Ogre Tyrant

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 04 – A tailored experience – Part Two {Rewrite}

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 04 - A tailored experience - Part Two {Rewrite}

Still carrying the sack, I slowly walked over to the clearing. As I drew closer, I could see that Jacque had been right, the adventurer the Goblins and Orc were using for bait was a young woman.

Seeing me approach, I saw recognition in the woman’s eyes but I didn't recognise her. I decided that she had probably seen me around town. She was trying to say something, but the gag in her mouth made it impossible to accomplish more than indistinct grunts and breathing heavily through her nose.

“It’s okay, we are here to rescue you,” I tried to reassure her.

The woman’s grunts became more insistent and she stared fearfully over my shoulder.

Letting go of the sack, I quickly stood up and began lifting my club into a defensive position.

*Clack*

The shaft of the Orc’s two-handed stone axe was slowed but was not stopped entirely, hitting me in the chest and knocking me back a couple of steps. Undeterred, the Orc raised his axe to strike again, “KILL OGRE!” He bellowed.

A half-second later, four small Goblins, just as naked as the Orc, came rushing out of the nearby bushes holding clubs and stone knives.

Unsure of how long I had until Jacque would move in to help, and painfully aware of Goblin combat potential, I decided to try and level the playing field a little. Stepping back and swinging my club backhanded, I caught one of the Goblins on its shoulder as it leapt out of the way.

The Goblin was down only for a second before leaping to its feet and rushing in again.

Right, Goblins take less damage from bigger opponents...

*Thump*

I managed to narrowly avoid the Orc’s overhead chop, but now I had three Goblins behind me. Within a couple of heartbeats, I began to feel small impacts on my legs. Far from what I had expected, I didn’t feel any pain at all. I decided that it would be better to focus my attention on the Orc instead and batted at the shaft of the Orc’s stone axe.

*Clack, fwoosh*

Even though I did not think I had hit that hard, the glancing blow I dealt to the Orc’s stone axe slid up the shaft, caught on the stone head, and then sent it flying.

The Orc and I stared at the headless axe in surprise. Apparently, neither of us had expected that to happen.

Recovering faster, the Orc glared murderously at me “Ogre break axe, ME BREAK OGRE!” He screamed, swinging the shaft like a club.

I hastily stepped back to avoid the sweeping blow.

*Crunch*

I felt the unpleasant sensation of breaking bones and tearing meat beneath my right foot.

One of the Goblins unfortunate enough to be standing behind me let out a piercing shriek as I crushed its right leg.

The Orc paid no attention to its fallen ally and continued viciously and skillfully driving me backwards with its improvised club.

I didn’t realize what he was doing until my back hit the trunk of a tree.

Weighed down by rocks, a net tumbled out from the tree, bounced off my shoulder and became tangled on my club.

Apparently, the moment the Orc had been waiting for, he took a double-handed grip on his improvised club, stepped to my side and swung in hard to catch me in the chest.

Left with little choice, I let go of my club and did my best to sidestep the blow.

*Crack*

The Orc’s club crashed against the tree trunk with enough force to turn half the axe shaft into a rain of jagged splinters. Unfortunately for the Orc, he caught a face full of the splinters and a couple even went into his eyes. Dropping what was left of his weapon, the Orc staggered backwards while breathing heavily and clutching at his bleeding face.

[ Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp ], [ Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp ]

The two consecutive notifications caught me by surprise. Quickly glancing away from the Orc, I saw Jacque stalking towards the one Goblin left standing on its own two feet.

*Thump*

While I was distracted, something had fallen from the tree and hit me on the head. Looking down at the Goblin scrawled at my feet, it was not difficult to figure out what had happened. Ignoring the Orc, I quickly grabbed at the Goblin before it could run away.

*Crunch*

The Goblin screamed as I unintentionally broke its arm.

Am I really that strong?

I reflexively recoiled and released the Goblin as I considered the number of times I may have accidentally injured Toofy by being so careless.

The Goblin fell to the ground, shrieking and wailing while looking at its pulped arm in horror.

[ Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp ]

The Orc had begun to move again, groggily staggering towards me, bloody tears running down from his injured eyes, “Kill Ogre...” The Orc growled, reaching out for me with its bloody hands.

No thanks. I am not going to wrestle with a naked Orc.

Circling around the Orc, I tried tripping him by kicking his shin.

*Crack*

The Orc howled in pain and collapsed on top of the Goblin.

Making the most of the temporary reprieve, I quickly moved over to my entangled club and pulled it out from the net. Turning on the Orc, I raised my club high for the killing blow. The Orc was already blind, barely a threat. This felt very different from before.

I don’t think I can do this.

[ Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp ]

“Tim what are you doing?!” Jacque demanded angrily.

I gulped and tightened my grip, trying to get in a state of mind like when culling Vrabbits, but I couldn’t do it.

The Orc finished getting back to his feet and lunged at me, “KILL OGRE!”

*Crack*

[ You have slain {Orc: 2 } +200 Exp ]

There was a sudden bright flash of golden light and a sequence of status screens now occupied my vision.

