Chapter 1: Acceptance to Shopping

Chapter 1:
Acceptance to Shopping

 

“HERB GATHERING? You chose quite a safe one.”

After the fight—or rather, the one-sided beatdown—at the bar, they had fled to avoid further complications. Loren didn’t necessarily expect them, but he had snatched a sheet from the quest board and promptly taken his leave.

The quest he had taken was to collect herbs from the forest near town. The forest didn’t harbor any particularly powerful monsters. The guild ranked the quest’s difficulty at the absolute lowest tier and would only pay two copper per stalk. Loren saw it as more of an errand than a quest, really, but as adventurers got themselves injured every day of the year, the guild could never get enough medicinal herbs. They kept this quest perpetually posted.

“If we won’t expect any real danger, I should be fine unarmed,” he said.

It was the most feasible quest for Loren given his current predicament, but the low reward did little for his motivation.

The table, chairs, and wall repairs altogether added up to four silver, which put his current debt at fourteen silver and ten copper.

“You’ll need seven hundred and five stalks to fully pay it off,” Lapis declared.

“Now you’re just trying to break my spirit. There probably aren’t even that many in the whole forest.”

The forest itself wasn’t particularly large either. Perhaps that was to be expected of a wood so meager it couldn’t support anything dangerous. It was only a one-stound walk from town too. A stound equaled a twelfth of a day, and while Loren didn’t know quite how it worked, the larger towns rang a bell at precisely every stound.

A stound later, Loren got straight to work, scouring the forest for medicinal herbs. Those very same herbs had saved him more times than he could count in mercenary work. He was well aware of what they looked like and where they grew. Their pointed leaves stood out, and once you’d seen one of them, it was near impossible to mistake them for any other sort of plant.

“How horribly dull,” Lapis said as she trailed behind. She offhandedly uprooted a stalk and held it up to eye level. She studied it a while before stuffing it into her own cloth bag.

“Why are you picking herbs too?” Loren asked.

“I have to earn my keep, don’t I? What are we going to do when I have no money left to lend you?”

He had wondered why she decided to do a quest with such poor returns when she had enough money to lend. Her answer, however, made him wearily hang his head. We’re working under the premise that you’re going to lend me more?

The thought had admittedly occurred to him before; he couldn’t think of any other reason she would work with him.

“More importantly, Mr. Loren, you’re missing quite a few as you go.”

“Ugh… I’m not good at this stuff.”

Loren recognized a number of herbs, and he was filling his bag, but no matter what he did, he overlooked a few here and there. Lapis merely collected the ones he failed to see in the areas he had already harvested, but since picking began, their bags had swelled at essentially the same rate. A testament to just how many Loren allowed to slip by.

“I could pay you back in a heartbeat if a war or two broke out,” he grumbled. While he said that, he found he wasn’t too eager to return to the mercenary life. He had been at it for a long time, to be sure, but it wasn’t as if he had chosen to reap lives for his daily bread. Consequently, while his company’s death pained him, he found himself wondering whether this was a good opportunity to wash his hands of it all.

“Even if there was a war, why, you have no equipment,” said Lapis. “Are you going to enlist as a normal soldier for the provisional gear?”

“Yeah, not on my life.”

The equipment provided to conscripted farmers and fresh recruits was, to be blunt, a travesty. This wasn’t a guarantee, but war chest funds were handed off a dozen times before anyone made a purchase, and during the process, a large portion of those funds inevitably disappeared to who-knew-where. But missing money didn’t change the number of hands in need of weaponry. Instead, the lack reflected in the quality of the equipment: shoddy spears that snapped at the first good thrust and crumbling leather armor that fell apart with normal wear.

The sorry truth of this situation never reached the ears of those determined young soldiers. Loren only knew about it from company members who had been in charge of accounting, and it was through them that he had come to understand why the soldiers he met on the battlefield were often so hopelessly frail.

It wasn’t long before they reached the opposite side of the forest from where they began. They had plucked a straight line through, and with that distance, Loren had filled about half his bag. Around twenty stalks, give or take. “Not nearly what I was hoping for,” he sighed.

Lapis’s bag, as expected, was just about as laden as his. “There’s not much we can do about that. It’s a perpetual quest, which means there’s always someone else out here doing it too.”

They still had a stound or so before sunset, but considering the return trip, it was about time to pack up. Loren didn’t have the slightest desire to spend the night outdoors without a weapon. If anything, he longed for the somewhat hard bed at the inn.

“Let’s head out,” he said.

“That would put us at a slight loss.”

Loren sent Lapis a frown, and she explained herself, looking ever unconcerned. “The inn that the adventurers’ guild recommends is thirty copper a night. Food can range all over the place, but it’s generally five to seven copper. Add on ale, and that’s two copper a glass. So, you see, this totals up to forty-five to fifty-three copper in daily living expenses.”

Loren worked it out again himself, but the number of herbs in his hand definitely didn’t add up to enough. The point was, if he didn’t budget better, doing jobs like this would only send him further and further down the hole into debt. Even if he did figure out his room and board tonight, he wouldn’t have nearly enough money to repay Lapis.

“If I may be so bold, I propose you start by borrowing enough money—from me—to get your equipment in order.”

“I’ll consider it. And wait, hold up, then how do the other coppers make a living? Don’t tell me they’re also—” Loren cut himself off.

“Indeed, they are drowning in debt.” Lapis tied her bag closed. “That’s why they jump at well-paying jobs far beyond their capabilities. Sure, they’re rolling in dough if they succeed, but failure means farewell to this cruel world. If you’re looking for a more reliable route, the most realistic would be to steadily raise your rank to iron and be picked up by a capable party.”

“Harsh…” Loren began to wonder if mercenaries were actually the lucky ones when it came to money. At least with the company he’d never had to worry about his next meal, and while scanty, he’d always had some pocket change. And if he left his equipment to the guy in charge of such things, it would generally be replaced or maintained by the time the next war came around. “I’m feeling sorry for the chief and the guys in accounting.”

“That’s life for you.”

However, Lapis’s somewhat enlightened words did not fill Loren’s sack. I guess I’ll raise my debt some more, get a weapon, and try something that pays better next time, Loren thought as he prepared to leave.

