Chương 99: Chapter 97: Famous in Elmspire

The five of us get together at a tavern called the Hammer and Glaive, up in the lower branches of the great tree. It's a posh place, but I know Gigi is going to be picking up the tab, so I don't really worry about it. She wanted somewhere a bit more posh just to get away from the crowds. Which I understand. The last time I went into a tavern, I couldn't even get a table for all the people trying to congratulate me, talk to me, and buy me a drink. It sounds nice, but I do not like it. I don't know why.

I guess I just don't like all the attention. I mean, it's not like people are going to start challenging me to duels to see if they can take out the champ or anything like that. People are being really nice. But if autographs were a thing in this world, I'm sure my hand would be cramping from signing them. I've shaken more hands in the past twenty four hours than I think I ever have in my life before that. So I'm totally fine with a more posh tavern.

And I'm especially fine with the fact that Gigi has gotten us a private room.

"Seems like your leveling up and death cycle plan really worked out for you," Vincent says as the waitress leaves us with our drinks and heads off to get our food order. We're alone in the room, which is lovely. I didn't think I'd miss being alone so much so quickly.

"We're not sure what the side effects are yet," El says.

"But yeah, it worked out really well."

"I'll say," Gigi says.

"You guys are basically demigods." We're all back in a party together, at least for tonight, so I can see everyone's hit point totals. Vincent is level 45 and only has 2250 hit points. That means he only has 50 vigor, and he's probably a super dangerous archmage. Gigi has made it to level 40, and has 12, 000 hit points; 240 fewer than I have. Ash is the only one lower level than me, but she has 14, 400 hit points.

And then there's El, at level 39 and rocking more than ten times what Vincent has with a whopping 23, 400 hit points. She is a tank.

"Do you want to go through the process a bit?" Ash asks, looking back and forth between Gigi and Vincent.

"I definitely see the benefit of it," Vincent says.

"But I'm not sure I want to spend all that time getting killed and leveling back up."

"It's not that much time," Ash says.

"And if it will make you feel better, I'll do it with you." Ash wants to go through it again. She wants to gain even more stats. It's like her power hunger is getting worse. Maybe that really is just her demon blood, and maybe it does get more intense the more times we die. It makes sense, I guess. Every time we get resurrected, we're a little bit more a part of this world. Every time we respawn, we're a little bit more native to this world and a little bit less connected to our old world.

I'm not even sure that's a bad thing.

"I would like to continue in my lifelong pursuit of not dying," Vincent says, shaking his head.

"With one misstep notwithstanding, I've managed to go a very long time without dying, and I'd like to continue to do so."

"I'm considering it," Gigi says.

"I mean, you guys are just incredible. Is it true that you and Caleb fought all the way down the tunnel and into the bulk of the mountain army, just the two of you?" El nods.

"To be fair," I say, "we were able to do it because they could only fight us three or four at a time."

"Yeah, but you went through nearly fifty of them," Gigi says.

"And you have more hit points than I do, six levels lower than me. And I've been pumping points into vigor every level. It's kind of ridiculous."

"You'll need to gain a few more levels before you die," Ash says.

"Dying at forty is not a good idea. You want to die as close to forty nine as you can get."

"The math just works out that way," I say.

"The tens are the worst level to die at, as far as the death penalty is concerned."

"That's a lot to give up," Gigi says.

"Like, I know that it's worth it in the end, but isn't it disheartening to be back at level one after you've been up this high?"

"It can be," I say.

"But it's also kind of funny to compare yourself at level one now and at level one when we first started all this."

"What are your plans from here?" Vincent asks.

"Are you going to stick around and bask in the glory of being local heroes?" I shake my head. El pulls a face like she just ate something rotten. Ash speaks for all three of us.

"I don't think we're going to be sticking around for long," she says.

"We were actually talking about going back to Marketplace to see if there's something we can do there. We're always on the search for better weapons and spells and stuff."

"You want to be more powerful?" Vincent strokes his chin. He has a neatly kept beard now, and it makes him just look like a wizard. His beard is actually a bit longer than the dwarf general's was, but just as well cared for and trimmed.

"I could be convinced to go out questing for that."

"I'm not sure about leaving the guild," Gigi says.

"Then don't quit the guild," I say.

"Take a leave of absence or whatever. We won't be gone forever. I'm sure we'll head back eventually."

"And you might die," El says, oddly encouraging.

"In which case you'll be right back in town and can level up from there."

"Having quests you can turn in is the real secret," I say.

"That way, you don't stay low level for very long. Usually, if I have a couple of quests to turn in, I can jump right back up into the twenties."

"That's how I got back to level thirty two after coming back to life like three days ago," Ash says.

"So we need to get quests that we can complete while we're out, and not turn them in when we get to Marketplace?" Vincent says.

"I suppose," I say.

