“By the way, I noticed that the cliffs to the north are really steep,” I said to him before they left. “How did you all get up here?”
“Actually, there’s an old path in the east,” he explained. “It’s really taking the long way around, but there are stairs carved into the rock.”
“Ah, that would make it easier.”
“I don’t suppose you have a faster way, do you?” he asked, with pleading eyes.
Don’t look at me with those puppy dog eyes full of hope, I’m gonna laugh! “I will eventually, but it’s not ready yet. I mean, I can fly, but for you guys—yeah, I don’t have the short route set up yet.”
“I see. Wait, back up, you can fly?!” Hegram asked incredulously.
Oh yeah, I hadn’t shown them yet. I deployed my wings and hovered in place for a bit, then put them away. Just to show off. I mean demonstrate.
“About how long would this alternate route of yours take?” Hegram asked. “If the time is shorter than the time it would take to return the way we came, then we could explore your tower more while we wait.”
Music to my ears. “Well, it’s tough to say for certain, but at least two weeks.”
“It would take us more than twice that to go the long way. Please, complete the shortcut.”
“Can you point out on this map where the country you want me to go is located? If you can do that, I’ll secure a route that leads all the way to the edge of the forest.”
“I believe that shouldn’t be a problem.”
I showed Hegram my tablet, and after comparing it to his own map, he was able to point out roughly where our destination was. He and his men received more booze for their trouble, and I headed out to plant more towers while they explored the dungeon. On the eastern side of the waterfall, I created a line of towers stretching north until I reached the edge of the forest. After that I summoned Irregulars to all of them, and set them to resource gathering mode. Eventually I’d be able to connect them to the rest of my towers, where they could share all of the points Hegram and his men were earning for me.
Other than checking and upgrading the towers in the northern half of the Grimwood, I spent the next two weeks furnishing my new palace. I ended up moving my dungeon master room there as well. Well, I say room, but it was basically a condo at this point. It had a living room, a bedroom, a bath, a washroom, a dining room, a huge closet with space for all of my outfits, and a pair of pet beds for my Faewolves. Oh yeah, I absolutely kept those in my room. They were smart enough to leave my chambers when nature called, and having them there meant I could cuddle them whenever I wanted.
Seriously, the importance of big, cuddly, fluffy doggos can’t be overstated. Cuddle time became a nightly ritual. Every night when I arrived in my chambers, they’d greet me. I’d take care of any business, and then I’d basically just roll around with them. I mean, I’d kinda lay on them and let myself sink into their fur, then they’d shift around to get me to pet them. It was pure heavenly bliss. They didn’t have the normal dog smell; they actually carried a nice, floral scent, but I still always took my bath after cuddle time was over. They understood that once I was done with the bath, there would be no further cuddles that night.
Anyway, after a few days, I was able to connect the towers on the north side to each other, and once the two weeks passed, the tower on the east side of the waterfall was finally tall enough to connect to the south side of the forest. Once the towers were connected, everything progressed rapidly. Hegram and his party were able to generate a lot of points for me during those two weeks, and even with how much I used on furnishing my palace, I still had plenty left over to connect and expand the towers in the northern half of the forest. Once I put warp circles in place that could take people from the main tower to the north end of the forest in an instant, it was time to use my carriage again.
Or, well, it would have been, but my carriage was designed for only two occupants, so it wouldn’t fit five humans comfortably. So I created something else for this trip: a magic carpet. Remember when I said that other players threw a fit because Sprigians could fly freely, even though normally our flight speed was roughly the same as their walking speed? Magic carpets were one of the items the developers added to the game to appease the complainers. It allowed the user to fly at the same speed as a Sprigian, but they needed more space to take off and land. In this case, I decided to make a carpet big enough to hold my carriage, the Faewolves pulling it, Team Apple, and Hegram’s group. Which honestly ended up being a pretty big carpet—more like a deluxe flying rug. Of course, I also had to set it up to run on magic power, so I would have to remain on the carpet during the trip.
Once the carpet was ready, I informed Hegram that I was ready to leave, and he got his team ready. I led them to the transportation circle that would teleport us to the northern exit. There was even a sign above the door to the room it was in that read “northern exit,” so I wouldn’t mix it up with other warp points. Once we were all safely at the proper exit, I unrolled the carpet and had everyone get on. Once the carpet lifted into the air, it was completely flat and rigid, just like standing on the ground. There was a barrier around it to prevent small airborne objects from hitting us. It also helped reduce drag from the wind resistance. Oh, by the way, this carpet went a lot faster than a regular one. It was called “Fairy Queen’s Magic Carpet” and it moved at more than ten times the speed of a normal one.
“Uh, Your Majesty,” Hegram said as we levitated into the air, “forgive me if I sound rude, but if you had such a wondrous carpet, why didn’t we just use it from the beginning instead of waiting two weeks?”
“A fair question, Hegram. The answer may surprise you. First, I made this carpet just last night, so I didn’t have it two weeks ago. Second, if we had just flown there on the carpet, I wouldn’t have gotten you to spend two weeks in the dungeon. Finally, I was going to need to construct those towers anyway, so I decided to ask for your help while I could.”
“So you tricked us then,” he accused, frowning.
“Tricked is such a strong and ugly word,” I said with a grin. “I’d like to say I ‘resourcefully persuaded’ you. It wasn’t a bad deal for your group, was it? You all got plenty of booze, and your equipment looks so impressive now. It’s all gear with magical properties, you know. We’ll still make it there well before you would have if you had walked.”