Paul sighed, rubbing his forehead. ‘How am I meant to explain this?’ He threw Lanban and his wife a look, and the pair’s eyes fell to Jonn, who straightened up. The pair of Iyrmen led Jonn away to a place where his Half Elvish ears couldn’t pick up on what was about to be said.

Adam noted how they were removing witnesses from the situation, and he raised his brow to Paul.

“How did you know?” the Vice Master asked. “I am certain no one from the Adventurer’s Guild leaked anything.”

“How did I know what?” Adam asked.

“How did you know that they were here?”

“Ah, well…” Adam scratched his chin. “Fate? I didn’t expect to meet these four, actually. Well, I expected to meet Rojer and Redboulder, but I also expected to meet a Lady Sansant and Ylra.”

The two women blinked rapidly towards him, their eyes full of even more confusion.

Paul cleared his throat, feeling his ears turn red. “Why are you here to meet them?”

“To save the Princess, of course,” Adam said.

Paul hid his face in his hand, and the four stared at the Half Elf in disbelief. They exchanged looks between one another, trying to figure out if they should kill the Half Elf or not, but Paul hadn’t given any indications yet.

“How did you know about the Princess?” the woman in breastplate asked. She was even more shocked because they hadn’t confirmed the Princess’ existence to the Adventurer’s Guild.

“Fate, like I said,” Adam said. “Is she safe?” Adam turned to Rojer.

The four quickly shifted around, with Rojer in the back, and the Dwarf and the woman upfront, the Archer behind with her bow out.

“You can’t expect me to believe that,” the woman said.

“I don’t care whether you believe it, miss,” Adam said, rolling his eyes. “It was Fate. However, things do seem to be different. There should be a Lady Sansant, Ylra, who always fights with Redboulder, and Rojer, who carries the Merman Princess.”

The four stared at Adam, their hearts pounding wildly. He even knew the race of the Princess?

“How did you know that?”

Adam smiled. “Fate. You’ve got a cursed Princess on your hands, I believe she’s been cursed for about a year, or so? Either way, you want to cure her by finding Goldarb, and you’re going to head up to meet with the Giants to speak about an old alliance.” Adam paused. “Or perhaps you aren’t.”

The four remained staring at the Half Elf before them. They realised how futile it would be to kill this young man, since he probably was someone out of their reach.

“How do you know about the meeting with the Giants?” the woman asked. ‘The Princess and the Meeting? It wasn’t the Adventurer’s Guild, then, perhaps it was someone from back home?’

“Well, that doesn’t matter,” Adam said, waving his hand casually. “Vandra is dead so it should be safe for you now. I’m going to take my share of the loot, alright?” Adam smiled, before turning on his heel and quickly rushing over to the Dragon, rubbing along the scales to try and find the best.

The four turned to look at Paul.

Paul stared at Adam, his eyes narrowed, his face full of sickness. It was Paperwork Sickness, a sickness which usually affected the Vice Masters of the Adventurer’s Guild.

“Hey, I’m taking the heart too,” Adam called.

“You cannot!” the woman snapped quickly. “Excuse me,” she said, clearing her throat. “We thank you for your assistance, but we cannot allow you to take the heart.”

“Hey,” Adam said. “I saved your lives and you won’t even let me take the heart of the Dragon? How greedy!”

“We need the heart to save the Princess,” the woman replied. “You may take everything else but the heart.”

“Oh,” he said. “I needed the heart…” Adam sighed. “I get everything else?”

“Yes,” the woman said.

“You’ve put me in quite the awkward spot, but since it’s to save the little one’s life, I’ll let it go.” Adam rubbed his head. “I guess we’ll split the rest of this bad boy in quarters then.”

The other Half Elf stared at Adam.

“What? You want some too?” Adam narrowed his eyes.

“Who is that?” the woman asked Paul.

“He’s been following Adam for some time,” Paul replied. “He had duelled Adam, had sworn that he would swear himself to the young man, but then refused upon his loss. Now he’s been following us.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Why did you fight a dragon?” Jonn asked. “For the loot? You’re crazy.”

“You think I came all this way to fight a dragon?” Adam asked. “Are you out of your mind? If I had failed my save, I would have been dead.” He realised they wouldn’t understand what he meant. “Well, I mean, partly. I came to help out a group of old friends, and I also needed the heart for my future wife, but it seems I can’t have it.” Adam sighed.

“What happened here?” Sir Harvey called as he eventually appeared with the rest of the group.

Jurot looked at Vandra and then to Adam. “You slew the dragon?”

“No, no. I helped slay it, but I didn’t do much.”

Jurot slowly nodded. He understood that Adam must have done much, but he was too humble, or too awkward to accept the case. He would hear from Lanban and Aizaban.

“You abandoned the escort,” Sir Harvey said, shaking his head.

Adam looked to Sir Harvey, raising his brow. “I killed a Dragon and that’s what you have to say?” He blinked. “Oh!” Adam slapped his forehead. “You were getting annoyed at me and now you finally have a reason to kick me out!” Adam threw his head back. “Well played.”

“You are no longer welcome within this escort, since it appears you do not care for it,” Sir Harvey said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Adam said, dismissively. “Oi, you guys, make sure you see the quest through, alright? Since I’m out of the quest, I’ll head north to finish up some business.” Adam recalled Entalia had gone to speak with the Giants about a certain matter.

“It was not just you who was contracted, Adam,” Sir Harvey said.

