Fainswift

We are back to the Phoenix's point of view for this chapter. Sorry for the late publish - I am back in school! Yeah, at MY age, lol... Seems the pretty popular job I have been doing for a while now is sort of going away as a major career over the next decade, so I decided I better retrain early. Like the guys who used to develop old-skool camera film - they had to retrain to new careers, too, after everyone switched to digital cameras. If you are young enough, you don't even know what I'm talking about, lol...

A village in the endless forest?

I awoke after a nice nap as Anna the tiny hermit was about to hop down from the "Enterprise CC", her six-broom powered "comfy chair" - which she would often repeat was what the "CC" in the vehicle's name stood for.

After we were waved through the gate by smiling guards, Anna headed to the last log-hut at the end of a row of windowless similar log-huts that she informed me served as rentable warehouses.

The tiny hermit left me on a table inside her warehouse while she was busy with various re-stocking chores.

Let's see, what could all these things be?

APPRAISE BOX!

{{That is a thingy. Made of some material or other.}}

Hmph...

APPRAISE MEDICINE PACKET!!

{{A thing with something else maybe inside. Who can ever fathom such a mystery. You can't.}}

Argghhh!

Ok, one last one!

APPRAISE HERBS!!!

{{Some weird plants. I bet they are delicious. Why not eat them all? I can't wait to see if you would survive that.}}

SERIOUSLY???

Seeing as how amazingly useful - NOT - my appraisal skill insisted on being, I took this opportunity to look outside through the open double barn-type doors, watching life going on in what was obviously a thriving village, and not just a one hut trading post.

Somehow when Anna mentioned we'd visit a "trading post", the vision of a dilapidated lone log cabin with maybe a few rough tents around it, just maybe surrounded by a low make-shift palisade, floated in my mind. Probably a left-over memory from watching some old western or other...

I could see down two cobbled roads - one towards what obviously was the village center where a two storied building towered over all the rest, and one road that had houses with large garden plots.

The houses were very variable in size, quality, and age, showing that the village had organically grown over decades.

In front of some of the newer - and larger - houses, I spied children - the older ones were taking care of garden chores, while most of the young ones banded together to play tag and other games.

There was a sprinkling of teens and adults of both genders, some simply gossiping with each other, some hanging 0ut laundry to dry, splitting firewood, or working on various other daily chores that children could not be entrusted to.

Down towards the village center I could make out several people leading horses, emptying and filling wagons to and from three buildings that looked like stores and also from the back of the large two storied building.

All in all, surprisingly quite a lively little village here in the middle of the endless forest.

The tiny hermit seems to be a "big deal".

Even before we entered the two story building in the middle of the village - which I now knew was the Guild hall - people called out to Anna with various titles ranging from "Missy", "Lady", "Doctor".

To all these, the little hermit mostly gave a nod and at most a single word.

One quite short grandmotherly woman who was just about to enter a shop called out to Anna with "little dear" inquiring how her mother was faring.

Anna smiled and bowed a bit before answering.

"My mother is doing splendidly Dame Dra'Durdin, thank you for asking! I hope your back is doing better?" [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

Just before we entered the Guild hall, Anna whispered to me in Ancient High Elvish as an answer to my "Chirp?".

"Oh... Dame Dra'Durdin is a very, very old friend of my mother's... she owns general-goods stores across the whole continent. She lives in the capital - Hm... in the last decade, this is only the second time I've seen her all the way out here, I think?"  [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

When we finally got to the eating area in the Guild hall and found an empty table, a pig-tailed girl in an apron holding a kitchen knife approached us - she was just a bit taller than the tiny hermit.

"Master Tool-crafter! I have to say those kitchen gadgets you made for me last year are amazing! Especially the freeze-box! Never thought I'd see one outside of the capital!" [Possibly a small girl]

"Ah, I am glad it works for you Sevona... We'll have whatever is today's special." [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

"Oh, while you wait for the prep, could you do the yearly maintenance you said would be needed?" [Sevona, possibly a small girl]

Anna nodded, and we move into the back where the kitchen was.

