As Jax, Liora and Thalia returned back to the Seared Tusk I can only imagine what I looked like, mouth hanging open, redoing the math over and over again in my head. Traveling with gear, 10 miles is the farthest one can go on a good day, so it will take a little under a month to get to Coalhill, not to mention meals, beds, and more.
"Dude, you ok?"
Jax asked as he walked over and jumped up to sit next to me at the bar.
"It's gonna take 23 days of constant walking to get to Coalhill."
I said in a half dead wheeze. Jax blinked at me for a moment.
"Dude, that's why we take a carriage heading that way, we would get there in like 4 days tops."
"Actually, there are no carriages headed for Coalhill for another month or so, and a private carriage would cost you around 150 gold a pop, combined with the new member you would be in a deficit from your current quest by quite a bit."
Eustus added unhelpfully
At this point Jax and Liora joined me in the slackjaw hopeless stupor. However, before Kaelen and Selene could return and join us in our despair, Larz scowled at Eustus.
"Stop teasing them already, don't forget I'm holding you to the deal."
Eustus seemed to partially wince at this as if looking for an excuse before turning back to me with a look of defeat.
"Gather your party and your stuff to leave and meet me outside the city's main gate."
From the way he said it I would have assumed we had just stolen his yearly salary. Jax and I turned to each other confused as we started to head out to where Kaelen and Selene had gone back to the inn Selene had been at before meeting our group to grab the rest of Selene's stuff. As they walked back, they were a bit confused as to why we were outside the Seared Tusk.
"How did you all get kicked out, Jax was gone for most of the time, there is no way he got drunk that quick."
Kaelen said exasperatedly as he struggled with a medium sized bag, slinging it from one shoulder to the other and almost falling over in the process.
"No, the bartender said that we are to meet them outside the main gates, but they did not specify why."
Thalia said matter of factley as she crossed her arms. We all started to make our way that way when Kaelen, who despite carrying only one bag was sweating like he had just run around the city asked.
"Aiden, you have known him the longest, any ideas come to mind?"
I tried to think back to what it could be, but Eustus had never asked anything like this, and generally aside from in passing on the road or in the bar, I never really see him in other settings, so outside the city was certainly strange.
As we made our way outside the gates we didn't see Eustus yet, so we took a moment to sit down by the city walls as Jax explained to the others about the 23-day long trip.
"By the time we get there the quest will have expired then!"
Kaelen said starting to pace. Liora sat with her legs crossed as Thalia sat with us and asked.
"Do vehicles travel here often?"
"From what I saw, they are here and there, but not overly common."
I said leaning back against the city wall as I tried to think back.
"Then why not try fuel hitching?"
"What's that?"
"You offer to pay the fuel price of someone headed to a location near where you're going so they get a cheap ride fuel wise, and you get to your destination."
"I guess that can work, we would just need to find someone headed towards Coalhill then."
"Well, we are at the gate in the general direction, and there is a vehicle headed this way."
I sat up a bit surprised, walking to where Thalia had walked over to the side of the gates peering into the city. Looking where she was pointing sure enough a vehicle was heading this way. It wasn't the massive hulking shape of a land train or the bulky armored vehicles you would see adventuring teams own, but it was a small vehicle, around 10 ft long with a trailer doubling the total length to 20 ft being pulled behind it. The vehicle had clearly had work done on it, as the tires looked more rugged with large seems as if designed for mud. The body of the vehicle was wrapped in a layer of armor that while not thick, still showed a level of durability you don't normally see on smaller vehicles like that. From the sides of the vehicle a set of boxes seemed to hum with magical energy and a small ballista like device sat on top of the vehicle. The front of the vehicle also seemed modified, as if someone added parts to the engine within and had to adjust the hood. However what drew my attention was the trailer that was empty, and while it would be a tight fit, all 6 of us could ride on it. As it made its way down the road I turned to Thalia and asked.
"So do we knock on the window as it passes, do we hold up a hand sign, how do we let them know we are asking for this?"
Without responding Thalia stepped a step back and I saw a system notification.
Temp Party Member Thalia has used the skill Mana Strings(E) to create 15ft of threads.
