“Fucking Hellroots, how are you still standing?” Joey asked Apexus. They had made it beyond the rough areas of the storm and were now in a merely unruly sea, allowing everyone to collapse against one of the walls. Apexus was one of two people still standing.

The other one was Korith and she was closer to the sailors than Apexus in terms of exhaustion. The kobold was leaning against him for support. Even though she was still standing, getting through the storm had taken enough of a toll on her that she reverted right back to instincts when it came to body language. The instinct when it came to Apexus was incredibly sexual.

Which was why the shortstack was currently pushing her boobs against his leg. She had never done that with any other man, but she had also never been around someone that looked this good, smelled this nice, and was this tall all at the same time. The humanoid slime desperately tried not to get too distracted by the squishy softness practically enveloping his right thigh.

“I have a lot of endurance,” answered Apexus. Between him and exhaustion stood only the heat of his body and he could keep himself warm as long as he had energy. They had to stick to pretty bare rations the last few days, but he had built up enough of a reserve before that to make that a non-issue. Covertly taking in the amount of water he needed had been a bigger problem, solved mostly via enjoying some rainwater.

“Lot of endurance my ass,” Joey cussed. “I’ve never seen someone that came out the other end of a storm without laying flat on the deck.”

“We all learn new things every day,” Apexus responded and picked up Korith. The small bundle of jiggle and drenched clothes was clearly too absent-minded to walk on her own. It was the first time he actually carried her. She was almost as heavy as Reysha, a woman 70 centimetres taller. Kobolds were impressive in a number of unusual ways.

To Apexus, helping Korith back into the passenger area was an act of friendly help. To Korith, laying across Apexus’ strong arms as he casually hauled her heavy body around was something that sent the swoon signals all through her tired brain. The heart in her small body had no chance. A twenty second walk and the previous lust elevated to something more than attachment and less than love.

The passenger room was as dry as could be expected. There had been so much water flying around that it had drenched the majority of the room’s floor. Luckily, the passenger’s room was at the back of the ship and so it had at least been shielded from the wind. Reysha was already back.

“Aww, look at that precious little ball of squish and scales,” the tiger girl said, while Apexus placed her in a hammock.

“I’m not… precious…” Korith protested sluggishly.

Reysha placed her index finger on the kobold’s nose and wiggled around. “Course you aren’t,” she said in the tone of sweet sarcasm. “Ya wanna sleep in those clothes or should I help you undress.”

“Or I could do it,” Apexus suggested. He had picked up by now that it was frowned upon for men to help women they weren’t romantically engaged with to get naked. He also thought it was stupid. “I wouldn’t trust Reysha to keep her hands to herself.”

“Oy, big guy, are ya trying to clam jam me over here?”

“If you would kindly step out of my way,” Aclysia made her presence known and walked up to Korith. “For decency, I will help you.”

“Thank youuuuuu,” the kobold yawned her gratitude. She barely felt how the metal fairy peeled the drenched clothes off her. Then warmth like the sun, heating up skin that had been cooled by hours of autumn rain.

Finally, sleep.

_________________________________________________________________________

“And there it is,” Joey shouted down from the front of the ship. “The continent of Weststir.”

It was the morning of the following day. After the storm, they had a few hours until dawn they could still sleep through and the sailors had made ample use of that privilege. Those people were used to the particular challenges of seafaring life, so they had bounced right back.

The storm had been blowing them in the right direction. As painful as sailing through had been, it had propelled them twelve hours ahead of schedule. “Congratulations, no need to row this time around,” Joey added, while the passengers gathered on the deck.

Apexus beheld the distant green. There wasn’t much to see at this distance, only the fact that land gradually showed beyond the horizon. Letting out a happy sigh, Reysha celebrated the fact that they were heading somewhere that wasn’t yellow. Aclysia was silently thinking, ‘Privacy and cuddles, you are so close.’

Korith felt torn. She had woken up in her underwear, dry, and with a blanket on top of her. That had been nice. Aclysia had assured her that she had prevented her companions from doing or seeing anything inappropriate. That had been nice. They were going to make landfall in a few hours. That would be nice. After that, she would probably have to separate from the trio. That was not nice.

They had been spending the morning playing some more games. Not that those had been needed to make Korith absolutely certain that she wanted to get into their party. Aclysia may have been dense, Reysha may have been horny and Apexus may have been odd, but those negative qualities were outweighed completely by the positives. Problem was: they were insistent on not wanting to expand their group.

‘I’ll just be insistent about joining it…yeah!’ Korith thought and nodded to herself, pumping her fists for encouragement.

For their part, the trio were regretful about having to keep their current stance. Had they been a normal party without baggage, they would have taken the kobold along immediately.

Regardless of their issues, they would be spending the foreseeable future together on the large island that made up the southernmost area of the Weststir continent: the Teacher’s Isle.

The closer they got to it, the more impressive it got. Green and (to Reysha’s dismay) yellow trees were scattered about the verdant landscape. A chaotic array of impressive structures stood between the scattered houses. Adventurers were an odd lot and retired adventurers had enough funds and power to make their final stay in the style of their home Leaves. All of Wise Shire had houses far larger and more individually designed than anywhere else on the Leaf. The Teacher’s Isle, where the most powerful former adventurers typically stayed, was that, but taken two steps further. It was still shy of the extreme of Maevstir though.

