Aiden probably should have returned to the house after his walk.
Instead, he chose to follow the advice of the copy in his mind.
First things first, they had named him Will.
It made sense, considering he had come from a skill called Fragmented Will.
After that, Aiden had tried to do something useful and walked around the ranch, searching for herbs as best he could. He had a skill that improved his chances of finding useful ingredients, so it was better to try than not.
The harvest was not as profitable as he would have liked, but considering where he was searching, it was not bad.
He placed the small vial back into his bag and made a quick list of what he had collected.
One stalk of Palmath.
One Vilerge flower.
Eight flakes of Cofrail.
Three bark chunks of Xosorrel.
Eight Shurper flower petals.
By the time Aiden returned to the house, the sun was already high in the sky.
"Misty would be amazed at how awake you are already," Will said.
Aiden slowly shook his head.
"If you mention Misty, I'm going to get homesick already."
He made his way to the door and opened it.
The smell of cooking bacon and fresh bread hit him first.
Inside, the others were cleaning up the room where they had all slept on the floor. Aiden was a bit surprised to see the three who had been with Ymer helping as well.
Aflmaril, Straun, and Sena.
It was strange.
Yesterday, they had been enemies.
Today, they were moving around, talking to the others, and cleaning up like they were old acquaintances who had simply gotten off to a terrible start.
Which, now that Aiden thought about it, might be one of the more normal things that had happened recently.
Aflmaril looked up as he stepped inside and made her way over to him. There was a worried look on her face.
"Ah, Aiden. I was worried you had been grabbed. I have a question for you."
Aiden was a bit surprised by the sudden interaction.
He took a moment to look around and see if the others knew what this was about.
"What do you mean grabbed?" Will yelled in his head. "What did she mean by that?"
Aiden ignored him.
"Uhhh, sure," he said. "What's up?"
"So, Straun, Sena, and I are also headed for Coalhill," Aflmaril said. "And it seems Ymer took our supplies."
Aiden raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, I thought you were with Ymer. Why did he take your stuff?"
"Technically, we employed Ymer to help us reach Obsidian rank," Aflmaril said. "But he was kind of a piece of work."
"I hope this doesn't come across as rude," Aiden said, "but you would understand if I don't believe you."
"That's…" Aflmaril paused, then nodded. "That's fair. But I am willing to pay."
Aiden took a moment to look her up and down.
She did not seem hostile at the moment. More importantly, she had been helping around the house, which meant she had probably already talked to the others.
"All right," Aiden said. "What exactly are you asking for?"
A wave of relief seemed to pass over Aflmaril.
"We are headed to Coalhill as well to catch a ship. Our ride was a friend of Ymer's, a spatial mage who was doing something he called spider-manning."
Aiden raised an eyebrow.
Aflmaril shrugged.
"I don't know why he called it that. Basically, we built up speed falling through portals, then he would angle another portal to launch us forward. After that, he kept making more portals to continue our momentum before we hit the ground."
Aiden blinked at her.
He tried to imagine a group of people bounding across the plains through portals, using the speed of falling to propel themselves like some kind of deeply unsafe trebuchet.
"Yeah, I've got no clue either," Will said in a very unhelpful tone.
"So," Aiden said slowly, "you need a ride to Coalhill to catch an airship?"
"Yes," Aflmaril said. "But we are willing to pay you. We already paid to refill the tank on your vehicle as an apology for yesterday. I suppose it is a bit lucky this is a carbuncle farm."
Aiden glanced toward the window, where he could see the strange gem-covered cattle grazing in the distance.
That explained the gems, at least.
"Besides that, we have more if you are willing to give us a ride."
Aflmaril reached around to her back.
For a moment, Aiden tensed.
Then she grabbed her backpack, pulled it off, and reached inside. She fished out three fist-sized blocks of bluish-cyan metal and set them on the mantle next to the door.
After that, she reached into the bag again and pulled out an ornate dagger in a sheath. A gem on the dagger's hilt seemed to be staring at Aiden, though after a second look, he was pretty sure it was just a trick of the light.