Suddenly, he felt a presence on his skin. He shoved the sack he had just tied up at Lapis.

She sniffed. “You want me to carry your bags?”

“Wrong. I want you to be quiet.” Loren clenched his empty hands, lowered his voice, and held Lapis back before she could complain any further. Realizing something unusual was afoot, she shut her mouth and meekly held his bag against her chest alongside her own.

“C’mon. There’s something there,” he said.

The faint scent of beasts mixed with that of the verdant forest. Loren picked up the direction from barely audible growls—then stepped off the path and plunged into the forest.

“If there’s something out there, shouldn’t we run away?” Lapis gasped.

“Point taken, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

It wasn’t long at all before this bad premonition proved itself accurate. They burst out into a small clearing, and in the center of it lay a body.

“Mr. Loren! There’s a girl on the ground.”

Indeed, in front of them lay a girl in a white dress whose blonde hair spilled out over the earth. Lapis’s eyes were focused on her, but Loren’s caught the source of the beastly scent he had earlier detected.

“Over there!” he called.

“They’re forest wolves!” Lapis identified the beasts.

These creatures called the forests their home and were not particularly large, but they moved and hunted as a pack, making them risky in terms of numbers. They weren’t so dangerous alone, but their threat level rose exponentially in a group, and they had killed many an adventurer who ventured into this forest unprepared.

“We’re getting her out!” Loren decided. “Any objections?”

“None, but what about your weapon?!”

“These are enough to play with dogs.” Loren brandished a clenched fist as he charged.

A few of the wolves saw his intent and they left their formation to intercept. The first wolf leapt forward off a tree, gaining speed and force with its pounce. Loren countered it with a fist to the face.

Its nose was crushed, its jaw cracked. It spun through the air in nigh comical fashion before colliding with a tree, where it yelped and perished. In the time it took for that to happen, Loren crushed the windpipe of another wolf in his grasp and threw it aside. As it writhed in pain, he stomped on its head. It twitched and then stilled.

Another wolf attempted to bite Loren’s leg and found its teeth couldn’t break through the thick leather of his armor; it was grabbed, hoisted up in this moment of confusion. Then it was swung into a tree. It died the instant its spine snapped.

Yet another wolf took that chance to slip past Loren and lunge at Lapis instead, but Loren grabbed it by the tail, swinging it before it could twist and bite him. In its dizzied stupor, Loren cleanly broke its neck.

It had all happened so fast and without pause. A restless air spread over the remaining forest wolves, who had so quickly lost four comrades.

“These things edible?” Loren asked.

“Eating their meat is ill-advised, but their pelts do fetch some money. However, Mr. Loren, do you know how to properly skin a beast? To clarify, I do not.”

“Don’t even have a knife, so I guess we just toss ’em.”

They had come to pick herbs and hadn’t made the preparations they would have needed to take four wolves back with them. It did feel like a waste, but there was little Loren could do about it. With his next step—the step of a foe the wolves knew they couldn’t hope to match—the ring of beasts broke and scampered off.

Loren didn’t have it in him to chase down the animals when he didn’t have a real bone to pick with them. He waited at the ready a while, in case they came back, but soon fell out of his stance and walked over to where the girl had collapsed.

She looked to be around ten years old, and she wasn’t dressed for the forest. Loren had considered this might be some sort of trap, but he couldn’t think of anyone who would go out of their way to use a girl like this to bait him. He looked around but didn’t see any sign of anything like that either.

“I’ll stand guard,” he said. “Can you have a look at her?”

“Yes, yes, I understand.”

This was a young girl they were dealing with, after all. It was far better in every way for Lapis to investigate her condition. She knelt down, took the girl’s pulse, and looked all over to see if anything was wrong. Loren, meanwhile, concentrated on their surroundings. The forest wolves had retreated for now, but they might well regroup to attack again, better prepared than before.

“This girl’s pretty lucky, isn’t she?” said Lapis. Dirt and dead leaves stuck fast to the child’s hair and face. Perhaps Lapis felt it pitiful to leave her like that, as she began gently brushing off her head and body.

“Lucky? When she was surrounded by wolves?”

“Well, I mean, we did find her before she was eaten. And with those numbers, the other wolves could have easily hurt her while you were dealing with the first four. I’d say she was incredibly lucky. Wouldn’t you?”

“I guess… There are plenty of unlucky people out there, so there’s got to be at least a few lucky ones.”

“So it all balances out in the end.” The girl remained unconscious as Lapis cradled her still body, holding her as she turned to Loren. “Incidentally, why did you look at me when you said unlucky?”

He hurriedly averted his eyes from her smile.

 

It was past time to leave regardless. They had no reason to loiter around a forest with an unknown but clearly young girl in tow.

Loren left the child to Lapis for the time being, though he continued scanning the area for any trace of who might be related to her being there. He couldn’t find a thing. He also couldn’t bring himself to simply leave the girl in the dirt and concluded they would have to bring her back to town.

“But something doesn’t sit right,” he muttered.

“Are you going to abandon her?”

“That sits even worse.”

Sure, the kid couldn’t be more than ten, but Loren thought it would be a bit much to ask Lapis to carry her all the way back. He had Lapis keep his bag of herbs and then threw the girl onto his back. Once he had a firm grip, he was surprised by her lightness.

“She’s pretty tiny, isn’t she?” he said. “Oh, but I don’t mean malnourished. Don’t misunderstand. Little on the chubby side, even. I reckon this little miss is from quite a well-to-do household.”

Lapis read the surprise on his face. As she walked beside him, she squeezed the unconscious girl’s leg. Despite having collapsed in the middle of the forest, she was barefoot. “She doesn’t have much musculature and there are no calluses on her soles or palms. Either she doesn’t walk around much or she is impeccably groomed.”

“More importantly, it’s not sane to walk around a forest without shoes.”

“You’re right. And normally, one would expect that to leave her soles in quite a sorry state.”

The path through the wood was somewhat maintained, but walking over it with bare flesh would inevitably cut and peel away at one’s soles. However, the girl’s skin was glossy and smooth, not a blemish in sight. This bothered Loren too, but what disconcerted him more was her dress. The girl wore white, the color most easily stained, yet there seemed to be no such stains on her clothing. All that together made it hard to believe she had walked through a forest.

