“DEM tablets don’t work like that. The accounts aren’t device-specific. They’re user-specific. Ye can use mine if ye want to, to transfer money somewhere. And all your things are safe.”
“Oh, and you should call Leo,” Louie added. “He said he’d need to go over a few things with you about work.”
“Tomorrow,” I said, tired of it all. “Let’s do it all tomorrow.”
“The potion still giving ye trouble?”
“I guess,” I said, not wanting to continue the discussion. “Where do you sleep?”
“Don’t worry about me. I got my ways.”
“But seriously,” Louie continued the questions I’d wanted to ask. “Where do you work? And where do you go to relieve yourself?”
“I’ve crafted and purchased a few items that make life easier for an old dwarf like meself,” he said and produced a large iron key. “If ye need to go to the bathroom, use this in a wall.”
Item: Key to the Loo
Type: Extra-dimensional item
Durability : 1700/1700
Rarity: E Grade
Weight: 4st.
Description : A specialty item designed and crafted by Rory Battleforge. A key that opens the way to a comfortable, ventilated toilet. The creator of this item advises you to not overstay your welcome and make sure you refill the paper if it runs out.
“Is that really a key to an extra-dimensional toilet?” Louie asked excitedly.
“Damn right! Took me two months to nail down the kinks. Sometimes the door wouldn’t open, sometimes the toilet wouldn’t flush. But now it works perfectly.”
“Thank you, Rory,” I said and sat down on the mattress again.
“Alright, I’ll be just outside then,” he said and moved over to the door. “Ye’re safe here.”
“Louie, are you going to sleep, or will you try killing yourself with more bacon?”
“Oh, such a wonderful way to die,” he said in a mockingly melodic voice. “But no. If I eat any more, I’ll burst.”
I lay down on the mattress, looking at the light above, and realized there was no switch on the walls. Instead, I covered my face with my forearm and rested my other arm on Louie.
How can the dwarf live here? He has so much money. Why would he choose to live in this dump?
“Alex, are you asleep?”
“Not yet. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m just happy that you’re okay,” he said, and I felt his tail move a bit. “It was awful seeing you in that state.”
“I’m sorry you had to see that, buddy. But it won’t happen again. We’re stopping everything, okay?”
“Whatever you want,” he said after a few seconds. That was the last I heard of him before he started snoring like the little pig that he was.
My eyes too were feeling heavy, no doubt because of the potion I’d been given. However, my mind kept returning to the dire predicament I was in. A fugitive from my workplace and my own apartment, forced to stop making money off the Apocosmos, and—worst of it all—forced to hide just to stay alive.
How the fuck did I reach this point? Why couldn’t I have just stayed in my boring developer job and steadily built a measly pension instead of going after riches and early retirement?
But I guess nobody ever looked at pension schemes with excitement.
Calculating the money I’d already saved, I figured I would be able to wait this thing out and then move to England or something. Find a job on that side of the ocean. The language was the same and I’d heard developers never had trouble finding jobs there. London, perhaps? Or even better, Dublin? Perhaps I’d be able to get a place with a backyard for Louie to run around in and a big fridge to stock up on Guinness.
My daydreams about beer and green fields soon gave way to actual dreams and, despite Louie’s snoring getting louder by the minute, I slept like a rock.
Eight days had passed since I’d moved into Rory’s apartment, if you could even call it an apartment. Not that I was ungrateful for it, but the man lived as if he was homeless when he probably could have bought the whole block his little dump was in. Regardless, he made sure that we had everything we needed.
During the first few days, he had people from the “cleaning” company he’d hired make drop-offs of several items from my apartment—the very first included some clothes along with my and Louie’s laptop, because of course he had to have his own laptop to play his games and watch his series apparently. Though I wouldn’t have called my laptop a necessity, there were a couple of good reasons why I needed it right away.
First off, there was abso-fucking-lutely nothing to do at Rory’s place and since the only times I left the apartment were to walk with Louie around the block, there were only so many conversations I could have with a grumpy old dwarf and a corgi that spent the majority of his day sleeping. Second, the day after the incident I had a long call with Leo.
It turned out that his family had great connections in the NYPD and the whole incident was handled with the utmost discretion. What’s more, he made sure that I’d be able to work from home for the next couple of months, taking the heat off of me by making some shit up about me having broken my leg in three places, producing an x-ray signed by a physician and all.
Management wasn’t happy about it of course but they preferred having an employee slaving away from home instead of one on sick leave. And since I had no friends at work, aside from Leo, I didn’t have to worry about anyone pretending to care and asking to visit me.
The next deliveries from the company though included things that were directed toward making our stay more comfortable. First and foremost, our couch. The long piece of furniture barely fit into one of the room’s corners but at long last, I was able to sleep in my spot again. This also meant that the dwarf could sleep on his mattress, which was something I didn’t particularly enjoy. If Louie’s snoring could be characterized as cute and only occasionally annoying, Rory’s sounded like construction workers having a competition to see who would reach Earth’s core first. It helped me understand why the neighbors had their TVs on so obnoxiously loud at night.
