Book Three – Chapter One – Part Two – Trip Prep!
Thirty seconds later, Servi found one. It was rectangular with alternating red and black stripes. “It kinda matches my eyes and hair.”
“Oooohhh, that looks cute! I think I like this one,” Momo proudly showed off one that was all pink. Or so Servi thought. Momo twisted it around and revealed a small black cat painted on the other side.
“It’s adorable. Oh, it comes in two different sizes. One liter or two-liter.”
“So does yours. I didn’t even notice it comes with a little clip. Maybe it hooks to your belt?” asked Momo.
“Either that, or it clips to the backpack."
“Ladies, have we decided?” asked the worker as he emerged from around the corner. A little bit of sweat dripped down his face.
“We have, but I have a question. If we want to get the bigger one of these two, can we?”
“That will not be a problem, but it will be ten dupla to upgrade.”
Servi and Momo picked the bigger versions of their chosen canteens, took out ten dupla, and thanked the worker.
“Please, it was no trouble,” he said, accepting the two coins. “Now, if you would follow me.”
He led them to the front of the store, where they saw two backpacks. Both were a naturalistic mix of green and brown, with a single spot left blank and black. They were kinda big, but when Momo went to lift one, she commented that it was lighter than the Singi expected.
“The tents themselves are in the biggest part, here. They’re easy to set up, and the materials used in them are tear, water, stain, and fire-resistant. The fire-resistant rocks are shared between both backpacks to divide the weight. The pot is made from foldable metal, so it’s easy to store. The tripod is made with the same material. The fire starter kit is also simple to use. Just read the instructions included. As for your canteens, you can either hook them to your belt or this little strap right here. May I?”
Servi nodded and handed the man her canteen. With a simple touch, he strapped it on and began to pull it.
“The hooks are tough, so it’ll take something strong to rip them off. There’s just one thing left. I can sew your name on it if you would like. It wouldn’t take but a few minutes.”
“That sounds good. My name’s Momo.”
“And I’m Servi.”
“Very well. I shall be back in a few moments."
The worker lifted both bags and wandered over to a small sewing station filled with needles and thread. It took him four minutes to finish up and walk back to the patient girls. With a presenting hand, he displayed his work. In the prettiest handwriting, their names were embroidered in white thread.
“Momo, Servi, I do hope you’ll use these sets to their full potential.” He smiled again at the pair.
Momo couldn’t contain herself as she slipped her hands through the backpack. “Servi, how do I look?!!”
Servi put hers on and smiled. The weight of the backpack was almost non-existent.
Though I guess... that’s because I have the strength of eleven Humans.
“You look like a real Warden member.”
“Good! Umm.. thank you for helping us. We’ll be sure to come back.”
“Thank you, Miss. I wish you two nothing but the best in the quests ahead of you,” he bowed again and walked away to help someone else who just walked in.
“Captain Momo, what’s next on the list?” Servi said as she walked towards the exit of the store. Momo followed her.
“Captain? Me?”
“You did win the tournament. And that was your ticket. Logically, all of this belongs to you.”
“But…”
“A party needs a leader, right?”
“It does, but am I the best one?” she said after she thanked Servi for opening the door. Now back in the lobby of the shopping center, Servi followed Momo over to a small stone bench. It was coarse and rough but somehow smooth at the same time. It was like someone ran over the marble-like finish with a scratchy batch of sandpaper.
“I think so.”
“That's nice of you to say, but…” Momo unconsciously moved a hand to her bag and looked up at the white ceiling. “I think it’s too soon. I’m sorry,” the distance between her and what she saw was far greater than her own talents at being a leader.
Servi put a hand on her friend's shoulder. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. If you want, I can lead. For a little bit, at least.” Momo locked eyes with her friend and felt her heart skip a few beats.
“Thanks. I feel a lot better with you at the helm, but do I have to call you captain?” Momo grinned.
Servi giggled. “Yes. Yes, you do. That’s Captain Servi’s first order of business.”
Momo saluted and laughed adorably. “Captain Servi, First Mate Momo at the ready.”
The two had a nice chuckle. “Speaking captains, I’d like to travel on a boat.”