“Well, we can figure it out when she wakes up,” said Lapis as they entered town.

“I’m more worried that we’ll be mistaken for kidnappers,” said Loren.

“I suppose we are two potential sociopaths, hauling around a poor little girl and all.”

“Could you please not include me in that count like it’s nothing?”

That said, Lapis suggested they take the girl to the guild. Loren was sure they would be stopped, given how suspicious they looked, but strangely enough, Kaffa’s gatekeepers didn’t even blink. Come to think of it, they hardly stopped anyone coming or going.

“It’s a different matter when someone is quite clearly a criminal, but they’re generally pretty lax,” said Lapis.

“Guess I wouldn’t know how to defend myself if they called me a kidnapper anyway.”

“Do you imagine there are many human traffickers who would so boldly commit misdeeds with a priest right beside them?”

“Priests are pretty amazing, I guess,” he sighed.

“The trust society places in us is second to none.” Lapis boldly stuck out her chest.

Where does she think that trust comes from? Loren thought. People trusted priests because they served gods. The priest herself had done nothing to earn it.

Once they arrived at the guild, Loren was skewered with dozens of searching eyes—perhaps for dragging two women along. However, he brushed them off and tilted his head, searching for another problem. What if more adventurers were looking to pick a fight like the ones from earlier?

Before he’d finished the thought, Lapis explained the situation to a receptionist at the front desk, who she brought over to Loren and the girl.

“You secured someone in need of rescue in the forest,” said the receptionist. “Is that correct?”

“Yeah, that’s right. See for yourself.”

Loren turned his back to show the girl dangling from it. The receptionist peered at the girl’s resting face and then seemed to hit on something. She shouted a few orders to the staff members behind the desk, and soon, two of them ran out with a stretcher.

“We will take charge of her,” said the woman. “Is that all right with you?”

“All yours. Can’t just leave her hanging there forever.” Loren slowly lowered the girl from his back and lay her on the stretcher. Once she had settled in place, the two staff members lifted the stretcher in unison, though the moment they lifted her up, they both seemed rather surprised.

They’re shocked by her weight too, thought Loren.

That done, the receptionist beckoned him to the counter with her hand.

“I’ll just come out and say it—we didn’t abduct her,” he said.

“I’m smart enough to know that an abductor wouldn’t entrust their abductee to the guild,” she teased. “There’s something else I need to speak with you about.”

“By you, you mean the both of us?”

“Yes, if I may ask your priest friend to come along too.”

Lapis nodded when he looked at her. No issue there. The two of them were brought into a meeting room behind the front desk.

The receptionist started speaking as soon as she took a seat. “I’ll cut to the chase. For the time being, we would like to set a restriction on your movements.”

This was so sudden that Loren didn’t know what was going on. His confusion forced Lapis to take the reins. “What do you mean by that?” she asked. “Have we caused some sort of problem?”

“No, not at the moment. The guild will be looking into the girl you brought in. We don’t want you going too far until we have a result.”

“You mean to say there’s something strange about her?” asked Lapis.

“I cannot offer any further information on the matter at present.”

Isn’t this a tad overbearing? thought Loren. But he was under the impression that all managerial organizations were generally overbearing, and it didn’t particularly concern him. It’s almost endearing when you put it up against the stupid whims of our company’s top brass.

That said, he had a rather pertinent question. “So how long’s it gonna go on for, and what aren’t we allowed to do?”

“As to specific terms…” The receptionist considered this. “We will likely know something concrete in a few days at most. As for the restrictions, we ask that you refrain from leaving town. We would be much obliged if you remained on standby at the inn we designate.”

“Sounds like serious business.”

The receptionist was pretty blasé about it, but in essence, they were being placed under house arrest. Although Loren supposed he would have denied her outright if she’d framed it as a demand. No matter what power the adventurers’ guild had over registered adventurers, he wasn’t going to listen to someone who didn’t listen themselves.

That said, a bit of irritation had seeped into his voice, and while the receptionist seemed taken aback for a moment, she didn’t back down. She gritted her teeth and returned Loren’s stare, going on with an immaculately steady tone. “We will get you a room at the Painted Pavilion on Main Street.”

“Not ringing any bells.”

Loren didn’t know Kaffa. To be fair, he hadn’t known just about every town he’d stopped by in his mercenary work. That said, he knew even less about Kaffa than other towns, as he’d had no time to look into it before crashing there.

“The Painted Pavilion is in the running for the best inn in town. Luxurious, and expensive enough to match,” said Lapis.

“Of course, we will take care of food and lodging,” said the receptionist. “We will even provide miscellaneous expenses to a degree—just say you’re with the guild, and we’ll cover it on our side.”

“Oh, that’s more than I could ask for,” Lapis enthused.

“Is that seriously all it takes to hook an adventurer?”

Lapis widened her eyes in a rather contrived display of surprise. “Why, whatever do you mean?”

Loren scoffed, “I’m saying they’re treating us too well. Any merc worth his salt knows not to take a job where the first thing the client does is talk up the massive reward.”

The receptionist might have kept him on the line if she’d offered to cover the costs of a normal inn. But how could he not be suspicious when the guild suddenly ushered them toward the best place in town along with promises of food and pocket change?

“Isn’t pretending not to notice and playing along only the human thing to do?” Lapis asked.

“I don’t wanna hear that from you.”

“I take it you’re not going to accept these terms,” said the receptionist.

Loren held up a hand to stop Lapis, whose sullen face indicated considerable dissatisfaction. Taking care to keep his voice calm, Loren turned back to the receptionist. He couldn’t go further without knowing: “What’s wrong with the girl?”

“That is precisely what we’re looking into.”

While Loren understood he had phrased that poorly, he also understood that he wasn’t going to get a clear answer. He considered loyalty to one’s work a virtue, but he couldn’t stand being on the receiving end of it.

“You understand that we won’t be satisfied with that answer, don’t you?” asked Lapis.

