“Let us find our hotel.”

The humor of his statement was lost on his companion as she took his arm and they began to walk down the busy plaza. There was only one hotel, and you could see it from almost any point in the island. The building was large even by earthen standards. The near palatial quality of the massive sprawling hotel was staggering even from a distance. The whole “hotel” was roughly the size of Beinost, possibly larger. In the center a massive spire jutted into the sky, decked out in more gold than most countries could claim to have in their treasury. The compound was walled in by massive, beautifully crafted stucco walls that must have towered somewhere around thirty feet tall, while the main tower itself must have stood somewhere along a whopping seven hundred feet tall. The whole thing was equal parts beautiful, obnoxious, and expensive.

“Vince…” Ray muttered staring at the tower. “Is that…”

“Yup.” Vince replied grinning slightly.

“How much money did you-“

“Not a penny.” Vince replied grinning. “Apparently the owner of the resort had a son fighting in the Red Forest reclamation. Apparently he was in a unit I saved from a troll, and he came home singing the praise of the Podeslayer. So as thanks I was invited to spend a week here, which worked out perfectly because the next day I had a vision we would find an artifact here.” The scholar chuckled slightly as the mechanic gawked at the massive tower, only keeping along with him because she was literally attached at his arm. The whole experience had him on cloud nine, it seemed like he was messing things up with Rayleigh more often than not. If he wasn’t almost getting her killed, or pissing her off, he was causing undue emotional stress.

Sometimes he wondered if she’d be better off without him…

But he was greedy. She was one of his closest friends. She’d been one of his first friends on this strange world, aside from the Seraphim Ioder and the merchant Joseph. Yet for some reason he seemed to crave spending time with her. He wanted to impress her, even if it meant going to extremes. Given everything they’d gone through, he wanted nothing more than to make her happy. Yet as they walked through the crowded streets filled with happy people, her arm around his, he couldn’t help but feel…conflicted. He’d been honest about having to lie about her being his wife in order to get her here. But because of that here he was, walking arm in arm with her, like they were a newlywed couple. The sun was high in the sky, bathing everything in its warm glow as the two made their way to the hotel. Everything was perfect, he was perfectly content with her being right by his side.

But a lie is a lie, and it would eventually catch up to him.

Shaking his head, the scholar looked up at the sky, using his free hand to shield his eyes. “Because of how huge that tower is, I have no earthly idea how far away we are…” he muttered shaking his head. “Are you hungry? We could stop to get some food and replace some of whatever you lost over the side of the boat…?”