[Day 9]

  Being refreshed as I woke up was not something I was used to these days, but I actually did feel that way this morning. Crudia was still asleep just where she was hours ago, still clutching onto my hand with both of hers. She looked so blissful, so calm. Maybe just.. one more minute?

  NO. I needed to get up. A lot of work to do, as much as it pained me to leave the warmth of my bed.

  I tried my best to shut out how much “Mark-y” that sounded in my head.

  Careful not to wake her up, I retracted my hands bit by bit, stood up, and left through the small hole I made yesterday. The sun was not visible yet, but the morning sunlight shone onto the morning mist above us, somewhat covering up the orange sky above.

  “Good morning!” Talisha said, sitting on the ground for once.

  I went to speak, but had to yawn first. “Morning. Calm night?”

  “There were some monsters peaking at the city, but they didn’t approach, so we left you two to sleep.” Mark said, appearing behind me from around the corner of the small structure.

  “You two were adorable, by the way.” Talisha smirked, looking at me as if something more was up.

  “Well, she needed some confidence boosting and confidement, I guess.” I gave her a smile, not sure how to feel about what she said.

  “Oh, I’m sure some confiding she did! So? How was it?” She hmmed, as if whatever she was saying was making any sense at all.

  “How was what? I just talked with…. my friend.” The words still tasted funny on my tongue, but I held on nonetheless.

  “Talisha, stop.” Mark came to my rescue from nonsense. “I am nowhere near old enough to be giving Shrimpie ‘the talk’, and it’s not like we have time for anything like that anyway. And they are kids, remember?”

  “God, you’re so boring. Also, I think most of the players here are old enough to have their own kids anyway. In their own animal years, I mean.” Talisha sighed, but left it at that, turning away from me. What the fuck were they even saying? Humans were so weird. I decided not to think about their eccentric blabber.

  We gave Crudia ten more minutes to wake up, after which Talisha went inside and woke her up, repeating the scenario from a few days ago. And just like that, we were off.

  The town looked like it did any other day, but there were even less people than usual. At least the knowledge that the innkeep would probably have a juice ready propelled me forward. Ten minutes later, we stood in front of the inn, and each step got slower as we got nearer.

  The door was missing.

  Carefully stepping inside, I looked at the room, unrecognizable. The floor was a mess of food and liquids, including blood. Who the blood belonged to? I could not say. Timmy appeared from behind the bar, lapsing through it, waving at all four of us.

  The tables were a mess - most of them thrown on the side, some of them somehow broken in half. There was one that was still standing, as pristine as it was yesterday. With the exception of Dusk lying on it, sleeping. Bryga lay on the ground just next to it, and who knew where Fink was.

  Mark hovered inside, sighed, and grabbed his head. “I swear you guys will make me go crazy. What the actual fuck is this?”

  Talisha remained where she was at the doorstep, laughing maniacally.

  “Oi, you two!” The bartender spotted us entering, and hurried to walk to us. “Look at what your friends did! Do you know how hard it will be to renovate? The mess they made! Oh gods, my wife will kill me when she comes back!”

  Why was he bothering me? I was not even here! “I’ll let them make up for their messes. Where’s the last one? The furry one with white stripes, I mean.”

  “You better pay! I’ll need several dozen new mugs, all the drinks and food they wasted, and the tables and chairs! Your other friend went upstairs, but he made a mess too!”

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  “Yeah, yeah. Let me wake them up.” I walked toward Dusk, who was shifting on the table, groaning. I began waking him up, but he was either just too asleep or ignored me. I knew exactly what to do, though.

  Grabbing the table, I turned it in my hands as I lifted the whole thing, Dusk still on top, and I let him drop on top of Bryga.

  That woke both of them. Or it did, for just a few seconds. Dusk looked at me, blinked a few times, slid down from bryga, and proceeded to shut his eyes shut again.

  “Ughhhh. What time is it?” Bryga whispered, holding her palm over her eyes.

  “Time to wake up, you two!” Crudia barked, her voice loud and cheery. It had the exact same result as my attempt of waking them up had, which is to say, none at all. They just both covered their eyes, and I could already see Bryga’s rise-and-fall of her chest getting slower again.

  My patience ran out. I was not going to be recruiting people or placing traps just with Crudia - it would either be a team effort or… there was no or. It just would be one! I wont just let them slouch because they decided getting shit-faced was the best idea on how to spend an evening!

  “Crudia, turn around.” I whispered so only she would hear. Her eyes went wide with confusion, but in a moment she seemed to understand what I wanted to do, and proceeded to turn.

