Chapter Nine - Welcome to Alpta
They were nearly to Alpta when it happened again.
"YOUR MASTER SUMMONS YOU."
The message was louder, clearer, and stronger, like a message that had previously only been bold, but which was now in all-caps.
Cricket rather obviously noticed the way that Rosario almost tripped. With her level in Dexterity... yeah, it was strange for her to miss a step. The road wasn't even that bad here, being cobbled over and pretty well maintained.
"You okay there? Did the longness of thine legs finally catch up to thee?"
"I'm fine," Rosario replied. Then... well... she had been with Cricket for two days now, more or less. In that time, Cricket had been rather nice. Sure, there was a lot of flirting, Rosario wasn't blind to it, but that in and of itself wasn't too bad. It was flattering, if nothing else, and under different circumstances...
Anyway, she was mostly starting to slowly shift Cricket's position in her mind from the 'useful NPC' box to the 'potential friend' box.
So, why not push things a little herself?
"Cricket, do you know about system messages?" she asked.
"Of course? When you level up, or have to pick new skills?"
"Yes, sure, those are good examples." She hadn't seen the latter yet, but eventually [Scullery Maid] would reach level five. "I've been receiving one recently, and I don't know how to interact with it."
"Huh?" Cricket reached up and adjusted her cap. "Is it a message? As in, sent from someone? There are things that can do that?"
"Are there?" she asked.
"Sure! Old artifacts. Most Adventurer Guilds have one in their headquarters. It's why you need to visit each one to tell them that you're near. It sends you a system message. Only the one, however."
"What does it say?" she asked.
"Emergency."
"Ah," she replied. Actually, that did make some sense. As far as early-warning or emergency warning systems went, something like the message she was receiving every day now seemed decent. "Are there other kinds?"
"Some bigger cities have artifacts that can warn every citizen. Some nicer places use it for special events, too. Like important marriage announcements. But a lot of people find it annoying, it has a large cost in mana, the artifacts are expensive to make and maintain, and... well, we have gossip for that kind of thing, don't we? And [Cryers]. It's really only good for warnings."
She nodded along. "And personal ones? Sent to specific people?"
"Maybe the Emperor of Aerie has something like that to call over his favourite concubine?" Cricket said with a giggle.
Rosario felt a shiver run down her spine as she connected two dots. Could it be?
"Oh, do you hear that?" Cricket asked.
Her ears twitched in an unfamiliar way. She wasn't used to having them be so long. Still, she did hear something, like a high-pitched hum. "I do. What is it?"
"Snack!"
They went on a small side-quest, mostly veering off the road to push through the forest a ways. Rosario made sure to keep track of where the river lay, in case, but it turned out to be fine because they found what Cricket sought.
There was a bush, in the middle of a small clearing. It had dozens of bright berries hanging off of its many branches.
"Humming berries!" Cricket said. "Tasty! But, if you get close, the hum will make you dizzy. You can even faint. Most animals and monsters avoid them, except for a few."
"I see," she replied. She vaguely remembered these from the game, though they were more of an uncommon source of rather weak reagents for a few crafting classes. Hard to farm, too, but not truly a threat.
Cricket and Rosario then spent the next half hour gathering berries. Cricket showed her a [Jester]'s prowess with a throwing knife, spearing through a few berries from afar before they circled around and picked them up on the far side.
They were quite tasty, each one about the size of a peach and filled with small, crunchy seeds. It tasted like a sweeter fig but with an almost smoky after-taste.
Rosario reached into her inventory, grabbed one of her brooms, then swished it through the air, hard. The broom bent, but snapped back into place. The gust of wind she produced knocked a dozen berries off the bush and flung them a good ways back.
They ate while she studiously ignored the look Cricket was giving her.
"I did pray for a lady to sweep me off my feet..." Cricket muttered in what she probably thought was too quiet a tone for Rosario to hear.
They continued on their way, somewhat less hungry than they had been before.
It put a little pep in their step, especially when they left the forest and could see Alpta just a ways ahead.
The city was walled, but there were hundreds of homes spilling out beyond those walls. Most were single-story buildings with what looked like clay-tile roofs in a natural orange, though closer to the walls the buildings grew a little taller.
