Chapter 121: Running Man


    Jude found Glenny already awake and outside the smoky inn. The rogue, wearing his starry cape, stood in the cold shade, watching a scene y out.


    Lnd trudged through snow and slush alike, the mountain air not enough to maintain such the icy wondend of months prior. It was slowly shifting to early spring at this point, and the sun wasn’t letting anyone forget. It was unrelentingly bright despite being early in the morning.


    The whish-like weather made Lnd’s lungs burn with every semi-running step. He was pushing himself, that much was obvious from his woozy posture. He was on the verge of passing out, but something pushed him, something <em>drove him</em> to move.


    “What’s he doing?” Jude asked, taking his ce in the shade.


    “Don’t really know—”


    Glenny cut off his words when the world seemed to wane. The harsh light of the sun suddenly fell, like it was blotted out by the shadow of a flying leviathan. Rolling purple mist suddenly escaped from Lnd’s grasp, as a dark violet halo formed silently above his head. It wasrger than before, deeper with a sense of weight. With his newly minted rank-up, the curse took on a slightly evolved form.


    “What—”


    With Harbinger’s Halo’s creation, Lnd decided to pull out all of the stops. He, <em>technically</em>, had twenty minutes to work with, but running exhausted felt like an eternity. The faster he finally dropped, the faster he could quit for the morning… the day.


    Glenny gave a low whistle as he eyed the surrounding small town. There were a few out and about this early, but for the most part they didn’t give the purple halo and Lnd a second nce. It was not that the showing wasmonce orckluster, but because of the time of year. It was growing closer to the Royal Dream, a time of magical and physical involvement. Luckily for Lnd, or unluckily for the townsfolk, many adventurers, renowned fighters, spectacr showmen, and powerful mages migrated to the major city of Ruinsforth.


    And thus, this town was full to the brim simply because it was enroute to Ruinsforth.


    Of course that meant some of the people awake were surely notmon citizens, but Glenny had trust in Lnd. Showing Harbinger’s Halo was like being the direct focus of a lighthouse, and Lnd knew what the curse meant more than anyone. The halo, <em>a Harbinger’s Halo</em>, was a mark, a brand. It was the callsign of a minority of wrongdoers and their vile Lords.


    “He must have a good reason for running this early and summoning his halo,” Glenny said aloud to Jude but mainly to himself.


    Since Lnd’s near death battle, Glenny had been worried about his friend’s wellbeing. He didn’t want to bring attention to the matter, but he’d noticed Lnd flinching or drawing back when they came across monsters in the wilds. Completing quests was no more difficult than before, but there was a new hesitance in Lnd’s tactics.


    Hopefully whatever he was doing now would resolve the issue.


    “He really has changed,” Jude whispered just after Lnd copsed to his knees. After fishing through his pocket, he covered the distance to his friend and helped him pour a stamina potion down his throat.


    “What’s this about?” Glenny asked after the final waft of purple mist dissipated away.


    “C-contract,” Lnd said through horrible, hard, burning breaths.


    “You have a contract to run?” Jude asked.


    Responding with a re, Lnd allowed himself to fall to his back. The cold wet snow met his open neck and hair, soaking both with a blizzard of soothing. Content toy like that for a long moment, he eventually tugged at his grimoire and allowed it to flip to the page he wished to see. He read it aloud to his friends.


    <strong>Cursed contract of the Lord of Endurance:</strong>


    <strong>Use: If used whilepletely exhausted, each running step during the contract’s duration provides a small addition to your base stamina. Only usable once per hour.</strong>


    <strong>Total Steps: 14.</strong>


    <strong>Return: Twops around the presiding Lord’s domain and the promise to try the presiding Lord’s morning exercise routine.</strong>


    “F-fourteen?” Lnd asked, his breath still longing for a full scale reprieve. “Only fourteen?”


    “That’s…” Jude didn’t want to say, ‘pretty bad,’ so he just stopped speaking.


    “That’s a lot for you,” Glenny quickly supplied.


    Lnd red.


    Jude rolled his eyes. “Why didn’t you just heal yourself as you ran? You can have two contracts activated at the same time now, right?”


    The cold wetness in Lnd’s hair and on his neck froze over. He stiffened before saying, “Right…”


    Glenny burst outughing. “Did you really forget? How many steps do you think you could have gotten if you constantly regenerated yourself?”


    “At least fifteen!” Jude bellowed.


    “Fifteen!? I was thinking sixteen!” Glenny went on.


