Drip-Fed

After Apexus gave his confirmation, the clerk fetched a few resources. There were three unique missions that had been, for reasons of difficulty, withheld from the wider public. To aid in her explanation, the clerk also spread a map in front of them, weighing the corners of the scroll down with round pebbles.

“You are on Yukana. Would you like me to give you a breakdown of the Leaf and its economic situation?”

“Affirmative,” Aclysia said, always eager to learn more.

“Yukana’s primary export, as odd as this may sound to outsiders, is water. The snow is harvested and melted to achieve drinking water of extremely high purity. With the capital of the Sleeping Empire just a few days from here, said water is delivered there constantly to ensure the great City of Slumber, Tenour, is always supplied with an excess of freshwater. Its own aqueducts can no longer quench the thirst of the entire population.”

“Huh… a constant water train… interesting,” Reysha mumbled.

“We also export fish and rare game, sold to the aristocracy of the capital,” the clerk, herself a dark elf with blue-tinged skin, spoke proudly. “Some nobles prefer to come here to hunt themselves. However, we are not in the season for that.”

“You have seasons here?” Korith asked. “I was under the impression this was a pure Winter Leaf.”

“It is,” the clerk responded. “We do not have seasons in the regular sense. What we do have is the Months of the Drake. During that time, a Blizzard Drake migrates from the Heart of Cold…” she pointed at the Dungeon in the northwest. “…and settles in the mountains southwest of here.” She tapped on the unlabelled marker.

“The hexagonal grid indicates travel distances?” Apexus asked.

“Indeed.”

“This is quite the tiny Leaf then,” Reysha remarked, bowing over the map. “One, two… five… eight?” She counted the number of horizontal hexagons. “Eight days across? On foot? Is that right?”

“Given optimal conditions of the weather, yes,” the clerk confirmed.

“Wow, we could probably cross this world in like 4 days… anyone want to do a circumnavigation for fun?”

The Ragressian’s words had the clerk shift nervously in her seat. Even as one born on Yukana, the idea that someone would cross the icy wastes for fun was alien and that she proclaimed they could do so in just 4 days was an insanity of its own. She had only encountered adventurers of their level once before. She did not doubt they could do it.

Well, except for one detail.

“This is a flat Leaf,” she informed them. “You will only find the Great Ice Wall at the edges of the map. As explorers have told, atop the wall are only a few steps of white before coming into contact with the base of the sky dome.”

“…Man, Leaves are really just a whole bunch of differently built things,” Reysha scratched the back of her head. “Still, tiny Leaf.”

“Quite tiny,” Apexus agreed. “What missions do you have for us?”

“Right… there is one general request from the Guild to repeatedly clear the Heart of Cold and bring back a journal on the discoveries.” The clerk pushed that mission forwards. “The Dungeon has been cleared before, but our intel on it is scarce. Parties that visit and operate on this Leaf train in the Eternal Timber and hunt the wildlife.”

Apexus looked over his shoulder. The other adventurers were still watching them, though their keen attention had somewhat softened. Attention spans only went on for so long, though adventurers were a patient lot and so they remained largely invested in the scene while whispering among themselves.

His eyes returned to the map. ‘It is no wonder the Heart of Cold is rarely cleared,’ the thought. ‘Two Dungeons that end at level 30. Nothing to bridge the gap. All those that wish to excel leave before they clear it. All those that do not would find they reach the greatest income at minimal risk around level 25.’

“A deep dive into a Dungeon of that level could cost us months,” Aclysia cautioned.

“It could,” Apexus agreed. “Which has the potential to be productive.”

“Let’s hear the other two missions first?” Korith suggested, jumping a couple of times so she could actually see the map and quest notices. After the third jump, Apexus put his arm under her wide hips and held her at his chest height. “It’s gonna be around for a while.”

“Right… we don’t exactly have a lot of competition for these missions,” Aclysia said slowly. That was odd to consider. They were used to anything that paid well and was interesting being claimed instantly and the board being in a constant state of flux. “What alternative missions are people of our power needed for?”

“Another mission, this time from the nobles of the Cold Embrace.” The clerk vaguely gestured at multiple areas of the map. “Scanning of this Leaf has been scarce at best. Travel from end to end may be fast but discovering what lies beneath the endless, thick sheets of snow is intense labour few are capable of doing. You would be requested to prospect the empty corners of the map for resources or additional Dungeons.”

“It is odd that there’s nothing from 30 to 40 around,” Reysha echoed Apexus’ earlier thought.

“Exploration and prospecting is, likewise, a lengthy endeavour,” Aclysia mumbled. “Our last option?”

The clerk pushed the last of the three notes forwards. “Simply, we would like the current Blizzard Drake to be killed. It causes massive snowstorms and while we have learned to cope with them, it would be nice not to suffer them for the rest of the year. The bounty is provided by the local nobles.”

Apexus took another look at the map. Given the weather conditions, he estimated they could be at the marked spot in two days. Hardly a large time investment. “We will take that mission,” he decided.