[ Congratulations, you have levelled up! ]

[ Class: Taskmaster 1. +1 Willpower, +5 HP.] [Exp: 83/2000 ]

[ Determining Attribute Archetype {Pending}.]

[ Determining Attribute Archetype {Complete}.]

[ Applying Attribute Archetype {Pending}.]

[ Applying Attribute Archetype {Complete}.]

[ Class: Taskmaster 1. {Doctores} +2 Willpower, +5 HP.] [Exp: 83/2000 ]

[ Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp ]

“Congrats!” Jacque called out from the middle of the clearing, “That was pretty good timing, eh? Good thing it didn’t happen in the middle of the fight. That could have been bad.”

I blinked away the status screens and looked down at the Orc. He was face down in the grass and the back of his skull was split open and bleeding.

I did this...

Jacque walked over, knelt down beside the weakly moaning Goblin, pressed her free hand against its chest and cleanly hacked its head off.

[ Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp ]

“And that’s five,” Jacque nodded, turning to the dead Orc, “Oh wow, you really did a number on this guy, didn’t you. Just goes to show how poor a matchup this is for the Orcs and Goblins. I bet you didn’t even take any damage, right?”

I glanced down at the party statuses and saw that she was right.

[ Tim - HP: 45/45 - Normal ]

I furrowed my brow and frowned. Was the toughness stat really that powerful? Or are the stone weapons really that bad? I didn’t remember Toofy having a Racial Ability like mine to increase primitive weapon damage, and the Orc never got a clean hit on me, so maybe that was it?

Jacque hacked off the Orc’s head in one swing. She was either VERY good at it, or far stronger than she looked. “Alright, enough messing around,” she pulled the rag from her pack and cleaned the cleaver, “You gather the heads, I'll have a chat with the girl they were using as bait.”

I nodded and began tossing the heads into the sack while Jacque cut off the woman’s bindings.

“Thank you, thank you!” The young woman sobbed, “When they ambushed us and tied me up, I thought I was a goner!”

Jacque nodded and patted her shoulder, “Where are your friends? Do you know?”

That was unexpected. I thought Jacque was a rather callous person? Maybe I misjudged her.

The young woman nodded and pointed deeper into the forest, “They have a small camp in that direction I think, or at least, that is where they had us locked up in a cage before bringing me out here.”

Jacque nodded and stopped to think for a moment, “How big was your party? And what is your party level?” She asked.

“There were five of us, but...I think they killed Jeff...” The young woman’s shoulders slumped dejectedly.

“And your party level? I need to know the threat level before trying to rescue them,” Jacque insisted.

The young woman nodded slightly, “Six, our party level was six...”

Jacque nodded and had that thoughtful expression again, “Alright, this could be doable. Do you remember how many Orcs and Goblins there were?”

“Maybe ten Orcs? Sorry, but I don't know how many Goblins...they kept coming and going from the camp,” the young woman shook her head and shrugged dejectedly.

“Hrm, alright,” Jacque stood up and pulled the young woman to her feet as well.

The monsters had left the young woman with her clothes and padded cloth armour but taken everything else. She also looked like she was having trouble putting weight on her right leg.

“Tim, I will leave the decision to you,” Jacque looked at me expectantly, “We can either take-” She glanced at the young woman.

“Sandra,” the young woman provided helpfully.

“-right, Sandra, back to the foothold first. Or we can take her with us and try to rescue her party members.”

Why was it my decision to make?

“Just so you know, there is no guarantee they are still alive. But the longer we take, the more likely it becomes that they won’t be,” Jacque added.

“Then we should go and rescue them first, right?” I asked, somewhat confused.

Jacque smirked, “I don’t think you properly considered what that means,” she replied, “If we go to rescue the survivors first, then Sandra will need to come along with us. Which means one of us will need to stick close to her to make sure she isn’t taken hostage or killed.”

So that was it.

Basically, if I chose to attempt the rescue first, I would be placing Sandra in danger. But I was not a good enough fighter to fight and protect her at the same time. This meant that Jacque would need to hang back, while I took the fight to the enemy. I looked down at the headless corpses of the monsters and considered what exactly that entailed. I would have to attack with the intent to kill. Sandra had said there were around ten Orcs at the camp where her surviving party members were being held.

Could I really do it?

“Please...” Sandra looked up at me hopefully, “Please save my friends.”

Damnit.

”Alright, let’s try and rescue the adventurers,” I agreed somewhat apprehensively. I could already feel butterflies in my stomach at the prospect of fighting with the intent to kill. Objectively, I knew that it shouldn’t bother me this much. After all, the Orcs were more than happy to kill me if they got the chance. But the premeditation seemed to make all the difference. Which was also kind of stupid, since I came into the forest to kill Orcs.

So why was it bothering me so much?

The three of us began moving in the direction Sandra had insisted would lead to the camp where her friends were being held prisoner. Jacque was supporting Sandra with her left arm while keeping her other arm free to use the cleaver.

