People rushed out of the tavern, the shops, the armory; in other words, from wherever they had been able to find refuge. The square filled with cheers praising the three saviors of the town. The onlookers began vying with each other for the best recount of what they had seen a few moments ago as if arguing who would embellish the story in a better way.
Elanil chuckled as the retelling of their fight was snowballing with incredible details. She and her friends quickly became mythical heroes who miraculously saved the almost doomed town from merciless lake dragons. If not for their valour, the whole Hamselton would have been slaughtered down to the last infant.
“I think they’re exaggerating,” Nura chuckled, returning her axes to her belt.
“Shh, a Hero’s rule of number one—don’t stop people from praising you,” Gaspard hissed at her. “The more they think their deaths were inevitable, the more respect they’ll show us. More respect—more reputation. More reputation—”
“Exactly, reputation! Experience, before we forget!” Elanil closed her eyes and took the XP points as Nura had taught her. This time, she didn’t sneeze like she’d been hit with ground pepper. She felt the already familiar tingling sensation like the first time she increased her stats.
+ 560 XP
“Hmm, not bad, not bad,” Gaspard remarked, as he took his XP points too. “Do you know that you look funny while doing this, Elanil?”
“You look silly on a regular basis, so what?” Nura mocked him. “Better go check the loot in the first fish. I’ll eviscerate this one.” She kneeled near the one she’d chopped.
“As you command, my lady,” he grinned, bowed and went to inspect the defeated enemy’s insides. The crowd surrounding the mechanical fish respectfully parted as he approached.
Notification popped-up in front of Elanil.
Quest: Constructicide in the Valey (regional)
Sub-quest: Flying Fish
Status: Completed
Description: Enjoy your status of Hamselton saviours. And beer on the house!
Additional Information:
Constructs neutralized: 5 out of 7
Bragging bonuses:
- No hit – succeeded (+10%)
- No civilian casualties – succeeded (+10%)
- No property damage – failed (+0%)
- Impress onlookers – succeeded (+20%)
Reward:
- Runes x2 {expand the list}
- + 400 XP (+40% bonus points)
- + 500 Ringing Springs Valley reputation (+40% bonus points)
- Title of Champions of Hamselton
Notifications started pouring in one after another:
[Level Up] Elanil
Level: 6 → 7
4 Stat points gained.
[Level Up] Nura
Level: 7 → 8
4 Stat points gained
[Level Up] Gaspard
Level: 14 → 15
4 Stat points gained
[System Notification]
{Elanil: New Skill acquired} Hawk eye: low
Description: You aim better and better; your enemies' vulnerable spots become easier to detect.
[System Notification]
{Nura: New Skill acquired} Crushing: low
Description: Your ruthlessness is paying off; now the threshold HP for finishing off an injured enemy is slightly increased.
[System Notification]
{Gaspard: New Skill acquired} In broad daylight: low
Description: When you play pranks in stealth, you become even harder to detect; practice this more often and soon you will be invisible even to yourself.
“What a bountiful hunt we’ve had today!” Gaspard whistled contentedly. “I finally leveled up; we’ve gained so many skills. And we haven’t even extracted the caviar from our fish yet.” He carefully shoved his hand into the belly of the metal fish. “Well, what do we have here?” He pulled out a rune. “Elanil, it’s for you,” he tossed the rune to Elanil, who caught it deftly.
Item: Rune – Knockback Arrow (Archer-Mage)
Quality: Bronze
Description: Ability update
[System Notification]
{Gaspard: Skill upgrade} Dismantling: low-medium
“Ah, this one’s for me,” Nura noted as she also extracted a rune from her enemy’s entrails. “Interesting—what’s it?”
Item: Rune – Intimidation (Dual-axe wielder)
Quality: Bronze
Description: Ability update
[System Notification]
{Nura: Skill upgrade} Dismantling: low-medium
“Urgh! Useless!” She grumbled.
“Don’t be so sulky,” Gaspard reproved her. “You should be grateful you have something, at least. I, for one, was left without my rune today.”
“What’s the matter in having [Intimidation] upgraded if I’ve had no chance to use it in battle so far? This construct crap is all immune to control abilities.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. We might be fighting against frenzied geese or crazy squirrels soon, it sure would be handy then.”
Nura rolled her eyes, but left this mockery without an answer. Instead, she turned to Elanil. “As usual on the count of three?”
“Wait a minute, I also have something to upgrade now,” Gaspard butted in.
[Ability upgraded: Knockback Arrow]
[Ability upgraded: Intimidation]
[Ability acquired: Elusive Motives]
“Hurray to Heroes of Hamselton!” someone shouted next to Elanil, making her flinch.
“Hurray!” the crowed followed.
What happened next, Elanil hadn’t expected at all—people picked them up on their shoulders and carried into the tavern with enthusiastic cries. She turned to look at her friends: Nura looked puzzled, as she also didn’t expect such a turn of events. Gaspard on the contrary sprawled in the people’s arms, content, as if bathing in the rays of glory.
