Zaxalam's Guide

To call the guide, Hera walked deeper into the city, towards the area that was still off-limits. Shane had already taught a few of the dwarfs how to properly store and identify things that could be important. However, the odds of anything truly unique being in that area were very small. It was just a place filled with houses. Rotting furniture and broken down walls were all that they expected to find here. Hera only went about two roads deep when she found the house Shane mentioned when talking about the guide. It was one with a carving of a green diamond by the entrance. The reason I came all the way here was because, in the back of the house, there was a room with a small altar. Unfortunately, whatever statue or painting that was supposed to be there was removed a long time ago. The guide asked Shane to tell the other explorers who were going to call them to do so in this place. Hera still didn't know why, but she was happy to oblige.

She also brought some bread, a bag of chips, and a pot of jam. For drinks, she had some iced tea. Fethy worked with some of their cooks to produce. It used a grape-like fruit that had the same consistency and flavor as tapioca balls. Apparently, this guide was very interested in food, and the Empress hoped that she would enjoy this odd breakfast with boba tea.

Walking inside the altar room, Hera activated her soundproof bubble and asked Lurize, Nimbus, and Livy, who was in her sea serpent form, to stay by the door. They would still be able to see the guide and talk to them, but since they were all blocking the passage, no one should be able to see what was happening inside. With everything ready, the Empress took a deep breath and said, "I call upon the Guide of the Old City of Zaxalam. As an explorer, I have proven that my motives are pure."

From the top of the altar, a large, deep green flower bulb appeared. It was a bit ominous and almost looked like what one would expect out of a carnivorous plant. Slowly, more leaves appeared on top of it as if they were growing. When it stopped, the base of the bulb unfurled, turning into some sort of large cape. Inside it, a pair of green pointy roots started moving. Those were clearly the legs of the guide. From the top, a small dull orange mask appeared. It had two black eyes and a set of three horns but no mouth. There were also some markings framing the top in a brighter shade of orange, turning the horns into a crown. From beneath the larger leaves that were working as a cape, two thin green arms appeared with tiny black hands. The guide placed one hand over her chest and bowed to the Empress.

"Hello. I am Veridallion. The guide for the Old City of Zaxalam," the voice gentle but deeper than what Hera expected from someone with such a petite frame. However, she knew that common sense hardly ever was applied to the guides.

"Hello, Veridallion. I am Hera Quetzaveth. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine. May I call you Ms. Quetzaveth, or do you have a different title that you wish to be addressed as?" Veridallion stood up and placed one hand on top of the other while keeping them in front of her body around her chest.

Nimbus smirked, "We call her Em-"

"Don't!" Hera yelled while pouting at the Sentinel, "You guys call me that. I never asked for it, but you insist on doing that," she turned back to Veridallion, "Sorry about that. You don't have to be so formal with me. Feel free to call me Hera," she glanced back at her titled blades and squinted, "Just Hera."

The three smiled but didn't say anything else. Veridallion looked at them and nodded, "I hope you don't take offense to this, but I must say that I have been warned about your legacy. Hence, I understand that their presence here does not break the rules of the skill."

"That's ok. Peaches and the others warned me that this would happen. Before we start. Shane mentioned you like to cook. I can't do much here, but I brought some things to eat. Would you like some?"

Veridallion's eyes grew a bit bigger despite being part of a mask, "Oh? What did you bring?"

"Some bread, strawberry jam, a bag of chips that I had, and an attempt at boba tea. I honestly haven't tried that one myself, so I can't promise it will be good. But I vouch for the food," Hera pulled the breakfast from her bag and set it up on top of a cloth. Serving two cups of the tea that was in a bottle.

"I appreciate the gesture, but…" Veridallion stared at the tea for a moment, "It wouldn't be proper of me to partake. This is a formal affair, after all."

"Oh? That's OK. I mean, I'm not trying to force you or anything," the Empress stopped prepping the 'table.'

"… Unless… you are offering for us to talk freely. And by that, I mean that, although I still will be bound by the skill, we may forgo the rules of formality for our discussion."

"Of course. I honestly don't like that much formality. I feel like having to dance around our words is more trouble than it's worth," Hera replied.

"Thank the system," Veridallion's entire demeanor changed. She dropped her hands, letting her arms vanish inside her cape, and sat on the altar with her feet dangling from the edge, "It was so annoying to talk with the Naga who lived here. They were also complaining if you didn't say their titles and whatnot."

Hera was taken aback by that reaction and said out loud, "I'm glad you were pretending."

Veridallion tilted her head, "Why is that?"

"It feels like it's bad to say this, but I don't do very well with all that nobility thing. It just feels like a hassle."

"Girl. I 100% agree with you. Having to be all proper because of the Naga was just awful. You have no idea how many times something I said was misunderstood because of all that. Eventually, I got the hang of it, but it really wasn't like that when they arrived here for the first time," Veridallion sighed before jumping out of the altar and walking closer to the small picnic that Hera created, "May I?"

