The Laptop - Ch.47 - Old Friends (Patreon)

"What are you doing here?!" I repeated myself as I stared at my former part-time boss.

"For that matter how did you even get here?" I added a moment later. "And while I'm at it, why are you a dwarf now?"

There was a mischievous grin on his face as he looked up at me and shrugged, "What can I say? You girls were right about Annie not being gone forever. I got an email from her the day after you three came into my shop, she said she wanted to show me what she'd been working on. She also suggested I could use a vacation."

"So she brought you here?" I asked. Then another thought hit me, "Wait is she here too? Where is she? I really need to talk to her!"

Frank was still grinning as he shook his head, "She's not here right now kid, settle down. But don't worry, she said she'll be back soon."

Chels and Gwen had both been quiet for the last few minutes but the little catgirl finally spoke up. Her ears were folded back and her tail twitched from side to side as she asked, "So Annie brought you to this world, Mr. Capello? Did she bring you right to this village? And where'd you get all this merchandise? Or did she set you up with all this once you got here?"

The dwarf smiled again as he reached up and stroked his bushy beard, "Tell you what? Why don't I close up shop, then we'll go grab a table in the tavern. We can get caught up over some drinks, and maybe a bit of lunch?"

I wasn't actually that hungry, since we had a good breakfast not that long ago. And it looked like my girlfriends weren't either, but if Frank was hungry I didn't mind sitting with him while he ate. And I definitely had a lot of questions for the guy. So he closed the flaps on his sales tent and tied them up, then the four of us marched back into the tavern again. It wasn't busy at this time of day so we had our pick of tables, and Frank led us to one in the corner.

Mrs. Barmaid came by and my former boss ordered himself some food and a pitcher of ale, but I still wasn't that fond of the drink so I asked if they had anything else. They didn't have anything like soda, and apparently they didn't trust the water enough to drink it, but they did have a fermented juice beverage so I gave that a try. Both Gwen and Chels decided to try it as well.

I wasn't sure what to expect of my drink, but I thought maybe it'd be something like wine. Instead it turned out to be a lot nicer, being almost like one of those vodka coolers Chelsea drank back home. Except instead of cherry flavour, this looked and tasted more like it was made from a blend of apricots and bananas. And unlike the fizzy coolers back home, this stuff wasn't carbonated. It was pretty good though. Kind of sweet, but also a bit tangy.

A few minutes later the goat-woman returned with Frank's lunch. He'd ordered a big fresh-baked bun with a slab of left-over roasted meat in it. Then in between bites of his sandwich he began to answer our questions.

"Annie didn't actually come back to see me," my former boss explained. "It was all emails and texts. Then when I was ready to go, the front door of my place turned into this swirling portal-looking thing. I stepped through and pow! I found myself on a trail in the woods, right here on Daearen!"

After pausing for a swig of ale he continued, "That's where I found Annie, she was here waiting for me! She looked a little different from what I was used to, and that's when she explained how this world was different from ours. Then she offered to change things up for me too if I wanted."

"So you decided to be a used-tech merchant dwarf?" I asked quietly. "Not exactly a huge shift from what you were doing back home. Except the dwarf part."

My former boss shrugged and grinned, "What can I say? It's a quiet laid-back kind of life."

He paused there for a big bite of his lunch then started talking again, "I played a few TTRPGs in my day, and I guess I kind of related to the burly bushy bearded dwarf type characters? Not so much into mining though, or fighting. So I stuck with the same dual-class as before, merchant and artificer. Or tinkerer, if you prefer."

Gwen asked quietly, "No offence intended but you look younger now Mr. Capello. Is that because dwarves have longer lifespans than humans? Or was that something else Annie did?"

"You girls can just call me Frank, ok?" he replied with another smile. "None of that Mr. Capello nonsense. And to answer your question, it's a bit of both? Dwarves here do have a longer lifespan than humans, but Annie also offered to roll the clock back a bit for me. Apparently she's been doing that for herself for a while too."

Then he gave Gwyneth a knowing look as he added, "Elves here are also pretty long-lived, so you'll probably start to notice the difference between you and your girlfriends' ages eventually too."