Snoring aside, Rory was the perfect roommate. He didn’t talk much, he worked most of the time, and he liked to eat a lot. At first, I wondered where he was doing his crafting work, but soon I realized why he’d rented this place. His workshop was in a separate extra-dimensional space, which anyone else was forbidden from entering since it was his pride and joy.
“Why do ye need to have this awful music on so loud?” the dwarf asked as he exited his extra-dimensional workshop and stepped into the apartment.
“That’s the only way to listen to metal, old man,” I said, not minding a little break from an hour of straight database migrations. “You should try it. I bet you’re gonna love some of the tracks.”
“There’s nothing that can compare to proper Celt music, lad,” he said as he pulled up the room’s only chair and sat down on it.
“Well I’ll get you a device and put some songs on there for you,” I said, suddenly amused at the idea of preparing a playlist for a dwarf Mastersmith. “Perfect for a day of smithing.”
“Do what ye want, half-Celt,” he said and waved his hand dismissively. “Listen up. I got a lass coming. She’s an apprentice and will be spending the day here. She’s doing her class change quest.”
“Oh, okay. Do you want us out of the apartment?”
“No need. She’ll be here any minute.”
“Well, it’s time for my break and Louie’s walk either way,” I said. Louie immediately opened his eyes and perked up his ears. “Leo will be meeting us too. He said he had some news to share.”
Louie proceeded through his usual yoga stretching poses but was cut short by a knock at the door. He began barking immediately and I moved to get him, thinking that it would annoy Rory. The dwarf, however, simply smiled at him and stroked the back of his neck.
“Come in. Come in, guys,” Rory said, opening the door and stepping aside to l
et his guests enter.
A blue-haired woman came in and gave the dwarf a hug. Louie, not recognizing the guests, neither by sight nor after sniffing their legs, moved back to his usual spot for another short nap.
“Hello, Maestro,” the woman said. I thought I recognized the voice.
“Rory,” said a male voice from behind her. “It’s so good to see you.”
No. Is it really?
“Lad, I’d like ye to meet me apprentice, Martina. And her partner—”
“Hansi,” I said and forced my mouth closed. “Yes, I know them.”
“Oh, ye’ve met before, have ye?” The dwarf looked at his guests.
“I don’t believe we have,” the man said.
“Yes. I mean, no,” I fumbled over my words and extended my hand. “I’m Alex. I’ve been watching your Nerdforge videos for some time.”
“What videos, half-Celt?” Rory asked me.
“We’ve been uploading videos of some of our creations on a Cosmos platform,” said Martina and shook my hand. “Nice to meet you, Alex.”
“Nice to meet you too,” said Hansi and shook my hand as well.
“I really like your content.”
“Thank you,” he replied with a smile.
“Wait till you see what I’ll craft after I upgrade my class,” Martina added. “Which reminds me… Maestro, a bottle of cedar magma whiskey.”
She turned to face Rory and produced a bottle that looked like it was shifting colors between bright red, orange, and burgundy. She gave the bottle to the dwarf and he accepted it with a nod and a smile. It wasn’t until Hansi produced the second gift that I realized this was the formal greeting when dealing with dwarfs. Rory had made sure to school me on it after my complete ignorance at our first meeting.
The first part was three gifts. No more, no less. The second part was exchanging personal questions, though not too personal. This seemed to me like a terrible way to start a conversation, but who was I to judge dwarven customs? Finally, you had to offer knowledge and accept knowledge.
“Our second gift to you, good dwarf,” the man said, and produced what looked like a large yellow wheel. “Cheese made of Domhain bison milk.”
“Ye know just what to get, ye two,” he said and placed both whiskey and cheese into his inventory.
Before they brought out the third and last of their gifts, I tried to discreetly scan them.
Name: Martina Nerdforge
Race: Human/Elf
Class: Crafter
Level: 19
Name: Hansi Nerdforge
Race: Silver Elf
Class: Lotus Knight
Level: 23
So they both use the name Nerdforge in the Apocosmos too.
I wasn’t surprised by Martina’s half-elf lineage, especially since I’d found out that Leo was a half-elf as well, but I had never met a silver elf before. At least, not to my knowledge, but of course I didn’t have any idea what they looked like.
Martina had obviously not upgraded her class yet, but it looked like Hansi had already completed his level 20 class change quest. I wondered what a lotus knight was, but didn’t want to interrupt them.
“And for our third gift, something to carve your enemies or cut your leathers with.” Martina took her turn and presented a dagger with a short shiny purple blade and a beautiful ornate handle that looked like a twisting serpent.
Name: Lotus Monastery Ceremonial Knife
Type: Dagger
Rarity: E Grade
Physical Attack: 19
Magic Attack: 16
Special Ability: -
Attack Speed: Fast
Durability : 220/220
Weight: 600st.
Description : The handle of this dagger is made of silver sanctified by the Order of the Lotus. The members of the order have infused the blade with their mana, making this weapon especially effective against enemies of the silver elves.
I had never before stumbled upon this particular dagger in the Dark Energy Marketplace and judging by Rory’s reaction, it must have been a great gift.
