Astrid struggled to push her way through the people gathered to watch the fight. Their shouts and cheers drowned out her call for them to move out of her way. She had hoped being a security guard would have garnered some amount of respect from the other citizens, but they seemed like they couldn’t care less. Finally, she managed to force her way through the onlookers and could get a proper look at what was happening.

A large, burly man punched another man with gray hair and a wrinkled, bloodied face. Two other men—one was blond and the other had auburn hair—held the old man’s arms, immobilizing him and preventing him from defending himself. That was the only reason he was still standing. His face was swollen from the many punches it had taken, and blood seeped from the broken nose. Astrid felt a burning anger rising inside her.

“That’s enough guys, break it up,” she said loudly, trying to be heard over the shouting onlookers. It didn’t work.

“HEY!” She yelled, and this time she got everyone’s attention. Some looked at her with bewilderment and others with annoyance. It made her uncomfortable, and for a second, she stood frozen, not sure what her next step should be.

“What do you want, little girl?” The burly man sneered. “Can’t you see we’re in the middle of something?”

Astrid managed to point at the badge on her dress that identified her as a security guard.

“This fight is over, so you can move on now.”

Most of the onlookers seemed to accept that and left, leaving her to deal with the men who had fought.

“Now let the old man go,” Astrid ordered. To her surprise, the two men obeyed her command, and the old man fell to the ground, where he stayed unmoving. She had to get him to a healer as fast as possible, but the three men blocked her path.

“Now why did you have to ruin our fun, little girl?” the burly man said. “We were just showing this man his place. Now he’ll think twice before showing his face here again.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Astrid said, rage fuming. “No one deserves to be beaten like that.”

“He’s one of those pesky refugees who think we want to see them around here asking for coins like homeless beggars. Now he’ll know better.”

“Well, I won’t tolerate this behavior, so find something else to do.” Astrid wished they would just leave already so she could get to the old man who still hadn’t moved. The occasional pained moan reassured her that he was still alive.

“You think you can boss us around, little girl?”

Astrid grimaced at the nickname the burly man had given her. She raised her staff, pointing it towards the men as a reminder that she was armed, hoping it would deter them from starting a fight with her. To be honest, she had no idea how a fight between them would end. She was confident that she could handle either of them in a one-on-one as long as none of them carried a weapon. However, facing multiple opponents at once always made the fight more complicated, and she doubted she could count on her own teammates to step in and help. They still stood where she had left them, some twenty feet away. Maybe it would be best to use her badge to call for help. However, she was hesitant to do that, as it felt like if she couldn’t handle this situation, she had no business acting as a security guard.

The burly man came at her, trying to throw a punch to her face, but she sidestepped and used her staff to trip the man.

“I am trained in combat, so you don’t want to fight me,” Astrid said with as much confidence as she could muster. “This is your last chance to leave unharmed.” She pointed her staff towards the man who had tried to attack her. She noticed her hands were shaking, and since none of her stats were low, that couldn’t be the cause of the tremors. Maybe it was caused by her anger? Or maybe by her fear? She just hoped none of her opponents noticed, as they would see it as a weakness.

“Let’s just leave. This is not worth getting in trouble over,” the blond man said.

The burly man gave Astrid one last hateful look and spat in the direction of the old man on the ground before leaving with the other two men.

Astrid turned her attention back to the old man still sprawled on the ground. She crouched down beside him, trying to gauge the man’s condition.

“Can you stand?” Astrid asked. The man shook his head slowly. At least he was still alive, but he had to be low on heath. She pulled a health potion out of her inventory.

“Here, drink this. It will help you recover.” She managed to tip the contents of the vial into the man’s mouth, and he swallowed it with some difficulty. A few seconds later, he sat up, his wounds already starting to heal.

“You saved my life.” The old man said. “But I can’t repay you for that potion.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“But healing potions are expensive and not something you just give away.”

