Curselock

Chapter 72: Rewards

The first snow festival officially started four days after the boys arrived. Legacies of Weather, Snow, and Storms had gathered together, foretelling that it would snow any day now. But, after three days of celebration, Frostford was getting angsty. What was the point of a festival if the thing they were celebrating never happened?

Truthfully, the younger residents of the town didn’t care about that. It was the older few, the curmudgeon type, that cursed the skies. Most everyone was happy with the festival regardless of snow, in fact, many of the tourists thought it would be better if it didn’t snow. Most of the town’s activities were outside after all.

The boys, during all of this, prepared themselves for the herb gathering quest. First thing they did was purchase proper winter wear, well, except for Glenny. The rogue had decided his cloak was enough to keep him warm, the neigh infinite energy it gave him helped regulate his body heat somewhat. Not to mention, despite the cloak being a parasitic item, it was still a cloak. The windchill did little to bother him.

Jude, on the other hand, decided to wear light. While he did buy a heavier undershirt and a light jacket, the Legacy of the Berserker was perfectly fine with going sleeveless if he had to. “I do not fear the cold, it should fear me!” he had told the others when they questioned him about it.

So, that left Leland as the odd man out. But frankly, he was fine with that if it meant being warm. A wool jacket, multiple sets of underwear, big fluffy socks, waterproof boots, and of course, his gifted mage robes. Despite being a birthday present, his set of robes weren’t getting the use they should be.

The enchanted effect, while amazingly effective for regular mages, simply wasn't necessary for Leland. A boosted mana regeneration rate was good and all, great in fact, except he only used a fraction of the mana as the average mage.

At some point, while looking through an enchantment store, Leland had the idea to upgrade. His parents wouldn’t see it as a betrayal, in fact they would praise him for being pragmatic enough to forgo his present for something more useful.

Too bad they don’t have a lifeforce regeneration enchantment, he thought after flipping through the shop’s entire catalog of commissioned enchantments.

The team also bought plenty of items for their time on the isolated island. Proper herbology equipment, travel rations, a few emergency fire starting kits, and many more utility items. All in all, the boys were packed and ready to go. They had enjoyed the festival quite a bit, but it was time to get down to the reason they even traveled to Frostford.

“Welcome, welcome!” yelled the town’s Mayor, Mr. Frostlung. He stood atop a wooden stage at the center of the town’s square, bundled up in so many scarves most of his face was covered. “Here we gather today for competitive spirit!”

The mayor started a round of clapping that was sparsely echoed from the gathered crowd. He then cleared his throat, and continued, “Now then, you all are here for our great town’s annual herbology competition! Why do we have this competition, you might ask? Well, it's very simple. Because all of the spring herbs, the very herbs we use throughout the year for many much needed uses, are ripe for the picking!”

Mr. Frostlung paused, obviously expecting applause. He grunted at the silence before throwing up his hands in a grand display. “Yet! The island where the herbs grow is very dangerous! Only the tough and experienced can even brave the journey to the island! What might you see once you step foot on dry land? No one knows.” He then laughed. “Beside the town’s Guardian Spirit Beast!”

“Get on with it!” someone yelled, their identity hidden in the crowd’s anonymity

The mayor frowned at that, cleared his throat, and gestured to a wooden board. There, a multitude of hand-drawn pictures of various flowers, roots, plants, moss, and vines were on display. They ranged from simple green leafed stem and flower to a large crisscross of various buds and bulbs. Some sparked with elemental magic, like a yellow rose with static drawings of lighting or a deep amber moss leaking a small pool of lava.

“Here are the herbs our fair town requires, as well as the herbs you all are competing for. Memorize them now, for there is no signage like this one here on the island,” the mayor then pointed to the corner of one of the drawings. A single number was plastered lazily there. “Each herb has an associated number attached. The rare or more difficult the herb, the more points. The team with the most points after two days is considered the winner!”

The young woman, who the boys recognized from the gate a few days earlier, rushed onto the stage and whispered something into the mayor’s ear. The man nodded with her words before stepping back into the middle of the stage.

