Ash. The Legends of the Nameless World. Progression Gamelit Story by Kirill Klevanski (essential reading .txt) 📗

It wasn’t because she was a flower princess, the daughter of the fairy queen, but because his adventures were always dangerous and he’d hate it if something happened to his friend.

“And what does a pretty little girl like you have to do in a village?”

“I’m not a little girl!” she exclaimed and stomped her foot, poking his finger. “I’m an adult! I can travel!”

Ash nodded. “Of course, of course... And get lost in the vast spaces of a leather bag.”

Maverie instantly fell silent and flushed, remembering the incident when all the fairies were looking for her in Ash’s bag.

“I’ll collect the best flowers for you!” she said. “All the girls will want to buy your bouquets!”

Ash didn’t want to tell her that girls lined up in front of his stall regardless of what herbs he brought.

“As lovely as your offer is, dear Maverie, someone will ask me who had helped me make those lovely bouquets, and when word spreads of your talent and beauty some handsome prince will come looking for you. And when he learns that you’re a little fairy, he’ll do all he can to turn you into a human, or himself into a fairy, so that you two can live happily ever after.”

Maverie’s blush grew more and more prominent the longer his story went on. Her gaze became dreamy and her wings fluttered so quickly that she flew up.

“And when your mother learns of all this, she’ll turn me into a sheep and feed me to the wolves.”

The fairy flopped back down on his finger, realizing that he was joking.

“Then don’t accept my help!” she said and stuck her tongue out. Acting like a child rather than a princess, she, pouting, kicked a nearby bud in protest. The tulip opened, revealing a small bag made of fabric that shimmered faintly on the sun. “Oberon asked to give this to you, just in case.”

“Tell him I said t―”

Maverie faded away in the ocean of flowers before he could finish. Sighing, Ash shook his head and moved the staff away. In his opinion, the queen should teach her daughter some manners. He wouldn’t have to keep inventing stories and jokes just to keep Maverie from following him around.

Picking up the little bag, Ash looked into it. Whistling, he clutched it to his chest and looked around as if he was afraid that someone might be spying on him. Pollen! And not the cheap kind that was sold by the pound on the markets, but the priced fairy pollen from which he could learn powerful magic.

There were all kinds of ways for one to induce the meditative state needed to unlock one’s magic potential: by using a potion or a crystal, by receiving a prayer (if a priest was close at hand), ingesting a concoction or a mushroom, or even meat of a magical beast. But out of all the options, fairy pollen was the best one. They said that just one grain of it could restore the Strength of an experienced magician.

Hiding the bag with seven grains of fairy pollen, Ash continued gathering flowers in a basket that he had brought with him. It was so big that he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to carry it back alone.

Luckily, he knew how to make this task easier for himself. By simply saying the right Word, the basket, at his request, became lighter. Even the novice magicians knew this simple trick.

On his belt was a rather small satchel, but those who knew what he was capable of were ready to give their hand for the right to peek into it and their soul for the right to get it. All of them, for some reason, believed that Ash (though they knew him by a different name) kept unspeakable treasures in the little satchel.

Having collected enough flowers to earn a couple of silver coins, Ash rose to his feet and, putting his thumb and forefinger to his mouth, whistled. The house emerged again in the center of the meadow, from the open door of which flew out a gray cloak and settled on the young man’s shoulders.

“Almost forgot you... Again,” Ash muttered in displeasure. He was of the kind that kept forgetting this or that all the time.

With his trusty patched-up cloak on his shoulders and basket in his hand, Ash headed toward the road. It’d take him five days to get to it and then if he doesn’t find a mount, half a day from it to the village. He lived in the middle of nowhere, after all. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the army that might come knocking on his door and demanding his head, it’s just that he didn’t want the flowers to be trampled on! The queen and the rest of the fairies would be very upset.

But little did he know that he wouldn’t be returning home anytime soon because on that very day, somewhere out there a mysterious tavern named D.H. opened.

Chapter 5

A fortnight later, the Two Snares village, Middle Kingdom

T he market square was surprisingly crowded that day. Among the peasants and farmers that had come from the neighboring villages to buy their daily necessities and passing-by Ternites that needed some items for the road, was a big crowd of mixed-age girls. There were little girls who wished to make flower crowns, women who had recently been wed, looking for flowers to decorate their new home with and elderly ladies looking for a simple centerpiece of their tables.

In the center of this crowd of lovely human girls (those of other races, unfortunately, haven’t been seen for about twenty years now) was a young man.

“Come here and, get your flowers! One for four, three for five, and a bouquet for just a copper! I don’t haggle, I don’t lie, nor do I kiss and