Except that all the prep tables were made of polished stone slabs on wood frames and not stainless steel, this could have passed for any diner kitchen from my previous life. Several white clothed cooks were busy working at their respective stations, and there was even a bored looking youth washing dishes in the back at a large stone sink full of bubbly suds.

All the way in the back a large majestic metal door with massive hinges oversaw the whole kitchen - the freeze-box that had been mentioned.

Anna stood in front of the door and made a small, almost unnoticeable gesture with the hand that I was not currently perched on.

A rotating blue-shining complex magic circle appeared in front of us.

The little kitchen lady, Sevona, looked straight thru the magic circle, as if she could not see it at all.

"Do you need to go inside to check things? It's quite full but we can move things around." [Sevona, possibly a small girl]

"No... I can access the mana stone from out here - no need to get ourselves cold. Give me a moment please..." [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

"Ok, then I'll go get started with your order!" [Sevona, possibly a small girl]

Sevona moved into the food prep part of the kitchen and started giving orders to the other cooks - I stared after her and then looked up at Anna.

"Chirp?"

"Hm? Sevona? Oh, she's a gnome - and an adult. She owns and runs the eatery here in the Guild hall." [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

OK...

Obviously my perception of age - and size - from my previous life was no longer useful.

What next? A baby that is as large as a horse? Or a thousand year old wizard barely the height of a cat? 

Sigh...

When Anna was done checking all the kitchen magic tools, we returned to our table - which had stayed unoccupied.

The food came quickly, and filled the whole four person table we were sitting at.

Who was this all for?!?!

The tiny hermit and I were not big eaters... were we going to have guests?

I should not have worried - after eating our fill, the tiny hermit simply moved all the rest into her magic item-box. 

If ever we got hungry, she could just let any of the items appear again, at their current temperature - time did not move in the item-box.

Did I mention - due to not having even a small pocket - I was incredibly jealous of that skill?

While we were still eating, many people dropped by - they all were using very polite language and reverential to Anna, often tanking her for some favor or other she had done for them,

Some even bowed towards her in gratitude - apparently she had healed their life threatening wounds in the past, or cured them from extreme illness.

Just after we were done and about to go visit the Guild Master, an older merchant approached us - and I was a bit mystified by the conversation that followed.

"My Lady! I am glad I could still meet you! Please accept this as a token of my deepest gratitude!" [Old Merchant]

"Are you sure? You already most generously paid me above the initial quest reward..." [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

"What you did for my family, we will never be able to repay! This is a heirloom that has been handed down in our family for over a hundred generations, and we all agreed that you may be the only one truly worthy to receive it." [Old Merchant]

The old merchant placed a small, carefully wrapped packet into Anna's unresisting open hand. 

"Then I will gratefully accept this, with sincerity." [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

Anna and the old merchant bowed at each other, before we went on to visit the Guild Master.

We found the Guild Master in his office on the second floor - a bearded Dwarf called Ger'Baruk who's desk was too large for him.

We also met a tall elf woman, Mifania, who called Anna "Her Highness" and provided me with quite good cookies that Anna fed me - apparently we'd be staying at Mifania's house overnight.

The Guild Master gave Anna a letter to give to a Professor with the same last name as Anna's, and it seems she is expected to hand deliver it?

A mysterious gift

Later at night we were finally alone in the room that Mifania the elf kept clean and ready for the Anna's periodic visit to the trading post. 

"Ah, I better see what that old merchant gave me..." [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

Inside the careful wrapping we found a small delicately carved and wonderfully smelling sandalwood box.

Inside was lined with a deep blue satin cloth - in the folds of which was nestled a stone about the size of a normal chicken egg.

It shone in a warm light pink color - tiny specks of gold swirled around slowly just under the surface.