The receptionist turned away. “That’s…”

“Please, at least tell us what’s most important. What are the chances that this matter turns sour for us?”

The receptionist couldn’t escape Lapis’s intent gaze. Her eyes darted, and she was silent for a while. Lapis didn’t press her further, simply waiting for her next words. Ultimately, the receptionist realized that at this rate, they wouldn’t accept the guild’s proposal. She exhaled a resigned breath, faint but long. Then she turned to Lapis, then to Loren, and spoke again. “I would say the chances are incredibly low. Truth be told, quite a few people on our staff believe they recognized the girl, but we’ll have to either wait until she wakes up or wait a few days until we have confirmation before we know for sure.”

Lapis nodded. “Mr. Loren, she probably means the girl came from somewhere pretty far from Kaffa, and her status is relatively high.”

The receptionist neither confirmed nor denied this. She instead wore a firmly business-like smile, an uncanny expression that proved Lapis was right on the money.

“I see. So in short, until the girl’s identity is confirmed and you can guarantee we had nothing to do with the fact that she was in the middle of the woods, the guild wants to keep us where they can see us,” Lapis concluded.

At a loss for words, the receptionist’s plastered smile convulsed at her cheeks and temple. Loren worried this undue stress would have an adverse effect on the woman, and as she awkwardly turned that smile toward him, he acquiesced. “You’ll take care of the inn and the money, right?”

“I’ll arrange for it at once. The Painted Pavilion… Would a double room work?” The look on the receptionist’s face made it seem like this was supposed to be some form of petty retribution.

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Lapis said.

“Oi, priest. Have some decency. Two singles. Otherwise, this talk never happened. Got it?” Loren said with a stern glint in his eyes. This prompted a sigh from both Lapis and the receptionist, if for different reasons.

 

Loren should have expected no less from an inn competing for the top spot in town. It felt a bit unsettling to eat on someone else’s bill, but Lapis didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. She showed no reservations about enjoying these luxuries to the fullest.

“You’ve got some nerve, you know that?” he snorted.

“Have fun when you have the chance. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on life.”

Why did I know she would say that? Loren thought.

But these blessed times didn’t last long. On their second day of extravagance, the adventurers’ guild sent a notice that the girl they’d rescued had regained consciousness. The guild wanted them at the guildhall, and Loren had to practically drag Lapis. She had laid down her roots at the inn, feeling completely at home.

Once they reached the usual bar, the same receptionist led them into the back.

“I apologize for any trouble we caused you. We have finished our investigation,” she said once they had taken their seats. Her lips were pressed thin, and she was clearly on guard. She bristled with the intent to say no more than necessary.

I didn’t think I bullied her that hard, thought Loren as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

The receptionist briskly went on, paying him barely any heed. She seemed to have rehearsed this beforehand. “We have concluded that the two of you had no involvement with the matter, so we are lifting any and all restrictions. We thank you for your cooperation. Please carry on as you were.”

That was the end of the conversation. At least, the receptionist made sure it sounded that way. A letdown to Loren but seemingly not to Lapis. She not only ignored the receptionist’s implicit suggestion that they get along now and leave, she dug in her heels. “Is that really all there is?” she asked. “You’re not going to explain the details of what you found?”

“Is that necessary?”

“It certainly is. How could you possibly think it wasn’t?” Lapis tilted her head with deep-seated curiosity.

The receptionist’s expression turned tight; she fell silent as she looked into that face. Loren wasn’t one to stick his head into trouble, but he’d promised he’d tag along with Lapis and couldn’t leave while she refused to.

“That information is restricted to select adventurers higher than iron rank,” said the receptionist.

Restricted information meant the girl had a background that demanded discretion. Loren was familiar with the practice. Often, the higher-ups in his company knew all manner of tidbits that the grunts weren’t allowed to. The other members were either kept in the dark or compelled to pretend they were. His experience led him to go along with it now.

Tragically, it was not in Lapis’s nature to back off with so much unsaid. “But we’re the ones who brought her here, aren’t we?” she asked. “I don’t know the circumstances, but it seems to me that it would be good sense to explain something.”

A vibrant smile clashed with an irritated glare. Loren looked to the ceiling, imagining sparks flying. The receptionist had no reason to divulge the details to any adventurer below iron rank, but this mattered not one whit to Lapis, who despised being kept out of the loop, especially when she knew there was a secret afoot. No matter how long they kept at it, Loren expected they would never reach common ground. This would keep going until one side threw in the towel.

So, Loren tapped Lapis on the shoulder, turning her attention toward him.

“Mr. Loren?”

“Sorry about that, missy,” he said to the receptionist. “My partner here’s a priest to that god of knowledge. Try hiding things from her, and she’s like a dog with a bone.”

“I think I’ve…heard about such priests before.” The receptionist nodded. “I see. But I’m afraid this is a decision on the part of the guild.”

“Yeah, I know. You can’t speak, and I’m not gonna force you.”

“Wait, Mr. Loren?!” Lapis cried out at this treachery.

Loren placed a hand on her head and patted it so strongly that her head and shoulders moved with each stroke. “Just one other thing,” he said casually. “Can you tell us if someone’s already on the case? Do the guys who have to know, know?”

“Yes.” As this information didn’t directly pertain to what the receptionist wasn’t allowed to say, she answered easily enough. “We have already finished our selection process and spread the information to a chosen few.”

Loren removed his hand from Lapis’s head. She looked a bit dizzy, but he grabbed her by the arm and stood her up from her chair. “Got it. We’ll get going if you don’t need us for anything else. And we’ll check out of the Painted Pavilion by end of day.”

“I would be very grateful if you would. Thank you for your cooperation, Loren.”

“I can’t say you treated me poorly. Don’t worry about it.”

With a wave of his free hand, Loren pulled Lapis along and took his leave.

Lapis let herself be dragged a while before addressing him in hushed tones. “You have an idea, I take it.”

“Pretty much. Prod her all you want, but she’s got a duty of confidentiality, right? It would be a bigger issue if our prodding was enough to make her talk.”

Had the guild hired someone who cracked under such light pressure, Loren wouldn’t be able to trust them as an institution. From that point of view, while the receptionist’s refusal to leak information did sour Lapis’s mood, it had raised her credibility in Loren’s eyes.

