The ceiling is beautifully decorated with angelic murals. The smell of sweet incense permeated the air. No shadows could be seen in the room as the ground itself emitted gentle light. Chandeliers dangled overhead warming the evening service. Above them seating in balconies filled. Some people shifted uncomfortably as the preacher began to speak about saving the unbelievers from the grips of devils and undead. The service ended. Emilie smiled and turned to Jenora. “It’s so refreshing to be in the church isn’t it, Jenora.”

Jenora answered with a halfhearted. “Of course!”

“Come on let’s go speak with Father Reynold.” Emilie pulled Jenora behind her as the group approached him.

He continued speaking with a couple dressed in white and golden lace. After a few moments, the large priest turned to them. “Welcome, blessed children. I hope you enjoyed the service.” His polite inviting voice and open arms practically invited a hug, yet no one took the invitation. He quickly closed his arms. “How may I help all of you?”

Forala extended her large hand leaning forward. “My name is Forala Medot I am the guild leader of the newly formed Artifact Hunters Guild. We are currently searching for a guild hall. Since we have two members of the church in our guild, we were hoping it might be possible for you to give us a good lead on possible guild halls.”

He chuckled heartily. “We have several smaller guilds who house themselves within the church for a small amount of rent each month as well as attending a service once a week. How many rooms would you need?”

“Three,” Forala answered.

“That would be 150 gold per month.” He answered with a smile.

She tapped her chin. “Thank you for that information.”

“Or you could join our guild and have a room for free!” He chuckled heartily bouncing back and forth and patting his stomach. “The free food is pretty good too.”

Jenora nodded still in her armor. “Free food is always good.”

“Why don’t you take off your helmet miss, we’re all friends here,” Reynold asked.

“She never takes it off in bigger cities. If it covered her mouth, I’m convinced she wouldn’t eat in towns.” Emilie shrugged.

“It’s for personal reasons father. Please pay it no mind.” Jenora put a hand up for him to stop.

“Very well to each their own. May she bless you. I have many others to speak with. If you need any further help, feel free to come back tomorrow, I would be happy to assist you.” Father Reynold turned to the next person waiting to speak to him.

The group went outside to the well-light night. Forala asked, “Do you know where the Reapers Guild is?”

“Yes. We passed by it on the way to investigate the town for buildings we could use as a guild hall.” Serena explained.

“Let’s walk and talk. You’ve already reported but Emilie and I still haven’t. I will let her go first.” Forala extended her hand to Emilie.

“The two of us found a few things. One of them is that everything, and I mean everything nearby The Great Golden Guild is purchased. They provide housing to members, but they are the guild we checked out last time we were here. They charge 25% on quest rewards and artifacts which is outrageous. The Reapers Guild offers similar benefits but charges 20% which is still crazy high. Both offer good value for lower-level individuals, but they choke out most guilds. At 50 gold per room, if we wanted all our own rooms, we’d need to make 250 gold each for it to only be 20%. We got really lucky but if for example we killed and looted everything in that previous dungeon save the three rings we wouldn’t have gotten half that.” Emilie groaned. “Basically, we came up completely empty. I love the church; hate the economics of being taxed so hard.”

Forala shrugged. “That is unfortunate. I found a single house with 2 bedrooms which was for sale at 600 gold but nothing else below our currently available gold and the next building was more than 8,000 gold with 10 rooms. We should take that interview and see if they will assist us.” The group walked slowly out of the well-lit northern district clad in a thin layer of reflective gold.

Eventually, they reached the statue in the center of town. “Rather strange to see The Green Goddess at the center of town instead of the Golden Goddess.” Emilie sighed. “I’m used to Kival and the Golden Goddess being everywhere.”

Victor turned to her. “I don’t mean to be offensive, and I considered asking Swordie but I wanted to know do those goddesses have proper names?”

She raised one eyebrow. “Of course they do. Did you think they were just named by their color?” She paused to an ignorant nod agreeing from Victor. “The true name of the golden goddess is Aurea Dea. The Green Goddess is named Livia Vale. Generally speaking, it is considered disrespectful to speak their names directly unless they are standing physically before you.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t aware of that.” He made a mental note to confirm this with Swordie later that night. The group passed a large theater and a large marble building as well before reaching the building with a wooden sign painted with a scythe on it.

They walked up to the large double door and pushed both open. In front of them a small lobby and a counter with two people behind it Kim, and another man. Kim sat on a chair behind the counter but immediately perked up. “I knew you’d come! Let me go get her. She might be busy. Be right back.”