All this stirred mixed feelings in Elanil, as she was completely unaccustomed to such attention from the crowd. On the one hand, it was gratifying to know that her work had received such honor and praise. On the other hand, being an introvert by nature, she quickly became weary with this riot of emotion and attention to her modest person.
Elanil also felt uneasy with no ground beneath her feet, as if caught against her will in a river’s rapids and carried toward the crater of a waterfall. That’s what the approaching entrance to the tavern looked like. She even feared she would crash head-on into the lintel. But the danger had passed, and they were already inside, again on their feet. They were instantly presented with brimming mugs of foamy beer, and a deafening chorus toasted them.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Gaspard beamed with pleasure. Nura had recovered from the initial shock and was already succumbing to the crowd’s mirth. Excellent, Elanil thought, she’d better delegate all the excitement to them and retreat somewhere secluded. After the adrenaline rush from the battle had worn off, she felt even more tired and sleepy. The overwhelming fame only exacerbated this feeling.
Spotting the young barmaid, Elanil squeezed between the celebrating fishermen and asked if there were had any spare rooms for them to rest. The barmaid nodded and led her upstairs. As soon as the door closed behind the girl, the sounds of merriment became muffled. It was already shiny outside, so Elanil drew the curtains casting a pleasant twilight over the room. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep.
A lead overcast pressed low over a wasteland of blackened earth and skeletal trees. The ground was split with long, crooked fissures. Ruins lingered in the distance—half-collapsed towers and broken arches—the gravestones of a long-ago erased civilization. No wind blew. No creature moved.
Through that perpetual gloom walked a young man. He was pale, his shaggy silver hair caught what little ambient light remained. He was looking intently into the distance and was deep in his thoughts at the same time. He carried a staff crowned with a grey crystal that emitted a muted glow. His gait was limping, but determined, as if he knew precisely what fate awaited him.
Then Elanil saw herself. She walked behind him, bow already in hand. Nura kept to her left, axes ready. Gaspard was to the right. All three were scanning the surroundings, as if expecting something to emerge from any side at any moment.
The vision cut abruptly—Elanil was back in her quiet room.
“So that’s it,” she thought aloud. “Another premonition—”
The door suddenly opened wide, Nura and Gaspard barging into the room.
“Oh, you were sleeping, sorry!”
“Don’t worry,” Elanil muttered, sitting up in bed. “How was the party?”
“Satisfying, but we weren’t messing around,” Gaspard remarked, collapsing on the other bed. “We were taking quest requests.”
“What quests?”
“All sorts,” he said, pulling a pile of notes from his pocket. “After all, we are now officially the Champions of Hamselton.”
“You’ve organized things quickly,” Elanil nodded respectfully, taking the notes. “We might revive the Hamselton’s Guild of Adventu—” She trailed off, glancing at the quest card on the first note. “What’s this?”
She looked through all of them. In total, Gaspard and Nura collected eleven quests. All of them were certainly “challenging”, Elanil noted wryly.
- To save the harvest of East Hills hazelnut farm by driving out a pack of brazen squirrels.
- To plow the garden for a radish farmer who pulled his leg escaping the “lake dragons.”
- To help a garlic farmer find a sheep who ran amok.
- To provide security for the team repairing the pier, as they are afraid of being attacked by other lake monsters.
- To find and drag the drunkard Donny to the tavern, who still hadn’t paid his debt for the past month.
- To give the bully Billy a good beating (but without serious injury) to stop him from bothering Clyde. On the back was a counter-quest from Bill—to slap Clyde so he’d stop trying to bribe anyone into beating him up just because Mary danced at the spring cotillion with Bill, not him.
- To resolve the dispute between Agrhil and Giporis on whose territory the well was located and who should be responsible for its maintenance.
- To be honorary members of the jury at tomorrow’s Strawberry Pie festival.
- To accept the challenge to a duel with the self-proclaimed Champion of Hamselton, Sir Brownpantsquick (also self-proclaimed Sir and also known as Liar Larry), who claimed that only he could defeat the “lake dragons,” but he simply was late since he had a breakfast to finish, not having the habit to fight on an empty stomach. The fact that three upstarts shamelessly allowed themselves to assume the title of Champions, which only he had the right to bear, deeply outraged him.
- To deliver a package from Mr. Kropsnurft to his friend Mr. Hofnurth in Borrenton.
- To pose for old man Jenkins’ sculpture.
“Are you serious?!” Elanil exclaimed, glancing from Gaspard to Nura and back.
“I told you she wouldn’t like it,” Nura grumbled, as she seated on Gaspard’s bed and poked him in the ribs, causing him to nearly jump up.
“What other quests would you expect we would get in this lovely middle of nowhere?” Gaspard sat up on his bed.
