A few hours later. For Yerive, Ganaph, Parton, and Nocia this should have been one of the happiest days of their lives. All of them awakened their core, setting them up for future success. When they returned home, their parents were waiting for them anxiously.

After confirming that they awakened a core, their families prepared for a huge celebration. But the young adults weren’t in the mood. Not wanting to hurt their parents, they shortly explained what happened before gathering at the Tonam’s Inn not far from Tepo’s home.

Listlessly sitting in some corner, they ignored the light music playing here, as they tried to come up with ideas.

“There has to be something we can do!”, complained Yerive as the others stayed silent.

“We need to find help.”

“Let’s hire someone to break him out of jail!”, suggested Ganaph.

“If it was this easy there would be no criminals in jail.”, spoke Nocia.

Yerive gritted his teeth.

“Tepo is NOT a criminal. If he said he awakened, I believe him.”

“The situation is strange but not unheard of.”

Everyone eyed Nocia. The white-haired young woman always seemed to have a broader world view then them, allowing her to stay calm and collected.

“So what do you think has happened?”, asked Ganaph.

Nocia sighed lightly as her eyes roamed the familiar room.

“I can’t say for sure. The missionary might have made a mistake or something else unforeseen has happened. Tepo should have accepted the offer to go to their headquarters, but he seemingly distrusts the Church.”

The others felt helpless. They also didn’t understand why Tepo was so incensed. Now he was in jail, and no one knew for how long.

Just as Yerive wanted to curse, someone placed a chair next to their table. The storyteller Grandpa Radac sat down. His wrinkled face smiled kindly as he eyed the four friends.

“Kids, what are you doing here? Wasn’t the ceremony today? Why aren’t you with your families?”

“Grandpa Radac.”, smiled Yerive wryly. All of them knew the old storyteller. Normally he could always put a smile on their faces, but today his job might be more difficult.

“Sorry, grandpa, but now is not the time.”

“Hmm?”

Radak rose his brow. A strange mood engulfed the four friends. And furthermore, why were there only four?

“What happened to you? And where is Tepmodus? Don’t tell me you four failed the awakening, and only Tepo succeeded.”

The four friends shook their heads. How could Radac guess the exact opposite of what happened?

“Grandpa.”, spoke Nocia gently. “If you want to help us, we can tell you. But we don’t want to burden you with our problems.”

“What burden? We have known each other for five years. Why do you treat me like an outsider?”

Seeing Radac’s fake anger, the friends smiled lightly. It was great to receive some support in times of difficulty.

“I’m sorry.”, said Nocia. “Since you want to know, here is what happened:

Tepo has been thrown into jail.”

Suddenly a pressure descended in the inn. The music stopped playing, the decorative plants stopped swaying in the wind. All the customers looked in shock towards their corner.

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The friends’ eyes grew wide. Sweat ran down their backs. As a travelling storyteller, it was only normal that Radac was a strong warrior. But wasn’t he too ferocious? His rage almost seemed to solidify as his eyes spewed fire.

Only a moment later the old man had already forcefully calmed down. But inwardly a volcano was waiting to erupt.

Yerive noticed his hands shaking lightly when Radac ordered them:

“Tell me everything!”

Nocia was the first to form coherent thoughts again. She looked at the old storyteller in suspicion, quickly narrating the entire ceremony.

After the white-haired woman finished, Radac narrowed his eyes.

“Taren? Good, very good.”

The friends didn’t understand the old man’s mumbling. They were still surprised by his sudden outburst. Only Ganaph looked at him with hope in her eyes. Maybe grandpa Radac could break Tepo out of jail? With his strength he might succeed.

“Have you told Tepo’s mother?”, asked the old man suddenly.

Having slowly recovered, the friends shook their heads. Yerive gritted his teeth as he explained.

“We wanted to, but those assh*les are blocking her home. I don’t understand what’s going on!”

