Omen: 7, 15

Adam stretched, yawning as he did, before he stepped towards he window to look out. There he saw that the Adventurers were already eating their rations.

‘Did they do anything suspicious?’ Adam asked Zeus, who shook his head.

Adam brushed his teeth as he stared out to the Adventurers.

They noticed Adam looking at them, and shuddered. When the Half Elf waved at them, they quickly looked away, not wanting to acknowledge him.

“We should hire a Porter, and a proper Chef,” Adam said, cutting into some of the boar which had been well roasted the night before. “A Guard too? Multiple Guards? One for each of the civvies we bring along. They can help take watch too.”

“Then we’ll have to share our loot with them,” Lucy grumbled. “Why do we need to move with so many people?”

“We don’t have to share our loot with them, at the very least, not a full share,” Adam said. “We’ll pay them a fixed rate for each day and give them all a very small cut of the loot. They could be useful. Having extra hands on deck for when shit hits the fan, you know?”

“No?” Lucy replied. “What does that mean?”

“It means when things go bad.”

“Eh,” she replied.

“It means we can sleep longer on the road,” Adam offered.

“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad.” Lucy thought about how little sleep she was currently getting. ‘Even in the Iyr I could have a lovely nine hours.’

“Once we earn enough, we could get a wagon and everything,” Adam said. He thought about what he could do in the future once he was strong enough. ‘My own little keep? No, no. Why do I need a keep? Unless I can have one near the Iyr?’

Adam smiled, thinking about that potential future.

A wife. Children who would play in the fields. Guards to make sure everything ran fine and protected his family. Assassins who he had trained to kill anyone who decided to have any dark thoug-

He shook his head.

‘Assassins? Come on, bro. Who do you think you are, a King or something?’

“Are we going to adventure by veering off the main road?” Jurot asked, biting into the roasted boar.

“Should we?”

“If we do, we should hire Porters and Guards,” Jurot sipped some of his water, narrowing his eyes seriously. “It is dangerous to take paths which are not the main road.”

“We did well up to this point,” Adam said.

“That is because you were with three Iyrmen,” Jurot said. “Now there is one, or at least, that is what others will think.” He motioned to his tattoo. “One Iyrman is fine to fight, and they will leave me alive, even if they take everything from me. You and Lucy?” Jurot shook his head.

“I see,” Adam said, staring at the Iyrman’s eyes. “Then I guess we should hire more people. I’ve brought along enough money that we should be fine.”

“How much money is in the party funds?”

“Over seven hundred, and I brought quite a bit with me,” Adam said.

Jurot nodded his head. Adam was the kind of guy to carry around a thousand gold on his adventures.

“I’ll figure it out,” Adam said, going into thought, finishing his breakfast.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The group moved together, the newbie adventuring party up ahead of them, within the watchful sight of Fate’s Golden.

“We should reach Red Oak by evening, right?” Adam asked.

“No,” Jurot said. “Tomorrow evening.”

“Oh?” Adam said. “Really?”

“Did you count the days from leaving Main Iyr or Front Iyr?”

“Main Iyr,” Adam said.

Jurot nodded. “It is a week from Front Iyr.”

“Oh,” Adam said. “Right. Oops.”

“Isn’t there going to be something which fights us?” Lucy asked. “Wasn’t there some kinda thing in the forest before?”

“There are times we will move peacefully between towns, and there are times we will be assailed daily,” Jurot said. “It is how these things work.”

“So it’s up to Fate?” Adam mused.

Jurot nodded.

Adam smiled.

Lucy sighed.

The late afternoon sun shot down towards them, though the chill of Nightval was upon them still. The small outpost where Adventurers could sleep soon welcomed them.

“Hey, make sure to set up watches properly,” Adam said to the newbie group.

“We will deal with this ourselves,” James replied. “It is you who should be careful.”

“Of what? A bunch of babies crying in the night?” Adam scoffed. “If you need your clothies changed, I’ll come by and help you. I’ve got a little bit of practise.”

James ground his teeth together, but Fiona placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head to stop him from reacting.

