A short story

Running after the petite green skinned female, Jay cursed to have depleted his mana this much.

He was hard pressed following her, especially as he wanted to stay unnoticed.

With enough mana he would have been able to activate his magic strengthening, giving himself a boost in speed.

The way he was now the distance kept increasing, slowly but steady.

If he could follow her, he might find the true culprit behind the totems.

At least their distribution might be stopped.

After she had run though the woods for a while, Jay followed her along the shore of the stone cairn lake.

From it being located to his right he knew they ran along it's northern part and later the eastern shore.

Over twenty minutes later, Sira had finally slowed down a bit but still kept to a light jog. This way he could reduce the distance again and kept on her track for the next hour.

The distance he had tailed her made Jay guess he had passed the distance to Eastvale.

As they passed the main road, Sira suddenly sped up again.

Running along the road, she turned right at a crossing to the south.

Just before she went out of sight she looked over her shoulder and Jay could have sworn she winked him.

Activating his strengthening for a few seconds, Jay arrived at where she had escaped his vision in no time.

But to his desperation she had vanished.

Two-hundred yards in front of him he could see the ruins of a watchtower.

Running there while following her track, Jay noticed he got surrounded.

He had paid no attention to his surroundings and found himself encircled by a small group of bandits.

It took him not much time to dispose of the five men that came attacking him.

But with this, he was sure the Hobgoblin had fled.

Rummaging through the corpses of said bandits, Jay found a small note with the highest leveled one.

'Wait for further instructions at Eastwatch. Make sure to have a boat ready at Eldrin River, south to the tower. M.'

Storing the note and their valuables inside the inventory, Jay searched for the tracks Sira might have left.

As he had traveled for over half an hour and finally saw the river he was sure she was gone. Searching the shore for a short while, Jay went back to the Tower.

From there he rode back to Eastvale on his horse and as he arrived in the village he had replenished his stamina and mana.

Dismounting he walked towards the inn where Captain McBride was waiting for him.

Giving him a shortened report about the Gnolls and the threat having ceased, the Man thanked him again.

He had gotten his daughter transferred to the inn as well and asked Jay to say his farewell to her before he left.

Guiding him to her room, McBride excused himself and went back to his post.

Lily grinned wide as she saw Jay.

This girl was truly broken beyond repair.

Not a day prior she wanted to kill him and now she was happy to see him.

It wasn't even like he treated her good. He simply had given her some attention and offered his help.

To this she threw everything she had to him, even herself.

As he didn't trust either her nor Aletta he had used one of the slave scrolls in the cultists camp on Lily.

The other woman was even less trustworthy but had he enslaved her, she wouldn't have been able to enter the city and get back in touch with the Cult. To circumvent this, Jay decided to have Lily watch over her in the capital.

This was his true reason why he had talked to the Captain. Hinting him to go back and even tell Lily about the true circumstances of her mothers death, Jay could help fixing this broken family while he achieved his goals with less trouble.

Had Jay known Lily's true background he would have probably let her die in the cultists camp, but it was fine this way as well.

Back in front of the inn, Jay learned that McBride had started some kind of all out campaign against the remaining bandits in Eldrin Forests east.

After he had learned about how Jay encountered some of them at the Eastwatch Tower he had sent some of his men to that region.

The things that officially happened to his daughter had sparked a new thirst for action in the aged man. He wanted to use his last days in this position to its fullest, as he would move out of there in a couple of days.

His demand for a position in Arathor had been sent with a courier this morning.

Saying his goodbyes, Jay left the Village on foot. Passing the logs forming a wall, Jay used his Space Magic creating a portal to Gold Creek.

The magic took a huge chunk of his mana to get cast. Any one else with his level would have gotten knocked out due to mana depletion, or simply not been able to finish the cast.

Understanding why not that many portals appeared, he passed it with the same feeling like last time.

Back in what felt like a hometown, Jay went towards the garrison.