“I have just been reminded that broken, improperly harvested, or malformed herbs will not be accepted for points. So, I hope you brought someone with a steady hand!” Mr. Frostlung laughed to himself. “Now then, I’ll leave you to capable hands. Good luck everyone. Remember to stay warm!”

The crowd grumbled at that. “What about the rewards for winning!” someone yelled.

The mayor paused at that, spinning on his heel and stepped back to center stage. “Oh course. How could I forget? This year we’ve had several items donated to our cause. But since you are all mostly adventurers, I will get to the weapons and equipment. Our resident Legacy of Enchanting, Ms. Barnswell, has spent the last year collecting splendid items for a keen hand such as herself. I will start with the rewards for the rank two teams!”

The mayor stepped over to a small table and pulled off a covering sheet. He held up a pair of sandals. “Enchanted with Burst of Speed, these sandals will greatly increase the wearer’s top sprint speed for a few seconds. These will be rewarded to the third place team along with a monetary stipend.”

The crowd grumbled at that and Leland could see why. The enchantment was quite powerful, especially during combat. A surprise rush or retreat is a great way to end a life or save one. Yet, the sandals themselves weren’t impressive. They were simple sandals, or at least, the mayor didn’t specify they weren’t No other effects were lackluster.

“For second place we have this!” Mr. Frostlung held up a large kite shield.

It looked impossibly light for being solid metal and leather, Leland thought. And while the floral design along the front was beautifully painted, no one on his team used shields. Still, there was a shimmer along the base of it, one that the mayor went on to explain.

“This shield has two enchantments! From my ease of hosting such a hunk of metal, you must have already deduced that the enchantment Light as a Feather reduced its weight. But that is not all. Ms. Barnswell has outdone herself with this! She was able to squeeze in Thorny Vine enchantment as well.”

A quiet murmur went through the crowd. It was obvious most were confused, even Leland who had read and reread enchantment books in his magical homeschooling.

“That got your attention, huh?” the mayor laughed. “Thorny Vine is an enchantment Ms. Barnswell has been working on for several years! One might say it is her gift to the world! And that is no exaggeration! Thorny Vine allows the user of this shield to plant it into the ground. From there, the shield will sprout thorny roots that will follow the user’s will! No longer will your enemies flee from battle! Not with their legs bound by roots!”

That got the crowd listening. They looked between the mayor and the shield, greed in their eyes. Even Jude had fallen victim to the enchanted item. “We need to win this,” he whispered.

Glenny gave him a look. “You don’t use a shield.”

“So? I might have to learn. Do you know how many times monsters run from me?”

Leland was about to reply with some sarcastic comment that’d surely egg his friend on, but the mayor set the shield down and picked up the last prize. Leland instantly became interested as he saw the gnarled wooden staff the man was showing off.

“For first place we have something very special. While enchanted, this item was not enhanced by Ms. Barnswell. No, in fact, this magical staff was received as a monster drop from the final boss of a goblin shaman dungeon!”

The crowd went silent again.

“Now, what’s so special about a goblin staff? Well, it's simple really. This is a parasitic item!”

Fire burned in Leland’s eyes as he bore holes into the wooden staff. Parasitic items, like Glenny’s cloak, were nearly always scooped up by the rich or royals. That was if the adventuring team didn’t decide to equip it right away. Having one drop from a dungeon was a once in a lifetime event, most were bonded still within the dungeon.

Leland was under no illusion that if he wanted one, he would need vast wealth or impossible luck. Well, that was, if he couldn’t win this competition.

“Sorry Jude,” he said. “Looks like we aren’t going for second place.”

Jude nodded along, his eyes latched onto the staff. “It's no problem… roots are overrated anyway.”

The mayor carefully set the staff down on the table and then showed off the much lesser rewards for rank one teams. Once finished, he replaced everything on the table, then someone quickly gathered the rewards and was escorted away by an armed security unit.

“I hope that the rewards got everyone excited!” he said. “Now, my job here is done. Please listen to young Ms. Lavender for the more technical details. Good luck!”

With that the mayor stepped off the stage and the young woman from the gate stepped front and center. Over the next hour she directed all thirty three rank two adventurers participating in the competition to exit the town.

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