“That would be nice. You know, after we finish this quest, we could always travel to Waveret. But I don’t know how much a boat ticket is, or even where we would sail too. It might be nice to spend a few days there to relax.”
Momo replied, “That would be nice, but I also don’t know where we would go. Well then, Captain, should we go get some supplies?”
A group of people who walked by at that moment stopped and stared.
“Oohh boy, maybe we can stop with the captain stuff?”
Momo playfully grinned as she realized she found a way to embarrass her best friend.
“Oh, but Captain, we need to get ready,” she said in a sing-song-like voice.
Servi sat back down and covered her face with her hands. At that moment, her face was redder than her eyes.
Momo laughed and sat back down, putting one hand on Servi’s shoulder. “Okay, I’ll stop.”
Servi removed her hands and smiled at her friend. Honestly, I don’t remember the last time I had this much fun with just Momo.
“Well then, First Mate Momo, we’d best be going,” Servi stood up.
Momo froze up when she realized what happened. The group passing by stopped once again and stared at the Human and Singi pair. “Umm… I’ll stop with the Captain stuff if you stop with the First Mate. I didn’t realize how embarrassing it was. Deal?”
Servi held out her hand, and Momo took it. “Deal.”
The two stared at each other for a brief moment and started laughing.
“So, where do we go to get the food?”
“Umm…There’s a map right over there. We might find a meat shop or something.”
Ten minutes later, they were standing in front of a butcher shop. Even though two doors and glass windows were blocking them, the smell of meat somehow entered the girls' nostrils. There was a sign out front that said ‘Kolby’s Meat,’ but the words were drawn like intestines. It was a strange artistic choice, to say the least.
“It’s kinda stinky,” Momo pinched her nose.
“A little bit,” Servi internally thanked Itarr for True Immortality.
“Well, the faster we get this over, the faster we can breathe fresh air. You ready?”
Servi nodded, and the two walked in. This time, it was Momo who held the door open, and Servi thanked her. They wasted no time at all and made their way to the front. A large familiar Kobold stared them down. A very sharp and bloody cleaver gripped tightly in his hand as its blade stared at the lines of red sausage littering the table.
“Feral?!” Momo and Servi both blurted out his name.
“Aahhhh, Servi, Momo, how do you do?” he growled as he brought the cleaver down. A little bit of meat splattered against the protective glass window standing between the Kobold and the two friends. Momo had to do all she could to stop gagging. It didn’t help that she could see behind the counter. Pigs and cows were hanging lifelessly from meat hooks, waiting to be the next one to feel the cold steel carve their very bodies apart.
I guess that’s the reality of the meat I eat. I’m sorry, Mr. Cow, chicken, and pig. I hope you died painlessly... It’s the least we can do…. I promise I won’t waste any food I eat.
“Don’t tell me you work here too?” Servi heard a dull thunking noise as she spoke and realized it must have come from Feral's tail.
“I do. But, only for two days a week. Aunt Canary went on vacation using the money she earned from selling her sweets at the tournament. She’s friends with the owner, and she convinced him to hire me on. On the two days I work, I am allowed to take home some of the unsold meat.” he grinned and slammed his tail into the ground. The impact was enough to bounce around some boxes stacked next to the nearby wall.
“That was kind of them. I’m happy for you!”
“Thank you, Momo. Now, what can I help you with?”
“We're going on our promotion quest today, and Arcton is three days away.”
“I see. Congratulations. In that case, I assume you want three days' worth of supplies?”
“Not really. We didn't hear good things about Arcton, so we don’t wanna stay longer than we need to. How much would six days of supplies be?”
“That depends. Chicken is cheaper than pork, which is cheaper than beef,” Feral answered Momo. “If it’s all chicken, then 40 dupla.”
“Servi?” Momo glanced at her friend, who had a hand to her chin.
“Can we get hardtack here?”
Feral growled and nodded. “We do offer it.”
“Momo, how about we get all chicken and a few hardtacks to snack on?”
“That sounds good to me!”
“Very good!” he slammed his tail once more, prompting an Elf to come out from the backroom to check on things. “Wylie, these two would like six days' worth of dried and salted chicken.”