Radac balled his fist. The table cracked slowly as the old man clearly had difficulties holding himself back.

After a few seconds the storyteller took a deep breath as he stood up. With a deep voice he announced:

“I see what I can do.”

Watching the old man leaving, the friends felt incredulous. How strong was Radac exactly? He would’ve surely passed the level of a three-circled aspirant, right?

Shaking her head, Nocia addressed her friends again.

“It seems we already found one ally. This is probably our best bet for now. Let’s think about who else we could ask.”

“I… I will try asking Sir Richard. He was urging me to leave soon, but I told him I can only go if Tepo is save.”, offered Ganaph.

***

While the four friends were searching for solutions, within the city hall another conversation was held.

This was a calm study. To the left a big bookshelf contained many books about all sort of different lifeforms, plants, and minerals. To the right in a smaller glass cabinet a few rare materials were gathered. All of these stemmed from different dungeons.

Between those, a big wooden desk stood before a high window. Looking outside, one would quickly understand that this room was slowly moving with the wind.

The mayor sat behind the desk, still clad in his white robes with blue stripes. His back was straight, and his face looked approachable as he watched the captain standing before his desk.

“Reporting.”, began the captain. “Avatio has been sent to block B as per your order. The guards were ordered to treat him like roughly.”

Taren only nodded calmly, deep in thoughts.

It has been a few years since the provincial lord sent his order. Wanting me to make the Avatio family’s life difficult, hmm?

How could a small family that never leaves the city enter the higher-ups’ eyes in the first place? It could only be the father’s fault. He must have somehow provoked the provincial lord.

But why doesn’t he simply send some assassin? Why would he need my help? Is he afraid of killing the family or does he have other considerations?

This b*stard. I’m working my ass off here for him, but he can’t even give me some basic information. From his tone, he clearly wants me to kill the Avatios but he doesn’t dare to give the order.

Does the lord want to make me a scapegoat?

The guard captain was sweating buckets as he looked at Taren’s frowning face. What had made the mayor this unhappy?

Suddenly the silence was interrupted as a small piece of metal on the desk began to blink. Taren habitually reached out and pressed it. Immediately a voice could be heard in the room.

“Mayor, the missionary wants to see you.”

“Send her up!”

Despite not knowing what Vyrohna could want, Taren naturally received here. In reality, the missionary had a way higher status than himself, but she was too gentle. Thus, she even came personally to his study.

A few seconds later the door opened and a tired Vyrohna entered the room. Her face was pale as even her long black hair appeared dim.

She walked towards the desk and sat in the comfortable, red cushioned chair the guard captain didn’t dare to use.

Mustering his visitor’s haggard face, Taren was surprised. But he didn’t show anything as he welcomed the woman with a polite smile.

“Greetings, missionary. What brings me the honor of your personal visit?”

As the bigshots began talking, the guard captain backed off. He stood next to the door, pretending to be a statue.

“May god be benevolent in his judgement of you, mayor.”

Although this greeting sounded slightly offensive, Taren was used to it. This was commonly used by the Church of Righteous Judgement on formal occasions.

“I came here today to ask for leniency towards the jailed student.”

“Ohh?”

Taren rose his brows in surprise. He thought Vyrohna would ask for a fair trial, which would be in line with her belief, but she was directly asking for leniency? This was indeed a bit out of the norm.

“Yes, I don’t think the student deserves his punishment. He was clearly stressed after not awakening. I have already forgiven him.”

Silence fell on the room. The mayor’s thoughts raced. Since the missionary already pleaded personally, he didn’t have a good reason to refuse her. Suddenly Taren’s eyes lit up as he had a brilliant idea.

“Ok. Since you have shown such benevolence, how could I make things difficult for the student?

However, the student insulted me as well. If I should set him free, I might need you to do me a small favor.”

Vyrohna frowned slightly. She didn’t like the look in the mayor’s eyes.

“What favor do you want?”

“I need you to sell me the dungeon core you caught.”