Chapter Thirty - Horsing Around

Hey, just wanted to say that the support I got after last chapter really moved me! Thank you! I... I didn't expect so many people to give me so much, that was a lot! So yeah, thanks <3 You made my little bird heart feel all sorts of weird, lol!

Ah, here, more silly stuff:

***

They didn’t leave Alpta right away, which went counter to what she wanted, but Rosario understood. It even fit within her broader plan.

Her plan to improve Cricket’s lot in life.

She... okay, so maybe it was a waste of time. But at the same time, the only reason she was traveling to Dawntown was because she wanted to. She had seen the Demon Lord. He was, once, powerful. She wasn’t sure if he was stronger at his peak than she was now. 

In fact, if his peak was the same as he had been in-game, then... maybe she was stronger? He had been the boss at the end of a long raid, but it wasn’t a raid that she couldn’t solo, given some prep time, her best gear, and plentiful potions. 

So... yes. There was a weird sensation slowly crawling into her mind where she was coming to accept the fact that she was strong enough to do whatever she wanted.

What she wanted was to be the best maid ever. 

And... maybe she wanted to spend time with Cricket too. A little bit. When Cricket wasn’t being too much of a pain in the ass. 

So, they returned to the Adventuring Guild. She noticed a lot of people staring at her. Moreso than when she’d come in earlier disguised as a mere Seamstress. 

She supposed that the culture put a heavier emphasis on a high third tier than on a high second tier, and when she asked Cricket about it while they were looking at quests to pick up she got confirmation.

The level distribution of the Adventuring Guild followed a neat bell curve. The centre of that curve was right around the mid-to-late second tier. So, the middle and therefore most common members were people like Cricket, but about ten levels higher. 

There were plenty of people in the third tier, and just as many who only had their first tier job. 

That felt about right for the strength of average NPCs. Which was... probably not a way she should be thinking.

In any case, it made her level 75 [Swordmaster] job stand out a little. That was to the far-right of the average bell-curve, just a level away from a Titled job. 

She didn’t like having a friend who was short of the middle of the curve. Cricket needed a dozen more levels, at minimum. Maybe she could even dip into another job? She probably had a few stats that were at rock bottom. It was easily solvable with a few days of grinding! 

“Thou appears most terrifying,” Cricket said as she returned from the counter.

“Don’t worry about it,” Rosario said. “Did you find a suitable quest?”

“I did!” Cricket raised a paper. “Just half a day’s walk south or Smith’s River lies a small farming town of no name and less repute. They have been challenged most inconveniently by a roving band of [Forest Raptors] and some other nasty predatory sorts. Think of the poor cattle!”

“I see,” she said. “And can we hand in proof of completion elsewhere?”

Cricket nodded and tapped the end of the parchment. “Indeed! Thou are as astute as thou are pretty! We can hand this quest in at Ofrustaoir’s guild. It’s a smaller one than the capital branch, but they’ll accept it all the same.”

Rosario took the contract and read it over quickly. They’d need the signature of the village’s head, or an equivalent, as well as proof of successful elimination, usually in the form of ears. That was normal, though she felt it a lot more macabre now that she’d have to handle the actual ears themselves as opposed to them being digital. 

“Alright. Let’s head out, then.” They could pick up another quest at the Ofrustaoir guild, hopefully one that would lead them to the next city, and so on, until they made it to Dawntown.

The wealth and guild ranks were a nice bonus, but really she wanted an excuse to have Cricket grind. 

“Why did I feel a shiver run down mine spine?” Cricket asked.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I swear, it was death’s own finger tracing along my back.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rosario repeated.

Getting out of the capital was easy. None of the guards by the gate--which seened severely undermanned to her--stopped them, and soon they were out and walking along a growing line of caravans waiting to enter the city.

“Alright, so... we need to start grinding. I can’t grind my [Scullery Maid] while travelling, so I might switch to [Rogue] and see if I can’t practice my stealth skills a little. At least at night. But you... start cartwheeling, I suppose.”

“Cartwheeling?” Cricket asked.

“Is that not something [Jester]s do?” Rosario asked. “Pratfalls and cartwheels.”

“Certainly!” as if to prove the point she raised her hands over her head, skipped twice, then did a leaping handstand into a cartwheel that went on for a dozen paces. “Taa-daa! And yet, I don’t understand. Did you merely wish to see my behind above my head?”

Rosario rolled her eyes. “Do you not understand the concept of grinding?”

“Only insofar as you take one item and crush it under a stone or the like in order to turn it into a powder. Like a mortar and pestle?”

