Chapter 25 - Before the Road (17 jan 2025

Harold found Sarah by the storage racks, kneeling in the dirt with the rest of her team. The air was filled with the tang of badly oiled roughhide and the metallic clink of gear being laid out. What little equipment they had was organized in careful rows, as if order might make up for the lack of quantity."Alright," Sarah said, holding up a torch and giving it a small shake. "This one's solid. This one's decorative. This one might actively hate us."One of the younger adventurers snorted. "I'll take the hateful one. At least it's honest."Caldwell stood nearby with a crate open, jaw tight as he counted the torches. "You're not taking six torches," he insisted, his voice firm but resigned.Sarah, not looking up, replied calmly, "We're taking five, just one for each member. We can make more on the way if needed."Caldwell opened his mouth to argue more, but Sarah's resolute mention of their need closed the discussion.Caldwell opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Oil too?""Yes," Sarah said. "A little."He sighed the long sigh of a man losing an argument he knew was reasonable. "Fine. But I want a list when you get back."Harold stepped in beside him. "I'll make sure of it."Caldwell glanced at Harold, then nodded. "Alright. Then that's on you.""Thank you, Caldwell, I haven't forgotten all the work you've been doing for us," Harold said.A few steps away, Evan was checking straps and quietly going over a map scratched onto a thin slate. He wasn't packing heavy, but he had the look of someone carrying responsibility instead."You're leading both teams?" Harold asked.Evan nodded. "With the squad leader Hale is sending with us to lead the soldiers. We'll split once we hit the dungeon. I took the liberty of bringing some of the hunters with us to scout and run messages if needed. Signals are set. Fallback point's marked.""And Mark?"Evan jerked his chin back toward the hall. "Staying. Someone has to keep the board running and people moving.""Good," Harold said. "He's better at that.""Hey now, I'm not bad," Evan said.Sarah stood and dusted off her hands. "We're about set."Harold looked at the group. The patched packs. The borrowed blades. The nervous energy trying not to show itself."No," he said. "You're not."Sarah blinked. "What did we miss?""You missed eating," Harold replied. "Come on."She groaned. "Harold, we need to finish preps.""You can argue after you've got food in you," he said, already turning. "Caldwell, they're stealing a meal."Caldwell waved a hand. "At this point, what's a little more theft?"As they moved towards the kitchen, the aroma of stew grew stronger, grounding them with its familiar warmth.The kitchen crew had something close to stew going. Thick, filling, hot enough to fog the air. Bowls were passed out without comment. Bread followed.Sarah took hers and sat on an overturned crate, blowing on the surface before taking a careful sip. "This would've been a five-star meal back home if you served it at two in the morning."Harold sat beside her, his own bowl balanced in one hand. "Dad would've complained it needed more salt."Sarah smiled at that. "Mom would've said it was fine and added pepper anyway."They ate in companionable silence for a few moments, the kind that didn't need filling. Around them, the rest of the team talked quietly, checking straps, trading half-jokes that didn't quite land.Sarah spoke first. "I know this sounds strange," she said, staring into her bowl, "but I feel more alive here than I ever did on Earth."Harold didn't answer right away."Back there," she continued, "everything felt… already decided. School, work, bills. Even when things were bad, it was just the same bad, over and over." She glanced up at him. "Here, it's hard. And scary. But it feels like what I do matters, actually matters."Harold nodded slowly. "It does."She hesitated, then added, quieter, "I think I would've gone crazy if I'd stayed.""You wouldn't have," Harold said. "You would've survived. You always did."Sarah snorted softly. "Surviving isn't the same thing."He looked at her then, really looked. Dirt smudged on her cheek. A nick on one knuckle she hadn't bothered wrapping yet—the steady set of her shoulders.Mom and Dad would be proud of you. You've always been independent, especially after mom and dad died. Remember that camping trip we went on when we were younger? It was raining, and everything seemed to go wrong, but you were the one who kept the fire going. Dad kept joking that you were the only real adventurer in the family. But out here, you have really stepped into your own.Her eyes went shiny for just a second. She looked down quickly. "They'd hate the monsters.""They hated traffic," Harold said. "They'd adapt."That got a real laugh out of her.After a minute, she said, "You're doing that thing again.""What thing?""That quiet look. The one where you're thinking three steps ahead."He snorted. "Occupational hazard."She smiled, then sobered. "You wanted to know what I've got. Perk-wise.""I did," Harold said. "And how you got them."She nodded and stared into her bowl for a moment, organizing her thoughts."My starting perk first," she said. "The one the system gave me when I chose adventurer."Harold leaned back slightly. He already knew which one she'd start with.