Survive in the parallel world, please!

152 Seriously? please! part “Come on Bob, you can’t possibly be thinking Lorenzo will betray us”

Risa laughed as she patted his shoulder, but Bob didn’t reply. It was only after Luke saw Bob so serious that he realized the mistake he just made. Even if lorenzo had been Sera’s instructor before, it didn’t mean he would help them. Not only that, all it took for him to frustrate their plans was to tell on the adventurer’s guildmaster.

“Yeah Lorenzo, don’t worry we’ll be fine. We’re just going to Baroco to appeal to Sera’s sentence”

Luke said in an attempt to cover their true intentions. Thankfully, for the first time Risa caught wind of Luke’s intentions and confirmed his words.

“Of course, I wouldn’t tag along if they were planning on doins something stupid”

Lorenzo seemed to be convinced and then sighed.

“I don’t think they’ll take your words into consideration, her crimes are too serious. But I wish you the best of luck”

They decided to have one more beer for the way before heading off, walking at night was especially dangerous but they didn’t have a choice if they wanted to catch up to Sera.

The road outside the northern gate of Celarent was light up with several lamp posts, but only for the first kilometer or so. It was a good thing they prepared for this trip beforehand, because Luke got the chance to buy some lamps fueled by elemental stones just like the ones he bought back at Ironwoods, only these were a bit more advanced and provided a more steady lightsource.

.....

After spending most of their savings in gear and whatnot they didn’t have much money to cover their stay in cities, which is why they were planning on skipping as many towns as possible and only go into populated areas when they needed to re stock themselves.

The trip to Baroco on foot was lenghty, it could take them as much as a whole month, and that was only if the soldiers were actually heading that way. If instead they were going to the sacred empire, the trip could be extended for another month.

Risa had been so eager to start their journey that she couldn’t hold her excitement, she was so anxious to set off that she kept annoying Bob and Luke all the time when they were at Bob’s place. But now that they started their travel she was already feeling homesick.

It would be one thing if she knew this was a short trip like when she goes questing, but she knew she wouldn’t be back for a while and this was the first time she was heading to a place so far away.

It was really uncommon for people to move to another city, especially one so far away. Most people were born and died in the same place, while only high rank adventurers and nobles were strong or rich enough to afford travelling.

Any sort of carriage or mount was heavily sought after, even the lame horse they had was so expensive Luke used to compare his price to that of a luxurious car from his world.

“Why can’t we simply run all the way to the next city?”

Risa asked impatiently.

“We are still to close to Celarent and we are heading towards louders territory, you already know how messy they get at night and we can’t afford to get tired mid way”

“That might be so, but they’re super weak”

She said waving her huge knife looking sword in the air.

It took them about half an hour to reach the hunting grounds and despite their efforts to go unnoticed they were found by the cricket like creatures.

Luke attempted to kill it stealthily before it alarmed the rest but Bob had other plans.

“Blazing dragon rage hellfire!”

Bob swung his warhammer as he yelled in the quiet of the night, breaking the mantle of silence that protected them from the nocturnal creatures. A loud chirping that honored the creature’s name alerted the others and then dozens of huge insects surrounded them.

Of course they didn’t have trouble killing them, but it was tiresome and they were getting soaked in their filthy blood and entrails.

“Dude, why couldn’t you just let me handle it quietly!?”

Luke grunted angrily as he dodged a tackle from the side.

“Have some balls Luke, you’re such a coward!”

She said as she turned a louder into minced meat.

“I’m not a coward, but this is not a hunting trip! we’re supposed to catch on to the soldiers, there’s no point in following them if they’re faster than us”

“I can’t hear you because of all this chirping, so I’ll assume you agreed with what I said”

Risa mocked Luke angering even more.

“This chick is going to cause me an aneurysm”

Luke muttered to himself, yet Risa was able to hear him because she went to the oracle before leaving Celarent, unlocking the archer class. This didn’t mean she had became an archer though, it simply meant that she was able to acquire the skills. It takes time for a new class to settle in and it didn’t count unless it was shown in the soulbound card.

“Just who do you think you’re calling a chick!? do you wan’t me to discipline you?”

Luke didn’t mind Risa’s threat and simply kept fighting against the endless insects that were coming his way.

“Single strike!”

A beast that got too close to Luke was sliced in half splattering him completely.

At the break of dawn they were exhausted, fortunately for them, these creatures were mostly peaceful during the day those remaining went ahead and started eating the corpses of their fellow louders.

There was a high pitched noise resounding inside everyone’s mind, it was a harmful status effect none of them experienced before and it was caused by acoustic contamination. They were also so filthy and sticky they couldn’t walk comfortabily.

“This is what you get when you rush in and start yelling Bob!”

Luke was mad at Bob and not without reason, it was only because of his silly chanting they had to spend the night fighting endlessly.

“I’m really sorry Luke, It’s the force of habit...”

Bob was ashamed and apologized profusedly, but their mood was already ruined. It was their first night travelling together and they found themselves completely bathed in filth, fatigued and they already broke about one third of their spare weapons.

Thankfully, there was a river near the road. Of course this was no coincidence because the road was made so it follows the river for as long as possible. Water wasn’t a commodity, but a necessity for beasts and humans alike.

While Bob and Luke were cleaning themselves, especially Luke who was scrubbing his clothes energetically to clean them off, Risa instead cleaned her sword.

After washing it down, she waved it in the air to dry it and then she sat down and started applying some kind of oil in it. Physical hits reduced the durability of weapons, but by providing a dutyful maintenance adventurers were able to keep them from breaking. Risa’s sword wasn’t only huge, which made it’s maintenance difficult to perform, but it was sharp so she needed to be really careful when applying the oil.

“Are you seriously not going to clean yourself?”

Luke said in a bitter mood even after cleaning his clothes.

“First things first, one’s weapons must be in top shape at all times, but if you want to see me naked that badly...”

Risa said with a smirk and she started taking off Ryu’s cape she had been using as a dress. Luke gulped down his saliva as he stared at her.

“That’s cheating!”

Luke exclaimed feeling like he had been lied to, because beneath the cape Risa was wearing her former attire, which was actually pretty revealing, but it properly covered her nudity.

“Weren’t you a little too excited though?”

After a sleepless night in which they were forced to fight, they were completely spent and decided to have breakfast near the river. Making a fire was too hard for them, they always relied on Ryu for such matters, but Risa was more experienced in camping.

“We don’t need a fire, we can just drink this water without boiling it”

“Are you sure its safe?”

“Of course! I do it all the time!”

It was at that time they knew they made a mistake.

“I don’t feel so good”

Bob exclaimed after his stomach grumbled loudly.

“Let me check”

Luke used his consider skill and noticed something that worried him greatly.

“Dude, you’re sick!”

“What!?”

If Bob didn’t have a tone of voice so low that would have sounded like a squeal.

Risa was completely ok with drinking unboiled water because her defenses had been strong since she was a child thanks to her upbringing in the slums. But Bob and Luke were different, not only they lived peaceful lives in a modern civillization until not long ago, but their defenses were those of a newborn child and they completely forgot about that.