Jacque had looked like she was deep in thought, but suddenly became focused and pointed ahead and to our right. “The monster camp is over there,” she pointed, “Try not to let them surround you,” Jacque advised.

I nodded and tried to psych myself up. I was not a violent person, I didn't like hurting people. But all the same, I now had to kill the Orcs in order to save the human prisoners. I tried to focus on the thought of saving the prisoners, it helped a little and I felt like maybe I could do this after all.

Leaving Jacque and Sandra behind, I began walking in the direction of the camp.

I could make out the faint voices of Orcs up ahead, they sounded like they were laughing.

A woman screamed.

The Orcs laughed louder.

I ran through the underbrush and arrived at the Orc’s camp just in time to see the largest of eight Orcs present bending back a restrained young woman’s finger.

The young woman screamed through her gag, trying to pull her hand away from the Orc.

The Orcs all continued laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world.

“STOP IT!” I roared angrily as I charged through the camp.

The Orcs all looked over at me in surprise.

“OGRE!” The largest roared happily, throwing the young woman aside.

[ You have slain {Orc: 2 } +200 Exp ]

[ You have slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp ]

[ You have slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp ]

[ You have slain {Orc: 2 } +200 Exp ]

[ You have slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp ]

[ You have slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp ]

[ You have slain {Orc: 3 } +300 Exp ]

Breathing heavily, I looked around in confusion. The Orcs were all dead. “What?...” My head hurt and I felt dizzy.

Jacque, Sandra, the young woman with the broken fingers and three badly beaten and bruised-looking young men were huddled somewhat nearby at the edge of the camp.

“Tim?” Jacque asked cautiously, “You alright now? We good?”

I slowly nodded my head, nearly vomiting from a sudden rush of nausea.

“You sure you aren't a Berserker?” Jacque joked nervously.

“What happened?” I asked, moving to rub my aching head but stopping short as I noticed my hands were covered in blood.

“You don’t remember?” Jacque asked curiously, “Well, I am not completely sure how the fight started, but by the time I came over you were crushing that big one's neck while it was trying to beat your head in.”

“Just came crashing in out of nowhere,” One of the young men muttered in awe.

“Threw them around like they are nothing...” Added another.

The third young man, who was being supported by the other two, just stared at me in a mix of fear and awe.

I glanced down at my HP and was confused.

[Tim - HP: 45/45 - Normal ]

Why am I at full HP? Surely that large Orc was strong enough to have dealt at least one point of damage right? Or for that matter, the Orcs had me heavily outnumbered, did they really deal no damage at all?

“Oi, Tim!” Jacque had already finished gathering the Orcs' heads and stuffing them in the sack, which she was now holding out for me to take. “We should head back to town and get these guys squared away doncha think?”

I nodded, accepting the sack and looking at the broken remains of my club. I must have broken it during the fight. It had split roughly around the middle and was currently embedded in the guts of two different Orcs. There was no real point in keeping it since it was only a single copper to replace. For now, I picked up one of the dead Orcs' wooden spears instead. It would have to do until we get back to town.

The way back was slow going since we had to adjust our pace to accommodate the slowest of the injured adventurers, Jeff. While Sandra was quite relieved that the Orcs hadn’t killed him, it was apparently not for a lack of trying. Despite being conscious, Jeff had multiple broken ribs, a broken arm, a broken foot, a broken leg and many cuts and bruises. He was the group’s designated front liner and took a severe beating in the Orcs' ambush before everyone was surrounded and captured.

There was a pretty big problem though. With how injured the adventurers all were, there was no doubt that they all had the Bloodied condition.

So how are we going to cross the plains without the Vrabbits swarming us?

Jacque didn’t seem all that worried, “Once we are closer to the foothold, I’ll head back first and bring back a sled. Then you can just tow everyone across, hopefully, faster than the Vrabbits can chase after us.”

I had thought she was joking at first, but once we were able to see the plain through the treeline up ahead, she waved her goodbyes and promised to be back as quickly as she could. At least she was taking it seriously and was jogging quickly.

The injured adventurers all huddled together and were speaking quietly enough that I could hear that they were talking, but not make out what they were saying. It was to be expected I suppose, they already knew one another and besides being a monster, I was also an outsider.

After about five minutes, I could see that Jacque had made it to the town gates, which was somewhat of a relief. After all, she had no small amount of blood on her padded armour after killing those Goblins and cutting off so many heads.

“Uhm, Tim?” Sandra had separated from the group to talk to me. Seeing that she had my attention, Sandra wrung her hands a little before bowing her head, “Thank you for rescuing my friends.”

“It’s alright. It was the right thing to do,” I replied, somewhat embarrassed.

“We don’t really have anything to offer, but we will make sure to pay you back once we get back on our feet,” Sandra promised earnestly.

Seeing that she wouldn't accept no for an answer, I nodded, “Alright.”

Sandra bowed again and returned to her friends.

