NOVEL NEXT The Old Capital
"The fourth exploit was to uncover the secrets of Teleportation Magic."
Mabel did not forget about our game, even after we concluded our breakfast.
And what a breakfast it was, made by a six-year-old, from the critters my 18 DEX allowed me to catch. She didn't have all the spices the tribe used during yesterday's feast.
Still, the meat roasted for the exact time it had to, and her preparations were perfect.
This girl is too dangerous. If she doesn't melt your heart after the first glance, she'll blow your mind with her smarts, or this cooking.
What was I like at this age?
I threw a tantrum when mom bought me a Debbie doll instead of the Flamewheels car I wanted.
Even assuming that Orcs are different, she's well above and beyond all my expectations.
"And this led to the fifth, becoming the Demon Lord's favorite wife. Before... You know." She grins rather than saying something a girl her age shouldn't even know about.
"Amazing, Mabel, you know more about me than I do."
The funny part is that it's the whole truth. It might be me, but the last two exploits didn't seem that amazing after the first three.
And she said, there were plenty more?
[Notice: Teleportation is an ancient form of magic, that has been long forgotten.]
Yeah, you told me already, and that Alex destroyed the last teleportation artifacts. The Gates closed thanks to her, no longer connecting the Empire's largest cities.
It sounds like a disaster to me, not an exploit.
[Notice: According to my records, she also saved your life with teleportation.]
Yeah, I do wonder about that. Teleporting me or evaporating my body sounds like two different things. I'd be so mad at her if she weren't this hot.
[Notice: You are a terrible person.]
Gee, thanks. That makes it the two of us then. Except I can't tell if you even count as a person.
After this, the System switched to tsundere mode and gave me the cold shoulder. It didn't bother me as long as I had Mabel. She put in actual effort to keep us alive and answer my questions.
We bathed in the crystal clear lake once we finished her masterful breakfast.
The reservoir was deep, but I could see the bottom, and she was right. There were no fish or any animals in it. No dirt, rot, not even rocks. I couldn't spot the slimes, but they had to be there to keep everything this clean.
The scorching sun dried our hair before it reached its zenith. She braided mine as we decided to continue our journey toward the Capital. I wish I could do the same, but even with the 18 DEX, I couldn't compete with her skill.
That reminds me. Why don't I have a single skill listed on my character sheet?
[Notice: You can gain skills after leveling up.]
I could almost see the System pout. Does she have a face? I can't imagine her as another Alexandra clone, her voice is different too. And I couldn't be this mad at her if she was also hot. That wouldn't work out.
[Notice: You are the worst player I ever had.]
I'm pretty sure I'm the only one, so it's nothing personal. Still, I start to enjoy pissing her off. this results in long silences, or it would, if Mabel wasn't there, acting like a chatterbox.
We walk on top of the viaduct, until reaching the next hill, where it turns into a small tunnel. And I mean it, it's tiny. Whoever carved it into the ground didn't want normal-sized humans to enter it.
It also has a few metal bars covering the entrance, but it's not the problem. A light touch and they snap. They rusted away in the last decade. Mabel throws herself down to all fours, crawling inside before I can stop her.
"Wait, wait, we should go around."
She fits, and if I tried my hardest I could too, but it would be too claustrophobic to my liking. She crawls back out, looking disappointed.
She doesn't even have to say a word to twist my heartstrings. She's superior to the System in making me feel bad about myself.
"Look, it wouldn't be worthy of a Goddess to crawl inside a tiny passage like that."
I try to explain, and she nods, her lips curving down. Argh, she's killing me.
"Okay, next Quiz until we reach the Capital then."
I change the subject, hoping she'll forget about the tunnel fast.
The mild hill is easy to climb, covered in different trees than the pines I've seen. I'm not a botanist to tell the type, but it doesn't have the typical pine-cone shape.
Mabel's eyes light up at the prospect of a new game, so I ask random questions.
"How many people live in there?" This is the most urgent that comes to mind.
Even if it's a medieval setting, and cities don't grow too big, I don't need more trouble.
Mabel's expression is strange though, as if the question was something stupid.
It only lasts for a second, then her eyes light up as if she figured me out, and she's confident with her answer.
"About one and a half million."
Ugh, that's about small medieval towns.
The next few questions are even more random.
I ask her about architecture, the Mayor's name, and the number of districts to keep her in the game.
There are some things she doesn't know.
None of them matters, to be fair, I wouldn't know about them either, even if I lived in the city.
We reach the hill's summit fast, finding an opening in the treeline that allows us to see far ahead.
I half expected that the Capital would be in sight already, but there's nothing here.
On the other side of the hill is a huge basin, but it could be an arid desert too.
There are no roads, structures, or rivers, not even trees. It's as if there was a gap in the established biome.
"Okay, um, last question then. How far are we from the Capital?" I ask the trick question, searching for anything that could pass as a city of one and a half million people.
"Oh, we're here. That's everything that remained of the Old Capital."