novelraw Chapter 170 - 170 - Winding down
Chapter 170 - 170 - Winding down
After leaving the shop of my two favorite witches I feel a little restless and possibly even aimless. Not for long though. It's getting late and while exploring the market of Sezemat's caravan at night sounds tempting I don't exactly have a fortune to spend. It's too late to head back to the adventurers' guildhall too, thus I change directions to visit the boardinghouse I'm very well acquainted with by now. It'll do for tonight.
I pay the usual penny at the door and am escorted to my room afterwards. Once the proprietress is gone again I lock the door and start to get a little more comfortable. I don't lie down to sleep yet though. I still want to meditate a little more first. Maybe I should pray for some more healing too. Neither my health nor my Mana reserves are likely to fully recover through a single night of sleep if I'm not mistaken.
Nodding to myself I sit down on my spread out blanket. Healing first, meditation after. That's probably for the best. With my mind made up I place my hands over my heart and begin to say my usual prayer.
"Fox, divine guardian of many masks. God of making mischief and Goddess of having fun. I beg you, heal your devote servant and ease her pain."
A little of my hard earned Karma dissipates again as I finish speaking, but at least it's not for naught. I can feel my [Prayer] and my [Healing Touch] skill improve a little while my health recovers at the same time. I'm still far from fully healed, but I'm feeling better. I check my fingers where I pricked myself for my recent ritual magic lessons and they are all healed up already. I can neither see nor feel the little pricks anymore.
"Thank you, Fox."
Satisfied I let out a sigh and turn to the next point on my schedule, meditation. This will take a little more effort, but it's the kind of effort that might just pay off big time. Well, at the very least I'll recover some of my Mana.
I close my eyes and steady my breathing until I slip into the almost sleep like, dreamless, meditative state I desire. When I open my eyes again a little later to return to the world of the wakeful the expected notification brushes through my mind like a divine whisper.
[*Ding!* Through Meditation your Mana increased by 5!]
It's not much, but it's a start. And my [Meditation] skill improves another little bit too. I just need to keep working on it and the speed of my recovery through meditation will improve as well. I stretch and yawn. Right now though it's time to get some actual sleep! I stretch out on the blanket I use as bedding and pull my cloak around myself instead of a blanket. It doesn't take long afterwards for sleep to claim me. It's a nice, deep and dreamless sleep too.
Of course the next morning comes around entirely too early again. The passage of time is utterly merciless that way. Either that, or some deity of time has it in for me. I sit up with a mighty yawn and blink in a way that would make most owls proud until I'm at least awake enough to process the usual early morning notification tickling the back of my mind.
[*Ding!* You slept. Not bad, but not terribly well either! Health increased by 4! Mana increased by 1!]
I groan and rub my eyes. Like this it'll be another eternity until I'm at full power again. Or, more likely, I'll probably recover because I catch a second wind through a level up instead.
Oh well, whatever. Never mind. I'm still in a generally good mood after yesterday and I won't let this little setback spoil that mindset. And besides, if I somehow manage to make as much progress today as I did yesterday that next second wind and the level up coming with it won't be far off anyway.
Humming a cheerful little tune, one I picked up at the theater when I watched that cheerful performance with Sezemat, to myself I get up to do some light stretching. It's not just my mind that needs to properly wake up. No, my body needs a little time to adjust as well.
A quick look out the window tells me that it's still plenty early enough. I'm just awake because the whole town is already in the process of waking up. A whole damn town of early birds. Well, mostly early birds. I'm sure there are a few other night owls out there who have similar thoughts. Like this I'll have time though to go and grab a nice breakfast before I head to the inner district and the adventurers' guildhall to look for another job. That is, unless Jerzy or one of the others catch me first, to dump something in my lap that needs doing.
Whatever the day will bring though, it will have to wait until after I have had something to eat. If someone stops me before that I'll have to figure out a way to politely tell them to shove it someplace the sun doesn't shine. The thought alone is enough to make me chuckle. Thus, still cheerfully humming I get properly dressed again and ready for the day.
A little later, after one last look around to make sure I'm not forgetting anything, I'm off to start into the day. I drop the key for the room off with the half asleep lady at the front, then I'm off to space occupied by Sezemat's caravan, more precisely I'm aiming for the market with the many eateries it hosts. I have to take advantage of the opportunity after all while they are in town. My biggest problem there will probably making up my mind about what exactly I should have.
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Just getting close the many different smells of delicious meals being cooked at the various stalls are already tickling my nose. In the end, after strolling from stall to stall for a while, I settle for something I can eat as I go. A crisp, baked wrap filled with a delicious mix of meat, some kind of chicken, and various vegetables. And of course the cook hasn't skimped on the spices and sauces either. It's not just satiating, it's an experience one shouldn't miss! I don't even mind spending two pennies on the meal, which by my standards is splurging. This meal is most certainly worth it!