About ten minutes later, I saw Jacque slowly crossing the plains towards us with a sled in tow. After she made it about halfway, I noticed that there was someone standing on the sled. Someone small...and hyperactive...damnit. I wanted to keep Toofy out of harm's way, not drag her into it.

Thankfully, it looked like Jacque must have detoured to clean or change her armour first. When she drew closer, I realized that wasn’t the case, since her armour was just as bloody as before. It wasn’t until Jacque arrived at the treeline that I realized what she had done.

My nose rankled reflexively at the smell of licorice. As Toofy leapt off the sled and ran over towards me, the smell only grew stronger.

“Tim!” Toofy didn’t break stride, scrambling up my front on all fours before grabbing my ears and planting her feet on my chest so she could stand here and glare at me reproachfully, eye to eye. “Tim bad! Tim leave Toofy!” She looked more upset than angry.

Toofy was right of course, I had left her, on purpose. Until I had a better understanding of how dangerous it would be, I didn’t want to risk her getting hurt. “I am sorry,“ I apologised.

Toofy pursed her lips and nodded. She let go of my ears and gave me a hug around my neck, “No leave Toofy...” Toofy insisted with a sniffle.

“Alright,” I agreed, gently patting Toofy’s back. I shouldn’t have left her behind. The more I thought about it, the more inevitable this outcome seemed to be. In fact, an innocuous line from one of my favourite movies came to mind and was quite fitting. ‘The closer we (Toofy) are to danger, the further we (Toofy) are from harm’. Just by being a monster, Toofy would forever be in danger. The only way I could reduce that danger for her was to make her stronger. Fighting the Orcs might be somewhat dangerous, but in the long-term, it would make her far safer and less reliant on others for protection.

I remembered that Nadine had also briefly mentioned that consuming the mana stones of other monsters would make me stronger as well, so I assumed the principle would be the same with Toofy. In fact, Toofy already had some progress in that regard if I was remembering right, so I would definitely make it a priority if I could. Ultimately, the decision wasn’t mine to make, but Nadine, Clarice and Emelia’s. If they said no, I didn’t really have any way of circumventing them.

“Hrm maybe I was wrong,” Jacque sniggered from over by the adventurers, “Maybe little green girls are your type?”

I blushed and Toofy glared balefully at Jacque, probably not understanding the insinuation and responding more to her tone and established dislike.

“Everyone is all ready to go, so let’s head back to the foothold, grab some lunch then get back to it yeah?” Jacque insisted as she began walking over to the sled.

I rolled my eyes at Jacque’s back and Toofy smiled.

Heading over to the sled, I could see that it was basically just a wooden pallet with runners beneath to decrease drag and a pair of ropes to pull it with. It had short rims around the edges to stop crates from slipping off, but it wouldn't really give the adventurers much of anything to hold onto. Or at least it didn't until Jacque tied a pair of ropes between the runners and laid them out in line with the ropes I would be using to pull the sled. So at least now they would be able to hold onto the ropes.

Jacque had brought more of the liquorice liquid and spread it on the adventurer's armour, splitting the entire vial as evenly as she could between them. This would help mask their smell, but unfortunately, any Vrabbits they passed would still supposedly be able to detect their bloodied status and initiate a swarm.

So the plan was that Toofy would attack any Vrabbits that made it onto the sled with her club, while Jacque would use the wooden spear from the Orc camp to attack Vrabbits that got close. Prioritising the use of blunt weapons was to reduce the amount of blood spilt in the area to hopefully prevent Vrabbits from further afield being drawn into the chase. It seemed like a pretty okay plan, all things considered.

With everyone settled on the sled, with the exception of Toofy and Jacque who were both standing on it with safety ropes tied around their waists, I slowly began moving forward. Even though I felt strong enough to pull the sled into a straight run, the sudden jolt wouldn’t do the passengers any favours. So I had to start slow and gradually build momentum.

The first Vrabbit to attack arrived after travelling just twenty feet or so into the plain. However, despite one of the adventurers crying out in alarm, the encounter ended rather anticlimactically as Jacque crushed its ribs with the blunt end of the spear.

[ Jacque has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +0 Exp ]

Hrm? That was new. Shouldn’t the Vrabbit have been worth one Exp?

The answer came a few minutes later as five Vrabbits began chasing the sled and slowly gaining ground from behind.

Jacque managed to kill four of them in one wide sweep.

[ Jacque has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +0 Exp ], [ Jacque has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +0 Exp ], [ Jacque has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +0 Exp ], [ Jacque has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +0 Exp ]

However, it also gave the last Vrabbit the small chance it needed to make it onto the sled, for all of half a second before Toofy launched the Vrabbit off the sled with a double-handed blow from her club and screeching, “Biter OFF!!”

*Crack*

[ Toofy has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +1 Exp ]

That’s weird. So I still get Exp from Vrabbits, albeit very little in comparison to the Orcs and Goblins. Maybe the Exp was lower because Jacque is a higher level? Gah, something else I have to remember to ask Nadine about later.

