RD 5 Ch 42

Merlin huffed, as the teleportation ended, only to turn and stare at Circe and Nyx, who had come along with us. “I understand why you needed me,” Merlin said, her gaze falling on Circe harshly, “but I don’t understand why you needed her.”

“Well, I’m honest,she’s important enough for this particular outing that I couldn’t leave her behind,” I said, glancing at Circe.

The ice and wind mages were looking at each other with no small measure of hostility, sparks between them threatening to burn into a far larger problem than we’d come to deal with. Though I had done it on purpose in hopes that we could resolve things.

“Obviously, I’m just too valuable,” Circe said, flipping her hair, only for Nyx to be the odd woman out, thankfully not causing any issues as her head snapped back and forth between the two ladies currently vying for my attention.

“Well, I’m just happy to go on the trip,” Nyx said, ever upbeat. She was raised by Heros Clan parents, wealthy and sheltered yet forced to train like her life depended on it. When it came to the tension among our group it barely affected her.

“Of course, and we’re both happy to have you,” Circe and Merlin chimed. No one found fault with Nyx; I found it interesting that somehow her innocence protected her from any ill feelings despite obvious rivalries already beginning to start.

“Why are we here again?” Circe asked, after she was done cooing over Nyx.

“Well, come to recruit someone. If I’m honest, they’re a bit of an oddball and I don’t know them that well.” We teleported to an area that had already begun to be developed since the Rapture. The southern-central area of Canada, for whatever reason, had become a decent-sized community of initiated banding together to solve one another’s problems and figure out their new lives with the system. Even working together, it was still rather haphazard like a shanty, aesthetics certainly weren’t a priority. Buildings were cobbled together from whatever material they could find: red brick mixed with grey, if that’s what was available that day.

Yet the people themselves often walked around with smiles on their faces, and more than a few held strange man-made artifacts,things that could communicate like our rockie-talkies and others that performed small tasks for them. Nearly everyone wore a stone spatial ring on their finger, of at least B-rank.

I took it all in and nodded in satisfaction. I’d heard of places like this before, but this was my first time actually seeing what some of the new-age crafters could do in this world. Of course, I had my own enchanting and inscription professionals, blacksmiths and others working around the Citadel, but this place had taken it to another level. The highest and most prized positions here belonged to those who made things and mass-produced them for others.

“What is this?” Nyx asked, slithering forward and peering at a monolith that stood on its own in the middle of the road. It wasn’t every town that would leave a B-rank item unattended.

“That, my dear, appears to be a storage locker,” I said, squinting. It looked built for spatial storage and had several locking mechanisms on it.

A woman nearby smiled and waved, as if she had done this a thousand times, perhaps she was the greeting committee. “Welcome to Arbiting.”

“Pleasure,” I said, holding out a hand. “And how’d you know we were new?”

“It’s the new ones that stare at things like this,” she replied, gesturing proudly at the monolith. “If you find anything interesting, you can plop it here and the craftsmen will take a look. If they like what they see, they’ll buy it. If we’re honest, they buy most things. I’m starting to think they just buy everything people put up to keep people posting their garbage,” she chuckled.

“So people just leave the items here?” I asked, a little suspicious.

“Thereabouts,” she shrugged. “What are you going to do, steal something in this community?” She laughed. “You use it or sell it, and twenty people will recognize what you’ve done, report you, and you’ll be run out of town. There’s no official police, but after enough accidents, well, you can’t get away with being an asshole anymore.”

“I didn’t think there were many of those in Canada in the first place,” Nyx said, only for the woman to focus on her.

“There aren’t many, and, might I say, you are a unique one.” The woman’s eyes flashed with an inspect; Nyx must have let her see, because the next second the greeter let out a soft whistle. “Well, damn. If I knew I was going to see someone like you today, I would have dressed up better.”

Her eyes glowed as she tried to look over the rest of us, and we all resisted.

“Thank you, but I don’t think we’ll be staying that long, mostly just passing through.” I said.

“Don’t blame you. We see enough of your types. Come, you’re welcome to trade, there are plenty of workshops that’ll let you see their wares. If you’ve got anything to offer, we’ll be happy to take it. As for the monolith, please leave it alone, and anything else you see laying around. You guys might be strong enough to throw your weight, but you never know what sort of trinkets people around here have.” She said, the last a little less friendly than she’d been before.

I only smiled; it was fine to threaten us. After all, a community like this needed to protect itself. “That’s fine. I don’t know if you happen to know a guy, Ricky Duckie?” I asked.