“Got it,” replied the Elf as he went to the back. He had a hairnet covering his long blond hair, a white tank top soaked with sweat, and black shorts that stopped above his knees. Two long yellow gloves protected his slim tattooed arms.
“I will get the bags and hardtack ready. It will be a few minutes, so feel free to look around.”
“Okay. Oh, one more thing. Can we fill our canteens here?”
Feral nodded in response to Servi’s question. “That service is free. May I see them?”
At his request, the two friends unhooked their canteens and gave them to him.
“I will be right back,” Feral growled as he went to the back room.
Four minutes later, he came back with eight small sacks and two filled canteens.
“These six bags with the red stickers are the meat. They are proportioned accordingly, and one bag is enough for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two. These two white bags are your hardtack. And here are your canteens. That’ll be 48 dupla.”
“It’s a good thing the reward is 50 dupla each. We spent a lot today,” Momo picked out 24 dupla from her diminishing collection of currency.
“We did, but it’s worth it. We’ll be able to take on more difficult quests and make more money, right?” Servi handed her half to Feral.
He counted it and slammed his tail when he was done. Momo took off her backpack and deposited her half of the supplies in the second biggest pouch. She then clipped her brand-new canteen onto a strap and responded to Servi. “Yep. I’m sure the cheapest Rank 9 quest reward is 20 dupla. And it goes all the way up to 50. And that’s not including the tougher monsters we’ll be fighting. If we take their skins and claws to the cash building, I’m sure we’ll be able to make even more dupla.”
Servi grabbed the remaining supplies and her canteen and did the same. “That’s good. A few quests and parts, and we’ll back in the black.”
Feral growled. “What does that mean?”
“It means we made more money than we spent.”
“In the black? I’ve never heard that before,” quipped Momo.
Is it really such a strange expression? Servi went to speak but stopped.
“But I guess I don’t know anything about business,” Momo continued.
“Hmm… I’ll ask Aunt Canary if she has heard of it when she gets back.”
“Where did she go?” asked Momo. Her tail lightly danced throughout the air as she talked with her friend. She was totally at peace and loving life.
“Waveret. She said that the beaches are beautiful at this time of the year.”
“How funny, Momo and I were talking about visiting there when we get back from Arcton. Going to the beach sounds fun. Doesn’t it?”
“It does, but I’ve never been swimming before. I don’t know how too.”
“I can teach you,” Servi said. Wait, can I swim? If I’m being technical, I don’t need to breathe. In other words, I can’t drown. If I sink to the bottom of the ocean and walk, is it still swimming?
“Okay! Maybe once we’ve made some money…. Hey, maybe all of us could go at the same time? Maybe have a big trip?”
“How excellent!” Feral slammed his tail again. This time, the Elf from the backroom stomped out and yelled at the Kobold. With a meek apology, he turned back to Servi and Momo. “I’m sorry, but I must go back to work. I do wish you two the best on this quest. Please, be safe.”
“Thanks, Feral. We’ll see you later.”
“Bye-bye!” Momo waved as the two walked out.
“Alright, we got the quest, the tents, and the food. What’s next?”
“Hmm… Ah, our room keys. We won’t be using our room, so let’s go turn in the keys. After that, we should be good to go.”
Servi stretched, interlocked her fingers, and raised them high in the air. “That sounds good to me. I still have like four days left, so I hope it rolls over.”
“It should. If not, then we should be able to get a refund.”
“Alright then. Let’s head back to Warden.”
Sometime later, a pair of best friends was about to talk to a stumpy Dwarf who sat nestled in a chair behind a mahogany desk.
“So ye going on a quest, eh?”
Servi replied to the red-bearded Dwarf. “Yeah. We’re on our promotion quest, and we got to go to Arcton. We won’t be here to actually use the rooms.”
Rakred pulled out a registry and began to write. “It ain’t a problem at all. Could ye hand me yer IDs and room keys? Oh, and any meal or bath tickets ye have. Also, have ye emptied out yer rooms?”
Servi and Momo did as he asked and handed over the required materials while answering his question. “Yeah. We did that just a minute ago.”
“This happens quite regularly. What we do is find out how many days ye have left and freeze them. When ye come back, tell us that ye have some stocked days and hand us yer ID. Once ye do, we’ll give ye a key and however many meal and bath tickets ye gave us.”
