There were designated areas on the edges of the city for carriage drivers and their customers. Sort of like a bus depot. I approached one such depot and saw it was quite busy. All the carriage drivers were mages. They all moved their vehicles by use of magic. I didn’t see a single live horse.
I witnessed one driver use a large glowing ring of magical energy to summon giant wolves to pull his carriage. Coming in was a cart driver that didn’t use anything to pull his car but used magic to push it. He had a steering wheel that turned his front tyres. The ride looked very bumpy and uncomfortable for the occupants of his cart.
I approached the station master and asked, “Can you take me to the Demon Kingdom?”
He was a young and slender man. Rectangular glasses sat on the tip of his large nose, threatening to fall off. His black hair clumped and curled around his face like claws. “Joining the frontlines, are you? Which company are you with?” As he spoke, he kept his eyes on the clipboard he was holding.
“Uh. The spore spreading company?” What a stupid answer that was.
My dumbass answer took the station master’s attention away from his clipboard and onto me. “I see. You’re not very good at lying, are you boy? If you’re not heading towards the Demon Kingdom, you’ll have to pay for one of the civilian or merchant caravans to get you to your actual destination.”
“But I do want to go to the land of monsters!” That was the one thing I wasn’t lying about.
He sighed. “No, you don’t. You want to hitch a ride on one of those military caravans.” He pointed at a collection of carriages with a crowd of strong people surrounding them. “You’re planning on jumping off when you get close to your stop. You’re not the first one to try this trick, you know?” The slender man pushed his glasses up, but they slid down to the same spot they were. He returned to his work.
I wasn’t planning on doing any of what he suggested, but now that he had put the idea into my head, I was swayed towards it. It seemed like none of the civilian-grade carriages would dare travel to the dangerous country border, so I had to travel with the warriors.
I curled my finger into a pinhole and looked at the combatants. I focused my vision on the ones who seemed toughest. Once I had my targets, I looked above their heads. Then I looked above the station master’s head.
[Bodmin]
I crossed my arms and took on an angry tone. “Listen here. My captain, Dunmow, told me to come here and talk to a guy named Bodmin. Stop wasting my time with your stupid theories. It’s men like me that keep stuffed shirts like you safe. Now hurry up and tell me where this Bodmin fellow is!”
Bodmin looked as if a frog got stuck in his throat. He quickly placed the clipboard down and straightened his posture. “I had no idea you were one of Captain Dunmow’s men! Forgive me.” He picked the clipboard back up and fumbled it in his hands. “Uhm, let’s see here. May I know your name so I can mark you down?”
I chose a name from one of the more unremarkable looking characters in Dunmow’s group. “I’m Stanhope. Stan for short.”
Bodmin moved his pen down the clipboard. “Ah, here you are. It seems I’ve already mistakenly marked you as present. My apologies. Please go ahead and meet up with your captain.”
“You’ve already marked me on your register?” I tutted. “The quality of workers here has fallen. See to it that you do better next time.”
He gave me a parting salute as I approached the military convoy. I couldn’t believe that worked. My heart was beating like crazy. I just got a free ride. I was ecstatic. If deceiving people felt this good, no wonder the other Earthlings did it all the time. I had to remind myself not to make this a habit. I was doing this out of necessity. I had no money. To progress towards my goal of salvation for the suffering masses, I had to do this.
I stood around waiting until the carriages were ready to set off. I avoided Dunmow’s squad. I didn’t want that Bodmin guy coming around and looking for me in his group. I was the last to board a different carriage. I sat down in an empty seat nonchalantly, but everyone was looking at me. I kept up a calm façade but internally I was screaming.
“Oi, kid. You’re not part of our team. What are you doing here?” a burly man named Verwood asked me. He was level 48. That was high, I knew. Everyone inside the carriage was high level. Some of their levels I couldn’t even see. They were just question marks.
Impassively I said, “Captain Dunmow told me to come here because his carriage was too full.”
“Don’t lie, kid. He doesn’t have enough men to fill up a carriage. If you’re not with us, you better leave before I make you.”
Damnit, the name drop didn’t work! I was hoping just the mention of Dunmow would make this guy back off, but now he was even more suspicious of me. I ran through a hundred different lies I could tell in my head before landing on the perfect one.
