Chapter 60
Laughter echoed through the night as the party discussed what happened during the day.
"I still can't believe you actually did that," giggled Nene as she drank her stew.
"I just came up with it on the spot," stated a grinning Polka as she shrugged.
"Sometimes I think you are too bold for your own sake," said Lamy as she took a sip of a fruit beer the trader's wife broke open and doled out.
"Thank you," said Botan gratefully as she got a second helping from the trader's wife, who was also in charge of the cooking.
"Aaand, she won with another nut shot," teased Aloe in a sing-a-song tone, "How many is that already? Three?"
"Stop it," groaned the fennec fox girl, "Enough about it already..."
"Alright, alright..."
"Ladies, time to turn in," informed the guard in charge as he walked up to their group, "Don't worry about watch tonight. You can leave it to us."
"You have our thanks, sir. Not for us to dictate what you have been doing for Mister Bender all this time," replied the half-snow elf politely.
Nodding respectfully, he walked off to address his men and organize the watch. Finishing their food and drink, they settled down for some fitful sleeping.
They were back on the road again, heading to Rimuros with the trade caravan. Things were peaceful this time around and nothing else disrupted the journey so far.
"This is boring," muttered Aloe as she slumped over the side of the roof, "And I thought there'd be something interesting to do."
"Not everything has to be exciting every day," replied Nene as she basked in the gentle sun.
"It's been a week already," the former deadpanned, "And we haven't gone on a quest. I'm sorry for complaining so much but… if I must be honest, it didn't feel right to stir up trouble in the city after doing nice things for them."
The latter glanced at her, moved over, and gave her a hug. She then said, "Must have been hard for you. Don't worry, I'm sure something will ha-aaaa-pen!?"
A shaky jolt shook the caravan they were on, the lore bard almost flying off the roof. Thankfully, the succubus held on to her to prevent that. Peering over the side, they watched as the trader's workers checked over one of the wheels. Glancing at each other, they wordlessly got down from the roof and stood off to the side. By then, the caravan train had stopped and the rest of the workers from the other caravans had come over to look.
"Hey, we've been asked to help," said Polka as she ran up to the two, "They don't have a spare wheel so we have to go and find one."
"Ah… so where is the nearest town?" asked Nene.
"Umm, Osakiru."
Aloe snorted and said, "Lamy must be happy."
"Eh, I think as long as she's next to Botan, she'll be fine," stated the fennec fox girl, "They seem to be getting closer during our trip."
"Right… let's go get them and head on out to the death town," stated the lore bard, to which the succubus giggled and muttered, "Death town. That's rich."
A few minutes later, the party with the unwilling cleric in tow walked on ahead towards the branch in the road and took the left turn to Osakiru. They walked for an hour before they passed by an open field to their left. They saw a group of hooded figures with no insignias on their robes in front of a smoldering pyre. The tinkle of a bell reached their ears as they walked by coming from small metal bells on the staff of the lead figure standing before the pyre. From where they were, they could hear some chanting coming from them.
"Any idea which cult they're from?" asked Nene curiously.
"I have not the faintest," muttered Lamy in reply as she stared at the ground.
"You're not even looking at them," snickered Aloe, Botan joining her.
"Woah, look at that," exclaimed Polka in a hushed tone.
A man in common clothes with an axe on his belt emerged out of the forest from their right. He was carrying a bundle of firewood, already chopped. Following behind him was the thing that amazed the monk, a zombie holding on to its own bundle of wood. It wore similar clothes to the woodcutter, with the only thing out of place was a black band on its left arm decorated with a skull biting a scroll.
"Wow, seeing it myself is different from hearing about it," she said in surprise.
"Excuse me, sir. How much further is Osakiru?" asked Nene as the party reached him.
"Oh, not very far. Uh," he replied before glancing behind him, "Just keep walking and you'll see it."
"Thank you very much," she replied politely before they hurried on ahead.
"Did we have to?" murmured the cleric.
"Don't worry. The town should be safe," stated the archer as she linked arms with her, prompting a blush, "And if there are angry undead, I'll protect you."
Silence filled the rest of the walk. The town looked like a fairly normal town other than a strange building next to the mayor's office. Other than looking like an ordinary building, the only thing weird was on the signboard, a skull biting on a scroll. Ignoring the building, they headed for the woodwright and asked about a caravan wheel.
"A normal-sized caravan wheel? We don't get much of that around here," stated the monkey-folk man as he scratched his head, "I guess I can make one, but that will take a bit of time."