"You can technically hold on to them until after you respawn. I guess it doesn't matter how many quests you keep like that."

"So just never hand in quests," Gigi says.

"Got it." I look around the table.

"Are we really doing this? Are the five of us going to travel again?"

"Are we going after the god slayer?" El asks.

"I am opposed to that idea," Vincent says.

"If they were powerful enough to slay a god before our tutorial, they are probably still too strong for us to handle."

"Maybe, maybe not." Ash says.

"We don't know who they are or why they did what they did. We just know that they are an existential threat to the world. We don't have to kill them. We just have to make sure they aren't planning on killing any more gods."

"The more time passes, the more likely that is to be true," Vincent points out.

"Every day that goes by that the god slayer, whoever he is, doesn't kill another god makes it more likely that he has no intention of doing so." I shake my head.

"That doesn't really follow. I mean, it does in a simplistic sense, but it doesn't mean anything. We don't have enough dead gods to form a pattern. Maybe after killing the tutorial god they decided they were done. Maybe they've been going through the death and relevel process even more, until they're confident that they can kill one of the major gods." This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Can the major gods be killed?" Gigi asks. I shrug.

"If it's got a sheet, it can die," I say.

"And so far, the only things in this world that don't stay dead are us."

"I want to find her," Ash says.

"I want to know why she did it, and if she intends to do it again. And I want to know what she is doing now. She is, potentially, the most powerful player in the whole world. Why haven't we heard more of what she's doing? Why don't we know who or where she is?" She shakes her head.

"I have questions I want to ask."

"I suppose it is a way to ensure that we die," Vincent says.

"Let me get a few dozen quests before we leave." Our food arrives, and with it comes two fawning and adoring fans. They're both players. Stacey Cartright. Forest elf cavalier, level 41. HP:???? /???? Norman Chase. Tiger blood cavalier, level 41. HP:???? /????

"Oh my god, it's really you," Norman says, looking back and forth between me and El.

"You guys are awesome!"

"Can we have your autograph?" Stacey says. I guess there are autographs in this world. Or there will be soon enough. I want to yell at them to leave us alone. I'm not as gracious as El, apparently. She smiles at them both, acknowledging the compliment.

"Sure!" she says.

"Do you have a pen and something for me to sign?" I seriously thought the autograph thing was like a figure of speech. The same as them wanting pictures with us. We don't have cameras in this world. We can't exactly take selfies. But Stacey pulls out a quill pen.

"Sign my scabbard!" she says, unbuckling her sword belt and clunking it onto the table.

"Oh, come on now!" Gigi says as the table rattles. Stacey at least has the good grace to look embarrassed. El takes the pen and looks at it for a few seconds. Then she signs her name. Both letters. Right across the top of the scabbard. Once she's satisfied with that, she blows on the ink to dry it, then hands me the pen. Pen of marking. Uncommon magical item. Allows user to write on any surface. Does not require ink. Okay, that makes some sense.

From the look of El's signature, it works more or less like a sharpee, so I quickly scribble my own name down the length of the scabbard. Stacey is very excited.

"Is it true that you killed a thousand of the orcs?" Norman asks.

"I think it was closer to three hundred," I say. He still looks amazed. I am extremely uncomfortable with the situation and with the way he's looking at me. I don't want to be a hero. I don't want to be an idol. I don't want to be famous. I've never wanted to leave Elmspire quite as much as I do right now. I share a look with Gigi. She rolls her eyes. Ash clears her throat.

"Right," she says.

"We're kind of the middle of something here. Do you two mind?" Once they're gone, I turn and look around the table.

"I want out of here as soon as possible," I say.

"I just need enough time to quit the guild and get some quests."

"Why don't you also just take a leave of absence from the guild?" Gigi asks me. El makes another face like she ate something spoiled.

"I don't want to be used as a recruitment tool," she says.

"And you know they will."

"Oh, fuck, you're right," I say.

"They're totally going to advertise that we're a part of their guild." After our meal, El and I head immediately to the Warlords guild hall. I don't anticipate quitting to be an easy thing. As she pointed out, they're going to want to use us for recruiting. It'll be harder, but not impossible, to do that with us not being active members. I'm sure that their ideal position would be for us to go around Elmspire and try to actively convince people to join the Warlords. But that's not going to happen.

Second best, then, would be for us to at least be around to talk to prospective members, maybe tell stories of how we became so awesome or what it was like facing down an entire army just the two of us. But that's not going to happen either. Third best would be for us to take a leave of absence when we leave the city, and still be members on their rolls so that people can at least say that they're in the same guild as us.

Let someone like John go around and talk about how great we are and how we're members of the guild. That is possible to happen, but I think unlikely. Ideally for us, we're going to leave the guild and just sever all connection with them. They'll still be able to say that they were the only guild in Elmspire that we were members of, and will still be able to do some recruitment off of the strength of our backs that way, but we won't owe them anything and they will have no authority over us. That's the main thing.