“A measly level 45 fighter dares to question me?”
Verwood was taken aback. “How did you know my level?” He started looking around at his comrades who were equally confused.
I stared deeply into his eyes without blinking. Which was hard because my eyes were really starting to dry up. “And you keep referring to me as a child. Are you not aware that appearances can be deceiving?”
“Erm, well…” The man was growing a budding fear.
“How best to demonstrate that? I know.” I pulled out the pouch of spores. I pinched a tiny amount between my fingers and blew them towards the man. “I’ll use this pixie dust to turn you into a frog. Then you’ll understand the pain of being cursed into a body that doesn’t fit your mind.”
Verwood shielded his mouth with his arms. “Please, don’t!” A muffled cry came from him.
Another person in the carriage shouted for me to stop. “I’m sorry if he offended you,” said a girl wearing a blue wizard hat. “As a fellow mage, I must ask you to quell your indignation.” She looked worried.
“Fellow mage?” I finally got the chance to blink when I changed my attention to the woman who spoke up. I was so glad someone said something. If things went on, everyone would’ve realised I was a fraud when Verwood didn’t turn into a frog. “You think yourself my peer? Answer this, are you a skill mage or a study mage?”
The girl’s eyes widened and she stammered, “I’m a skill mage.” She looked down at her robes a little shamefully.
“A lowly skill mage thinks herself the equal of a study mage? I have researched the magical arts to achieve my greatness while you were gifted spells by the System. Do not challenge me, whelp.”
The girl wilted into her seat. “I apologise for overstepping.”
The other members of the carriage began whispering to each other. “I can’t believe Dunmow got a study mage.”
“They’re notoriously powerful but they hardly ever battle.”
“I feel at ease knowing he’s on our side.”
This felt great! Through my lies, everyone suddenly revered me. I had gained respect from every member of the squad. It was undeserving but I revelled in it. They certainly wouldn’t question my place here anymore. In fact, I could take it further. I could extort Verwood for money. He was a level 45 fighter, so he definitely had some serious coin. With his money I would be able to buy better equipment and maybe some lottery tickets. Buying lottery tickets sounded really good. I returned my gaze to Verwood to squeeze his pockets dry.
I saw the man had been reduced to a shivering, fearful state. He was deathly scared of me. I looked at the mage girl. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She tried her best to stifle her sniffling. A great ball of guilt welled in my stomach. What was I doing? I was taking things way too far. I had already secured my spot on the carriage. Why was I pushing for more like a petty thief? I felt awful. My conscience clawed at me. I wanted to apologize to the both of them, but my rationality told me that would only create suspicion.
The carriage departed for the Kingdom of Monsters. The air around me felt heavy. I regretted my actions. Whenever I looked at Verwood he would shudder. My shoulders slumped further and further down as the carriage ride went on. After hours of travel, I was hunching like an old man.
I was the last to enter so I was sat right at the back. I had a good view of the outside. We were travelling on a hillside path. Down the hill I could see various green trees, green bushes, and green goblins. Wait, goblins? I peered harder at the base of the large hill and saw that there was a group of goblins building a village.
I got up and decided to hop off the carriage to take a closer look. It was also an excuse to escape the suffocating atmosphere.
“Where are you going?” someone asked.
“I must leave. My people need me.” I saluted my companions goodbye and jumped off the carriage. When my feet touched the ground, I started tumbling. I rolled painfully against the hard dirt. I realised I had, in essence, just jumped out of a moving car and expected to land gracefully. “Ow!”
My HP had reduced by 30 points, but apart from that I was completely fine. I dusted myself off.
On the hillside path there was a gentle breeze. This was an excellent place to release the spores. The wind would carry the spores and spread them all over the area. I wondered in my mind, were red caps an invasive species? Was I about to commit eco-terrorism by letting them loose here? It would probably be fine.
I dug through my bag to find the pouch of spores. I was having trouble finding it. I must’ve placed it at the bottom somewhere. No, it wasn’t there. I pulled out all my belongings in an attempt to find it. It wasn’t in my bag. That was alright. I had to have placed it in my pockets. It wasn’t there either.
It dawned on me that I had left the pouch of spores in the carriage. The same carriage that was now disappearing over the horizon. “Oops…”
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