{Jay}
I awoke just like I took the best sleep in a long time.
When I fully became aware, I noticed I was moving.
I looked around, and noticed that I was on a wagon.
It's not a sealed wagon we've been driving either, it's a flatbed type with raised edges.
I was confused for a second, until last night came back to me.
Following Lyra, fighting those assholes, and the fucking pain.
We're both here, she's sitting up front with a guy, so that must mean I provided enough of a distraction for Lyra to get us out of there.
I was about to say something, when Lyra saw me awake and put her finger to her lips.
I focused on the guy who is driving the wagon, and he is a regular man with greasy maroon hair.
We're in a line, I can tell that much without even getting up.
The heat and movement tells me it's a pretty big line too.
"Halt! State your business in Meerburg."
I heard a guard say.
"Salesman. I'm here fore the fish refuse to sell to farmers as fertilizer."
"And what about her? Our magical sensors say that she already entered the city via the Alpain entrance."
Wait, they can do that?!
...
...
...
Um... Patty? That was actually a legit question.
Are you ignoring me?
Is this because I ignored your advice to not follow Lyra last night?
I was right, she needed me!
Fine, ignore me!
"I found her on the side of the road with her pet. Turns out some thugs kidnapped her, they were probably going to..."
The voice of a second guard sounded out as he interjected.
"It was those abominations, wasn't it?! Those damn animals should all be eradicated!"
Lyra's eyes hardened for a moment, then went back to little scared women look.
"Yes, those brutes took off the streets with my tame! I heard them bragging about selling him, and... and... they were going to... to..."
Wow, she must've really practiced on the way here. Because she sounds like she is genuinely terrified.
"It's okay little lady. How'd you escape from those... things?"
I heard the clank of metal as his friend elbowed him.
"It's okay, really, it is. As they were about to... you know... a really big explosion distracted them, and we escaped."
That's her story?! There's so many plot holes in that!
"That checks out."
They believed that?!
"The big shots felt a massive surge of mana last night, and when they went to invest...."
"Hey, you can't be telling her that shit!"
"Ah, get off yourself! She's a woman, the only thing she could do about it is gossip, and who would believe her?"
"I guess."
These idiots, not only am I in the cart, but the guy driving it as well.
Plus all of the people behind us.
"Well, anyway missy, as I heard it they found a whole bunch of dead bodies done in by a real powerful witch. Don't worry about it though, none of the dead were human."
"Yeah, the stupid animals are killing each other!"
I heard them laughing at that.
"Look, the witch probably killed the abominations that attacked you, but when we let you back in you should avoid walking the streets after dark. Only filthy whores walk the streets that late."
"Yeah, they're all bitches in heat, who just can't wait to get some cock!"
"So, you can't really blame anyone, but yourself, if something happens to you at night."
So, it's the victim's fault, got it.
"And I like that you thought to buy that lizard for protection, but you should really just get a real man to protect you. It shouldn't be that hard for you to catch a husband either. I mean just look at those childbearing hips. If I didn't already have a nagger back home, I'd definitely..."
"I'm not married!"
The second guard said.
"You've got a girlfriend!"
"It's... it's not serious."
"You got her pregnant!"
"She's a fucking slut, it might not be mine!"
"She was a maiden until after you convinced her you were gonna marry her."
"And only a slut would've put out after that. She was probably told the same thing by a hundred different guys! So, if she's gonna be a cheating skank, so am I!"
"Be a skank?"
"No, cheat!"
I pray to God that their significant others are cheating on both of these dicks on the reg.
"I'll think about what both of you have said, and I'll definitely be indoors before dark. But if you'll excuse me, I should really be getting back."
"Oh, yeah, go on ahead. I'll make sure to tell them to ignore your re-entrance, but don't go forgetting my offer!"
The greasy haired dude urged the beast pulling the wagon forward, as that dickweed thought he'd be able to get in Lyra's pants.
Fucking asshole.
"Uh-huh, sure, sure."
She noncommittally replied.
