Overlay - Part 7

I felt like I should question her actions but it was keeping in line with how she had continued to act. She continued to train while I returned to the room and tried to figure out what to spend the money on that would be useful.

While later Veronica returned to the room. She raised her hand in greeting before collapsing on her bed. It looks like she had trained more than just her magic, probably excises of some kind. She had fallen sleep almost immediately after that.

I struggled to sleep on a bed. It had been years since I had slept on something comfortable. Finally I managed to drift into a restless slumber.

When I finally woke from my nightmare it was to somebody shouting, “Ha, amazing.” Before slamming the door on their way out of the room. I pulled myself out of the bed trying to remember where I was and what was happening. It must have been Veronica. She was my master now, and a strange one.

I looked around the room. Veronica did not seem to have much luggage and she had put me in charge of buying some stuff today. I pulled out the silver coin she had given me for shopping. Veronica had mostly seemed to be making due with just carrying food and water with her while traveling but that would have problems if they had to camp outside.

When I headed downstairs I was stopped by the innkeeper who said that Veronica had mentioned that I should get fed before I head out. The meal that was set in front of me was actual food, eggs and bread mostly but it was still more than I had expected. I ate quietly wondering if this was some kind of cruel dream.

The last bite was left on the plate far too long and it had gotten cold by the time I actually ate it. However even then it seemed to be more tasty then any of the previous bites.

With plate empty I left to do the shopping that Veronica expected of me. Since the goal was apparently Dungeoncity getting a backpack fill of useful supplies was probably in order. I wasn’t able to get everything I thought would be needed with only a silver piece but several essentials, like rope, were stuffed inside a backpack.

It took many hours to find everything especially because I was trying to keep the prices as low as I could. When everything was done I returned to the inn. I found Veronica in the room reading a book which seemed to be about life magic. She had mentioned that she was studying it. “Ah, welcome back.” She said as I entered.

I set the backpack down before beginning to take everything out of it to organize it. During the shopping I had just placed stuff into I as I bought them.

“Oh, a regular adventurer’s backpack.” Said Veronica as she set down her book and looked over what I got. “A good selection of stuff there, I’m surprised you managed to get that much out of one silver piece.”

“Most of it is used. The flea markets have good prices as long as you don’t want everything used.”

“Flea markets, that sounds exciting. Sorry I couldn’t join you. I went to find a library. Not much luck I’m afraid I had an acquaintance in the merchant guild so I was able to get access to some of their books.”

“Did you find what you were looking for?”

She shook her head, “Not really. I…” She paused for a moment. “I’ll tell you what I was looking for tomorrow. You made sure to get breakfast right? I realized that I had forgotten to make sure you got something to eat yesterday.”

“I’m used to it.” Was all I could say.

“That is no good! Eating is important! I can be terribly forgetful about these kind of things.” She pulled out another silver and handed it to me, “Use this to get whatever food you need to tell me when it runs out.”

“You really shouldn’t be trusting me with this much money. Aren’t you running low?”

“Money is meant to be spent.” She said waving her hand, “Besides I am budgeting the money. However I was told on good authority that the prices are lower here then in Dungeoncity so all of the important spending should be done before we leave. We will have enough to reach the city with some to spare. I don’t suppose you know how well paying being a rookie adventurer is?”

“With the two of us, maybe a silver a day? Assuming we don’t die.”

“Good enough I guess, we will have to work hard to get higher level so that we can get payed more.” Her excitement was palpable. Was it really that exciting to go and become an adventurer.

“Do you have any experience is real combat?” I asked her. She didn’t feel like she had.

“Sure, some wolves and some goblins on the way here. There were some dangerous moments but I didn’t have reliable backup then.”

She had fought, strange, she seemed too chipper to go off and fight more. I guess it must be another part of her eccentric behavior. I could only try my best to avoid getting us both killed. Hopefully she would accept understandable attempts to retreat. I had bad memories about one master who didn’t realize when it was time to retreated except when it was too late.

Before too long Veronica went out to practice more and I decided to take up her offer to spend the silver and got myself a dinner in the inn. Although I did choose a cheap one, it was best to make the money last as long as possible. What I got had mashed potatoes and some small amount of meat and butter. It was delicious.

With the food finished I needed to do some of my own training. I had been in the dungeon for a while so my skills were probably a bit rusty. Mostly I needed to go through the different motions. Yeah, it had been a while. There were a series of training forms that I went between, one after another.