"Don't worry, we can wait if it's just a short while," assured the lore bard.
He shrugged and said, "Fine with me. I'll get right to it." He then called out, "Ossey, we got a job!"
Lamy made a face when a tortured-sounding groan came from inside the shop. They hurried away and proceeded to explore the town a little. Until...
"Let's go in there," said Nene as she pointed towards the skull building.
"Please, no," deadpanned Lamy.
"Well, I'm curious. I'm in," chipped in Aloe.
"I guess," replied Polka followed by Botan saying the same as well.
The half-snow elf just gave an exasperated huff and said nothing else. Thus, the party went to the building and found an old bird-folk man; he had tawny tufts of feathers coming out the side of his head, a long white beard, and a pair of thick glasses on the bridge of his nose.
"Hello, sir," greeted the lore bard, "Do you work here?"
"Work here? Ha, you must be new in these parts," he stated in an old, grandfatherly voice as he got to his feet, "I am Koru, head scribe of the cult of Jergal." Noting that their cleric went wide-eyed, he continued, "O, ho, so you know about Jergal?"
"The current Scribe of Death, among other things," she stated.
"Yes, yes, among other things," he repeated with a smile, "So, when did you arrive here?"
After telling him about the broken wheel, he then said, "In that case, I suppose you all have many questions since you decided to stop by the Records of the Dead. Well, I believe I can explain a few things. At the start, the cult came here many years ago, espousing death being the natural cycle of life and such. A little bit Kelemvorish, I know, but that is what drew many to it initially. Eventually, the cult became ingrained into the town without too many problems. As the part of the scribes, we took over the duty of noting down the death days of everyone that passed on here. In addition to that, we celebrate those death days. I believe you passed a ceremony of that nature when you came into the town, yes?"
Getting nods from them, he continued, "Another thing we do here is the repayment of debts. On the off chance that you have incurred debt during your time living, instead of handing it off to the rest of your family, we give you the option of continuing to work off your debt after death. Admittedly, a bit slow as we take part of the payments for maintaining the spell as well as building upkeep and such things. But, once all debts are paid, the body is returned to the grave for true death."
"I see… this is quite interesting," mused the lore bard as the party digested this information.
He then looked past them and called out, "Oh, are they done?"
"Yes, Head Scribe. Miriam and Webster have been very helpful as always," replied a smiling cat girl in a milkmaid's outfit, leading two zombies to them. One was a fox girl and the other a cat boy.
"Alright, lead them round the back. I'll tend to them soon," he replied. Turning back to the others, he stated, "Well, I have to get back to work. Have a good day."
"That was nice to know," stated Nene as the head scribe walked round the back of the building, "Let's get back to the woodwright to check on the wheel."
The wheel was done surprisingly quick. After paying for it, the woodwright offered to send his helper Ossey to carry the wheel out for them. Lamy wanted to refuse but was quickly hushed up and Nene hurriedly agreed to avoid a scene. The wolf-folk zombie carried the wheel with ease. With its help, the party took about the same amount of time they used up getting there. As the zombie assisted with the changing of the wheel, the trader thanked the party for their help.
"Thanks to your help, I will be able to make it to the port in time," he said as he shook their hands. He then said, "If you wish, I can give you a reward for this."
"Erm, can me and my friends talk about this first?" asked the lore bard.
"By all means, do so," he replied generously, "Just be sure to let me know at the end of our journey."
As he moved on to check on the wheel, Nene asked the others, "So...does anyone need anything?"
"I don't think he has anything we want," stated Botan, "Most of his stuff is trade goods and we don't deal with that."
"But, a trader has money, so…." Polka trailed off, hinting at what they can use.
"Makes me wonder what he's bringing to Rimuros..." muttered Aloe curiously.
"I doubt he has anything else we need," added Lamy, "And we are not lacking in funds so I believe a reward is not necessary."
"Huh… then I guess we refuse the reward," decided the lore bard.
The fennec fox girl was a little saddened by this but accepted her decision. The rest of the way was uneventful and they reached the port safely. After letting the trader know of their decision, they headed straight for the nearest tavern as it was already late evening. It was called The Dry Barnacle and while it wasn't the worst place to stay for the night, it wasn't the best either.
The next day, they asked the barkeep for directions to the harbormaster. Then, they headed straight for the office and booked passage to the next boat to Lithos. And so, they had a few hours to themselves while they waited. It was going to be patient waiting until Lamy found a wine shop and they went wine shopping as she had already finished the two bottles she had at the Rivirapolis guild house. She ended up buying two bottles after she spent the rest of the time taste-testing. Soon, it was time to board the ship.
