“It is more complicated than simply a moral question of right or wrong.”

“Every time someone says that, it's because they're worried someone won't like their reasons,” Ruth snapped. “Every time. Do you know how many times I heard someone say that to Dad? At least Dad was always honest about his reasons to me. He told me, repeatedly, that he wanted me to stay a Healer to keep me away from the fights. Nothing about how I'm secretly a great Healer if I'll just apply myself more. Nope, he was deliberately crippling me so he could feel better.”

Even though Auntie Jael was still wearing her mask, she winced with her full body. “That is a very negative way of viewing his motives.”

“And it's still better than what you're doing!” She gripped her hammer so hard that her hands hurt. “We can help people, we both can! Do you know how long I’ve waited to be able to fight monsters and make a real difference? And yet this is the year where you decide to turn traitor!” She threw up her hand. “Where was this defiance when I begged you to go behind Dad’s back and give me a better bloodstone?”

Auntie Jael took a deep breath. “Ruth,” she said at last. “This is neither the time nor the place to discuss this. If you meet with Hou Zheng, you can negotiate a better deal. I promise you, more than anything else, that he is a reasonable man.”

Ruth gave her a flat look. “Why would your word on the matter mean anything?” Before her aunt could respond to that, Ruth frowned. “Wait, no, that doesn't matter. Why are you even here? Why choose now to confront me?” She narrowed her eyes. “What happened?”

There was a long pause.

Ruth never discovered what lie or excuse her aunt would come up with. There was a knock on the door, and she glanced behind her. The pressure in the room changed, and by the time she looked back, the room was empty.

She sighed. Auntie Jael always ran when things got too hard, emotionally speaking. It was why she hadn't been around when Ruth's mom had disappeared. It was why she hadn't been around for most of Ruth's childhood.

She kept her hammer in one hand, still a bit paranoid, when she opened the door. She wasn't that surprised to see Josh standing there, looming like a mountain. She loved the idiot, but sometimes he forgot that he was literally twice her size. He blocked the door like an eclipse, until he blinked and stepped back to give her more room.

She was slightly more surprised to see his companions crowded in the small room outside her office. Mary, of course, stood there scowling like this whole thing was some massive imposition on her time. Ruth tried not to feel insulted, because she was pretty sure it was Anna poking Mary in the side that was annoying her. The big brawler Beor was there too, as well as a man about the same size and shape with thick manacles around his wrists.

Ruth took this all in within seconds. She smiled up at Josh. “We having a party? The only one that's missing is Darius.”

Mary groaned. “Can't we do this without him?”

Josh smiled down at Ruth. “Good to see your mood is up. You ready to get that big rock sorted? Think we've left everything to settle for long enough, yeah?”

Ruth frowned, taking a moment to parse that. “Wait, the citystone? You want to upgrade the citystone now?”

Josh nodded gravely. “Aye. We just had a fun little run-in with Hou Zheng. Who is an orc, by the way.”

“Uh...” She scrambled to keep up. “What would an orc be, earth? No, we're earth. Fire, then?” Josh nodded. “That explains why Auntie Jael was here, at least. Oh, and she was Kun, by the way.”

Josh opened his mouth. Closed it. Then, he nodded. “Yeah, that tracks. Anyway, we figure they're distracted now, we should be able to get this done without anyone making an even bigger mess of things than they already have.”

“I'm just worried about the old mayor,” Mary said. She looked over at the prisoner. “Maybe someone should pay him and his goons a visit, make sure he's being peaceful as a grave, you see?”

The prisoner held up his manacled hands. “I don't know where Hawk is right now,” he said quickly. “Please. You said you'd treat my boys right.”

Mary let out a huff. “Yeah, yeah, everyone's safe, no need to get your knickers in a twist. Just want to make sure that plonker doesn't plonk around and cock everything up.”

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Anna was leaning against Mary as if she was a wall. “Oh, I wouldn't worry about that,” she said casually. “Old Mayor Hawkins has always been boring as all get out. He'll take the safe route every time. You beat back this problem, he'll go to ground for at least a week. He certainly won't interfere with a monster raid.”

