While waiting for Bojohn's arrival in the village, Wrottzen and May spent their time learning about the new weapons they had purchased. The two were eventually able to progress to the point where they could travel outside of the village and manage a monster or two, despite being 10 levels below. Even though they were productive weeks, the two adventurers were chomping at the bit to leave and continue their quest.
"When's Bojohn supposed to get here?" May whined as the two walked through town.
"According to his last estimate, he should be arriving here today." Wrottzen replied
"Thank God! The villagers are nice but there's nothing to do here."
It was true. Other than training on their new weapons, May and Wrottzen had little else to do in the village, and with the monsters outside quite a bit higher leveled than them, time there was limited.
"At least there's the banquet tonight. Accept any of the invitations you received?"
"No! Don't even bring those up!" Wrottzen said flushed red.
The two ladies had been the talk of the town since Timitt's defeat and since the banquet was delayed on account of Bojohn, many villagers had attempted to ask both May and Wrottzen to the event.
"Don't worry, I won't." May said. "I haven't accepted any invites either so I can't really talk."
As the two walked past the city square, Wrottzen gestured toward people setting up decorations and said, "They're really going all out for this aren't they."
"I don't blame them. Being a remote village like this, it's probably the biggest thing to happen to them in months."
Suddenly a small boy sprinted through the yard yelling, "He's here! He's here!"
"I guess Bojohn's arrived." May said, "Let's go and meet him."
When the two finally found Bojohn, he was riding slowly down the road on horseback, waving to everyone as he passed by.
"Certainly hamming it up here, aren't you?" Wrottzen said smirking.
"Well how often do you get a chance to ride into town as a hero?" Bojohn replied, "Not often, especially in the real world."
"What's up Bojohn?" May chimed in, "How was your trip?"
"Hey May! Nice seeing you again! It went well all things considered. Things went a lot slower without you two though."
"Did you bring supplies?" Wrottzen asked, getting back to business.
"Yeah. I got a ton of potions back in Syr. We should be good to make it to Hudson now."
"Great! We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning." Wrottzen replied.
Dismounting from his horse, Bojohn walked up to Wrottzen and whispered, "Can I talk to you alone for a second?"
"Of course. What abou-"
"Welcome back brave adventurer!" The village elder said, cutting the conversation short. "We're glad you were able to make it without too much trouble."
"Yeah…" Bojohn replied, trying to hide his annoyance of having his conversation interrupted.
"We will be holding a banquet tonight in honor of you three, so if you would be so kind as to go with our tailors, they will prepare you for the event."
"Thanks, but can I talk to my friend first? It's kind of important."
"There's no time!" The Elder exclaimed before the tailors began dragging Bojohn off by force.
"Hey! Wait a second!"
Chuckling, Wrottzen cried, "We'll talk at the banquet tonight! Have fun getting ready!"
As Bojohn was dragged away kicking and screaming, May tapped the Guardian on the shoulder and said, "Come on! We have to get ready too!"
"Right. Let's go!"
At the Banquet
"This place sure is bustling." May commented, surveying the crowd. She was dressed up in a white blouse and green skirt for the event.
"They're publicly recognizing us as heroes of this place. It seems surreal." Bojohn replied tugging the collar of his new suit.
"Let's just get this part over with and then have some fun." Wrottzen said. May had dressed him in a tight fitting black dress which he was not eager to show off to the village.
"Shh!" Bojohn whispered. "It's starting!"
The gathered crowd suddenly went silent as the Elder stepped onto the erected stage and walked to the center stage.
"Welcome, everyone!" He began. "I want to thank you all for coming here tonight, a night which has been two weeks in the making. As you know until recently, our village was in dire straits: Timitt the Valley Lord was destroying our crops and homes and rumors were spreading that adventurers would be unwilling to help us anymore. But then three brave souls ventured into our village." Turning to the adventurers off stage, the Elder waved them on stage. "These three adventurers: Wrottzen the Guardian, Bojohn the Swashbuckler and May the Druid, graciously accepted our request to face the Valley Lord and succeeded in defeating the brute!"
The crowd cheered as the three walked onto the stage and took a bow.
The Elder continued, "If Timitt had been allowed to continued his rampage, our village surely would have been destroyed." Taking a bow himself, the Elder said, "We will be forever in your debt."
As the crowd began cheering wildly once again, Bojohn whispered to Wrottzen, "Say something man!"
"Wh-Why me?!" He whispered back.
"You're much better at public speaking than me, and you created the plan that defeated that field boss."
"Go on!" May said, before pushing her friend toward center stage.
Wrottzen cleared his throat, before speaking, "When I first arrived at this town, me and my friends were held at spear point and dragged in front of your Elder. Not the greatest first impression we could have gotten." The audience chuckled before allowing him to continue, "Originally I was skeptical about taking on your quest: Taking on a nearly unbeatable monster for people who were not being very friendly. But after living among you for the past two weeks, I am certainly glad we did. Everyone here are hard-working and honest people and I'm glad we could do something to contribute to your community. Thank you."
There was standing ovation as Wrottzen walked back in line with his friends and let the Elder take back center stage.
"Thank you for those touching words." He said, "Now I know you all didn't come here to hear me yap all night, so let the festivities begin!"