​She didn't say the name right away."It's called Gravebound Resolve," she continued. "When someone near me goes down, or drops below a certain threshold, I don't hesitate. Fear drops off hard. Pain dulls. I move faster toward them."Harold went still."It kicked in the first time," she said, quieter now. "During the night watch. Someone tripped. Everyone froze for a heartbeat. I didn't, I just moved."Harold let out a slow breath."You had the same starting perk last time," he said.Sarah blinked."I didn't tell you," he went on, voice steady but distant, "because I didn't want to put weight on you that wasn't yours to carry. I didn't want you trying to live up to something that hadn't happened yet."His gaze drifted past her, unfocused."You grew into a powerful adventurer," he said. "Not quickly or loudly. But steadily. You earned a name. You earned respect. And you did it without anyone backing you."His jaw tightened."A Lord noticed you. You were capable and visible. And to him, you were unprotected."Harold's hands started to shake. He set his bowl down carefully before it could slip."He tried to take you," he said. "You fought back and you almost got away."His voice dropped."His soldiers killed you. He had a special squad of elites trained to send out on those missions."The kitchen noise seemed very far away now."It was ten years after we arrived in Gravesend," Harold continued. "I heard about it days later. By then, it was already… settled. Cleaned up and forgotten by everyone but the people who cared."His eyes had gone glassy."I spiraled after that," he admitted. "Between my marriage falling apart and losing you like that… something in me broke. I didn't recover the way I should have. I think that was when the madness really started."He swallowed.And now," he said, quieter, "I see you again. I know what your perk does; it puts you closer to danger than anyone else. I can't keep you safe without breaking the world you're trying to live in."He took a shaky breath, the fear of loss unspoken yet palpable in the silence that followed."I can't lose you again," he said. "And I don't get the choice to keep you out of this."Sarah hadn't interrupted once.She didn't fully understand the depth of what he was saying. Not really. But she understood the way his shoulders were drawn tight, the way he looked smaller than she'd ever seen him.She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a firm, steady hug.Harold froze for a second.Then the tension bled out of him, slow and uneven, like he'd been holding himself together by force alone. For a long moment, neither of them spoke.She held him there, steady and unyielding, until the shaking eased."I don't remember any of that," Sarah said softly. "I can't carry it the way you do."Harold didn't answer."But I know this," she continued. "I'm not doing this because you're sending me. And I'm not doing it because of some perk."She leaned back just enough to look at him."I'm doing it because I can't stop," she said. "If someone's falling, I move. That's just who I am."Her grip tightened for a moment."Thank you," she added. "For telling me. For trusting me with it."She gave him a small, almost apologetic smile. "And for not trying to cage me, and don't think I forgot you told me you were MARRIED?? You owe me a story."Harold closed his eyes briefly, smiling, and nodded."Then come back," he laughed."I will," Sarah replied, without hesitation.She lingered a moment longer, then tilted her head. "You're not done, are you?"Harold exhaled. "No. I want to hear the rest."She huffed a quiet laugh and leaned back against the crate again. "Alright. Don't say I didn't warn you. It's a lot of little things.""That's usually how it starts," Harold said.She counted on her fingers, not looking at him at first."General ones first. Situational Awareness, as I said. Sustained Exertion. Group Coordination." She paused. "Steady Breathing came in after the second long run. Helps keep my heart rate from spiking when things go sideways."Harold nodded. "That one's easy to miss. Good foundation.""Pain Tolerance," she continued. "Minor. Kicked in after I took that slash on my shoulder and kept moving."He winced. "I remember.""Balance Recovery," Sarah said. "Bad ground, roots, mud. I don't go down as easily anymore.""That's six," Harold said quietly.She smiled faintly. "You're counting.""I always do."Sarah picked up a cup absent-mindedly while explaining. "Threat Prioritization. That one surprised me. It doesn't tell me what to hit. It just… nudges my attention toward what'll get someone killed fastest." She caught the cup on the edge and, without losing her balance, gracefully repositioned it to prevent a mess. "I know," she said, returning to their conversation. "I'm watching it.""Good," she replied, nodding."March Discipline," Sarah added. "Long-term movement with gear. Less fatigue over days, not hours.""That's eight."She took a breath. "Low-Light Tolerance from the goblins. Not night vision. … my eyes stop fighting the dark as much.""Expected," Harold said. "Goblins give survival perks, not power.""And Crude Weapon Familiarity," she finished. "Short blades. Spears. Anything ugly and cheap."He nodded once. "That one is also from the goblins. You're at ten."She glanced at him. "There are a few monster-specific ones, too.""Tell me.""There