CHAPTER 74: CHAPTER 74 - THE ADVENTURERS’ CAMP

The next day, we are having breakfast and planning our next move.

"Now that we are set on exploring a dungeon, I remember that yesterday we heard a group of adventurers talking about one."

"Which one, Aurea?"

"It’s one near Alderbury. Apparently it’s quite difficult for normal adventurers, so they mostly steer away from it."

"Oh, I know that one. The Laughing Crypt is the name, no?"

"Yes, Mom, that’s the name! Lovelace, what do you think? Should we go there?"

"They seemed pretty scared by the place, but I think that it should be okay for the three of us."

"The two of us. Aurea is not going."

"What?? Mom! Why am I not going?"

"Because dungeons are not places for children, Aurea. Simple like that."

This is not the time to play the overprotective mother, Miss Lillian.

"But I am powerful enough! And I’m experienced. I rescued Lovelace, after all."

That dungeon was quite low level, except for Lovelace herself, but let’s shelve that.

"I think she’s able to do it, Lady Lillian. She’s been doing solo raids in the Barrens at night for years. She is probably one of the humans with the highest level in the whole world."

"That’s not the point. No matter how powerful she is, she’s still a child. Dungeons are treacherous places. They are to be taken seriously, and not like a weekend trip."

Ugh, that one hit the mark. Exploring a dungeon has, in fact, been my nerdy wet dream since I first started playing tabletop RPGs in my early teens.

So I was indeed looking forward to it, like a ten-year-old who has been told that they’re going to an amusement park on the weekend. She obviously noticed that.

"Down there, if you go half-hearted, you end up cut in half. If you aren’t paying attention and being serious about every little step, you don’t get back to the overworld. No matter how powerful you are."

"I... I’m sorry, I got too excited, Mom. But please, I promise I will pay attention, and I won’t be a hindrance. Please."

"I don’t promise anything. We’ll see when we get there."

Lovelace didn’t say a word after Lillian’s argument. She has a point, after all. And both Lovelace and I know how my cockiness almost cost me my life back then.

:::

We go around the city of Evergrove without entering it, then take the same main road that leads towards the capital.

The city of Alderbury is the third one after Evergrove, so we’re expecting to arrive there in three days.

You see, one feature of a world without cars and in which horses and similar mounts are expensive is that there’s a limit to how far away things can be from each other.

For normal, rural areas, the max distance anyone would be from a town center with a market is one that the average person would be able to go to in the morning, do their business, and head back home and arrive around sunset.

Which means that two town centers are usually one day’s march from each other. Of course, that time shortens if you have large strides or a horse.

That’s why I count the days we’ll take by the number of cities we’ll have to pass by.

The three of us could strengthen our bodies and run really fast for long distances, but that would cause a commotion we don’t want. And we aren’t in a hurry anyway.

Outside the city walls there are camping sites run by the adventurer’s guild. They are for adventurers that can’t (or don’t want to) pay for lodging at an inn.

You don’t need to be a registered adventurer to be allowed to set up a tent for a night there. But if you want to stay more than one night, then you have to prove you’re registered.

It’s considered a safe area, and there are some unwritten codes of conduct about not fussing in other people’s business.

Obviously, there are always transgressors, but the guild usually has people there to maintain order. And transgression comes with a high cost in the guild’s rankings.

When petty stuff can set you aback in the gamified rankings of your profession, in which you literally put your own life on the line to rise, then everyone tends to keep more to themselves. Or just quit the profession.

And the higher-ranking adventurers are the first to help dissuade any troublemakers that might appear.

After all, the last thing they want is to have their own rankings stained because of a random fool.

So that’s the reason we’re camping there while traveling. In that place, we don’t need to be on guard all the time, as long as Mother and I don’t reveal our hair color.

We have a tent that is made in the beastkin style, which might stand out a bit. But Lovelace quickly stated that we simply took it from a group of beastkin bandits.

We’re sharing a tent that is bigger than the one I used to share with Yaci, but just enough to have space for the three of us.

The beastkin pass most of their day outside the tent and normally only get inside to rest and sleep.

But we’re staying inside it the whole time we are at the camp. Even as it is supposedly a safe space, the less we make ourselves seen, the better.

And for that, it is a bit cramped. But we are making do. We lived in worse conditions before, after all.

One improvement from when I lived with Yaci is that nobody sleeps naked at my side anymore.

Which is also a worsening. I miss her so much already. Especially the way she hugged me at night.

Lovelace only needs to sleep two to three hours per day, so she passes a lot of time sitting in silent contemplation.

I wonder what she thinks so much about.

Sometimes she seems to be happy in our daily lives. There are moments in which she really looks like that smiling girl from the depictions in the temple.

In those moments she looks like a radiant sun.

But that shine in her eyes soon vanishes, the smile strained, her face betraying a deep sorrow.

I want so much to ease that sadness. To soothe her and give her the happiness she deserves so much.

"Can I lie down here?"

"Huh? Okay..."

She’s taken aback with my sudden request but agrees to it. I then lay my head on her lap. It’s so warm and comfortable.

I hope that after she retrieves her memories, she’ll have an easier time building a new life for herself. Be it alone or with someone else.