The Town (I)

Snow relaxed for the next two days. She had personally stayed away from Captain Gilmore, and everyone else helped steer her away. Word spread quickly about what happened to Snow and how she was used as the core of the airship itself.

Such atrocity enraged the Players, causing a few riots that kept Captain Gilmore on edge. He didn't want his ship to be taken over by the Players and left Snow alone, allowing her to have a much easier time.

Everyone made an effort to keep Captain Gilmore's crew in check, turning the whole hierarchy around as Captain Gilmore was stuck in the command deck, unable to even control the very ship itself, but a few minimal tasks.

Snow made sure that controlling the ship allowed her to overpower the A.I, which only listened to her commands over the Captains. She was pleased that she could overtake the ship itself, allowing her to have leisure time.

There have been small instances of Captain Gilmore���s crew member striking back, but it was quickly squashed by her guildmates.

A deep blaring sound of the ships rang deeply with excitement, telling everyone that they had finally arrived. Slowly, but surely, the ship docked itself onto the gigantic floating land.

Upon docking, Snow stepped out. Her curiosity growing, she took a good look around.

It was different from what she had expected. Her own illusionary expectation of a beautiful castle was thrown out the window, and instead, a more mundane castle that was over three hundred years old was present on top of a hill.

Surrounding it, a large town with large numbers of green goblins and humans tirelessly worked their usual life to life activity.

When they stepped out, the goblin didn't even pay attention to them.

"Are they not going to attack us?" Mike had his sword out, ready to kill them if any posed any danger.

"I don't think so," Dairen said, his skeletal minions were about to be summoned, but he stopped himself as well.

Some goblins stopped and looked over, but didn't make any advancement. They didn't really care that they had docked.

Mike, Snow, and Dairen were the first ones to head straight into the town. Many things were going on as the hustle and bustle of the town was abnormally active.

"Let's split up and find some information before we head towards the castle." Mike said, which Dairen silently nodded.

They broke apart, separating themselves to do their own task.

Snow decided to go in alone, mostly because she didn't want an entourage of her guildmates following her as if they were her guards. She had a feeling that this town wasn't as dangerous as one would think. The sense of crisis didn't scream in her mind, which was a bit unusual.

It didn't take long for her to go around the whole town. Most of them were housing; the rest were stores, made especially for the visitors as there were a bunch of trinkets and even items that one would find in a gift shop.

It was as if they were expecting them from coming, becoming a strange harmonious air as the goblins and humans brought out carts to sell their food and trinkets on the side.

Everyone was easily caught up with the festive air as the townsfolk shouted and lured the others in, asking them to buy their things.

Even Snow was rushed with a few small goblins that were cleaned up and in good clothes.

"Everything is only 1 silver!" A goblin came over, waving a small wooden statue the size of his hand. "I got every animal that you can think of and can even make them on the spot. It would cost an extra silver coin."

The goblin hurriedly pushed the small statue into her hand, hoping that she could buy it.

With a fumble, Snow thought she would drop the item onto the ground but luckily caught it before it did. Bringing it up to see, the smooth texture of the wooden piece was unusually well sculpted. It was a small doe, sitting in a small patch of a field.

One after another, the goblins came to chastise her to keep buying more of her work, but

she frowned at their behavior as she was in no mood to buy anything.

With a glare, she let out a powerful energy spewed out of her body, pushing the goblins back in fear.

But there was one who bravely walked up towards her. The goblin's small gangly fingers reached out, grabbing her hand a bit too tightly.

"Please, take this." The goblin waved his hand; it was a small token that reminded her of a ring.

The goblin grabbed her fingers, putting the ring in her hand.

Snow felt a sting, wondering what was going on. She shook him loose. Turning her hand around, she saw a ring-shaped design in the middle of her palms.

"What did you do to me?" Snow whispered, lost.

The goblin started to back up, smiling at her with a broad grin that made her uncomfortable.

"A gift. A gift." The goblin danced a short jiggy, dancing away from Snow's wild grasp.

"A gift?" Snow stopped trying to reach as it seemed the goblin wasn't going to allow her to grab him so quickly. She was getting frustrated at how the goblin was easily alluding to her.

"Yes. yes." The goblin rubbed her fingers together. "A token of entrance."

"An entrance?"

The goblin disappeared into the crowd, leaving Snow even more frustrated than before. She was displeased at how she was suddenly given a strange marking to an odd encounter. Was goblin's all crazy? Yes, she believed they were so.

Snow continued to walk through the town, listening to the chatter of the goblin and humans alike. She came over towards a pretty big inn that drew in the other guildmates.

Already, the tavern floor was getting filled with people she knew, coming one after another with boisterous laughter and excitement. Some had their hands full with bags of trinkets and items that she suspected were made from the goblins themselves.

They saw Snow and waved. Many check in to go to bed.

Snow went towards the receptionist, taking a room for herself. She headed straight towards her room. She opened her door and stepped in.

It was different from the comfortable beds on the spaceship, much more difficult to sleep in and harder than she liked.

With a sigh, she started to unwind.

Snow sat in her bed, looking out into the window, where she could see the clear blue sky. It was still eve, getting closer and closer to sunset as darkness chased away the light that brought safety.

In the past, she had wondered what it was going to be when they finally arrived on land. There were many images of the town itself, but not enough information on why, how, or what it was built on. All she knew was that there was a magic floating castle in the sky surrounded by a small town. But it was too normal, in her opinion.

This was strange, almost too abnormal for her taste. Honestly, anything about the dungeon was completely out of expectations and even didn't make sense. There was no point in fitting two and two together.

The only true clue was that Levian was concocting a sinister plan. She wondered, who was behind his crazy ideas, or was it all just his own ploy? If it was working by himself, how did he know so much about the dungeons in the first place?

Even still, if it was all Levian's doing, then the amount of chaos and destruction that he is causing all over the world was catastrophic. There were too many mysteries that needed to be solved, and almost all of them didn't have answers.

Turning over on her bed, she smothered herself in her blanket.

"I wonder how Heather is doing." Snow peeked out of her covers.

Even though it has only been a few weeks, she has missed her best friend dearly. They had done many things together, but as the dungeons opened, their time together became less and less.

When she was inside the first dungeon, hanging out with Heather was rare as she was bombarded with work. There was no way that Heather would follow her to the dangers of dungeon exploring, it was impossible as she was a mermaid. A long time without a sufficient amount of water was dangerous for her kind.

Heather being inside the dungeon itself, cost her friend's health. Heather hadn't shown such side of her illness hitting her until they got free from the dungeon and was bedridden for a while.

Even then, Snow didn't find out until her exit of her second dungeon dive, and as a friend, she felt guilt at her lack of motivation and fear in the beginning. Her selfish act had delayed the progress of breaking out, but even still, she was glad that Heather had come to save her.

Not only that, Heather was not a fighter. Her coming into the dungeon was suicide, and Snow could not stop her for the decision that she had made. Still, Snow was glad that Heather didn't decide to throw herself again into the dangerous dungeon dives and stayed back at the camp.

If Heather did want to come along, she would have tied her up and placed guards around her until she returned. She needed warriors, and Heather was not one of them. She was glad that her friend had her back, and a warmth of her friendship that kept her going back.

Even now, her number of friends had grown in size, and her will to protect them and keep them safe had grown exponentially. From Mike, Angie, Dairen, Red, Tamaki, Tommy, and even Mr. Everett. All who she had become very close with.

Her eyes glimmered with hope and dedication. A soft smile danced on her lips, reminiscing of the people she loved and cared for as she fell into a deep sleep.