Chapter 40: Down the Finish Line

Two weeks. Two whole freaking weeks. Jasson about died. You could travel across the continental United States in two weeks and still have time for sightseeing. Thankfully, he had his phone.

Scrolling hadn't been nearly enough. He caught up on shows, found some new influencers to follow, and discovered that he needed more. His brain was feeling rusty. Dull.

He started by researching 'isekai' and finding the tropes. No hud or hit-points, but his phone could be considered a game mechanic. He was decently overpowered but didn't have a harem of girls fighting over him. Hopefully. He'd gotten a kiss in only a week and a half, so that definitely disqualified him. Probably.

Jasson decided not to think about that anymore, and moved on to researching other things. Things that made him feel sharper.

So he delved into the educational side of NOt-youtube. Game Hypothosis and its companion channels were a great compromise, and he finally watched the founder's farewell video. Then he moved on to Mark Brober, Truth Serum, Amazon Red, Styrofoam Pyrotechnic, and all the rest. It was…fun. Plus, they all had a ton of backlog.

Two weeks and five bandit encounters later, they were back outside of Stalt. The city walls towered and bustled with marching soldiers as the gates flowed with trade. Soldiers stood to attention as inattentive 'not-a-^%$#-soldier-right-&^%$#-now' slumped in the shadows of anything vertical enough to block out the two o'clock sun.

"Wow," Jasson hopped from the wagon, stretching, "I- oh dang it. You got me. Let me help you down."

Petra had made a habit of using Jasson's stretches as offering 'gentlemanly assistance', snatching his hand whenever it could possibly be offered. The first time, Jasson tried to pull away, but her grip had been as unyielding as ever. Now, it was a game of Jasson's awareness and Petra's speed.

"Thank you," Petra stepped off daintily, "Clara, grab the table."

They bid farewell to the driver (Dave, who had 3 kids and loved to watch cat videos with Jasson), and re-entered the city. The guards didn't even question them, and the bustle soon spread out into the maze of streets. 

"It's weird," Jasson said, "So many people after so long."

"Those small towns were not enough." Petra said, stretching her legs, "Good to be back. Jasson, take that quest back to the guild. Please. We still need to keep a low profile."

"I'll go with him!" Harriett bounced to Jasson's side, "I want to see the process."

"We'll get in contact with people," Clara said, holding the table over her head with one hand, "We need to find buyers."

"Not yet," Petra said, "We have plenty of cash right now, thanks to Harriett. Let's get some groceries and head home. Meet you two back at the Manor."

Jasson bid them farewell and walked with Harriett to the guild. Red and gold in relatively fresh paint, the facade stood unsurprisingly unchanged since they'd left. The afternoon rush was winding out the doors, and Jasson marched in proudly. The smell hit again, something Jasson had not missed, and it took a moment for Jasson's eyes to adjust.

To the left, Grog was engrossed in a book while sitting in his recliner. Jasson felt a bit nervous, but the mountain of a man simply looked over at Jasson and smiled before nodding.

Sick, Jasson thought as he nodded back at Grog. He acknowledged me!

Jasson looked to the back of the guild where the receptionist had a small line. Jane was on duty today and Jasson stepped into her line, giddy to share his victory.

"Here we go," Jasson plopped the quest down in front of Jane once he made it to the front of the line, "One completed 'urgent' quest for you. And a friend to swear I did it- Harriett? Where'd you go?"

Jasson turned around, looking for Harriett but she'd disappeared. Why? Ah well, she was within her rights to vanish into thin air. He turned back to Jane who was reading the quest with raised eyebrows.

"Well?" Jasson said after a minute.

"I thought you were dead," Jane said, "You didn't come in for two and a half weeks. Glad to know you were up in the Akhaaka mountains. You found a powerful party, then?"

"I…"

Wait, Jasson thought, I shouldn't brag about this. It'd make too many connections to Petra and Clara.

"Yeah, we eked out a win." Jasson said, remembering what Petra had said, "There were hundreds of the things, flying around at night and stuff. We played it safe and picked them off slowly from a fortified position."

"How'd you make it up there so fast?" Jane said, squinting, "Did you fly?"

I can't say we did but… Jasson thought. Well, I am planning on making a plane now (an ambitious project and the downside of educational videos). Why not? It shouldn't take that long to finish the first prototype.

"Yeah," Jasson looked around conspiratorially, "But don't tell anyone, okay? It's not ready yet."

Jane froze, then snorted and said "Don't tell me then. You had me going for a second. Is there someone from Smill with you today?"