“It was given to me by the leader of the security team to help in emergencies like this during the festival,” she lied, hoping the man would stop thinking he owned her anything for it. Astrid still had several health potions and could always buy more should she need them, so her giving one away to a person in need was no big deal.

“You should stop by the temple for the god of Medicine,” Astrid said. “Just to be sure you're fully recovered.” She could have sent him there to begin with, but he had looked like he was a papercut away from death, and he wouldn’t have been able to walk there on his own. She sure wasn’t able to carry him, and even if she was, that in itself could have hurt him enough to take away his remaining health.

“I’ll do that. Thank you so much for saving me.” Astrid watched as the man disappeared in the crowds before she turned back to her two other teammates.

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“Things seem fine here now, so let’s continue our route.” Astrid said.

They walked for another ten minutes without incident and arrived at the marketplace. Things seemed calm here as well.

“You know you two seem to have everything under control.” Gorm said. “I’m sure you can handle this without me.”

“What do you mean?” Filip asked.

“I have other things to do tonight than walk around in circles.”

“What could be more important than this?” Astrid asked.

“That is none of your business.”

“So, you are just going to leave us?” Filip asked, growing paler by the second.

“If you do that, we’ll tell Walter,” Astrid said, crossing her arms.

“Don’t be like that. We’re on the same team after all.” Gorm said in a tone that made Astrid shiver. “We should help each other.”

“You’re about to leave this team,” Filip pointed out, but Astrid had a feeling Gorm wasn’t referring to the security job but something else. Something sinister. However, there was no way he could know that, right? She had been careful not to tell anyone. Then again, hadn’t Sham mentioned that he had people watching her? Could that be Gorm? And if he too was a follower of Deception did that mean she was obligated to help him? No way. Even though she had no idea what he was planning to do, she doubted it was anything good.

“Whatever you want to do can be done when the shift ends,” Astrid said.

“No, it can't, so I’ll be going now. And if you tell on me, I’ll tell on you,” Gorm said matter-of-factly. Now there was no doubt left in Astrid’s mind that he knew.

“What would you say against her? She hasn’t done anything wrong.” Filip said. Astrid felt her previous anger turn to shame and dread. If this information got out, her new life would be over.

“We all have secrets,” Gorm shrugged. “All I have to do is start a rumor so awful someone will have to investigate. Who knows what people will find out about Astrid here?

“Astrid is my sister,” she said, the anger returning at Gorm's audacity. “My name is Sigrid.” This conversation was heading into very dangerous territory, as Gorm had just tried to get her to slip up and expose herself. She could not let him get away with that.

“Of course it is. My bad. You two are just so much alike it’s easy to get you confused.”

“I’ll let Walter know that we got separated in the crowds here on the marketplace next time we pass by him. That’s the best I can offer,” Astrid said.

“I can work with that.”

“However, you owe me for this.” Astrid whispered so only Gorm could hear it.

“I’ll keep your secrets. That should be enough.”

“Not if you want me to keep your secret as well as lie on your behalf.”

“You don’t have any evidence.”

“All I have to do is start a rumor, and someone will investigate.”

“Ha. You’re better at this than I expected. Alright, I’ll owe you a favor. Do you have anything in mind?”

“I’ll let you know.” In truth, she had no idea what she wanted the favor for or if she would ever use it, but it couldn’t hurt to have the option.

"Fine. But be reasonable.” Then he walked away.

“What was that about?” Filip asked, startling Astrid. Even if he hadn’t heard what she had said, the whispered conversation would still have seemed odd.

“Gorm clearly has something very important to do. Now let’s continue our route.” She began walking out of the marketplace, and Filip followed.

“Are we really going to tell Walter, we lost Gorm in the crowd?”

“I said I would, but you made no such promise, so you can do what you want.

“But it is wrong to lie.”

“It is, but as I don’t see Gorm anywhere and this place is quite crowded, saying that we lost him here wouldn’t be untrue.”