  Cracking my fingers, I used the skill.

  [Bubble flash]

  Light completely enveloped the room, as if we were in the epicenter of an explosion. Dusk and Bryga both went up with a scream, wide awake.

  Oh, I probably should have warned the innkeep. He screamed too.

  A few moments passed, Bryga and Dusk wiping their eyes, temporarily blinded.

  “What the actual fuck was that?” Fink shouted up from above, standing on the stairwell to the bedrooms above.

  “Waking up these drunks. What happened yesterday?” I shouted back.

  “Also, how the hell did you end up getting drunk? And Dusk? Here I was, thinking that he was the rational one out of you all!” Mark was almost crying, levitating in the air, rolled in a ball. It looked kind of funny, and made me want to punt him just to see how far I could push him away.

  “I… might have been convinced to try a beer, and then… it just followed.” Dusk admitted, still holding his head, but finally standing on his feet. “Fink only had one and went to sleep. Sorry guys. Won’t happen again.”

  “It better not!” Mark was angry, angrier than I’d ever seen him, and that included our fight on the first day. Wow, that dude was just fuming!

  “You guys are hilarious. Where did the blood come from?” Talisha huffed in between bursts of laughter.

  Bryga raised her hand, giving a proud smile. “Oh, that would be my doing! Some folks that fancied bigger ladies thought me being drunk would mean I’d be wanting to kiss em and stuff. Gross.”

  “And so, she punched the three men that tried to pick her up.” Finished Fink, holding his head as well. What was he acting drunk for? Didn’t he drink less than these two?

  “As you should, girl!” Talisha laughed, going to pat Bryga on her back, and then awkwardly phasing through her.

  Personally, I didn’t care that much that they were drunk. I didn’t ever really feel like drinking myself, and they looked to be in a world of hurt too, which I had no need to experience.

  I wasn’t going to pay for the damages though. “You two need to pay up. Look at what you made of this room.”

  Dusk’s eyes widened, and he finally took in the room around him. All I could hear that would show his feeling on the matter was a whispered ‘fuck me’.

  “Don’t have any money, sorry.” Bryga offered a big dumb smile.

  …

  “What the hell do you mean, ‘don’t have any money’. You literally said you killed three bosses, and who knows how many ordinary mobs. I am NOT paying for your mess. I already got robbed once.”

  Bryga smiled at that, as if what I was saying was funny. “Well, sorry dude! But my guide didn’t tell me what the gold coins were for! And they were so tiny that I had trouble holding them!”

  I actually felt my chest tighten at the thought of losing my hard-earned money. “So where are they? Where is the money, Bryga?”

  “Threw it away. Didn’t want to fill my inventory with useless stuff.”

  I felt as if I could cry. One last hope. He seemed like the rational one out of the two. Surely he didn’t follow her foodsteps? I moved to look at Fink, who walked next to us in the meantime. He met my eyes.

  And moved his head in a silent ‘No.’

  I groaned, the pain actually devastating.

  Wait, Dusk took part as well! Surely he’d man up! He met my eye just as I looked at him, and he sighed. “Yes, I’ll pay for it, Shrimpie. Don’t worry.”

  Moving around the others, still holding his head, he went over to the innkeeper, their voices becoming hushed. I saw him take out a sack of gold, and the innkeep began to count them up.

  “Also, for next time, you can keep any amount of items in inventory, you two. There’s no limit.”

  “Ah, that makes sense.” Fink nodded. “I was thinking about how we’d get more items if we constantly had to throw some materials out.”

  “Obviously.” Talisha said, smirking. I was willing to bet she didn’t know either.

  “We didn’t have a guide, okay?” replied Fink, defensive. “I didn’t even know I had a weapon until Bryga showed me hers.

  “Well, now you know.” Mark said, rubbing his temples. “So, how did the recruitment go? Did the city watch agree to hold?”

  “Oh, it went really well!” Bryga laughed, suddenly as loud as usual. “We-”

  She got interrupted by the door bursting open once again, smashing into the wall as it swung wildly. A guard stood there, heaving for breath, his eyes wide open with panic. “Mr. Dusk! We’re getting attacked!”

  Confused, all of us stood frozen. Didn’t we still have 5 days left?

  Crudia, closest to the doorway still, turned on her heel and looked outside. “There are people moving further inside the city. A lot of them.”

  I considered my options. This shouldn’t be the actual attack - not unless the system just decided to lie outright. But it felt weird. Something strange was definitely happening.

  “Let’s go and see what’s up.” I said, and moved toward the outside.