We rolled through the city for a bit until we were close enough to our inn that we are staying at.
"Thanks for the ride."
Lyra said as we got off.
"Ha! I should be thanking you girl. You paid me five gold to take you into the city I was already going to anyway. I've made more than I would've in half a year! I pray to the gods that if you have anymore trouble, I'm there! Have a good day, girl!"
With that he rode off, and we started walking the rest of the way to our inn.
"Thanks, by the way."
I told her.
"What?! Why are you thanking me?!"
"I don't know how you did it, but you got us both out of there. I thought I was a goner."
She looked really shocked at my gratitude.
"I... I didn't save us."
"What?! But then... who did?"
"Patty."
I stopped in my tracks.
"What did you just say?!"
I'm pretty sure she said Patty, as in the voice inside of my head Patty, saved us.
"I... I probably shouldn't say anything else until you ask her, I don't want to get on her bad side."
She started walking again, this time faster than before.
Is... is she actually afraid of my voice?!
Patty?!
...
...
...
...
PATTY?!!!
What's this about you saving us?! You don't have a body!
No, she sounds too scared of you.
Good? Not good! Tell me what happened!
Yeah, I thought that was fucking obvious.
Just tell me what happened!
You stole my dragon heart?! I was going to be a dragon!
Fine.
What's that template thing you was talking about?
No.
"What?!"
People stopped and stared at me when I yelled that out loud.
Ignoring them, I ran to catch up to Lyra.
Just finish telling me what happened.
Wait, you killed all of them? I just thought you two ran away.
So, that means I must have leveled up!
What?
Bullshit.
Wait, seriously?! Since when?!
Why didn't you just tell me any of this before now?!
So, you thought lying and tricking me was a good idea?!
You call that an apology!
Why you little.... wait! You absorbed the dragon heart, I should have its ability!
Status!
------------------
Name : Jamal Hendricks / no name monster
Level : 82 points available : 0
Pets : 1
Species : Akkedis/ human soul
Strength : 1,400
Intelligence : 330
Durability : 1,000
Energy : 1,300
Health : 1,600
Stamina : 1,006
Extra energy : 5,000
Luck : 134
Speed : 700
Agility : 1,000
Crafting: 1,000
Special ability : adaptation
: forced conscription
: perfect mimic
: empath aura
: peerless regeneration
: excess energy
: acid shot
: webs
: spatial awareness
: dash
: polymorph
: thermal absorption
: mana golem
: transcendental traversal
: malignity locator
: combat camouflage
Lesser abilities : perfect recall
: gastron mucus
: ample strength
------------------
What?! I didn't get the ability!
So, I got nothing out of that whole ordeal!
Which one?
A screen popped up in front of me.
------------------
Mana golem: The same as mana clone except for the fact that instead of just making an exact clone of yourself, you can form any creature that you are intimately familiar with. Same limitations of mana clone apply.
------------------
Really?! Not even a good ability!
Instead of asking Patty anything else, Lyra and I went inside of our inn.
Ela wasn't at the desk, instead, a younger looking hybrid wildfolk was there, her sister if I had to guess.
I nodded my head as we walked past her to our rooms upstairs.
It's still early, so I don't expect the others to be up.
I was about to Knock on Jurea's door, when it got ripped open, and Jurea was standing there in full armor ready to go.
Eric was standing behind her.
"Where were you?! I was worried you had did something stupid, like run away to fight an enemy on your own again!"
Shut up Patty.
"I'm sorry, I'm here now though. Look, we have something to discuss, but it should be with all of us present."
I went over to Flora's room, and banged on the door.
"Go away!"
Flora yelled through the door.
"Open the door Flora."
"I'm busy!"
"Don't make me order you, this is important!"
I heard her stomp over to the door, unlock it, and rip it open.
She had hastily put on her robe to cover herself, and lying on the floor behind her was a naked woman.
"What do you want?!"
"Is that a... uh..."
She looked back at the naked woman, then turned back to me.
