Rise of the Devourer

Chapter 12: Checking in

Layfar village looked a lot more like a frontier town than a remote village. Noah was surprised by the modern construction of the village’s buildings and street layouts. The buildings themselves were made from a combination of stone and wood, with adhesive material that looked a great bit like cement. It made him wonder whether a lot of information from worlds like earth had reached this world through other outer-worlders like him.

As they approached closer, the children began to gather. Most young, five to ten year olds, with a few older kids standing around that looked slightly more wary. Noah smiled at the children, but they seemed more enamoured by his ride. He couldn’t blame them, the armadials were quite captivating.

Unlike the younger children, the few older ones were definitely more interested in Aurelia and Noah. Quite a few of them glanced at him curiously, but whether it was his demeanour, or his attire, they could pretty quickly tell that he wasn’t a proper adventurer, and would shift to staring at Aurelia in fascination.

Despite the interest shown by the children, none walked too close, or tried to disturb the two of them as they made their way into the town. Noah soon spotted the reason, with the few adults that were watching them. Their expressions were not hostile, but he couldn’t describe it as anything except apprehensive. More than a few kept a tight grip on their kids who were trying to take a better look.

The two of them continued to make their way before Aurelia stopped in front of an inn, stepping down. Noah followed her, before patting his own armadial. “Thanks for the ride buddy,” Noah said.

The armadial snorted, shaking its head, before bumping it against his hand lightly.

“Can you get these guys some hay? Add these into the feed too,” Aurelia said to a man who’d walked outside from the inn. The man nodded with wide eyes as she gave him the crushed powder of two mana cores, and a third intact one. Patting the armadials, he took the creatures away from the entrance and Noah waved goodbye to the creatures.

“Why did you give the guy three?” Noah asked, curiously.

“His pay, or tip I suppose. Always give the workers a little extra, and they’ll make life a lot easier for you at any inn.”

“Common sense works across worlds it seems.”

“Nothing about you is common sense, so I’d suggest keeping details about yourself vague,” Aurelia said, walking up to the gate of the inn.

“Why? Will I get in trouble?” Noah asked. “You said Outerworlders were not unknown.”

“To an adventurer like me who travels a lot? Yes. To the people in this small village at the border of civilization? You may as well be a talking plant,” Aurelia said, before pausing. “Actually, that’ll probably raise less eyebrows,” she added, as she stepped into the inn.

A little bell at the door chimed as she did. Noah looked up and saw an insignia of two crossed swords above the inn. He followed behind her, taking a look around the inn. The entrance was fairly simple, with a burly man with the most impressive moustache Noah had seen in a long time standing behind the counter. A couple other people were further in in a section that looked like it was meant to serve as a tavern.

“Welcome, adventurers. How long would you be staying?” the innkeeper asked.

“One night for now, two beds,” Aurelia said, placing two F grade mana stones on the counter. The man took the stones, leaving a key on the counter. “Second floor, last room on the left.”

Aurelia nodded, taking the keys, before turning to face Noah. “I’ve got some work to do. And people to talk to. Do you want to rest in the room?”

Noah thought over it for a moment. “Nah, I think I’m going to hang around downstairs for a while. Maybe explore a bit later. First time in civilization here where people aren’t actively trying to murder me, might as well enjoy it.”

The innkeeper looked at Noah strangely, and he quickly realized his mistake. He saw Aurelia’s eyebrow twitch as she glared at him.

“Stop saying nonsense,” Aurelia said, slapping his shoulder lightly. “I’m off. You can get the keys from here if you want to enter the room before I’m back,” she added, pointing at the counter, before she walked out.

“A feisty one you’ve got,” the innkeeper.

“Tell me about it,” Noah said, shaking his head. “Though it’s one of the things I enjoy about her.”

“Care for some ale? Given you’re coming from the forest, either you were one of the idiots who try to head to the lost woods, or you’re part of the team that went to look for the lost villagers. Either way, I can’t imagine you not needing one.”

“Sure, it’s still a bit early but whatever. I could use some alcohol in me,” Noah replied.

“Boy! Get the man a mug of ale!” the innkeeper shouted. A teenage boy called out from the back.

“What’s your name, boy?” The innkeeper asked. “You look quite new from the looks of you.”

“Noah Brown. And yeah, I just awakened yesterday,” Noah replied. The teenage boy walked from behind the inn, walking up to Noah before handing him a wooden jug filled with a pale yellow liquid. Noah took a sip, smacking his lips. The ale tasted slightly like moss.

