NOVEL NEXT Book 3 Ch 3: Gerda - A Troll in Valaria
I was three stalls down in the market when Brownie ran up to me, Henrietta on her heels.
“Gerda!” The queen of the Dark Enchanted Forest gave me a quick hug and then wrapped her arms around my arm. Henrietta was wearing a soft pink apron dress over her white underdress. The pink only came down to just below her knees, and showed off soft starhart-skin boots. The starhart were a magical breed of deer that gave the wearer a speed bonus.
Henrietta, who could run faster than a sports car, didn’t need the boost.
“It’s lovely to see you again, Your Majesty.” I smiled down at the human with affection, and resisted the urge to ruffle the queen's poofy brown hair, only because Henrietta had styled it with two braids woven with pink flowers.
“None of that,” Henrietta poked my bare arm. I was in a shoulderless purple dress with white straps that dangled around my biceps. Despite my rippling muscles and thirty-one strength, I could feel the pressure from that one tiny finger. Henrietta’s stats were monstrous.
Granted, with the average person in Valaria being no higher than level fifteen with less than twenty points in any attribute, I shouldn’t be the one to talk.
[Name: Gerda Vara Jones
Occupation: Bridge Troll
Level: 65
Experience Points: 8759/15750
Hit Points: 777
Mana Points: 1023
Class: [World Player]
Titles: [Troll] 0, [Protector] 10, [World Player] 20, [Bridge Troll] 30, [Oracle] 40, [Adventurer] 50, [Bridge Master] 60,
Attributes (110)
Strength: 31
Dexterity: 28
Constitution: 20
Intelligence: 27
Perception: 43
Charisma: 21
Skills
Stubborn 2, Domain 6, System 6, +Troll Magic [Dimension] 2, Fortelling 4, Dungeoneering 2, Mastery 2,
Perks
Mental Resistance, Sense Danger, Force, Stronghold, Appraise, Map, Quest, Troll Riddle, Pocket Dimension, Bridge Barrier, Bridge Repair, Bridge Sense, Dimension Rift, Sense Fate, Sooth, Dungeon Lore, World Bridge]
I deliberately ignored my Quest Log, and the myriad of tasks that I should be working towards.
“Is it just the two of you?” I asked. An obvious question, since they were alone, but an easy conversation starter.
“Yep,” Henrietta nodded vigorously, her brown hair bouncing. “Keith dragged Rufus off to go help Chloe. I’m not technically in the wedding party so I’m free.”
Brownie laughed, “If by ‘free’ you mean you grabbed me and ran away when Chloe was distracted giving Rufus the schedule.”
“It was a tactical retreat.” Henrietta defended herself. “Besides, if I hadn’t grabbed you, Chloe would have kept you locked up in the ballroom practising your set until you fell over.”
“I’m sure it’s not that bad–”
“They are giving away free pastries to everyone in the city on the day of the wedding, because she went through over a hundred mini cupcake batches before she found the right cake taste mix.” Henrietta’s eyes glazed over at the memory. “The buttercream alone… anyway."
Note to self, I thought, prepare for a day of eating sweets.
“Well, I’m happy to perform for Chloe all day if it’ll help.” Brownie shrugged, “In the meantime, let’s enjoy the festivities!”
Since I’d only made it a few stalls in, we were ready to go shopping. They were at the town square at the bottom of the road from the great gates to the Coral Palace, with a beautiful water fountain of four mermaids pouring out jugs of water in the centre. The permanent shops that lined the outside of the market were full of magical trinkets made popular by the Grand Duchess, and the pop up shops that filled the square for the week long event were mostly travellers from around the continent who had been lucky enough to secure a spot.
The Pixie Prim had their usual small shop in the town square, but today they’d set up two pavilions outside full of potions, poisons, and magical ingredients. They also had my one weakness… adorable containers.
I was captivated by a shelf of tiny baskets for spices, woven with tiny crystals cut into the shape of each type of spice. They had glass potion bottles of every size, with beautiful swirls in the glass, or engravings carved into a circle.
They also had baskets that hung, baskets with lids, and baskets that held other baskets…
The only thing preventing me from going all out was the size of my [Pocket Dimension]. I was powerful enough now to open another room, or even two more rooms if I wanted to, but did I want to open an entire room just for more baskets?
“Do you need more hens-teeth jelly?” Henrietta asked, peering at the bottle I’d been holding while contemplating my current living situation. “Because I have an extra bottle. Keith uses the jelly for inking construct enchantments and he’s always ordering more.”
“No. I’’m good.” I put the glass back on the shelves and turned away. I didn’t need another room in my house, I wasn’t planning on living there much longer. I also didn’t need more items taking up space in my Hero’s Spatial Ring treasure storage.
The beautiful spiral mithril ring on my right hand ring finger was my secret shame.
I might have gotten very excited when I finally got my hands on a spatial ring four years ago. It was one of the first items I hunted for. I might also have harvested, bought and hoarded every random thing that I came across after that until my 1000 space storage ring had over 800 random things in there that I should probably go through and clear out.
There are only so many random useless things in there. Like nova’s spirit grass, or thistledown, or oakley melon leaves. Not to mention the hundred of more basic health potions, thirty basic antidotes, ten high level antidotes, and an assortment of random specialized antidotes for poisons… and the poisons themselves. I even had a bottle of Molten Ash Vane.
The stuff not only killed, but melted the body so fast that unless you quickly saved a piece there wouldn’t be anything left to revive.
Ah, living in a system world, where death wasn’t permanent, and the undead had rights.
“Then I think I’ll buy it for Keith.” Henrietta reached up to grab the bottle, hugging it to her chest. She had a loving smile on her face when she added, “It’ll be a nice surprise.”
The feeling it gave me to see her so happy was indescribable. It almost made the entire five years worth it.
Alright, you spend five years in a magical world of unicorns and pixies and tell me you didn’t find something to love. I knew people in my old world who would pay anything to be me.
A troll in Valaria.
“I’m sure he’ll love it.” I said, gently pushing the queen of the Dark Enchanted Forest towards the till and the shelf full of the other thing the Pixie Prim sold that I had a weakness for.