"Of course. I brought it here for you. Well, for us," Hera smiled.

Veridallion looked at the three standing guard at the door, "I don't know if there is enough for all of us."

"Don't worry. We don't need to eat. We can, and that helps us recover mana, but unlike Hera, we don't feel hunger," Nimbus explained with a smile, "This one is yours; you can enjoy it without worry."

"Ok then, I won't argue with that," Veridallion's eyes turned into two happy curved lines before reaching out for the cup that Hera gave her. The moment the guide touched it, the cup changed sizes, becoming small enough for her. The amount of liquid relative to the cup also remained the same. She took a sip without removing her mask, the liquid just passing through the stone like there was nothing there, "This is tasty! I don't know what I feel about those grape things. I always find them weird."

"Oh, so you have had this before?" Livy asked.

"Not this this. I had boba, but it was made by guides, and that is not really the same thing."

"Really?" Hera tilted her head.

"Yeah. Even if we make it ourselves, like actually cooking instead of just making the full dish, it is not the same thing."

"Wait… I've eaten things the guide made before, and I didn't notice any differences," Hera frowned.

"Were you hungry? Or focused on the taste?"

"Usuals I'm either hungry or doing something else. Like watching a movie or something."

"So that's why. If you stop to pay attention, you will realize that the food we make tastes a little bit off. Like if a recipe asked for 10 grams of salt, but you only used 8. It's subtle, but the difference is there. Also, I've realized that food created by us, or by the system as drops or something, is less filling. Not by much, but they are."

"Really?" Lurize asked.

Veridallion nodded, "Yeah. From what I gathered, the difference is small. If you would eat half a pizza by yourself, you will still want another 2 or 3 bites. I know it sounds like it's nothing, but I really like cooking, and I had a lot of time to notice those differences."

They talked a bit more about the differences between the food the guides made and the food that was grown naturally from scratch. In the end, the difference was so small that no regular person would notice it. It would take someone who has the skills to taste food to perceive those differences. After they finished eating, Veridallion got up and waved her hands towards the altar, cleaning it up and fixing some of the cracks.

"Thanks for calling me here. I had a friend who lived here a long time ago, and I promised I would look after the altar every chance I had. Until someone came and tore it down, at least," the guide said.

"You're welcome. But couldn't you come here without someone calling you?"

Veridallion shook her head, "No. Well... Yeah, but only if there was no one, person or monster, in a certain radius. Unfortunately, it's been a few hundred years since the last time this place was accessible to me. Your friends ended up calling me in different places, even if they knew about this. Well… to be fair, Shane didn't know. Trillian used his questions to find the city and make sure it was safe. Then, Legan asked about the location of this altar. So It's not like I can hold it against them."

"I'm glad we were able to help," Hera smiled, "Do you mind if I ask my questions now? Or do you have to clean something else?"

"Nope. That was it. I'm all yours now," Veridallion reached behind her and pulled an egg timer with an electronic display marking 5 minutes, "When you ask the first question, I'll start."

Hera nodded, "Ok," she reached for her bag and pulled the small black rock that was Scryotra's Resentment, "I got this from a dungeon and a quest. In the quest, I was tasked with solving the resentment. Do you know anything about how to complete this quest? Yes or no."

"Yes."

"Are there multiple ways of completing this quest? Again, yes or no?"

"Yes," Veridallion nodded, and her eyes seemed somewhat happy.

"Are there ways to complete this quest that involve only this room?"

"Yes."

"More than one?"

"That will shave about a minute from your time."

"That's ok."

"Yes, there are a small number of ways to complete that quest that only involve this room."

"Ok… small number, so there are at least two. Is one of them saving Scryotra from Dormina in the dungeon?"

"It will take another minute and a half to answer," Veridallion waited for Hera's confirmation. When the Empress said okay, the guide continued, "Saving Scryotra from Dormina is part of one solution. Yes. Technically, it's part of more than one solution," the guide crossed her arms and looked down for a moment, "I'm offering you a deal. You give me the rest of the time, and I'll give the best advice I can about how to complete this quest. Also, I want to keep in touch with you. Is that ok?"

"Yeah, of course. I would like to keep in touch. And I'll take your offer. All my questions were about this quest anyway."

"Right them. So you are thinking about the right thing to start. But you need to think about what Scryotra wanted. And I think that more than anything, it wanted to be loved. Also, that rock, the resentment. Find a new use for it. If you change the materialization of the resentment, it will be a good step into changing the actual feeling."

Hera wrote down that suggestion on her table and thanked Veridallion before the guide left. She waited a moment to process everything before putting away the blanket and the cutlery she used for breakfast and headed back home. Even if the resentment was a pressing matter, it wasn't like there was a deadline associated with it. Or at least, that's what she thought.