“I’ll tell Walter the truth about everything. What secret could you possibly have that would make you do this?”

“It’s nothing really.” Astrid said, her brain working overtime, trying to come up with a plausible reason that wouldn’t make her situation worse. “I just don’t want him spreading rumors about me that will hunt me forever. That’s all.”

“How do I know you’re not lying right now? You don’t seem to have a problem with it.”

“Would you want someone to tell everyone that you pick your nose?”

“That’s not true.” Filip said aghast.

“But a lot of people would believe it to be, and you wouldn’t be able to convince them otherwise. And I think Gorm will spread far worse rumors than that.”

“I still think there’s more to it than that.”

"Well, there isn’t, so drop it.”

“No!”

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t trust you until I know what this is about. If you don’t tell me, I’ll let everyone know that you’re hiding something.”

“Then tell me your secret first. We all have something we don’t want others to know.”

“We are talking about you, not me,” he said defensively.

“I bet it’s the nose-picking thing then.”

“I don’t pick my nose.”

“Or maybe something worse. Did you ever steal something? or maybe kill someone?” The boy paled at the last word. Maybe she had hit a nerve.

"Sorry,” she said.

“Its fine.”

“The thing is, you already know my secret,” Astrid said, having finally decided on what to tell Filip. “But I guess I can remind you. I’m technically one of the refugees.” This was the most believable excuse she could come up with, although it wasn’t something she had tried to keep secret.

“Why do you want to keep that secret? It's not a bad thing... Well, it’s a bad thing that you lost your home, but..."

“You know how Ruben tried to kill me at school because he doesn't think I belong there, and you saw how the old man got attacked. Most here don’t like refugees, and they definitely hate those who try to change their status like I have.”

“But you’re nothing like that old man who's begging on the street. You attend the academy, and you know how to fight. You’re a citizen now more than a refugee.”

“Sure, today I have this badge and this staff, but most of the time I’ll be unarmed. It would only take a few men ganging up on me to beat me to death. The only reason I can afford school is because my sister takes the quests no one else wants to take. Although we are lucky to have gotten this far, our situation is far from stable.”

“I guess I can understand that,” Filip said. “You asked me what my secret was. Well, I’m the reason my mother died.”

“What do you mean?” Now Astrid felt horrible about her harsh comments earlier.

“When the monsters first appeared here some years ago, my parents decided to become monster slayers as a secondary occupation. They wanted to become heroes and elevate their status. I trained with them and was brought along the first time they went out to slay. As you might have noticed, I’m not really cut out for fighting. When the monster came after me, I froze. My mother jumped in front of me and took the blow.”

“I’m sorry,” Astrid said, not knowing what else to do. She knew the pain of losing family to monsters and the guilt of having done nothing to save them. She often had to remind herself that she hadn’t had the skill to save them back then. “You couldn’t have been that old at the time. Could you even develop skills yet?”

Children didn’t get access to their quests or the ability to develop skills before they hit puberty. Sure, they could still learn stuff when they practiced, but it didn’t unlock skills or grant abilities. That meant children had some time to try different things before they had to choose what to specialize in, although this only benefited those who valued a focused skillset.

“No. But I had as much fighting training as they had. Despite that, when I saw the monster running towards me, I forgot everything I had learned.”

“I’m sorry,” Astrid said again, and they continued walking in silence. She wanted to say something to comfort him but didn’t know what. She also wanted to ask why he was in a class for combat magicians if he didn’t want to fight, but it felt like the wrong time.

Suddenly, a scream reverberated through the streets. More cries followed seconds later.

“Someone is in trouble. Let’s go!” Astrid and Filip ran towards the sound. They had to fight their way through the masses fleeing in the opposite direction. Finally, they managed to break free of the crowds. In front of them lay the small park where families had done activities all day. Everyone who could had already fled the area, but several people were tangled up in webs or bleeding on the ground. Looming above the victims stood three gigantic spiders.