The guide frowned. “Duckie? I don’t know anyone with that name, but I can imagine someone who’d go by that moniker, Rick the Freak. He’s down the block; turn into the alley before the inn, the one with the blue eye. You’ll find his shop back there, though I don’t know why anyone would come looking for him.”

I smiled, happy he wasn’t well known yet. I couldn’t be entirely certain when Ricky came to prominence in my past life, though by the end of it everyone knew his name.

“Thank you, we’ll do some shopping,” I said, and we passed our friendly guide.

We got far enough away that the ladies turned to me. “He doesn’t sound like the most popular man here,” Circe commented.

“Yeah, well, all the better for us when it comes to poaching.” I shrugged. “He may not be well known now, but he will be in the future. He’s the guy who eventually cracks how to make teleportation gateways.”

“Ooh,” Nyx said excitedly. “I can see why this was more important than running instances.” That earned a look from the others.

“I don’t want to be unavailable in case of Vidar attacking again,” I added. Having already been gone for the trial, made me nervous that I’d come back to ruins. The Trial of Kings had left me jumpy; finding Ricky was quickly rising to the top of my priorities. Gateways would let us react faster if something happened.

“If he’s not popular here yet, then chances are he hasn’t figured them out,” Merlin pointed out.

“Yes, sometimes it’s good to get in before someone realizes their worth. Not to mention, he’s a strange one.” I let that comment hang as we took a right at the inn and wandered down the alley.

Alleys were alleys, dark and foreboding, and when monsters and players were as powerful as they were, that added an extra sense of danger. We all squeezed tighter, save for Nyx, whose hair stood on end as she looked in twenty directions.

There was only one place toward the back of the alley with a light illuminating the doorway. The light was strange enough: a rubber ducky with a bulb shoved up its butt as it cast yellow light across the door.

“Interesting choice,” Circe commented. “Not exactly my taste in decor.”

“Oh, trust me, it’s going to get worse,” I said, and pushed open the door.

The room was absolutely filled with rubber ducks, hundreds of them, each different, each glowing faintly with enchanted script etched along their bodies.

“Huh? Customer!” called an otherwise unassuming man with brown hair, bags under his eyes, and a pair of bespectacled glasses. He wore a rubber-ducky-yellow sweater with a chain around the back of his neck in case the glasses fell off.

“You’re Ricky?” I asked, stopping to stare at one of the ducks. While I might be an expert in enchantments, it took a certain level of eccentricity to create the world’s first teleportation system, and one of the most marvelous things was that he did it with rubber duckies.

“That would be me. Did you get a recommendation for my shop?” Ricky asked, eyes darting from me to the ladies behind me suspiciously.

“A friend in passing mentioned it,” I lied. “We met at an instance and he used a curious inscription based on a rubber duck. I just happen to love them. I was wondering if I couldn’t get one with a spatial enchantment, squeeze it, and have it pop out all sorts of items?”

Ricky’s eyes gleamed as his suspicion melted away. “Another ducky enthusiast, I see. Do you have a duck of choice?”

“Well, I figured you’d have one but for my spatial ring…” I pulled out a rubber ducky.

Merlin gave me a strange look; she must have wondered why I’d made such a specific request a few weeks back.

“1960s Spanish Lanco-made,” I said, holding the thing out.

Ricky leaned forward, flipped it over, checked the manufacturer’s stamp, then pulled out a magnifying glass and inspected every inch. “This thing is pristine. You want to put a spatial enchantment on it?” he asked as if I were an idiot.

“Sometimes you just use what you have,” I said with a shrug as if I didn’t know. Though I wished I didn’t, because rubber ducky collectors were a strange breed. Oddly, they’d become well known once people could trade rare ducks for warp gates. When that happened, even the Wandering King had become an expert in rubber ducky authentication.

“No. I can’t.” Ricky took a step back, waving his hands. “I cannot, in good conscience, put a spatial enchantment on this. It’s mint condition.”

“Then pick another,” I said, and pulled out a second duck of similar rarity. “What if it’s not a spatial enchantment to make a pocket inside, what if I have two, and I could pass items between them?”

At this point Ricky’s eyes practically bulged out of his head. He leaned forward, breathing heavy, and began authenticating the second ducky.

“Where did you get this?” he said quickly.

“Oh, I don’t know, there’s a ton near our base. All kinds of them, really. They must have been a collector before the rapture hit.” I hooked a thumb at Merlin. “In my base, over in Europe. She has a teleportation ability, and we get around.”

Only now did Ricky look up from the rubber duckies and really take in the ladies standing behind me. “Oh. I didn’t know we had such esteemed guests.” His eyes flicked over each of them, finally settling on Nyx; the Medusa was attention-getting. Ricky’s inspect flashed, but Nyx must have stopped him cold because he visibly deflated.

