60 A slow morning

Chapter 60: A slow morning

/Howdy y'all! This' Bill, yer friendly neighbourhood farmer. I've decided that from tahday on, I' document my journey and how things go fer me.

So, I guess that means this marks the first entry of ma diary here. Tahday me n ma pops went out n tiled the fields. It's soon ta be sowing season, and we need to get everything prepped n ready before we actually get our crops in.

This year's gonna be a helluva lot a' corn again. That, n some roots, gotta keep many mouths fed. At the least the chicks are doing well, and things aren't looking like we'll suffer from roughness anytime soon.

Occasionally we have the king's men stop by, me lil' sis can always tell when they be coming by the steps up the street. Heavy metal boots make decent noise, even on dirt road.

Taxes've gone up last couple years. A sack of grain turned to two, then to three. Nowadays they come to collect a dozen eggs, a couple sacks, and even some roots n milk on top. I feel bad for the little one, me new baby brother. Cub needs more to grow big n strong, but Berta's growing older, and she ain't giving as much as she used to.

That's why I've made up me mind. I may not be the sharpest tool in e' shed, in fact, I bet our old scythe cuts the fields much better than me, but I've been blessed with good stature at least. I'll do my best to take over this farm, try to take some weight off poor pops' back, see if I can't get things running a little quicker sometime soon.

So yeah, this has been it for today. I need tah run off, pay a visit to old Jenkins at the market, get a new wheel for the plough. I'll take another entry another time./

Entry 1 from "A Farmer's Diary".

- - - - - -

Mercury woke up not too long after he talk with old Dreamweaver. Getting used to their new name was certainly a little jarring, but he was sure he'd manage. There were other people he knew who went through much more drastic changes, simply learning a name surely wasn't too much to ask.

Honestly, he woke up pretty happy. Uunrahzil was a great teacher, and an even greater mentor. They were patient, calm, and happy to acknowledge when he made progress. It was fine if he made a mistake, or even a couple, as long as he learned from them and tried to improve.

For a moment, he shook his head in disbelief. If only all the teachers he had ever had were like that, maybe he wouldn't have dropped out. Then again, maybe not. The enormous amount of debt was still quite jarring to see, and he wasn't too displeased having only taken up a little.

Ah, but now wasn't quite the time to get lost in thought. He had someone to meet. Right, just a step out of bed and- UGH! Oh, fuck, ah damn it, holy shit, ow, ow ow ow ow...

How the hell had he forgotten that his entire body was about as busted up as he could get it without crippling himself? He literally looked like some abomination mummy sidekick from a horror film, the kind that was in there for comedic relief. Jeez, dude.

Okay, okay. Slow and steady breaths. He had to make sure he didn't overexert himself. After something like that last war, he definitely just needed a bit of a break. Actually, he more than needed a break. Maybe it was lucky that Avery didn't send a nurse after him, because they might have actually chained him to a bed, and he couldn't have that.

Not as long as his trusty log was still lost.

And with that resolve, Mercury got out of bed with a whole lot of complaining in his own mind. Was scheduling really so hard that he couldn't afford to rest in bed for a bit? Even his mana veins felt all busted and sore inside, and his stamina was much worse. His muscles, and bones, and head...

At the very least it wasn't a stinging pain. It was more of a slow, grinding pain, no, it depended. His muscles were pulsating with waves, his bones were usually quiet unless he made a wrong move or took too deep a breath. His mana veins felt like a raspy throat, except all throughout his body, and his stamina vessels felt itchy and numb, a little like a burnt tongue.

It all combined into a strange cacophony of background noise in his mind, and quite frankly, if the system didn't give him a pain resistance Skill now, it was never coming.

...

...

Dang, seems like he couldn't keep his hopes high.

Mercury let out a long sigh. maybe it was something hidden deep behind the many layers of stats, some passive effect from somewhere, because quite frankly, if he was still the same guy as he used to be on Earth, he certainly wasn't forcing himself out of bed on a day like this. He would much rather hand in a doctor's notice postmaturely, and spend the entire day in his bed...

No! Get it out of your mind, Mercury! Now wasn't the time to think about the soft, glorious luster of a soft mattress and warm sheets!

Damn it!

Wrestling with his own thoughts, Mercury slowly made his way out of the adventurer's guild. It was still early, and things were still recovering. The streets were empty, filled with rubble, though the stench of iron had faded and been replaced with the dusty air of decay.

The whole city was a sorry sight to see. Whole buildings reduced to nothing but rubble, shops crashed, telltale signs of carnage all over the place. Honestly, looking at all of it again was depressing. Yesterday had been so full of action, of adrenaline, that he had simply charged ahead without thinking of what he left behind.