Looking at Thalia I watched as soft silk like blue strings lowered from her fingertips, pooling until there was a good length of them. She flexed her fingers, and almost like the strings were possessed they started to move, bending and wiggling like snakes to form the word fuel ride with a question mark at the end, holding it above her head as the vehicle approached where we would be at the gate. I almost did a double take, not just because that was a cool skill and I was curious what it was like to control the strings like that, but also the fact that Eustus was the one driving the vehicle.
He gestured for me to go to a spot around 30 ft away or so where he quickly pulled the vehicle around and parked it, stepping out much to Jax's surprise whose head height made it so he couldn't see the person inside until the door was open.
"Since when have you had this?"
I asked, bewildered looking at the, while old by modern vehicle standards, very much nice vehicle. Eustus scratched the back of his head like he didn't know how to answer before he gave a defeated sigh.
"Stoic always said that you would become an adventurer when you got older, so he insisted that you needed a way to get around that's not on foot. So, we ended up going all the way to Duskpeak to pick it up from an old sand shark friend of your grandfathers who had gotten an upgrade and was willing to sell it cheap. We got a few upgrades, and we drove it back."
Thinking back, I remember when I was 12 and my grandfather had said he was going on a trip. Mom and Dad had taken off two days after and I ended up staying with Peridot in the shop for the month and a half before my grandfather got back.
"I remember that, it's when mom and dad left to do their inventing trip."
"Yep, and while Stoic wanted to surprise you with it, your mom and dad ran away with his life savings aside the 10k we took to buy the vehicle and upgrades, so he gave it to me to keep safe under the condition that when you were set to go adventuring you would be gifted the vehicle."
The words didn't seem to register for a moment as I was suddenly being shaken by my very excited teammates. Even Thalia who had been neutral and stoic to a fault this entire time ran around the vehicle looking it over like a kid in a candy shop.
Eustus took me aside while the others started to load our bags on the trailer.
"I can't believe you managed to hide this thing for 10 years."
I said still in a little bit of shock as Eustus put a hand on my shoulder.
"Just make sure you use it to live out those lofty dreams of yours, and don't forget to stop by your hometown every now and then."
Eustus said with a warm smile, a set of keys in his hands held out for me to take. I reached up to take the keys, but as I grabbed them Eustus was not letting go, his fingers white from the effort to hold. I looked up to see he was biting his lip so hard it was bleeding.
"Uh, you okay there?"
"J-J-Just a part of me wanting to keep it, just grab it quick."
Eustus said, sounding strained as if he was trying to hold something back. Following his advice, I took the key quickly and headed for the others.
Walking over I opened the door, the inside was rugged, with basic seats, but a sturdy design. Sliding into the passenger seat I saw the three pedals and testing each one I saw one made the engine rev, the other seemed to be a way to stop and the last one did nothing. I turned to the others on the trailer and asked.
"Anyone know what any of these gauges are?"
Everyone stared at me confused as the side door opened up and Eustus leaned in.
"Small pedal is to go faster, the large pedal is the stop, the pedal on the side is the clutch."
I would like to say he explained this and like that I knew everything, but we ended up spending another 3 hours, just driving circles around the outside of the city walls so I could get the hang of it. Though several times Eustus reached for the keys and I had to swat his hands away. Eustus was nice, but I swear he must be a kleptomaniac with how grabby and possessive he can be at times.
By the time we were done, Eustus was holding himself inside the passenger seat with his arms and legs splayed out as Larz was trying to pull him out by the back of his shirt.
"You're 100%, absolutely, without a doubt, completely positive you want this and don't want to let me keep it?"
Larz didn't wait for me to respond with yes again for the 7th time before he managed to pry Eustus out and started to carry him back to town. The entire time he was flailing like he was being kidnapped screaming about how his baby was being taken. With the front seat now open, and a good 5 hours before dark I took a moment to turn back to the city. Its walls so familiar, but a sight I wouldn't be seeing for a while. Thalia volunteered to be in charge of the map as I put us into first gear, and started our first day of our 4 day trip to Coalhill.