Chapter 86: Planning on empty stomach
Chapter 86: Planning on empty stomach
Since Yvenna’s eloquence wasn’t her best quality, or even in top ten, I and Rosha had to step up to explain Risha the details of my origins, my arrangements with cultists and my future plans. Which brought us to what I originally went to see Yvenna for.
“So, is there anything interesting in the surroundings? Any quests in the Guild, Yvenna?”
She jerked her shoulder. “Eh. Not really. It’s all Frost Griffins and Birds of Paradise. I think they just ate everything that was smaller than them. Ah, and Demonic Snails. Nasty creatures, but I don’t see how they’d be good for you, Devourer. They are only this big,” Yvenna gestured around the height of her waist, “and have all that slime and tentacles on them. Farmers hate them because they chew on their crops and spread that slime everywhere they don’t chew, but why’d you need slime?”
Indeed, why would I? Especially since I had ‘Mucus’ on the list of abilities I could evolve already, and it just wasn’t worth it. I tsked.
“No luck at all, Yvenna? That’s bad.” Griffins were a good meal, but since I had abilities from them, I would be better off hunting something new. Maybe Birds of Paradise… with my claws that could break stone, I’d be able to pierce their steel feathers. I didn’t feel like evolving those myself, though.
Yvenna clenched her teeth, as if stopping herself from saying something, and just lowered her head in either agreement or shame. After a moment, she regained her composure and spoke again.
“Yeah, that’s fucked. But, but, I got something else. I’ve asked around some, threatened to bash some heads, and got that rumour about Blue Caves. Well, Blue Caves is just caves under Blue Mountains, but I’ve got stories that there are some old ruins of, like, a civilisation in there… or just smarter monsters, like kobolds, who build stuff. And that all the caves connected, and you can go through them right to the tops of the mountains where dragons live. I’ve been in these caves, hunted spiders for their webs, but I knew I’d get lost if I went deeper, so I didn’t. But I’ve heard, too, that there are all sorts of monsters living under, where no one sees, just eating each other.”
“I’ve heard things like that, too.” Rosha nodded, narrowing her eyes. “Armoured Cave Spiders are known to live in these caves, but they rarely come close to the surface. Underground… there are many monsters, most of them blind, from small to huge. I can write down what I remember for you, Voren. Though this is the first time I hear about any ruins.”
“But it’s possible, isn’t it?” Risha almost jumped in her seat with enthusiasm. “Maybe they aren’t ruins at all, but cities of monsters!”
“Why are you so happy about it?” I gave her a suspicious look. “You aren’t going there, either way.”
That calmed Risha down, but only a little. She gave me a bright smile. “I know I’m not made for adventuring like this, so I live vicariously through you! Underground ruins… this is just like in these stories about treasure hunters we read as children, remember, Rosha?”
Rosha’s serious face softened. “Yeah, as long as you don’t try to become their main hero.”
I inclined my head, mulling over Yvenna’s information. If underground was anything like underwater, it was a home for many strange beasts… And for me, strange meant getting abilities I didn’t yet have. I would have to evolve something for orienting in the dark for this trip—heatvision and heightened smell would work well, preferably together. And the dragons…
Oh, I’d love to eat a dragon. But first, I’d make sure I can take one on.
Plus, these caves sounded like a place where you could not see a single adventurer for months. This was great, too. I had no desire to meet any of them.
“Alright, thanks for the tip, Yvenna. I will go hunt in these caves as soon as I prepare for the trip.”
“Hey, wait, you mean alone? Take me with you! I will help you hunt and shit.” Yvenna demanded.
I shook my head. “You are more of a burden than a help in a team. Just accept that! In a fight, you swing your axes with no care for what you hit, even if that’s me, and out of fight, you’d be just too slow! You’d need light to see, fire to cook—and who knows if there’s even anything to make said fire? And so on and so forth.”
“This is bullshit!” Yvenna protested. “I can eat stuff raw, I did this a hundred of times!”
“Is this the only point you have protests about?.. Yvenna, stop complaining. Just keep on adventuring as you did, sell materials from monsters to Rosha, buy new equipment from her, use profits for the good of my grand quests. That’d be helpful, too. Oh, and while I’m still in the city, I’d like to spar with you later.”
“Spar?” Yvenna’s eyes, more dim than angry before, brightened. “Sign me in for that!”
“It’d be nice for someone to sell their salvage from monsters to me.” Rosha noted. “Maybe you can ask other adventurers to do the same? Or… browbeat them into it, since this is, apparently, just what you do.”
Yvenna grinned. “I’d love a reason to beat someone. If Devourer asks—”
“Devourer asks you to help Rosha with whatever she needs you to, and the other way around.”
Yvenna nodded. “Sure thing, then.”
“I and Risha won’t be in the Tinaris for much longer, though. We have to go back to Glesk after we are done with the eggs. There’s my store, after all. But maybe there’s something to be arranged with Tinaris, too. Maybe a place for people to leave orders for me, so I could craft items in Glesk and arrange their transport to Tinaris?”
I shrugged. “Do what you want. Just…” I eyed her, then Yvenna. “So, now that’s decided, what do you know about threesomes?”