Mathew and I ended up talking through the night, but I’m still not sure we could get along. Anytime something he was passionate about came up, he would begin to get increasingly louder.
“What do you think the corruption is?” He asked me in the middle of the night.
“Dude, it’s way too late, let me sleep.”
“Just answer the question, sissy.”
“Is that your new favorite name for me now?”
He didn’t respond to that one, just chuckled.
“Anyways, just answer the question.” He bugged me.
“Whatever, fine, it’s a sickness isn’t it? The world is sick and it's leaking to the surface and infecting anything magical, right?”
“EXACTLY!” He shouts
“Dude! Shut up! You’re gonna sic every party in the inn on us, dumbass!” I scolded him in a whisper-shout tone, he really didn’t know the definition of self control.
“Right, my bad, but anyways, it’s a sickness right? And illnesses can be cured, right?”
I immediately knew what he meant, “Like the tales of the ancient mages that could dispel the corruption in gargs, right?”
“Sort of” He told me, “I’m thinking of something more large-scale though, I wanna rid this world of the Deep forever.”
Forever? That was ambitious, I never even thought of getting rid of the corruption in the first place, just thinning out the garg population as a Diver and making some cash while protecting people.
“Is that even possible?” I say skeptically, I’m sure he wasn’t the first person to think of something like that.
“I’m not sure, but that’s what I want to find out.”
He was serious. Sure he may be a little crazy, but I’m not going to give him a hard time over such a noble dream.
Even if his efforts were in vain, the effort he’d make towards complete eradication of the corruption may lead to some small scale relief that could save many lives. Thinking about what I wanted to do compared to what he wanted to do, my dream felt awfully shortsighted.
Sure our goals were similar, in terms of wanting to fight the Deep, but he desired to do so on a much more impactful scale, and I couldn’t decide whether it was because he was crazier than me, or because he had a bigger heart than I did. If I was to guess, it’d be a little bit of both.
We continued talks like that for most of the night. It seems Mathew is a really genuine guy, very passionate too, almost adorably so, if I was a girl, I’d definitely fall for him. Off his rocker in more ways than one sure, but in a charming way more than an insane one.
I found myself enjoying his company that night, and deciding that if it was more than just a few dives I took with him, I wouldn’t mind it so much.
I soon drifted off to sleep, but was shaken awake by a loud growl.
Did a garg sneak into the town and the inn? It seemed unlikely, but it wasn’t impossible. I grabbed my knife and headed over to the sleeping Mathew from where the sound came. Thinking maybe the garg was mauling him in his sleep, I quickly power the magic lamp and prepare to stab, but when I do, nothing is there, Mathew quickly jolts awake and sees me holding my knife, he panics and jumps back.
“Y-y-you were gonna kill me in my sleep and steal my gear weren’t you!” He accused me, and I didn’t blame him, it sure looked that way.
I explained what happened and he quickly calmed down. I also let him know that if anyone tried to rob him, they’d likely feel so bad about his poor equipment, and end up giving him money instead.
“The sound you heard was probably me snoring though, Ray.” Mathew said shyly.
“Snoring?” My jaw dropped a little, it didn’t sound like a snore as much as it did a snarl mixed with two pieces of metal grinding on each other, a truly disturbing sound.
“Night always told me my snoring kept her up and made me sleep away from her.” He answered while scratching his head shyly.
So he’s loud even when he’s asleep huh? I didn’t particularly mind the snoring as long as I knew it wasn’t an animal mauling my partner to death, I have always been a pretty heavy sleeper, but still, it may pose an issue for future members if we actually do end up sticking together.
With a little difficulty, I fell asleep despite the awful noise Mathew produces all night, and the morning of our first dive together arrived.
I woke up and saw Mathew looking at his back in the mirror suspiciously.
“What’s wrong?” I ask
“Well my back doesn’t seem to hurt as bad today, so I was wondering what changed.”
This idiot, he’d been sleeping on the ground and in hay piles before this, no wonder his back would hurt all the time.
“It’s the bed, doofus. Sleeping on the ground is as bad for your back as garg meat is for your stomach.”
He looked at me curiously.
“Investing in luxuries doesn’t seem too bad now that I try it.” He finally said.
“As long as you’re with me, I’m not letting you sleep outside or eat anything weird, that’s for sure. Get used to spending a little on at least basic needs, you caveman.”
Mathew cocks his head. “Have I ever eaten anything weird with you?”
Fair enough, I guess that was just an assumption I made about him based on his other weird habits.
“Well, whatever, just get ready for today.” I tell him dismissively
“Right.”
He slips on his tattered jacket and old shoes, and grabs his sword.
