Chapter XXX: Chance encounter
Whisper nodded. "It should take a few days to get the old maps imported. Let's say... Next Wednesday?"
If that was the quickest he could do it, then we'd have to wait. It worked out well for us in the long run. Wednesday was a half day and after school, we could head straight over to Joyful Flourish. That was the plan, and after we confirmed it with our families, we agreed to eight solid, uninterrupted hours of play. That was the most we could work out and my friends had to lie and say it was a study group. At times I was glad my mom was out of the country.
We could go in blindly, but we weren't here to map out the dungeon. We were there to slay the dungeon boss before anyone else. So we had to open the dungeon wasn't opened up before we had the old map data and we were ready to enter. That was out of our hands. It was completely up to the developers at this point.
Before we could start the dungeon crawl, we had to prepare. And by prepare, I mean we went on a shopping spree. We were going to be down there for hours, right up until the time we had to log off. If we were going to stay down there mapping, we needed a lot more resources than we have.
The first thing we bought was potions. More potions. We had five potions when we started, and when we were done, the number was in triple digits. We were flush with lyre after all the quests, and if we made sure we were the ones to clear the dungeon, we'd have a huge sum of lyre waiting for us. So as long as we cleared it, I could justify spending all the money. The only problem would be if someone else cleared it first and I wasn't eager to let that happen.
We upgraded and enchanted our weapons and gear, as much as we could. We stalked up on elixirs, though not as heavily as potions. Potions concerned the restoration of health points, elixirs did the same with a focus on magic points. We were going to be relying on Amos in the dungeon and he was going to be expending a lot of magic.
We got a couple of hours grinding in after school on Monday. We stayed close to Lutetia so we didn't have to use any of our potions. Monday came and went and there was no announcement of the dungeon being opened to the public. Before we left, we reserved a room for Wednesday, which I paid for. My allowance was pretty generous, something I was thankful for.
We were going to meet up Tuesday for some more grinding, but Joyful Flourish would closed. For maintenance. I saw the sign on the door as I paid for Wednesday.
"Are you going to be open Wednesday?"
The guy behind the counter nodded. "Yeah. The owners just want to fix some problems. They didn't want to close, but it's going to be an all-day thing. We will be open Wednesday."
"Great." I opened StarPay and tapped my phone.
Since we couldn't go do any grinding Tuesday, we decided that it would be a good idea to catch up on homework. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to be buried." My plan could be sufficient as waiting until the last moment to do it all, but when Euphemia heard, we spent lunch in the library. We didn't leave school until eight that day and we only left after we completed all the homework.
I woke up late the next morning and I had to rush through breakfast. I was playing Dynasty late into the night, making sure we had everything ready and I didn't get to sleep until three in the morning. I didn't have time for breakfast, so I grabbed two croissants from the fridge, slathered a healthy helping and butter and jam on each, and rushed out.
I had rode the bus enough to recognize everyone at the bus stop in the morning when I went to school. Two old women going to volunteer, a salaryman dressed in an expensive suit, and three foreign university students who lived in my building. We saw enough of each other that it became part of our morning ritual to say hi.
Only there was a new face today. Not unfamiliar, but new. Sylvie's guy friend who had taken to glaring at me in class was scrolling through his phone. I stopped dead when I saw him.
Was he following me? I've never seen him here before. Did he know I waited at this bus stop every morning or was this a coincidence? If this kid was working for Set, why would he bother stalking me? I doubt I'd be able to hide from a god.
When the boy looked up, there was a moment of shock. I didn't think he knew I was going to be here. Unless he was a good actor. For now, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he wasn't one of Set's agents. "Salut." I waved.
"... Bonjour."
"I'm Calixte Lescheres, by the way. I don't think we've met before."
"We're in the same class."
"I know, but we've never met. You're one of Sylvie's friends, aren't you?"
"Her boyfriend."
"I didn't know she had a boyfriend."
"Well, now you do. So leave my girlfriend alone."
"Being a tad bit overprotective right there, aren't you?"
"So what if I am?"
He was starting to get aggressive.
"I know you like her."
"Pardon?"
"You like her, right? I saw you talking to her."
"Hey, she came up and talked to me. She just wanted to get my name. Chill."
He squished his phone in his fist. I wondered if it was going to be okay. "Sylvie's a flirt, but she's my girlfriend, so back off."
***
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