Once the Adventurers and Elder were off the stage, a musician replaced them and began playing a tune on the violin. The crowd separated into three different groups, people going for food, those dancing and those standing to the side simply conversing. May was immediately invited dancing while Wrottzen assimilated into the third group of conversing people. He was simply eating food when Bojohn came up to him.
"Hey man, how are you enjoying the evening?"
"Fine I guess." Wrottzen replied, "I've had to turn down about 10 requests to dance though, it getting annoying. At least the food's good."
"Yeah. We're lucky the whole ingredient meal thing doesn't apply to People of the Land."
The two went silent for a while before Wrottzen asked, "What kind of information were you able to get from Syr?"
"People are still afraid." Bojohn said. "Some have taken to lazing about in the streets while others are rushing to join Guilds."
"There are safety in numbers." The Guardian commented.
"Syr is now controlled basically by one or two Guilds and I here that its the same all around."
"So we can expect the same situation once we get to Hudson?"
"Exactly."
"Good work. This was exactly the type of info I wanted you to gather."
"There's one more thing..." Bojohn said, suddenly nervous.
"What is it?" Wrottzen asked, wondering what could make his friend so nervous.
"It's about what happens when you die."
"What do you mean? Didn't you just reappear at the Cathedral?"
"Eventually yes but not immediately." The Swashbuckler admitted.
"What happened?" Wrottzen prodded.
"It was almost like a dream. I was back in the real world, reliving scenes from my past. These scenes kept playing until I realized a common theme between them: Thinking before acting. After that, I was transported somewhere else, where I was back in my avatar staring down at the world. Once about a minute had passed, I was teleported to the Cathedral in Syr."
"Interesting..." Wrottzen said stroking his chin. "Was anyone else talking about his in Syr?"
"No."
"What as you so shaken up then? It doesn't sound that bad."
"You'll understand once it happens to you." Bojohn explained, "The memories are corrupted, not changed, but they have a different, more ominous feel about them. And once you return to your avatar from your IRL body, you're struck with an intense sense of helplessness. It is not a feeling you want to experience again."
"Thanks for the heads up." Wrottzen said. Just as Bojohn was starting to walk away, he added, "Could you do me a favor and keep this a secret from May?"
"Why? She has a right to know too."
"I know but she was really broken up after our battle with Timitt. She's still really fragile right now and I feel like if we tell her this now, she'll never want to venture outside a safe zone again."
"We're going to tell her." Bojohn declared, "But I guess it doesn't have to be right now... I'll keep it a secret."
"Keep what a secret?" May asked.
"Gah!" Both Wrottzen and Bojohn jumped back at May's sudden appearance.
"Secret? What secret?" Wrottzen replied quickly.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Bojohn said, just as quick.
"OK. Now I know something's up." May said, hearing how defensive her comrades were being. "Are you two hiding something from me?"
"We... um... ah." Bojohn stammered.
"OK, you caught us." Wrottzen said, quickly thinking of a lie. "Bojohn found a really cool drop on the way here that would have been perfect for you, but he lost it."
"What? I-"
"Come on man!" May teased Bojohn. "I thought you were better than that. How do you even lose an item anyway?"
"I- I don't know." Bojohn replied. "I thought you were dancing. What bring you over this way?"
"This little guy wanted an introduction." She replied, gesturing to the boy standing nervously behind her.
"Hey there little man! What's happening?" Bojohn said.
"Nothing much..." He replied.
"Didn't you have something you wanted to ask Wrottzen?" May prodded.
Now blushing, the child stammered, "Y-You're really p-pretty Miss... Would y-you like to dance?"
"I... I..." Wrottzen said, trying to think of a way out of this situation.
"Come on man." Bojohn whispered, "It's one thing to turn down grown men but you can't turn down a little kid."
"I can't even dance as a man, and you expect me to do it as a woman!" He whispered back.
"Just go out there and follow his lead." May said, "Even if its only for one song, I think it would mean the world to him."
"Fine..." He relented.
Before the Guardian could reply, May added, "Don't give an attitude OK?"
Crouching down to the child's height, Wrottzen replied, "Of course I'll dance with you."
"Really!" He replied, face lighting up.
"Really really. But only because you asked like a little gentleman." Wrottzen replied, thinking Why did this have to happen?
As May and Bojohn watched Wrottzen awkwardly dance with the boy, May asked, "You want to go a round?"
"Who, me? Dance?" Bojohn replied.
"Yeah you. Its the least I can do for not reviving you during the battle."
"Don't worry about it. You could only heal one person, I understand."
"I'm glad you do but I'm still making it up to you." She declared, dragging her friend to the dance floor.
"You really don't have to." Bojohn said, racked with guilt over the secret he was keeping from her. As the two began to dance, he glanced over at Wrottzen and thought I hope you know what you're doing.
AN: Hey everyone, sorry about the wait. I've been swamped with schoolwork, but here's a new chapter!
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support. In the single month since this story started, it already has more favorites, and more follows than my other work which is 30 Chapters long! To show my appreciation, I'd like to open up the floor for some of your OCs! Next chapter we'll be reaching Hudson, and I'll need a character to be its 'leader'. Either send me a PM or leave a review with your character's info and it might appear in Adjustments!
Thanks again for the support! Until next time!