His whole look was really quite shabby, the sword’s hilt had a leather cover that was fraying from constant use over a long time, his sheath was just as battered as his sword, covered in dark scrapes and other signs of wear.
That still didn’t manage to take away from his handsome appearance, a stark contrast to my brutish look. Mathew was a few inches shorter, somehow managed to look skinny while being relatively muscular himself. You couldn’t be a Diver and be out of shape, so of course he was fit.
I hadn’t taken the time to really look him over until now, but he earned a bit of my respect with that incredibly ambitious and noble dream of his, so I felt inclined to acknowledge him if only a bit. It also seemed that sleeping in the same room as someone else creates an odd sort of bond between the two, something about having to be so vulnerable around the other person created a form of trust I think.
“Ready for our dive?” Mathew asked me.
“Just about, and I have something to show you.” I told him, heading out of our room.
Mathew looked a little curious, but not too concerned with it. I moved to pick up my greatsword and put on my cloak, and headed out to the stables with him.
When we headed into the main lobby it was incredibly packed, there was people shouting at the desk trying to get rooms and the inn’s restaurant was totally full with a good line waiting for seats as well.
“Woah, what’s with all the people?” I asked Mathew.
“Well most of the human population is in this Kingdom so it’s not too surprising, we were lucky to get a place last night.” He shrugs.
“Kingdom?” I asked. I was under the impression this was just an individual city, like Halsry, I had no idea about any royalty or governance at all.
“Yeah, Slischester, this is a pretty big city but nothing compared to the capital, that's where the Diver Agency has their headquarters, how don’t you know about it?” Mathew raised his eyebrow at me.
“Does being from Halsry explain it?” I asked sheepishly.
“No wonder you seem so strong yet so stupid.” He said while nodding his head in understanding.
“Ignorant” I corrected him. I can’t stand stupid people, but my father strongly believed you should always forgive ignorance, the distinction between the two had always been an important thing for me.
“Right, whatever, ignorant.” Mathew teases at me.
We waded through the sea of people, and made it outside. The street was considerably more packed than it was last night. There were lots of families out with children and a good number of Divers lugging around the spoils of the Deep to shops around the town.
In the daylight, it was easier to see what was going on around the city as well, the skeletons of buildings lined the sky, with workers crawling all over them. I was under the impression most people would be professional Divers outside, since it was the same way in Halsry, but outside the Divers are a vast minority from what I can see at the moment.
It wasn’t just construction workers, the shops had many employees, the inns were very well staffed, restaurants had many waiters, cooks, and the like. Even in a world like this, it didn’t seem most people wanted to become Divers, or maybe most people just couldn’t, I wasn’t really sure.
When we entered the stable, many kinds of horses filled every spot, except for one. When we make our way to the empty spot, Mathew looks confused.
“Invisible Horse?” He asked.
I roll my eyes at his sarcastic remark, “No, idiot, look down.”
He moves his gaze downwards and finds the buggy on the stable’s floor.
“The hell is that thing?”
“A tool of mine, get in the cart on the back, it’ll be easier to show you than explain it.”
“Sure, but don’t we need to get to our dive spot?”
“That’s what this thing is for.” I told him with a big smile on my face, and he looked nervously at me. Driving this thing was way too much fun, it was so fast, so fast that I wasn’t sure anyone had ever moved as fast as I have before, it made me feel kind of special.
When Mathew gets in the cart, I get in my seat and start pulling out.
As soon as we start moving Mathew lets out a surprised yelp.
“How the hell are we moving?!” He exclaimed.
“Invisible Horse.” I told him.
From the look on his face, he couldn’t tell if I was joking or serious. This was good, I’d relish in his surprise and explain it to him when we got there.
The horses blow hot breath on us from their snouts as we pass, and I make my way onto the street after finding space between some carriages. We looked really out of place on a street full of horses, but we’re moving with all the traffic so nobody really minded it seems.
There were many more eyes to ogle at Steven’s contraption today, so I felt a little uncomfortable, but nobody did anything more than stare.
The word of my buggy had already spread all over among the guards at the wall, and had started to spread to the city as a rumour it seemed. The guards at our exit didn’t stop us as long as the first guards did, since they already had an idea of what we were driving and what we intended to do even though it was a different gate than the one I entered in.
The city had many gates, you could exit in every direction other than anywhere on the south side according to Mathew. The south side leads into the capital city. The kingdom of Slischester had 9 cities including Keero City. It was designed almost like a flower, with 8 cities shaped like petals if viewed from above surrounded the circular and massive capital city, where the city's Royalty resided, and apparently also the headquarters of the Diver Agency I bought the tip from.
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