Chương 128: Venturing out

"That can't possibly be normal here, right?" The wind tugged at Vera's hair as she shook her head.

"It just can't be. I mean, who even asks that?" Beside her, Yria leaned back against the Auric Venture's railing with her arms folded, one foot braced against the lower rail. She glanced at Vera and gave an indifferent shrug.

"I refuse to believe it is," Vera said.

"You've never had that happen to you, right?" Yria shrugged again.

"That particular request has never been made of me," Roderic chimed in from Vera's other side, "but there are all sorts of people in this wide world of ours, my friend. Everyone walks their own path." Vera turned toward him. Roderic was leaning over the railing with both arms resting on it, staring out across the distant landscape below with a contemplative look on his face.

"In my time, I've learned that there are very few people without a peculiar passion or two," he continued, the fake mustache he was still wearing wobbling slightly in the wind.

"Who are we to judge? You follow the rites of Hollow, don't you? So why not leave discretion to the verdict of the Still Gate."

"Are you defending him?" Vera asked, unable to stop herself from grimacing.

"What kind of kinks are you hiding?" Roderic's gaze slid toward her, and an awkward look crossed his face. He straightened, touched one finger to the end of his mustache, and cleared his throat.

"Now that I reconsider the matter, perhaps the fellow has simply had one too many encounters with the spirits of Darnelle's canals. Watersick, as the locals call it. Yes. I'm sure that must be it."

"Sure…" Vera let her eyes linger on him for another second before looking over the railing. Darnelle was already shrinking below them. A small shiver ran through her as she thought back to the city's castellan.

"Something's wrong with his head, at least," she muttered. Seriously. Who walked up to someone and asked for a strand of their hair first thing? A creep, that's who. She didn't care if the guy was apparently a huge fan of hers. She also didn't care that he'd offered to take her through some of the fanciest establishments in Darnelle, introduce her to its finest artisans, and personally show her around half the city.

Meeting 'Leone Rivers of House Stagglory' had given Vera a tiny glimpse into what being a celebrity back in her old world must've been like. All that attention and strangers deciding they knew you. People sending you fingernail clippings, locks of hair, weird letters, and probably worse things she was better off not thinking about. As famous as Vera apparently was in this world, she'd never really thought she might run into that sort of thing herself. And sure, Leone had only asked for one strand of hair.

Supposedly, he wanted it infused with Resonance and woven into the strings of some sensational harp he was having commissioned to honor a bunch of prominent names, as if that was supposed to make it better. At least the guy did seem to genuinely admire and respect her, but the whole thing still left a weird taste in her mouth. That said, she probably wouldn't have gotten so hung up on it if that was all. Leone had been a little creepy, sure, but otherwise pretty cordial.

What really bothered her was that nobody else had even seemed that surprised. Everyone had just sort of accepted it. Like strange people asking Vera for pieces of her body was the sort of idiosyncratic thing they expected to happen around her. Which was just… She wasn't sure, but something was definitely wrong with everyone's weirdness scale. And she refused to accept that she had done anything to deserve that. Sure, she could be a little offbeat at times. But she wasn't that kind of weird.

That was more Mira's wheelhouse. Vera was only familiar with it tangentially. Seriously. She'd always been very careful not to let her algorithms get too deranged. Which was why it annoyed her that even Cin had acted like she should've been used to people asking for her hair. What kind of image did that guy have of her? Was she somehow the most socially calibrated person here? That was a horrifying thought. Vera sighed. Whatever. Not that it really mattered. She had turned Leone down, obviously.

She'd made it abundantly clear that she wasn't interested in handing out pieces of herself, even if it was supposedly 'for the preservation of her influence upon the arts' or whatever flowery nonsense he'd called it. Thankfully, Leone had taken the rejection well enough. There hadn't been any offense or noble outrage, at least. And his guards—as unhappy as they had looked with Yria and Sancter Voss—had been pretty polite toward her. Even apologetic. That was something.

Anyway, after that, things had gone pretty smoothly. A meeting between three Marked Ones and two of the most important people in Darnelle aboard a flying ship was probably never going to qualify as casual, but Cin had handled most of the official nonsense before everyone arrived. That left them with introductions, formal thanks, vague promises of future cooperation, and a lot of praise from the castellan for everything Vera, Yria, and Cin had done during the Tribulations.

Leone had clearly been most excited about meeting Vera, but he seemed well informed about all three of them. He made a point of telling them that their deeds were widely known throughout Darnelle, and that he had even personally commissioned several minstrels, playwrights, and chroniclers to create works about their exploits. Vera hadn't really known what she was supposed to say to that, so she'd nodded and smiled awkwardly while hoping nobody expected anything else of her. As it turned out, they really didn't.