Jasson blinked, then said "No?"

"Unless there's a representative with you," Jane said, "We won't be able to pay you at the present moment. It will take a couple of weeks and-"

"Oh, we've been paid already." Jasson waved his hand, "Don't worry about that. We just want to raise my rank."

"Payment serves as partial proof that you completed the quest," Jane said, "Do you have any official representatives to vouch for you? Or perhaps a signed document from the town Lord?"

"Umm," Jasson blushed, "I…we forgot to ask for that. We had a driver, but I don't know if he's official. He was at the north gate. Maybe if I run-"

"How long ago did you reach the north gate?" Jane said.

"Umm, fifteen minutes?" Jasson said.

Jane tapped her chin then said "He should be at the watering troughs near there. I'll send a runner. You have a seat over there. Next!"

Jasson sat and brought took out his phone. Back to full bars and slow speeds. Where did Harriett go? She obviously wasn't in range for him to get a signal. After two weeks of extremely high-speed internet, Jasson was struggling to wait for his videos to load. A conversation from the next table over caught his attention.

"Do you got the stuff?" Someone said. Jasson stole a glance. A man with an eye patch was sitting with a man who's face would be generously described as a scarred mess with a mangled mouth.

"Yeah," Eye-patch said, "But not here. You got what you need?"

"Of course," Mangle-mouth seemed desperate as he said, "But can you drop the price? Do you know how hard it is to get peaches now? And with the Butcher looking to-"

"You gonna get your fix or not?" Eye-patch said, "Or are you gonna settle for that yellow lucre from the south?"

"No, please," Mangle mouth said, "That Mench crap doesn't cut it. I need the good stuff. It's all that makes me happy anymore."

Eye-patch stood and Jasson looked away as the man said, "Let's head out back. Grog makes me feel…exposed."

Jasson stole a glance as the men walked out the door. They were both the grungy adventurer type, but seemed…jittery.

I guess drugs are here too. Jasson thought, sighing at a little dirt on a fantasy world. Not counting the corruption, war, and slavery.

"Jasson!" Jane called, "I've got word from your driver."

Jasson stood, hurrying to the front of the line and pushing through the dirty looks.

"I got confirmation with the driver," Jane said, "I just need you to confirm his name."

"Dave," Jasson said, "Do you need more?"

"No, that is fine." Jane put a clear crystal up to her ear and said "All right, thank you. You're good to go."

"Huh," Jasson said, looking at the Air Crystal.

So they have a form of telecommunications. Jasson thought. Utilizing air rather than electricity. Interesting.

"All right," Jane said, pulling out a form, "If you could just sign here."

Jasson tried to read it over and recognized a few words from his Do-a-Lingo practice.

"This is…about…going up in rank?" Jasson said, feeling himself flush.

"Oh, you learned to read." Jane smiled, "Good job. Yeah. You're going up in rank. These quests count for a lot. Congratulations, you are now Oak rank. You went up four levels!"

"Oh," Jasson sighed, signing the paper, "I mean, yeah. That's great."

"It's extremely rare," Jane took the paper and filed it away, "All the way from driftwood to oak in less than a month. You should be proud."

It's not like we need the money from higher quests anymore, Jasson thought, I should enjoy the journey.

"Yeah," Jasson said, grinning widely, "You're right. This is fantastic, thank you."

Jasson turned to leave, then stopped and turned back. He'd almost forgot.

Jasson dug into his pocket and dropped a couple gold coins into the tip jar. They clanged heavily and the other adventurers turned as one to face Jasson.

Miiight not have been a great idea to draw attention to that. Jasson thought.

"Thank you for coming in," Jane said brightly, "Have a good day!"

Jasson waved and walked out the door, a pep in his step and followed by wispers. Something was different about this boy. Two gold coins? And he just jumped four levels in one quest. What was his name again? 

About a block away from the guild, Harriett materialized beside Jasson.

"Where were you?" Jasson said, playfully swiping at Harriett, "That was half your quest. You should have gone in and gotten some credit."

"One day," Harriett said, motioning dramatically, "But for today, it is my fate to suffer honor such as mine besmirched upon a noble other."

Jasson paused then said, "I think that you didn't use 'besmirched' quite right. Still, if that's what you want then go for it."

Jasson landed a playful slug as they made their way back out of the city. Back to the not-ruins of Reflection Manor, the place he'd sworn both heart and health to.

Back home.

End of Vertical Horizons Arc