was something fast in the forest," Sarah said. "Didn't see it at first. Just flashes. Almost lost Jace when it attacked."Harold's eyes sharpened. "What did you get?""Burst Acceleration," she said. "Very short duration. Only when starting movement. It doesn't last, but it closes the distance fast."He leaned forward slightly. "That's a good pull. Rare too, I think, and mostly from ambush predators.""I figured you'd say that," she replied. "It saved someone later.""And the goblins?"She shrugged. "Mostly what Mark said. Footing. Recovery. A little resistance to panic when things get loud and messy."Harold studied her for a long moment, then nodded."You're well-rounded," he said. "Maybe too much."She frowned. "What's that mean?""It means you're strong everywhere, but you're not sharp yet," Harold said. "Your perk set wants to pull you toward response and rescue. That's not wrong. But if you don't add control, you'll always be reacting."Sarah crossed her arms. "So what do I hunt?"He didn't hesitate."Pack predators that fake retreats," Harold said. "Something that punishes rushing. You need a counterweight to Gravebound Resolve. Not to suppress it. It needs to be tempered. You need to be able to say no to it sometimes."Sarah grimaced. "That sounds miserable.""It is," Harold agreed. "But it'll give you judgment instead of just momentum. Too many adventurers let their perks start steering their instincts instead of the other way around."He paused, then added lightly, "Last time, you solved that problem by killing a roc in the high mountains."Her eyebrows shot up. "A what?""A huge bird," Harold said. "Very angry. Very territorial."She stared at him. "You're joking.""I'm really not," he replied. "It also gave you your Name."She opened her mouth, then closed it. "You're not telling me."He smiled. "Not yet."She shook her head, half amused, half unsettled."Eventually," Harold continued, his tone shifting back to practical, "you'll need to hunt things that increase your killing speed. Not strength or durability. Lethality."Sarah tilted her head, trying to think it through. "Explain," she motioned."It's cleaner," Harold said. "When you move, you need to end threats quickly. The faster everything around you stops being a problem, the fewer people your perk drags you toward."She considered that, then nodded slowly."When you get back," Harold finished, "I'll tell you where to find those monsters."She slung her pack higher on her shoulder. "Guess I'll have to survive this trip first.""That's the idea," Harold said."You also got those world firsts for killing monsters; you were lucky to get the one for killing 50. Each one gives you another 10% damage to monsters, so an extra 20% is nothing to sneeze at. The next one is at 500, then 5000. I think there was some debate there about just farming weak monsters and if they counted. I never knew the answer to that. Either way, I think you would benefit from fighting more powerful monsters and getting perks from them."He hesitated, then reached into the pack slung at his side and pulled out a heavy glass vial. The liquid inside was faintly opalescent, thicker than water, slow to settle when he stopped moving."Take this," he said, pressing it into her hand. "One dose. For you."Sarah frowned slightly. "That's not a healing potion.""No," Harold said. "It's a body-tempering brew."Her fingers tightened around the glass."It's permanent," he continued. "With no downsides, I don't need to explain to you how rare this is."She went very still."I was forced to make this thousands of times," Harold said quietly. "Back when I was enslaved."Sarah didn't look away."I hated it," he went on. "Every batch. Every time. This time, though… it felt different. Like I was taking something back."He gestured faintly with his hand. "I had to substitute a few components. I don't have the full chain of perks I used to. So it won't be as potent as what I made before."She waited."Still," Harold said, "you'll move faster. Hit harder. Your body will handle strain better. You'll be more durable. Roughly a fifteen percent improvement across the board. Not enough to make you reckless. But every little bit helps."Sarah let out a slow breath. "That's not small, Harold.""It's controlled," he replied. "And it won't interfere with future growth. You'll need a stronger version before you can take another, but this one won't block anything."She turned the vial in her hand, watching the liquid catch the light."And the team?" she asked.He shook his head. "Not yet. I used everything I had to make that, and I failed a couple of times first. When I can make more, or better yet, teach someone to make it, they'll get it. I plan on making it a reward for achievements."She nodded, accepting that without argument."I trust you," she said.She tucked the vial away carefully, deeper than her rations, closer to her chest."When I come back," she said, "you're telling me where I can find some of the monsters I need and about this wife of yours."Harold smiled faintly. "We'll see."She slung her pack over her shoulder and stepped back toward her team, confidence easy in her stride now, something solid under it.Harold watched them go, the familiar weight settling in his chest again. He hadn't stopped the danger, but he would do what he could to stack the deck in her favor.