The New Story of Lona Falldin

Chapter 6

Having successfully negotiated with BM that I allowed her to address me by the name of Marymi, I immediately went to fulfill the agreed upon quota for today. What's funny is that the system doesn't seem to have a stat responsible for endurance, but at the same time there is some clear awareness that it took me almost a quarter of my endurance to create 24 kilograms of smoked meat from 24 pieces of meat and a stick. As if the body itself is trained to perfectly control this moment, which, if you think about it, could well be true given how important it was for Lona to monitor her condition before any battle. And, by the way, such consumption of stamina is quite consistent with what was in the game, where each item required 1 unit of stamina when crafting, that is, 25 stamina when creating 12 pieces of dried meat, which with a base stamina of 100 units, would be exactly that quarter.

- Marymi, I'm done! - I turned to Big Mom, moving away from the cauldron.

- Hm. You really got bold quickly. - the big woman chuckled. - Give me the meat and you can be free until tomorrow.

- Here. - I said, throwing exactly 12 pieces of smoked meat into the window that appeared, I also remembered one important thing. - By the way, that's right, I would also like to buy a bowl of meat soup.

- No need to buy, I already promised you three meals a day, here you go. - she thrust a bowl of soup at me.

- Thank you. - I thanked him before putting the soup that was marked not as meat, but as good soup, into my inventory and began to look at the tavern's visitors. I was interested in one particular man.

And I found him pretty quickly. At one of the tables sat a man exhausted by hunger with a whip on his belt, bearing a striking resemblance in appearance to Harrison Ford. He sat tiredly, tiredly leaning against the table, periodically stroking his stomach. Yes, he is exactly the one I need.

Without thinking for long, I went straight to him and taking the soup out of my inventory, put it in front of him.

- Is this for me? - the man asked tiredly and slightly surprised.

- Yes.

- Thank you, baby! - the man said gratefully, immediately attacking the food.

- Ah, I wanted to explore the underground ruins of Sybaris, but ended up stuck here hungry and tired without the ability to do even simple work to buy food. If you know of any places to explore, feel free to contact me. - the man said, finding time to say a few words while eating.

- I'll tell you straight. I don't want to pretend to be the one who helped you out of the kindness of my heart. - I decided not to try to dodge and say everything straight. It was noticeable that the man was disappointed and squeezed the spoon he was eating with his hand tighter, but after a moment he calmed down and stoically asked.

- And what do you want from me?

- Nothing complicated, really. I need a loyal companion on my travels, and you look like a person I can trust. Naturally, while I'm inexperienced, visiting tombs is out of the question, but we can complete tasks together, covering each other's backs and accordingly dividing the rewards for quests in half. Also, it seems to me that you will be interested in exploring the tomb of the killer of false gods, I know its approximate location, as well as what awaits us there. - With each word I said, the disappointment disappeared from the man's eyes, and as soon as it came to the words about the tomb of a legendary figure, I realized that he was mine with all my giblets.

- Hah, baby, and you know pretty well how to attract the attention of an archaeologist. - the man grinned. - Well, what are our plans for the near future.

- At the moment, our main plan is to complete the task of exterminating zombies in the cemetery, and then collect white dragon grass with the hope that along the way we will be able to kill a boar, whose meat I will be able to smoke with the help of a dark cauldron. And as soon as I can get money for a book of lightning magic, we can look at something more complicated.

- And you are sure that you can use magic?

- Yes, even if not right away, but I am sure that I can use it. - I said confidently.

- Great, even though I don't have a trusty pistol with me, you can count on me. Just call me Jones. – the Archaeologist extended his hand to me.

- Lona Foldin. – I responded to the handshake with a smile. – By the way, did you say a pistol?

- Yes, it is a rather compact and powerful weapon from my homeland, believe me, a bow definitely cannot compare to it.

- Well, I am not sure if there are pistols on our island, but there are definitely muskets.

- So you do have firearms? – the man was surprised.

- Not really, as far as I know, local muskets work on magic.

- I will not even ask how you know such a thing. – the archaeologist shook his head.

- That is great. So, since you have finished eating, shall we go on a journey?

- Yes, perhaps, – the man got up from the table and headed for the exit of the tavern, and I, having thrown an empty wooden plate into my inventory, headed after him.

It was already late evening outside, but that didn't stop us. I had already slept well, and Jones didn't have the money to rent a room, so we walked calmly towards the cemetery.

To be honest, during the journey I praised myself more than once for deciding to go with him. The night was far from quiet. From time to time, desperate screams of women and male laughter were heard in the gateways. And there were even moments when we had to urgently hide so as not to run into slave traders prowling in search of free refugees. Only Jones's quick reaction allowed us to remain unnoticed.

- What a crazy world. - I cursed when we finally reached our destination.

- Rather, your island is crazy. In my homeland, there is no trace of such a level of crime, and there is nothing to say about the demons that roam Sybaris. - the morally exhausted man answered me, more than once he wanted to run into the gateway and carry out the cackling bastards, but he was stopped by the understanding that it was better not to use one whip against a crowd of bandits armed with cold weapons, and in the end, gritting his teeth, he moved on.

- If I calm you down with this, and you really want to participate in this, then in the future we can try to help fix this situation, I even know who exactly is ready and even began to try to figure it out.

- You are too careless. - the archaeologist shook his head. - throwing around such statements, you will very quickly find yourself in the torture chamber.

- Ahem. Yes, perhaps you are right. - I admitted, a little embarrassed. This is not some kind of fairy-tale world like Fairy Tail, where you could calmly dump all the problems of the future on Makarov, and calmly train and enjoy life. Here, in the best case, it will end with death in a ditch.