The reason Leone and Sancter Voss had come aboard was simply because they wanted to see Cin's airship after he made it clear that it belonged to him. Which was fair enough. Airships weren't exactly something you saw flying around much even in this world, and the Auric Venture was probably as unique as they came. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Once Cin had shown Leone and Voss around enough to satisfy their curiosity—or at least Leone's, because Vera doubted someone like Voss could be satisfied—Yria sent the two of them back down with very little ceremony. After that, Vera made one last quick trip into Darnelle to pick up a few things, then returned to the Venture so they could get moving. She wouldn't have minded staying in Darnelle another few days if possible. It was a nice city. Really nice, all things considered.

It probably would've made a great tourist destination, if tourism had been much of a thing in this world. But every day Vera spent lazing around here was another day she wasn't with Serel. That made the choice pretty easy. She'd bring her daughter here someday, though. Definitely. A sharp, warbling cry rang across the deck. Vera glanced toward the open shaft in the center of the ship, but whatever Pyre was doing down there, the phoenix stayed hidden among the flames.

A moment later, a door beneath the raised quarterdeck swung open and Cin came through it. Well, 'came through it' was generous. He had to bend almost halfway over to keep from smacking his head against the frame, then turn sideways so his shoulder wouldn't clip the edge. Vera had no idea why, but apparently the man could design a flying ship powered by a legendary creature, yet making the doors to the lower deck tall enough to comfortably walk through had been asking too much.

Knowing him, he'd watched one too many documentaries about sailors squeezing through ridiculously cramped warships and decided that was the one detail he absolutely needed to recreate. Or maybe there was an actual reason for it. Cin claimed there were bunks somewhere below, but apparently no proper kitchen or dining area, so Vera honestly had no idea what his priorities had been while designing the place.

She just hoped the beds weren't child-sized and shoved into a closet beside this ship's equivalent of a boiler room. Cin straightened once he was clear of the doorway and climbed the short steps to the quarterdeck. Vera watched him stop at the controls and work through that nightmare of a console for a minute or two. Eventually, he gave a small nod to himself, descended again, and made his way over to them.

"I have finished setting the route we will follow," he said.

"Unless we encounter severe interference or conditions requiring significant course correction, the Venture should be capable of maintaining it without much input. There will be relatively little for any of you to manage until you reach the Rellmark Tracts." Vera gave him a look.

"You said Pyre could handle most of this on her own, but this thing has full-on self-driving?"

"SAE Level Four, approximately."

"…What does that mean?" Cin looked at her with the tiniest hint of disappointment. Vera narrowed her eyes.

"Was I supposed to understand that?"

"Mireya would have."

"Yeah, well, sorry I'm not her."

"That is nothing to apologize for." Cin stopped between her and Yria, resting his hands against the deeproot railing as he looked out over the landscape ahead. The vibrant flames surrounding the Auric Venture streamed beneath them, stretching farther behind the ship as they continued east from Darnelle and slowly picked up speed. For a while, none of them said much. They just watched the countryside pass beneath them.

"I should mention that I will remain with you until we draw closer to Brackenwash," Cin eventually said.

"I took the liberty of adjusting the route so that I can disembark there. It should add no more than half a day to your journey, so I hope you'll forgive the inconvenience."

"Oh?" Vera turned her head.

"Why Brackenwash?"

"There is a Glassway within the Briar Flats that I intend to use. I plan to resume the investigations I placed on hold to aid Mireya with the Maw."

"There's a Glassway in the Flats?" Cin glanced at her.

"Yes."

"Huh." Vera leaned over to look past him at Yria.

"We used one of those, remember?" The woman gave her a flat look in response, then moved one hand. You think I would forget before you do?

"No. I was trying to include you in the conversation." Vera huffed and turned away.

"But sure. Be a grouch about it." Cin shifted his attention to Yria.

"You found another Glassway? Where?" Yria kept her gaze on Vera for another second before shaking her head. She unfolded both arms and turned to Cin, answering with a short sequence of signs. Cin watched closely, then nodded.

"I see." A small notebook appeared in his hand. Vera blinked as he flipped it open, found an empty section, and started writing. He understood Yria? That was actually a surprise. Then again, if anyone would, it would probably be Cin.

Vera had gotten a whole pile of intuitive knowledge for free just by waking up in Veralyth's body, so she wouldn't have been shocked to learn that Cin knew every language in this world and kept them ranked somewhere according to information density or grammatical efficiency or some other stupid metric. Cin finished whatever note he was making and tucked the notebook away again.