“I didn’t expect you’d take them at once. Now we have to do them all!” Elanil grumbled. Her inner completionist was already calculating how long they would have to stay in Hamselton to complete them all.
“I told you about that too,” Nura noted, poking Gaspard in the side again.
“Enough,” he protested, rubbing the bruised area, “before you break all my ribs.” Turning to Elanil, he continued. “We couldn’t but take them. First, each quest we took in public gave us 10 Ringing Springs Valley reputation, plus 50% because of the Champion of Hamselton status. See, we earned 165 reputation each without doing anything. And second, no one is forcing us to do them all, but whichever ones we—”
“We’ll do them all. I’m in no habit of leaving things unfinished,” Elanil said sternly.
“Okay, okay,” Gaspard raised his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “I wanted to point something else out: yes, the rewards are paltry, yes, the loot would be worthless too, I mean, certainly not runes. But reputation, Elanil. That’s the surest way to quickly farm the Valley reputation. How much reputation did you get for those bugs or constructs you slew back in the Sylvan Reserve?”
“Uh, I think nothing...”
“And why?”
“Because no one witnessed it?” Nura suggested.
“Bingo! Perform heroic deeds while folks are looking and don’t give a crap if no one is paying attention.”
“Scaring squirrels—is that a deed?” Nura chuckled.
“For you—no, but for a nut farmer—yes.”
“Since when did the Valley of Ringing Springs reputation become a concern to you? Weren’t you the one whining about the cow quest, telling us to give it up and get out of the Valley as quickly as possible?” Elanil noticed.
“I still think we shouldn’t have taken that quest. We didn’t really get anything for it, other than 10 silvers and your strong opinion of me as a cold-blooded sadist. Oh, and that strange medallion whose meaning we still haven’t figured out. Besides, it didn’t get us even a tiny bit of reputation.”
“Why are you harping on about reputation?” Elanil’s irritation grew. “Why do you, as a member of the Assassins Guild, need this unnecessary publicity?”
“Hey, Gaspard, so you’re in the Assassins Guild?” Nura looked surprised. “Why didn’t you tell me too, only Elanil?”
“First, I didn’t tell you because you can’t keep your mouth shut, and second, I didn’t tell Elanil either.”
“How did you know then?” Nura turned to Elanil.
“Oh, please,” she rolled her eyes. “A guy with stealth, charisma, and poisoned blades. A bard, after all—that’s classic! Plus, he’s well-versed in many guilds’ inner workings, yet he doesn’t have a badge. And the Assassins don’t advertise their guild affiliation for obvious reasons. Not rocket science.”
“What science?”
“Never mind…”
“Well done, Elanil,” Gaspard nodded with respect. “Would you like to join our ranks? You have potential.”
“Not today, killer.”
“I’m not invited, I see,” Nura frowned.
“You’re on probation,” Gaspard cast her a stern look. “If you don’t blurt it out like you told me everything about the amulets, then maybe I’ll think about it.”
“Nura!” Elanil shouted.
“Sorry, Elanil, but this devil will loosen the tongue of even a dead man—”
“Oh, please, you’re flattering me,” Gaspard feigned embarrassment. “You get most of the credit, not me. Anyway, I do know now what’s your deal with amulets. And I think to gain Imperial reputation would be of big help for our goal to find the other three amulet bearers.”
“And to establish the Guild of The Five Amulet Bearers—World Saviours & Their Friends!” Nura waived her hand as if picturing the sign above the guild.
“You sure need some lessons in naming,” Gaspard shook his head in displeasure. “But seriously, keep your mouth shut about the amulets. No one but the three of us should know. We need to gain strength and weight before powers that be find out what we have. Otherwise, they will take it from us as easily as taking candy from a child.”
“What’s your interest in all this, besides the fact that, as you said, being a part of the team has its perks?” Elanil looked at him intently.
“Are you kidding?” Gaspard exclaimed. “To miss the opportunity to be part of something that will determine the fate of the world? With my lowly origins, I couldn’t even dream of such a thing!”
“Lowly origins?” Nura repeated.
“Do you think I joined the Assassins out of a good life? For a waif from Bereince slums, it’s one of the few alternatives to starving.”
“Ah, I see,” Nura said briefly.
A sense of awkwardness hung in the air for a moment.
“Okay, reputation farming, you say—so be it.” Elanil leafed through the notes. “Let’s begin with this one.”
Quest: To pose for old man Jenkins’ sculpture.
Status: Acquired
Description: Old man Jenkins, the renowned and only sculptor of Hamselton, intends to immortalize your deed in clay. The new monument will replace his previous one, the Skipjack shad sculpture, which, for obvious ethical reasons, now frightens some of the townspeople.
Bragging bonuses:
- Heroic pose
- Status of Champions of Hamselton
Additional Information:
Strike a pose and hold it for as long as it takes for old man Jenkins to sculpt his masterpiece.
Reward:
– XP
– Ringing Springs Valley reputation