Chapter: 110

After arriving home, he ate the remainder of his rations before going to bed.

—

“Only one. I want to be on point tomorrow.”

“Sure, Kel. Want some water then?”

“Yes please” Kel smiled at Mark.

“Here ya go. Looking forward to tomorrow huh?” Mark said as he sat down at the table “Jay seems like a decent guy, I hope he looks out for us.” Half-smiling as he looked out the window of the snakeraven inn, Mark had a sip of his beer.

“I’m sure we’ll be fine, even without him.” Kel replied, as she thought to herself “Mark sure doesn’t make eye contact very much…” she looked out the window to see what Mark was looking at.

“At first, it seemed like he didn’t really care, but now that I think about it, maybe he’s just a little bit damaged, perhaps from his past. I wonder what happened to him… nothing seems to be able to make him angry or annoyed…” Kel sipped her water, as she could only imagine what unfortunate event made Mark the way he was; even at his worst his attitude just made him seem disinterested and apathetic, while at his best, he smiled and joked to no end.

“I guess there’s some damage that can’t be healed.” Kel thought to herself as she drank down her water “I wonder how many people have just passed him off as being rude or something… poor guy”.

Kel was a deep thinker, and the deep thinking only added to her introverted ways, though Mark didn’t mind as he was just happy to have some company, and after doing a dungeon with her he felt like he had a friend he could possibly start to trust.

“Maybe soon we can find someone else to add to the party too.” Mark thought, thinking of Jay “Hmm, maybe not Jay. It seems like life is taking us in different directions.”

Mark finished his beer and ordered another, having Tamara serving him from the bar again before he returned to his table. Mark had been drinking before Tamara arrived there, so she wasn’t sure how much he had.

“We’ll be on the road soon, the day after tomorrow. Have you got everything sorted? Make sure you have a new pair of shoes, it’ll probably be a long walk.” Mark said, though looking at his glistening beer.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” she smiled back.

“Good. Hopefully we can get some extra gold after the dungeon tomorrow and buy some new items before we go.”

“Hopefully. I just want to level up and discover more abilities. Apparently everyone learns something at level five and level ten, and probably more later but that’s all I’ve heard for now.”

“Oh, awesome. Well let’s aim to hit level five before the escort comes in two days.” Mark nodded as he took a drink.

“Let’s do it.” Kel agreed, before looking at Mark quizzically “So you’re okay with telling Jay your class?”

“Eh, he’ll figure it out soon enough. It’s not like I’m trying to keep it a secret anyway. After all, I did tell him I’m in both the melee and manacraft classes.” Mark chuckled, “Maybe he just wasn’t paying attention.”

Kel laughed and shook her head “Maybe.”

“Well, it’s getting a little late. C’mon, I’ll walk you home.”

“Thanks. I’ll be okay for the last bit though” Kel pulled out her wand with a proud smile.

Mark stood up with a little wobble from the alcohol “Let’s go.”

—

Night time, in the middle of a dark evergreen forest a man in light leather armour stands on an old dirt path.