Express Delivery

"Heads up. Grace cleaned up pretty well. The medicine you left for me to give her worked a treat. She looks like she will only need a few more weeks before she has gained enough weight to be healthy." Luna was apprising me of what I had missed in the last 12 hours as we walked side-by-side.

Luna also detailed that they had not encountered any humans during their wait. Though a few low-level monsters, like slimes and horned rabbits, had approached them. Luna had used this as an opportunity to practice her distance shooting.

After I left, she had asked Grace plenty of questions to uncover precisely where and when she was enslaved, but Grace did not seem to have any clear memories of her life before enslavement. She may have even been born into slavery, for all I know. We will have to look into the local situation for beast people. I remember hearing rumblings about underground networks organizing to help the exodus of both captured and free beast people back to their kingdom in the north.

"...anyways, she is still asleep. I felt that she needed a lot of rest. After she ate and I tidied her up, she was dead on her feet. Did you have a chance to eat since you left?"

Grrrl. My stomach was kind enough to respond for me just as we arrived at the campsite. I had been focused on the rescue and forgot to pause for something to eat. Looking to Luna and meeting her eyes, she beamed a smile at me. "Don't worry, breakfast is almost ready." I followed her eyes as she looked towards the fire. Sitting on the rocks next to it were several pots and pans with their lids on. Concentrating, I could smell the enticing flavours of a hearty breakfast.

Looking forward to the meal to come, I check Cecelia's status to make sure she was still stable. "She is gonna be out for a few days. I am gonna set her down in the wagon. So she can rest, and we will not have to move her when we head out." I pulled the wagon from my inventory and got Luna to help me make a nest of blankets to securely tuck Cecelia into. Now that she was taken care of, I headed to the campfire.

I opened a few of the lids to take a peak. Sausage links, bacon, ham, eggs, fried beans, fried tomato, toast, pancakes and more were awaiting my consumption. Looking at my beautiful, fantastic, culinarily-blessed lover, appreciation sparkling in my eyes, "You know the way to my heart! Did you eat yet?"

"No," Luna shook her head, dog ears adorably wiggling along, "I haven't. Neither has Grace."

Perfectly punctuating that statement was the sound of Grace stirring inside the tent. Luna helped me put on a new hooded vest before she grabbed a basin of water and added some hot water from a kettle. She emptied the rest of the kettle's content into a teapot on the table. "Can you bring the dishes to the table and set out some plates while I help grace get ready for the day?" I gave her a peck on the lips and my cooperation, "Of course, babe."

I listened to the sounds of birds chirping, squirrels squeaking and the refreshing early morning breeze rustle through the treetops as I focused on setting the table. I placed down three sets of utensils, plates and cups, before pausing to fill each cup with some of the black tea Luna liked. Then as I finished moving the last serving dishes laden with food to the table, I heard the tent flap open.

Luna stepped out first. She turned around and offered her hand back into the tent. Held in her hand was the slim, pale hand of a girl. The forearm that followed the hand had leather braces decorated with green and white cloth and matching lace frills of both ends of the bracer.

Soon to follow was the rest of Grace. Scrubbed clean, her dirty skin now was pleasant alabaster. Luna had trimmed Grace's knotted, beyond shoulder length matte of hair down into a pixie cut. She had received a complete spa-tier makeover, with her eyebrows having been plucked and shaped after getting her skin scrubbed, moisturized and rejuvenated, thanks to Luna's expert application of the ointments and salve I had manufactured.

The brown colour of her eyes, the shapely brows above them, and the glossy brown hair and bunny ears all perfectly complimented the light tone of her skin. However, the thing that had the most drastic effect on her current overall aesthetic was the serene smile that hung on her lips.

The unique leather bracer made a lot more sense now that I could see the whole outfit. Luna had somehow meshed together a beautiful trifecta of styles with no knowledge of my old world: beer maid, French maid, gothic lolita. Influences from all three could be seen in the unique green and white outfit. Grace pinched either side of the frilly pleated skirt she wore and executed a pleasant curtsy. "Welcome back, Mister!"

I clapped. There was frankly nothing else I could do to express how heartwarming and refreshing the beautiful young girl in front of me was to my heart. I am glad we were able to make such an impact on her life. Luna and I took our seats next to each other on one side of the table. Grace, however, remained standing. Luna watched Grace with the practiced eye of an instructor as she doled out food to each of our plates before adding honey and milk to my tea precisely as I liked for my morning tea.

"Thank you, Grace," I commended the girl. Her outfit design made more sense as I viewed the results of the apparent "retainer" training that I suspected she was receiving from Luna. But, of course, having the additional skills would help Grace procure a job in the future, so I had nothing to say on the matter. Putting the matter from my mind, I tucked into the sublime breakfast.

After breakfast, I had helped the girls pack everything into the wagon. Luckily I had only brought out enough items from Storage that they would fit in the wagon and not raise any questions about how we had got it all here in the first place. After we got the wagon loaded, I sat in the back along with the still sleeping and recovering dwarf while the other two sat on the coachmen's bench. Grace held the leads while Luna watched and made the occasional suggestion or correction to improve the younger girl's equestrian handling ability.

I slipped into a light nap. I deserved a little rest after a sleepless night.

I opened my eyes to find myself in a pure white room. The walls, floor and ceiling, looked to be made of marble, and while there was no light source of any kind, the room was perfectly lit. In the middle of the room stood a white table that seemed to seamlessly be attached to the floor. Upon the table was a thick handmade envelope, sealed with a wax stamp.

I tried to open my System. I had a window pop up, but I got a small red rectangular window rather than what I was used to.

"John, you can't use that here."

Rolling my eyes, I closed the window. Upon that one closing, a second popped up.

"Just open the letter."

Dismissing the second window, I walked over to the table. I hesitantly lifted it, checking underneath for a trap. There was nothing there. The envelope was just that, an envelope. And now that I held it, the table was empty. I looked at the front of the letter to examine the seal.

The crest emblazoned in the wax was in a four-quarter design, with each quarter showing a different symbol. The four symbols were a video game controller, a D20, a joker and a king piece. Below the symbols sat the letters "GoG."

If he can just contact me through my System, why the pomp and circumstance, I sighed to myself.

I cracked open the seal and drew out the letter within. It was handwritten in green ink on a folded piece of parchment.

"Young Johnathan,

A young woman has joined your party. Unfortunately, she is in a land that persecutes her very being. Getting her to safety is essential, and there are many like her. With so many on an exodus from these lands, some specialize in such a task. Find them; they can help.

PS: The 'pomp and circumstance' are for my own entertainment.

PPS: Also, I guess it helps since this way I can give you the item on the table."

The item on the table? As I lowered the letter to look at the table, there was now a little brown gift box on the table. I looked back down at the letter in my hands. It was gone. Now instead of the letter, I held the gift box in my hands. Sighing again, this time about the god's flair for dramatic timing, I opened the box. On the inside of the lid, "Wear this" had been inscribed. Inside the box, a small copper medallion with a belt clip on the back sat inside. A paw print, looking to belong to a large predator, was etched into its surface. I held the medallion in my hand.

As I closed my fingers around it, I woke up and opened my eyes. Luna and Grace were still sitting adjacent to me, and we were nearing the walls of Regrad. Looking down at my hands, I still held the medallion. I immediately clipped it to my belt, where it would be visible.

Okay, maybe the item in my dream appearing in real life was a little cool.

Looking up to the sky, I could imagine the God of Games chuckling over my admission.