by Phoenix Grey
He took his time scanning the room, picking up one pair of shoes to check out its stats, then moving over to look at the next. Compared to a shoe store in his own world, the selection was dismally small. Still, it was better than nothing. Of what was available were the following:
Small Cloth Sandals
Defense: +1
Type: Light Armor
Durability: 21/21
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.4 kg
Cloth Sandals
Defense: +2
Type: Light Armor
Durability: 21/21
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.5 kg
Small Leather Boots
Defense: +3
Type: Light Armor
Durability: 21/21
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 2.0 kg
Large Leather Boots
Defense: +4
Type: Light Armor
Durability: 21/21
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 3.0 kg
Fur Lined Boots
Defense: +4
Type: Light Armor
Durability: 21/21
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 2.5 kg
Large Patchwork Boots
Defense: +4
Type: Light Armor
Durability: 21/21
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 3.0 kg
Small Rawhide Boots
Defense: +3
Type: Light Armor
Durability: 21/21
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 3.0 kg
Large Rawhide Boots
Defense: +4
Type: Light Armor
Durability: 21/21
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 4.6 kg
Honestly, Azure didn't notice much of a difference between most of the boots.
Since the larger variety gave better defense stats, he inquired about the price of those, settling on purchasing the Large Patchwork Boots for 1 gold and 5 silver. They were the ugliest boots in the bunch, made up of a variety of materials of various shades of brown, tan, black, and red, but they would work. He wasn't exactly trying to be stylish anyway with his mismatched armor.
Next, Azure sold Cristopher his Spider Silk and two sets of Urticating Hairs, earning him back 2 gold, 2 silver, and 5 copper. It made him feel like he came out the winner of the deal.
Once their business was concluded, they took some time to catch up. Cristopher told Azure that the baby would be coming any day now. His wife, Owe, had been pregnant last Azure had seen her—the only time he'd seen her. The studious woman was still keeping Bronna under wraps, testing out some parenting skills on her.
Apparently, Lonnell had been sneaking over to spend time with Bronna whenever he could, something that Azure had been unaware of. Not that it really mattered. That was his business. He was just happy that Lonnell hadn't brought her into Squall's End, not particularly fond of his friend's fiance.
When Cristopher was done speaking, Azure launched into a shortened version of his many adventures. The cordwainer oohed and awed, saying he wished he had had the stomach to travel the Adventurer's path throughout his life. Apparently, he had tried it in his youth but quickly realized it wasn't his thing.
“Back then, I was as poor as poor can be,” Cristopher told him. “I mean, I’m not exactly rich now, but I do pretty well for myself and my family.” His eyes volleyed around the shoe store. “Like most young folks, I got into Adventuring to make money with the grand plan of getting rich and maybe even becoming a knight someday. But as a budding Adventurer with no money to spend on new equipment, what I did have was cheap and flimsy.
“I was too much of a coward to take on Monster quests or Bounties, so I mostly stuck to Gathering and Miscelanous. But as you probably know, those usually don’t pay a lot. One day, I tried to up my game by taking on a Monster quest. My equipment was already in pretty bad shape. The Durability on the pair of boots I was wearing ran out midbattle. Luckily, there was another party member with me.” Cristopher paused for a moment, a sheepish grin lighting up his face. “You can probably imagine how embarrassed I was to have to retreat because my shoes had fallen apart.” A light chuckle escaped his lips. “We made it out of the skirmish okay, though my partner ended up having to do most of the work.
“That mistake led me to purchase a needle and some thread. Any time my boots would show signs of wear, I’d stitch them back up. As time progressed, I found myself oddly obsessed with helping people fix their footwear. And then one day it dawned on me that I was in the wrong line of work.
“I used what coin I had to buy a small cart and the materials I needed to fix shoes, and I set up in Noseon to start cobbling. But the competition was tight. There were already a lot of cobblers within the kingdom who had an established client base, and they didn’t take well to a newcomer moving in. They harassed me until I decided to move my cart just outside of the outer wall so that I could catch knights and adventurers entering the town.
“There was no law against it, so I thought it would be okay. And it was, for a while. Business boomed. I started making real money. But then word got around to the other cobblers, and they rallied together to chase me completely out of town. So, I came here,” he said with a long sigh, unpleasant memories showing in his eyes.
“That’s horrible. I’m sorry that happened to you. People can be dicks sometimes.” Azure shook his head.
Cristopher laughed. “Yes, they can be. But it was all for the best. The cobbler here at the time was old and ready to retire. He didn’t mind so much when I set up my cart in the town square. In fact, he taught me so much more that I didn’t know, including how to make shoes from fresh materials.” He smiled softly. “Sometimes, when he was too tired or just didn’t feel like dealing with them, he’d send his customers over to me. And then one day, he just disappeared.” The smile faded into sadness.