The elf girl glanced at me and Chels with a slightly worried expression on her face when she heard that news. Except I already knew that wasn't going to be an issue, since none of us were going to age as long as I kept 'safe mode' active.

"Don't worry," I told her. "It's not going to be a problem."

Then I focused on my former boss again and asked, "So Annie brought you here, let you pick a new race and class and everything. Then what? She set you up with the tent store? And where exactly did she bring you? Straight to the village? Or somewhere else?"

Frank took a minute or two to finish his sandwich, then washed it down with the last of his ale. Finally he refilled his mug from the pitcher before answering, "We didn't start here in Hoag's Hole. We were about a day's travel east of here? Or dawnward, as the locals call it. And yeah, she hooked me up with the tent, wagon, a mule, and all the merch. Then she pointed me this way and told me to come set up shop here. Said I ought to spend a week or two here in town. She didn't say why, or who I was waiting for. Only that she had some other business she needed to attend to. And that she'd be back as soon as she could."

Chelsea glanced at me, and her ears were folded back while her tail swished back and forth behind her. Then she looked to Frank and asked, "So you were only a day's travel away? And you had a wagon and mule, so I'm guessing the trip was pretty easy? Or at least, it was smooth enough for a wagon?"

"It wasn't great," the little merchant shrugged. "The road was kind of muddy and I get the feeling old Myrtle isn't the most cooperative mule in the world. But yeah, I guess apart from that it was ok. I'd have been happier with a panel van, something with a radio and some A/C. Why?"

The little catgirl sounded like she was holding back some anger as she stated, "Annie sent us to the middle of nowhere. We've spent the last eight days hiking over sixty kilometres through rugged wilderness. Yesterday we were scaling the sides of a dangerous river gorge. And five days ago we got ambushed by monsters, we had to fight for our lives."

"I can't help wondering why we got 'expert mode' when Frank here was given the easy 'tutorial level' experience," Chels grumbled as she looked at me again.

That left me frowning as I nodded slowly, "I'm asking myself the same question."

"Except it's not too hard to guess the answer," I added a moment later. Then I sighed, "It was probably another test or puzzle, to see if we were up to the challenge or something."

"You're all ok though right?" my former boss asked in a worried tone as he looked around the table at the three of us.

I nodded, "We're ok now. But Gwen was seriously hurt, and both Chelsea and I were wounded too."

Frank drained his second mug of ale then said, "I'm glad you got through it ok, and I'm glad you're alright now. I'm sorry you girls have had it so rough though. I'm not trying to make excuses here, but I'm sure if Annie was testing you then she must have a good reason for it."

"I guess all I'm asking is, don't judge her too hard until you've met her, ok?" he asked. "Talk to her, hear her out, see what she has to say. And definitely tell her what's on your mind. But try not to condemn her until you've actually met her, give her a chance to explain herself. Alright?"

I sighed again, "Alright Frank. She said we needed to be here for today, so hopefully that means she's not going to keep us waiting too much longer."

Gwen added in a quiet grumpy voice, "Lisa's already tried asking her questions, through the laptop. Annie hasn't answered any of them."

My former boss grimaced, "Sorry girls. Like I said before, she's always been a bit mysterious? But she's pretty good in person. And it sounds to me like she organized things so we'd all be here when she returned, right? I've got a feeling maybe she's planning on coming clean to all of us. Maybe we'll all finally get those answers we've been looking for."

"I really hope you're right," I stated softly.

We were all quiet for a second or two after that. Then Chelsea asked, "So what do we do in the meantime?"

"I don't know about you kids," Frank replied, "But I'm going to finish this pitcher of ale then go re-open my shop. Maybe today's the day someone will finally be in the market for some precursor tech!"

Gwen gave the dwarf a funny look and asked, "Are you sure you'll still be upright after all that beer? I'm only halfway through this juice stuff and I'm already feeling it."

My former boss laughed as he poured the last of the ale into his mug, "My hearty dwarven constitution plus weak beer means it takes a lot more than this for me to feel it."

