I took a sip of my beer and then leaned back in my chair, sighing in relief. Good food and drink were well appreciated after all the work I’d done over the last couple days.
For the last two days, my team and I had been inside the Labyrinth, delving as deep as we were able to handle. It hadn’t really been all that deep comparatively, but it had pushed us all.
Our trip had been productive, and not just in earning a couple more levels. We’d also found two treasure boxes. One of the boxes only had a pair of metal gauntlets, which Turtle had claimed, while the second box had contained a belt and a small gemstone. Bunny took the belt, then sold the gem as soon as we’d returned to town.
I smiled as I considered my new influx of cash. With my share from the gem, I might be able to buy some new equipment. Maybe some more protective pieces to go with my jerkin.
“Just as long as I save enough for room and food,” I quietly reminded myself. I still had a couple weeks to go before I needed to start paying rent somewhere, but I wasn’t going to take that for granted. “Hopefully, I’ll get another payday or two before then.”
Just then, a voice said, “So, you’re the new girl in town.”
I looked up and saw a man standing across from my table, looking down at me expectantly. He was tall and fairly muscular, with a dark blonde beard and matching hair which had a couple braids woven in. I immediately recognized the man, named Dom, though I’d never spoken with him.
From what I’d been told by Bunny, Dom was one of the players who’d emerged from the Labyrinth after being respawned, and never went back in. I didn’t judge him for that, because knowing your limits and avoiding unnecessary danger could be signs of wisdom. However, the fact that he also carried a large barbarian style sword slung over his shoulder, seemed a bit…fake.
Dom moved to sit down across from me, completely uninvited.
“I’d prefer to be left alone,” I told him evenly. “I’m enjoying a bit of time by myself.”
“There’s no need for that,” Dom responded, flashing a grin and completely ignoring my words as he sat down anyway.
I gave Dom a silent glare and he abruptly paused, paling just a little. My glare had gotten a bit more potent as of late, courtesy of the extra points that I’d slotted into my presence. My presence was currently sitting at nine, which meant that I was suddenly a lot more intimidating than I had been before.
From what I understood, everyone had an aura which could influence how people saw and reacted to them. For most people, it might not be noticeable, but for others… Some people just naturally came off as sincere and trustworthy, while others might seem creepy of threatening, even though they didn’t do anything to earn that reaction. Presence affected the strength of this aura and how well you could actually direct it.
At the moment, every bit of my intent was focused on Dom, who slowly stood back up.
“I’ll leave you alone,” Dom said with a forced smile before he walked away, trying to be casual about it.
“Points well spent,” I told myself with a dark chuckle.
Once Dom was gone, I took another sip of my beer, then turned my attention back to my plate. Most of my dinner had already been eaten, but a few bites remained, so I decided to rectify that.
Just then, Dom called out, “It’s the Men in Grey.”
“That’s Woman in Grey,” Agent Davis corrected as walked into the Broken Yardarm. She looked around, then slowly made her way towards my table.
“Here we go again,” I muttered, though at least this interruption would be more welcomed than the last.
“Maggie,” Davis greeted me once she reached my table.
“That is the name on my ID,” I responded with a chuckle.
Davis smiled faintly at that. “Actually, that was what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“My name?” I asked curiously. “Or my ID?”
“The latter,” she told me. “When you get a chance, I’d like you to come to our remote office…” She paused at that. “Well, some of the higher ups think it’s our main office and that THIS one is the remote one…”
I nodded at that, knowing what she meant. “Hard to do your job if you stay too far away from the Labyrinth and the players.”
“Exactly,” Davis agreed. “Anyway, our other office is only five miles away, and I’d like you to stop by sometime so we can take your picture and update your ID with a more permanent version.”
I considered that for a moment, not sure that I wanted to have my picture taken. More accurately, I wasn’t sure that I wanted my official record to have any more information on me than necessary. That was the same reason I hadn’t told Davis that I was an invoker, though admittedly, she might have figured that out on her own. I hadn’t been exactly subtle in my conversation with Wolf.
“Sure,” I answered pleasantly, deciding that there was no need to antagonize her when I could just keep procrastinating instead. “I’ll take care of that when I get some time.”
