Good Night

In this deal, there is one problem. I am not a local, far from being one, in fact, but luckily, Nila indeed has a map of this region which further makes it easier to prove my indispensability in this case. She takes it out of her suitcase, which is seemingly stocked with all kinds of garbage, both useful and absolutely useless. Among other things, I saw coins of different sizes, books with plants and some mice on covers, as well as a robe, several bones of unknown animals, glass bottles with suspicious liquids and dried meat. She keeps dried meat besides everything else! No wonder the map and seemingly everything inside is so greasy to touch.

"Are you sure you are not some kind of witch?"

"Why would you think that?" she tilts her head, no doubt across her unperturbed face.

I sigh and reply, "Nevermind." Then, I have a look at the map that she gave me. From here on stems another problem, I can't read whatever is written here, but I recognize the paths along the Wülgenville along with roads to houses on the outskirts that I pillaged. The skill of reading maps was essential for me whenever I planned my escapes through the streets and sewers, or when I had to infiltrate some bigger place like a museum, for that I would always learn its construction plan. Finally, at least some instance of my knowledge from my home place comes in handy, I am easily able to pinpoint the vague location of Nila's hut, with the beacon being the cliff I fell from earlier.

"So, how is it? Will you be able to find a way out of Schöltum?" she suddenly asks, to which I narrow my brows, raise my eyes at her and reply, "Do not rush me!"

I further examine the map and notice how the whole region abruptly ends along the line, with only black lands going further. This must be the monster realm I have heard about from nearly everyone I interacted with. Up north from that cliff, a little further away from Nila's hut, I can see a village mapped out. To the left and right from the village, there are two big cities, the one on the right is larger than Wülgenville, and another one is smaller, although nearly the same size. The map does not look too old, which makes me believe that all of these locations are still intact. I point at the picture of a bigger city and look at Nila.

"Is this the place where you need to go?"

"Yes, Wiskoscha. It borders the narrowest path through the monster realm and onto the Dlayla region."

She points at the dark black lands with something written in big letters, seems like my assumption is correct. I nod at her explanation, but then wonder, "But would it be possible to travel through any other direction?"

"It certainly would, but that path through Wiskoscha saves time significantly, moreover, there is a higher possibility of getting lost in the monster realm upon taking liberty in its passage. I surely do not want to be stranded there."

"Is the monster realm really that dangerous?"

Nila shakes her head with a smug expression, "Certainly not for me, I am a mage after all. Even you should be safe, if your story about slaying the darewolf is real."

"It is real." I say with a stern voice, to which Nila blankly continues, "The main problem comes with the lack of intelligent life along the monster realm. There are no villages, roads or any kind of houses. Maybe abandoned buildings here and there built by someone delusional enough to try to live there. If we get stranded in the monster realm, then we won't be seeing civilization for quite a while."

I understand her reasoning and after finding myself a few times at the brink of death, while staying in the wilderness, I agree with her. It truly is not worth it, having a new start as a hermit. I failed, after all, so I doubt that anyone would be able to do that in this world.

Afterwards, she points at the village nearby and says, "Then how about we move out tomorrow and stop at this village? I am low on supplies, with even everything I managed to forge."

"Does not this region work on equal exchange? What are we gonna offer them for supplies?"

"This is simple." She takes out her wand as if from thin air, I peek behind her back to see where she hid it all this time, but then she pops up in my line of sight, "I am a mage with decent knowledge in magic, I am sure there will be some work that we can do."

Well, I am only capable of stealing and destroying. I doubt raising this village to the ground would be anyhow helpful, but who knows what kind of nasty people might be living there. If I have to, then I will certainly do that in order to protect myself. But I must be relatively safe with Nila around, in the end, she seems to be a better magic user than Michael, whom I killed.

I nod in agreement to her plan and try to engrave the whole map into my head for the rest of the day. When the night has fallen upon the forest, Nila increases the intensity of the blue light above the hut. It works well as a night light, but I really do not like to sleep in the light. It is much easier to flee or fight back someone in total darkness, when both of our visions are abstracted. But once I ask Nila to turn it down, she only shakes her head and says but three words: "We need protection."

I am too tired to enter the debate about it, if she feels like we require it, then so be it. I simply bury myself in the cloak I am wearing, I put the twig I gnawed onto under the pillow made of moss and fall asleep with my one eye open as per usual. Nila, however, remains outside not willing to share the hut with me, which is fine as long as I stay in comfort.

Through the weariness, I hear the last words pronounced in a gentle manner, "Good night." but no answer comes from me.