Between the forest and the sprawl around the city were large fields, often with fencing around them and little farmhouses. Some were currently serving as pastures for cows, sheep, and giant wingless beetles.
"Are we going in?" Cricket asked.
"Into the city? Yes, of course," she replied.
"Alrigthy!"
Rosario wondered what that comment meant for a while. But it didn't matter, they were soon walking across the quiet roads just outside of the city. The smell of the place hit her before the sound.
The exterior of the wall--which rose at least five floors, far above the tallest nearby buildings--did nothing to block the pungent odour of humanity. Though perhaps it wasn't just humans she was smelling. There was definitely a fishy scent to the air, which made sense, the city was next to a rather large in-land lake that was filled with fish.
In any case, she refrained from complaining too much. The city was far more interesting now than when she'd last been here. For one, there were so many people. A game could only render so many NPCs, and it certainly couldn't have them all be this busy and loud. People were gossiping on street corners, talking and laughing while ignoring the children that ran by.
Small shops were closing up for the night, and the last shipments from merchants were coming in, though even with that, the entrance wasn't too busy.
They made it to the gate leading into the city proper, and she could tell that the buildings within were far more impressive, taller and older, made of stone or clay bricks.
"Next!" a guard called out.
Cricket hummed and skipped forward, pulling out something from her inventory as she did. A ring? She placed it on her hand and then pulled out a small paper which she handed to the guard.
"I see," he said. "Coming back from a quest, are you?"
"Yup!" Cricket replied. She removed the ring and stashed it away. Then when the guard pulled out a device linked to his belt by a long chain, she touched it and grinned.
The device was metallic, a box with a multi-facetted glass ball embedded within. There was a script around it, small magical runes that she somehow instantly knew the meaning of. Scan, search, display... the rest were too hidden to read.
The glass ball shifted slowly, and she had the impression that it was more sluggish than it ought to have been. Then it displayed a number. 72.
What... was that? Could it be Cricket's total level?
"Next," the guard said.
Cricket waited nearby as she stepped up and nodded to the man. "I'm afraid that I don't have any paperwork, sir," she said.
He blinked. "Hm? Truly?"
"Indeed. There was... an incident." She thought fast, which felt surprisingly easy. "The young adventurer here assisted me to make it back to Alpta. Can I enter without?"
"Of course," he said. "Are you a member of any guilds?"
"None that are here, no," she replied.
"I see. One moment."
He fetched a clipboard-like implement and wrote a few things down. She felt him using [Insight] on her. Or maybe a stronger version? In any case, he wrote a few things down, then raised the device.
She stared at it.
Taking a deep breath, she extended her magical senses on the device, then touched it.
Immediately, she felt it send something into her, touching... something? Then the device swirled and light spun in its glass. Finally, it displayed something: 657.
The guard, Rosario, and Cricket stared.
"I'm afraid there's a mistake," Rosario said. She chuckled casually.
"Ah... yeah sorry, ma'am, this one's been on the fritz all day." He lowered the device.
She moved her lips, very faintly. [Dispel Enchantment].
The device didn't even move, but she knew that it was very dead at the moment.
Unfortunately, the other guard over had one as well. They were seemingly mass-produced. Rosario stood a little taller, then used a skill. It was actually her first active skill use, and she cursed herself for not testing it before now.
Part of the [Rogue] Job, the very one she'd been leveling through, was a set of meta skills that were designed to deceive players. [Hide Job] was one of those. She frowned, thought real hard, then activated that very skill... then she tweaked it a little. She had to find a nice middle ground that would feel realistic. How many levels would a noble's maid have? A young elven woman?
The guard raised the new device, and she smiled as she touched it and felt the magic reach into her. It moved around... and slid right past what she assumed were her now-hidden stats.
The machine shone, and then its display lit up. 157.
The guard's brows rose a little, then he looked up and took her in and shrugged.
She supposed that was a lot, but it was only twice as many as a young adventurer. If she had, presumably, lived three times as long, then it should be a realistic amount, right?
"You're free to enter the city, Miss Rosario Thorn. But you will need to gain full permission to stay within seventy-two hours. That means guild membership or filling out residency papers. In any case, welcome to Alpta!"
***