Chapter 101: Setting off

Leaving Boran's, Eldrian headed directly for the south gate. The stable was near it on the grassland between the wall and buildings.

While setting out Eldrian made a last check to ensure that he had all the things he needed.

Barrel of water. Check. Meat, large check. Weapons, check. Arrows, mmm yeah that is over a hundred. Should be fine. Time, late... Eldrian sighed as he thought of the time. Hoping that he would still make it before Monday.

Arriving at the south gate, Eldrian went to his right. Following along on the road next to the wall, Eldrian walked for a few hundred meters before seeing the stable buildings in the grassland.

This grassland was kept between the city walls and inner buildings as a way to give a buffer during an attack. Allowing the buildings to act as a second smaller wall, while the other sections of the wall would also be able to attack this grassland.

The wall itself was broken into segments by small towers which were constructed every two hundred meters. These towers kept the way down locked and prevent enemies from simply moving across the wall. Naturally against monsters, many of these things became obsolete. But Eldrian was still impressed with all the detail which had gone into the making of the city.

Sure there were many parts that could still be improved upon. But for the most, Eldrian felt it was impressive.

The only buildings allowed in the grassland area were military buildings, stables being considered as such. Arriving at such a stable and hoping it was the correct one, Eldrian directly asked one of the stablehands to get him the owner of the stable. Saying that he had a special task needing to be done and that Mark would know what it was about.

Eldrian waited just outside of the stables for a few minutes, a man finally coming out of it just as his patience had started to run thin. Eldrian constantly thought of the time and this brought pressure which made him just a bit antsier.

"Are you Mark?" Eldrian asked roughly as soon as the man was near enough. The man was of a common look in normal stable wear, similar to the stablehands.

"Yes, that is me. How do you know my name?"

"I am Boran's apprentice, he gave me this," Eldrian fumbled in his shirt for a few seconds. "Here, I was told this will get me a horse for my trip.

"If this is what I think it is then you are correct. Are you taking an item to someone?" Mark asked as he took the piece of paper.

"Yes, but I'd rather not say what."

"Good, don't go blabbing to people. It is a good way to get killed."

After confirming that the paper was really from Boran the Mark led Eldrian into the stables. "Are you really his apprentice?"

"Yeah."

Whistling in surprise Mark led Eldrian into the stable. "It has been a couple of years since he last took one on. You must be something."

"I don't know about that." Eldrian shyly replied, rubbing his head in embarrassment.

As they passed some other workers Mark asked, "Hey, is Sesha still in the back?"

"Yeah, she's been really reluctant to go out this past week."

"Ugh, not this again."

Eldrian simply followed quietly as Mark grumbled that Sesha was too stubborn and uptight.

"Sesha! Come here girl, you have a mission." Mark said as they reached the very last stall of the stable. Eldrian did not know much of horses, only knowing that her coat was a color called chestnut. But Eldrian was not impressed by her well-kept coat, rather he was impressed by the horse's bright green eyes which seemed to shine in the dark of the stable.

As if to say she did not feel like it Sesha shook her head. Mark spent the next five minutes coaxing her to take Eldrian to the border. She only agreed to it after he promised her a special treat for finishing the task.

"Sorry about that, she is a really great horse. But she can be stubborn." Mark whispered to Eldiran, making sure that Sesha could not hear him.

Not knowing what to say Eldrian kept quiet, wondering why Mark had seemingly talked with the horse.

As if reading his thoughts Marked leaned closer to him and gave him the answer in another whisper, "You see, she somehow learned how to use magic. While she can't do much, it does make her insanely fast. But she has also become, stubborn. As you saw."

"Alright?" Eldrian felt at a loss. Wondering just how a horse managed to learn magic.

After this Mark helped Eldrian get comfortable with Sesha, telling Sesha not to cross the border and run if there is danger. Finally, they all headed out, Sesha getting saddled at the entrance of the stable.

"Be a good girl, alright." To which Mark got a horse nod in reply, "Alright, up you go mister." Mark helped Eldrian climb onto Sesha and told him how to sit and hold on. After which he smacked Sesha's rear, causing her to start galloping towards the gate.

She ran so fast that Eldrian could barely make out his surroundings, but his focus was on holding tight. Terrified that he would fall off. Every gallop of the horse caused Eldrian's rear end to feel like it was getting a spanking.

