NOVEL NEXT Book 3 Ch 1: Gerda - Previously on Dungeon Delves and Debutantes
Of all the places that I’d visited in Valaria, North Sumbria felt the most like home.
Being summoned into a video game set in a mythical blend of eastern and western fantasy meant that I’d spent a lot of time searching for the comforts of my old world… and this was about as close as I was going to get.
Courtesy of Grand Duchess Callisto, North Sumbria had paved roads, and magical street lamps, elevators, and public transportation. Construct carts worked much the same as cars, and magic did wonders on the suspension.
“Are you both heading straight for the palace?” I asked, turning back to my travelling companions and their horse.
Rufus was the former commander general of the Dark Enchanted Forest. A golden canine beastman that looked like a blend of wolf and golden retriever, currently walking around in half-man half-beast form. He was sitting on the wagon beside his fiance, Minstrel Bronwynn Lyriel. Brownie was a half-giantess who had fiery red tipped brown hair, and dark eyes with a glint of red.
The pair of them were the same height, which was to say taller than me.
As a troll, I was sturdy, curvy, and on the taller side of a human but nowhere near a giantess. My light green skin and dark green hair were also uniquely troll. I currently had mine in thirteen braids bound back at the nape of my neck. On top of being green, I also had long and sharp lower canines that stuck up like some upside-down vampire’s fangs. Surprisingly, they didn’t get in the way much or affect the way I spoke.
The only resemblance to my former human self were my eyes; the same honey brown they’d always been.
I enjoyed the physique of a female body-builder, but the thing I loved most about my new appearance was my smattering of white faun-like freckles on the bridge of my nose.
They were hardcore cottagecore.
Rufus jumped down and walked over to present Donna the horse with an enchanted carrot. The mare happily ate it. To me he said, “We are, and you?”
I still held my invitation. It was a pass into the capital of North Sumbria and my ticket to attend the festival and wedding ceremony of Callisto's daughter Countess Julia von Slyke, the Paladin of Light, and Necromancer Chloe Watercress, the original villain of this season.
There was nothing on this godsforsaken world that was going to stop me from seeing those two women get married– since it was my hard work that had set them up in the first place.
Not that they knew that.
“I’ll be staying in the Coral Palace,” I informed them, waving the invite once before shoving it back into my storage space. “But I’m going to walk around first. Shall we separate here?”
“We could walk around together?” Brownie asked, hopeful. She sat in the driver's seat, pretending to drive the wagon. Her horse chuffed and the minstrel said, “After we settle Donna in first, of course.”
“I’ll be in the main market shopping, so just meet me back there when you’re done?”
“Alright.” Brownie nodded.
“So the palace it is?” Rufus eyed the wagon, “Do we want to just store everything now?”
We were standing in an open courtyard full of other wagons and travellers being let into the city. It was crowded. This time of year, sunset was late. The light would be with them for a while yet, and lanterns were already set up for after sunset. Due to the festival, shops that would have otherwise been getting ready to close were now in full festival mode getting ready for the night market. The city wouldn't be asleep until long after midnight.
Brownie fixed her lyre harp shoulder strap and then grabbed her fashionable red bag before climbing down to join them. “Good idea.”
Donna shrugged, and suddenly all of the ropes and straps and the hitch fell loose, and the horse was free of her wagon. The joys of a magical world. Brownie waved a hand and everything disappeared into the bard's storage ring.
“Why do you load the wagon with things if you have a storage ring?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.
Brownie shrugged, “If they’re busy stealing the decoy wagon, then I can run away. And it’s just more comfortable for Donna than carrying everyone on her back. Comfier for us too.”
“I see.” Made sense with her history. When I’d first found out that the bard would run into three encounters every trip, I’d started making sure I was one of them. A bridge troll riddle was much safer than a flock of griffins or a bandit camp…
The horse whinnied reproachfully, and Brownie smiled, “Of course you could do it, but that doesn’t mean it’s comfortable. Do you want to carry Rufus and I to the palace to prove it or…?”
There was a bare instant where I thought the horse was going to say yes, but then Donna looked away.
“Then we’d better start walking. See you later, Gerda!”
Rufus took Brownie’s hand and nodded my way, “Fair weather.”
I finished the saying, “And fine luck.”
I waved them off and then headed for the nearest inn. I’d need a room, somewhere I could review my new notifications in peace.
The Morbid Mule wasn’t the name of an inn I’d otherwise frequent, but it was serviceable for a few minutes of quiet.
There were updates to my quest and a few notifications in my log window. I’d have to open each tab to see their full information, but otherwise I could scroll through three notifications at a time.
[Perk Quest: Previously on Dungeon Delves and Debutantes, the Dark Lord perished… Error, the Dark Lord married the Heroine of Justice and lived happily ever after. Can Necromancer Chloe…]
[Passive Perk: Sense Fate has activated. [Duke Julian von Slyke] will lose his locket at the Coral Palace West Fountain tonight...]
[Passive Perk: Sense Fate has activated. [General Visha Hemsworth] will be poisoned at the Fardew tavern tomorrow…]
Every Error was a victory. Five years spent preparing to subvert the tragedies of the first season. It meant that it was harder, in some ways, because the story had gone so wildly off base, but I'd made it work.
Listen, hearing about an orphanage burning down was a simple plot device until you walked past said orphanage every time you visited your favorite bakery.
Who said the Heroine of Justice had to defeat the entire Dark Enchanted Forest and finish off the Dark Lord with a well-timed punch to the face? No one. Not on my watch!
I'd had plenty of time to level up to boss monster status, and carefully curate a character build that would let me change the storyline. Every ten levels came with a title, and every title came with one skill selection. For example, at level 40 I had chosen the [Oracle] title to see upcoming game events, and the [Foretelling] skill, which allowed me to pick someone and look at their fate in the game. Every two levels gave one skill point, and every two points in a skill gave one perk. With [Foretelling 4], I had chosen the perks [Sooth] and [Sense Fate].
[Sooth] showed me where key events were going to happen on my mini map, and [Sense Fate] notified me if I could change someone’s fate as long as they got close enough to me to enter my Area of Effect (Perception 43 x [Fortelling] 4 = 172 sq/ft). A perfect size if they are crossing my bridge.
I sucked at math, and spent an unreasonable amount of time double checking or guessing where the limit of my area of effect is… but I managed. Now, while we’d been standing around talking about our plans at the gate, one of the main love interests had entered the city and passed us by, activating my passive perks.
I sighed; it would’ve been nice to relax and walk around the market before getting straight into it - but an NPC’s work was never done.
After checking my perk [Quest] logs, activating [Oracle] to confirm the upcoming scenarios, [Foretelling] to see how the original heroine was doing, and finally reviewing my character sheet to check on my mana pool, I summoned the [Master Crystal] from my storage.
The future wasn’t going to tell itself.