Sure, in the end, they had won. But did they really?

Maybe this was why everyone always said war had no winners. Everyone loses. People die, and now that he thought about it, Mercury probably made a lot of people sad the other day. Some of the soldiers he killed might have been fathers or mothers, they might have been brothers, sisters, friends or children.

Thinking it all over again, was he really in the right to kill them? After all, he didn't have any family here. If his brother had gone to war and died, how much would his wife have cried? How much would Mercury's niece have cried?

The cat let out another long sigh. Man, this shit was rough. It had only been a day and he was already feeling pangs of guilt. Was there really no other way? Kill or be killed, was that all there is to this world? An endless deluge of murder and terror, of loss and de-

"Mercury? What are you doing here?" he heard someone ask from... pretty much right next to him.

"Hm?" The mopaaw quickly turned his head to see Marcel, in more casual clothes, though still carrying his slightly bloodied staff in his hands. "Oh, hi. Whattup man."

"Nothing much," Marcel said with a sigh. "Lending the healers a hand where I can, some first aid and some magic. On break right now though, it's been exhausting. Decided to help out in the latter half of the night shift."

"Sounds rough," Mercury said.

"It is. Not exactly great work. I'm not a doctor, nor a cleric, I can't reattach limbs or make the blind see. It's frustrating, bringing the news to people. Some scream and yell, others burst out in tears and bawl, and some just freeze up, dejected. It's a sad sight."

"Wow, okay, sounds really fucking rough."

"And what has you up so early, friend?" Marcel asked, tilting his head a little.

"I'm meeting the master of the Mages' Guild. Wait, actually. I don't know where that is. I said they should come to me. I autopiloted all the way here. God damn it." The cat let out a long sigh after talking, hearing only a hollow chuckle from his trusted receptionist buddy.

"That also sounds pretty annoying. If you're lucky, you can catch them before they start heading over. Mages are sleepyheads, you knew that?"

"All of them?" Mercury asked.

"No exceptions," Marcel said, crossing his arms and nodding.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Dang, dude."

"Yeah, tell me about it." With a sigh, Marcel dropped his hands to his side and sat down on the dusty floor.

"Your pants are gonna get dirty."

"The air is fucking dirty the hell do you want me to do about it? Actually, what do you even know, you aren't wearing pants!"

"No need to get so snappy," Mercury said calmly, before stopping himself. "Actually, you're right. Sorry, things have been hard for you." He sat down next to the receptionist for a short break himself

"Sigh, it's fine. You're also right, I did get a little too angry. This night has been... a lot. I mean, look at all this," he said, gesturing around them. "We've barely started picking up the pieces, yet every person I bandage up, another two swing by in front of my door. Starting to understand why clerics always seem so dull. Shit fucking grinds away at you."

"Yeah, I really get that. Doctors have it rough. Never assumed you were one to swear though," Mercury said, giving his friend a sideways glance.

"I sear as much as I damn want," Marcel said with a wry smile, "just not on duty. Need to be professional and everything."

"I think I like you a bit better like this," Mercury replied, staring towards the sky. "Seems more honest, less sly."

"Who're you calling sly, goddamn mummy ass looking dustbag," Marcel said with a shake of his head, lightly tapping Mercury's side.

"Yeowch," the cat replied half-heartedly. It hurt very slightly, but he appreciated the joke.

"Ah, dang. Gotta be back on my way now, Merc. Things need doing, and unfortunately, I can somewhat get them done. I'll talk to you a little later my man," Marcel said as he got up, patting his clothes down, before realizing the futility of the endeavour.

"Later," Mercury said, watching as Marcel gave a small wave and headed off.

Well, at the very least he now knew where the guild was. Sigh, what a pain, what a pain.

- - -

After a couple more minutes, Mercury arrived in front of the tower Marcel had pointed him to. It was decently easy to see, being a tall building that was still standing perfectly fine despite everything else in the city looking like a four year old's sandcastle.

The tower was quite far to the northwest of the city, and if he didn't know any better, he'd have assumed it to be part of the nobles' quarter. Well, in that case he probably wouldn't want to get too close to it probably. Depends on the person, but in general, from his experience, the super rich weren't as pleasant as normal people. On average at least.

But he was looking at the Mages' Guild right now, so thy probably weren't that rich. Heh, if they had money, they'd probably spend all of it on research materials. That was a funny thought, bunch of witches and wizards in labcoats, wearing nets under their heads and over their big, bushy beards.

It'd make him laugh if that didn't cost him a rib and a half. After some consideration, Mercury knocked on the door.

