Josh checked Jael's status. She was listed as a [Level 40 Attacker].

He swallowed, hard. She was nine levels above him, and he would bet anything that she was specialized for combat. Unlike him, who was specialized for building forts, and Ruth, who was specialized for making pretty lights.

Ruth had gotten really good at enchanting things to glow. The mayor was very happy to save money on torches, it was earning her loads of friends and loads of money, and it was completely useless in combat.

Jael looked between them, confused. She took a step back—making distance for an attack—and put her hands on her hips—grabbing hidden weapons. She frowned at them both like a disappointed schoolteacher. “What is with you two? Really, dear, are you pregnant? Is that what all this is about? I won't tell your father if you don't want. I can keep you hidden for the entire rest of the reset if you need.”

“Aunt Jael,” Ruth said, her voice dry and croaked. “I know.”

“Know what—”

“At the dungeon,” Ruth interrupted. “You killed Stephen.”

Jael froze.

“You tried to kill Josh.” Ruth's eyes glittered with unshed tears. “And then when I jumped in the way, you stopped. You could have gone through me, but you didn't. You ran away.”

Everything was frozen for what felt like forever. Josh couldn't even breathe.

Slowly, Jael relaxed.

It wasn't just that she let her hands fall from her sides. The silly, friendly tourist melted off like a puddle in the sun. Her stance shifted to something more loose, her body language changed to something more languid. She went from seemingly a normal woman wound tight to a sleek, dangerous weapon. A gun without a finger on the trigger. Not an immediate threat, but absolutely a threat nonetheless.

“How long have you known?” Jael asked, her tone flat, though not unkind.

“A few years now.” Ruth balled up her hands into fists and took a deep breath. “It was that thing with the corn farm monopoly. You always went missing on nights when someone was assassinated.”

Jael nodded. “I told your mother that you'd figure it out soon enough. She always said it didn't need to last long.” She let out a breath. “And then of course she had to go off and...” She shook her head. “No. Blaming her, again, solves nothing.”

Ruth did not respond to that. Josh, for his part, was slowly reaching behind his back for his hatchet. He might not have any techniques for it that would work on a human, but he could swing it hard enough.

“Please don't, Mister Hundredborn.” Jael looked up. She smiled, but there was no mirth in her voice. “I would prefer not to get any of your blood on my niece. Call me sentimental.”

“Why is he doing this?” Ruth demanded. She stepped between them. Jael adjusted to try to keep a clear line at Josh, but Ruth matched her. “Why is Dad fighting us?”

Jael had a pained look on her face. “Dear, he's not fighting you—”

“If he's fighting my friends, he's fighting me!” Ruth snapped. There were tears in her eyes. “What happened? Something changed, right? We were all working together! Dad wouldn't have just woken up one day and decided to kill Josh!”

Jael gave her a long-suffering look. “You don't want an answer to that question.”

“Yes! I do!”

Actually, Josh really wanted an answer to that question too, but he was worried that if he spoke up and reminded Jael of his presence, she might just skip the hassle and kill him outright. Best to remain silent for now.

Unfortunately, she turned to glare at him anyway. “Does she know your name? Your real name?”

Josh just stared at her in shock. “Wot? That's what this is about?”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Yes.” She offered no further information.

He scoffed. “Ruth, your dad's mad as a hatter.” He knew who Josh was, and his first thought was to attack him? “Look lady, I know you're his personal assassin or whatever—”

“Problem-solver,” she said, her eyes flicking to Ruth.

“Whatever! But maybe think twice about working for the mucker who wants to go this hard?” He shook his head. “What's his endgame here? What can he possibly think this will win him?”

Sooner or later, Josh's sister would find out what was going on, fake name or not. He couldn't see how that would possibly end well for Jonah. Being a high-level Operative wouldn't protect him. Of course, in all likelihood Josh would be dead by then, so he wasn't going to cling onto that particular future for any comfort.

Jael crossed her arms over her chest. “Perhaps he just doesn't want you close to his daughter.”

“Hey!” Ruth snapped. She stepped right into her aunt's space and glared up at her. “Of the three people we're talking about, Josh is the only one who has never attacked me!”

That earned a flinch from her aunt. “I—I wasn't intending to attack you. You just got in the way—”

“THAT STILL COUNTS!” Ruth yelled. “It all still counts! You don't get to just wave away all your mistakes as accidents, and blame everyone else for theirs!”

Jael took a deep breath. “We do not have time for this.” She pointed at Josh, but didn't take her eyes off Ruth. “I am going to kill him, then I am going to take you home. That is all. Now, if you—”

Several things happened at once.

First, Josh swung his ax at Jael. He had no technique that worked here. He tried to activate [Chop Wood] and [Instant Crafting], but he received an error. That was fine, and expected. It was still a heavy ax.

Second, Ruth traced a sigil in the air. Her fingers left glowing lines that remained floating in front of her. Josh recognized the swift, precise motions of someone who was casting a spell almost entirely with the system assist.

Third, a knife appeared in Jael's hands literally from nowhere. She cocked her wrist, preparing to flick it at his heart.

Fourth, the village warning bells started ringing.

Josh paused, ax raised. Jael paused, knife cocked.

Ruth's sigil exploded into a blinding burst of light.

Josh's vision was replaced with white, and he heard Jael cry out. A small hand grabbed his own, tugging him away. Towards the wall? He couldn't be sure. He dropped his hatchet, he was so disoriented.

It took him a few minutes to blink his eyes clear, and by the time he could see straight again, Ruth had dragged him out of the walls. They were running through the Jungle, towards their own fort.

“What happened?” he yelled over the still-ringing bells.

“I don't know!” Ruth shouted. She let go of his hand and pulled her hammer off her back. She had upgraded it considerably since the days of her simple club with a Gravity rune on it. Now it was a stone-headed mallet with a full rune-chain that increased the efficiency of the gravity effect. Good thing, too, because she couldn't even lift the thing without Gravity magic. “Maybe it was her?”

“You think she rang the bells on herself?”

“No, I mean someone saw her and thought she was suspicious?”

“They wouldn't ring this many bells for one bloody assassin—”

The tree he was trying to run past reached down to grab him.

The bloody tree reached down to grab him.

I really hate this place, he thought.

Josh dodged into a roll, the roots and stones of the rough forest floor doing almost as much damage to him as the monster would have. Years of Combat classes gave him the instincts to survive, no matter his current class. Ruth cried out when she realized he had stopped, and came back with her hammer.

Unfortunately, a blunt weapon was almost useless against this kind of enemy. He scanned it quickly.

Viridian Quercus: Level 28

A level 28 walking oak tree. He and Ruth were both level 31, they had the advantage. Of course, Ruth's weapon was ineffective, his was on the floor somewhere between here and the fort, and all they had were Ruth's untested sigils.

Ruth didn't seem to have much faith in her sigils, either, because she yelled out a battle cry and ran forward with her hammer. When she brought it down on the trunk, the runes on the hammer's head glowed bright white. The head was twice the size of a normal sledgehammer, and Josh knew that when the runes activated on the downward swing, it doubled in weight.

It slammed into the trunk at full force... and bounced off, sending Ruth stumbling backwards. The tree advanced on her silently. Viridians were always silent, because they didn't have anything to yell with. Its branches rustled, its wood creaked, and its roots scrambled over the hard-packed dirt of the forest floor. But under the sound of the bells and the yelling townsfolk, it was still eerily silent.