The man pulled out a chart. “My name is Ivan Val. I’m here to help I need your names.”

The five of them gave their names followed by Cawthorn “I’M CAWTHORN! THAT IS SWORDIE!”

He wrote down all seven names. “I see you are here to speak with Lidia. She’s great. If you like to hunt monsters and want to join us great. If you don’t want to join us, first of all, why? Second of all if you don’t join us but want to kill monsters, hell yes. Join us for one assignment or your lives you’ll have a good time. We kill monsters.”

Victor nodded. “I already like these two.”

Cawthorn crowed bombastically. “ALL MONSTERS WILL PERISH BEFORE OUR MIGHT!”

Kim came back out bouncing with her arms behind her back. “She’s excited to meet you. She just finished eating so she’s in a great mood too so now is your best chance to talk to her too.”

The group proceeded back to find a woman clad in black leather and buckles. Each buckle tied a potion or blade. In the corner a black scythe taller than her hung on a rack Her long black hair draped over one shoulder on a jet-black couch made from drake leather. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t wonder boy.” She hung her head and hair forward ominously before snapping to her feet. “My name is Lidia. Lidia the Lightless to most of the country but you can call me Lidia.” She walked over to them and extended her hand. “I presume you are Victor Vogal?”

“I am, this is my guild leader Forala, and my party Serena Brooks, Jenora Oath, Emilie Ward, Swordie, and Cawthorn.” Victor introduced all of them.

“PLEASED TO MEET YOU LIDIA THE LIGHTLESS!” Cawthorn crowed loudly.

“Quite the talkative familiar you have there.” She chuckled motioning around them. “Sit sit.” She plopped down in a chair and they followed sitting down around the room. “Well, I guess I will ask the first question. Is it true you’re an angelic knight?”

Swordie spoke up. “That he is, and I proudly bestowed that title on him. He is foolish but noble and well worthy of the title.”

“This is the angel. I will say he’s more… diminutive than I anticipated.” She tilted her head, and her eyebrow ascended to heights not possible by a normal woman.

“My form and strength are limited by his level,” Swordie noted.

Victor cheerfully declared. “I’m level 12.”

“So, you’ve been adventuring a while now. I bet you’ve killed a lot of monsters at this point.” She leaned forward.

“Well not that long, less than two months of adventuring.” Victor cheerfully explained.

She turned to Forala. “Is he serious? I honestly can’t tell if he’s messing with me or just like that.”

Serena smiled putting a hand on Victor’s leg. “It’s the latter. He’s too pure for this world.”

“A worthy assessment.” Swordie agreed immediately.

Victor scratched the back of his head. “Aw thanks, I think.”

“It’s always nice to meet someone earnest in this cynical world. I’ve fought alongside Lightbringer Luke and he’s pretty similar in personality, so it doesn’t shock me. Is she your guild leader?” She motioned to Forala.

“I’m Forala Medot.” She said sitting on the couch and making direct eye contact. “I’m a black half-drake.”

Lidia paused looking at the couch. Then back to her. Then back to the couch. “Well, this is awkward.”

“It isn’t.” Forala shook her head. “If they died, they were too weak.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Wow, cutthroat. I love it.” Lidia chuckled. “You’re the perfect counterweight to his optimism. Like I am to Luke.”

Emilie put up her hand shaking them back and forth. “No way Lightbringer Luke is with you.”

“Oh, that’s not what I meant. Given our strength, we are some of the highest-level most powerful adventurers in the country. We teamed up to raid the necropolis when it was still inhabited by a lich, but the lich escaped.” She shrugged. “Place is a maze.”

“Oh, you mean in a group!” Emilie suddenly had a light bulb go off in her head. “Is the necropolis safe now?”

“We cleaned out most of the undead, but people are still to this day discovering hidden areas and side tunnels leading miles away. They’ll be finding stuff for years to come for sure, but I don’t see a reason to go back. All the big monsters are dead. The reward for clearing it out is gone and artifacts there are mostly evil and only sell for gold to the church.” She shot back.

Forala cut in drawing the conversation back. “I want to ask what you want from us. I don’t feel like someone as strong as you would waste your time speaking with us knowing recruiting us is unlikely or impossible.”