"A whore? Yes, and I'd like to get back to the fucking of said whore."
The lady chuckled from inside the room.
"Hurry up sweety, your time's still running, and I don't give refunds."
Flora started to slam the door on me, but I grabbed her arm, and dragged her with me.
"I said, this is important!"
I looked at the lady.
"She'll be... um... back - soon."
The lady shrugged.
"Doesn't bother me, easiest coin I've made in a while."
I nodded, finished dragging Flora to Jurea's room, and shut the door.
"This better be fucking my life on the line here important! If not, I'm gonna fuck you..."
"I followed Lyra last night,"
I let that statement sit in the air for a few seconds before continuing.
"And ran into men who were trying to kill her.
I'd like to tell y'all that it's handled, and that we can just move on, but I can't do that.
Those guys were hired, so the guy who did the hiring is still out there.
So, I can't just pretend it didn't happen, and just for everyone to keep traveling with her without a say in it."
Flora rolled her eyes.
"Is that all?!"
Flora snidely said.
"This is kind of a big deal!"
"No, it isn't. We already knew she was hiding shit, we took her on anyway because of the money, protecting her from some shady asshole still falls under the purview of what we were hired to do, and if she tries to harm me in any way, I'll just activate my contingency plan I have for her."
"You have a contingency plan for her too?!"
"What part of I have a contingency for everyone didn't you understand? Now, do you want my to activate it, and blow her fucking head off?"
"What?!"
Lyra yelled while feeling her head.
"Don't bother, you'll never find it." Flora turned back to me.
"So, are we fucking done here? Good, I got me a whore to get back to."
She turned to leave, but stopped at the door.
"Oh, and I was going to tell y'all this latter on, you know, before you dragged me in here for that shit. I found us a ship. It leaves in three days.
Now, if you bother me again, I'll find the biggest rock I can to shove it up your ass."
She left, and slammed the door behind her.
Eric shrugged.
"Guess that settles it."
We all went to our separate rooms to try and get some sleep.
I was staring up at the ceiling, when I thought of something.
Patty.
I was going to say thanks for saving my ass.
Good night.
______________
Three days later in the wee hours of the morning we were on the docks with Lyra's wagon and horses.
The boat... err... ship in front of us is like the ones Christopher Columbus sailed in, a caravel ship.
It has three massive sails with a small square sail upfront, it is about seventy feet long, it has huge nets and pulley systems abound, and even though it is made of wood huge metal plates are nailed onto the hull.
"This doesn't look like a passenger ship."
Lyra said to Flora.
"That's because it isn't one, it's a fishing and cargo hauler. Passenger ships always try to rip people off, saying they needed to charge extra because of the safety regulations placed on them."
"Isn't that a good thing?!"
I said.
"No, so what a few ships went down, and only a few thousand causalities occurred, there's no reason I should have to pay extra. The odds of us going down is negligible after we pass the harbour, most wrecks occur near land."
"I don't want to die just because you save a few gold coins!"
She just shrugged at me.
"Too late now, we already paid. So, stop being such a baby."
A heavy-set guy came down the gangplank, and walked right up to Flora.
"Ms. Dreyas we are ready to hitch up the wagon."
"Go right ahead Cline."
"Um... my name is Cees, and I told you this like ten times already."
"Yeah, yeah, Clark, that's what I said. Now, let's get going already."
She headed up the gangplank without even giving the guy a second look, but I went up to him and patted him on the shoulder.
"Thank you Cees."
"You can talk?"
"Yes."
"Oh, well, thanks for that... I guess."
Me and the rest of the girls headed up to the ship, while Cees and a few more guys hitched ropes to the wagon, and worked on getting it - and the horses - into the hold.
Once on deck we saw the crew running to and fro, getting the ship ready to depart.
Two people were making their way to us.
One was a beautiful elf with midnight blue skin, long ears like other elves but on the edges had spiny fins, in between her fingers and toes were webbed, the skin on her neck was so skinny that I could see her blood pulsing through it, I could tell her eyes were like anime-sized due to the proto sunglasses she was wearing - a leather strap with two black carved wood lenses with slits in them, and sharp shark teeth.