I had never seen anything similar before.

"Chirp?"

"Ah... well now. This here is commonly called a Star Seed. Commonly called, but never actually seen, that is..." [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

I don't know how long we both stared into the Star Seed, watching the calm mesmerizing movement of the gold specks just under the pink stone's surface.

Ah, this is the same feeling as staring into a small and cozy campfire, isn't it?

We shook ourselves after a bit.

"Chirp?"

"No... other than the name, I have no idea what it actually is... but... it is calming, isn't it... I better put it away." [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

And with that, after closing the sandalwood box Anna stashed it into her item-box, where it would be safe. 

We are going on a trip!

Early the next morning I found myself on Anna the tiny hermit's index finger in front of the Guild hall, waiting for the caravan of twelve wagons to finish last minute preparations.

All the front and back doors of the hall were wide open with both merchants and adventurers streaming in and out, checking all the many details that would ensure a safe journey to the Brundal capital.

The elf called Mifania was with us.

"Your Highness, may I present you the A-rank adventure group Warm Forest Mist and the B-rank group Faraway's Blessing? They will be the main caravan guards. There are also three C-rank groups, but they are just support." [Mifania the elf]

The leader of the adventure group Warm Forest Mist, a tall elf with long dark-blue hair, bowed at the tiny hermit, and spoke in a language I was not familiar with... ah, I just concentrated to try and understand again, didn't I?

The many people running around to get the caravan ready all froze in place, quite a few of them mid-step.

A merchant had just tossed up a bale of expensive looking cloth to their co-worker up on the wagon - the bale now was floating in the air, unsupported, half-way between the two merchants.

The now familiar bright golden very fancy blinking framed message appeared in front of me.

{{[[

Third inherent skill transfer opportunity detected. Please wait a moment...

Thank you for your patience.

Tertiary language now replaced with "Elvish common tongue" at comfortable proficiency.

Extra Note: 4 of 7 languages can still be transferred.

]]}}

Oh, this time it was not "native-level proficiency" but just "comfortable"... sort of makes sense - I did only have two languages that I spoke natively in my previous life.

Hmmm, so in that case my sixth and seventh languages will end up at the level of just "can order food and ask for directions"?

And... time returned to normal once the golden framed message dissolved away.

The words of the tall dark-blue haired elf had spoken to Anna became clear in my head.

"My Lady, I am Ferinio ni Herabinia, leader of the A-rank adventure group known Warm Forest Mist. It is a most distinguished honor that we may accompany you on this journey. I hope you do not find this as an affront, my Lady, but in the interest of time, I will introduce you to our members as we travel." [Ferinio, leader of Warm Forest Mist]

Ferinio waved his hand towards his group, five more tall elves of various hair color and armament. Two of them were obviously magic types, as each only held a tall staff of gnarled wood.

Anna simply nodded at the tall dark-blue haired elf, Ferinio.

Next up stepped the leader of the B-Rank group, Faraway's Blessing's.

She was, well... I suppose I would call her a Valkyrie?

Even a bit taller than the tall elf, she wore segmented plate over chain mail armor that heavily reminded me of classic period Roman armor, with parts of her muscular arms and legs being visible from under her beige tunica.

Those muscles would have made most top body builders in my past life jealous.

A large single bladed battle ax hung from one hip.

What was obviously a gladius styled short sword was sheathed on her other hip, and an unstrung long bow and fully packed quiver on the back.

In her left hand she held a pilum type spear even longer than she was tall - with the pointy end sheathed in leather.

Finally, in her right hand, she cradled a Roman style helmet with hinged cheek flaps that would not have been out of place in a museum in Italy. 

I looked down - oh, instead of what I expected to see - Roman type sandals - she wore heavy duty steel plate armored leather boots that reached just below the knee. Sort of broke the whole "Roman Soldier" vibe, but it was much more sensible than open sandals.

Both Anna and I tilted our heads a bit, waiting for this imposing Valkyrie to speak.