There were not many adventurers out in the plains since the ambush, but the few who remained were definitely staring at us as we raced towards the gate. Sparing only a single glance over my shoulder, I was shocked to see a tide of Vrabbits chasing behind us. But all at once, as if striking an invisible barrier, the Vrabbits abruptly stopped and fanned to either side. I guess what Nadine had told me about monsters being unable to enter the town was literal rather than figurative. Good to know.

Now inside the town, I pulled the sled over to the inn and let the adventurers off. They would need food to kickstart their recovery and a couple of them were in desperate need of medical attention.

“We should settle up what we got so far with the Guild,” Jacque suggested, already walking away before checking to see if I would follow.

Releasing a sigh, I shrugged at Toofy and she climbed up onto my right shoulder. Not what I had meant, but oh well.

*****

Jacque was quite pleased with how things were going so far. She was quite certain that Tim was beginning to warm up to her, thanks in no small part to rescuing those hapless adventurers.

Unfortunately, she had not made a good first impression. Jacque’s people skills left much to be desired when she was just being herself. It was one of the oddities of her nature, Jacque couldn’t help it. But now that she had a better understanding of Tim’s relationship with the Goblin, Jacque had a fortuitous opportunity to improve his opinion of her further.

Leading Tim to the Guild office to collect the bounty and extract the mana stores from the Orc’s heads, The state of emergency made all Guild services free of charge, so Jacque had the Guild extract the stones for her. It wasn’t a bad haul for this floor of the Labyrinth, five rank one Goblin mana stones, six rank one, three rank two, and one rank three Orc mana stones. There were easily enough mana stones here to push the Goblin up a rank and make solid progress towards the next rank as well.

Leaving the Guild office, Jacque turned her attention back to Tim and to a lesser extent, the Goblin Toofy. “If you are going to bring your pet, it would probably be best if we increase her rank.”

Tim furrowed his brows at Jacque for a moment. <What game is she playing now? What is her angle?>.

Jacque shrugged and smiled, “You just seemed rather attached is all, and hunting Orcs is far more dangerous for her than for you or me.”

“But why are you suggesting it?” Tim asked suspiciously, <What is in it for you?>.

“Because I want us to be friends,” Jacque stated simply, deciding to put at least one of her cards on the table., “Tell you what. I will even negotiate with your masters about the merits of improving the Goblin’s rank, how about that?”

Tim frowned but nodded, <Will she really be able to do that though? The girls seem to dislike her as much as I do.>.

Jacque tried not to make a scathing remark, after all, it wasn’t like Tim was aware she could hear his thoughts.

Heading back to the inn, Jacque tuned out the background chatter and they headed upstairs to his master’s room. Knocking on the door, it only took a short moment for the smart one of the three, Nadine, to open the door and let them in. “Bringing you your cut so far,” Jacque explained, handing over one silver and one copper, “We rescued another party out there too, but the Guild won't give the reward for that until they verify.”

“Thanks,” Nadine accepted the coins and looked at Tim, <I hope she doesn’t do anything to break him.>.

Clarice shifted uncomfortably in the bed, <I should be out there, not cooped up in here! I don't trust her!>.

<Wow! Tim is doing great! I am a genius!> Emelia leaned in to get a closer look at the coins in Nadine's hand before turning her attention to Tim and giving him an emphatic thumbs-up, “You are doing great Tim! Keep it up!”

Jacque tried not to smirk. Technically, there was only one person she needed to convince, and that was Emelia. “There is something I wanted to talk about as well though,” Jacque said, giving Tm a nod, “I think you should invest mana stones into evolving your Goblin.”

<Ehhhhhh, aren't mana stones worth a lot of coins?> Emelia looked less than impressed.

Clarice scrunched her face up, “What? Why Toofy and not Tim?”, <Tim would get way stronger from it than Toofy.>.

Nadine furrowed her brow slightly and looked at Tim before nodding slightly, “I agree.” <Tim obviously wants this and it isn’t like we have kept good on our deal to pay him yet. Besides, I don’t think Tim would be able to handle losing Toofy.>.

“Huh? Why though?” Emelia asked Nadine, visibly confused. <It’s so many coins!>.

Clarice looked expectantly at Nadine as well, but her expression quickly changed to one of understanding as she looked at Tim and Toofy. <Eh?! Why would Nadine agree with...Oh...Well, I guess it’s fine. It’s not like Tim hasn’t earned it. Besides, that little pipsqueak is straight-up vicious in a fight, it's not like making Toofy stronger is a bad thing for us.>.

“Upgrading Toofy will improve our overall party strength and make earning coin and Exp easier down the line,” Nadine explained to Emelia calmly, if a little domineeringly, “Besides we owe Tim at least this much.” <That is an understatement. He literally saved our lives.>.

“Are you sure?” Emelia asked, still somewhat confused but obviously valuing Nadine’s opinion. <It’s so many coins though! But she said we earn more coins by doing this, so that's good right? But we won't have the coins now? But we get more later? Ugh, this is too hard!!! I’m just going to agree with Nadine, that always works.>. Emelia nodded, decisively, “Okay.”