I lick my fingers clean once I'm done. It's a good thing that you can't lose skill points, otherwise my etiquette skill might have taken a dive. But never mind. I'm not at the keep or in the company of lords and ladies in general right now. And as far as the other people on the streets are concerned, this seems to perfectly acceptable behavior.
Since it's still plenty early I decide against standing in line at the gate. Instead I take to the rooftops again. I take a flight of stairs up to the top floor of a building this time around though instead of outright climbing. It's only there at the top landing, out of sight of just about everyone, that I pull myself up onto the roof. Afterwards though it's time for a proper morning workout!
I'm not running off entirely heedless though. First I take careful note of the rising sun and the long, shifting shadows it casts this early, as well as the chimneys which cast the best shadows right now. It's an act that helps progress my [Perception] skill ever so little towards the next level up. Only once I'm well aware of these circumstances I plan out my route across the wall and into the inner city, which in turn earns me some progress for the very essential [Stealth] skill.
Curiously enough this little mental exercise helps put me into an even better mood too. Thus my steps are light as I finally take off at a run. It's not a dead run though. No, it's a carefully measured run designed to make me blend in with the chimneys and the shadows they cast. By the time I return to street level in the inner city though it has earned me some advancement for my [Balance], [Running] and [Jumping] skills. Overall I'm of the mind to call it a very good early morning workout. I'm certainly happy with it.
Once I'm back at street level I head to the central square and the guild hall at a leisure pace. Sure, I might end up in the thick of the crowd at the quest board as a result, but I don't feel like hurrying anyway and not just because it would be out of place and look suspicious either. I'll just take whatever is left. Maybe it won't be quite as bad anyway, as plenty of the adventurers currently in town aren't here for work anyway. A whole lot of the bunch is only here for Sezemat's caravan and the crafters and merchants traveling with it after all.
And even if I should not be able to find a decent job I can do on my own on the quest board I could just head out of town to follow that map I found hidden in that book not too long ago. A secret little adventure all of my own? That doesn't sound too bad either, to be perfectly honest. Just thinking about it I'm tempted to ignore the board altogether, except, a little extra coin wouldn't hurt, so I don't. I have to at least take a look.
As I enter the guildhall I'm pleasantly surprised. The number of adventurers at the board studying the fresh batch of quests that just went up really isn't all that big. More are heading directly out, probably to the fair on the outskirts of town. Plenty look like they haven't been getting enough sleep too. Well, I won't begrudge them this opportunity to have some fun and unwind for a change. They too will go back to risking their necks for a handful of coins before long anyway.
For now I'm glad that the number of competitors for the newest and best paying quests or just for the ones that seem easy is lower. I earn some glares though as I elbow my way to the front, but hey, what am I supposed to do? I'm short! I wouldn't see anything from the back with some big lugs loitering around in front of me. None glare too hard anyway. And I try not to draw too much attention beyond the necessary too. Especially not by going for any quests that seem to be of interest to the other parties involved.
I take my time skimming over every note pinned to the board. The ones deemed easy as well as the ones that, according to guild regulations, probably would be too risky for me alone. I especially take note of where these requests are coming from and where they most likely would take me.
Delivering packages sounds easy after all, but if I have to run to Iron Hollows first to deliver the parcel to Silver Lining afterwards that would mean a trip around half of the frontier lands for me, all for a pittance that won't even buy me the provisions I'd need for a round trip like that. I'd probably only take a job like that if I had to get out of town real quick for some reason.
In the end I find one that seems just about perfect though. It's essentially a request to go mushroom picking. The client isn't from Riverrun, but the quest states that the mushrooms in question can be handed in at any guild office for later delivery, as long as they are dried. Gathering and drying mushrooms? I should be able to do that.
Even better though, after comparing the notes on the request with my mental map, I'm almost certain that this job will take me in the general direction of the area I want to explore myself! Thus, I finally move to grab it before anyone else can. Not that anyone seems to be in a hurry to take this one.
Seven pennies for what probably is a three day trip. Well, a three day trip if I don't get sidetracked, but there is no hard time limit on the quest, thus I might just take my time. The money isn't the prime motivation to take it anyway. It's just a convenient excuse.
I'll have to go upstairs to read up on those mushrooms I need to gather too, but that can wait until after I have checked the quest out at the counter, thus I head there right away. I patiently wait in line until it's my turn to hand my papers to the clerk on duty this morning. It's the old woman again. She looks my papers over for a moment.
"Do you know what exactly you have to look for?"
I shake my head, not reluctant to admit this gap in my knowledge.
"No, not yet. I'd like to borrow the key for the library afterwards to read up on these mushrooms."
She seems satisfied with that answer and enters the quest details into her ledger, before handing the papers back to me, together with the key I requested.
"Please return the key once you are done and don't forget to lock up the library when you leave it. As for the mushrooms, you can turn them in at any guild office, either here or elsewhere in the frontier lands, as long as you have dried them properly to conserve them. Any other questions?"
I shake my head.
"No, thank you. I'm good."
With those words and a little bow I'm off up the stairs to hit the little library of the guildhall.