    Getting to his feet, Lnd pushed past his friends and scurried into the smoky inn. Even after he entered, he could still hear his friendsughing. In a way, it was a <em>bit</em> funny. But also showed just how his specialization choice in contracts was the correct decision. If the Lord of Nature’s contract, Touch of Regeneration, worked in tandem with the Lord of Endurance’s stamina contract, then his goals to never be out of breath again woulde <em>much</em> sooner than expected.


    He cursed himself, realizing that even <em>if</em> that happened, he’d still have to exercise in the mornings to not break the contract.


    “You alright there, sonny?” a voice from behind the inn’s bar asked.


    Lnd pulled himself from his day dreaming, focusing on the man. Older, the man spoke with the rasp of a lifetime of smoking. Dull and wispy could only describe his voice, however, the man’s dress and particrly <em>smashing</em> facial hair was something far from <em>dull</em>.


    “How long does it take tob your mustache to look like that?” Lnd found himself asking.


    The man smirked. “Watch,” he said before licking both thumbs and pointer fingers. With a sudden pull and twist, the man curled his mustache up like a dual sided fish hook. “I’d say that was two seconds, what do you think?”


    “Maybe less.”


    The man gave a prompt nod. “Now then, sonny. You look lost, what’s the matter?”


    Lnd smiled. “Just realized I’m dumb and inefficient.”


    “You a mage, right?”


    “How’d you know?”


    “Sun dimmed for a few moments. I looked outside, and there you were, zing with magic,” the man said, pouring a ss of water. “No mage I’ve ever seen, though. Running like a warrior, dark power like a shadow rogue. Scary stuff.”


    Lnd took the offered ss, downing a few gulps. “You seem to know a lot aboutbative archetypes. Are you a former adventurer?”


    “Nope!” the manughed, shoving out his hand. “Legacy of the Drink, how do you do?”


    Lnd gave a firm shake. “Legacy of the… well, that’s a bit private. Wouldn’t want that information to fall into a certain stalker’s palms.”


    “Stalker, you say?” the barkeep said, quirking an eyebrow. “Sounds like an adventure. But to answer your question, people of all kindse through my inn to get to Ruinsforth this time of year. You pick up on things, you know?”


    A thought came to Lnd. “You ever see people with a halo like mine?”


    “Nothing of the sort. Interesting spell, I must say. Are you asking because you want to meet up with Legacies of your Lord? Make friends, sort of thing?”


    A somber still smile fell on Lnd’s face. He wanted to say, “The opposite, actually,” but held off from speaking.


    “I see you aren’t going to answer that,” the manughed. “You mages and your secrets. I swear, if everyone just shared information with each other, the world would be a safer ce.”


    “That’s a nice thought. But some secrets are better left alone.”


    The man grumbled something, leaving for the kitchen. Lnd took the cue and left.


    After a quick change of clothes, a check to make sure they hadn’t been robbed, and another check to see if his tattoo had changed at all, Lnd made his way back into the inn’smon room. The room had filled up in the short time he was gone, the patrons eating breakfast and smoking their pipes. Jude and Glenny had their own table, a fresh spread of food warm and waiting.


    Sitting down, Lnd said, “I might have to stop using my halo out in the open.”


    Glenny cracked a re.


    “Don’t give me that look. I used it out in the open plenty of times before ever realizing what it meant. Obviously those who know are few in numbers. My parents didn’t even recognize it.”


    Jude ripped a piece of sausage off his fork. “And it only takes <em>one</em> person to recognize it to bring trouble. Either the Inquisitors or a Harbinger.”


    “Speaking of vile being hellbent on the torture of others,” Glenny said with a roll of the eyes. “Has anyone been contacted by the Huntress? I figured she’d catch up by now.”


    “You… you don’t think she’s finally given up chasing after us?”


    Jude and Glenny both looked at Lnd like his forehead suddenly expanded with horn growths. “No,” they both said at the same time.


    “A pity.”


    “Anyway, we are going to be in Ruinsforth in a few days. Do we take on another quest on the way, or skip straight to the city?” Glenny asked.


    “I vote to skip,” Lnd said.


    “Quest,” Jude called in turn. “I want to kill more things. I need to know the full extent of Floe’s Incarnation.”


    “And you will, but in Ruinsforth. With our parents.”


    “I agree with Lnd. We are skipping directly to the city.”


    Jude grumbled something.


    “Look at it this way, we can spend more time with them if we arrive early. Surely they are stationed in the city for the Royal Dream, and once that starts, they probably won’t have the time to be with us.”


    Jude grumbled again, but with less enthusiasm.