“Helion’s tits. You awakened yesterday? What’re you doing round these parts walking around with a E-ranker then? If it’s for the girl, then drop it. Dying ain’t worth it kid.”

“Nah, it’s not like that. I was in a dangerous situation and was forced to awaken. I got really lucky or I’d be dead. Aurelia’s just helping me get used to this whole being awakened business,” Noah replied, taking another sip of the musty ale.

“Ah, young adventurers. Makes me miss my youth,” the innkeeper said. “I’m Lorian, by the way.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Lorian,” Noah said, raising his mug. He looked down at the scars on Lorian’s arms, before using identify.

[Stone-carved Warrior - ?]

“You were an adventurer as well?” Noah asked, before realising the man didn’t have even the hints of an aura.

“Ah, I used to be. Lost my magic in an accident, and decided to call it quits, glad I still had all my limbs and life,” Lorian replied.

“What kind of monster was it? I didn’t know you could lose your abilities like that,” Noah said, taking another sip of the ale.

“Depths damn me if I know. We were doing a quest up north in a dungeon. Bit more than we can chew. As we were doing our work, all of a sudden something pops out of the depth. Didn’t even see it coming. The moment it came in, we couldn’t move our bodies at all. It crashed through, all pearly and translucent. Two of my teammates died instantly, this other one lost his eyes. I lost my mana. To this day, I haven’t heard of this thing again, or what it even was,” Lorian said.

Noah hummed, not sure how much of it were tall tales and exaggerations, and how much was accurate. But regardless of the accuracy, he felt interested by the story. Taking another sip, he looked down at the ale in his half filled mug, before looking up at Lorian in surprise.

“Is there any alcohol in this at all? My tolerance is pretty decent, but I should’ve felt at least a slight buzz by now,” Noah said.

“Oh lad, your constitution’s probably too high. Either that or some spell interfering, I don’t know. But that ale’s got alcohol in it, alright,” Lorian said.

Noah looked down at his cup, before lifting it up as he chugged the rest of it down. The answer to his question came a moment later, as a system message popped up in front of him.

You’ve been inflicted with [Intoxication].

Lifeblood has cleansed [Intoxication].

Noah’s heart dropped as he saw the words. “Are you… shitting me?” he said, lips trembling. “I can’t get drunk?”

“Ah, constitution ability eh?” Lorian asked.

Noah didn’t reply, slinking down onto the counter. “Nooooo… This is the worst. The absolute worst,” he murmured, regretting ever taking the ability.

Lorian laughed. “You can control your abilities. Just turn it off.”

“Wait really?” Noah asked, perking up. Focusing, he tried to turn off lifeblood. Words appeared in front of him as he did.

[Lifeblood] has been deactivated.

“Woo!” Noah cheered. “Bring me another glass! I need to celebrate!”

“You heard the man!” Lorian called out, as the boy went back in. The innkeeper turned to look at Noah. “Just use the ability when you’re too drunk and you’ll be sober soon after. Depending on the type, it may even cure hangovers.”

Noah grabbed his new mug of ale, taking a drink from it. “Best. Ability. Ever.”

Casually chatting with Lorian, Noah went through a couple of mugs, managing to get his [Intoxication] up to two. After feeling that he’d had enough, he turned on Lifeblood.

Lifeblood has cleansed [Intoxication - II].

Noah immediately felt his head clear up. He smiled at the ability, before turning to look at Lorian. “Oh, I forgot to ask. What’s been going on here? Everyone looked a bit on edge when we arrived.”

“Ah yeah. There’s been people disappearing in the woods. Started about… six months ago now? A couple of people went to look and they didn’t return. Folks stopped going further in the forest, a couple of adventurers came to look as well, but they didn’t find anything. People mourned, and gave up, but after they stopped going to the forest, things were fine for a month or two. Then the mines collapsed. People went in to search for survivors but once again no one came. The villagers had already been on edge, and this was enough for them to seal off the mines. I think they called some adventurers a couple days ago to look again,” Lorian said.

Noah frowned. The timing did match up with what Aurelia had mentioned. But he found it strange that the previous had not found the cultist hideout. The cave was not inconspicuous, but it wasn’t exactly difficult to find either.

“I hear they’re considering sealing off the mines for good. Some people are protesting, the village will struggle to survive through winters without coins coming from the mine. But there’s been howling and crying coming from the mines occasionally, and people are getting concerned about undead. If there’s an infestation budding and the guild gets involved, this entire village would have to be evacuated, and no one wants that.”