Rosari paused. Maybe the term hadn’t carried over as well as she would have thought. It was also possible that Cricket was being goofy. In any case, the explanation couldn’t hurt. “Grinding is when you put in a lot of effort into repetitive actions that help you level your skill. For example, when I’m grinding my [Maid] job, I’ll work long hours, doing many tasks, with few breaks in between.”

“And that is how you climbed to level six so quickly? I did notice that your speed was noteworthy,” Cricket said. “Most people take a week or two per level with a new job.”

“Exactly. So, as we’re currently travelling and time is passing, what better way to spend the time than to grind? You’re a level... 27 [Jester]. We can aim to make it to 30 by the time we each Ofrustaoir!”

“That’s... thou may be insane.”

“I suspect that you don’t become Titled without putting some effort into it. No, get spinning.”

Rosario had her friend cartwheel, spin, pratfall and sprint for much of the afternoon. She wasn’t sure if it was kind of her, exactly, and Cricket complained at length, but it was probably good for the [Jester]. If it didn’t gain her a level, then at least it would help her general fitness?

By early evening, they arrived in a small town called Smithville.

The town wasn’t anything to write home about. There were some thirty or forty homes, all built along an bend in the Smith River next to an old stone bridge. The road was one of the main paths into Alpta, and the town was almost exactly a half-day’s walk from the city for a normal person.

Rosario and Cricket had sped along a little faster, so the distance hadn’t taken quite as long to conquer. In any case, they arrived and saw the whole place with just a glance. At most, the outlying farms were kind of interesting, each one was ringed by small, well-tended forests and had large pastures for cows, sheep and beetles. 

The mayor of the city was a large man, the sort that had once likely been able to bend steel girders with his bare hands, but age had caught up to him. He greeted them both respectfully before looking over the contract.

“Ah, right, this one,” he muttered gruffly. “I recall it. We’ve been seeing more monsters lately. Our own damned fault.”

“Why’s that?” Rosario asked.

“Things were tight last year,” he said with a shrug. “Lost some families to a cold that swept through in the late fall. So, this year, I took some of our earnings and spent them on potions. Won’t lose good folk two years in a row. Only that same money was meant for monster culling and... well, not you see it.”

“I see,” Rosario said. She folded the paper. “Cricket, are there consequences to partially completed jobs?” she asked.

“Huh? No, I mean, it depends,” Cricket said. She tilted her head, bell clinking. 

“Hmm... well, how about this, then,” Rosario said. She pulled out a gold coin and snapped it in half, then gave it to the mayor. “That ought to cover about half the cost, right? We’ll do the job for the other half.”

“Are you sure, ma’am?” he asked. “We’re not that badly out of it. We’ll come through.”

“It’s fine,” Rosario said. “And we’ll find those monsters for you. Though... I noticed that the inn is full-up tonight?” They had checked there first, only to discover that a large merchant caravan passing through had booked every room.

“Bah! You’ll stay at my place. Are you hunting tonight?”

“I’d rather do that, yes,” Rosario said. A bit of hunting in the dusk, then she’d spend the first few hours of the night grinding her [Rogue] skills around the town. It might take a few nights, but she wanted another four levels in that job. It was relatively close to a level up already, she felt.

Though of course, her main focus was her [Scullery Maid]. That was just a difficult job to practice on the road. 

“Oh.... one more thing,” the mayor said. He rubbed his hands together. “If you’re out there, can you keep your eyes peeled for one of our girls?”

“I always keep my eyes peeled for girls,” Cricket said with unjustified confidence.

“Is someone missing?” Rosario asked.

“Ah... something like that. Her name’s Lucile. Lucky. Ah, she’s a good lad. Has a proper future ahead of her and all as a good Smith [Farm wife] but... she’s got ideas in her head. She might be out there? If ya see her, send her back to town before she hurts herself, please?”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Rosario said.

***

Lucky wasn’t feeling like she was living up to her name.

She was panting and running, which was fortunate, running was one of her best self-taught skills. 

Being chased was... not. 

She glanced over her shoulder, eyes scanning through the late-evening light to find her foe. At first she saw nothing, just familiar trees and brush, then some of those moved and she caught sight of the [Forest Raptors] skulking after her with silent thread.

Her grip on her sword tightened. 

She was sooooo screwed. The mayor was gonna tan her hide, again, if he found out.

But dammit, how else was she going to become the world’s greatest [Swordsmaster] if she didn’t go about slicing off a few heads! 

***

Jegsuu WIP!