Probably.
Lastly, she pulled out a small envelope.
"We have one of three things to offer," Aflmaril said. "The first is three ingots of Seasteel. We acquired them on our way through Hopestone and planned to have them forged into equipment once we reached Coalhill."
She gestured to the dagger.
"The second is a dagger called the Whisperknife. It is a special blade that alerts the holder if enemies are nearby."
Then she held up the envelope.
"Lastly, this is an envelope I swiped from Ymer while we were traveling. I have no idea what it contains, but it may help you track him down when you are ready."
Aiden looked over the three options.
"I can see the use of the first two," he said. "But the third sounds like something we should already get."
Aflmaril shook her head and held up one hand.
"No can do. We need to keep at least two of these to make this deal worth it for us. Plus, we already paid over one hundred and twenty gold to fill your tank."
Aiden paused.
"That's… fair."
He turned back to the items.
The ingots were tempting for obvious reasons.
Equipment was the foundation of adventuring. Without it, even higher-ranked adventurers could struggle against monsters beneath their pay grade. Some classes, like archers, relied on equipment at a fundamental level.
The knife was also tempting.
Their biggest threat so far had been ambushes. Regrettably, they had been caught by surprise a lot. The poison arrows from the dungeon. Ymer's rapier nearly taking Aiden's ear off. Even the Ash Spirits, in a way.
A knife that could warn them of enemies nearby would be a lifesaver.
However, Aiden's eyes kept being drawn to the wildcard of the three.
The letter.
It did not hold any clear value right now.
But its future value could be priceless if it contained useful information.
Ymer did not seem like the kind of person who would let the fight end as it did. At the same time, there was a chance the envelope had nothing useful inside and would be a complete waste.
It was a gamble.
"Let me ask my group before I make a decision," Aiden said, looking over Aflmaril's shoulder.
"They said your vehicle, your call," Aflmaril replied matter-of-factly.
A vein bulged on Aiden's forehead as annoyance passed through him.
"Here we thought Jax was supposed to be the one making decisions," Will said. Aiden could practically feel him rolling his eyes.
Aiden nodded in agreement.
Then he remembered nobody else could hear or even knew Will existed, which meant he probably looked like he had just made a decision.
He looked at the three items.
Then he picked the letter.
By the time they were packing up the vehicle, Ms. Oxhouse stood outside the farmhouse with her daughter.
Aflmaril, Straun, and Sena were finding places to sit. Sena and Straun ended up on top of the main vehicle near the ballista post, while Aflmaril sat beside Jax.
Kaelen, due to his arm, was given the passenger seat. Liora was put in the back with the others.
Aiden turned toward Ms. Oxhouse.
Her eyes were red from crying. Her daughter hugged her leg, her nose still running from where she had been crying that morning.
As they finished packing, Ms. Oxhouse walked over to Aiden.
"Thank you again for all your help," she said. "Are you sure you don't want the emergency quest reward?"
When she had mentioned the quest reward earlier, offering three hundred gold, Aiden had been tempted.
Painfully tempted.
But with her husband and son gone, all the labor of running the farm would fall on her. Taking the gold felt wrong.
"We will be fine," Aiden said. "You already gave us a place to rest and a warm breakfast. That's enough."
Kaelen dipped into a one-armed bow.
The bandages around his stump were slightly red from where he had reopened the wound that morning. Aiden had needed to use more healing poultice to close it again.
Ms. Oxhouse hesitated.
Then she reached into the front pocket of her overalls and pulled out a small envelope.
"My brother is a medic," she said, holding it out. "He lives in Langbloom. If you bring him this letter, he should be able to help heal your arm, Sir Priest."
Aiden nodded and took the envelope, placing it in the side pocket of his satchel.
Then he helped Kaelen into the vehicle before climbing in himself.
They waved as they left.
The Oxhouse farm slowly disappeared behind them.
And with that, they were one day closer to Coalhill.