Krow materialized near the central fountain of his starting village. He was greeted by three wyverns gracefully twining around each other, a dance of air and majesty.

The fountain was made of pale, nearly translucent stone, something between marble and opal.

It sparkled a little, if the light hit the surface right.

A light laugh sounded beside him.

Krow whirled, startled.

It was a young draculkar woman; her skin had more moonlight than his, more lavender than twilight blue.

It looked like she was carrying a basket from the marketplace when he appeared.

“You can tell newcomers by how they stare at the wyverns,” she smiled.

The game filter on his visuals said she was an NPC. Krow mentally turned off that filter and lifted his brows at her. “And how you’ve never seen them before?”

“Never heard you before either.”

The slight emphasis she playfully placed on the word ‘heard’ caught Krow’s attention. He studied her, the part of her headdress half-concealing her eyes.

And was immediately awkward.

She was blind.

Then he blinked. “How did you know I was staring at the wyverns?”

She beamed at him, then leaned close. Krow mimicked her with a smile, unable to help himself though already knowing what she would say, caught by her aura of irrepressible good humor.

“It’s a secret!”

Krow laughed.

She laughed with him.

Was it possible to have echolocation Spells? He’d never heard of them, but they’d be exceedingly useful.

“What’s your name?”

“Velinel. And you, traveler, what do you call yourself?”

“Krow. Call me Krow.”

“Welcome, Krow, to the village of Gremut!”

“Thank you. I have seen your wyverns. But are they the best sights in the village?” Krow asked warmly. “Or are those a secret as well?”

“The best-best parts of the village are a secret. We don’t know each other that well.” She grinned. “But the middling-best parts of the village, well you’ve already gawked at one of them.”

That was a hint to increase his Reputation, wasn’t it? He remembered a similar wording from the shopkeeper who’d greeted him the last time he entered the game as a human.

Hint received, Velinel.

Krow smiled at her. “Surely you cannot leave me hanging at just one? The wyverns are too fierce an impression to leave me with, yes?”

“Of course! How can I leave my own countryman with such a ferocious impression of our peaceful locale? No dangers here at all!”

Krow stifled a snicker at her sarcastically chipper act.

Of course there was danger.

This was a starting village.

She repressed her growing smile at his poorly hidden amusement.

“But, as a proud member of this village, I say leave the wyverns and instead see the spires. The village maintains a tradition of glassweaving and has for centuries.” She waved her hand in an upward arc.

Krow’s gaze followed.

Draculkar preferred towers to live in, but nothing said they’d be so artful.

These were no mere towers. Velinel called them spires.

Just looking at them, there was an impression of delicate slenderness.

But Krow and Velinel were standing near the base of one, and just the ground floor looked large enough to contain ten of Uncle Kazan’s laundry trucks.

The village had six spires, the upper parts being living and work spaces. The lower parts didn’t have many windows and from the stairs that bypassed several levels, the bases of the spires might be storage.

The housing spires were ringed with stained-glass windows and decorative finials, with walls made of rock crystal and balustrades gleaming in the light of the sun.

Floating stairs run up the sheer face of the mountain and connected the spires to each other.

There were glass, crystal, stone mosaics everywhere.

“Amazing.”

The color and grace of centuries of artistry filled Krow’s eyes.

On Earth, these spires would be restricted access, as preservation took precedence over tourists trampling all over a heritage site.

He’d only ever seen Earth’s many wonders over a monitor.

Of course, it wasn’t precisely ‘seeing’ here either.

But…

Even after years in Zushkenar and marveling over how people casually entered grand ruins or destroyed historic buildings and forests, he was still a child who had grown up with green initiatives and cultural preservation paramount in media and school.

Deciding to be a monster hunter flew in the face of those teachings.

But in Krow’s mind, there wasn’t a hint of regret for that decision.

“If you think so, perhaps one of these days, you might apprentice yourself to a glassweaver.” Velinel’s pride in her village was evident. But within that pride, there was a hint of melancholy.

Had she been apprenticed herself?

That was a subtle quest prompt, and he knew how these things worked.

Unfortunately, he didn’t plan on staying in Gremut long.

Taking the beginner quests was a prelude to officially declaring this village his hometown, and Krow had another place in mind for that. There were Rep bonuses in a player’s declared hometown, and he needed all the advantages he could get.

“Your village is blessed,” Krow praised. “One day perhaps I will return for a longer stay, but I only have a few days before I travel again.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. At least be here until after Aerd. We would be honored if you join the Chant.”

Chant? Was that why Gojo liked humming songs every now and then at dawn or sunset?

“But also, have you seen the world yet?”

“Huh?”

Velinel grinned impishly. She grabbed his cloak hem and dragged him to the waist-high rail at the other end of the plaza.

Unlike the human village by the sea that served as his starting village the last time around, this village was built on the high side of a cliff.

The central plaza he was in was separated from a dead drop by a delicately carved stone and glass balustrade.

Velinel grasped the rail, and looked out at the ‘world’ arrayed around them, distant and separate from the village.