"About that Glassway in the Briar Flats," Vera said.

"Did you find it yourself?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Roughly seven months ago. I was conducting a survey of Resonance disturbances in the region."

"Hmm. Alright." Vera propped one elbow on the railing and rested her chin against her palm. Below, one of the rivers split into a mess of crisscrossing channels, each one flashing almost silver beneath the midday sun.

"By the way, do you know why the Glassways got moved around?" she asked.

"I do," Cin said.

"You do?"

"Yes."

"Care to share?" Yria pushed herself away from the railing and straightened slightly. Apparently Vera wasn't the only one interested in that answer. Cin went quiet for a few seconds. When he finally spoke, there was a seriousness to his expression that hadn't been there before.

"BlightReaver destroyed the Shardheart." Vera's eyes widened.

"Wait, are you talking about the Shardheart in the Mirrormantle Sanctum?" He nodded.

"Yes."

"…The hell? Why?" Mirrormantle Sanctum had been a raid in Ashen Legacy, located deep within Iriath Vale. The same place that Syl and her Valewalkers came from.

"We don't know why he did it," Cin said.

"But you should be careful if you encounter him, Vera. I warned you before that he had abandoned his humanity." Vera frowned and stared out over the landscape for a while.

"Alright. I'll keep that in mind." Syl hadn't mentioned any of that back in Caer Virell. Could it have something to do with why some of her people had left Iriath Vale and ended up joining Last Hearth as Valewalkers? Vera wanted to ask Cin more about Blight, but this didn't feel like the time. Both of them had known the guy back when this world had still been a game to them, but BlightReaver had never been part of their guild.

Most of Vera's interactions with him had been through PvP events and the occasional larger community thing, while Cin had dealt with him a lot more often as guildmaster. The silence stretched for a while after that. Eventually, Vera decided she'd had enough of the subject.

"So when am I seeing you again?" she asked. Cin looked over. Vera met his gaze. He arched a brow.

"Who are you talking to?"

"You, obviously."

"It was not obvious." Vera rolled her eyes.

"It is now. Gimme an answer."

"I can't say." Cin looked ahead again.

"I have several matters to investigate."

"None of them taking you through Caer Virell?"

"Some will. Eventually."

"And here I thought we might pick you up on our way back."

"That won't be necessary. I can find my own way."

"Hmm. If you say so." Vera turned back toward the view, drumming her fingers lightly against the railing. Someone cleared their throat on her other side. She looked over at Roderic.

"Swallow air down the wrong pipe?"

"No." A faint smile touched his face.

"I simply thought that, since we appear to be discussing departures and future destinations, I ought to mention that we are currently flying away from the city where I was supposed to remain." He gestured vaguely back toward the rapidly shrinking Darnelle.

"You never actually gave me the opportunity to leave." Vera smiled back, though hers had a little more mischief in it.

"I know. I thought we'd kidnap you." Roderic paused, then glanced first at Cin and then at Yria. Neither of them offered him any help. Eventually, he looked back at Vera.

"I would prefer not to be napped, if possible." Vera squinted at him.

"You sure?"

"Quite."

"Boring, but I figured." She chuckled and motioned toward Yria.

"I was just dragging things out a bit. This ship isn't exactly huge, so it was nice having someone around to pad the headcount. Yria should still have enough range to drop you back near your Numbers, though." Roderic's smile softened slightly.

"How considerate of you."

"I know. I'm great. Think you could use that spy network of yours to spread the word? For some reason, people keep saying the opposite."

"I'll… see what I can do." Vera blinked.

"Wait, seriously?" He gave a small nod.

"Yes." She snorted.

"You don't actually have to, but if you do, thanks." For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then Vera pushed herself away from the railing and held out a hand. Roderic looked down at it before taking it in his own.

"Try not to die again," Vera said.

"I will make every effort. I like to think I've become rather adept at it by now."

"If you say so. Anyway, if you end up anywhere near Caer Virell or Marrowfen, you've got the go-ahead to visit Serel." A warmer smile pulled at his mouth.

"That, I can promise."

"Good." Vera squeezed his hand once before letting go.

"Can't promise you'll outcompete all the other uncles and aunties she's collecting, but I wish you luck." Roderic laughed, then stepped back toward Yria.

"Until next time, then, Vera."

"Yeah." Vera lifted a hand.

"See you around, Number One."

"And you as well, Zero." Vera grimaced. She'd told him that title was out.