Passing the gate with just saying hello, he walked inside and was greeted by a huge group of soldiers in training. Passing them he went to the main building and as he neared the doors, the guards keeping watch opened it for him.

Feeling a bit like some big shot, Jay grinned while walking towards Haggard's office. The guard had told him where the Commander would be found.

"Something good happened?" Tharynn asked from behind him as Jay had passed his office behind the strategy room.

"Nah, it's just that this somehow feels like a second home by now... I've been here way to often I guess..." J.

"Yeah, I know that feeling... though I guess you won't come here that often from now on, right?" T.

"I don't really know. But considering my latest findings and the threats surrounding here diminishing, I guess you are right. You coming with me to the report?" J.

After he nodded the both of them climbed the stairs and went towards Commander Haggard's private office. They entered together after knocking and greeted each other friendly.

After reporting everything except his private matters to them, Jay received a update to his system based Quests.

***

Quest:

The Hobgoblin

Object:

Find and catch the fled Hobgoblin

***

Other than that he was asked to travel to Arathor and report to there.

As Haggard had stated previously, Jay would also receive the bounty on the heads he collected.

The latest Totem would be transferred by him as well. It was to be passed to the mages guild later on in hopes to find more clues to the culprits and how it could end in Eldrin.

Before he left the office followed by Tharynn, Haggard passed him some documents. He had written a letter of introduction for Jay to pass to the headquarters.

The rest was reports for them, the adventurers guild and the mages guild.

As they finally went down the stairs after he said goodbye, Tharynn shoved a letter to Jay.

"When you go to Arathor, can you please pass this letter to Kayla?" T.

"Why me? Wouldn't it be nice for you to pass it yourself?" J.

"Pfaha... Yeah, that's true. Though I guess Haggard won't let me leave again this soon. And I still have a lot of unattended trainees..." T.

"You expect me to believe that?" J.

"Guess not... I was instructed by your Guardian before she left." T.

"Alexis? When? … and Why?" J.

"If you ask me, my guess is she want's you to get in touch with a particular organization... She asked me before she left and gave me this letter to pass to you." T.

"Thanks man... 'Hope you won't hold it against me then." J.

"Why? Hey, that reminds me... Have you ever seen your present to us again? If you want to we can pay her a visit, though she's been quite busy the last days..." T.

"No thanks... but what about the one I left here afterwards?" J.

As they had walked towards the entrance while talking, Tharynn pointed towards a group of soldiers exercising after he opened the heavy door.

Over there Jay saw a young woman with short dark hair trying her best to keep up with the other soldiers. She was dressed like the rest of the soldiers who all seemed to be new recruits from their unorganized and not synchronous movements.

Her motions were extraordinary slow though and each move she did looked a little awkward.

As he kept on looking over there she noticed him watching and blushed, trying her hardest to get back on track.

To this Jay could only ask Tharynn to double her training.

Afterwards Tharynn accompanied Jay to the front gate and saw him off. It was already afternoon and Jay had promised to spend some time with Mia when he was back to Gold Creek.

The busty Elf had always taken good care of him, so now that he had some free time, he wanted to help her. The next day he would be off to Arathor.

Walking through the town while greeting the people he had seen quite often in the last weeks, Jay soon reached the Inn. Entering the big building, Ellie came rushing to him.

"Hey there, long time no see..." E.

"Right you are... hope you have been well! Where's the rest?" J.

"Preparing dinner in the kitchen. Mia will be glad you're back." E.

Walking through the still nearly empty dining hall, Jay entered the kitchen and found the two of them at work.

As she noticed him and looked up, Mia rushed over and asked "Oh my, you're already back?"

To this, Jay had to tell her that he would leave once again tomorrow morning.

Shooing him out of the kitchen, Mia sat with him and wanted to hear what had happened and why he would have to leave this time.

After narrating his endeavors to her she had a knowing look on her face. Jay was sure she somehow knew he had done more than he had told her, but she didn't ask further. Suddenly Jay remembered something from the first time he met Mia.

