“Absinth teamed up with Woodcutter and they’re leaving behind the rest of the group to dash towards the castle.”

Ice didn’t spit out his drink. He’d never do such a thing, but he thought that if this was a comic, he probably would have. Bloodless Sunset’s face was a grimace as he told the news to the party in the morning.

“Wait. What?!” Blackstone slowly put her tools down. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I’m not. Absinth knows how to reach the castle and it seems she talked to Woodcutter. They both want to make the most out of the quest, and they’re seeing no reason to slow down. They believe that it can be completed even without the NPCs. Which… is very much in line with Woodcutter’s personality, by the way.”

“What about White Light, Knightrider and the other players?” Little Droplet didn’t stop eating their breakfast, but their eyes were on the beastman.

Bloody’s tail swished irritably. “Well, what are they supposed to do? Woodcutter is too fucking OP. If he wants to go on ahead, there’s no one who can stop him. It’s just that this might cause the whole damn mission to fail! Who raids a castle you’re trying to visit for peaceful talks?! Worse is, it seems that the mountain is open for recording now. He’s making this a stream.”

“Oh, so he’s even earning money off it, huh? If I was Lusanna Corp, I’d be pretty angry.” Blackstone scoffed. She had seen Woodcutter in interviews before but she had never known how damn troublesome the guy was.

“White Light is rushing after them to keep an eye on what they’re doing and interfere if he can. Knightrider… looks like he’s keeping the rest together. There are some that originally wanted to join Woodcutter, but he’s managing to control them. Otherwise, the whole quest would fall apart.”

It wasn’t only the delegation, after all. There were also people who were fighting against the monster as the NPCs worked, for example.

“So, with everything said… Does anyone have issues with us rushing?”

Haven did allow various ways of travel, after all. You could go everywhere manually, with carriages or boats, you could take your mount, you could teleport through the area…

“A mix of cash scrolls and official teleport stations?”

“Yes.”

“A bit of a hassle, but sure. I’ll go along with it. I’m not sure how much time we have left when your ex is causing such a mess.”

“...Can we please not call him my ex all the time?” Disgruntled, Bloody pouted.

“I’m fine with using cash scrolls.” Little Droplet agreed to the suggestion.

Spiderlily looked less happy about it but agreed. Not everyone liked doing micro transactions inside games, but she wasn’t going to let the small amount stop her from following the rest.

Bloody got up and stretched, prompting everyone else to get ready. “Let’s go then!”

In all honesty, the rush was terrible.

Teleport stations weren’t cheap, but they all had enough money. Worse was that continuous teleportation made you feel nauseous, much like sea sickness. At the end of it, they were all happy to use their steady mounts to cover the last bit towards the city.

As it was a good bit in the south, the temperatures were higher. Far off, you could see the sky being slightly reddish where the desert storm began.

Everyone changed their clothes to suit the temperatures better. (Except for Bloody, who just couldn’t find anything he liked.)

Dead Rabbit was already waiting at the entrance of the city. When he found the group, his eyes sparkled as he ran over. Skidding to a halt right in front of them, he tried to fake looking calmer. “There you are!”

“Long time no see!” Blackstone greeted the little assassin happily. She didn’t dislike this brat.

Bloodless Sunset took a step closer and softly knocked his fist against his brother’s head. “You’ll behave, right? We aren’t here just to play around.”

“But to play around a bit?”, Little Droplet chimed in, noticing the extra word.

Bloody cleared his throat and whistled, averting his eyes.

Although they all knew that time was tight, they still wanted to explore and enjoy the city a bit at least.

Together, they got into line waiting to be let into the city. Little Droplet wandered around a bit before returning to them. Several signs nearby explained the process of entry, placed so that no one would have an issue reading them.

Compared to the elven forests, the larger dwarven cities were stricter. Elves protected certain areas, dwarves whole cities. There was no entering or leaving as you pleased.

Before you entered, you were issued a sort of visa. The card carried both your fingerprint as well as a signature on how long you were planning on staying. Each day would cost money at the entrance.

Without your card, there was no way to rent a room, and if the dwarves found you roaming at night, they’d throw you into jail. Foreigners could kind of trick the system by logging out, but after the dwarves had noticed that, they added an additional control before you left.

There was a fee for staying too long, but if you overdid it, they’d still drag you to jail.

All larger dwarven cities had this sort of concept and were thus rather expensive to enter. Reasonable enough for players, who knew that there were some treasures to be found once in a while.

The party paid their fees to stay for a maximum of one week, just to be sure. Dead Rabbit wanted to whine about the cost, but Bloody ended up paying for him without a word. The embarrassed little brother could only shut up.

Because the city was underground, they had to descend a long stair. Artificial lights lit up the way.

The cave that opened up was a different wonder compared to the Lythian Forest.

Earthen scents mixed with a smell of smoke - from forges and meat being grilled. The dwarves liked showcasing their wealth, so the whole city was covered in gold and clockwork machinery, sometimes almost reminiscent of steampunk.

The mood inside was unusual, a bit giddy and openly loose.

Next to their classic likes such as alcohol and metalworks, the dwarves of Haven had taken over a peculiar habit from their human neighbors.

Gambling.

It wasn’t like there was a casino, but you could find the human influences in many corners.

The first time they passed by something like a lottery, Ice almost walked over Blackstone. Bloody and Dead Rabbit, likewise, were staring over.

“Say…”, Bloody started saying slowly.

“...Ice’s luck stat is high, isn’t it?”, Blackstone continued.

“Soooo…” Dead Rabbit’s eyes flickered over.

Stared at by three people, Ice ended up being pushed over to the stall. The dwarf who was smirking behind the counter greeted them with a nod.

Owl

The closer we get to the end of this arc, the more uncertain I grow... I hope everyone is going to be fine with the ending.