Once I was done I was greeted by some clapping from Veronica. “Wow, amazing! I didn’t realize how much of a difference actual combat jobs and skill ranks made. I’ll have to put in some more work to keep up with you.”

“Those were just training maneuvers. Those kind of movements are harder to actually pull off in the head of combat. And there are people and monsters whose skills far surpass my own. I would say that I am actually a little subpar for level 12. I had some skilled assistance in the combats which were used to gain my level so my skills are not as high as they should be.”

“Power leveling huh? And your skills couldn’t keep up because of that.” She was quiet and contemplative for some time after that so I went on to another one of the training forms.

When I was done with that one Veronica was back to practicing her own magic. She spells kept sputtering out midway. Since they had been perfect yesterday I could only assume that she was trying something strange with them. However she was sweating and I could on the party screen that her mp was almost empty. She would probably be stopping soon.

Since it was rather late at this point that mean it would be time to retire and rest for the journey tomorrow. And since I was already pretty sore and knew better then to strain my muscles too much after not having used them much for a while.

I called out to Veronica, “Don’t spent too much time practicing with your staff. There is a lot of walking to do tomorrow and collapse half way do you?”

She looked over and nodded, “Yeah, just a little longer.”

However she didn’t look like she was planning on stopping any time soon. I wasn’t in any position to say more than I already do so I returned to the room to make any final preparations for the journey and to check if there was anything else important that we needed to buy in the morning.

It was several hours later when I was just beginning to nod off that Veronica finally came in, collapsed on her bed, and fell asleep. I wish I could do that but sleep had never been something that came easy to me. Too many monsters waiting in my memories and nightmares.

When the morning finally crawled through the window to wake me up I noticed that Veronica was already gone from the room. I crawled out of the bed and grabbed the bag. As I brought it downstairs I saw Veronica at one of the tables.

She waved to me and as I got closer she said, “They have pancakes today! Pancakes! Well, almost pancakes, close enough certainly. Here have some. She shoved her plate over to me and motioned to the innkeep to give her other plate.

They were round bread circles with butter on top plus a couple slices of fruit. I took a bite and it was extremely good. Fluffy, hot, and the fruit added a little bit of sweet.

Veronica continued to chat, “I would normally prefer mine a little bit sweeter but they don’t have any sirup and that would probably be more expensive anyways. Oh, thanks.” She took the new plate and began eating that one.

Despite the workout she did yesterday she still seemed very energetic. Once we had finished she asked, “Is there anything else that you think we need before heading out?”

“No, we have everything for the journey.”

“Then let’s go!” She raised her hand to indicate probably excitement.

I followed her out of the inn, making sure to have them fill up our water containers. Water was important for a long journey. It was a bit slow getting out of the city which was crowded in the morning but once we finally got outside of Tortburg Veronica began to pick up the pace.

She was walking very quickly however since she was smaller than me the pace was a bit slower than the one that I would have set.

I waited for her to believe that we were far enough out of the city for her to tell me whatever it was that she was planning on telling me. I had some ideas of what it might be but I didn’t know for certain.

After around three hours she finally stopped. She was looking tired and she said, “Here is a good place for us to take a break and talk.”

“Alright” I responded non-commitadly.

“Now it is time for me to reveal my true identity.” She struck a pose. “I am not just a cute Elementalist seeking to become an Adventurer. I am actually a hero from another world come to save this one!” She sounded very falsely dramatic.

Ah, she really was insane.

She seemed to sense my disappointment and she broke her pose and grabbed my shirt pulling on it, “No, really, really. I didn’t actually come her to save this world, well not intentionally, but I am really a hero. I have the job and everything. And I did actually come from another world.”

“If you say so it must be true.” I said. However internally I was upset. A hero, impossible. What sort of fool did she think that I was with a lie like that.

“You don’t believe me.” She had a mopy look but she hadn’t yet given up, “However I will be able to prove it. My hero job gives me a special talent. It grants bonus points to be spent on giving ranks in skills. How do you think that I got rank 14 Mana Reserves. Through that talent!”

That was fishy, a talent that gave you improved skill ranks when you leveled. There was no way that such a convienent talent existed.

“Can you see the exact number of my mp?” She asked.

We were in a party so I glanced up at her icon at the top. “Yeah, 138 mana.”

She smiled brightly, “Now watch as it goes up!”

Then impossibly it went up to 143 mana.

“You saw that didn’t you! I saved a couple of my bonus skill points and just spent one improving Mana Reserves to rank 15.”