"Say, you asked me about the temple in the mountains when we first met, right?" J.

"Yes, do you remember the way?" M.

"No way... But I already told you about my inventory. I had stored quite some items from back there, may be there's something that can help you. I had the feeling you were looking for someone..." J.

"...You are right ...with both..."M.

Suddenly tears welled in Mia's eyes. She looked down while she muttered her last words until she turned silent.

"Sorry, I didn't want to rip open old scars. If you don't want to tell me I do understand..." J.

"N-No, it's not that. Its just... I already ceased to hope learning what happened, but whenever there's even the slightest sign I jump on it." M.

"What do you mean with 'What happened'?" J.

"It's a story from hundreds of years ago. Even long before that I was the healer of a Heroes party.

As we had fulfilled our role back then and disbanded, I had been together with the hero of the spear, an Elf from our party.

His dream had always been to settle down and buy a Inn where young adventurers gather. That's the reason I bought this Inn and made it to one of the kingdoms most well known.

May be he just dreamed about hearing tales about himself over and over again.

At least I got this feeling as he never looked happy for real, having no big goal to achieve any longer.

Not a Year after we traveled to his home-country and settled down, he received a request to help a new party fighting a new threat. It was formed by a prince of this kingdom and he gladly accepted.

The day he left was the last time I saw him.

Until now I have no idea what they fought. While it means the threat was eliminated, it also means no one made it back alive..." M.

"Then do you recognize one of those items?" J.

While listening her narration of the past, Jay had rummaged through his inventory and taken out some of the items when Mia had finished.

Those were Arathor's Hope, The Needler and the Feathered Cowl. He guessed the latter items were the ones form Mia's partner back then, while he took out the Amulet in hopes to identify the prince.

If it had been this party he might get a clue to the deep frozen woman in his inventory.

"Wha... those...those are from Fandral. I'd recognize his hood no matter what. So... I was right. There was no way he'd not return if he wasn't dead." M.

"I'm sorry...." J.

Tears started to flow unceasingly down her beautiful cheeks.

Jay had always felt a motherly warmth from the woman who sat directly facing him and it hurt him seeing her cry.

Moving to the seat next to her he caressed her back and tried to sooth her. The moment she reacted to him he immediately halted for a second.

"D-Dont... Don't be sorry. I knew all along and you just confirmed my assumption. Thank you!" M.

"Can I do anything for you?" J.

"Yeah, keep his belongings and use them. He wouldn't want his beloved weapon to rot as a memento and I have no need for it anyways.

Though... If you ever find a way to return to that temple, I'd like to give him a proper burial..." M.

"I won't promise anything, but if I ever get the chance to go back there, I'll take you along." J.

"That may be unnecessary, but if you want me to I'll gladly accompany you. As for the last item... That's not something you should show in the open. Put it away! ...I'll tell you later." M.

The conversation ended as the first customers sat at a table close to them.

Mia rose from her seat and dusted her neat and clean dress while throwing Jay another warm and thankful look, just to vanish through the kitchen door a second later.

Jay decided to go to his room to wash himself and change his attire. This evening he wanted to help in the Inn after a long while.

Taking is time and resting for a few minutes on his bed, Jay was surprised how full the Inn got in the short time he went to his room.

Arriving back in the dining hall, Jay fetched himself a tray and took his first orders for this evening. Mia was working behind the bar and the father and daughter duo worked on distributing the food.

The evening was uneventful and it took only about half an hour, until every guest had gotten served.

Mia was still still busy with bar tendering when Jay leaned against said bar and they had a small chat.

She had asked him to get something to eat when he was not busy at the moment, but Jay stated he would wait for her.

His real intention was to learn more about the Pendant Arathor's Hope, as Mia clearly knew about it.

Throwing him yet another motherly smile, Mia consented and said they would eat after the second batch of customers had gotten served.

In the meantime Jay took over Ellie's job so she could eat with her father.