It only took a few hours before Anise and Felix also got their ID’s handled. After they erged from Markus’s office, Markus erged as well.
He turned towards Old Mo and gave him a friendly nod. Old Mo responded in kind, before Markus joined us.
“So, before we …… anything, you’re Old Mo, right?” said Markus, still speaking in Semurrian. “You’re the …… of this group?”
Old Mo paused for a mont and eyed . Then he nodded. “I’m essentially the ……, I suppose.”
Markus paused, as if thinking about Old Mo’s words, before he nodded. “All right, good enough. I already …….. about it with the kids, but I wanted to talk about it with you as well. Do you have a final …….. in mind?”
“We decided that …….. out Vintella was a good idea. I don’t know if we’ll stay there …….., but so connections would be nice. Your doctor friend could be a big help as we get settled in. We’re going to …….. there and see if the town suits us,” said Old Mo.
Markus’s expression brightened up. “I’m glad to hear my ...... were useful! I can only imagine what your group has gone through over the past …….. .Starting a new life can be hard, and I was hoping that I could make ........... a bit easier for you." Then, Markus looked at the three kids in our group for a mont, before he frowned.
"You know, I imagine all this walking has been hard on the kids. They don't have the sa ...... as adults do. Do you guys want so help with ……?” asked Markus. “We have so horses ……near the edge of the encampnt. They’re normally for ……., but, well,” he grinned. “Felix ntioned that one of the people on guard duty ......... your guns. We owe you so kind of .......... for that, right? I’d say a few horses are about …… in value?”
Old Mo's eyes widened at Markus's words.
“Unless the horses are half-dead, a horse is worth way more than a gun. Are you sure?"
Markus winked at Old Mo. “Co to think of it, the horses looked a little ….. to when I glanced at them last week. Maybe they’re coming down with sothing. I'm sure that lowers their value a bit. They seem about ...... to so guns.”
Old Mo’s eyes widened a little further, before he guffawed. “You’re a good man, Markus.”
Markus's grin grew a little wider, before he shrugged. "Just take care of the kids. I don't want to see ......... get affected by wars like this."
Markus turned his attention towards the sky for a mont, as if lost in thought. “The country is pretty safe these days, so I doubt you’ll run into any ……..while you’re heading back. If you do, you’ve got three ability users in your group. Do you have a roadmap?”
Old Mo shook his head. “I have a rough idea where everything is, since I’ve visited Damilius before. But it has been a long ti.”
“In that case, wait here for a second.” Then, Markus paused, and I could see his face turn slightly red. “Erm… since you’re taking our …….. horses, could you also deliver sothing for ? The actual ........ is a day late, and I have a few letters I was planning on sending to a friend.”
Old Mo gave Markus a strange gaze, but nodded. “We can do that.”
Markus turned towards . “Miria, you rember the doctor I was telling you about, right? Were you planning on visiting her?" I nodded. Getting a way to make money would be really important when we settled down in our new ho. And I was starting to think that my mother needed more than just healing spells to get better. A doctor might help figure out why my mother was still practically a zombie, even after healing her for years. "Well, if you're going to see her, could you ……. her those letters for ?”
I blinked in surprise. I was now pretty sure the word Markus kept using that I didn’t understand was ‘ssenger’ or ‘deliveryman’ or sothing like that, based on the context. But why did Markus look so embarrassed about sending the letters to his doctor friend?
I thought about the conversation I'd had with him. He had ntioned that he knew a nice female doctor in the city he recomnded we settle in. He had recomnded that we contact her. He now also wanted us to deliver a few letters to that doctor. He looked embarrassed while ntioning those letters.
Could it be…?
I grinned.
If I got to know the female doctor well, maybe I’d see more of Markus in the future. Markus had left a pretty good impression on . I wouldn’t mind seeing him around more often.
“I’ll give them to her, and let her know you’re thinking about her lots!” I said, and watched as Markus turned a brighter shade of red.
“You don’t… need to include that last part,” he said.
I gave Markus my best ‘innocent six year old’ grin. I saw Old Mo roll his eyes behind Markus, but he didn't say anything.
“Well, if you've agreed, I’ll be right back,” said Markus, before he went to go fetch the letters and the maps.
A few minutes later, he returned and handed a few sealed letters and a map to Old Mo. He also handed Old Mo a small stack of money.
Old Mo seed surprised.
"You don't have to-"
"Relax. It's not much, but you can get an inn room and a nice al when you arrive."
"Thank you," said Old Mo.
“All right, I think that’s everything,” said Markus. “Does anyone in your group know how to ride horses?”
Old Mo nodded. “I can ride well enough to get by.”
“Good. I don't have to worry about you breaking your necks on the way in, then. Safe travels,” said Markus.
After that, our group was off.
* * *
It took another day before we reached Vintella. Navigation was a bit difficult after we left the fort, but once we found the main road, it beca much easier.
Which, oddly enough, left with nothing to do. When we had been travelling through Verne, I had been responsible for scouting, because of my soul vision. Now we weren't in danger of getting caught up in a shootout. Since I didn’t need to scout for danger, I spent so ti talking with Sallia as we plodded along.
Sallia sounded very sleepy when I talked to her. I was beginning to realize that Sallia had a hard ti staying awake for long periods of ti now. After only an hour of talking, she started to sound exhausted. And even during that hour, she had a harder ti focusing than usual. It was a sharp contrast with her usual vibrant, active self. Still, I was happy that I could talk with her at all. It helped hamr in the fact that even though Sallia was dead, she wasn’t gone.
Sallia also ntioned that she had purchased a TV subscription. It would let her access a catalogue of shows for a small price, so that she had sothing to do besides talk to us.
Once Sallia fell back asleep, Anise, Felix, and I all convened and decided to cover any expenses Sallia incurred during her ti in the void. She had died to protect us,. The least we could do was cover her television shows while she waited for the rest of us to die. They weren’t that expensive - a one year subscription for television cost fifteen Achievent. Slumber Mode cost at 20 Achievent a year. In other words, every year that we stayed alive, we needed to pay Sallia 12 Achievent each.
It was a manageable cost, and one that I was happy to pay.
About an hour after we figured out how we planned to handle Sallia's entertainnt expenses, we saw Vintella.
The town was beautiful. I could tell that it was on the larger side for a town - my very rough guess was that there were around 100,000 residents, based on its size. It was nestled right against Damilius’s coastline, and there was a lot of ships in its harbor. Most of the ships were tal, but I found a few large ships made entirely out of wood docked as well.
I found the sight interesting. It looked like the rchants in this world were starting to upgrade their ships from wood to tal. But not all of them had switched. I wondered if the wooden ships would disappear another decade, or if they had so uses tal ships couldn't cover.
The rest of the town was unremarkable, save for one thing - it was clean. All of the factories were outside the town. Unlike our previous ho, the city wasn't filled with factory fus.
It was close to nightti when we made it into the city, so when we entered, most of the people were asleep. We found our way to a nearby inn, paid for the night, and luxuriated in the baths and our first hot al in over a week. Washing off a week’s worth of gri and filth felt wonderful, and I spent quite a bit more ti in the bath than I strictly needed to.
It was the most relaxed I had felt since being born in this world. As I relaxed in the water and sent ntal ssages to my friends, it started to hit that we had really arrived. We had escaped Verne and found a new ho.
User Comments
0 comments from readers