The Hunter's Guide to Monsters

Dinner was celebratory. Cerkanst had dodged a possibly major upset, and Krow won them succor against Tamvost's accusations.

Chaparha broke out the wine.

A passel of children trapped Krow after the plates were taken away, wanting to know what the tournament was like. It had been an hour already, embellishing details about the opponents he faced.

He couldn't escape impolitely; the kids were the host's grandchildren.

Menrike stuck her head in the doorway, smirked at his predicament.

Krow narrowed his eyes.

'You'll owe me,' she mouthed as she gestured..

Tsk.

Kids these days.

But he was desperate. He nodded.

"Young ones," Menrike stood in the doorway, projecting all the maturity she didn't show at ordinary times. "Krow still has to pack."

Various sounds of protest answered that.

"If he doesn't pack," said one genius, "does that mean he won't be leaving tomorrow?"

Menrike smiled, threatening glee at the edges.

Krow glared.

She relented. "No, but he won't be able to do his work, and you all know what happens when you don't do your chores."

Multiple pairs of large doleful eyes were turned on Krow.

He forced a smile. "I do have to go."

"But you'll come back, right?"

"We'll see."

"That means 'yes'!" one of the older ones whispered loudly.

No it didn't.

But the children nodded, like the one had spoken gospel, and let him stand up.

"Bye, kids."

He speeded away from the room, doing his best to not look like he was running away.

Menrike snickered at him. "You owe me two favors."

"One."

"I could go back there and tell them…"

Gah.

"Fine."

They were minor favors anyway.

Jamutaltei and the others cut the trip short, which had Hulach and most of the others frantically running around the town earlier, trying to get all the needed supplies together.

That Hulach and a couple others took the time to come by the competition field touched Krow a bit.

They were leaving tomorrow, instead of in two days.

Krow waved at the gatekeeper and the group of herbalists who were on their way out for a last night on the town. Or last-minute purchases.

He headed away from the town proper, using double-jump to bounce from root-bridge to root-bridge.

His spirit-worm scout had finally found some of those weird pebbles in a place that wasn't underground.

Not completely underground, anyway.

He headed north of the town, noting that the area appeared mostly residential. At least, there wasn't as much lighting and noise.

The cave the spirit-worm found was past the edges of the town, on another mountain.

It was a wet cave.

The drip-drip-drip of water falling from stalactites echoed in the darkness.

Krow lit a lamp with the Firecoil spell.

Where the light touched, the surfaces glistened with moisture.

"Appear." The spirit-worm materialized at his side. "Lead the way."

It dove into the wall beside them.

Eh?

He tapped on the wall.

It was solid rock.

This idiot ghost…did he look like he could pass through walls?

He dismissed the spirit-worm and brought out the spirit-snake. It should keep to the tunnels, right?

It slithered into the same wall.

He stared at the stone. Was it a wall that attracted ghosts?

He sighed at his thoughts. "Nevermind."

The now familiar flutter of wings had him glancing up at the vid-owl. He did a double-take.

The vid-owl was clinging to a spur of rock, half behind a stalactite. That was normal. The thing lurked.

Only this time, it was upside-down like a feathery bat.

"Does the saying 'when in Rome, be as a Roman' apply to you?"

The vid-owl just fluttered its wings and ignored him.

Tsk.

These animals…he gave up.

Krow studied the Map. The mark, a white rock, was…before him and a bit to the right. He lifted the lamp and started into the cave.

Half an hour later, he stood on the edge of a large underground pool. Pretty, he supposed, with the rock crystals reflecting the light of the lamp.

The water was unimaginably clear. Krow saw right to the bottom of the pool.

The bottom where the scout-marker insisted he go.

Hah. Did the universe decide he didn't have enough of a bath this evening?

He walked along the edge of the pool. Looked uninhabited.

He stopped at a part where the edge of the pool sloped into the water. 

He'd just pretend he was gauging his underwater skills. Krow left the lamp on a rock, shining onto the water and the crystals, and waded into the pool.

Gah!

Cold!

He waited for his body to adjust to the temperature, then continued in slowly until his head submerged.

[You are underwater.] a notification informed him.

You think he didn't know that?!

Another set of symbols appeared. [0:00:29:59:34]

Thirty minutes.

Nice, but still not enough. 

He jumped from the ledge he was on, to sink to the gravel-filled bottom, about ten metres below.

The stones of the pool were smooth. Like river stones that had been rolling around the riverbed for a long time.

He crouched down, scooped up a handful, looking for the 'ordinary' pebbles.

His timer ran out, and his HP started ticking down, Krow only found three.

He kicked upward, surfacing and sucking in a breath.

He wiped the water off his face.

He'd been expecting more.

Could it be the spirit-worm marked just the pebbles similar to the one he showed it?

Tsk.

He called the spirit-snake, showed it the pebbles. "Look for material like these."

The spirit-snake sunk into the water and slithered away.

Krow exhaled.

He had to leave Rakaens tomorrow, but since it was less than a hundred kilometres away, could he find similar mining spots closer to Cerkanst?

He took a deep breath and let himself drop to the pool bed again.

Six more times, he surfaced to take a breath, before giving up.

A glance at his Inventory said he gathered about thirty 'ordinary' stones.

Obviously, it wasn't the mine that he was looking for.

He still didn't know if he could use them in enchanting, but thirty was enough to experiment for now.

The Map indicated his spirit-snake had found a few locations.

Should he stay the night here, or go back to the courtyard?

He glanced at his clock.

Ah, it was Monday. He had work.

He didn't anticipate any problems, there, but still, he should get ready.

He pulled himself from the pool, sat at the edge to let the water run off his clothes and body.

Krow smiled.

This trip to Rakaens had been eventful, definitely.