Civilization

After what felt like 30 minutes of walking towards the tree old man Hus, Luke, and I arrived and saw Lucina drinking water and with a slightly less red face.

"Sister Lucina! Are you feeling better?"

Luke hurries over to her side clutching the bag to make sure nothing falls over.

"Yes, Luke I am fine. I was just-just feeling a little hot is all"

Lucina slowly reaches for Luke's hand and gently holds onto it and then looks towards me.

"Thank you Ian for looking out for me and I'm sorry for causing any trouble."

"It's fine, are you sure you are feeling ok? Any nausea, headaches, or uncomfortable feelings?"

I kneel down in front of Lucina and look at her face as I asked her a couple of questions relating to her health.

"Other than feeling a little light-headed, I am feeling much better than I was when we were walking."

[ Loyalty Points (Lucina) + 10 ]

[ Loyalty Points (Howard) + 10 ]

[ Loyalty Points (Luke) + 10 ]

[ Loyalty Points (Lucina) 10/100 ]

[ Loyalty Points (Howard) 10/100 ]

[ Loyalty Points (Luke) 10/100 ]

What? Loyalty points? And how come I got it from Howard, I don't remember doing anything to him...?

I turn towards Howard and look at him. Noticing my gaze he turns to look at me.

"Ian, I think it might be better to rest here for a bit while we wait for the sun to go down but we should find some proper shelter before night arrives."

Did he just ask for my opinion? Is this what loyalty points do? If so then to increase NPC's loyalty points towards me would relate to how I approach certain situations and whether or not it improves their opinion of me. Making decisions that relate to their wellbeing or helping them when they are in trouble would be the more obvious choices but then Howard's loyalty points increased too. Maybe it increased because Lucina got better, it did look like he cared a lot for Lucina.

"Then let's rest up for a bit. Once the sun is past our heads and going down we should start moving. Although I am not sure of the destination we can figure it out along the way. Let's have something to eat and drink first."

I put the bag down to search through it. I knew there was not a lot inside the bag since it was very light. I see that there is another water sack cushioned between a couple of torn clothing as well 2 pieces of bread. I picked up the bread and passed it to old man Hus, who was already sitting on a rock not too far away, at the same time I took a sip of the water. The water had a weird leathery taste but I couldn't complain since I felt dehydrated. Old man Hus tore a small piece away and passed the rest back to me.

"Don't say anything lad. This is enough."

I looked at old man Hus's determined expression and I took back the bread and passed the water sack towards him.

"At least drink some more water, I know you are thirsty too."

After hesitating for a bit his skinny hands reach for the water sack. He takes a small sip and looks at me.

"Drink old man Hus."

Closing his eyes he drinks a bit more water before passing the water sack back to me. I look towards Luke, Lucina and Howard and see them sipping on a little bit of water and eating some bread.

"They look good together, don't they? The three of them as a family."

I turn back to old man Hus, to see a gentle expression on his face.

"Did you know, Howard was always interested in Lucina but he was too shy to say anything so instead he would always come to her help when we were getting whipped by the orcs. At the same time, Lucina would always take care of Luke's well-being after his parents were murdered by the orcs and behind Lucina's back Luke would give advice to Howard in what Lucina likes to help him get closer. It was like a circle of love and friendship."

"I see, they do look like they care for each other a lot."

Listening to old man Hus talk about the past allowed me to obtain a lot of information. The encampment they were located in belonged to orcs and Luke, Lucina and Howard each had a relationship with one another. This explains why all three of their loyalty points increased when I helped Lucina.

Now that I had something to eat and drink it was time to make some sort of plan. I look around me and saw in the distance a couple of viable locations for shelter. In front of me, I can see a large mesa as well as some green patches near the base. To my left were even larger mountains however they seemed further away than the mesa and of course behind me was another mountain. The orc encampment was in that direction and it did not make sense to backtrack towards them.

"The mesa might be the best location to travel towards. With how far away it is we might be able to get there by nightfall if we hurry."

I told them that I thought the mesa might have shelter as well as a possible chance of food and water since there are trees near the base of the mesa. I look at each of them as I tell them the plan and Howard nods after I finish talking. He stands up and picks up the bag that Luke was holding on to and slings it over his shoulder.

"Sounds good to me we should definitely hurry though, the temperature drops a lot at night"

I smile at Howard, and pick up the bag I placed on the ground and start to lead the way towards the mesa.

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