“You might have a point, but…”

“It’s a pain to get someone talking about things they were told not to,” Loren said. “In that case, just find an easier target.”

“Do you have any leads?” Lapis asked, intrigued.

“I do. Just stick around a bit.”

Lapis didn’t know who Loren had in mind, but if it meant she would learn what she had been barred from knowing, she had no further reason to fixate on the receptionist. She pulled her arm free of his hand and clung to his arm.

“Oi, look here…” he said.

“I don’t know where we’re going, so you really must escort me, Mr. Loren. Now hurry along, chop-chop.”

There would be no shooing her away now. His arm thus firmly grasped, Loren began to arbitrarily hit up adventurers drinking at the adjoined guild bar. He got a few matching accounts and went out into the town, passing through a few establishments before he found himself standing in front of a far seedier old bar in a corner of town.

It was evening by then; the sun had fallen and darkness was setting in. The dingy tavern had lit a few candles to alleviate the gloom, but far too few of them for the size of the room, leaving a large part of the main floor dim and obscure.

Loren spotted his mark at a corner table, and he headed straight for them. “Long time no—eh, a few days ain’t too long. This seat open?” he nonchalantly asked.

This prompted the man to lift his face from his cheese slices and frothy drink. He looked up with just a hint of surprise. “You two? How’d you find me?”

“You’re not that hard to track.”

“It took around thirty copper for all the tips, but I deemed them a necessary expense,” said Lapis. “It’s been a—rather short time, Mr. Chuck.”

Lapis lowered her head before following Loren’s lead, taking a seat across from Chuck the thief: a silver-rank adventurer they’d met on their previous job.

The waiter swooped in to take their order. Loren tried to turn her down, but Chuck added two ales before he could.

“You saved my skin back there,” said Chuck. “A drink’s the least I could do.”

“I don’t think I did that much,” Loren muttered. “Ended up ruining the quest by the end of it…”

“Don’t be daft,” Chuck insisted. “Sure, the earnings took a dip, but none of us could’ve done anything about that. We were lucky to get out alive, plain and simple. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t whine about it, but that’s gone and done with. Chin up.”

“Still, sorry.”

“I’m telling you we’re good, and that’s all I’ve got to say on my end. Anyway, you didn’t track me down for something so uptight, did you?”

The waitress placed two mugs of ale on the table. For a moment Loren thought over how to bring this up. As he glanced at Lapis, Chuck pushed the fresh cups toward them.

“First, a toast,” he said decisively. “We can talk after that.”

Loren was reluctant to decline what was offered to him. He picked up the mug and poured the frothy liquid down his throat. Beside him, Lapis sheepishly sipped at hers, holding the mug in two hands.

“So what brings you two to this neck of the woods?” Chuck asked, pushing the plate of cheese toward them as well.

“Truth is, we picked up a little girl in the woods the other day.”

“Ah? That was you guys? Funny how things work… Right, come to think of it, that quest was restricted to iron and up. And only the guild’s picks were given the details.”

“My partner here is dying to know what the deal is, and the knowing’s all we need.” Loren glanced at Lapis, who had moved from the ale to the cheese.

“All right, I get where you’re comin’ from,” muttered Chuck as he slouched back in his seat. “But I’m a silver, you know? Do I look like I’m gonna leak information just like that?”

“Nah. But you were just about the only one who looked like you’d sell that info if there was enough to gain from it.”

The thief folded his arms, peering fixedly at Loren’s face a short while. But Loren had little left to say on his part. He fully intended to silently drink the time away until Chuck next opened his mouth.

“I’ll say it up front. Any adventurer who leaks his job is third-rate,” said Chuck. “They don’t get too far, and they don’t get to silver.”

Obviously, thought Loren. Such an adventurer couldn’t possibly earn trust. And it was hard to imagine an untrustworthy worker could be given enough work to rise through the ranks. He knew all that, but they were here anyway with the faint hope that Lapis’s money might loosen Chuck’s lips. The thief had a stronger sense of duty than he’d anticipated.

Indeed, Loren had already given up when Chuck leaned in over the table and brought his face close. “But you know,” he whispered, “I do owe you for saving Nym. I might just sing a few bars if you promise you never heard it from me.”

“We won’t cause you any trouble. That’s a promise.”

“The same goes for me, Mr. Chuck.”

Chuck examined their faces and confirmed their intentions. Then he dropped his voice even lower. “It’s up to you to decide whether it’s all true or not. I’m just gonna say what I know,” he prefaced. “First up, that girl you brought in’s a certain Scena Lombardia of Hansa.”

Loren failed to comprehend a single word of this. He looked to Lapis, who whispered back, “The city-state Hansa is a small country centered around the city of Hansa, which is a three-day wagon ride south of Kaffa. I do not know who ‘Scena’ is, but their head of state is from House Lombardia.”

“You’re pretty knowledgeable.”

“Hee hee… Praise me more, why don’t you?” she said, preening.

Leaving Lapis to her fantasies, Loren urged Chuck further.

It seemed Chuck had come to a similar decision, keeping Lapis out of his field of vision and focusing only on Loren as he went on. “Scena’s the chancellor’s only daughter. Now, that doesn’t make her particularly important, but I’d say she’s just around that sweet spot where you probably shouldn’t treat her poorly.”

If this Scena was the daughter of someone who led a nation—small as it was—the adventurers’ guild had to be careful with how they handled her. But, when all was said and done, there was little to be gained from the good graces of a small nation three days away. The whole story left Loren with a sense of something fishy afoot.

“I don’t see why that means we had to be locked down for bringing her in,” he said.

“That’s an easy one. They didn’t want you to go out blabbing. Think about it like this. A little miss from a well-to-do house was thrown into the forest by her lonesome. If they left you to your own devices, you’d be swarmed by rumormongers who’d take the story in all sorts of directions.”

The niceties of such matters were lost on Loren, but he could nod and say that was probably how things worked. The way he saw it, people with status like kings and nobles too often took actions far beyond his comprehension. If he got bogged down trying to understand every single one of them, he’d never get anywhere at all. Thus, to him, it was wiser to simply not think about it.