“Thank ye, lass. I appreciate yer gifts,” Rory said and proceeded to the second part of their meeting ceremony. “Now, how have ye two been handling the fact that yer paths are diverging? With Hansi having become an elven knight and you, Martina, a soon-to-be arcane smith?”
“We’ve been focusing a lot on our personal development,” Martina replied formally and smoothly, “but also try to spend time with each other, doing projects we both enjoy.”
“How do you deal with living in this realm and crafting here?” Hansi asked now. “It must be very different from Domhain.”
“Aye, it is. But money is the same everywhere, so I do what everyone does. The best I can with what I got.”
Both guests nodded at the dwarf’s remark and I felt the need to nod as well. I was about to announce that I’d take my leave when the dwarf talked again.
“I recently read that a whole clan of huldrekall has moved to this realm, to the country of Mexico. Their like haven’t been on this side of the ocean for centuries.”
“That’s something we didn’t know,” Hansi replied in exactly the same words Rory had advised me that one who receives new knowledge should. “And we have heard that there have been some troubles in the lower echelons of the Greek pantheon. Apparently, a minor artifact was stolen from the estate of a demigod.”
“That’s something I didn’t know,” the dwarf replied back, with a wide smile now drawn on his face. “It’s always a pleasure to do this with ye.”
“It’s our pleasure too, Maestro,” Martina retorted.
“Hansi, lad, are ye staying for a drink?” the dwarf asked.
“No, there’s some business I need to attend to just outside of New York. I’m actually a bit late.”
“Thank ye for stopping by then,” the dwarf said and shook his hand.
The man smiled at him, kissed his partner, and stepped back.
“Let me join you,” I said. “I’m going downstairs too.”
“I’m actually going up. A ride is waiting for me,” he said and pointed his finger upward. “It was nice meeting you, Alex.”
A ride? From the rooftop? I was sure this building had no heliport, but I didn’t want to let my ignorance show.
“It was nice meeting you too,” I said just before he left the apartment.
“Alright, lad,” Rory said and pushed his key into the wall, opening the door that led to his extra-dimensional workshop. “I’ll see ye later then. Be careful out there.”
“I will,” I said and put Louie on his leash. “And good luck, Martina.”
“Thank you,” the woman said and smiled as she followed Rory into his workshop. “It was nice meeting you.”
“Likewise,” I said and opened the door to exit the apartment.
I walked down the stairs still a bit dumbfounded that the two of them were members of the Apocosmos. It didn’t take too long for my mood to become sour again though, and I put up my guard as we neared the block’s entrance.
Leo was already waiting for us under the shade of the only tree on the sidewalk. That was quite strange, since I always arrived at least ten minutes early to all my appointments—not that I had many anymore, but still.
“Your leg looks better, man,” he said and opened his arms for a hug.
I wasn’t sure why he’d do that. Casual hugs weren’t something we usually did and I definitely wasn’t going to change this tradition now. However, I quickly realized the invitation wasn’t directed at me when Louie jumped in his arms.
“Hey, buddy!” Leo said and scratched Louie as he jumped in and out of his lap as he knelt down. “How’s our dwarf friend treating you? Are you getting loads of bacon?”
Louie looked around and seeing that quite a few people were walking around us, simply barked instead of replying in words. Leo smiled and let him go over to the tree to do his business.
“Hey, Leo,” I said a
nd nodded at him. “Thank you for the leg thing. It’s nice to know I won’t lose my job.”
“Don’t worry about it. They’d be fools if they let you go. It’d take months to onboard a newcomer.”
“So can I work from home forever then?”
“I doubt they’d ever allow that, man,” he said with a smile. “Everyone wants to work from home and it makes sense for most of us, but management is dead set against it. Why would you want to work from home though? Are you enjoying Rory’s place so much that you don’t want to leave?”
“Don’t get me started on his place,” I said and grimaced. “Especially its connection. Sometimes I swear the building is still running on ISDN.”
“Then why would you want to work from home on a more permanent basis?”
“I’m thinking of moving. Somewhere far away. Somewhere safe.” I whistled at Louie to follow us as we started walking our usual round of the block.
“Well, I can help you with that,” Leo agreed. “I guess you’re looking for an apartment in a different area?”
“I don’t think a different area would cut it, Leo,” I confessed. “I was thinking more along the lines of a different continent.”
“What? A different continent?” he asked, surprised. “Why? Where?”
“I really don’t want anything to do with the Apocosmos anymore, and I don’t want to put Louie or myself in danger again. I might not have enough money for all of our plans but I’ve paid back the hospital bill I had, and I’ve got enough for my student loans and then some. I could definitely make a fresh start in the UK or in Spain. Maybe even Germany.”
“Dude, you don’t have to do that,” Leo said and stopped walking. “Look at me. I know you want to be safe, but leaving your whole life behind isn’t the answer.”
“And what is the answer, Mr. DiFiore?” I asked sarcastically.
“A new apartment with wards for hiding you, and staying away from the marketplace,” he replied seriously. “There’s no reason for them to attack you, especially if the apartment is leased through our family. This is what I wanted to talk to you about actually.”
Berserker: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Adventure (Apocosmos Book 1) Page 21