Rise of Ummeria

CHAPTER 5 - Glimpse of Power

Nico turns to the voice that had spoken to see the same group of adventurers he had seen yesterday.

"Ah, is that so? Then, in that case, I apologize. I wasn't expecting one so young." Geppetto said.

"This is Basil, my driver and employee," he says introducing the man manning the reigns. The younger man simply nods in greeting. "And you all are?"

"My name is Fel, and these are my party members, Kreed, Lana, and Helios." The voice now identified as Fel introduced himself. "We are here to escort you" he informed him smiling.

Nico's eyes narrowed looking at them with suspicion. But he plays along with them when Fel directs his next statement towards him, "Isn't that right?"

Nico only nodded in response.

"I see then we best be on our way. You can put your strange thing in the back of the wagon there's room"

Nico goes to the back of the wagon and loads his belongings into the wagon. Once it was secured they set off.  The adventurers walk alongside the wagon surrounding it. At the pace they were going it'd take about a week and some change to get to the next town. Thankfully according to the map, there was a village between the town but it would take 3 days to get there.

After some time Lana decided to break the ice with Nico seeing as she was walking on the same side of the wagon as him.

"You're quite young to be an adventurer aren't you?" she says with genuine interest wondering why someone so young was an adventurer.

"Yes, I'm not good with magic but I'm still confident in my ability to be an adventurer," he replied not particularly interested in engaging in conversation with those who had tried to rob him yesterday.

"I don't see a weapon on you besides that knife" she pressed trying still to make conversation.

Nico noticed she made no mention of the gun he carried on his waist holster. Perhaps she registered it as nothing more than something he simply carried. He wasn't exactly sure if guns or something similar existed in this world. He carried his MP5k in his backpack. He made a mental note to buy a cloak to conceal carry it.

"Mmm" was all Nico said in reply.

Lana was starting to get irritated. Even yesterday she had thought he was an arrogant child. Though she was only 15 years old herself.

So she changed tact. "I've never seen the object that you used to ride around before. Such craftsmanship. Even dwarves with all their skills have never produced such a thing."

"You mean what you tried to steal from me yesterday?" He said becoming irritated.

"Hey that wasn't my idea it was Fel's. Besides, we were just curious anyway" she said defending herself.

Nico sighs. Unlike guns sharing a little information about his bike shouldn't be too harmful. Besides he wasn't in the mood to have an extended conversation with her. He still had his suspicions about why they had decided to take this quest as well. There were others they could have accepted. So he would keep the information he shared to a minimum.

"It's called a bike"

"A bike?" she asks perking up eager that she finally was getting some information out of him.

"Yes a bike" he repeated.

"And how does this 'bike' work? she asks.

"Traditionally it works by using what is called 'pedals'. These pedals are what turn the gears on the chains that propel the bike. In short, it is human propulsion using your legs and feet. It's a great form of exercise" he explained.