Chapter 100: Price to Pay
The dwarf leaned forward, placing both his stubby hands flat on the wooden table, his smug grin returning like an old friend. "We leave in two days," he said with finality, his thick accent rough around the edges. "That should give yeh enough time to prepare. You’ll need it."
"Two days?" Jason echoed, raising an eyebrow. "To get ready for what exactly?"
The dwarf chuckled and pulled out a worn piece of parchment from inside his coat, slapping it on the table. "A journey across harsh lands, unpredictable territories, and possibly hostile territories. We’re traveling halfway across the damn world, lads—and lasses. This ain’t no walk through the woods."
The room went quiet as his words settled over the group like a heavy fog.
"We’ll be on the road for about... forty-seven days, give or take," he continued casually, as if he’d just announced a picnic. "Through mountains, deserts, rivers, and a few monster-infested passes. So, get your gear, get your provisions, and get your damn heads in order."
"Forty-seven what?" Eleanor stood up suddenly, her chair scraping loudly against the wooden floor. "You expect us to march through the wild for over a month and a half, chasing after some vague artifact you won’t even tell us about?"
"I’m not expectin’ anything," the dwarf replied, folding his arms smugly. "I’m demanding it. And not for myself—but because of him." He jabbed a thick finger at Marcus.
Marcus dropped his head into his hands and groaned loudly. "Forty-seven days. For real? For a bloody artifact I don’t even know the name of?" He looked up at Sera with eyes full of bitter regret. "You tricked me. You actually tricked me."
Sera gave a slight tilt of her head and offered the faintest smile, not cruel, not kind—just knowing. "You walked willingly, Marcus. I never forced you. I even gave you a fair warning, remember? That you’d feel the pull. That when it starts, you’d have to come. And you did."
"You didn’t exactly make it easy to resist," he muttered bitterly, then slammed his palm on the table. "Shit! I should’ve kept my damn pants on!"
Sophia couldn’t help but wince slightly, folding her arms. "This is insane. No beasts, no bandits, no dungeon has sounded this bad before."