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Lindyss sat on a rocking chair in the middle of a forest with oddly shaped trees. In her hands, there were two knitting needles with a large ball of yarn attached to it. Not too far away, Vur was curled up beside a crackling campfire, one arm placed underneath his head. Melody, Kax, Miranda, and Jeffery were sitting around the fire as well, wooden plates full of food in their hands.
A portal opened not too far away, and Tafel stepped through accompanied by a gust of hot air. As the portal closed behind her, her horns dimmed, and she took a look around. “All of you are back so soon?” she asked before going over to Vur’s side and squatting beside him. He opened one eye, his golden irises focusing on the demon.
“Oh,” Vur said and sat up. “Hi, Tafel. You’re here.” His root bracelet flashed amber, and he retrieved a metal bowl filled with meat. “I have something for you.”
Tafel blinked as she took the bowl. “Why does this look like pet food?”
Vur shrugged. “It tastes good,” he said. “I used all the geums you gave me on it.”
“On this one bowl?”
“No,” Vur said. “There was another bowl, but I already ate it.”
“I see,” Tafel said and took a seat beside Vur. “The food’s still warm; I wonder what kind of storage function the root bracelet uses. If I could store freshly cooked meals, that’d be a game changer.” She grabbed a piece of meat with her bare hand and bit into it. Her eyes lit up, and she swallowed. “This is pretty good. What is it?”
“Fermented alligator meat,” Vur said.
Tafel stared down at the bowl in her lap. Then, she shrugged. As long as it tasted good and wasn’t cannibalism, who cared what it was? She turned her attention onto the rest of the group. “How about the rest of you?” she asked. “Did you guys spend the fifty thousand geums as well?”
“I bought a brewing kit and a few other instruments required for alchemy,” Melody said. “I also bought a few annotated textbooks and some recipes. Although it won’t be as good as hiring someone to teach me, I’ll be able to learn on my own while following Feathered Serpent up the tower.”
“You can just call him Vur, you know,” Tafel said. “There’s no need to address him as Feathered Serpent.”
“Yeah,” Melody said, dragging out the word. “I don’t think so. It’d be similar to addressing my mom or dad by their first names. It doesn’t feel right.”
Tafel scratched her head. “Well, it’s your life,” she said before shifting her gaze onto Kax. “How about you, Kax? What’ve you been up to?”
“Kax follow Mistress,” Kax said, causing Tafel to turn her head towards Lindyss.
“We’ve spent our share,” Lindyss said. “I bought some knitting supplies, and I had Kax purchase some other supplies we might need during our journey. I also purchased some souvenirs for you to give your family back home because I’m sure neither you nor Vur have given them a single thought. You’re welcome.”
“Oh,” Tafel said and lowered her head to stare at her food. It was true; she hadn’t thought about getting souvenirs for the people back on Erde. She was too focused on improving her mastery over her flames. “Thanks.” She offered the bowl towards Lindyss. “Do you want some?”
“No thanks,” Lindyss said.
Tafel withdrew the bowl and put another piece of meat in her mouth before looking at Miranda. The bald monk blinked in return and pointed at herself. Tafel nodded. Miranda cleared her throat and said, “I’m still experimenting with different weapons. So far, I think my favorite weapon so far is the rifle.”
“Rifle?” Tafel swallowed and asked. Images of the weapon Ashley had used came to the demon’s mind. “It is pretty powerful. If we encounter more people who use lethal, long-ranged weapons as we climb the tower, we’ll have to come up with a way to counter them.”
“It shouldn’t be too difficult to come up with a solution,” Lindyss said. “If nothing could defeat rifles, then they’d be the most dominant weapon. Since they aren’t, it stands to reason people have already come up with ways to minimize the damage they do. I’ll ask around tomorrow and see if I can’t find out.”
Tafel nodded. “How about you, Jeffery?”
The old man cleared his throat. “I, uh, I spent my day furnishing and remodeling, bought some seeds, drank, you know,” he said and scratched his head. “This is a pretty nice place to retire. I’ll stay out of your group’s way as much as possible, don’t want to disturb your tower climb and all.”
“Suit yourself,” Tafel said. She stretched out her legs, placing her feet closer to the fire. “Since we’ve all spent fifty thousand geums, should we move on to the next floor? I told those blacksmiths I’d be back tomorrow, but if all of you are done with the third floor, I don’t want to hold the group back.”
“You could stay if you wanted to,” Lindyss said. “Although it isn’t that detailed, I purchased a guidebook for the first ten floors. Like Kim Hajun said, they’re mostly there to teach and prepare newcomers. The tower connects to some worlds where fighting isn’t commonplace, and people with zero combat experience enter as well. For people like us, we can blitz through the next floors in a day or two.” The cursed elf’s eyes narrowed. “Well, we should find Kim Hajun and ask him some questions just in case there’re any hidden or special pieces we might be missing out on if we clear the floors too quickly.”
“Is Kim Hajun necessary for finding hidden pieces?” Miranda asked and tilted her head. “Wouldn’t Vur find any pieces if he took a look around the floors?” As far as she knew, Vur was the hidden-piece detector; Kim Hajun was just a freeloader.
Lindyss shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt to ask. It’s not like Kim Hajun is brave enough to say no.”