“Normally, there’s a bit of a reward when you help someone out too, yeah?” said Chuck. “The reason you two didn’t get jack is, well, first off, because no one asked you to do it. Second is because we don’t know if that girl’s really Scena yet.”

“You mean to say they couldn’t confirm her identity over the course of two days?” Lapis sounded somewhat amazed.

Chuck shrugged. “Don’t ask me. Guild investigation says she at least looks the part, but the messengers they sent to Hansa haven’t come back—aren’t coming, more like.”

Now that’s strange. Loren tilted his head. They had brought the girl in two days prior, and even if the guild immediately dispatched messengers, they would barely be halfway to Hansa by now. How could the messengers have returned yet?

Lapis answered that one. “This matter isn’t limited to the guild. The messengers of any organization that grows beyond a certain scale are fitted with enchanted items that periodically send signals. I presume those signals disappeared.”

“The guild’s thinkin’ this through. Our relationship with Hansa ain’t that important, but we wouldn’t want to make ’em angry either. That said, they called out to a few higher-ranking adventurers and arranged for a few parties to escort the girl back home. A quest to return her to Hansa, in short. Below a silver’s pay grade, mind you,” Chuck added around a mouthful of ale.

While the whole affair centered on someone of somewhat high stature, Hansa’s relationship with the adventurers’ guild was dicey at best. This meant that not only was the quest payment quite low, it would be an annoying job that required keeping the girl being escorted in a good mood. Even if success meant getting the favor of Hansa, that apparently wasn’t too valuable once one had risen to silver rank.

“A bit of a shame,” said Loren. “Didn’t really sound too secret after all.”

“Pretty much. But it’s still official business. I wouldn’t spread the word to just anyone. The reason the guild didn’t want to tell you is because there’s no place for coppers in this one.”

“What would we have to do if we wanted to poke our heads in?” Lapis asked.

This sudden proclamation made Loren and Chuck exchange a glance. Chuck looked tired and Loren a tad apologetic, having had a hunch that Lapis would do this.

“What, you guys got some skin in this?” Chuck asked.

“No. You know, she’s just curious.”

“Precisely,” said Lapis. “We have here a noble girl who should have been living without a care in a country three days away. Now, what was she doing in the middle of a forest alone? I want to know. In fact, I want to know so badly I don’t know what to do with myself.”

Lapis declared this forcefully, though Loren had to wonder what part of the story had enticed her so. That said, there was one thing he knew for certain.

“They’re not recruiting for coppers,” he said.

“Then perhaps we can get in through some loophole,” she countered.

“A loophole? How do you expect to—”

“Hey, I know one, for what it’s worth,” Chuck said.

“Seriously?” Loren retorted, feeling quite powerless.

“There’s a standard exception. If you’ve got the recommendation of a silver or higher, a copper can be treated the same as an iron in some quests.”

“Even if we are the right rank, doesn’t change that they’re not offering us the job.”

“Yeah, but we got the offer,” said Chuck. There was just a bit of pride in those words. Loren narrowed his eyes, but Chuck seemed to have trouble pinning down what that look meant. “And by we, I mean Ritz. With Ritz’s permission and our recommendations, we could push this one to you guys.”

“That sounds wonderful!” said Lapis. “Please, if you would—”

Loren clapped a hand over Lapis’s mouth before she could latch on. Her glare made clear her will to rebel, but he shut her down with that very same look.

Sure, Chuck had made recommendations sound like the easiest thing in the world, but Loren knew it couldn’t be so simple. If an endorsed individual failed, it lowered the reputation of the endorser as well.

“I don’t see a problem,” Chuck insisted. “Ask Ritz, and I’m sure he’ll say the same.”

“Still.”

“Look, I’m not putting any pressure on you. Take it or leave it. Just saying the offer’s open. It’s only…” Chuck cut himself off, scanning every inch of Loren’s body. When Loren stared at him blankly, he spoke apologetically. “Yeah, there’s no two ways about it. You’d need a proper weapon first.”

Of course, Chuck understood Loren’s situation, as he’d been there when Loren lost his blade. And while he had confidence in Loren’s sword skills, he would still hesitate to give a recommendation when the man had no sword.

Once he inferred that much, Loren realized that he could quite naturally weasel his way out of all of this trouble if he just failed to produce a weapon. He opened his mouth, fully intending to bring up his lack of funds to replace it, only to stumble over his words as he took in Lapis’s blank, half-lidded glare from the neighboring seat.

“Err, no… I mean, well.”

Silence.

“You get it, don’t you, Lapis? You know the spot I’m in.”

Silence.

“Sorry, Chuck, I’ll have my gear in order tomorrow. Could you tell ’im that?”

Ultimately, Loren lost to Lapis’s silent pressure.

Chuck winced. “Have some backbone, man. She’s got you under her thumb.”

“Shut it. I don’t need you reminding me.”

“Well, knowing you, you’ll probably have it taken care of in a day. I’ll push things forward. Don’t worry, there ain’t a single silver up for the job. They’ll gladly take anyone we recommend.”

“Yeah, please do. On that note, Lapis.”

“Yes?” Now that everything had gone her way, Lapis’s intimidating aura had vanished.

Loren forced out the words he least wanted to say. “Lend me some money.”

Increasing debt never felt good, but it had to be done. If he wasn’t properly equipped, he would only be able to take on jobs involving his bare fists. If I’m gonna borrow, he concluded, I’d better do it while I still have the chance.

“Equipment?” she asked. “Are you going to buy a sword?”

“Wouldn’t want to bother Chuck and his party otherwise.”

“Hmm…” Something seemed to occur to her at that moment, and she asked, “Mr. Chuck, around when will we have to depart for that quest?”

“I don’t know the details. Wasn’t set in stone yet, last I checked, seeing as they have to take that Scena girl’s condition into account and all. But three days from now at earliest.”

After hearing that, Lapis counted something on her fingers. Soon, she reached her conclusion and turned to Loren. “I’m sorry, Mr. Loren. I have no issue with lending you money, but would it be possible to wait a day?”

“Well, sure… I’m the one borrowing. I’ll wait if you tell me to.”

