Book 4: Chapter 59: Patch 10.0

Despite not much time having passed since Fenrir and Azalabulia departed for their duel, they are met with an unexpected sight when they make it back to The Shoebill and the site for their future city.

Wagons.

The two surviving wagons from earlier were left behind farther up the river when they were loading everything onto The Shoebill for transportation. Now, two more wagons much grander and larger are waiting. Each wagon already has two horses paired up to it, too.

“How?” Fenrir asks the smug Tabitha as she stands in front of the wagons with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Because I’m the best,” Tabitha answers.

“You built these while we were gone? We weren’t even gone for that long.”

“I’m the best. Don’t question me.”

“What about the wagons we left up the river?”

“Don’t need them anymore. We’ve got these beauties now.”

“So… you really just built two brand new wagons while we were gone?”

“Yup.”

“How do you even… do?”

“I do by being the best.”

Fenrir sighs and gives up. He knows that he’ll never understand how Tabitha is such an incredible engineer whom can seemingly build anything, but he still appreciates her. “Good job,” he says, reaching a hand out to instinctively pat her on top of her head.

“Oi,” Tabitha says before slapping his hand away. “What do ya think you’re doin’? Try pattin’ me again and we’ll be squarin’ up.”

“Ri-right. My bad.”

“Our heads aren’t good enough for him anymore. He wants to pat even younger girls,” Serra says with a teasing pout.

“My hero! It did not take long for you to grow tired of the bodies of adults! Are younger girls truly so appetizing to you?” Nell asks.

“Head-patting pedophile,” Cassiel joins in on the teasing for once, trying to use a softer tone of voice that makes it obvious she’s not really trying to insult him.

“M-my head, if you want to… I – I wouldn’t mind,” Azalabulia forces herself to admit.

“Degenerates. All of you,” Tabitha says and sighs. “Goin’ by the fact that you two don’t seem all awkward around each other anymore, ya finally done with that drama?” she asks, looking between Fenrir and Azalabulia.

“Ah, yeah, I uh – it’s cleared up now,” Fenrir answers.

“So, you’ve officially got yourself four girlfriends now, captain wolf?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“Womanizer.”

“Hey, I’m not a womanizer.”

“Fine. You’re a playboy.”

“I’m not—”

“Playboy,” Serra says.

“A promiscuous hero!” Nell says.

“Definitely a playboy,” Cassiel agrees.

“I – I don’t mind if you’re a womanizer,” Azalabulia chimes in.

“Fine, I’m a womanizing playboy,” Fenrir admits.

“Good, ya finally admit it. Now, come with me and Red. We’ve got some talkin’ to do,” Tabitha says.

Fenrir nods to his girlfriends before following Tabitha to where Rao is, and Oleander joins in as well.

“Did you really have to make new wagons though?” Fenrir asks. “Aren’t you worried about what happened before happening again? Horses aren’t going to be able to survive Azawaza’s explosions.”

“Azawaza?” Tabitha asks.

“Oh, yeah. New nickname for her.”

Tabitha shrugs. “We’ll just have to apologize really hard if we blow the horses up.”

“That’s… well, alright. I’d rather us not blow the horses up, though.”

Oleander chimes in with, “Just don’t let Aza near them and they’ll be fine! Probably. Just… don’t let her near me, either. I – I don’t want to go flying with a wagon again. That was the most terrifying thing that I’ve ever experienced. It was even scarier than being separated from you, Fenny!” He tries lunging at Fenrir to snuggle but gets blocked by Fenrir’s hand against his forehead.

“It’s been a while since you’ve tried being creepily flirty,” Fenrir tells Oleander.

“You know you like it.”

“You’ll make your boyfriend jealous.”

“Nah! Cor is totes okay with this. He knows I’ll give him ten times the love later!”

Fenrir flicks Oleander’s forehead before turning his attention to Rao whom seems to be lost in thought. “Everything alright? Rao?”

“Huh?” Rao asks. “Oh, yeah, bro. Everything’s good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Just thinking.”

“About?”

Rao looks at Tabitha.

“Right! Let’s get this little meetin’ of ours underway,” Tabitha announces. “Captain dog, while ya were off doin’ whatever it is you degenerates do in private, we tried thinkin’ about everything we’ll need to get a good town goin’.”

“So, you prepared a shopping list?”

“Exactly! Well, sort of.”

While Tabitha and Rao go over the details of every single little thing that they’re going to need, why they’re going to need such things, and how they plan on acquiring all of these materials, Rock and Shogun lie down nearby and listen in on the conversation with little understanding of it. Eventually, they give up paying attention to what is being said and just cuddle with each other instead.

Naturally, it is Rock who always wants to be the little spoon both because of her smaller size and the fact that her partner is so fluffy and soft! Curling up against him is the best, and he always makes sure to swing his tail around so that it’s draped over her.

“I think that’s everything,” Rao says. “I keep on trying to think if there’s anything else we might need, but I’m tired.”

“That… sounds like a lot of farming,” Fenrir says. “We’re seriously going to need that many trees? That much stone?”

“Ya think a town can pop up outta nowhere with no buildin’ materials?” Tabitha asks. “It ain’t goin’ to be easy and it ain’t goin’ to be quick. But, it’s late, so we’ll get started on the most tedious stuff tomorrow.”

Oleander looks everybody over. Rock and Shogun are comfy and drifting off to sleep, Rao and Tabitha both look tired, Corwin is already asleep back on The Shoebill, and Fenrir’s girlfriends are looking pretty lethargic and just sitting around. Fenrir and himself are the only two who don’t seem that tired. “Yeah, I think it’s about time we all get some rest. Besides, it’s getting dark! I’ll get some food for the horses and then I’ll probably wake,” Oleander says.

“Sounds good to me,” Fenrir agrees. “Nell is probably going to kick me and the others off if we don’t wake on our own soon anyways. She doesn’t want us spending too much time playing.”

“This is why ya don’t settle down! I couldn’t stand livin’ and lettin’ somebody else decide what I do and when,” Tabitha says. “Though, in your degenerate girlfriends’ case, ya deserve bein’ bossed around.”

“You’re always so mean to me,” Fenrir says before playfully pouting.

“Oi. Don’t make a face like that. It’s weird.”

“Yeah, bro, you look like a kid,” Rao says, struggling to keep his eyes open.

“Alright, fine. I won’t. Now, come on. Let’s rest,” Fenrir says, stepping over to Rao to help him.

As everybody wraps up playing for the day, Fenrir thinks about just how much time is going to be spent gathering wood and stone in the forest and at the mountain. That’s not all they’re going to need, either. Tabitha and Rao have got some grand plans to make Fenrir’s dream city a reality. Going off of the shopping list that they gave him, he’s going to need to bust his ass for them.

But, it’s a video game. No video game, especially no MMORPG, is complete without grinding!