We don't want an organization to have authority over us. We don't want to borrow someone else's enemies and rivals, and we don't want to be a part of the politics of the city. If I wanted that, I would've joined the loyalist faction and done quests for the nobility of Elmspire. But I don't want that. I just want out. So we go to the guild hall, walk in the front door, and head over to the desk that handles renown. I was here just a few hours ago, trading in my renown.

I probably should've quit the guild then, but I didn't think it really mattered. At the time, I assumed that us leaving town would be enough of a sign that we weren't with the guild anymore. Kind of a no call, no show thing for a job. If you just stop coming, sooner or later they figure out that you quit, and they stop bothering you.

"How can I help you?" the man behind the desk asks. His name is Eric, and he's a level 42 bladesmith. That's interesting; I don't think I've run across anyone who chose a crafting class before.

"We want to quit the guild," I say. I put my silver guild tag on the desk and slide it towards him.

"We're leaving town, and we don't know when or if we're coming back."

"Unless we die," El says.

"But even then, we don't want to be part of the guild anymore."

"Can I ask why?" Eric asks.

"We don't belong to any organization," I say.

"We only joined for the war, and the war is over. So we have no reason to still be in the guild."

"I see," he says.

"You know that if you leave, all your renown goes away, including the renown that gained you the silver tab." I nod.

"Don't care," I say. I gesture to the guild token on the table.

"We're out."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," he says. El smashes her hand down on the counter. I'm pretty sure it cracks.

"Make it that simple," she says.

"Don't make us kill the whole guild." I put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped to violence way too quickly.

"Look," I say to Eric, "We just want to cut ties with the guild and be on our way. We're not asking that you forget we were ever members. We just don't want to be a part of the guild system."

"But hasn't the guild been good to you?" he asks.

"Didn't you get equipment from the guild? Free of charge?"

"It was in exchange for renown that I earned," I say.

"But if that's what it takes, you can have the fucking buckler back."

"No, no, that's not what I mean," Eric says.

"I just mean that the guild is a good way to get more equipment over time. And we have quests. You can get experience as well as renown for our quests. And then you can go ahead and leave the city. And when you come back, if you come back, you can turn in the quests and get the experience and renown. You two don't have to pay guild dues or do anything. You can just remain part of the guild and be in absentia. Wouldn't that be easier for all of us?" I shake my head.

"Don't want the quests, don't want the renown. Don't want to be members of the organization."

"But why not?"

"Because one way or another, you'll pull us into your conflicts," El says.

"You'll want our help with a guild war, or some other guild that hates you will automatically hate us or some shit like that."

"On the other hand," Eric says, "any guild that is our ally will automatically be your allies as well."

"Don't need it," I say, shaking my head again.

"We want out."

"But I still don't understand why," Eric says.

"There's no benefit to leaving, and every benefit to staying. What if I offered you each some free renown for staying? Say, two hundred points?" An idea occurs to me.

"We're going to another city," I say.

"And we might want to join a guild there. Can't join another guild if we're still members of this guild."

"You could be ambassadors to other cities," Eric says.

"We have quests for that. You can keep doing what you're planning on doing and get extra rewards for it. Basically, you'd get the rewards for free." El looks at me. I don't think she's suggesting we consider it. I think she's suggesting we go back to the violence and threats. But I really don't want to do that. I could kill the whole guild with Mab's Rage. At least, it would kill everyone currently in the building. But it would also kill everyone in every building surrounding this one.

The range on the spell is a sphere, and it doesn't discriminate. I don't want to do that. We're in an area surrounded by other guilds, and I don't want to wipe out three or four guilds just because one of them wouldn't let me quit. I lean forward so that I have Eric's full attention.

"Not," I say, "Interested. We want our names stricken from the roster. We want to no longer be members of the guild. We want to leave. We'd prefer to leave on good terms, but we're willing to leave on bad terms if that's what it takes." Eric starts to say something else, but El holds up a hand.

"Let me make it really simple for you," she says.

"You have two choices right now. Either you do as we say and let us out of the guild, or I start destroying the guild and killing anyone who doesn't like the idea of us leaving. Starting with you." Eric gulps. He's a crafter, not a fighter. And he clearly knows who we are. Even if he didn't scan us to find our names, our fame is definitely going to precede us here. We took on two armies in the last week; we can take on a guild.

"O-okay," he says. He pulls out a book and makes a show of crossing our names off the list. He takes our tags back.

"You're officially no longer members of the Warlords." He gives us a nervous smile.

"Now, if you wouldn't mind, please leave our guild hall."

"With pleasure," I say. Then I rub the counter where El's fist cracked it.

"Sorry about the mess," I say.