“Okay,” Jacque clapped her hands together, “‘I’ll assume this is your first time doing something like this so I Will give you some friendly advice. Never bulk feed your monsters the mana stones you collect. It can make them unstable. The stronger the base monster, the longer between feeding sessions. Got it?”

This was at best, a half-truth. There were no risks in power-feeding standard monsters created by the Labyrinth. The problem was what happened when you progress someone like Tim too quickly. The effect was akin to addiction. Near as Jacque had uncovered so far, ‘The Broken’ were created by the Labyrinth with this weakness deliberately, amongst others. After all, strung-out addicts were more likely to act against their own interests and survival in favour of those of the Labyrinths. Jacque did not want Tim to join the ranks of the addicts, there were far too many of those as it was.

Nadine and Clarice nodded, while Emelia was literally lost in her own thoughts, so Jacque tuned her out.

“So how would you suggest we proceed?” Nadine asked, clearly willing to put aside her pride for the group’s benefit. <I wish I knew more about this. But it’s not like I planned on teaming up with a Monster Tamer...>.

Jacque smiled and nodded, “For Tim, I would limit him to at most one mana stone of any size per day and to not give him a stone more than three ranks ahead of his own progression. But for the Goblin, feeding her a mana stone every few minutes or so should be fine.”

Nadine nodded, “Okay. Then for the time being at least, I want Toofy to receive all the mana stones from our share when collecting bounties," she turned her attention to Tim, “Tim Is that alright?” <This really is the least we can do for him. It is not like we are actually contributing at this point.>.

“Alright,” Jacque agreed. Withdrawing a small drawstring pouch from her belt and upending the contents on the bed. “The rank distribution is uneven this time,” she explained, sorting the mana stones into groups, “But the Guild is keeping count, so I am fine with just taking the Goblin mana stones, for now, agreed?”

Nadine hesitated a moment and then nodded, "Agreed.” <I need to visit the Guild later to get a copy of the mana stone price list.>.

“Also, Tim’s weapon broke earlier, so he needs a new one. I highly recommend against buying something so cheap again. You should get him something like a flanged mace or a morningstar since they don't require a high level of skill for him to use against enemies on this floor and will deal a lot of damage.” Jacque suggested “Maybe a shield too, he seems more defensively inclined, so you might as well lean into it. Oh, and a helmet.”

Nadine looked to Clarice for her opinion, likely because the redhead was much more martially inclined. <I don’t really know about this sort of thing, but it seems to make sense.>.

Clarice was thoughtful for a moment. <That’s true, Tim is pretty iffy when it usually comes to attacking things without being ordered to. It would also be good to have a solid anchor to the frontline so I can focus on attacking.>. Clarice nodded in approval, “We also need to buy Toofy a decent weapon too.”

“Okay,” Nadine agreed, “I will make the necessary purchases with Tim now if you want to take a break for lunch,” she offered. <This will give me a chance to double-check the bounty with the Guild.>.

Jacque resisted the urge to roll her eyes and left the room instead. Things were definitely looking up. While heading downstairs to the bar, Jacque tried to think of some more references she could test Tim with. After all, she didn’t have any concrete proof that he was one of ‘The Awakened’ yet and Jacque needed to be absolutely sure before she could move on to the next step.

*****

I followed behind Nadine as we headed over to the weapon shop. Entering the store, we headed straight over to the counter.

“Hello,” Nadine greeted the shopkeeper brightly, “I am looking to buy a new weapon, could you show me a good choice for one silver or less?”

The man who had been obviously bored reading his book before we entered was suddenly quite motivated, “Of course. Is the weapon for you or-” He looked at me with a faint look of recognition on his face.

“It’s for Tim, yes. I was recommended to buy a flanged mace or morningstar, but I don’t really know what they are,” Nadine admitted with a faint flush of embarrassment.

“Not a problem!” The shopkeeper replied eagerly, “Not, a, problem. Please follow me!”

The shopkeeper led us to the blunt weapons section of the shop and gestured to a pair of weapons on the rack. “This is a flanged mace,” he explained, removing a clublike weapon from the rack.

It had a wooden shaft ending in an iron head with stumpy winglike protrusions.

“This is of course the cheaper version to better accommodate your budget. The more expensive and more durable versions are made entirely of iron or steel. But one of the benefits of this version is the lighter weight and being able to replace the shaft if it becomes damaged. It’s a substantial upgrade over the ironwood club.” The shopkeeper then took the second weapon off the rack with his other hand, “Now, this beauty is a morningstar.”

The morningstar was similar to the flanged mace with the exception that its shaft was longer and the iron head of the morningstar was spherical and covered in spikes.

“Much like the flanged mace, the shaft can be replaced if it is broken or damaged and the more expensive variants are made entirely of iron or steel. Personally, my preference is the morningstar. I have found that being able to drive enemies back with the point at the tip is usually more effective than jabbing them with the flat end of the flanged mace. As for the weight, your, ‘Tim’, shouldn’t have a problem with either. But I would strongly recommend upgrading to solid metal variants as soon as possible. It is not altogether uncommon for stronger monsters to break unenchanted wood weapons,” the shopkeeper advised.