“You’ll need a large sword like your previous one, won’t you? In that case, I feel my current funds will not be adequate. I’ll have to liquidate some of my assets.”

Loren already knew he wouldn’t be able to get anything like what he had before, and he was somewhat miserable about it. It was hard to think such a massive item would be regularly stocked no matter where he went. If possible, he wanted to find something as close to his lost blade as he could, but even that would be difficult, and he expected some compromises were in order. He nodded, nevertheless.

“I’ll have to get right on it. Pardon me, but I really must be off.” Lapis bowed, slowly and smoothly, before leaving the store in a haste.

Loren saw her off and considered following, but Chuck called him back before he had left his seat. “No need to hurry, not like you got anything better to do, right? How about you stick around?”

“Well, why not.”

He could try plotting out what equipment to buy, but that wouldn’t get far when he didn’t know how much Lapis would lend. In that case, he had some time to burn. He brought his half-empty mug to his mouth and then nearly spat it all out with Chuck’s next words.

“We’ve both got it tough. Falling in love with weirdos.”

“Where did you get that from?”

This had come far too suddenly; Loren inadvertently failed to put any emotion into his response. Chuck, on the other hand, nodded again and again as if he had seen through everything.

“I get it, I get it. I get it, I tell ya. Can’t say I’m any better off. That Nym, she’s always dragging me left and right, but I guess they meant it when they said love is blind.”

Loren spent the time he took to wipe away his spit take deep in thought. He had already seen hints of that relationship while working closely with Chuck and Nym, but it felt strangely awkward to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

“But, you know. Sure, I was her sofa for a minute, but I’ve been thinking. Being sat on by that scrawny arse weren’t too bad either.”

“You’d be a pincushion if she heard that.”

When it came to this sort of talk, there was no telling who might be listening. Loren’s warning came at least ten percent out of genuine concern, but this consideration was drowned out by the ale in Chuck’s hands.

“That sour look is part of Nym’s charm, you get me?”

“Goddamn drunk… What’s bragging to me gonna do for you?”

Chuck hugged himself now, squirming and twisting in drunken fervor. Loren nearly forgot that this was a man to whom he’d soon be indebted. He drove Chuck’s lovelorn moaning from his mind and ordered another drink from the passing waiter. If he was going to have to listen, he was damn well going to do it drunk.

 

The next morning, Loren woke up in a corner of the bar, shaking his head to drive away the drowse of a hangover. A considerable number of empty mugs rolled around the table, and across from him slumped Chuck. The thief had finally fallen into complete silence, asleep, his cheek nuzzled against the table.

What exactly happened after that? Loren wondered. But this brief thought brought back Chuck’s onslaught of meandering, besotted tales, and he held his head.

A fearsome man was Chuck. He had managed to continue moaning until both he and Loren were completely smashed. At first, Loren had thought it wouldn’t be too bad to listen for a story or two in exchange for a cup, but the night grew long, the stories longer, and the whole experience quite painful. Eventually, the beer mugs had formed a tower, and he had abruptly stopped feeling anything anymore.

That was as far as Loren remembered. He couldn’t recall whether he or Chuck had been the first to tap out. Before he realized it, he had been out cold against the back of the chair.

“Don’t tell me you were here all night?”

Loren turned his sleepy eyes to a voice at the entrance. Lapis stepped in with the morning light. She wore the same clothes as she had when they parted. Upon walking over, she tapped Chuck on the shoulder to make sure he was out, and having lost interest in him, moved on to Loren.

“Yeah… Well, pretty much,” Loren confessed.

“When I left yesterday, I did belatedly realize that we forgot to book a new inn.”

“You’re right. And we were supposed to check out of that place the guild got for us.”

“I already took care of the paperwork and the heavy lifting. You hardly own anything, Mr. Loren, so it was over quickly enough.”

Lapis said it so casually, and it took a bit of time for Loren’s addled brain to understand. Once he swallowed the essence of her meaning, he glared. “How did you get in my room?”

“I said we were traveling companions. They just let me in.”

Is that really all it takes? he wondered. But it was, after all, an inn the guild had introduced them to. And surely, on occasion, adventuring guests couldn’t return to collect their belongings, so it would be inconvenient if they made the process too complicated.

“I already booked a new inn, so no need to worry about that,” said Lapis.

“Sorry for the trouble.”

“I procured some money as well. Shall we go shopping? That’s what I’d like to say, at least, but…how are we going to pay for this?”

Lapis gestured to the sizable number of mugs piled high on the table. It had taken an equally hefty number of snacks to accompany all that alcohol, and it wasn’t difficult to see that the total cost had reached an exorbitant sum.

Loren had been under the impression that Chuck would pay for it. However, if the man in question was genuinely smashed, Loren couldn’t just throw him to the wind and leave. So there he stood, wondering what to do, when a savior arrived.

“There you are, Chuck.”

A single woman entered, as Lapis had before her, her silhouette highlighted by the morning sun. Both Loren and Lapis recognized her slender figure. As they hesitated over whether to warn Chuck, the individual suddenly kicked him in the back.

This made quite a racket. Surely that should be enough to wake him, both Loren and Lapis thought. But Chuck failed to react in the slightest. He continued to sleep on.

“Good day, Ms. Nym. It’s been too long,” said Lapis.

“Far too long. Though I feel it’s barely been any time at all.”

“Are you here for Mr. Chuck?”

“Yes. I am here for the good-for-nothing.”

“Ah, err.” Loren scratched the back of his head. “Don’t get the wrong idea, some of those mugs were mine.”

In the first place, he had been the one to come to the bar to hear Chuck out. Of course, Chuck had already been drinking before that, and he had continued drinking for reasons that had nothing to do with Loren.

Nym shut Loren up with a fixed stare. “You’re a good kid, Loren.” To Lapis, she said, “You should learn from him.”

“Are you saying I’m a bad kid, then?” asked Lapis.

“You decide. Don’t worry about this one. I’ll tell Ritz he was trying to set a good example for his junior. The bill is on me.”

Nym stuck up her thumb. It was difficult to read her expression—in fact, it was nigh impossible to tell what was going through her head. Loren didn’t know if it was all right to simply leave, but as he stood motionless, Nym pushed him on the back to drive him out.