Krow peered down carefully, and grimaced.

He knew draculkar preferred high places, but he didn’t think they would actively place themselves in jeopardy like this.

“What do you see?” Velinel asked, and her voice was airy, too light to be real.

The village was on a ledge that jutted out some distance below the edge of the cliff, but the spires of the village towers rose higher than that edge and part of the village was raised above the central plaza as a result.

“I guess the great mass of green moss I’m seeing down there is a forest?” Krow’s voice wasn’t as light as hers, tinged with disbelief as it was at the height of the massive cliff they were on.

“The travelers call it the Dalsantelasfald, which means ‘great barrier forest’ I think.”

Grandshield Forest.

How well Krow knew those trees.

There were groves of grandshield trees that were larger than the largest redwoods of Earth.

He’d once heard that there were ancient trees of Earth reaching possibly twenty kilometers into the atmosphere. Those were the trees that grew in the deeper parts of Grandshield Forest.

That they looked like moss from where he was standing only reinforced how high the village was. Krow felt a little dizzy, thinking about it.

Now he knew why people called the major draculkar towns ‘sky cities’, if they were located in places similar to Gremut Village.

“Grandshield Forest. It’s considered the oldest forest on the Marfall continent, barring the Isvalden in the north.” He enumerated the facts more to ground himself than to enlighten her.

“The Glacewoods!” Velinel beamed. “Have you seen it?”

“Just the once. It was a very discouraging visit.” Krow was never going north if he could help it. The snow, the cold, the wetness, blrgh.

“Some don’t think it’s a proper forest.”

Well yeah, it was mostly mined stumps and frozen trees. The amber in them was valuable.

“A forest is a forest until the last tree is rooted out of the earth.”

Velinel laughed at him. “You sound like a dryad.”

“It would be soothing to be a dryad,” Krow muttered. Sometimes, when he thought about what was coming, he envied the life of a tree.

“I once thought the sight of Enilhadrad to be comforting as well.”

Krow glanced at her. Enilhadrad was the largest Zushkenari moon. Or rather, the locals called it a moon.

It was a gas giant.

The world of Redlands was ironically the one on a moon.

Fin once told him that the creative team was inspired by a rather famous picture of Jupiter rising at dawn in the obsidian sky of a space station.

“Once?”

Velinel didn’t answer, only asked another question. “How do you see it, the sky-mother?”

“A reminder.”

That this was also a world.

Nearly eight years had that great sphere dominated the skies that he lived under. It was a reminder of a place that became home.

“Is she currently high?”

“It is early afternoon,” Krow answered blithely, understanding that she wanted it described. “She is only cresting the northern skies, reclining and lazy at a time that the rest of us have to trudge to work, the smug wattleblower. The shadows have hidden part of her but the skies are clear, and she is unclothed by clouds. Indecent of her, really. But mortals like us have to bear it with a sigh, longing in vain. Her surface, as ever, is a place of swirling currents, beckoning in cream and blue ribbons, the cruel thing.”

Velinel started smiling halfway through his spiel and by the end was stifling giggles.

Krow turned to look at her and finished drolly. “Very comforting, she is.”

The other laughed, melancholy forgotten. “Have you learned at the feet of bards, Krow the traveler?”

He smiled at her. “I can’t sing.”

“A loss to the profession,” she sighed dramatically.

“You look the very picture of regret.”

“You really must join the Chants more, Krow. You might learn something.”

“What a thing to say to a new acquaintance.”

“I would rather hope a new friend wouldn’t take it to heart.”

They glanced at each other, her only inclining her head. Then they fell into snickers.

“You…you called the sky-mother a lazy seducing petticoat!” she gasped almost painfully between giggles.

“You said it was poetic!” His situation was no better. “And implied I should learn to hide the sentiments in religious song!”

“Pfft!” she muffled her mirth. “You won’t be the only one who did!”

Krow choked, and the rest of his laughter was half-full of coughing.

Many Zushkenari sang their faith to the gods.

He hadn’t heard many, as he preferred stories to the songs. But he knew that to most of the races, religious music was a grave and elaborate thing.

At least, what little he’d heard had been like that.

The thought of the too solemn music hiding something like porn was sacrilegiously hilarious.

“Velinel?”

They composed themselves quickly, and turned to the newcomer.

It was also a draculkar, he looked like he’d be in a human’s late teens. But considering draculkar lifespan, he might be as old as Eli. He was also eyeing Krow with a fierceness that Krow didn’t think he warranted.

He’d just come here less than a half-hour ago.

No way had he made enemies already.

“Derad,” Velinel greeted, still smiling, cheeks flushed from laughter. “How have you been this day?”

Derad blushed. “Very well. I hope you are, as well.”

“This is Krow the traveler, he has arrived here today and I am showing him the sights.”

Derad’s gaze cooled as he looked at Krow.

Krow immediately understood, and hid his grin.

Derad glared in a frosty manner, as if sensing Krow’s amusement. His voice lowered in pitch, less polite and reverent. “You are not from here.”