Adam chuckled. “God, I’m such an asshole.” He kept chuckling.

“Should we remain here instead of finding something to eat?” Jurot asked. He noted how Adam was aggravating the other group, and even if he was an Expert, remaining behind with the party would be difficult.

“I’ll be fine,” Adam said. “I’ve got Zeus with me. If they start anything, I can just Fireball them.”

“You are very casual about killing them, Adam,” Jurot said.

“That won’t kill them,” Adam said, dismissively.

“Yes, it will,” Jurot said. “It would kill all of them, unless they are somehow able to defend from most of it, then perhaps one or two of them will survive.”

Adam stared at Jurot. “Really? They’re that weak?”

“Yes,” Jurot said.

Adam thought about it. “Oh. Right.” He forgot how fragile anyone at the lowest Level. “I wasn’t really going to Fireball them.”

“What were you going to do?” Lucy asked.

“I have Shield, Chaos Bolt, Flame Bolt, you know? I could get to them pretty quickly and just beat them up with Phantom,” Adam said, shrugging his shoulders. “Maybe I should summon my tower first and then you guys can go?”

Lucy rolled her eyes.

Mana: 18 -> 15

Spell: Adam’s Tower

Adam spent a short time summoning his tower before the pair left. ‘Should I bathe really quick?’ He frowned. ‘Nah, I’d have to rush, and I probably shouldn’t get caught with my pants down.’

Adam looked out the window, staring down at the Adventurers, who were eating their rations.

They looked up at him, and he waved down towards them, before they looked away.

“We could probably take him,” James said.

“No, he knows Fireball,” Mikayla said.

“I still can’t believe he knows that spell. If we can rush him while he’s bathing, we’ll be able to beat him up.”

“He won’t bathe yet, probably,” Mikayla said. “He’s not that dumb.”

James grumbled. “When we get back to Red Oak, we’ll have the Guild deal with him.”

Eventually, Jurot and Lucy returned, with a number of small beasts, as well as wild fruit and vegetables Jurot found.

“I wonder what the charm trap was for,” Adam said. “I doubt it was for some random baby Adventurers.”

“How are we meant to figure it out?” Lucy asked. “We didn’t manage to catch anything. We should just leave it to the Guild, since they’re the one’s who would be most interested.”

“Right,” Adam said. “Just wanted to make some conversation…”

Eventually they turned in to bathe and sleep, with Hades and Zeus taking watch as previously, and the trio taking watches themselves. Due to the fact there was only three of them, it meant they had to rest longer, which is why the Adventurers were able to eat their rations first.

When Fate’s Golden awoke the next morning, they found the Adventurers had slipped away during the night.

“Why didn’t you catch them?” Adam asked Zeus.

‘Left in night. Not come close.’

Adam rubbed his forehead. “Right. I guess I did tell you to inform me if they made their way over, not if they dipped out…” He shook his head. “Well, it doesn’t matter, I guess. We’re already so close to Red Oak, so they probably made their way to the town.”

Fate’s Golden packed up and headed towards Red Oak, which came into sight after a few hours.

“What small walls,” Lucy said.

“Right? We were spoiled whilst in the Iyr. Red Oak isn’t anywhere near as good.” Adam sighed. “No cute little sister either.”

“Mara will be disgusted by your love of Lanarot,” Lucy said.

“I’m not so sure if I should believe that,” Adam said. “Mara seems like a great woman. Are you jealous?”

“Jealous? Of what?” Lucy’s nostrils flared.

Adam smiled.

“Adam. What would I be jealous of?” Lucy narrowed her eyes towards him.

“Nothing,” Adam replied.

Eventually they came across the Guards of Red Oak, in their chain, with their spears in hand. “Halt!”

“Yo,” Adam said, reaching into his pouch.

“Hands where I can see them!” the Guard shouted.

Adam froze, raising his brows.

“Man in purple armour, puthral, with an Iyrman and a Devilkin. Sounds like he fits the bill, don’t he, Bill?” the Guard asked.

“I see him with my own two eyes, aye,” Bill said, nodding his head.

‘Uh oh.’