Apexus and Reysha found the sprawling chaotic city enticing. The large amount of greenery that was kept even around the city centre gave the whole port a more natural vibe than the stone-sealed structures and streets of the standard centre of sale and statecraft. Aclysia found the complete lack of unified building code mildly upsetting. Individually, the houses looked great. Next to each other, everything was jumbled. Korith was in awe at the wealth on display. There could be a great deal of money hoarded here.

Finally, the ship stopped at the pier. Sailors climbed off and jumped on the wooden planks. Ropes were thrown over and tied to ready posts. Administrators came along to prepare the cargo check. The plank was lowered and Joey turned to the passengers. “Alright, those of you who want to keep going to the republic, you’ll have two days to kill. You can sleep on board or in an inn, I really don’t care. The rest of you,” he looked over to the quartet. “It’s been fucking awful. Here,” he said and offered them twenty silvers. “You did pull your weight, so I should give you a discount.”

“Not necessary,” Apexus assured.

“Alright,” Joey sounded almost chirpy at the prospect of saving himself the gift. His good mood collapsed into the usual sourness when Korith raised her voice. “Let me guess, you want the money?” he sneered.

“W-why do you sound so angry, you just offered it,” Korith whined.

“Because I’m a fucking cheapskate,” Joey answered with complete disregard for his honour. “And I like money. Specifically, the kind of money that can buy me enough alcohol to make me keel over. Whatever, you earned it. Here.”

Korith had never been given a gift so aggressively. The coins were practically shoved into her palms. Even if Joey wasn’t pleased, Hoard would be, so Korith pulled her purse out and carefully put the coins into it. They rattled satisfyingly along the rest in the little sack.

“Now get the Hellroots off my ship, unless you want to help unload the cargo.”

“Will you pay for that?” Korith asked.

“No.”

Apexus had one final comment for the captain. “You are a difficult person.”

“Shut up you inexhaustible freak and take your noise complaint workshops with you,” Joey gave them his own final curse, before raising his hand in a friendly wave and turning his attention to his crew. “Frank, you have been working for me for two years, how come you still suck so much?”

The quartet got off the ship before they said anything else. “What a thoroughly pleasant person,” Reysha hummed, while they walked up to the city. It had no specific name, as the city stretched over the entire island with more and less pronounced clusters. People just referred to the entire area as the Teacher’s Isle.

Aclysia looked around the port area and imprinted every detail into her memory. The wooden pier they had anchored on. The carefully laid bricks that marked the proper roads cutting through the dirt and grass. The semi-circle of empty space that separated the docks from the houses, with only a massive warehouse standing at the centre.

All of these details were important. This was where they made landfall. ‘Under the circumstance that we successfully enlist help on this Leaf, this will be the place where we should fight the Deathhound,’ she thought. ‘It will be as tactically beneficial as it can be.’

The three tall people kept walking along, barely noticing at first that they slowed down in their usual pace to allow the short-legged fourth of their group to waddle along with them. Eventually, Apexus addressed the kobold in the party, “We really can’t let you travel with us.”

“I know,” Korith said, despite having made every resolution to change their mind on it, “but you are heading to the Adventurer’s Guild, right?”

“Right,” Apexus confirmed with a nod. He was happy to let the shortstack accompany them for a little while longer. They asked a random person on the street for directions and they pointed them to a prominent white tower in the distance. That was where the guild building was.

Through streets of dirt and brick, past buildings of a large variety of Leaves, they made their way and chatted about nothing consequential. After twenty minutes, they had reached the Adventurer’s Guild. It was an impressive complex of buildings covered in clean white plaster, smoothed by expert hands. The autumn sun only softly cut through the cloudy sky, basking the buildings in a soft glow. Busy people walked behind the large windows. In Wise Shire, the Adventurer’s Guild doubled as the local government, small as it was.

No matter how luxurious the outside looked, the first room of the building was, like in every other outpost, a bar. A particularly crowded one at that, filled to the brim with youngsters that were on the Teacher’s Isle to be taught Skills and Spells by those that had settled after a long career out in the worlds. The crowd was a mix of all kinds of wacky characters from different races. The quartet didn’t stand out whatsoever, as they headed to the reception.

The redheaded lady standing there greeted them with a smile. “Hello, how may I help you?”

Aclysia took the helm, as she usually did during group talks, “We would like to buy a map of the Leaf and to receive general information about the available teachers.” While they did have the goal to enlist the help of the local leadership, the metal fairy thought it wisest to start with that process after they had gotten an idea who the local leadership actually was. Making an immediate fuss would have had them called crazy and ostracized.

“Certainly. If you would show me your Adventurer’s Pass, I could refer you to the teacher appropriate for your Class,” the receptionist offered.

“We would like to check out the various teachers by ourselves,” Aclysia returned.

Korith cleared her throat. “Uhm, I would like to take that offer,” she said and placed her pass on the table. The receptionist took the sheet of copper, checked a list, and then returned the sheet with a small paper slip with the necessary information. “Thanks!”

“If you wish to check out all the different training halls by yourself, I recommend you buy the map for the island as well,” the receptionist said. The trio had the money, so they went ahead and did that. Two folded maps went across the counter, money went the other way. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Are there any places we can rent to stay?” Aclysia asked.

“Certainly. If you would open your map.” The receptionist waited for Aclysia to oblige and then pointed at a number of places around the city. There were a few group lodges (cheap, small, and typically shared with other adventurers), camping sites (free, cold, but with as much space as one wanted outside the tent), rentable houses (costly and most comfortable), and a few abandoned houses (free, no quality insurance, rare, and usually far away from anything important).

The group decided to try their luck with the last of those four options.