Francisco lagged behind the other two as they sprinted like wild horses on the open plain.

  Bastards.

  Not that he was jealous or anything as his heart kept pounding against his chest, trying to break free of its cage, or how every breath he took felt like a thousand needles stabbing him in the lungs. No. He wasn’t jealous or annoyed at how easily they traveled through the terrain like majestic fucking fairies.

  Since they both had leveled up to Viscount and Viscountess, they had outpaced him in speed and endurance, with only Isaac outmatching him in terms of raw power. It was a close thing and not noticeable at first, but the longer an activity went on, the more their bodies could keep up with the effort that was needed to function. Whereas his body stopped at fifth gear, theirs had an extra gear they could call upon. Francisco wasn’t an idiot—he knew that with his size and bulk, he would never be a long-distance runner or the quickest—but it was still a humbling experience to constantly be staring at his friends’ backs.

  The fuckers were even chatting while they ran like they were out on a Sunday stroll.

  Felicity looked back at him, a brief concern on her face, but he waved her away. No sooner had she turned her back than he swallowed a bug, causing him to splatter and cough. Coming to a stop, with his hands on his knees, he retched and spat, trying to get the thing out of his throat.

  “Got something in your throat, have you?” said Flic.

  He knew there was a joke there, but between trying not to throw up and slapping his chest, he gave up.

  “Here, drink this,” she said.

  He took the bottle and downed it in one, swallowing bug and all. Finally catching his breath, he splashed a little water on his face and straightened up. Two faces looked his way in concern, but he avoided their gaze and looked off into the distance.

  The rolling hills that surrounded Noobcity were long behind them. Now, nothing but patches of forest fighting against swamps and boggy marshes littered his vision. Since the last inn they had visited, where they were chased out by the bartender, they had seen no buildings or living person. Plenty of fucked-up creatures with heads too big for their bodies or bodies too big for their heads, but nothing that Francisco would call cute. Where were the deer? Where were the foxes and badgers and other woodland creatures? Hell, he’d even take a brown bear, but no, the further they traveled through this weird-ass terrain, the more he hated every minute of it.

  “We can stop and make camp early,” said Isaac, but Francisco shook his head.

  “The less time I have to spend in these shitty woods that remind me of the backcountry in Florida and the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia, the better.”

  Isaac looked uncomfortable, like he was a doctor about to deliver bad news. “Sorry to break it to you, big fella, but we are going to be in these woods slash forest slash swamp for a while yet. The information I got from Smith didn’t say much, but in his typical joyful fashion, it did say that we would be travelling through this terrain a while before we got to the next city.”

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  Francisco looked at Isaac with dread. “When you say a while…”

  “Weeks…”

  Francisco narrowed his gaze.

  “Fine, months.” Francisco threw his hands in the air as Isaac continued. “What do you expect? This planet is massive, and we’ve got no form of transport. If we were higher ranked, our bodies would allow us to travel faster, but as we are now, we’ve got to be happy with this pace we are setting. It could be worse; we could be regular humans.”

  Francisco muttered under his breath as he kicked a stone further down the rocky road.

  “I thought you said Smith left his teashop without a word,” asked Felicity.

  “He did, but the last couple of inns, taverns, and pubs we’ve been in, there is always some stranger who hands me notes with instructions written by him. Even in his notes, the fucker is a miserable asshole. But the last one said we needed to head to a small town called Green Emerald. It’s a small domain ruled by some Archduke.”

  Felicity shuddered. “It’s like he is watching us wherever we go.”

  “I think all of them are,” said Isaac.

  Francisco looked at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

  “I know we’ve not discussed it much, but judging by the brief conversations we’ve had, we all are being mentored—guided—controlled by someone, right?” Francisco shared a look with Felicity before they both avoided his gaze. “Someone who’s a lot more powerful than they are letting on, someone whose actions aren’t that clear. I don’t know what they are getting out of it, but I vow to find out.”

  No one said anything until Francisco gave the comment a dismissive wave. “You sound like a conspiracy theorist who lives in his mamma’s basement jerking off with Cheeto fingers. None of that matters. What matters is that I’m sick and tired of running. We need to find some other means of transport.”

  Felicity gave him a deadpan stare. “Can you ride a horse? Or any of the other weird creatures they use on this planet for transport?”

  “No. But how hard can it be?” They both looked him up and down. “What?”

  “You aren’t exactly…the most agile of people,” said Isaac.

  “You don’t have to be agile to ride an animal. If that was the case, how would I have pleasured so many people’s mamas?”

  Isaac snorted despite himself, while Felicity buried her face in her hands with a groan.

  “Be that as it may! Lover boy,” said Felicity, “where are we going to get three animals to ride?” She gestured to their surroundings. “Unless you plan on capturing them?”

  Francisco said nothing as he took in the shadows the trees created in the distance. To capture a wild horse, they would need to leave the path they were on and venture deeper into— He shook his head. What the fuck was he talking about? Capturing wild animals like he was a reincarnation of Steve Irwin. There had to be an easier way.

  “We’ll get transport in Green Emerald,” said Isaac.

  Francisco snapped his fingers and pointed Isaac’s way. “Now you’re talking. But, err…how exactly do we get there?”

  Isaac shrugged, causing Felicity to sigh.

  She took out her map and studied it. “According to this, if we follow this path we’ll come across a town called Green Emerald domain in a couple of weeks.”

  “Weeks?” asked Francisco.

  “Yes, weeks. Stop your bitching. Once we get there, we should be able to get some animals or a carriage to use as transport.” Felicity looked at her map again closer, frown on face.

  “Something wrong?” asked Isaac.

  “No…just that name, Green Emerald domain. It rings a bell. I’ve heard it spoken about somewhere before, but I can’t think of where.”

  “Now that you mention it,” said Francisco, “that name rings a bell. I’ve heard it spoken about in some tavern I went into…but for the life of me I can’t remember… Nope, it’s fucking done.”

  “Doesn’t ring a bell to me. I’ve never heard of it,” said Isaac. “All I know is that’s our next destination.”

  Francisco shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. As long as it’s somewhere we can buy some transport so we don’t have to walk everywhere like a common peasant— then it’ll be my new favorite place. In the meantime, why don’t we try to cover as much distance as we can before we need to stop?”

  He took the lead, passing the other two. He knew they shared a look between them, but he acted like he didn’t notice as he put his head down and pushed himself into a slow jog.

  Francisco knew his strengths and his weaknesses, but he would rather die on this sorry excuse for a road before he allowed himself to become a burden for the other two.