“Well, if you’ve already created a guild, I will refund the fee and immediately induct all of you into our guild if you are willing to join but I’m not naive enough to think a group as small as yours who rolls into the city and forms a guild will be persuaded by some coin and words. No. Not at all. I’ve gotten where I am because I find people who are valuable and make allies of them. To be blunt What I want from you is to do favors for you, so that in turn one day you might return those favors.” She leaned back interlacing her long black gloves.

“You’re looking to put us in your debt.” Forala glared.

“More like looking to cultivate a friendship. Strictly speaking, you won’t owe me anything. If you hate me or decide I’m operating in a reprehensible way just refuse and don’t bother repaying me. It is rather simple. I like killing monsters, and monsters need killing. Some monsters need specific skill sets to be killed. I’m asking all of you to consider us allies and in exchange I will help you free of charge today.” She rested her chin on her folder hands tilting it slightly to the side. “What do you say?”

Forala turned to the group only for Cawthorn to answer. “HER TASTE IN COLOR IS THE BEST!”

Emilie’s eyes went wide, and she turned to Cawthorn. “Silence. Sorry, I should have done that earlier.” Cawthorn attempted to crow angrily to Victor only to yell nothingness into the air.

Forala extended her hand across the table. The two of them shook. “Consider us allies then.”

“What would your young guild be called?” She asked.

“The Artifact Hunters Guild.” Forala shot back quickly.

“Interesting. Most artifact hunters join Freedman’s guild.” She leaned forward. “What makes your guild different?”

“We intend to create a system whereby artifacts found by our members go to our members. This will make us stronger long term without selling them off and having to bleed commission fees, auction fees, and other costs.” Forala explained with excitement in her voice.

“Interesting guild concept, do you have any members besides those here?” She traced her lips with her hands folded.

“No, we need a guild hall and some early funding. Do you have any leads on a guild hall with 10 or more rooms for something in the range of 2,000 gold?” Forala sat back.

“No nothing like that. The closest thing I can think of is this run-down building by the bank Kim found those two at. It is an old bar that barely qualifies as inhabitable for 3,000 to 5,000 gold.” She shook her head. “While we are friends lending you that much gold would be a bit of a stretch at this point.”

Forala sighed. “Figures. I didn’t expect it to be that easy considering our lack of funds.”

“You’re obviously high-level. How is it you don’t have the funds to buy a sufficiently sized building?” She put a finger over her lips as if to silence herself.

“Long story but I was driven from my homeland in the Xalper range by a flight of red drakes being led by a red dragon. I wasn’t able to reach my possessions before fleeing so I’m poor.” Forala sighed. “My father left us some gold, but I couldn’t reach it and now it likely sits in that dragon’s horde.”

“That does explain why you are so high level and I’ve never seen or heard of you before. Well unfortunately that means I can’t be much help on that front. Best to do some quests and buy the old inn for 3,000 to 5,000 gold if that is what you need.” She shook her head.

Victor raised his hand silently waiting to be called on. Forala turned to him followed by everyone else. “What is the story with the old rundown bank?”

“Oh, that thing? Don’t bother. It’s haunted. "She answered pointedly. “See my guild, the Freedman’s guild, and the Salty Sea Fairer guild all tried to clear that out but it’s no use. No one can locate the ghost. It just throws things at you until you leave, and everyone knows what item it is bound to.”

Victor waited before posing the question. “What item.”

“The building itself! The owner is a guild member of the Freeman’s Guild. He has a standing reward. You get him everything in the vault and he will sign the deed over. Just about the only person who never undertook the quest was Luke and he has better things to do than handle a presumed tier 3 quest despite the massive rewards. You can try if you want, I don’t think a single person has been killed in there though a few did get their egos hurt.” She chuckles referencing someone specific.

Forala leaned forward. “Well say we did want to look into it. Who do we talk to, and could we borrow Kim for a day? Mostly just for information about the city so we can find what we are looking for and make navigating things easier.”

“If you want more information on that Phil Farson is the owner of the building. He should be in the market square. You can’t miss him he loves standing out. Bright purple cap with a white feather in it and a long silk overcoat, man wears it even when it is summertime. Sure, it is stylish but cooks him while he’s tending carts.” She shrugged. “My advice is if you want to give it a crack spend a day on it and if you make no progress quit it. The old Star 5 Bank isn’t worth the time. As for Kim that is up to her. I only tell my guild members what to do when something has to get done like if the town was attacked. I’m fine with her spending a day to help you.”

“That is incredibly helpful. Thank you.” She reached out and they shook.