Adam stared at Sir Harvey long and hard. “What do you mean?”

“I am failing your entire party.”

“Hold on!” Adam snapped. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What do they have to do with this? They remained behind to protect you, while I went ahead!”

“You have started too many issues in this group, and you had dared to abandon us, ignoring my command.”

“Started too many issues?” Adam narrowed his eyes. “Like what?”

“You disrupted the cohesion of the group several times, and you showed a blatant disrespect to Nobility, and fled away while there was a Dragon nearby which threatened us.”

Adam’s brow throbbed, his eyes growing wider and wilder. He blinked hard, unable to comprehend what he was hearing. He threw his head back, closing his eyes, trying to think. He wiped his brow.

“Vice Master Paul?”

“Yes?” Paul said, wondering what kind of trouble Adam was going to get him into.

“Can I trust you to be a witness?”

“You may?” Paul said. He wouldn’t be needed as a witness if Adam was going to do something terrible. ‘Right?’

Adam had been more than willing to accept punishment for his actions. What Sir Harvey said was technically true, and he did mess about a little too much. However, now that Sir Harvey had brought in his entire party, and had threatened them, things had changed.

“Good,” Adam said. “Then, Vice Master Paul, I shall state what Sir Harvey has said. He believes it was I who disrupted the cohesion of the party, yes?”

“Right?” Paul said, understanding what the Half Elf was doing. ‘Well, as long as it’s like this, it should be okay.’

“I was a member of this group first, right?” Adam said. “I mean, you know, with you, Fate’s Golden, your lovely wife, her cousin, Sir Merrick, and the High Alchemist of Red Oak, right?”

“Yes?”

“You sound unsure.”

“It is true that you were a member of the original group from Red Oak.”

“Then, as a member of the original group, I stood by Sir Harvey’s side whilst on our journey. During which, I had someone draw their spear against me, and I beat the day lights out of them, didn’t I?”

“I assume you mean you bested them in combat?”

“Right, sorry,” Adam said. “Yes. I beat them.”

“That is true.”

“During the journey, since Red Oak, there was someone else who joined the party, and I will ask this. Was it they who drew their blade against me first, or was it I who drew my blade against them first?”

“You speak of Sir Dorian?” Paul asked.

“I wasn’t going to mention names, but since you have, Vice Master Paul, yes, that is the one who I speak about. Was it he who drew his blade against me first?”

“Yes.”

“So it was he who disrupted the group cohesion which had already been established?”

“If that is what constitutes disrupting the group cohesion,” Paul said.

“I would say so, since I’m sure whatever I did wasn’t quite as bad as drawing my blade against someone of the group upon hearing their race.” Adam smiled. “Right. Now who was it that wished to bring Sir Dorian?”

“It was Sir Harvey.”

“Did I warn Sir Harvey about bringing Sir Dorian with us? That we shouldn’t bring him along?”

“That is correct.”

“Again, who was it that brought Sir Dorian again?”

“Sir Harvey.”

“This is pure sophistry!” Sir Harvey said.

“Now, now, Sir Harvey. You may have your time to speak after we establish the facts of the matter,” Adam said. “It’s good to speak of the truth before it is distorted. So, we have established that Sir Harvey brought along someone who, within moments of meeting me, drew their blade against me, a member of his group since the beginning, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Good, good, I was just making sure that those were the facts,” Adam said, smiling. “Does Sir Harvey believe I have spoken a lie?”

“No,” Sir Harvey said. “Though you haven’t mentioned how you aggravated Sir Dorian during the evening meal.”

“Oh, I am ever so glad you mentioned that,” Adam said, perhaps a little too excitedly. “Actually, I was waiting for it, because that was a trap.” Adam winked. “So, Sir Harvey says that I aggravated Sir Dorian during the evening meal. Right?”

“Yes,” Paul said.

“Now, it is quite interesting to me that Sir Harvey, who is a respectable High Alchemist of Red Oak, is not going to mention that it was Sir Dorian who started aggravating me first. If I recall correctly, and perhaps I will not, in which case I will speak to Jurot, whose memory is far better than my own, that Sir Dorian mentioned that the presence of two Half Elves was an ill omen, or a bad omen, or something of the sorts as we settled for camp.” Adam smiled. “Do you remember this, Jurot? Or perhaps Sir Dorian, are you willing to admit to that?”

“I remember,” Jurot said.

“How is that aggravating?” Sir Dorian said.

“Do you admit to it?”

“I am certain I said something along the lines of those words, yes,” Sir Dorian said. “Two Half Elves are an ill omen, and we came across a Dragon some days later, did we not? How can it be aggravating if it’s true?”

Adam smiled. “I just wanted to confirm that, but thank you for mentioning the Dragon, we’ll get to that in a moment. So, Vice Master Paul, we have established that Sir Harvey is blaming me about the disruption to group cohesion when Sir Dorian started it both times.”

“What of the dragon?” Sir Harvey said.

“Oh, yes, the dragon!” Adam said, clapping his hands together. “Do you hear that?” Adam turned to the four who were friendly with him in his previous life. “He said that I fled away while there was a Dragon which threatened him!”

Adam’s laughter began to fill the forest, and for a moment, it turned into howling as the heat filled his head, and for a moment the thought about drawing his blade to attack Sir Harvey crossed his mind, before he inhaled deeply, cutting his laughter short, and sighed.

“I now know why they call you High Alchemist,” Adam said, “’cause you're smoking some good fucking shit.”