"You dainty young elf girls are lightweights when it comes to booze. Especially compared to sturdy folks like me," he added with another laugh. That was followed by a sly smile as he commented, "Although to be fair I have a feeling that fermented juice is probably a lot stronger than the beer."

Chelsea's tail flicked as she grinned, "I got the same impression. It's good though."

"Yeah," I grimaced. "Tasty, but I think one glass is enough for me. And for Gwen, by the looks of it."

Our mage's cheeks were a bit flushed and she looked a little more relaxed than usual. She had a cute smile on her face too, which was nice to see.

After another sip of her spiked juice our elf girl suggested, "If there's nothing else going on today, maybe I'll see about that bath? Or sponge bath, or whatever. Hot water and towels? At least it sounds better than ice cold river water."

Frank gulped down the last of his beer then gave the three of us a knowing grin and teased, "Sounds like fun, but try not to get too dirty while you're getting cleaned up! I think I'll head back to work now."

That got me blushing, but of course Chels had a naughty look in her eyes as her ears stood up and her tail flicked back and forth.

"If you're still interested in picking up some old datapads or something come drop by the store afterwards," my former boss added as he got to his feet.

Then he wandered out the door, while the three of us were still sipping our drinks. It wasn't until Mrs. Barkeep came back to the table when I realized Frank stiffed us for the cost of his lunch. Not that we were hurting for cash or anything, but as I counted out fifteen bronze 'wheat sheaf' coins I couldn't decide if that was a dick move or if he was trying to be a 'lovable scoundrel' type. Or maybe he was trying to be more like a funny but absent-minded uncle.

Either way I made a point of getting a discount from him if we did end up buying some of his old junk. In the meantime though Gwen was serious about getting clean, so she made the arrangements with the goat-woman to have three buckets of hot water and some towels delivered to our room.

We headed back upstairs, and within a half hour Mrs. Barkeep came in with the first bucket and an armload of towels. She was back a minute or so later with the other two buckets, then left us to it.

Washing up with a pail of warm water and a towel was a lot more rustic than I'd imagined, and nothing like a hot shower. It was kind of awkward and a little messy, and despite Chelsea's best efforts there wasn't even any good way to make it sexy or fun. Like we could take turns helping each other scrub up, but considering we were all wearing a few days' worth of grime we ended up mostly focusing on getting clean.

That's not to say we couldn't have a little fun afterwards, to celebrate the fact that we'd finally got rid of all the dirt and grime. And that was definitely a nice way to spend the afternoon, especially since we had that big comfy bed to take advantage of.

It was probably only an hour or two before dusk when the three of us finally got dressed again. I was eager to meet Annie, and I knew my girlfriends were looking forward to getting some answers too. There were a few more patrons in the tavern when we passed through on our way back outside, but the barkeep and his wife seemed busy. I figured they were both getting things ready for the evening crowd. I had a feeling most of the little village ended up in there after their workday ended.

Outside we found some of the merchants were already packing up for the night. The draper had their tent sealed up, and several of the little stalls and carts were in the process of being packed away. The street-food merchant was still going strong though, and whatever he was cooking smelled pretty good.

Then I spotted Frank as he started sealing up his tent-shop, so all three of us hurried over to him. As soon as we were close enough I asked, "Any sign of Annie yet?"

"Sorry kid not yet," my former boss shook his head as he continued securing the 'door' to his shop.

My shoulders slumped and I turned to look at my girlfriends, "This is the day, right? She said ten days, it's been ten days hasn't it?"

"Pretty sure," Gwen nodded slowly.

Chelsea looked like she was about to comment too when her ears twitched. Then she turned to look across the market square, and a moment later I heard it too.

It was faint, but there was definitely music out there. Not like a radio or anything from our world, but like someone strumming on a guitar or something. We all spotted her a few seconds later, an attractive young bard wandering through the square as she played a little tune on her lute. Then I realized Frank was standing next to me, and he had a wide grin on his face.

He glanced up at me and nodded, "That's her. That's my Annie!"