“I have a couple of questions for Wonder Boy over there if you have time.” She leaned forward with a smile.

“Ask away.” Victor gave a quick nod feeling

“Give me the details of what happened on the road.” She smiled like a sly cat finally reaching its dinner. Serena began recounting them killing the bandits followed by her fighting Zolvorn with great detail including his readiness to kill her. Victor followed up with his fight and the huge explosion in the sky. Forala finished with the meeting of Luke landing with his griffin. Their quick story ended, and she almost immediately followed up with. “Gizixil. Physically here?”

“Yes.” Victor conveniently left out that soon after he received a message and an item from Luzuzal. “Without any doubt, Gizixil was here. It seemed that Zolvorn thought that he arrived to interfere with the fight. Either because he thought I would die, or because Zolvorn would die. I’ve thought about it through and the tone he took, I think he was upset that Zolvorn was messing around. I think he wanted Zolvorn to get moving and kill Luke urgently.”

“Did he mention his level?” She leaned forward further with an extremely grim face.

“He is level 94,” Victor answered flatly.

“How sure are you of that?” She swallowed a knot in her throat.

“His skill Fair Fight gave me access to rank 10 spells. I am guessing that’s why the fight was so explosive.” Victor nodded.

She deeply sighed and leaned back looking up. “Fighting humans is a lot different than fighting monsters. What level are you Forala?”

She considered saying nothing for a moment before answering “I am level 60.”

“Ah hell, so you won’t be able to fight with us. My whole guild knows my level it’s not some big secret. I am level 79 and Luke is 80. If I can get Father Reynold and pull Sea Salt Sam out of retirement there’s a small chance we can kill him.” She shook her head and started tapping her foot.

“If I may make a recommendation, just have Luke fly somewhere else on his griffin. He’s fast but he has absolutely no idea Luke travels by griffin. If Luke just spends time increasing his level, he’ll eventually be able to fight him.” Victor explained what he thought to be obvious.

Only her response was laughter. “Do you have any idea how hard it is for someone our level to gain a single level? Much less 10 levels? I didn’t even gain 5% of a level clearing out the necropolis and that was an event worthy of calling up all the major guilds to scatter the undead across the land and prevent them from growing their power.”

“There’s just no way to level up at that point?” Victor asked confused.

She shook her head. "I guess we could try to find an entrance to The Abyssal Labyrinth which would let us find enemies worthy of our skills but that might take a lifetime. The only other option would be to go fight the devils in the infernal war on the eastern continent. That’s simply not an option. Others like Jin Vanor could help but he’ll never leave Kival since he maintains the city barrier. My second in command Peter Markowitz is who knows where searching for worthy trophies, Goddess bless him, but I hate that he is never available when I need him.”

“I guess level 80 is sort of the soft cap then. That’s unfortunate.” Victor looked down disappointed.

She laughed again. “80? Hah! No, the overwhelming majority won’t be able to find enemies worth experience to get past level 60. Level 70 is a stretch for the best of the best because enemies here are hard to come by unless you act like me just mindlessly taking any hunting mission that is higher tier hoping to find one monster worth your time. I don’t know a single being on this continent besides Zolvorn who level 90 is or higher. The number of people who have reached level 81 in this country can probably be counted on 1 hand.”

“Sorry, you’ll have to forgive my ignorance.” Victor scratched the back of his head. “I am out of my element here.”

“Ooo do tell. Where are you from?” She leaned on the chair arm intrigued by the proposition.

“I’m cursed. I literally cannot tell you about my past beyond the day I met Serena.” Victor added firmly.

“You do know that sounds incredibly ominous right?” Her face contorted confused and astonished he’d answer that.

Swordie commented. “If I promised you, he is not evil, would you believe me?”

“Yes.” She answered instantly.

“He is not evil, but his curses will attack those who learn of them. I urge you not to look into his past. It’s stupid and full of suffering, like him, but always noble. He earned the title I bestowed on him, and he will have it until the day he dies.” Swordie insisted.

She shifted in her chair thinking for a moment. “I’ll trust you for now but if strange shit starts happening, I’m going to investigate and as you could see with Kim, despite being a guild focused on hunting our other operations are tight. Just keep that in mind.”

Forala nodded. “We will. If we need anything from you, we will check-in. For the rest of my guild, I think I speak clearly. It is time to get some shut-eye.” They all shook Lidia’s hand and departed into the cool night under a starry sky.