Chapter 206 - Capri (Patreon)

Hera walked up for around 10 minutes. She stopped a few times and tried to speak to test the echo, but had to give up and look for a better spot. The excessive carefulness was all in fear that an avalanche would happen during her talk with the guide. After arriving at an area with another group of trees, Hera called out to Blue, testing the echo and if the controller could hear her. A few moments passed, she received no reply, and there was no sound coming from the mountain. Hera took a deep breath and opened her map again. She forgot the name of the room she was in, but it would show in the window even if nothing else was written on it for now. Hera was thinking about the questions she wanted to ask during her walk. Her main focus was on how to return to the Kobold Fields or any other room.

"Right, let's do this," Hera took a deep breath, "I call upon the Guide of the Boothudurn Peaks. As an explorer, I have proven that my motives are pure."

After waiting for a moment, nothing seemed to appear. Hera started to look around, but there was no tear or portal from where the guide could come. Suddenly, she felt something on her foot. Looking down, there was what looked like a giant snowball by her side. Pushing it to the side with her feet, the ball started to shiver. A pair of fluffy white wings spread from it, revealing the body of a sheep.

"I have descended!" the sheep spoke in a deep voice.

Hera couldn't see its head since the creature had it's back towards her, "Hum... Hello?"

The sheep turned around, revealing its light gray face with long ears. However, instead of a mouth, it had a blue toucan beak.

"You, you are the one that suimoned the great me, are you not?" the sheep asked.

"Yes. I mean, If you are the guide, yes."

"I am. It is a pleasure to meet you, Hera. You may call me Capri the great. No, Capri the mighty. No, Capri the magnificent. Which sounds better?"

Hera just stared at the sheep for a moment, still surprised by the situation. Despite everything, something felt off about this guide.

"Hello? Can you hear me? What name sounds better?" Capri asked.

Snapping out of her daze, Hera thought for a moment before replying, "Honestly, none of them."

Capri stared daggers at her, "Are you saying I'm not great?"

"No, I don't mean it like that. It's just that titles don't roll off the tongue very well. Like, when an explorer gets a title, they basically give up their names and stay with just the title. Otherwise, it's hard to remember the whole thing. It's better if it's something that can easily roll off the tongue. Besides, those are all kind of common. We have like 4 or 5 emperors or kings with 'the great' as their title," Hera explained.

"I see," Capri seemed deep in thought for a moment.

Hera let the guide think, but after a minute, she started to get restless. It was way too cold outside. When she was moving around, it didn't bother her as much. Now, under the shadow of the trees and standing still, Hera started to shiver.

"Hum, Capri. Do you mind if we start? It's freezing here," Hera said.

"Oh, right. Of course. Give me a moment," Capri pulled his wings close to his body and spread them out towards Hera. A spectral coat of wool came out and enveloped the explorer, instantly warming her up, "There, now we can have a proper chat. As I said before. I am Capri, Boothudurn Peaks' guide."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Hera. Sorry for calling you in such a cold place, but I guess it doesn't bother you that much."

"Indeed, it doesn't, but the feeling is different than I'm used to. I assume it's because I've been summoned," Capri's voice increased its pitch. Now it felt like it suited the guide more.

"You assume?"

"Yeah. In all honesty, this is my first time being summoned."

"Really? Haven't you guys been around for like forever?" Hera asked.

"Not all of us. We only are born when the room is created. This room is not that old in comparison, and well. It's not exactly easy to get here. So no one called me before."

"So, no other explorer came here?"

"Hang on. This is in the question territory. Let me start the clock," Capri looked up for a moment and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, a clock appeared on top of his head. It took a bit longer than usual for the timer to show up, "ok, ready to start?"

Hera nodded, and the clock started ticking.

"For starters, how can we get out of this room?"

"You can't. The room is locked. The doorway you used is a one-way entrance. It glows just to show if it is still active on the other side," Capri replied.

Hera freaked out with that response, but she did her best to focus on the questions, "Is there another doorway?"

"Of course, no room is a dead end."

"And I can't use it?"

"Not at the moment. It is locked for now."

"How can I unlock it then?"

"It's complicated, but to simplify, you need the key. The problem is, the key is inside a dungeon that is locked by another key. So you actually need two keys," Capri gesticulated with his wings while talking.

"And where is that key?"

"It's inside the room. That's all I can say."

Hera thought for a moment, "Ok, so that's one doorway. What about the others? Each room is always connected to at least two rooms, right?"

"There is one more, but it is inactive. It can only be activated after you unlock the room and beat one specific hard mode dungeon."

The first minute of her time was gone. She still had time and could gather some information.

"Ok, what's the level range of the monsters here?"

"From 5 to 15."

Hera's eyes went wide. Something even stronger than Zudra was here?

"How many at level 15? Is it in an area or something? Can you mark it on my map?"

Capri scratched his head using his wing, "That was a lot, and one of those requires me to cut some time, so hang on. Let me see how this works."

Looking up, the guide stopped the clock. He took 30 seconds off, leaving the times with 3 minutes and 18 seconds, before turning back to Hera.

