Tempered Victory

Panting and still feeling some of the adrenaline running through me, I just laid on my back for a minute. This wasn’t how I imagined my first fight going. I felt nearly dead. Lifting my arm up, I checked the menu to see what the system claimed my health to be. “Less than 20%...how dead was I before the passive?”

Once I started to feel the pain spiking again, I turned just enough to pull off my pack. I remembered that the King was gracious enough to give me some emergencies. I found the singular potion that he granted me. No idea how good it was, he didn’t say anything other than just use it in a life threatening situation and I think this qualified enough for that.

Without hesitation, I downed it. The feeling of numbness hit me like a wave crashing into the shore. If I wasn’t already on the ground I think I would have fallen over. Checking the bar once more, it was completely filled. I didn’t know if it was just because I was low level or that was a super strong potion, but that made me feel grateful.

“I feel a lot better.” I moved to stand up and then it felt like I stepped on a needle. “And now I feel worse!” Blood caked over my upper thigh and waist. I hadn’t a clue what happened to my body, but it would seem the potion just healed whatever the bar meant. Injuries remained injuries, though it looked like it wasn’t gushing out blood. So maybe it closed up the wound, but I still needed to be properly treated. “Damn, I need to return…”

Limping forward, I picked up my bloodied ball that was a little more gory than I wished. Seeing it and the smell sent a chill down my body. I was going to have to get used to this sort of life. This wasn’t a game. Rubbing it off a little on the ground I put the weapon back in my pack and limped out of the forest and paused. “I don’t want to go back empty handed.”

I went back into the forest. It was pretty big. Even if it came up to my waist, it probably weighed more than me. And with my leg, this was going to hurt. I sighed. “I don’t want to drag this thing through the city.”

Grabbing the tail, it slipped through my hands a little, but I got a better hold on it. I tried to keep off my bad leg, though it wasn’t just that as I learned. It had damaged me up through my waist and felt in my back. Even with the restoration, my body stabbed me. But I tugged on it anyway. It might have been a stupid idea, but if I killed it, even stupidly I wanted my credit for it dammit.

About halfway to the road, I saw a cart coming up on the horizon. I dropped the beast and motioned out with my arms over my head to get their attention. They had a long time on their approach thankfully. It wasn’t like trying to wave down a taxi.

Once they came up to me, they stopped. It was a man with some long dog or wolf-like pointed ears sticking up and a light bit of fuzz. And the same blazing hair like everyone else, a bright orange and blue in his case. Apparently human or not, they all got sparkling styled hair that would make commercial models envious. He dropped the reins of his deer-like steeds pulling his cart. “Sir Hero! Are you okay?!”

I looked down remembering how bloody I looked. “Not really if I’m being honest. Do you think I can trouble you for a ride back to a place called the Markets? I’ve got something I killed I wanted to carry with me. If you have the room.”

“Of course! Of course, I’d be more than happy to aid you. What is it?” I pointed over to the darkened mound of flesh I left behind to reach him. “Is that an Ungaust?!”

“Do they have the face of a boar, the tail of a snake and a smell to curl your hair?” He looked a little uncertain by my names. I guessed boars and snakes had different names, not confusing at all. But I went back to grab it.

Thankfully, he was polite enough to aid me which made the whole effort faster. He had to make a little room in the cart as he seemed to be a merchant. There was no room for me, so I joined him up front as he started the deer looking creatures.

I leaned back a little feeling the jabbing daggers of my body each time the cart rocked and popped along the road. I was going to miss suspension and smooth roads.

Daylight remained still by the time we made it back to the plaza, though it looked far more crowded. I guess everyone was returning from their work. But I waved to the man. “Thanks again, Mr. Tas’Klen!”

“The pleasure was mine, Hero! Boy I’ve got a story to tell the wife tonight!” He motioned with two hands coming together in front of him before departing.

Standing next to my silent pal, I saw we were getting a lot of eyes. I wasn’t too certain if they were good or ill. But I looked down at him on the stone. “C’mon, buddy, put a step into it, we've got to see the Markets people.” Naturally, my deceased companion didn’t move, he was terrible at parties. I had to resume towing him by his tail. He really was an unhelpful sort after all the bonding we did this afternoon.

The emerald spire from before towered over me making me hurt to even crane up to see the tip. For such a thin structure it seemed impossible to stay standing, magic I guess. Though that made me wonder how they used magic, was it not just for combat? Did it have other purposes? Was that something I’d be able to do? So many things to test.

Packed streets into the city didn’t prepare me for how densely crowded this area was. Every adventurer and merchant had to be here. I could really use something a little more relaxed, especially right now.

But I snapped away from the throng of people and looked back at the Markets again. Six roads intersected in the plaza and sandwiched between each of the roads was a tightly packed set of buildings between two and three stories tall. The ground floors for several looked more like an open floor letting customers walk straight in. It gave a far more colorful and varied view than I expected.

Multi-colored rugs and tapestries hung from the ceilings as dividers funneling the openings a little. Some just acted as a backdrop for the display of weapons or other unknown devices. It was a vast space for merchants, which sounded like the Markets. But there were several more enclosed buildings.

It was all in a language that I couldn’t read. I could understand the speech, but not read it? That’s an odd divide. I guess I’ll have to learn some of this. Language was never my strength, I barely knew a few English words. But they at least had images as well. One looked like a cup and knife, so probably a restaurant or tavern. There was another with scales and stacks of what I was going to guess was coins of precious materials, a bank or exchange.

Neither that I needed at the moment. In front of me stood a single building more impressive and massive than the others. A brown stone and plaster exterior with several large windows. Most of the buildings I had seen didn’t have such dedicated windows, they were tiny likely from cost or manufacturing. Only the castle had ones as large. This was important, though without an image to help me I had to walk in to learn that.

Inside, I was greeted with numerous voices in conversations or administrative work. For a stone exterior, the wood and tapestries softened up the rough edges on the interior. There was a counter with two attendants in front of me along with more to the right as the space wrapped around. Each section seemed dedicated to different needs. It was all quite a bit to take in.

My entrance drew quite a few eyes. Was it my stoic poor sport of a friend or me being coated generously in my own blood that caught their attention? Either way, I looked back to my corpse companion and thought twice about brushing him all over the nice stone floor.

This was certainly a stronger first impression than I planned. What were they going to think of me?