Nadine nodded, “okay,” she shifted her attention to me, “Which of them do you think suits your fighting style better?” Nadine asked, obviously quite unsure of which to choose.

“The morningstar,” I replied, the shopkeeper's advice had sold me on the idea. I already had problems with enemies getting too close and needed a way to make them back off.

“Okay,” Nadine agreed, “How much is the morningstar?” She asked after shifting her attention back to the shopkeeper.

The weapon racks were all divided by prices carved in the wood, so I wondered why she had not just read the price directly.

The shopkeeper quickly glanced at the price on the rack before looking back to Nadine and taking a shallow gulp, “Ah, for you, only seventy coppers,” he offered.

Nadine smiled brightly, “Thank you. Oh, do you also have any shields for thirty copper?” She asked sweetly.

Okay, now I understood what she was doing, and given our money situation at the moment, I did not particularly disapprove.

“Ah...we might have one or two,” the shopkeeper agreed, a little apprehensively, glancing towards a row of shields on the wall behind them.

The assumedly cheapest of the shields was only twice the size of my hand. The larger and undeniably more expensive shields were closer in proportion to Toofy in total size.

However, contrary to my expectations, the shopkeeper removed one of the largest shields off the wall. Well, calling it a shield was perhaps a little generous since it closely resembled a door sprung off its hinges. Consisting of three wide vertical planks of wood held together by two horizontal planks on either side, it was basically a door with leather straps on it. Not that I was opposed to the idea, I actually rather liked the idea of having a thick wooden door between myself and the enemy.

“I know it isn't pretty, but so far as budget ironwood shields go, it's definitely the best option. Normally the weight is too draining for rookies, but your, Tim, should have no problems. Since it has been sitting here collecting dust for so long, I can let you have it for ten copper.” The shopkeeper generously offered.

“Great!” Nadine agreed cheerily.

We still needed a weapon for Toofy and I saw something that might just do the trick. I pointed to the row of leather slings hanging on a nearby rack and motioned to Toofy. I didn’t want to interrupt Nadine’s conversation with the shopkeeper, just in case he decided to stop giving Nadine the discounts.

Nadine gave me a small nod to show she understood before making an exaggerated expression of surprise, “Oh, I nearly forgot, I would like to buy a sling and pouch of bullets for my Toofy,” Nadine exclaimed, moving over to the row of slings, “Do you have any recommendations for what I have left?” She asked while blushing slightly.

Wow...had Nadine been doing this to me?... Hrm, I need to start paying more attention.

The shopkeeper gulped, quickly shifting the shield and morningstar over to the counter before nearly tripping over himself as he eagerly rushed back over. “O-of course!” The shopkeeper gushed excitedly, “For your budget, I would recommend-” he gave Toofy a quick glance before rifling through the slings, “-this Bristleboar leather sling! The leather is incredibly durable, so it should last at least a couple of years with only minor maintenance. The accompanying Bristleboar hide pouch can hold up to twenty standard sling bullets, so it will give your, ‘Toofy’, plenty of ammunition without being weighed down.” He picked up a small pouch from a nearby table and handed it to Nadine to judge the weight for herself.

“Okay I’ll take it,” Nadine smiled brightly.

The shopkeep accepted the pouch back and we all returned to the counter. Nadine handed over the single silver coin and received seven coppers in exchange. Geez, I hoped the shopkeeper didn’t take too much of a loss just now.

After giving Toofy the sling and pouch of stones, I picked up the morning star and shield and we walked out of the shop. Nadine made a point of turning around, smiling and waving at the shopkeeper before we began heading back to the inn.

Except for Jacque and a couple of other adventurers, the common room was pretty much empty.

“So you took my advice,” Jacque observed cheerily, “Good. Because I doubt the boss monster is just going to hang back and just keep letting us run around the forest unopposed. I would rather bag him and collect the bounty than run away, that’s for sure.”

“You want to hunt the boss monster?” Nadine asked hesitantly, probably deciding if we could trust her or not.

Jacque shrugged, “I mean I would rather kill it than run away. After all, killing the boss monster would end this emergency and award a substantial bounty. As for hunting it deliberately, eh, not sure it’s worth the risk. Boss monsters only rarely stray far from their minions after all.”

Nadine glanced at me for a moment, but said nothing.

“You should probably get something to eat before we head out again, I wanna get back out there in less than an hour,” Jacque told them dismissively, turning back to her meal.

“I’ll send some food up to your room,” Kirk said before disappearing into the kitchen. It was hardly surprising, he had heard the whole conversation and the Guild was footing the bill for all the meals and accommodation anyway.

Returning back to the girls room, I laid down our new purchases on the bed so Clarice could take a look at them. She was the most qualified of us to determine if Nadine and I had made the right choices.