“Ignoring your problems and hoping they disappear. The age old solution,” Noah replied.

“Is what it is. Ain’t nobody around that’s going to be fixing this problem. Those who tried never came back, and there’s only so many people a village like this can lose,” Lorian said.

“Perhaps the adventurers you guys hired may get somewhere.”

“I sure hope so,” Lorian replied.

Noah nodded. “How much for the ale?”

“One F grade mana stone is enough. It’ll also get you dinner tonight if you want it,” Lorian said.

Noah made a stone appear in his hand from his inventory, tossing it. “Thanks for the talk, Lorian.”

“Ain’t got nothing better to do,” Lorian replied with a chuckle.

Noah walked out of the inn, looking around. The first sun was slowly but surely beginning to approach the horizon, while the second smaller sun slowly trailed behind, giving the sky an odd mix of red and blue hues present at the same time.

He looked around the village, taking a stroll through. People went about their day, only occasionally glancing towards Noah, before they lost interest. He was glad Aurelia had found some clothes for him to wear. He doubted wearing cultist robes here would’ve helped him at all.

Making his way as Noah observed all the merchants and stalls hawking their goods, he eventually found himself walking out of the center of the village. As he did, he noticed people whispering, and upon listening closer, found the reason.

“The mayor says the mines is going to be sealed. One of the adventurers we’d called returned apparently.”

“Is he serious? How will we have enough saved up to get through winter? Much less the next year? If the mines are closed then the village will collapse!”

Noah noticed similar talks happening all over the village. Deciding to look further, he began to follow a couple of the people who were making their way to the mayor’s place. A few minutes of walking later, Noah found himself in the northern end of the village, standing in front of the only home with two floors.

He saw the people walk in, and noticed a fairly decent sized crowd standing inside. Sufficiently curious, he walked up to the door, and made his way in. Entering the chamber, he felt grateful for his height, as the entrance was packed, with people standing, watching the commotion happen. Noah saw the source of it as well. A lean man wearing well fitting clothes, and a much shorter bearded bald man, whose face was red with fury.

Noah used identify.

[Mayor - ?]

[Stone-carved Miner - ?]

“Depths damn me, but I won’t let you starve this town to death!” the shorter bald man shouted. “If you close those mines, this village will end. It will not happen immediately. But mark my words, we will die. A slow, painful, pitiful death. I’d rather whatever’s in the mines eat us all.”

“Are you listening to yourself Gerome? We cannot lose anymore people, or risk the guild getting involved,” the taller man, who Noah suspected was the mayor, replied, before turning towards all the gathered people. “Please, don’t crowd this place. I know all of you are concerned. I am too. But I’m only trying to act in the best interests of our survival.”

“Best interest my arse! You’re just going to get us to shrivel and die slowly instead of fighting back!” the bald man shouted.

Noah glanced around the chamber, before he found Aurelia standing on the other end. She noticed his gaze immediately, eyes widening in surprise. Noah made his way through the crowd towards her, wading through the crowd without trying to catch too much attention. The ongoing argument helped with that quite a bit.

“What’re you doing here?” Aurelia asked in a hushed whisper.

“I could ask you the same,” Noah replied.

“I’m here to talk with the mayor in private, and get some information on the adventuring team that’d betrayed me.”

“This doesn’t seem very private,” Noah said, glancing at the gathered crowd.

“He was busy,” Aurelia replied bitterly.

“Well, I had a drink, chatted with the innkeeper, and now I’m here,” Noah said, before looking back at the ongoing argument. “Should we help out?”

“What do you think I’m here to do? We don't really have anything to travel with from here on either. It's why I'm trying to talk to the man,” Aurelia asked, frowning at him.

“You need to be more assertive, then. Watch and learn.”

“What are you trying to do? Noah?” Aurelia asked, but Noah ignored her words, cutting through the crowd, as he immediately caught the attention of the people.

“Please, gentlemen. Arguing like this doesn’t suit you. Ultimately, both of you desire for this village to survive and prosper, well, as a matter of fact so do I. So why not think over a solution together, instead of arguing over who’s right and who’s wrong?” Noah said, walking up the mayor, and the bald man Gerome, before putting a hand on both their shoulders.

“And who the depths are you?” Gerome asked in annoyance.

Noah grinned, taking a step back, before he flared one arm and bowed theatrically. “Noah Brown, newly Awakened adventurer, and the solution to your problems.”