“Disappeared?”
“He died,” Cristopher clarified. “Apparently, they found him sitting in his favorite chair holding a shoe. The man was well-loved here. A gentle soul. Someone I’d even consider a father figure in the absence of my own.”
“Anyway, I met Owe when she came to me for my services. Back then, she was an Adventurer. Fierce, that one was. It never quite went away.” Now he was smiling for a different reason. “So you see, moving here worked out for me just fine. It was what was meant to happen. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. Just like you met me so you’d know where to buy good shoes.” Cristopher winked.
Once story time was over, Azure thanked him and left. He felt oddly better now that he’d shared a conversation with the pleasant man. Like the world around him wasn’t so dark and filled with terrifying things. Perhaps that had been the real reason for their meeting—for Cristopher to soothe him right now without even trying. Whatever the case, Azure was thankful for the experience.
With new boots on his feet—the quality of which he was quite impressed with—he headed to the inn.
Deciding not to be such a cheapskate, Azure purchased a full week. Then he paid for a bath to wash the rest of the burnt grime from his body. He soaked in the water, taking his time. He even thought about forking out the coin for someone to bathe him, though it seemed a bit gratuitous.
I should treat myself. Maybe I'll take things a step further and go to the pleasure house. Paying for sex seems like a waste, but I nearly died, so I don't think it would be too bad of a thing. In this world, who knows when you're going to get killed.
He mulled over the idea until the bathwater was so cloudy
that he couldn't see his own cock beneath it. Then he emerged from the tub and put back on his light armor before taking all of the metal pieces back to his room.
Once that was done, laziness and the need to drink drove him to the tavern, pushing back the idea of going to the pleasure house for another time. If he was going to take an entire week off, then there was no rush.
Azure savored a meal of mutton leg with some root vegetable, washing it down with a pint of beer. It was, he thought, the best thing he'd ever tasted. But that was only because of his brush with death. In reality, the meat was overcooked and under-seasoned, but Azure certainly wasn't going to complain.
As he spent his hours sitting in the tavern and sipping on beer, he thought about what he would do throughout the week. Purchase some alchemy components and replenish the Potions of Minor Healing that he'd used up. Find somewhere to buy a new bow and some arrows. Being able to attack his enemies from afar without magic was essential. Azure didn't particularly feel bad about losing his Goblin Bow. He'd needed something better for a while.
Nothing else he'd lost really required immediate replacing. Azure mourned the loss of the stat boosts from the Black Barbed Whip and Gnollish Club. Just losing those two items made him feel like he'd dropped several levels. Part of the reason he was so shaken was of how weak he now felt.
Once he was well wasted, Azure dragged himself up to his room, stripped off his clothes, and promptly passed out on his bedroll, looking forward to waking the next morning refreshed. Well, refreshed and with a hangover. And that's exactly what he did.
The next morning came with pain. It was a welcome pain. A pain that was centralized in his head, not spread out and burning all over his body. Just the memory made Azure shiver.
He spent the vast majority of the day throwing up and drinking water. It was one of the worst hangovers of his life, but also one of the best...because he was still alive. Of course, after a few hours, he wondered why he had done this to himself. Wasn't the whole point of being happy to be alive to enjoy it free from pain? Oh well, he couldn't take what he'd done back.
When Azure felt well enough, he went down to the tavern to eat and people-watch. The very first person that he Analyzed leveled up the skill.
Congratulations! The skill: Analyze has reached Level 12. This skill allows you to see how dangerous a foe is in relation to your own level. Use this skill frequently to avoid getting yourself killed.
“Hooray,” he said weakly, doing jazz hands in the air which quickly ended up moving to hold his throbbing head instead. Azure tried drinking a Potion of Minor Healing, then eating a Wild Onion, but neither helped to ease the icepicks stabbing at his brain.
After a while, he went back up to his room to take a nap. There was nothing better to do than to sleep off his misery.
When he awoke next, Azure felt remarkably better, though still not 100%. He stepped up to the window, gauging the amount of light to see if any of the merchants would still be open. While he didn’t feel well enough to do anything too strenuous, he could at least buy some alchemy components and mash up a few extra Potions of Minor Healing so as not to make the day feel like an entire waste.
Putting on his clothes was a laborious task, and by the time he got back downstairs and made his way to the town square, the merchants had already shuffled off home. Azure was admittedly disappointed. Surrendering to the fact that it was going to be a lazy night, he returned to the tavern for dinner.
