I reincarnated in game

28 Loose Ends

On their way back to the Crystal Inn, Judi turned to Hugh and asked, “By the way, what was it you took off the notice board at the constabulary’s office?”

Hugh retrieved the paper from his pocket and handed it to Judi, saying, “I think the steam wagon we have been riding around in is stolen property.  If you notice the date the report was made, it is the same date that we left to go to Riah.  Somehow, Bob learned of our plans and knew he had to get there before us to set up an ambush.  I think he managed to do that by stealing the wagon.  He would have made it in one day where it took us five.  That would have given him ample time to set up for us.”

Judi looked up from the paper that she had been reading while Hugh was relaying his opinion of what he felt had happened.  “I think you are probably right.  I see here that the farmer states that there would be no questions asked and is even offering a reward.  I think we should return the wagon to him.  Firstly we do not want to be seen in possession of the stolen property.  Secondly, we would have no place to leave the wagon once we leave for Third Level; we certainly can’t take it with us on the boat.”

“OK, it is settled then.  Tomorrow we will return the stolen wagon.  We can take whatever reward is offered and use it for our trip,” Hugh declared.

First thing in the morning, Hugh arranged to have the water in the steam wagon topped up.  It had come up to proper temperature just after they finished their lunch.  All three jumped on board the wagon for the last time.  Hugh had spoken to the innkeeper and obtained directions on how to get to the address the farmer had noted on the flyer.  He carefully maneuvered the wagon through the narrow streets to their destination. 

When they arrived, they saw a middle-aged man working in his garden.  The man raised his head to watch them as they approached; they pulled to a stop in front of his place.  His gaze turned to a questioning look as he recognized they were driving his steam wagon.  He walked over to talk to them.  “Well you lot don’t appear to be the type to steal a farmer’s wagon,” he said as he looked over what he thought looked to be a family group.

Hugh was about to speak when Kenneth piped up from the back of the wagon, “We didn’t steal your wagon; it was Bob!”

Smiling, Hugh said, “He is right.  Bob was responsible for the theft.  We came across the wagon, and after seeing your flyer in the guard’s office, put two and two together and figured this might be your missing property.  It is a fine machine; we knew that you would have difficulty replacing it so we thought we would bring it over to see if it was indeed your missing vehicle.”  The three friends jumped down to stand beside the conveyance.

“Well thank you, young man,” the farmer replied.  “I appreciate that you brought it back.  Now I did offer a reward and since you have returned the wagon, I will get it for you.  Just hang on a minute,” he continued and then turned to go into his house.  Moments later he was back with five gold coins which he offered to Hugh.      

Hugh thanked the man for his generosity and the trio turned to walk back to the Crystal Inn; they needed to start planning for their trip to Third Level.  Back in their rooms that evening, they started their discussions.

“Kenneth just recently came to the fourth level with Matthew and therefore has his identification to prove that he is a citizen of Stuhr; he will not have a problem to purchase a return ticket to board the boat,” Hugh stated. 

Turning to Judi, he continued, “When you came here from Third Level, did you bring your ID with you?”

“No, I didn’t.  When I decided to leave, I didn’t plan on going back.  I used my ID to buy my ticket and then left all my papers back in Cowson before I took the boat here,” she replied.

Kenneth, who had been following the conversation, piped up, “Cowson?  I thought that only elves lived there.”

Judi smiled.  She reached up and slid her hood off her head and brushed her long hair back so that her ears were exposed.  Kenneth’s eyes widened and he saw the delicate points of her ears which had been hidden under the cloak.  “Yes, Kenneth.  I am an elf,” she stated simply. 

Kenneth’s face broke into a huge grin.  “Wow.  I’ve never had an elf for a friend before.”

“OK.  So that is a problem for you, Judi, and, unfortunately, my situation is the same,” Hugh replied.  “Let me explain.”

“Back on Third Level, mom and I were very poor.  I couldn’t get a job because of my mixed race.  When mom got sick, I had to do something to help her.  I stole some very expensive medicine and gave it to her; unfortunately, it was too little and too late, she passed away in my arms.”  Hugh paused a moment, reflecting on his last moments with his mother.  Then he continued.

“The day after she had passed, the goons that worked for the man from whom I stole the medicine, came around to demand a huge payment plus an extra ‘collection fee’.  I didn’t have any money so they took all our property, along with my ID so I couldn’t flee the level.  They said they would be back in a week to collect.”

“I had to get money to pay for both the medicine and mom’s cremation.  I knew my only chance to get the amount of money I needed was to take a dangerous trip into the Punished Land to get a rare herb called Flameborn.  I took the herbs to Sdel and sold them to an apothecary.”

“When the goons came back in a week, I paid them the price of the medicine in gold coin but told them I would need more time to pay their collection fee.  They gave me two more days.  I really didn’t need more time; I had enough that I could have paid them, but I just didn’t think it was right that they should be paid any extra.  I used some magic and made fake coins from waste paper; I paid their fee with the counterfeit money.  I didn’t think that they would be able to track the fake coins back to me.  It appears that the boss simply took what I had given his men and used it to pay his tribute to Father Paul when he came for the monthly gathering a couple of days later.   The priest’s magic was more powerful than my spell on the coins; they reverted back to their original form in front of everyone.”

“Father Paul was annoyed to say the least.  When the boss told him I was the source of the fake coins, the priest locked down the city and organized a posse to chase me to the very edge of the Third Level.  Rather than surrendering to him, I opted to choose my own fate and jumped off the edge.  The gods were kind to me; they allowed me to fall safely to Fourth Level, even though I arrived a little bruised and battered.”  He turned to Kenneth and said, “That is when Judi found me in the trash pile and brought me back to her village.”  He smiled at Judi who acknowledged the memory with a smile of her own.  “So that means that both Judi and I will have to figure out a way to get on board the boat to be able to take you back to Stuhr.”

Judi drew a deep breath.  While she had been listening to Hugh’s story, she had been thinking about their options.  “I think our best bet is to leave from a busy port; a place where there would be a lot of people coming and going.  Ossal is the most prosperous city here on Fourth Level and there are always crowds at the boarding stations.  We might be able to find a way to sneak aboard by joining in with a crowd.” 

“I trust your judgment.  Since you have been on this level the longest and have traveled over a lot of the land, you would have the best idea about where we would have the greatest chance for success,” said Hugh.

“OK then.  It will probably take us more than two weeks to get to Ossal.  I will see if I can plot a route that will take us to our goal by way of the safest towns.  With all the excitement of the past few weeks, we don’t need any more drama!” Judi exclaimed.

Hugh responded, “I am in full agreement with you.  Starting tomorrow, we will start our preparations for our journey.” 

That night when he fell into bed, he reflected inwardly.  He saw that he had leveled up to Level Nineteen with a few extra experience points.  He smiled when he noticed that his next objective showed ‘Get back to Third Level any way you can’!