Heroes of Veritas: Crafting Bonus (Book 1)

Chapter Six: Spilling the Tea

Rob stood, and leaned a bit as he followed Elise’s gaze across the room. “Someone you know?”

Elise shook her head, “Oh…sort of, yeah. Why don’t…why don’t you go on ahead?”

“Are you sure?” Rob said, frowning slightly.

“Yeah yeah, I’m sure. If I get lost I’ll just close my eyes, click my heels, and use the paving stones to guide me. I’ll be fine, go on.” Elise pushed at Rob’s shoulder, eyes still on the figures of Astredian and Moltar – who was gesticulating enthusiastically.

“Good to hear.” Rob said with a bit of a snort, “I expect you’ll come see me once you’ve learned all the different kinds of pavers and patterns in Veritasia City.”

“Of course, and I expect there to be a test.” Elise said, smirking at Rob, who chuckled as he walked away.

Elise waved at Rob’s retreating back, then sat back down in the chair that he had vacated, which was facing the corner Moltar and Astredian were sitting in. She poured herself another cup of tea from the now rather cool tea pot, and breathed out. She closed her eyes, and focused her sharp hunter’s ears.

“I’m not sure we should leave, Moltar. There’s a lot more to running a guild than hopes and dreams.” Astredian said, his voice not as low as Rob’s, but with considerably more gravel. Elise sometimes thought he’d seen too many Dark Knight movies.

“And what do they have but hopes and dreams right now? We may have only a little money to our titles, but they have no more resources than we do. What we do have is the ability to choose. Let’s choose to believe in ourselves. We can do this!” Moltar said, his voice considerably higher and more audible than Astredian’s.

Listening to Moltar talk like this, with such raw passion, made Elise reconsider her opinion of him. The Moltar that she knew from her past life was also unvarnished, but so arrogant that most of the guild would raid log if he was the one leading that night. This Moltar was still inexperienced; maybe, just maybe, he could be different. Elise felt a small spring of hope well up in her chest.

“I’ll think about it.” Astredian said, tone calm and considered as always. Elise could tell that Moltar had swayed him, but he wasn’t quite ready to give in yet.

“Excuse me, I need a bio,” Astredian said as he stood and looked around. Elise opened her eyes, sipping her tea as Astredian skirted around various tables and chairs that were placed precariously close to one another.

Now alone at the table, Moltar looked around. The afternoon tea crowd had mostly dispersed, leaving Moltar with a view clear across the small tea room. She wasn’t looking in his direction, but Elise could feel his gaze focusing on her. After a few moments of circumspectly checking her out while he tore apart and consumed a cherry espresso pastry, Moltar got up and made his approach.

“Hey there,” Moltar said, the corners of his lips quirking up. “I noticed you sitting alone here…”

Elise looked up as he arrived at her table, and plastered on what she hoped was a bland, non-commital smile. “I came with my friend actually.”

Moltar didn’t quite look the way she’d remembered now that she could see him up close. He wasn’t ugly, per say, but his nose was a bit too large for his long, thin face and it bent in an unfortunate way. Elise couldn’t say she was surprised that someone had punched him in the face before, as they were all brave warrior adventurer types here, but she thought most of the characters in Veritas were designed to be somehow both elegant and rugged; Moltar looked far more the latter.

“That old dude who left? Doesn’t seem like a good friend to me, leaving you here all alone,” Moltar said, leaning on the table with one hand. “This is a big city, and it’s dangerous to go alone. My buddy and I live nearby…and, say, what ward are you from? Lower district, am I right? A girl like you probably doesn’t get to see the inside of the manor houses around these parts too often. If you’ve got some time, why don’t you come check it out?”

Elise frowned down at her empty teacup, eyes narrowing as she looked up at him. The hope that had sprung up in her chest earlier sank down to the pit of her stomach. Was he …negging her?

As Elise debated ‘spilling’ the dregs of her tea in his face, Moltar sat down in the unoccupied chair across from her. Taking no heed of her attempts to skewer him with her eyes, he continued, “Come on, I’ll make it worth your while. We have some great wine from the Vintner Ward…sweet like you, I bet…”

“It’s still morning.” Elise said, her voice and expression flat.

Astredian coughed loudly, his rough voice cutting through the tension, “Moltar, I don’t think she’s interested. Leave her be.”

For a man in full armor he sure could move quietly when he wanted. Elise hadn’t even felt his presence behind her; she must have been hyper focused on the more immediate threat in front of her. Moltar grunted, got up from the table, and stomped away without another word – clearly embarrassed to have been called out on his bad behavior.

Astredian sighed, pushing back the straight brown hair that had fallen into his clear blue eyes. “Sorry about my friend, Miss. He didn’t attend to the manners tutor very well as a child.”

“I could tell,” Elise said, trying not to let the sarcasm seep too deeply into her words. While Astredian considered what to say next, Elise noticed that he also looked different.

In a game, even one as complex as Veritas, there were only so many facial feature combinations available during character creation. Astredian had the same strong, square jaw and thick brows as before, but now he also had perfect, pillowy cupid’s bow lips. Elise felt like she’d seen them before. Maybe when they did face reveals in the guild’s irl pix Harmony channel? She’d intentionally designed her toon to look like her real self; maybe Astredian had done the same.

Elise had begun to suspect that adventurers in this alternate universe might be a melding between their real-world and digital counterparts. Now that she’d actually encountered two adventurers from her past life, she considered her suspicions confirmed.

“He grows on you,” Astredian said, smiling faintly as he met her eyes. In that moment it struck Elise that while she was studying him he’d been studying her as well – and that Astredian actually liked what he saw.

“Like a fungus, I’m sure,” Elise quipped instinctually, panic rising with her as she got up from her table, bag clutched to her chest.

“I’d best be going now. Busy day tomorrow. Ciao!” She cried as she fled from Astredian’s penetrating gaze.

Astredian stood quietly for a moment, taking in Elise’s rear aspect as she dodged around the flustered server on her way out the door. The tight leather pants looked good on her, but he thought they must be a pain to get off. He felt a twinge of guilt for checking her out after Moltar had just crept on her so hard.

Astredian shook his head to clear his thoughts, and regret struck him as he realized the woman they’d just scared off was a ranger. His current guild, the Wolfpack, had been trying to recruit rangers to help shore up their back line. He looked down, muttering to himself about the missed opportunity, and in doing so noticed something she’d left behind – a pair of large antlers that glowed faintly gold.

“Well…” Astredian said, picking the antlers up to inspect them. “A clue. Isn’t that….Lucky?” The last syllable rose in surprise as he realized what he was holding.