“Bran, I don’t think this is the place we’re going to get what you really want,” Circe said.

Ricky’s eyes snapped to her and opened wide. “Circe? As in, the Circe ?” He stumbled over his words. “The one in the myths?” His eyes were glowing with inspect and she must have not stopped him.

“They very same.” Circe said only for Ricky to switch to Merlin.

“I thought you’d be older.” He said to Merlin.

Merlin sighed heavily through her nose. “I get that a lot,” she said dryly.

I blocked Ricky’s inspect as he looked back at me. “Just call me Bran,” I leaned across the counter. “No, Ricky. Truth is, I think you’re talented, well beyond this back-alley shop of yours.”

I inspected him in turn.

[Name: Ricky Gagnon

Level: 12

Class: Fanatic Craftsman S

Status: Nervous, Tired

Strength: 32

Agility: 28

Vitality: 52

Intelligence: 51

Spirit: 46

Skills:

…

Miracle Craft D

[Miracle Craft D - When a craftsman puts his heart and soul into a project, anything is possible. Even against the laws of the world.]

I thought it might be something like this. Even from one of the duckies I looked at in my past life it didn’t make a lick of sense. The only way they could have been made was if the maker had somehow transcended the rules.

His love for these rubber duckies must be how he eventually learns to control and trigger the ability.

Ricky’s gaze settled on mine. He might be eccentric, but he wasn’t dumb. “What gives you that idea? Everyone here thinks I’m a weirdo.”

“Sometimes the weird ones do the best work. What if I told you I could provide an endless supply of SS-grade inscription ink? I just need someone with the right intelligence and commitment to turn it into the items I’m thinking of?” I asked.

Ricky swallowed loudly. “And you think that person is me?”

“I do. Everything I see here tells me I’m not wrong.” I held up one of his rubber duckies. “To fit this ice ability on this ducky, you’ve managed to bend the rules of inscription three times over to make it work on this shape.” I was honestly impressed. His dedication to rubber duckies had pushed his ability far. He was a one-in-a-million genius simply because he’d leaned into his strange obsession.

Ricky took another longing look at the two rare duckies I’d laid out. “No, no, I can’t,” he pulled away. “Thank you for letting me see two marvels like this.” He put a hand on them and slid them carefully as if the act hurt. “But I have things I need to do here before I can leave.”

“You seem pretty attached to them.” I slid the two duckies even closer. “Why don’t you keep them? I got them for you. If you’re not coming with us, I have no need for them.”

It didn’t take long for him to snatch them up and clutch them tight. “Thank you. I’m flattered. I just… have other things I need to do.”

“Save them for later,” I said. “Perhaps I’ll stay in the area a couple days. If you need help with anything, Circe, Nyx, and Merlin here are all very capable.”

“Really?” Ricky said, holding the duckies close, looking at them and then back to me. “Even if it’s something silly?”

“Silly’s fine. After all, I think these ladies would love to do something that didn’t involve getting covered in monster blood for once.”

Ricky’s face paled. “Ye-yeah, I don’t blame them at all.” His voice shook. Clearly he wasn’t front-line material, none of his battles likely involved anything deadlier than enchanted rubber ducks.

“Well,” he said, looking down at his hands, “there’s a girl in town and I’ve put a lot of effort in.” He sounded apologetic, as if confessing that was an excuse to stay.

Nyx leaned forward with a bright smile. “Aw, she must be so incredible and lucky to have you so interested. Why don’t we see if we can help? When it comes to matters of love, we have two well-seasoned ladies who could lend a hand.”

I grimaced inside. Of course Ricky would have attachments. Between duckies and cold hard gold, I thought I could lure him out. If only it’d been that simple. I hadn’t expected a love interest to anchor him, and if I had known, I would have brought Simone. My gaze slid to Circe and Merlin; the two already had a spark of contention between them. I certainly hesitated to put those two on the case for “love advice.”

“Perfect,” I said, doing my best to keep composure. “We’d be overjoyed to help. Why don’t we close the shop for now and get a chance to see what we’re working with?”

“Oh yeah, of course,” Circe waved a hand. “Finding love is an easy fix. I was expecting something harder, like bringing back the dead.”

“Oh no, nothing like that,” Ricky said with a big, relieved smile. “She’s certainly not dead. I swear.”

How awkward Ricky was suddenly made my enthusiasm sag. I thought I’d rather be tasked with killing a dragon or clearing an instance than trying to find this guy love. Still, here we were, closing a rubber-ducky teleportation shop to play matchmaker.