Chapter 37: A Fun Night Out Part 2 (Patreon)

One of Anders’s hangers-on at table seven got carried away and threw a cup at the back of my head. I ignored it and continued staring at Anders as my safe zone force field activated to prevent the cup from hitting me.

[Proximity Warning!]

[This is a safe zone. Violence is prohibited. This is strike one for the offender.]

Anders was half of a foot taller than me and more muscular, which with an axe as his weapon of choice made me think of him as a strength build. It didn’t worry me. With my speed and the dark night sky, I felt confident that I could take him. The only outlying factor was his level, and I wouldn’t find that out unless we either joined the same party or started fighting outside of town.

We were about to do the latter when his twin sister, who reminded me of a CrossFit athlete, got in between us. She was wearing an identical blue leather jacket like her brother, but had her hair tied back in a ponytail. Most likely so that it wouldn’t get in her way during a fight.

“Matching outfits? Really?” I asked sarcastically.

“They’re more practical than fashionable,” she replied before addressing her brother. “There’s been enough bloodshed for today, don’t you think?”

Anders finally looked at her and grimaced. “Fine, I suppose you’re right.” He then raised his voice yelled at the crowd of onlookers, “what are you staring at? This is a party. Let’s have some fun. More drinks all around!”

Anders walked back to his table without looking back.

“I’m sorry about my brother,” she said. “He has a short temper. I’m Carina, by the way.”

“Lucas,” I gruffly replied.

I sat back down at the bar and ordered another beer. “Put it on his tab,” I said, indicating to Anders with my thumb.

Carina, not put off by my terse response, joined me and ordered water.

“You’re not celebrating?” I asked.

She drank half of her glass and then asked in a tired voice, “does it look like there’s much to celebrate?”

“Honestly? No, but then that hasn’t stopped some people,” I replied venomously.

“Mind if I give you some advice?”

“Yes.”

She laughed and said, “well I’m giving it anyway. Don’t be so quick to judge others. Everybody here has lost someone since the System took over. Some of them are having a harder time coping with that than others.”

“But not you?”

She shrugged. “I got lucky. Don’t have any other family than my brother.”

“Alright then, I guess I’ll return the favor with some advice of my own. Don’t trust Martin. The minute he thinks you’re a threat or that you’re worth more in experience points, he’ll turn on you.”

Carina pursed her lips and then got up and left for another room, away from me and her brother. I couldn’t tell if it was because I’d insulted Martin’s character or because she was worried that I was right. Either way, she didn’t defend him or attack me after saying it, so that says something.

Earnest returned looking like he’d missed something important. “What happened?”

“Some of Martin’s crew are here, including the twins. Anders almost started a fight with me, but then his sister talked him out of it.”

“Interesting. Well, at least things didn’t escalate.”

I shrugged. “I could have taken him. Now, you had something to share?”

Hugo popped his head up out of the now empty fry basket. He tried to get to his beer, but the glass was too tall.

“Uhh, a little help?” Hugo asked.

I put my hand out for him to step onto and then raised him up high enough to reach for his drink. Hugo took a sip and then gagged. “Ergh, tastes gross,” he said and then proceeded to drink more of it.

“So?” I prompted Earnest.

He leaned forward and in a quiet voice said, “well the name of the quest itself got my attention. The description says to uncover the town founder, but the name of the quest is the root, the rose, and the thorn. So I’m thinking it means we’re meant to be looking for three people that connected with one another.”

“Martin and the twins make three,” I pointed out. “He’s also been very focused on positioning himself as the leader and recruiting people to follow him. It’s exactly how someone founding a town would act.”

Earnest shook his head. “It’s not him. I got to town early and watched him enter for the first time with a group of followers. I even talked to one of the followers privately and he said that Martin had run into a group in the woods and saved them from a dangerous creature. Said that they all went looking for the town as soon as the System announcement message appeared.”

“That doesn’t rule him out. He could have just been sitting by a campfire in the woods and the System might have just given him the ‘would you like to found a town?’ prompt.”

“Possibly, but if that’s the case, then it would be impossible to uncover who the town founder is unless they start telling people. I think it's more likely that there are clues we’re supposed to pick up on and, for whatever the reason, the town founder is hiding their identity. Another reason that Martin isn’t the one is because it’s too obvious. I’ve seen enough of him to know that he’s smarter than that.”

I nodded while silently hoping he had more information to share. So far, it hadn’t been enough to rule out Martin entirely in my mind and there wasn’t anyone else to look into.

Earnest continued. “Anyway, the lead that I found was that I overheard someone saying they saw a rose mural inside of the church. So that’s where I’m heading tomorrow.”

Finally, a real lead. Since this quest was posted on the public message board, it’s probably fair to say that everyone in town has it by now. If we moved quickly, we could solve it before anyone else does.

“You want to party up?” I asked, feeling eager to go. “Because we could head over there now.”

Earnest stretched and suppressed a yawn. “Not for me, kid. I gotta get my shut eye. Besides, I only said it was a lead. I don’t think the mural will have the founder’s name written on it. The System isn’t going to make it that easy for us.”

Suddenly, the clock tower bell loudly rang out.

Everyone stopped.

“Hey, what time is it?” someone in the bar asked.

[ALERT!]

[ALERT!]

[It is now 10:58pm. Curfew goes into effect in 2 minutes. At which point the safe zone will be reduced to the domicile that residents have paid rent for or own. This curfew is only lifted at sunrise. Anyone still residing within an unauthorized building will die. All paying residents and owners should return to their domicile at once. Anyone who has not bought or rented a domicile must remain outside and take their chances on the street or in the woods.]

There was a moment of stunned silence after reading the message. Some were probably rereading it, while others were looking at each in shock.

The clock tower bell chimed again, and the bar erupted into chaos.