“You think we should apologize later?”

“I think we’ll be just fine. More importantly, Mr. Loren, do I really come off that badly?”

“Don’t ask me, please…”

For some reason, Lapis seemed bothered with this assessment. Not that it mattered to Loren, who set off for the town’s shopping district as previously arranged.

Sure, the area could be described as a shopping district, but it didn’t carry any of the townsfolks’ daily necessities. It specialized in merchandise for adventurers, and one such district could be found in any decently sized settlement. Lapis had already done her research and had picked out a few promising shops in advance. Loren entered the first under her guidance.

“In the end, it all comes down to weapons and armor. An adventurer wouldn’t be caught dead without them,” she said, directing him to just such wares.

Quite a spectacle awaited. The walls of the first shop were jam-packed with various weapons, while the shelves were similarly crammed with armors of differing sizes and materials.

At first, Loren tried gesturing at the leather armor he already wore, but Lapis shook her head. “The way you fight puts you on the receiving end of quite a few attacks. You should consider something sturdier.”

Really? He had a hard time picturing himself in full plate. Not that he’d ever worn it before, but he felt it would get in the way of his movements and prevent him from fighting properly.

That said, reinforced leather armor was a bit of a puzzler too, being an incredible pain to maintain. The mercenary company had mainly supplied him with armor that was simple to look after and easy to replace.

“This is what I would recommend. I think it would suit you perfectly, Mr. Loren.”

What Lapis held up to his eye level wasn’t armor at all. It was, instead, a coat with long sleeves. Loren furrowed his brow, not knowing what to make of it.

Lapis was all too eager to explain. “It may look like any other coat, but lo and behold: this one is enchanted. The cloth is woven from layer upon layer of black spider silk. It’s an incredible bargain—a mere five gold for the piece.”

“Well, you’ve started from an outrageous baseline.”

“A coat like this, imbued with both Protect and Autorecovery, would usually go for ten times that. You’ll raise your defense to a new level just by wearing it over your leather. We simply must buy it.”

“Ten times—wait, do the store people know about this?”

If Lapis was to be believed, this discrepancy would put the store deeply in the red. Forty-five gold was a mind-numbing amount to Loren, and he was assailed by intense guilt at the mere thought of passing the loss on to a hapless shop.

Lapis dexterously rolled the coat up into a tidy square and shoved it at him. “It’s the store’s fault for not noticing. I fail to see the problem.”

“Not helping.”

Loren glanced at the white-haired old man behind the counter. The man, presumably the shopkeeper, stared straight back at him, and while their conversation hadn’t been notably loud, he couldn’t shake the feeling they had been overheard.

“Is the cat out of the bag yet?” he whispered.

“We’re fine, totally fine. Even if he heard us, we need only buy it before he has the chance to fix the price. See, it even has a tag.”

There was, indeed, a tag that valued the coat at five gold. The price tag looked strangely new, and Loren had to ask himself whether this was really all right. However, Lapis paid him no heed and turned on her heel to set off searching for the next item she had in mind.

“What’s this?” she said, looking the wall up and down. “How peculiar. There was one I had my eye on, but…” She called out to the shopkeeper. “Good sir, do you know where it went? Don’t tell me someone else bought it.”

“Who the hell would buy something like that? It was too idiotically large to keep in the shop, so I put it in the back.”

“I’m surprised you managed to move it.”

“That’s my line. I mean, lass, how in the name of any god did you—ahem. It took a few people to get it there.”

“Is that so? Then could you get it out?”

“Wait here. It’s going to take a while.”

With that, the shopkeeper and Lapis disappeared into the back. Loren was abandoned, holding the coat and feeling rather left out. He decided to have a look around until the two of them returned.

The store wasn’t that large, but it boasted a surprising variety of wares. There was never a dull moment for his eyes. For now, he hadn’t a single coin in his wallet and he was buying what he needed through debt, but once he had some spending money, this would be a good place to search for a sidearm. He told himself he was better off remembering the shop’s location when his eyes suddenly stopped on a shelf in the corner. He zeroed in on a single sword leaned against it.

A longsword beside a black, ornamented scabbard, its hilt similarly wrapped in black leather and adorned here and there with gold and silver. In the dimness of the store, its straight blade looked as if it had been slathered in liquid light.

Loren didn’t have much experience wielding normal longswords, but the edge of this one so enticed him that he knew he had to hold it once. As his hand reached for it, another hand came in from the side and stole the sword from right under his nose.

“I’ve already got my eyes on this one. It’s not a piece a muscle-head like you could master.”

Loren was more surprised than anything at this sudden insult, but he made sure it didn’t reach his face as he turned. Beside him stood a lone boy.

The boy looked at least a little younger than Loren. His hair was a blazing red, while his brown eyes gleamed with determination. Though he wore the clothing of a commoner, a black, iron tag dangled from his neck. “Not to mention it’s beyond what a copper could afford,” the kid said. “Know your place.”

Do I really have to put up with this kind of lip from some kid? Loren wondered, but he maintained his silence. He got the feeling that replying would just make this even more of a pain. He had just been a little curious, and it wasn’t as if he yearned for the blade in any real way.

Taking Loren’s silence to mean he’d won the argument, the boy scoffed—mockingly, like a child—and triumphantly made off to the counter to pay for his prize. He arrived just as the shopkeeper emerged. Loren watched out of the corner of his eye as the boy paid, because Lapis had marched boldly up to him with a sizable bundle in her hands.

“Did something happen while I was gone?” she asked.

“Nothing noteworthy.”

“Oh? Was that longsword sold? That one was, well, it was decent. But I guarantee it’s nothing compared to the first-class piece I prepa—that I discovered by complete chance.”

“Can’t you even get your story straight? Well, I get the feeling I’m profiting here, so I’m not prodding too deep.”

“Prodding too deep? How uncouth of you, Mr. Loren.” She chuckled—in a rather vulgar way, at that.

Loren lowered a light knuckle on her head before taking the parcel and unraveling it.

“Now this is…” It took only one look at the piece to summon his longing sigh.