Luffy kept staring at the spot where the girl that he'd rescued just stood.
"Hey, snap out of it," the warrior gave him a shove. "Pick up your jaw already."
"We're both idiots," the mage turned toward him with a happy smile on his face. "No player in their right mind would rush toward a woman's scream coming from the bushes—even if they did, the last thing they'd do is save a hostile high-level NPC. They'd be more likely to finish off the NPC and get a ton of experience."
"Do you regret what you did?"
"By no means... Like you, I can't bring myself to behave as a player—vestiges of real world ethics, you see."
"I never raised my hand at a woman in my previous life, and I don't intend to change my ways in this one," Max was still recovering from the pain. He sat down on the grass, drank so
me wine from the bellied flask, and lit a cigarette. "Of course, if the woman in question tries to kill me or someone dear to me, I'll have no such qualms. But this wasn't the case here. By the way," he blew out a puff of smoke and looked at the mage inquisitively, "what's the deal with those reputations? I don't remember reading anything about 'suspicion'."
"It's your personal reputation with an individual NPC. The ones I know are hatred, suspicion, respect and friendship. You must have looked at faction reputation statuses—that's your reputation with different social groups. They're as follows from the bottom up: hated, hostile, unfriendly, neutral, friendly, honored and exalted."
"Unfriendly means we shouldn't be attacked on sight, right?" Max pointed toward the forest—four tall wide-shouldered elves had emerged from the trees and were approaching the friends. Their recent acquaintance followed, her head bent low.
"The morning adventure continues," Luffy chortled. "Do you think we might expect a quest from them?"
"Yeah, like wasting all the elves in Sunlit Forest," Max chuckled as he rose from the ground. "It's bad manners to welcome your guests sitting down."
The guests looked very impressive indeed—each of the four was armed with paired blades and had a level between 50 and 55. Their calm faces may have been carved in wood for the amount of emotion they demonstrated.
"I am Phylatrim," the leader of the group eyed the companions with saturnine green eyes. "Who are you? And why did you save my daughter?"
"Are you saying we shouldn't have?" replied Luffy with a challenge in his voice.
"As for you, mage, we need to talk separately," the werepanther's scowl deepened as he glanced at the young woman behind him, trying to make herself as small as possible.
"I'm Max, and he's Luffy," the warrior decided to take the initiative in conversation. "We were just passing by. As for your question, I find it insulting."