Mary stepped away, causing Anna to stumble. She turned into a flip and a tumble, and somehow ended up on her feet.

Everyone else ignored them. Josh placed a hand on Ruth's shoulder. “Can you do it?” he asked, his eyes shining with resolve and determination. “Do you have everything you need to upgrade the citystone and survive the attack?”

That was a loaded question. “You know we've never actually seen a normal citystone upgrade,” she reminded him. “For all we know, Mizuno barely did anything last time. Maybe it is normal to fight thousands upon thousands of monsters. Maybe it will call every monster in ten miles.”

“Even if that's true, it's still worth it,” Josh insisted. “We're more prepared for the worst.”

“Besides, we keep the Jungle nearby pretty clear,” Anna added. “It's not like there are huge ant colonies or bee hives hiding under a rock a mile away.”

The prisoner looked at her. “You finally got rid of it?”

Anna gave a savage grin. “First thing I did after the regime change was blow up that stupid colony. Screw valuable source of materials, I've lost too many people to ants.”

“Oh,” Ruth said, blinking. “Is that what you needed the bombs for?”

“Yep!”

Ruth hadn't really mastered actual bombs yet. She didn't have the right elemental runes to just conjure an explosion out of nothing. And her trick with a Pyro rune and a water bottle, while great for grenades, had trouble scaling up properly.

Instead, she had found a cruder solution: Put a Pyro rune onto something that was already explosive—such as a barrel of gunpowder—along with a few extra runes to shape the heat. It wasn't perfect, as the runes only touched the explosion indirectly and there was a lot of energy loss, but it was better than just lighting a barrel on fire and hoping for the best.

Mary nodded along. “We collapsed the big central ant chamber with the queen, plus every entrance we could find. When we came back a few days later, there were no new tunnels. I think that place is dead and done.”

“If that's the only big monster nest nearby, then we're good,” Josh said. Then he shrugged. “Probably. There could always be some massive level 80 bear hibernating in the heart of the Jungle.”

“Actually...” Mary said slowly, frowning.

He groaned in exasperation. “I was joking!”

She shook her head. “Nah, Anna would have clipped something like that. I was more wondering, is Gilroy in range? What if that whole bunch of those monsters get dragged down here?”

Josh hissed through his teeth. “Especially the dracobeast...”

“It should be fine,” Anna said. “You all tried this up in Gilroy, right? We didn't see any weird monster migrations down here. I don't think it would go the other way. We must be out of range of each other.”

Ruth smiled, relieved. “That's a good point. It's probably safe to try!”

“Eh...” Anna wiggled her hand back and forth. “Safe is pushing it.”

“It's safe enough,” Josh said firmly. “Gather up everyone we can to defend the walls. The sooner we start, the sooner we're done.” He gave the prisoner a solid look. “You going to cop to your mistake? Fight with us?”

The big man shrugged. “Do I have a choice?”

“Yes,” Josh said bluntly. “If you think you might stab us in the back, please choose to stay in prison.”

“I don't have a knife.” He seemed almost insulted at the prospect.

Josh waved a hand. “Someone throw him in a jail cell. We'll deal with him later.”

“Wait, wait!” The man held up his manacled hands. “Fine, yes, you can trust me to fight.” He squinted at Josh. “You are talking about what I think you are, right? Upgrading the citystone a tier?”

“Yes.”

“The town will get a lot from that.”

“That's the hope!” Ruth said. If their theory on how crafting interacted with the citystones was right, then it might just change the world. Of course, this would be so much easier if they had access to the City's citystone, which was already upgraded. Once again, Ruth cursed her father for his paranoia.

Still. This was almost a dream come true. Improving the world in a real, solid way, and getting to fight hordes of monsters at the same time? Perfect. She had to remind herself not to get too excited. It was genuinely dangerous, and people could get hurt. She’d prefer if she was the only one in danger. But they were still doing a good thing, that happened to be fun. She couldn’t keep a smile off her face.

The prisoner let out a breath. “All right, then,” he said. “Me and the boys will fight for you. I think we can do some good.”

Josh grinned. “It's a start.”