Clarice carefully looked over each piece of equipment before giving a perfunctory nod, “How much did you spend?” She asked curiously.

Nadine smiled, “Only ninety-three copper.”

Clarice snorted in amusement and grinned, “Then you got a hell of a deal. This is a big step up from that club Tim was using, that’s for sure. We might even be able to get the carpenter to embed some spikes in the shield to deal some damage when Tim shoves enemies away with it. That shouldn’t cost much either.”

I actually quite liked the sound of that. I found the idea of shoving enemies away easier to handle than outright attacking them, “Should I go take care of that now?” I asked.

Nadine shook her head, “There probably isn’t time for it until this evening. Jacque sounded pretty adamant about getting back out there again.”

I nodded, “Should we start feeding Toofy the mana stones?”

“Sooner would be better than later if we follow the advice she gave right?” Clarice agreed with some uncertainty.

Nadine nodded, “That would probably be best.” She removed the mana stones from a pouch at her waist and chose one of the smaller ones. It was like a small chunk of amber coloured quartz that shimmered slightly in the sunlight coming from the window. “We should probably start with a rank one mana stone and see how much of an effect it has first, before trying the others,” Nadine suggested.

It was a smart idea since none of us had any experience with this sort of thing.

“Tim do you want to keep an eye on Toofy’s MP?” Nadine asked.

“Alright,” I agreed, “Status,” I ignored pretty much everything except for Toofy’s MP.

[MP: 0/3 ]

“It’s currently sitting on zero out of three,” I announced, for everyone but Emelia’s benefit.

“Okay, let's give this a try,” Nadine held out the mana stone to Toofy, “Toofy, could you eat this please, just, ah, maybe don't bite it?” Not a bad suggestion since we had no idea if it was as strong as an actual stone or not.

“Kay,” Toofy snatched the mana stone and swallowed it in one gulp.

Nothing happened at first, but a few seconds later Toofy’s mana stat changed.

[MP: 1/4 ]

“Toofy’s current mana just changed to one and her maximum improved to four. No other stats changed,” I announced, making sure not to blink and dismiss the status screen by accident as I checked the other stats again.

“Interesting,” Nadine rubbed her chin, thoughtfully, “I wonder what increment of mana she needs to improve to rank two. Let’s try a rank two mana stone next.”

After a few minutes, we fed Toofy the rank two mana stone and it had immediately noticeable results. Outwardly, Toofy just grew about two inches taller, stats-wise it was a little more interesting.

[Toofy - Goblin: 2 ] [HP: 19/19] [MP: 3/6 ]

[Emelia’s Slave*] [Class: Scavenger 2. +2 Intelligence, +1 Toughness, +5 HP. ] [Exp: 510/3000 ]

[Strength: 7 ]

[Agility: 14* ]

[Toughness:6 (7*) ]

[Intelligence: 6* (8*) ]

[Willpower: 6* ]

[Presence: 5 ]

[(Class Ability: Treasure Sense): Detects and highlights items of value within a predetermined range. {Intelligence} increases range.]

[(Racial Ability: Vicious {Rank 1}): Deals additional damage to fallen enemies and those with {Negative Status Conditions}. {Willpower} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

[(Racial Ability: Underfoot {Rank 0}): Takes less damage from Larger enemies. {Agility} increases the level of damage resistance.]

Toofy’s maximum mana increased, her rank increased and the rank of her Vicious racial ability increased as well, presumably making it more effective. But as Nadine said, the group synergy for her Vicious ability increased to rank one as well. She also gained one point of Agility

“Toofy’s max mana is now six, her rank is now two, she gained another point of Agility and her Vicious ability is now rank one!” I announced excitedly.

Nadine and Clarice both look surprised.

“That was fast,” Clarice replied with surprise, “Thought it would take loads of mana stones.”

Nadine nodded in agreement, “So did I. Maybe it’s because the Orcs are so much stronger than Goblins?” She turned to Emelia, “Do you remember your trainer mentioning anything about mana stone tiers and evolving monsters?” Nadine asked.

Emelia blushed and shrugged, sinking into the bed covers to hide. But then she suddenly stopped, “OH, they gave me a small book. It’s in my bag!”

The three of us stared incredulously at Emelia, even Toofy joined in, though I doubt she was aware of the reason for it.

“What?” Emelia demanded meekly, “I became a Monster Tamer to lead, not to read.”

“Emelia...” Nadine rubbed her eyes tiredly, “May I read the book please?”

“Go ahead,” Emelia replied in relief, “Boring book anyways, not even any pictures.”

Clarice just winced at Emelia and shook her head.

However, the timely arrival of lunch delivered by Kirk provided Emelia with a reprieve as everyone began eating their food. That is, everyone except Toofy, who would lower her spoon of stew every few seconds, look over at Emelia and comically waggle her head before continuing to eat again. It honestly just got funnier each time she did it. I am pretty sure Toofy was doing it solely for my reaction since she would dart a quick glance my way whenever she was doing it, the little goofball.