A good half an hour later Sesha finally slowed down. Eldrian, feeling the change, simply let himself go. Falling off, not even feeling the fall after the abuse he had just gone through.

Feeling the weight off of her, Sesha turned around and neigh at Eldrian. Eldrian got the feeling that she was ridiculing him for his low stamina. But he just could not go any longer. Looking at his map he saw that they had already almost made it to where the first event was.

"Just how fast are you?" Eldrian asked, not expecting any reply. But he did get one.

Sesha lifted her head high and trotting around Eldrian, in a mocking manner.

"Alright, so you can understand me too?"

Eldrian received a horse nod in reply.

"Can you not go so fast next time."

Head shake.

"Please, I won't be able to survive if you keep this up."

Again a trot, rubbing in his weakness.

Sighing, Eldrian decided to just rest until he felt fine. Casting Anthizo on himself to speed this up.

Sensing the spell, Sesha walked over to Eldrian and stared at him.

"What?" Eldrian asked, feeling uncomfortable being stared at so intensely by a horse.

Stare...

"What?"

Not getting any reply, Eldrian decided to try and decipher what was going on. After a few minutes, he finally managed to get a horse nod.

"You want me to cast that spell on you?"

Nod.

"Alright, but only if you take it slower."

Eldrian could clearly see the hesitation in Sesha's eyes. But after a few seconds she nodded again.

"Great. Then let's go."

In this manner Eldrian spent his next three hours of daylight. Casting Anthizo on Sesha every 5 minutes. While he knew it would not positively affect her after the first few, at least according to the system, he knew that the good feeling the spell gave someone was always present.

While in his off time, Eldrian tried learning Observe and Inspect. Naturally, only when the ride was not too harsh.

...

On Erik's side, he had a far more relaxed time after the company had issued their verdict through the gods. While the players who had accepted the quest still had it and had to help, they could decide how they wanted to help.

Many of the players actually like this arrangement as it allowed them to get free training, spells, skills and equipment. The only problem was that they were expected to be on the front lines in return for this.

Most of the action type players had no problem with this. They actually saw it as a great opportunity now.

Erik, on the other hand, had simply spent most of his money going to the library and reading up on the world. Now, after a week, he had to start making plans to gain money. Having only 5 silvers left.

It was enough for him to simply live for a month, but he saw no point in doing that. He could do that in real life, he wanted to enjoy himself in the game.

In the end, Erik had given in and decided to also help the city, but he had made sure that they knew he did not want to fight on the front lines. After a bit of back and forth, they had finally settled to teach him healing and apothecary.

[Quest Name: Help defend Vuetvale]

[Quest Giver: Vuetvale military]

[Quest Rank: SSS]

[Quest Description: Help Vuetvale hold out against the monster invasion]

[Quest Fail Condition: Vuetvale being conquered]

[Quest Time: Until monster invasion ends, or new Tier 4 kingdom gets established between Vruntis and chaotic lands.]

[Quest Reward: 1.8M XP or 5 levels, 20 gold]

[Quest has daily tasks]

Erik had a feeling that the quest was most likely going to fail or never end. Thus he never cared much for the reward. But due to the quest he had managed to get into contact with the healing professionals of the city. Finding that he was well attuned to this branch of magic, due to his race.

He excelled in using both nature healing spells and divine spells. By now he had already reached Tier 1 and was almost ready to reach Tier 2. The city was really not being shy with giving him spells.

But he had needed to swear an oath, preventing him from sharing the knowledge he had been given. Even in such a dire situation, the kingdom wanted to keep its secrets, secret.

[Daily Task1: After learning healing, help heal at least 5 people. If there are any wounded on that day.]

[Daily Task1 Rank: ZZZ]

[Daily Task1 Reward: 50 copper and 200XP]

[Daily Task2: After learning apothecary. craft one potion of standard quality each day.]

[Daily Task1 Rank: ZZZ]

[Daily Task1 Reward: 25copper and 200XP]

[Quest Task Rule: Must accomplish at least one of the tasks each day.]

Erik enjoyed the daily tasks, as it had allowed him to gain a good amount of XP quickly, while also allowing him to make a decent living.