"Claudia. B-rank. Leading Faraway's Blessing - those guys" [Claudia the Valkyrie]

When she finally spoke, she used her chin to point to the rest of her group - and while the elf group was made of slender beautiful long hairs, the four other members of Faraway's Blessing I could only describe as a rag-tag dangerous looking hard-boiled bunch that any hardcore role player would immediately recognize.

There was a pipe smoking long bearded fellow with a tall pointy hat lounging on one of the benches just in front of the guild hall, dressed in a long dark brown robe and loosely holding an imposing red staff of unknown material that just screamed "WIZZARD" - yes, with the extra "Z". He gave Anna a small, bored wave, taking a puff at his long pipe at the same time - a series of smoke rings rose from the bowl of the pipe and wafted up and away into the morning sky.

Standing just behind Claudia (the Valkyrie) to the right was a small rat-faced - possibly human - male fully dressed in tight fitting black leather from head to toe, various knives strapped all over - if this was not a "roque" type, I would be flabbergasted. The fellow winked with a cheeky grin at us.

A few steps left of Claudia stood a blond haired woman of normal height, a lividly pink scar running down from her forehead over her left eye - which itself seemed fine - and down her cheek to the side of her chin. This time we had what was clearly your typical battle-cleric. Dressed all in white cloth, and protected by a sensible combination of white painted rivetted mail, white colored leather, and here and there a piece of solid white painted plate armor, she was leaning on a two-handed white painted full metal battle mace. And a beaming smile greeted us, in this case.

Finally, the last fellow was the "ranger" type - normal sized human male, dressed all in green cloth and brown leather, a typical hunters cap balanced just off-center on his head. As for weapons, both a short bow and a long bow on the back, a short sword on one hip, and two quivers on the other hip, one for each arrow size. On the outside of each thigh was also strapped a dagger. This fellow twirled his rather impressive moustache at us, followed with a simple nod.

All that was missing was the vanguard "Samurai" or "Monk" type and I'd have a complete set to go raiding dungeons and harassing poor dragons.

Travelling through the endless forest

The journey itself was boring.

Once you've seen one tree or seven hundred, you know what a tree is.

And there is only so many minutes - or, let's be real - only so many seconds one could look for different shaped pebbles on the the dirt road.

So while Anna was busy pouring over some grimoire or manuscript comfortably nestled in the second last wagon between bales of foreign cloth, I randomly would visit one of the other covered wagons.

Next to each wagon driver sat an adventurer guard, and they would pass the time chatting - telling tall tales or recounting news from their travels.

The place names they dropped meant of course nothing much to me, although some did ring a bell from things the tiny hermit had talked to me about.

Even though I had no vested interest in any of the places or people I heard about, it was many many many times better than just counting the trees we passed by.

Two weeks went by like that.

Today I was sitting on the roof of the first wagon listening to the driver and the blond haired white clad woman that I had decided was Faraway's Blessing's cleric.

"Just a few more days 'fore we get to the capital, eh?" [Driver]

"Ah, I at least cannot wait to have a bath again, finally!" [Cleric of Faraway's Blessing]

"Eh, what's that up ahead? Don't look very safe..." [Driver]

In front of us about three wagon lengths exactly in the middle of the dirt road wobbled a small blobby rust-red mass - I could easily make out dirty silver colored flashes flicking every so often around inside the mass.

Well, just in case: APPRAISE BLOB!

{{ That is a rust-red blob. It is about two bananas high. It is in front of you. Go touch it, I dare you. }}

Of course, as usual, really helpful. NOT. And what size were bananas in this world anyway? I have yet to see one!

Somehow I was not getting a good vibe about this rust-red thing, although it was not moving.

And why did it seem I had heard of a similar creature, recently? Hmmm....

After giving off a loud whistle to warn the others behind us, the driver stopped about a wagon's length away from the unknown mass.

