Restart Again: Volume 1 by Adam Scott (pocket ebook reader TXT) 📕

let out a satisfied sigh at the sight of my possessions. Each piece evoked a powerful memory as I sorted through them which helped to comfort my uneasy mind. By the time I was fully equipped, everything troubling me seemed a little farther away and I was able to make my way back upstairs with confidence.

I found Lia in the kitchen, carefully packing some fresh fruits and hardtack into a canvas rucksack. She turned as she heard my approach, gave me a quick once over, and nodded. “Well, you certainly look the part of an adventurer now.” Turning back to pack the last few bits of food, she giggled softly. “It suits you.”

“Oh...thanks,” I said with an awkward smile. “It does feel nice to be back in my gear.”

Lia fastened the backpack closed and slung it over her shoulder. “Do we need to pack anything else?”

“If we end up sleeping on the road, you might want a blanket to bed down with, but that’s up to you.” I paused, remembering an important detail. “That reminds me, I wanted to ask your father if—”

“Wanted to ask her father what now?” Martens voice materialized from behind me, causing me to jump in alarm. I spun around to find his head poking out from around the corner grinning ear to ear.

“Were you just standing there listening to us?” Lia brushed past me to scold him.

“I didn’t want to interrupt the moment” He laughed as he walked into the dining room and gave Lia a pat on the head, which she unsuccessfully tried to bat away. “What was it you wanted to ask me?”

“I was hoping you might have a map of the surrounding area, so I can get a better idea of where we’re going.”

“It just so happens that I have exactly what you’re looking for. I wouldn’t be a very good trader if I didn’t know where I was going, now would I?” Marten motioned for me to follow him. “It’s down in the basement, I’ll show you.” Turning to Lia, he gave her a small squeeze on the shoulder. “Marlia, dear, your mother wanted to speak with you in our bedroom.”

Lia squinted, looking between the two of us a few times suspiciously. Eventually she sighed and nodded, and the three of us left the dining room. Lia closed the door to the bedroom behind her as I followed Marten back down to his workshop. He fished through the drawers underneath his workbench for a moment, producing a well-aged scroll of paper which he unfurled on the benchtop.

Looking over his shoulder I studied the unfamiliar world map. Although I couldn’t read any of the labels written in the recognizable but unknown alphabet of the area, I was able to make a few assumptions with what little knowledge I had picked up. There was one large continent at the center of the map with a long chain of islands dotting a southern sea. The southern and western borders of the map were completely covered with ocean, but unlabeled land expanded past the north and east edges, either uncharted territory or unimportant lands for the purposes of this chart.

The main continent was divided into five distinct areas. An expansive mountainous region covered the northern portion of the map which I assumed was Doram, where I supposedly hailed from. A long spine of mountains ran south creating a natural border between the western coastal nation, most likely Lybesa, and the central country of Kaldan. A tiny country was

carved out along a bay on Kaldan’s southern coast, its borders seemingly drawn along an encircling wall. To the east, a border line was drawn along the edge of a massive forest, which ran all the way to the edge of the map.

Marten pointed a stubby finger down onto the map, tracing a line along one of the marked roads in central Kaldan; it was clear to me that Yoria was a hugely important city to the country, if not its capital. “If you go west from here on foot, you should never have to travel more than a few days without making it to a village large enough to restock and rent a room. There’s a large city...here, called Atsal, and then four days west from there is Lybesa’s Mountain Gate. Depending on how fast you travel, you could make it there in just over two weeks.”

I did my best to memorize all of the information in front of me. My lack of knowledge of the region’s alphabet made this difficult, but just getting a rough idea of the geography we would be encountering was more than enough. Knowing how many days of travel we could expect between each settlement was extremely beneficial both in terms of physical pacing and for buying supplies.

“Now, I may not be the smartest man around, but I’d like to think I’m a good judge of character.” Marten rolled the map back up and tossed it into the open drawer. “I know you aren’t from Doram, Lux.” Swallowing hard, I went to speak in my defense, but he held up a hand to stop me. “I’m sure you’ve got a good reason for lying, so I’m not asking for the truth. But I do need to know: Does Lia know the truth?”

I nodded to the affirmative, and Marten let out a relieved sigh. “That’s good to hear.” He drummed his fingers on the benchtop and stared off through the wall at nothing. “Marlia, she’s the best parts of us. Me and Hana. In the end she’s the only thing that matters to us. We’ve talked it over, and we think that leaving home with you is the best thing for her. It’s certainly what she wants to do, so I don’t think we could stop her, to be honest.” He chuckled softly, then looked up to me. I was surprised to see he was misty-eyed, a far departure from his usual stone-faced look.

“I need you to promise me, Lux. Promise