NOVEL NEXT 55 Do you wish to deal with those who mean us harm?
"That's why, if possible, would you mind teaching me more about this world?"
My question sounded out in the air… but to no avail. Fay's mother didn't respond right away. And that means, this wasn't something she was going to decide lightly, on the spot. And from how her face tensed up…
'No, there's no point drawing any conclusions. Just sit tight and wait,' I told myself, pursing my lips before they tried to start backtracking on my request to solve the potentially awkward moment before it appeared. "If it's trade that you wish for, then I can't give you good news," the woman spoke after a long while, shaking her head in what looked like regret… and a distant echo of anxiety?
"The men that attacked us today… They were likely companions of the ones you've buried. You are aware of that, I presume," she then added, proving my earlier guess wrong. It wasn't that she didn't want to speak with me about the world. More likely, her reluctance came from what she already said - how she didn't have any good news to share. "I've noticed," I replied and slowly nodded my head, prickling my ears as I was unwilling to let even a single word of the celestial fox go to waste over me just mishearing it. On the other hand, Fay appeared to be all confused, not sure what to feel about the sudden change to both the topic and the atmosphere. "They all came from the same place," Fay's mother paid little to no mind to her daughter's confusion, opting to just continue the story instead. She reached out and grabbed some stray twigs before using them like a pen to draw in the soft soil of the forest's clearing. "This here is the celestial forest, where all sorts of divine beasts reside," she narrated as she drew an irregular blob. "To the north opens up the starlight plain while to the south extends the misty valley."
With just a few more strokes of her hand, she drew the general lay of the nearby lands. My face twitched a little when I heard the familiar name. And while there was no significance in just hearing it… it also proved that my system wasn't just made up of random bullshit. At the very least, when it came to attributes and names for things, it seemed to be pretty much on point. Quite noticeably, Fay's mother raised her eyes on me as she brought up the names of those lands. And without a doubt, she noticed the twitch on my face when she spoke of the starlight plain. Whatever she understood from it, I had no idea. But now I could tell there was a lot more to that open grassland than I already knew about. "Neither of those areas are places a human like you, or even a divine beast like me or Fay could easily cross."
'Which means, we can't go north and south. And that leaves east and west, right?' I quickly translated the woman's words into concrete information I could use. Yet, as I looked down on the drawing again, ready to learn about the areas to the west and east, my eyes couldn't help the allure and draw towards the starlight plains. 'Now that I've raised my endurance…' I thought, before gulping my saliva. 'I wonder if I could last in some of those areas I dared not to even approach before.'
With only a tiny bit left for me before I would advance to the fifth level, I was desperate to find a way to do so. Worst case scenario, I could wait for my gate to refresh, go back to earth, and grab someone strong but living under the law so I could execute him in this world where the system worked properly…
'Ugh, I'm already starting to consider morally dubious options,' I scolded myself, curbing the invasive thought before it could settle itself in my mind. "To the west, there are forbidden lands. There, not even gods can step lightly," the mom fox continued her story… and continued to eliminate the directions I could venture out to. What's more, though, she now brought up the topic of gods… and having them potentially walk the face of this world! 'I guess this is a world where mythos… is not that mythical after all!
I shook my head, opting to focus on the story itself rather than the details that while interesting, would only leave me with even more questions without answers. "Then, to the east…" the mom fox hesitated for the very first time since starting her story. "There lies the kingdom that all the humans who invade the celestial forest come from," she said before shaking her head. "They come here to hunt the likes of me and Fay, eager to turn our corpses into materials to sell."
Fay's mom dropped the bomb… that, to a degree, I already expected. With three directions already eliminated, only one was left for those humans we fought with to come from. And from the looks of things, they all came from a nation that encroached on the natural habitat of celestial beasts - which apparently there were many kinds of - in their bid to gain riches and fame. Quite honestly, I could see myself being just like one of those humans, venturing into the wilderness to slay beasts and make merry with my fellow adventurers upon my safe return. I could perfectly imagine this kind of scenario… which made it all the more believable for me. "So, unless you want to trade with those who wish death upon the two of us and all that we hold dear, there's no one for you to trade with," Fay's mom summed up her entire story, proving that she, indeed, didn't have good news for me. 'Does that mean, I'm back to the plan of grabbing some funky herbs?' I thought, gritting my teeth at the mere mention of the idea. But if this was what I had to do to avoid dealing with people who were out for Fay's blood, then was it really all that bad?
And I really had to find a way to make money off this portal of mine. Now that I could picture who those people who attacked Fay were, I also figured out the answer to something that had been bugging me since my last visit. 'That's why they only had a few coins between all of them,' I thought, taking a deep breath to calm down. 'It's because they know the danger of this forest so they don't bring much money while adventuring to begin with.'
Unsure how to deal with all that I've learned, I took a step back and sat down on the ground, taking a moment to carefully run down all my options. 'With the money from the last fight, we should be able to last how long, a month? Maybe two. But what then?'
I shook my head, nearly cursing at the cards fate dealt me with. And then, it dawned on me. 'How can I call myself a man if I'm allowing bad luck to affect me?' I asked myself, freezing in place as I did so. 'If I'm to be better, then I can't allow the circumstances to affect me!'
With renewed determination, I rose back up to my feet and took a deep breath, this time to liberate my soul. 'My options might be limited right now. But that only means I need to get creative!' Today's final progress: 5/6:
1 backlog
3 daily (with wpc bonus)
1 bonus. That brings the general tally to:
Daily 3/3
Backlog 1/1
PS 2/3
Reviews 1/2
1k collections bonus: 0/2
In other words, we are left with 4 bonus chapters to be posted soon!
MotivatedSloth