Davis gave me a single nod at that. “Oh, you should also know that Jace has been released and might hold a grudge.”
I frowned at that. “Released?”
The Warden shrugged at that. “She didn’t really hurt anyone. It was mostly just property damage, so we kept her in the drunk tank for a few days but couldn’t justify much more than that.”
“I understand,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll keep an eye out.”
Davis shook her head and let out a sigh. “When I joined the Wardens, I never thought that I’d be stuck having to play small town sherif.”
That brought a faint smile to my lips as I understood exactly what she meant. I’d always hated the more bureaucratic and paper pushing assignments, the kind I’d been stuck with after my leg was shattered.
“It could be worse,” I assured her with a knowing smile.
“Yeah,” she grumbled in response. “But not by much.”
After this, Davis gave me another nod before she turned and wandered off. I finished my drink, paid my bill, then got up and left, though I didn’t go too far. I only went across the street and a couple doors down, where I ended up at the town bar. Why Gideon Heights had a separate bar and diner, I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like there was much need for family-friendly places.
I quickly spotted a couple familiar faces, sitting at a table with drinks in hand. Bunny and Olivia were deep in conversation. But instead of joining them immediately, I made a brief stop at the bar to pick up a drink of my own, and only then continued heading towards them.
“Hey,” I said as I joined the two, taking a seat at the table without waiting for an invitation. I chose to ignore the fact that this was the same thing that Dom had tried doing to me. “I’m surprised they didn’t card you,” I teased Bunny.
Bunny flashed me a sharp grin. “They don’t bother any more.”
“Or any less,” Olivia pointed out with a dismissive gesture.
“Jack will learn, eventually,” Bunny assured her. “He can only get poked by rabbits so many times before he takes the hint.”
“You hope,” Olivia added with a faint smirk.
Bunny glared at the arcanist. “It’s not my fault I came back a third of my old age.”
“I only lost about ten years,” Olivia admitted. “If that.”
“How about you?” Bunny abruptly asked me.
I blinked at that since most players would consider that question to be intrusive and rude. However, we’d been fighting together and had even become friends, which gave her a bit more leeway.
“Let’s put it this way,” I told her wryly. “I remember when Saturday Night Live was funny.”
“Wow,” Bunny exclaimed in mock surprise. “You must have been ancient.”
I shrugged at that. “Old enough. Now, what were you two talking about before I interrupted?”
Bunny and Olivia shared a look before Bunny answered. “We were talking about how both our classes rely on focus as our primary stat.”
“Increasing focus gives me more control over my arcane blasts,” Olivia told me. “I’m slowly gaining the ability to either fire smaller blasts that recharge faster, or to let it build up to be slower but more powerful.”
“Flexibility is good,” I commented while Olivia nodded agreement.
“For me,” Bunny explained, “it lets me channel more of my creation magic. I started off only being able to summon one rabbit, but as my focus increases, I’ve been able to summon more. I’m pretty sure that I’m close to being able to summon four of the smaller ones.”
“That would be useful,” I told her. “Do you think you’ll be able to summon multiple copies of Sir Fluff?”
Bunny considered that for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t think so. Sir Fluff is basically taking all of my energy…what would normally summon all three of my current rabbits, and sort of combines it all into one. I think that I’ll be able to slowly make him bigger and more powerful, but I don’t think I’ll be able to summon multiple copies of him.”
“Either way would be impressive,” I said before taking a long drink of my beer.
Olivia looked at me and asked, “What about you?”
I hesitated a moment, more to consider how I would answer rather than whether or not I should. “Yeah,” I finally said. “I use focus too, but I haven’t really slotted enough into it yet to see any real improvements. I suspect that once I do, it’ll probably be like your arcane blasts.”
“That should be interesting to see then,” Olivia said with a faint nod.
I took a sip of my beer, then slowly looked around the bar. The respawned always came back young and healthy, so there was a decent amount of eye-candy in the bar, both male and female. It was still a bit weird for me to consider that men were now on the menu.
“Now then,” I said, looking at my two teammates and friends. “I’m a bit new to the whole girl’s night out, so what do we do now?”
Bunny and Olivia shared a knowing look and then turned to me as one, both grinning mischievously.