Zectas Book II: Heraldic City of Coatl (25 page)

            

 

 

Smoke pretended not to see the alias window. He shook Macher's hand and smiled.

 

 

"Pleasure doing business with you. Listen, Laernea and I have to get going. We still have a lot of things to prepare."

 

 

"I'll be waiting for you at the finish line double grand champion."

 

 

Macher said his farewell as the DarkElf Flame Knight and the Lioumerean Pathfinder went out of the cafe, determined to find a mount.

 

 

 

 

 

Smoke and Laernea were back in Madam Dawny's farm. They tried the other stable houses from the other districts but all of them had similar prices.

 

 

Laernea gave Smoke some advice.

 

 

"I think you should take Macher on his offer. I know you don't want to spend too much on yourself but think of it as an investment."

 

 

"Let's wait for Gandiva. She should arrive any minute now. When she gets here we'll talk about finding my mount."

 

 

A few minutes later the tigress Lioumerean arrived with the next batch of double bladed mantis swords for auction.

 

 

"Finally! What took you so long to get here? Did something come up in Nanahuatl?"

 

 

Gandiva stared on the ground and tried her best to avoid Smoke's eyes. She had promised Sierra to keep their meeting a secret from Smoke.

 

 

"Well, everybody was so happy with your gifts that they wanted to party a bit. I didn't notice the time and one drink led to another and..."

 

 

"Argh! Okay, okay I get it. You partied with the Nanahuatlanos. I don't mind, at least you were honest with me."

 

 

"Of course. Thanks for understanding."

 

 

"Yeah, I bet if I sent Laernea instead of you she would've partied with them too."

 

 

Laernea interjected Smoke's statement.

 

 

"Hey, I resent that."

 

 

This time it was Gandiva who asked Laernea.

 

 

"Really? You're telling me that if the Nanahuatlanos asked you to party and would offer you a cold otromundo you would say no?"

 

 

Laernea became silent and answered in the end.

 

 

"Fine. I guess if I think about it, I would've said yes as well. I mean who could deny a cold otromundo."

 

 

The Lioumereans laughed at each other. They both knew how much they loved drinking otromundo.

 

 

"Ahem, ahem ahem. If you don't mind I'd like to talk about my mount. Laernea, you update Gandiva about our development on that end. I'll go out and do some practice swings in the meantime. Come get me when you're done."

 

 

Smoke equipped his Gora Knight armor. He wanted to be comfortable fighting with the armor on. He also equipped his glaive Rzeka.

 

 

Igniz, the dark ember sprite, and Ental, the hell boar, were outside as well. The two of them were up to their usual game of chase.

 

 

The DarkElf tried to execute his own attack called Mountain Split, but the damage on the ground was smaller when he didn't use Igniz's energy.

 

 

"Igniz! Come here. I need you to help me practice with Rzeka and this armor."

 

 

Igniz immediately stopped playing with Ental and flew towards Smoke. The dark ember sprite went inside his tri-horned helmet and melded his energy with Smoke.

 

 

Smoke's armor was coated in the usual dark purple flame. When Ental saw the flaming armor she instinctively ran towards him.

 

 

Ental's speed was much faster than when she played with Igniz. Smoke was alarmed when he saw the charging hell boar.

 

 

He turned away from the hell boar and ran as fast as he could. Ental lowered her head and body. She scooped Smoke up and had him ride her back.

 

 

Smoke couldn't believe what happened. He was mounted on Ental. He thought that she was an old retired hell boar but she carried him well.

 

 

Ental started to pick up speed. She ran towards one of the four foot tall fences surrounding the farm. Smoke wanted her to turn but he didn't know how.

 

 

The hell boar picked up even more speed and leapt over the fence. Smoke was astounded at what the old hell boar was capable of.

 

 

He used his Earth Manipulation ability and created an earth pillar far ahead. The pillar was eight feet thick. He wanted to see if Ental would follow his instructions.

 

 

"Alright, Ental, let's pulverize that pillar."

 

 

Ental grunted to indicate that she understood. She picked up, Smoke used both his hands and readied his glaive. The moment the pillar was in reach he swung his long glaive across it and and explosive slash erupted. The pillar was completely obliterated.

 

 

"Whoa. Ental, slow down girl. Let's see the damage we've made."

 

 

The hell boar slowed down and turned around. She trotted slowly to where the pillar was erected. All that was left in its place were small pieces of rocks.

 

 

"Amazing! I thought you hated me girl. Good job, good job."

 

 

Smoke scratched Ental behind her ears. The hell boar grunted in response. Smoke smiled as it looked like he found his mount.

 

 

“A free mount is the best the kind of mount.”

 

 

They went back to the farm. He still had to ask for Ental's owner to let him use the hell boar in the Mounted Race.

 

 

The ride back was as pleasant as Smoke could imagine. When they got back on the farm he saw Madam Dawny standing on her front porch.

 

 

Smoke dismounted Ental and unequipped his Knight armor. He went to the owner of the farm and the hell boar to ask for her consent.

 

 

"Umm... I don't really know what happened. Ental forced me to mount her. I know it sounds weird but believe me that's what happened."

 

 

"I believe you."

 

 

Madam Dawny's short answer left Smoke in a puzzled state. He wasn't sure if she was okay with him riding her hell boar.

 

 

"Right. So, about the Mounted Race event, I was wondering if it's alright with you... I'd like to borrow Ental for the event?"

 

 

Madam Dawny looked at her hell boar.