...

A couple of moments later, it swung open with a creak, making a sound like a rusty old door. Wait, actually, the hinges were just rusty.

Mercury shook his head. Atmosphere or lack of upkeep? He wasn't too sure. Anyways, he still decided to step in, since he wasn't really expecting anyone to come see him outside.

The hall he first entered was a little bigger than the gloryhall funnily enough. It had a couple of tables, round ones, though much more spaced apart, and the counter felt like it was more split off from the rest of the room due to a long, wooden cabinet lining the ceiling. Behind it stood a middle aged woman, wearing a light blue long-sleeved shirt.

"Anything you need?" she asked in a polite, if a little tired tone.

"Nothing much," Mercury said. "Actually, why are you speaking to me normally?"

"We get a couple beastkin round here, and when an experiment goes wrong, people always end up looking a little more animalistic than usual. Had a frog hit on me once," she explained.

"Oh, that's fair enough then. Did a lot of things go wrong yesterday?"

"More than you'd hope, less than you'd think. Experiments are safer than what most folk expect them to be. We're decently careful when handling dangerous magic after all."

"Decently?" Mercury asked.

"Decently," the woman answered, leaning her head on her hand. "So, you just looking for a chat, or you here for anything in particular?"

"Right, sorry. Esmeya, the guild master, I promised to see her today."

"Really?" The woman raised her eyebrows a little in surprise, though they soon sank down again. "Good luck with that. Guild master's gonna be ready to speak in a couple hours at best."

"... Why?"

"Hell if I know. I'm a regular old worker, doing part time magic. Don't know what the guild master does in her free time, don't need to know."

"Huh. You never get curious?" Mercury asked, tilting his head.

"A little. I listen in to all the rumors, chatty newbies love the topic. All kinds of weird noises going on in the higher parts of the tower, you never know where, who, or what they're coming from. Might be a summoning spell, might be someone showering, and occasionally, when it sounds especially explosive, someone may have decided to finally clean things up." The woman ended her talk with a crooked smile, almost as though she was indulging in a particular memory.

"That sounds... exciting."

"Only for the first couple months. As all things do, it dulls over time. Though whenever someone leaves with a face full of ash and their eyebrows gone, it's still a sight to see," the woman said, the smile staying on her lips.

"I can imagine," Mercury replied, with a slight nod. "Well, if Esmeya isn't here yet, can I just wait here?"

"Do I look like security or a barkeeper? If things aren't hectic, stay where you want. Look around, explore, and pray you don't touch something you shouldn't. Insurance doesn't cover those kinds of bills."

Mercury shuddered at the thought.

"The treatment is expensive?"

"Hah! No, it's affordable, but good luck finding someone to take care of you right now, mummypaw. You best bet is to ask whoever's experiment you fricked up to turn you back to normal, and well, if I know the people here, it'll take a handful of tries."

"On second thought, I might just stay here," Mercury said.

"Maybe a good call, though it certainly is the less amusing one," the woman said. "Name's Gilah, yours?"

"Mercury," the cat replied.

"Nice to meet you, mittens."

"Mittens?" Mercury could amost feel one of his veins pop when he heard the cutesy name.

"Yeah. Mummy kitten," Gilah said, her teeth slightly showing in her wry smile. "I'm mocking you."

"Oh," Mercury said, his rage extinguished like a candle in a bucket of water. "It's not meant to be cutesy?"

"Nah, not in particular. Why?"

"I dislike cutesy nicknames. Mockery is fine," Mercury said.

"Mittens it is," Gilah replied with half a shrug. "If it starts pissing you off too much, tell me before you pour a vial of acid onto my face."

"That happen before?"

"No."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Yes."

"How?!"

- - - - - -

Esmeya was peacefully doing her morning routine, taking care of her hair, making sure to select a proper looking robe, checking up on the crystals she was growing, casting a couple tiny rainclouds on the orchids in her room, and doing all things a proper witch does in the morning.

And then, after some time had passed, and she was done with all the things that needed urgent doing, she decided it was time to engage in her curiosity. She knocked on Elliot's door, yelled at the boy to be down in 15 minutes, or she'd leave without him, and the hummed a slight tune as she decended the stairs.

Eventually, she seemed to hear something though.

"And then he-"

"Oh my goodness, really?! Ahahahaha!!"

What the hell was that?

Esmeya quickly hurried her steps down the stairs, half stumbling into the empty reception hall, seeing a mopaaw sit on the counter, right next to Gilah, both with small glasses in front of them, and their face full of tears of laughter.

"The hell is going on here?!"