The Hero Should've Known Better

Chapter 7: Erter

Junil woke up to the cooing of doves.

Pigeons. They were pigeons, not doves, and there was one such pigeon tapping on the glass window of the room.

Blinking the drowsiness out of her eyes, the Healer slowly got out of bed to stare at the pigeons that had ruined her sleep. It cocked its head and tapped twice again.

"The fact that you're here means there's something important," Junil muttered. "And I can't just go back to sleep, because you'll wake me up with the tapping again. Darn it."

She hopped out of bed and shuffled over to the window, which she pushed open. The pigeon hopped into the inner window sill perch, and held a leg out for Junil to access the message container around its leg.

Wordlessly, the Healer pulled the note out from it and unrolled the slip of paper to read what was on it.

GO TO NEW FRONTIERLAND LIBRARY. NEW DEVELOPMENT. URGENT.

It was in Ronn's handwriting, which meant that it was a note from him to her.

"...still tired from the seasickness yesterday," the Healer muttered. Regardless, she flipped the slip of paper over and fished a charcoal pencil out from her bag.

COMING. GIVE ME TIME TO PREPARE.

She rolled the slip of paper back up, slipped it within the tube, and shooed the homing pigeon off for it to return to Ronn.

Junil yawned, and began to prepare her items.

Thankfully, Ronn didn't leave anything behind — despite getting a two-bed room, he did not seem to have entered the room again ever since he left last night. Which puzzled Junil; why spend money on a two-bed room when he didn't even plan on sleeping?

What an enigma of a man.

She quickly gathered all of her items, and she even took the time to inventory what she had. Her bag had its medical supplies, from a variety of healing supplements and bandages to leeches. There was a thing or two to snack on, namely, some dried beef that she decided would make her on-the-go breakfast.

As for her equipment, there were her clothes. Enchanted to protect her against falls and scrapes, not much more. It was durable, but not suitable for someone like a combat mage. Thankfully, she was not a combat mage.

Her clothes had plenty of pockets for potions of varying types, along with a hidden sleeve holster for her wand. She wasn't carrying any potions on her at the moment; doing so would be quite cumbersome, especially for a sea trip. Her plan of action had been to purchase some at New Frontierland, but Madame Fraul's current aluminum scheme dashed those plans.

Aside from her wand, Junil also had a two-handed short-staff that she typically wore on her back, held up by a simple sling. She didn't use the short-staff as much as the wand, but Ronn always recommended she carry it just in case.

She was all suited up, and ready to leave. The Healer stepped down the stairs and out of the inn to admire the sights of New Frontierland before she was off to perform her duties alongside the Hero—

"Price of aluminum per bar has risen approximately one small steel coin since yesterday!"

"They say the price is just going to keep going up!"

"Everyone, out of the way!"

The Healer was almost trampled by a crowd that was rushing on the main road. She backed away from the commotion, stopping just short of the stampede of people rushing in one direction with bags of coins in hand.

"...Why are you like this, Fraul?" Junil asked, to nobody in particular but herself.

Aside from that little incident, which she quickly aimed to forget, the Healer took in the sights of the bustling port city of New Frontierland. Unlike the Capital, which was essentially a flat island with a towering spire in the middle, New Frontierland was built around a bay, on the face of a hill that bordered the ocean. This allowed for a very nice view of the city; from the right vantage point, it looked as though the town was sloping into the ocean, where the bustling ports lay.