It was a large ship and there were many others going on board as well. The captain greeted everyone that came on board with a wizened smile.
"Hello, there. I'm Captain Bhas of the Mermaid's Tail, the fastest ship in Gekko," he greeted as the party walked onboard. Looking behind them, he commented, "It seems you ladies are the last ones on. If you'd settle down somewhere on deck, my boys will get everything ready to set sail."
"Thanks, captain," replied Nene. After getting out of the way of the sailors who pulled up the gangplank, she asked "So, if this is the fastest ship, how long will the journey take to Lithos?"
"Ah, barring any bad weather, four days, missy," he mused aloud. Glancing at the hauled-up gangplank, he then said, "Well, if you'd excuse me, I'd best be getting to steering us outta here."
Thanking him, the party headed down into the hold to see to their rooms. Much like that last time they traveled by ship, they ended up sharing rooms, with Lamy and Botan in one and the rest in the other. For the first two days, things were smooth sailing. They kicked back and relaxed while mixing around with the other passengers. They met a wide variety of people heading to Lithos; a new shipwright heading to Huan Tuo by the name of Himmer Westrix, several merchants led by a guild representative named Kiriden Mintshoes, a jeweler not part of the merchant contingent named Hanar, and a young paladin that was heading to Rivirapolis to join the guild named Aberoft Westfall.
"If you have nothing else to ask, leave me be. I have to go over the deal with the others again."
The guild rep wasn't really sociable; he was a bit aloof and only chatted with the other merchants. Still, the half-snow elf was able to get what they knew out from him. After that, they pretty much left him alone. The shipwright and the paladin were a lot more open than he was.
"You're looking at the future best shipmaker in the world."
He was a former apprentice of the shipwright in Rimuros and was heading to Huan Tuo to learn more. He was quite a jovial fellow and one of the people that enjoyed the story-telling that Nene decided to do to pass the time on the ship. The rest were the sailors that were off duty and the paladin himself.
"I go to seek my worth in this world and perhaps be able to do something great in my lifetime."
He had lofty aspirations but he was a little strange. First, he didn't react badly to Aloe, but Nene chalked it up to him seeing her being under control. Secondly, why go all the way to Lithos when there was a branch of the adventurers guild in Gekko? When pressed for more, he avoided answering the question and asked for another story instead. Awkwardness aside, they decided not to press it as it may have been too embarrassing for him to tell them.
Hanar kept to herself and avoided talking to the party. When Polka tried to strike up a conversation, she refused with, "Sorry, but I have better things to do."
However, on the third day of the journey, something unexpected happened. Mid-morning that day, the sailors were suddenly galvanized and were running around; unfurling the sails to full and doing everything short of throwing stuff overboard to go at full speed. The other passengers hunkered down in their rooms, but the party and the paladin went to see Captain Bhas to see what was going on.
"Look back there," he pointed out as he focussed on keeping the steering steady.
The black flag had a heart outlined in white with the inner part colored black and white. An arrow pierced its center while a grinning skull was displayed in the forefront.
"Pirates," muttered Botan.
"Aye. Houshou Pirates at that," the captain growled out, "We're going as fast as we can. Hopefully, we can outrun them. If not, I want all of you to help repel boarders."
"Certainly, sir! We shall do all we can to protect this ship and everyone on it," declared Aberoft.
"Don't worry, you have our support," agreed Nene, getting nods from the others.
"Right." he muttered with a smirk while patting the wheel, "Alright, girl, full speed ahead."
AN: Greetings, readers. Welcome back.
Right, we jump straight in this. We take a detour to Osakiru to get a replacement wheel. Nothing much happens here. Still, in any other story, one could find all sorts of things that can be done here. I think, in any other adventure, the town would probably under threat from a necromancer looking to replenish their army as well as undermine the influence of the local cult. But not here, as Holo5 needs to get back to guild hq, so there won't be any extra stuff to be done here. However, there are other things that can be included here.
One thing immediately after getting on the ship. After some time waiting in Rimuros, after some shopping, we get on the boat. Some new people get introduced here, fellow travelers heading to Lithos as well. Not many will be that important to the story, though I intend for the paladin to join them for a while longer until he signs up at Rivirapolis. And at the end, we meet a familiar group of pirates. It won't be long now. But, will they be fighting or not?
Next chapter, Holo5 encounters Marine-senchou, leader of the Houshou pirates. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.