After she accepted reality that she was young again, Wena looked at Aldred in a different light. "What do you want to know?"
"I want to ask. Have you seen or heard anything weird in this province?"
"Ah, you're one of the treasure hunter."
Aldred was surprised that the old lady picked up that quick.
"Go climb to the top of Mount Savy, and you will see your destination there. Don't worry, it won't be like climbing Mount Fargon."
She looked at his wives. "You all looked pretty strong. That will make it easier to tame them."
"Tame what?"
"Nothing. Go buy a map of the province outside the casino, and make your way to the mountain."
"That's all we need to do? Climb Mount Savy?"
Wena smiled. "Believe me. You return my youth, this is the least that I can do. Oh wait, I got something for you."
She gave Aldred a glass flask, with clear liquid inside.
"What is this?"
"A charm. When you're in trouble, smear it all over your body. Now I know you are strong, but I am not talking about strength trouble. You do know that the challenge requires more than strength, right?"
Aldred nodded before analyzing the flask.
[Wena's Spit]
It's Wena's Spit. What do you expect?
Aldred was dumbfounded. "I am sorry, but. Is this your spit?"
"Oh, you can tell? Damn, that was supposed to be a surprise."
"Why would you give me a spit, and tell me to smear it all over my body."
"I can't tell you. The spit will lose its effect, if I did. Now go before your rival get to that island."
Aldred felt a little weird about that last sentence but he thought nothing of it and nodded.
They said their goodbyes and left. The old men actually wanted to ask Aldred to turn them young again, but they had nothing to offer him, so they could only sigh in oldness.
"Aldred, are we climbing another mountain?" Mary asked.
"Yeah, I guess so."
His wives sighed at the prospect of climbing another mountain. They were already traumatized because of Mount Fargon.
"What's wrong with climbing a mountain?" Kiara asked.
Ivette sighed again. "You won't know unless you climbed Mount Fargon."
"Mount Fargon?"
"It's a big freaking mountain. And when I say big, I mean really freaking big." Mareona moved her hands to describe it.
"Pass the cloud?" Kiara asked.
"Pass the cloud? I can directly see the stars from up there.
"I have heard about the legendary Mount Fargon," Zafrina said. "After all, my brother climbed it. Isn't that right brother?" She looked back at Maverick, her brother.
"Yeah, I climbed the mountain with Aldred. Though I did nothing to help, and he bulled through the challenges by himself."
"You did help by providing us with useful equipment. You know we would die without those equipment right?"
"Yeah. Well, I have never been mentioned by the author these days because I am useless. And no one missed me anyway."
"That sucks."
…
When they walked out of the casino, and looked around for a store that sell map.
After ten minutes of walking, they saw a store that might have a map.
The Cat's Scriptorium.
"Cute name," Zafrina said. "Let's enter it."
They walked inside the store while Bartrem, Maverick and the soldiers waited outside.
Inside the store was filled with scrolls, books, and the smell of paper waved on their nose.
Fat cats were lying on the floor, licking their feet and fur. When they saw a customer, they did not give a shit, and sometimes looked at them in disgust.
"So many cats!" His wives exclaimed as their eyes lit up. They each picked up a cat and played with their fur.
The cats let out an annoyed meow. 'How dare you touch me with your foul hand, earthlings!'
Meanwhile, the cat on Kiara's hand was staring at her with sparkling eyes. It approached her face and rubbed its face against her cheeks.
"I think this one likes me," Kiara said.
And then a lot of cats noticed her and approached her, meowing and waving their paws at her.
One cat bit her tail, and she yelped in pain. "Ouch, bad cat." She then grabbed the cat and bit its tail back.
"Meow!"
"That's what you get for bitting my tail." Kiara scoffed.
"Haha. I see you all have enjoyed the company of my cats."
They all stopped playing and looked to see the man who spoke those words.
Aldred and his wives blinked as they tried to contain their shock expression.
The man that was walking behind the reception table had the legs, waist, torso, arms, and shoulders of a human.
But his head… it was the head of a cat.
"So, how can I help you?" the catman said.
"Uhh, we are looking for a map," Aldred said.
"A map? Okay, would you like the map of Dirik City?"
"No, I was thinking of the whole island."
"The whole island? Alright, let me get that for you. Meow meow meooooww."
The cats nodded and began to look for the map.
"Please wait for a minute." The catman smiled.
"Okay…"
After a minute, a cat leaped to the table and put a scroll down. The catman opened the scroll and nodded.
"I am sure this is what you are looking for."
Aldred inspected the map and nodded. "Yes, this is what I need."
"Okay, that will be five sea tokens."
"Oh, will you receive gold coins?"
"Sorry, not for this map."
"Okay." Aldred gave the five sea tokens to the man.
"Pleasure doing business with you. If you need anything please do come again."
"We will," Zafrina said. "We love playing with cats."
"That is a wonderful news."
They then left the store afterwards.
Aldred asked: "Stella, have you seen his kind before?"
"That's a human, Aldred. Didn't your godly eyes tell you that?"
"Hmmm, for some reason it told me something else."
[Nom Nom Nom]
Level: 84
Race: Half-catman
Power: Nom, claw attacks
History: a man who loves cat too much.
"Technically, he's a human that merged with a cat. Apparently, the spell wasn't perfect, that's why he only has the head of a cat."
"People are really weird, huh?"
"You just realized that? Imagine what I have seen for thousands of years."
As they walked, they saw a man with a dog head. "Woof, top of the morning to you."
The dogman continued to walk past them. And then they saw the dogman entered the The Cats' Scriptorium.
"Meow!"
"Hiss!"
"Let's get out of here," Aldred said.
He summoned an undead Bajaragon and used it as a mount.
After everyone climbed the dragon, they set off into the sky only to fall down.
"Hmm? Can you not fly?" Aldred asked the undead.
The undead shook its head.
"It's the curse," Stella said. "The world doesn't want your undead to fly in this place. That also mean that we are at the right place."
"I guess we have to walk."
They get off the undead Bajaragon before it vanished.
They walked to the north where Mount Savy was located according to the map.
Aldred looked up and saw a giant eagle flying above them.