"Right. So I can't mark the map, but the level 15 is just for one. It is in a specific area, but you will eventually figure it out."

Hera scratched her head, "Ok, so it's like a boss monster that is on the open field?"

"Exactly."

"What type of creature is it?"

"I can't tell you the specifics, just that it is big and it can fly. Kind of a necessity to move around easily here," Capri replied with a smile.

"Ok, next topic. How big is the room? There are several mountains around. Are they all part of it?"

"Oh, no. That is just something to give the place a better view. The actual room is only this mountain, from the very top all the way to the base. Although the wall cuts the path if you try to head down through its outside," Capri looked to the side, "Oh, crap. Sorry, that information is worth some seconds. I'm going to have to take more time away."

Hera looked up to the clock and saw that it was still showing 3:18, "I think you forgot to start the clock after you stopped."

"What?" Capri looked up, "Shit! Hang on…. How long did we spend talking after I stopped the clock?"

"Not much, maybe… 20—30 seconds?" Hera replied after thinking about it. She never timed her conversations, so she wasn't sure how to gauge it.

"Ok, this would be another 30 seconds. So, I'm taking a minute off."

Hera nodded. Now the clock was at 2:18. Even though she felt it wasn't exactly fair, arguing about it could be a bad idea. Worst-case scenario, the guide could remove her skill, and she still had to figure out how to take Blue to a safe spot.

"I'm really sorry about this. I have no clue how other guides can shave off time without stopping the clock. It's really hard, but I'll try to make it up to you somehow," Capri said.

"It's ok. I know how hard it is to do things in a new job."

"It's not a new job. I've been a guide for over 12 hundred years," Capri gasped.

"But I'm still the first person who you've actually guided, am I not?" Hera asked.

Capri squinted, "Touché, anyway. Now we can go back to the questions."

The timer was now between Hera and Capri, in a position where both could see it ticking. Hera waited for the numbers to start to change before continuing her inquiries.

"Is there a place where someone injured can be cured? Or a fruit that can help heal wounds here?"

"No fruit, and no place, but you can head to the city to find some shamans who can heal."

"There is a city here?" Hera gasped. How was there a city located inside a room where no one entered before?

"Yep, it's kind of the reason this room was created."

"Who lives there?"

"People. Who else? They had some trouble with their previous home and ended up here."

"How many people live here?"

"A few thousand. I can give you an exact number, but that's gonna cost more time," Capri replied.

"No need. Are they friendly? I mean, would they be friendly with someone who invaded their room?"

Capri nodded with a big smile, "Oh yeah! They are awesome. Even when the others showed up, they were always excited. Well, to be fair, there are a few who can be a bit more… grumpy, but not to the point where they would attack you out of nowhere. Unless you throw the first punch, they won't take a beating and not fight back."

"And how can I get to the city? Actually, is there a way to get there with someone in a sled?"

"You mean for your friend?" Capri asked.

"Yeah. How can I get there while carrying her?"

"You have to take the long way around. Head down the path and follow the trail between the trees. The problem is, the snow is covering most of the markings. The best I can offer is to set it up on your map, but then, that's it. All the time will be over."

"Can I ask you one thing before doing that?"

"Depends on the question."

"What happened with the other people that came here? I know I'm not the first."

"There were four people. One died due to his injuries minutes after he arrived. His body is somewhere on the mountain. Two others died while trying to find a way out, but they lived for a few months here before that happened. The last one spent the rest of his life in the city. He became a part of their clan and was very loved until his last breath. They even have a holiday for his memory."

Hera smiled, so at least this wasn't a death sentence, "Ok then, can you put the path on my map?"

"Of course," Capri zeroed out the clock and asked Hera to open her Map window. He tapped his wing in a few points, and a trail appeared. She would have to go down the mountain and go mostly around it until reaching a large entrance.

"Thanks, Capri," Hera smiled, knowing the guide would have to go back.

"Thank you too. Since you called me, I'm finally having a workday party."

"A workday party?" Hera asked.

"Yeah. It's a celebration of the first day we were called by an explorer."

"What if you are never called?"

"We don't get a party to ourselves. We share a day to celebrate our eternal vacation."

"But don't you have to wait for another explorer to call you to work again?" Hera asked.

"We have some other stuff to do after we are called. I'm not going to bother you with the details. Besides, It's time for me to go."

"Right, thanks for everything."

Capri smiled and started batting its wings, "One last thing. Consider this my apology for messing up the time," Capri looked to the side, "Really? Do I have to say it like that? Fine, it's not like I can go against the system," he rolled his eyes, "Hera, when you find the storm, focus on the eggs."

"Am I supposed to understand what that means?" Hera asked.

"Not at the moment, but if you want to leave this room, you will understand it," Capra turned around and flew high up, leaving the tree area and vanishing among the clouds in the sky. A few moments later, the wool covering Hera disappeared.

"Bye, I guess… How the hell am I going to tell all this to Blue now?" Hera sighed, moving back through the woods, heading back to the cave.