Page 10 of I Ran Away to Evil #3
Why Did He Have to Be So Pretty?
Gerda
The second the door closed behind me, I ran .
It was a short distance to the west wing elevator, but I ignored it, choosing the stairs instead.
I didn’t want to be trapped in an elevator right now—not while adrenaline was still coursing through me.
I took the stairs two at a time, and by the time I reached the sixth floor, my heart had settled enough that I could focus on anything other than escaping the duke of the North.
Despite my fake calm, I’d been in a constant state of panic from the moment I’d heard his voice.
It had been a wonder I’d been able to say anything to him at all with the myriad of emotions that had accompanied his presence, from excitement to nervousness to fear—not at the anger or accusation that had flashed in his silver eyes.
No. I was afraid because I’d really liked the Julian I’d met while playing Henrietta.
But I wasn’t Henrietta, and this wasn’t a game.
The sixth floor of the tower held three guest rooms. I went inside mine, kicked off my shoes, and promptly fell on the bed, screaming into my pillow.
“Why does he have to be so pretty?” I mumbled. His gaze was so fierce that it had sent shivers down my spine. His straight eyebrows came together in a way that made it look like he was hard to please and constantly unamused, but there were laugh lines around his full lips.
The picture of him as a young boy had been so cute I’d almost melted.
Alright, time to pull myself together and figure out a plan.
The sixth piece of my treasure quest was in the locket; likely the shard of crystal. I didn’t think I wanted to complete the set if it meant stealing the locket.
Most of the treasures I’d found up until this point had been in secret vaults or hidden dungeon rooms. I’d picked up the Royal Valarian Mantle in the rubble of the Annual Spellscript Collegium in Servalt last winter.
Other exceptions were the King Kraken’s Heart, which I’d stolen from an elf, and the Master Cast Crystal, which had come from a long fetch quest.
It had all started with an ogre named Morga, who lived in the Dark Enchanted Forest. She had a habit of eating people who annoyed her, but her favorite food was fruit.
I’d just needed to get past the dire wolves and unicorns to pick a Moondew apple and bring it to her, and then she’d granted me leave to take one item out of her treasure chest.
Of course, the treasures in the chest were just things she’d collected over the years from all of her victims. Instead of seeing the items as a pop-up list to choose from like in the game, I’d actually gotten to rifle through the whole pile.
There’d been the knife I was looking for, but also a nice pair of white spider-silk knee-high socks.
I’d paid her for the socks.
After that, I’d brought the knife to an old widow who lived in Servalt and let her know about her husband’s sorry fate. She’d thanked me and offered me a tattered old map as a reward. The map had led to a hidden cave in the mountains behind Thistlecrick, deep in the Dark Enchanted Forest.
Even if I had played the video game before, I never would have found my way without the map. It had taken three hours to trek up the mountain and even longer to find the cave. I’d also needed the enchantment on the map to magically open the barrier around the entrance.
Inside, I’d found a letter from the Archwizard Jeffrey, creator of the Crystal-Cast Crystals, congratulating his successor on figuring out the map. The cave had held the Master Crystal and the theoretical notes on the Crystal-Cast system.
I still had the papers in my storage ring and intended to pass them along to Grand Duchess Calisto when I had the opportunity. She was the only person skilled enough to use the knowledge effectively.
I rolled onto my back and sighed, my mind wandering once again to Calisto’s son.
And his locket.
And the treasure inside his locket.
There was an obvious route in the game. I bet that if Henrietta raised Julian’s favorability to a certain level, he’d just give her the locket as a token of his love.
But I wasn’t Henrietta; I was Gerda. The Bridge Troll.
Did I even need to complete the second season scenario and find all of the set pieces?
Henrietta had probably needed them to fight Necromancer Chloe and the army of undead from the Dark Enchanted Forest … but I didn’t need to fight Chloe. My goal was to level up [World Bridge] until it was powerful enough to maybe send me home.
Simple and easy.
[Perk: World Bridge . Establish a permanent link to any bridge you cross, even those not under your control. You may travel to that bridge as if it were under your control. All previous +Troll Magic [Dimension] bridges under your control are included in World Bridge .
Bonus Abilities Available:
1: If you control all bridges in a Domain, gain double experience for bridges in that Domain. Current Domains Unlocked: Dark Enchanted Forest.
2: If you control a bridge in all Domains, mana cost to travel between Domains is halved. Current Domains Unlocked: Dark Enchanted Forest, Drendil, Peldeep, Servalt, North Sumbria, Sumbria.
3: If you control the furthest bridges at the four corners of Valaria, unlock the ability to travel between any bridge you have ever crossed, even before obtaining World Bridge .
This power can pass through the Void into alternate and subspaces for additional mana cost. Current Bridges: South: Faren’s Arch in Sumbria; West: Daffolyn Bridge in Peldeep; East: Sea-to-Sky Bridge in Servalt.
4: If you control all bridges in Valaria, unlock Hidden Domain: Valarian Royal Palace. World Bridge Perk upgrade: Empress of All Bridges. Unlock Title: Empress of Valaria.]
[World Bridge] had different abilities I could unlock, and one would let me travel to any bridge I’d ever crossed. And since I was Gerda, and Gerda was me … I was hoping that meant I could go to a bridge from the before .
I only had one bridge left to find, but it was going to be the hardest one yet. The Northern Ice Fields were a treacherous frozen land crawling with high-level monsters, storms, and a dangerous mountain ridge between here and the area I needed to reach.
Would I even make it there without the completed set?
A plus-three boost was great and all, but when the set was completed, each of my abilities would get a plus-five bonus.
Times six items, that was a plus-thirty buff to my stats …
and since leveling up gave me two points to attributes per level, the set was the equivalent to going up fifteen levels .
That was hard to pass up …
But Duke Julian wasn’t a bunch of pixels on a screen reading predetermined lines … Even if he did walk into encounters, he was still a person .
And that locket meant something to him.
Duke Julian’s backstory had played a huge role in his hidden route during Season One.
He’d lost his father at such a young age and felt helpless.
All this time, he’d thrown himself into guarding North Sumbria …
but he was isolating himself, away from the people he cared about the most, grieving alone.
He loved his family, but he didn’t feel worthy of their love until he could stand in his father’s place. And he didn’t feel like he could love anyone else for fear of losing them.
Stupid Sumbria, if only I’d been reincarnated into the story twenty years ago, then maybe I could’ve done more to help everyone.
Instead, I was here.
And still undecided about everything.