“That’s cool,” Momo said aloud as she retrieved her ID.
“Alrighty, I have ye two taken care of. Ye both have four frozen days, four meal tickets, and four bath tickets waiting on your return. Good luck on yer quest!”
After thanking Rakred, the two friends walked down to the lobby and went outside. Once they were a bit away, Momo suddenly stopped and turned around. A melancholic expression was present on her face.
“What’s up?” asked her friend.
“I’m gonna miss that building,” Momo quietly murmured. She knew it was stupid and pathetic, but she came to acknowledge that little room with the lumpy and terrible mattress as her home. “Is it weird for me to be sad about this? This is supposed to be a happy moment, right?”
“It is, but what’s wrong? You were practically glowing this morning.”
Momo walked over to a nearby bench and sat down, making sure not to lean back against the backpack. “It took six months to get from my village to here, and the convoy I was in was always moving. In fact, the Warden office was the very first place besides grandpa’s house that I actually slept in multiple times. It was like a second home, and now I’m leaving.” She sighed and slowly shook her head; pink strands of hair like falling cherry blossoms accented her beauty. “I guess I’m just reminded of when I left the village. It feels like I’m not going to come back. Hehe, it’s stupid, right? I’m like, ‘you stupid cat, it’s not the same. There’s a place for you here…’” Momo stared at the ground and sighed as a million thoughts coursed through her mind.
“You stupid cat, it’s not the same. There’s a place for you here.”
“Eh?” she quickly glanced up and Servi, who genuinely smiled.
“I won’t claim to know what happened in your village or the reasons as to why you feel you won’t be able to return, but I do believe you have a place here. We’re best friends, right? And there’s also Claire, Srassa, Dineria, and all the other friends we’ve made.”
“I— You’re right. Thanks, Servi. I guess I was just feeling a bit sentimental,” Momo stood up and parted her hair. With the bright sun as a backdrop, it was a vivid mix of yellow and pink that brought out the beauty of the adorable and cute girl known as Momo.
Her best friend stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. Momo smiled and went in for a hug.
“You know,” she whispered, “That was the first mean thing you ever said to me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be. I guess I was a stupid cat for feeling that way,” she backed up and took a breath. “When we come back from the quest and have dinner, I wanna tell you about my village and why I came here. I wasn’t lying before, but since you’re going to tell me about you, I wanna tell you about me.”
Servi stuck out a hand. Momo realized what was happening, and she shook it. “It’s a deal. Now, we might want to leave soon. Oh, do you have a map? I don’t know how to get to Arcton.”
“Yep!” Momo reached into her bag and pulled out a small map. It was of the surrounding areas, but that was it. “I actually got it when I first came here. Figured it’d be useful for a little while. At least until I leave. Oh, I guess until we leave. Now, Arcton is to the north, so we gotta leave through the north exit.”
“Shall we get to it?”
“Yep!” Momo repeated for the second time. She carefully folded the map and placed it in one of her pouches. “That’s right, I still have those potions we bought when we first met.”
“There’s a chance we may need them, but I’m hoping not. Still, you can’t be too prepared.”
“Agreed.”
And with that, the two friends made their way through the expansive city of Canary and reached the north gate after around forty minutes.
After stepping through the threshold of the gate, the two walked for about fifteen minutes, passing by wagons and walking travelers, before looking back. Servi didn’t have many good memories of Canary, but they did exist. Momo was one of them. Claire, Dineria, and her fellow mentees, and even Fisher, became a part of those jolly memories.
Hell, maybe I do like this city. I might not have my memories, but at least I’m making new ones.
Suddenly, Momo took a deep breath and yelled out as she waved both hands. “GOODBYE, CANARY. WE’LL BE BACK!!!!!” The other people walking flinched and stared daggers into the girl, but she didn’t care. If she was the old Momo, she would have. But the month-long mentorship had done wonders for her self-confidence.
“I wanted to say my goodbyes properly. Now then, let’s finally get to it,” Momo raised a hand to the sky and confidently smiled at her best friend.
Servi gave her a reassuring nod, and the two started to walk.
The three-day journey to Arcton had begun!