Faraway's Blessing's cleric jumped down, and stood in front of the horses, but wisely did not make a move to confront the blob until backup arrived.

One of the C-rank adventurers who had been walking next to our wagon was not as smart, and thrust his spear out towards the rust-red mass - not aiming to actually hit it, but more to make it move aside.

Before the spear could be pulled back, a tendril snaked out from the mass and wrapped itself around the spear - it did not stop there and in less than the blink of an eye, the tendril was also wrapped around the adventurer's arm.

As the rusty-red tendril touched the bare skin of the C-rank, I more felt than saw a yellowish glow being pulled out of the adventurer - who then sank onto his knees before keeling over sideways.

By now other adventurers had reached us.

The rusty-red blob lost interest in the over-reaching C-rank adventurer, pulling its tendril back.

Several arrows came flying - and did no visible damage to the rust-red mass, just making it look a bit like a pin cushion.

"Don't get close to that - and don't let it touch you!" [Ferinio, leader of Warm Forest Mist]

Well, thanks Mr. Obvious - everyone here had just witnessed what happens if you mess with that rust-red blob.

"Harumph... stand a bit to the side there, sonny... nothing a bit of fire can't solve." [Wizzard of Faraway's Blessing]

And with that a red fireball came flying into the blob.

Efff...tepppp.... 

That was the soft sound the fireball made as it was simply sucked into the rust-red mass.

The Wizzard - and indeed everyone around looked a bit dumbfounded.

An even more when lighting fast a new thin tendril shot straight out from the blob towards the Wizzard, snagging him by his leather booted ankle.

The result was the same as with the spear-wielding C-ranker - the Wizzard dropped to his knees and then keeled over.

This needed someone a bit smarter to handle the situation, so... here goes nothing - let's try the good old SOS!

"CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIIIRRRRP CHIIIRRRRP CHIIIRRRRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP!"

Of course, I had no idea if this signal was used in this world, but I was more relying on Anna realizing this to be an emergency - after all, I rarely let out more than a single chirp at a time.

"I hear you, Nitram! Be there in a moment!" [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

From all the way back in the second last, eleventh wagon, Anna half ran, half floated towards me at the front of the caravan. It was a curious sight where her foot would land at one end of a wagon, then she'd be suspended in the air for almost the whole length of a wagon before her other foot would lightly touch down before propelling herself the next wagon length.

With that technique she raced past eleven wagons in a few heartbeats.

"That's a mana-eater! Stay back! Do not get near it!" [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

With Anna's arrival, the rust-red mass for the first time moved from its spot - it wobbled directly at the tiny mage, slowly picking up speed.

Adventurers all around jumped out of the blobs way, not daring to come into contact with it.

Anna stood her ground - when the blob almost reached her, she waved her hand almost dismissively.

A shimmering barrier appeared in front of her.

The blob ran right into it.

And bounced off...

If the rust-red mass would have had a head, it would have shook it, dazedly - but instead tens of tendrils appeared and struck the barrier.

With each strike, a small spark flashed at the contact point.

"Oh... this is not good - barriers are made of concentrated mana - and this is a mana-eater..." [Anna the Tiny Hermit]

And indeed one tendril made it through the barrier and was fast approaching Anna.

Without thinking much, I finally moved, swooping down from my perch on the covered wagon, straight at the rust-red mass.

Half-way down I remembered...

FLAME ON!

Fainswift

Next Chapter: 007 - Brundal Empire's Capital!

Fainswift

Things that I think of while I should be studying...

Spoiler

You know that whole {"Hi!" said Anna.} and {"We are the best!" said the hero.} thing? That is just some random format someone decided on at some point and everyone else just copied. I like the {"Hi!" [Anna]} format way better, myself. And yeah, someone once came up with that and many of us now copy that format, too! Fun, no? As long as it is clear who is talking, that is the important thing! And we all are copying SOMEONE, to some extent...

[collapse]