 

 

"Ental is old, but it looks like she wants to go on another adventure. Who am I to stop a friend from having fun? It's okay. You have my permission to use Ental."

 

 

Smoke was ecstatic. He finally had a mount. He thought that he should inspect Ental's stats now that he could officially use her.

 

            

 

 

Smoke plotted his schedule in the next few days. He would register himself and Ental tomorrow. He trained with the hell boar in the day and had Caid teach him at night. He followed the same routine until the day of the mounted race.

 

 

 

 

 

The following day he went to register for the Mounted Race. He also asked Laernea and Gandiva to join the race. He would pay for their registration fees.

 

 

Gandiva couldn't understand why it was okay for Smoke to pay for their fees, when he signed a contract with Macher to waive his.

 

 

Smoke told the tigress Lioumerean his way of thinking.

 

 

"It would've been a waste of money if I payed for myself. Whereas it is an investment when I pay for you two."

 

 

To him 160,000 zecs was a logical gamble. He was confident that the Lioumereans could bring home 1st and 2nd place.

 

 

After they were done with the registration, Smoke went to another establishment. He left the two Lioumereans behind. He said that he would return quickly.

 

 

Ten minutes passed and their DarkElf leader returned. He was about to tell them to head on to the farm when he got a call from Sierra.

 

 

"Hi, Sierra. What's up?"

 

 

"I have something important to tell you. I need you to shut up, and listen to me well."

 

 

Smoke was stunned by Sierra's voice. He decided to keep his mouth shut.

 

 

"There has been a major complication on our end. The labyrinth's exit is still undiscovered and... Well, we've accidentally incurred the wrath of the Brandals."

 

 

"The Brandals! Everyone in Coatl knows to stay away from them. Weren't you suppose to stay hidden?"

 

 

"I've never been to Coatl! Smoke, please listen to me until I've finished what I have to say.”

 

 

Sierra told Smoke everything that happened to her and his private army. Everything except for Jinggu and Sharur's close encounter with death.

 

 

“What's done is done. We also have around 500 refugees with us. They need a new home. Their villages were ransacked and destroyed by the Brandals. I was having second thoughts of sending them over to Coatl. I don't think that the city would take them in. I need your help. What should we do? Should we abandon searching for the labyrinth's exit? Should we fight the Brandals?"

 

 

Smoke remained silent. It was too much for him to handle right away.

 

 

"You guys need to stay put and well hidden. I'll think of something fast. I'll contact you in a few hours from now. But for now just stay out of the Brandal's radar."

 

 

The DarkElf ended the call. He didn't know what else to say. He racked his brain for an answer. He discussed it over with the Lioumereans and they were also stumped.

 

 

Smoke looked for a quiet place to think. He needed to talk to someone. He decided to call the wisest person he knew. He called Darius.

 

 

“Open Contacts Window.”

 

            

 

 

“Call, Darius.”

 

 

The game system opened a connection between Smoke and Darius.

 

 

"Hi, Sierra and everyone else are in trouble. I need your help."

 

 

The DarkElf wanted to solve these kind of problems on his own. However, this situation needed a quick and efficient resolution. Darius knew that Smoke didn't want his help. He knew that it was difficult for him to even ask.

 

 

“Okay, let's calm down and think about this objectively. List all the resources available to you and list all the things that you need to resolve. We'll start from there.”

 

 

Darius didn't give Smoke any clear answers. Instead he offered critical discussions on the possible solutions that Smoke came up with.

 

 

He also told Darius about his first time meeting another Beggar.

 

 

“Have you heard of a Beggar named Caid? He's a very interesting character. He's stricter than you and insists on using honorifics.”

 

 

“Little Caid? I knew his father Eldion. He was the previous owner of Noir Emporium. So he has inherited his father's Beggar status? His father was also strict. I guess that must be his father's melded part.”

 

 

Smoke and the famous Beggar Legati spoke for the next two hours. It was the longest time that he been on a call in Zectas or in real life.

 

 

After his insightful talk with Darius, Smoke called Sierra back.

 

 

"Sierra, I know what to do..."

 

 

Smoke gave Sierra detailed instructions on what to do next.

 

 

 

 

 

At last, the day of the Mounted Race arrived. Almost all the players and NPCs of Coatl were gathered at the starting point of the race.

 

 

Long wooden bleachers were built on each side of the road where the racers would start. The Mayor had a special platform made for him and his special guests.

 

 

Smoke, in his flaming Knight armor, was mounted on Ental the hell boar. Laernea wore a heavy leather armor and rode on top of her stag moose Bilis. Gandiva wore a similar attire and rode on top of Tulin.

 

 

All three of them were ready to face the race. Macher came out from the crowd and went to talk to Smoke.

 

 

"This looks like a fine hell boar. A little old but its scars are a great sign of its power. Good luck, Ilad. Remember anything can happen in this race. I hope your two Lioumerean friends are enough of a backup to help you reach the finish line."

 

 

"Don't worry about us. These two are very good at what they do. I trust them completely, and as for Ental here, we've bonded really well these last few days."

 

 

"Alright then, break a leg, you three."

 

 

Macher went back to the bleachers and joined the rest of the crowd, who also waited in anticipation for the race to start.

 

 

Aside from training with Ental, Smoke had also acquired knowledge on the different types of mountable creatures in Zectas. He was able to read the book series called 'Mounts and Their Ups and Downs', up to volume three. The series had seven volumes altogether.