23. Thicket

On the way back to the village, we kept mostly quiet. Emma unconsciously lay on my back. Heidl, while happy and quietly admiring the pretty birds and flowers on our way to the village, also did not talk.

Nyeander walked about four meters in front of us. She kept quiet too, pretending we were not there. Her destination was also the village, which meant the long walk was extremely awkward.

“You know you can just join us,” I called out to her.

She shook her head, refusing to turn around. “Nope! The great Nyeander does not need anyone’s company!”

“You’re just pissed I outsmarted you.”

“Shut it,” she yelled, “This is the worst day of my life, I don’t need you to ruin it any further!”

“We’re still hours away from the village. Are you sure you don’t want to break the awkward silence?”

“You don’t want this walk to be quiet? Fine! Count ‘till one hundred!”

“Why don’t you do it?”

She fell silent.

“Wait, you can’t count?” I continued.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I can do it! I’m the great Nyeander, I can do anything!”

“Then prove it.”

She fell silent again for a moment, then hesitantly began to count. “One... two... uh... three...”

“Four!” Heidl replied announced with a smile. I was honestly surprised she knew how to count, let alone understand this conversation, given she was a vanilla NPC.

“Shut up!” Nyeander raised her fist, trying to be threatening. “I knew it was four! I don’t need your help! I don’t need anyone!”

I would have loved to press Nyeander even further and make her do the full count, but something caught my attention in the distance. A young woman with a white kerchief on her head.

It was not a rare occurrence to meet random passers-by while traversing the roads in Ancient Blades. They offered short quests that could be completed on the way toward your destination. They were the reason traveling was not boring in the game.

As we approached the woman, her beauty became apparent. Her sky-blue eyes were like two diamonds. She had a small basket in her hand, filled with brown mushrooms. A peasant, she was, gathering food.

She glanced over my shoulder to see Emma, then returned to me with a gentle smile.

“Are you adventurers? I see one of you fell ill.”

“If you mean one of us had a huge ballista shoot a hole through her body, then yeah, she got a minor cold,” I replied.

The truth was, even if I tried to appear calm and sarcastic, I was deeply anxious. We fed Emma the healing potions looted from the bandit’s stash, and while it seemed to help, she was still spinning in and out of consciousness.

A wound like hers was not one easily cured. Minor healing spells and potions could only help with minor injuries. Something as grave as a hole through her abdomen required something more powerful.

The woman put a finger on her chin, and after looking at Emma a bit more, she put her hands together with a smile.

“Ah, I see! The damage to her internal organs must not allow her to recover! Thankfully, that is something I can help with!”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“U-hum! My family lives on a farm nearby! If you want to, I can invite your group to stay for the night while we cure your friend.”

A surprise, but a good one! I immediately agreed to the offer with a smile. Never before while playing Ancient Blades have I gotten this kind of event. Shit, I have never even heard of NPCs living here, out in the woods!

“Very well,” the girl nodded, “Follow me, then.”

– – –

We traversed the forest through a trail possibly left by deer. The surrounding thicket made this place feel like a natural labyrinth, in which we were losing ourselves. Thankfully Gren, as our kind helper called herself, was a master of the woods. She cut through the thick green at seemingly random intervals, yet they each revealed a different hidden path.

Where was this place when I played the game? How could it escape me?

With every step forward, I grew more conscious of my flaw. Thinking so little of the vanilla Ancient Blades experience and overindulging in mods, I failed to recognize the game’s true beauty. I always looked for the new best improvement, the new big thing to include in my world, just to forget them the next day for something more.

It's a hellish cycle. To repeat the same thing over and over again, bloating what was once an imaginary world with mindless consumption, I have hit truly the lowest of lows.

Or not really, considering Ancient Blades was just a game.

Until now.