Tit for Tat

After the events of dinner, enough time had passed that the area had become rather dark. It did pique Anterion's interest that the days seemed to be a little shorter than expected, but for all he knew, that was just a matter of the season; It was rather cold out after all, so perhaps it was winter? He would have asked, but it would have been suspicious if he didn't know, so he opted to refrain from questions of that nature for now.

That did leave him with a bit of a predicament

however. He didn't really have a place to stay, and while he could just head back to the forest and spend some time in the chamber that he'd awakened in, that felt like a waste. Nonetheless, he couldn't stay here; Once he'd finished with his meal, Anterion pulled himself to his feet and started towards the door, prompting surprise from Elias.

"Hey, you're going already?"

"Yeah… look, I really do appreciate what you did, and I'm really grateful for the meal, but… I don't think my presence is doing you any good."

"Ah… I guess I can't really argue with that, I guess. But still!"

The two's argument drew attention from numerous patrons as they exited the building, but Eli didn't seem to care at all. Frankly, he hadn't been expecting him to be so pushy about it, and at this point, he was curious what the driving force of his interest was. Sighing deeply, Anterion stopped and gave a side glance in Elias' direction.

"What's this really about? I mean, I think we both already know I don't know any more than I've already said about magic. Your community doesn't like me, your family thinks I'm a spy. I should legitimately be a walking landmine for your social life. I'm lost here."

"Ah… alright, I guess that's fair."

Elias rubbed his head, looking a little embarrassed.

"Listen… I wanted to ask you a favor ok? I've been working towards my dream for a long time, you know; and I'm so close to making it big. All I have to do is make a magic item to impress the admission panel, and I can get a shot at entering the magic college at Risengarse. But… well, Lisa would kill me if I left out on my own, and nobody usually comes out this far or goes to the capital. The deadline is in two weeks, and I can't arrange anything else on such short notice… would you maybe, I don't know… deliver it for me?"

[Ah, now it all makes sense.]

Everything thus far was meant to butter him up… well, it wasn't as if they had spoken for long enough that it felt like a betrayal, but it was a little rude… even so, Anterion couldn't help but feel a little twinge of… was that nostalgia. He definitely reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quiyebplace a finger on the specific person; Nonetheless, he couldn't just help out freely.

"Look, I really am sorry that you're not able to send it in, but that has nothing to do with me. I have to do my job, you know? I can't stop for something like this, especially when I haven't mapped out anything relating to Risengarse."

"Ok, but what if… you didn't have to?"

"…I'm listening."

Taking a moment to fish into his pockets, Elias gingerly pulled out a piece of folded paper, and with a look of extreme caution on his face, began to slowly unfold the paper little by little, until finally, it's true form was revealed: Inside was a map cleanly labeled with actions and words of note. Sure enough, towards the eastern border of the map was the city of Risengarse.

"This is a map my parents owned before they passed, and the one I've been using to get around the abandoned roads of the area and traverse them safely. It's probably a little outdated, but it should help jumpstart whatever cartography project you have if you use it as a base. I'm willing to part ways with it in exchange for the delivery."

Anterion stopped, mulling the situation over. While he didn't want to get involved too deeply into whatever inner workings the world had… he still did want to observe, and this map could be key it letting him do so with greater ease. For a favor that was really quite insignificant on the grand scheme of things, it did only seem fair.

"Alright, alright. You've convinced me, I'll take your package to the magic college as soon as I can. But uh… I'm going to need that map in advance. Is that alright?"

"Of course; if that's what you need. I mean, it kind of makes sense, you definite don't seem to be from around here."

"…And you're not afraid I might run off without paying you back?"

Elias simply shrugged, leaving Anterion with a look of disappointment in the teen's sense of caution.

"Really?"

"I mean, yeah. You just don't strike me as that type. I'm usually pretty good at judging people, and I trust you. So… yeah!"

"Well… I guess I can't really complain about that."

After that point, Anterion would leave the village on good terms with Elias, package in tow. As it turned out, the magic weapon he'd been testing in the forest was in fact the one he planned on sending in, which made sense. For something assembled with the limited resources of a remote village like that one, it was incredibly impressive. Unfortunately, his lack of knowledge on the magic system of this world meant he couldn't say more than that, but it was worth something in his eyes.

After a while of retracing the steps the two had taken to reach the village, Anterion realized that darkness had fully engulfed the entire area. Furthermore, divine as he was, it wasn't optimal for him to continue on with no sleep at all in his current state. Taking a moment to stretch; the demigod set down his limited belongings by one of the trees. With a yawn and a quick look over to see that he was isolated, Anterion took a seat on the tree, feeling it's warmth permeate through the bark to provide comfort to him despite the weather.

"I know I don't need the heat to get through the night but… honestly it's nice to sleep somewhere warm."

The inviting heat slowly began to work its magic over him; Soon enough, Anterion was deep into sleep once more.