His taste buds seemed to have reverted to their pre-near-death experience state where he didn’t quite appreciate the food as much. Then again, he’d never been a fan of porridge, especially the non-sweet variety. Porridge for dinner had never been a thing to him before coming to The Realm. But here they served chunks of unidentifiable meat in it. It tasted like stew and oatmeal had an unintentional baby together. While others woofed it down heartily and praised the cook, Azure was less impressed.
Skipping out on the beer this time, Azure was standing to go back to his room when he saw Janine walk in. Her face alighted with a smile as soon as she laid eyes on him, and she took quick strides over to his table.
“Hey there,” Janine said in greeting before her gaze drifted to his cueball. “You decided to shave off all of your hair.” The fact that there was no follow up compliment indicated that it was not a good look for Azure.
“I actually did not. Do you have time for a horrible story?”
“A horrible story?” She drew her hand up to her chest before sitting down. “That certainly doesn’t sound good.”
“Oh, I promise you, it’s not.” He sat as well, then launched into the tale of the oversized spider quest. By the time he was done, Janine looked mortified.
“I hate spiders,” she said with complete disdain. “And I hate it here. I can’t wait to get back to our world.”
Azure laughed at this. “Tell me a way, and I’ll follow you to the ends of The Realm. I fear we’re stuck here for the rest of our miserable lives.”
Janine’s face went slack, and she glanced around the room before standing to walk around the table and sit next to Azure.
The closeness made him nervous. “Are you all right?”
“There may be a way back,” she whispered.
“What?!” Azure quirked his head back.
Janine paused and pressed her lips together. It seemed that she was either struggling with the idea of telling him or that she didn’t believe whatever she was about to share. “Someone told me that if you see all of the gods in The Realm, you’ll be granted one wish.”
He swore his heart had just skipped a beat from the new information. “How long have you known that?”
“A while,” she confessed guiltily.
Discontent seeped into his voice from the feeling of betrayal. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Janine sulked. “Because I don’t know if we go together if we’ll only get one wish. And I need to get back to my kids.”
Azure sighed. That made sense. Still, she shouldn’t have withheld something so important to both of them. “If you knew this, then why haven’t you gone yet?”
“Finborh is the closest god to us right now. I’ve been told that he won’t see anyone below level 15. That’s why it’s been so important for me to gain experience,” she informed him. “This is the quest I was telling you about.”
“Wait. You got this in the form of a quest?” Now he was even more surprised.
“No.” Janine shook her head. “I’m not even sure if the information is valid. The whole thing could be a lie, but I have to find out for myself. Even if it’s not true, I have to try. And at the very least, if I go to Finborh, he’ll be able to confirm the validity of the information. And maybe...maybe if it’s not true, he’ll still know of a way to get out of here. He is a god, after all. They have to know something.” Her shoulders shook with the outpour of words.
She was right. If anyone knew how to escape The Realm, it would be one of the gods.
Azure was still torn on whether or not he wanted to leave this strange world, but he’d at least like to know if it was an option.
Since he was already level 15, he could meet with Finborh whenever he wanted. That wouldn’t be fair to Janine though. What if there was only one wish? Not just one wish per group of people that visited all of the gods, but only one wish in the entire world. It was highly probable. He couldn’t fuck her out of that because she’d trusted him with this life-changing knowledge.
“All I want is to go home and see my babies.” Janine hugged herself. “To hold them and make sure that my son is all right. I’d give everything for that.”
“Then there’s only one thing to do.” Azure stared forward with a look of determination. “We have to level you up as quickly as possible.”
Her gaze fell to the small space between them. “Please don’t tell anyone else about this, William. I’m trusting you. I only told you because we’re in a similar situation.”
“I won’t.”
“Thank you.” She seemed to relax a bit.
“But I do want to go with you,” he confessed before quickly adding, “Don’t worry, I don’t want the wish. If we only get one, you can have it. Hell, you can even part ways with me after we see Finborh. I just want to know if it’s true—if there are ways out of The Realm.”
The adventure continues in book five. Coming soon...
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Phoenix Grey is the super secret nerd pen name of a USA Today bestselling author. She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas where she hermits away while working on books and playing video games. When she's not busy plotting her world domination, she can be found hosting game nights at the local comic book store or checking out the latest recommended anime.
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Azure's end of book stats:
Name: Azure
Race: Human
Level: 15, 15% of the way to next level
Health: 410 / 350 (410)
Mana: 410 / 350 (410)
Stamina: 400 / 320 (400)
Vitality: 20 (6)
Intelligence: 20 (6)
Strength: 17 (8)
Agility: 14 (5)
Dexterity: 15 (6)