The other was the same type of species as that asshole who tried to kill Lyra - a rinea.
"Hello, I'm Captain Maud, and this is my first mate Ashera."
The otter said to Lyra.
"Lyra, and these are my guards."
Lyra stuck out her hand, and when Maud just stared at her hand quizzically, took it back.
"I'm not sure if they're just below deck, but where is the rest of your crew?"
Yeah, I noticed that there is only like ten guys running around, but on other ships had like thirty.
"The whole reason the Wavecutter can take on big hauls and passengers is because we can cut down on the crew accommodations.
And that's only possible because of Ash here." She pointed at the elf.
"Trust me, once we get out to open sea, you'll see."
It could be just me, but it sounds like she's pandering.
Like she's trying to make sure we stay.
"Don't say that Cap, but we are like the safest ship you'll ever like sail on. Like, don't tell anyone, but those passenger carriers don't abide like by the safety regulations, they like pay to get ignored by them. Though we also pay the administrators to look the other... umph!"
Maud elbowed her in the gut, then smiled at us.
Yup, definitely pandering.
"I'm sorry, we'd love to stay and chat further, but we have stuff to do. Y'all be staying right through that door over there."
She pointed to a door leading down into the ship, while dragged Ash away.
Jurea and everyone else started heading there, but I held Floa back.
Jurea turned to look at me.
"Go on ahead, I just need to ask Flora something."
She nodded, and headed to our room.
I turned to look at Flora.
"How much did you pay them?!"
"Why do you care?"
I pulled her away from prying ears.
"Because I thought you wanted something cheap, not to bribe good behavior."
"I didn't bribe shit, this was way cheaper than anything else. What I did is called extortion."
"What?"
She rolled her eyes.
"You still haven't figured it out? Less crew, extra space; and if you look inside of the hold, it's much smaller than it should be."
"Oh, fuck me. They're smugglers."
"Drug smugglers to be exact. I told them what my name is, and that unless they wanted to bear the full weight of that name, they'd have to give us a lift to the capital."
"You threatened to turn them in to the cops?"
"No, I threatened to have them eradicated. My family's influential enough to kill the dregs of society with impunity."
"That's worse! They'll just kill us!"
"No, they won't. At least not here, they'll wait until we are out at open sea to try something."
"And you think that's in any way okay?"
"Do you think they're the only smugglers here I could've extorted? No, there's plenty of others. I chose them because they are weak. They rely on speed and guile to stay afloat in this bloated field of business, but guess what? I'm smarter than them."
Famous last words.
"And you know who else thinks they're the smartest? The assholes who get everyone killed in a horror movie. We are packing up, and leaving. I don't give a single fuck if we have to wait for two weeks more to get a ship that won't get us dead!"
"That will be kinda hard to do, considering we have already set sail."
"Huh?!"
Looking around, I noticed that the pier was getting smaller by the second.
"When the fuck did we take off?!"
Flora grinned at me.
"It's called shoving off when you're on a ship."
The ship was rocking back and forth since we stepped onto it, so I didn't notice when the rocks meant we had set sail.
"Ash, there's a ship dead ahead! Slow down!"
One the men yelled at the sea elf at the helm full of panic.
She - for her part - just stared straight ahead.
"I recognize that ship, it's Nivrin's ship."
Looking ahead, a huge ship was making its way out to sea.
Ashera made her way to it, and barely sailed past it, giving it a big whap on the side.
The people on the ship was knocked off their feet.
As we went past it, a dark elf came from inside the ship, to over the rail and flung profanity too shocking for even me to repeat.
Ashera meanwhile was laughing.
"That's what that damn sootie gets! The sea belongs to real elves only! Not darkies! Hahaha!"
Great, so not only are they fucking drug smugglers, they're also racist.
Good job Flora!
Fucking Flora!