Chapter 207 – Setting out again.

“Oh, so back then you were using a fake name? Rodan was it?”

“Yes, something like that, just call me Wayland from now on.”

“Aye, that’s fine.”

Roland had managed to calm everyone down. Soon he gave them a recount of his adventures with a somewhat altered version of them. There was no reason to tell them about the strange cultist that he had a run-in with or his noble roots. After the explanation, he revealed to them that Roland was the fake name and Wayland was the true one.

Luckily his two distant acquaintances probably didn’t care much or had any reason to doubt his words. They had managed to get rid of Grisalde that was now snoozing while resting against the inn table. Her and the halfling girl had argued for another hour and had decided to get into a drinking competition for one last bet.

Roland just wanted to leave the moment it started but all the people in the inn started chanting when the two women continued to down the cheap booze. Even Dalrak and Orson were in on it, it was as if the previous brawl never happened.

It was strange to see the large barbarian lose out, it was clear that the halfling girl had some type of skill that allowed her to stomach barrels of alcohol like it was water. That didn’t stop her from ejecting a large part of it back onto the floor. She was still part of the shorter races.

“We didn’t have time for an introduction, but this is Senna. After we parted on the mainland we had gone through many adventures, she is quite the good tracker.”

She had an interesting tier 2 class that he hadn’t seen before but only read about. This was a somewhat similar class to a rogue but it had various perks to hidden attacks and concealment. From what he knew they were specialized in dagger combat along with throwing skills and even illusionary skills that could confuse their enemy for a devastating blow.

“So it’s just the three of you and you’ll be joining the caravan I’m in?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Replied Orson, who had a strange look on his face when looking at Roland.

“Hah, stop yer staring, no need to be jealous that the kid outpaced ya.”

Dalrak delivered a smack to the back of Orson’s head. During the conversation, he revealed that he was doing this for a rank up quest which meant that he had to have gone through the second tier 2 class change.

“I’m not jealous, you are jealous!”

Orson didn’t take the hit lightly while glaring at Dalrak, who was all smiles. The two seemed to have grown together past the two years they had been adventuring. While they weren’t quite there if they continued with time they might be able to reach tier 3 which would probably be the stopgap.

“Hah, what a lightweight.”

Senna finally returned to the table they were sitting at after going outside to take a breath of fresh air. After the first discharge of unidentified liquids, she was chased out from the inn. It seemed that the innkeeper was fine with fights but not with someone that forced him to mop the floors.

“Wayland was it? Thanks for the backup but I didn’t need any help, everything was under control.”

Now that the girl was closer he could get a better look at her. Halflings did have more humanlike proportions but were about half the size. This girl looked to be about three feet tall, her hair was brown and tied into a ponytail. Her eyes were quite large with a hazel hue to them, she looked somewhat youthful and the constant smile on her face made her seem somewhat cheerful.

“I’ll remember not to intervene next time then…”

Roland just nodded at the smirking girl that might have ended up as a bloodstain on the floor if the barbarian woman stepped on her. She was smug about winning the money and by how it looked there was probably some cheating involved in that card game. Yet with no proof he could only speculate.

“Hey lass, don’t be like that, if it wasn’t for Wayland here we might have been clobbered to death by that lady.”

Dalrak seemed to be the voice of reason as he probably knew that he and Orson would have a hard time handling the woman themselves.

“Ha ha, it was going all according to my plan! You two should have just made a run for it, try thinking from time to time you blockheads.”

Senna on the other hand shrugged while giving out a sigh. Perhaps she was stalling Grisalde so that the two could get out of there before making her own escape. Her Trickster class was focused on agility which allowed her to evade someone with a higher level for so long.

“The caravan will be leaving in a few hours, I’ll see you there then…”

While the halfling started arguing with her two party members Roland decided that it was probably a good time to make his own getaway. Midnight was approaching and they needed to gather before six in the morning. This didn’t leave much time to rest for anyone.

“Aye, we’ll see you there, It’s reassuring to have ye with us, Wayland.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

After giving both Orson and Dalrak a firm handshake he was off. The barbarian woman was left passed out by the table as no one was brave enough to move her. The only person in that position would be Roland but he didn’t want to get into another fistfight if something went wrong either.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

‘This sure is a small world, even though it’s supposed to be much larger than earth.’

After going back to his room Roland wasn’t all that sleepy. The run-in with old acquaintances made him think of some bad outcomes. Perhaps ignoring all safety measures wasn’t such a good idea thus it might be better to stick to wearing his helmet through the entire mission.

“That person from the guild should be there… but until then…”

Roland glanced at his status screen and at one skill that he had somewhat disregarded.

It was an old skill that he had picked up after escaping from his first predicament. It was around the time that he met these two adventurers and a certain nosy assistant. There was so much work to do in his workshop that he mostly forgot to train up.

This skill required constant meditating and focus. But with the amount of work and lack of sleep, it wasn’t the easiest thing to level up. Most of the time he found himself either too tired or too busy to focus on it. Now on the other hand he would be traveling for at least two weeks which left him with a lot of free time.

‘If I max it out I’ll get a flat 25% added to my MP pool.’

Thus Roland closed his eyes and got to it, his body started to faintly illuminate the darkroom he was in as he started to absorb the ambient mana in the surrounding. If he performed this meditative training in an area with higher mana it would certainly speed up the process.