“No,” Krow agreed with a smile. “And I am bereft, as your town is a jewel among the stars in the sky.”

And Gojo said he didn’t listen to him. Hah.

The other stood prouder unconsciously, slightly mollified but still suspicious. He glanced between Krow and Velinel, who were still standing close. “A traveler must have seen brighter gems than humble Gremut.”

“Perhaps brighter yes, but as unique, no. Every jewel can be facetted differently, and Gremut is in a league of its own.”

Krow had never heard of glassweaving before.

Maybe it was a unique draculkar craft?

Velinel grinned at him. “Thinking about that apprenticeship, after all?”

Derad’s face was dark. “You are staying, traveler?”

“No,” he told them both, with slight regret. Staying would be interesting, but he was more familiar with the foothills of the Hallagons than the peaks where the draculkar dwelled. “There is a town I must find, before long.”

“You will see the workshops, at least, before you go?” Velinel coaxed cheerfully.

“Of course, are they part of the best-best sights or am I still kept to middling-best?”

“The second, of course,” Velinel studied him with mock-hauteur. “Perhaps if you impress my father enough.”

Derad gasped like an outraged mother superior, and sputtered at Krow. “You…her father…impossible!”

Krow ignored him and his rabid jumping to conclusions. “Your father is…a glassweaver?”

Velinel grinned impishly. “Leader of the village glassweavers, why?”

“You are as cruel as the sky-mother.”

They both chortled at that.

Derad stared at them like they were insane, brows twitching and countenance dimmed. His fists clenched and a determined look came into his eyes. He nearly growled his words. “I…I chal-”

Velinel’s eyes widened in alarm at his tone.

Krow clapped his shoulder, grinning wide. “Friend of my friend, do you know of any place for a traveler to see near the village?”

Momentum interrupted, the other man looked slightly lost. “What?”

“I only have days here in Gremut. I’d like a recommendation, as my new friend here,” he nudged Velinel with a shoulder, “refuses me the best places.”

Velinel scoffed and playfully bumped his shoulder back. “Cheating.”

“You could try the mushroom caves?” Derad offered blankly, then a glint of something flashed through his eyes and he added: “Or the vine ladder gardens. Very exciting.”

Krow didn’t miss the brief look of schadenfreude. He was looking for it, after all. “Vine ladders?”

“East of here,” Velinel supplied. “There are many flowers at this time. But oh, maybe you should try to visit the mushroom caves instead. The flowers attract a number of monsters, you see.”

“Just came from there,” Derad said quickly. “Mostly safe, I assure you.”

Krow smiled sharply.

That was exactly what he was looking for.

“I see. It sounds just what I’m looking for; I do like flowers.”

Derad sent him another unfriendly glare at that statement.

Krow giggled inwardly.

“Would you bring me back some ringbell flowers?” Velinel asked obliviously.

From the corner of his eye, Krow could just see the other man slowly slump dejectedly.

Entertaining, but oh lord, did he just trap himself in the middle of this drama?

“We’re running out of digestives at the house,” the woman continued, “I couldn’t find them fresh at the market today.”

Derad perked up again.

But this quest prompt wasn’t likely to be too serious, unlike the three or so he’d fended off in the earlier conversation. Probably the game system thought he was thickheaded for ignoring all those and sent a second AI to unsubtly badger him into taking a quest, any quest.

Even a simple fetch quest.

“If I find some, then alright. But you should ask Derad to try as well. There might be none at the gardens.”

Velinel smiled at Derad. “Oh, yes, that would be great. Would you?”

“Of course!”

The quest notification pinged. The circular sunburst design on his wrist lit up one of its points. The sunburst ‘birthmark’ was something only players could see – the points corresponded to Map, Quest, Profile, Equipment, Classes, Spell Slots, Inventory.

Krow stayed to tease Derad a bit more, until the man was fuming and Velinel had caught on. With her amused disapproval at his back, he finally said goodbye to them both and let Derad the protective puppy escort her away.

He tapped the glowing point on his wrist, which opened the notification, and smiled at his first recorded quest.

|:Gather Ringbell Flowers:|

[Category: Common (Beginner)]

[Velinel the villager asked you to gather 20 Ringbell Flowers at the Vine Ladder Gardens. 0/20]

[You will gain: +1 Reputation Points, +5 Experience Points, +3 Silver Serpens]

“East, wasn’t it?”

It was well known in the future that there were hidden quests in the starting villages. They were recommended because if you do them before the beginner quests, you’d have greater Rep.

Greater Reputation meant the rewards of every quest from a villager would be increased by a significant fraction.

There were different hints, but it was known that the hidden quests were mostly monster extermination and no villager was going to give a player the quest outright.

But these vine ladder gardens, which attracted monsters?

Fairly large hint there.

Ahaha, the system really thought he was stupid, didn’t it?

Krow started up the stairs on the cliff face.

Still, East it was.

*

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End of Chapter

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Notes:

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