“Dunes, come with me back to the Iyr,” Adam said, looking to the Aswadian priest. “You should come and see them on their first birthday.”

“Adam, I…” Dunes almost tilted his head. He stared at Adam, long and hard. He wanted to refuse. The first time Dunes had met the little Goblin babies, he had threatened to kill them. It was the first time Adam had ever threatened him, not as a joke, but with every intent to beat him down. Now he was spending a thousand gold each month in order to get him to visit them on their first birthday. ‘…’

“I’ll put up the gold for them to search until Dawnval passes,” Adam said. “Then we’ll head back to West Fort and we can spend the entire year searching for your friend. I’ll help, and whoever else wants to help will help too.”

Dunes sighed. He reached up to rub his eyes. “Adam. Seriously…”

Adam smiled innocently towards the Aswadian priest.

Rick sighed too, leaning back as he gave up. The other farmers exchanged looks with one another too. Remy and Jeremy decided just to act normal, deciding to ignore everything they had heard in order to be able to sleep well that evening. Lady Sara and Korin exchanged looks between one another too, though they weren’t certain what they should think.

Jonn sipped his wine slowly, pouring some for Fred, the young Aldishman raising his cup to the Half Elf in thanks, the pair just enjoying their drinks calmly while the others did their best to understand Adam. They had long decided against trying to understand what Adam was.

Once the group was done with eating, they returned back to the guild, in order to put some space between themselves and the inn.

Nirot stared up at the ceiling above her in her room. When she had first met Adam, she had believed him to be an idiot, a charlatan. When he had beaten her, he had earned her respect for being a decent fighter, but she didn’t truly believe any of his words. However, as the years passed, she realised what Adam was.

Naqokan stared at the ceiling in her own room, wondering how she could manage to win the Half Elf’s heart. She was his Cousin, which seemed to put some distance between them in that particular way. ‘No. Is it because I am an Iyrman?’

Korin stared at the ceiling too, his thoughts remaining on Adam. A thousand gold a month? A thousand gold was more than a decade’s worth of work for poorest of their land. The average wage was roughly ten to fifteen gold, and much of that went to taxes. Adam could spend a hundred people’s salary every year to find their friend, Amira? All because of Dunes?

Jaygak sipped her wine slowly, leaned up against Kitool. “I can’t believe it. How can he be this stupid?”

“Adam is Adam,” Kitool replied.

Jaygak sniffled. “How can he do this to us? He’s bullying us too much.”

“He enjoys bullying you.”

“How can he enjoy bullying Dunes more? I thought he was my friend like that! Aren’t I his friend, Kitool?”

“You are.”

“Am I?” Jaygak asked. “That idiot, he’ll spend thousands of gold on us, and he’ll even spend more than ten thousand for Dunes. Dunes! He’s not even an Iyrman!”

“Dunes is his friend.”

“He’s no Iyrman. The Iyr, we’ve already done so much for Adam. Still, he’ll spend all that money on Dunes?”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Adam will do more for the Iyr,” Kitool assured. “He has already done so much. What of Churot? Did Adam not also help our Cousin?”

“…” Kitool remained silent for a long while. “Kitool. Am I really his friend?”

“Do you think you are?”

Jaygak remained silent for a long while, thinking about all that she had done for Adam. Adam, who had done so much for her, but what had she done? She had struck him once when he had said something terrible, not crazy, but terrible. Still, that was all she had managed to do for him.

“I’m a terrible friend, Kit.”

Kitool rubbed Jaygak’s back. “I do not think so.”

‘Is it really weird to spend ten thousand gold?’ Adam thought. ‘It’s only about a million quid or something, right? Plus, I have fifteen thousand, so even if it’s for an entire year, can’t I make the money once I return back to the Iyr? I could spend a bunch of time making magical weapons, and once the Duchess places an order, I can probably increase the amount of time by a year…’

Jurot crossed his arms, thinking about how far Adam was willing to go for Dunes. Was it really just to get Dunes indebted to him? It didn’t really seem like it was because of that.

‘Adam is Adam.’

Omen: 1, 18

“Morning Bill,” the middle aged woman at the guild’s food counter said to the young Aldishman. “Had a nice morning?”

“Can’t complain,” the thin middled aged farmer replied, watching as the guild workers passed him for his cart of wheat. “Took a swim in the morning. Sea was a bit cold, but woke me up right. I let Kara know to bring some kippers a little later.”

“Always so kind of you.”

“Though I should mention, I’ve been hearing rumours about the slaves in the mines. They say the slaves might have a chance of early freedom if they manage a certain quota, or if they choose to join the army. Heard it doesn’t matter if you’re Aldish or Aswadian. Apparently, it’s being offered to the Horcs and Devilkin too.”

“Oh?” The woman replied. “Must be because of the King’s army?”

“If I had to take a guess, that’d be it.”

“Thanks for the info, we’ll add that to our register,” the guild worker said.

“Of course.” Bill bowed his head and left.

‘Devilkin?’ Dunes thought. ‘There’s no way that Amira would be a slave, not unless…’ Dunes raised his brows, realising that it was the most obvious place to look. ‘Of course! The mines!’

“The mines?” Adam said after breakfast. “I suppose that makes sense?” Adam wasn’t sure about the slavery issue in the land. He hadn’t seen any from what he had seen of the land, but he supposed if they worked out of sight, it made sense. “Hmmm. I think you should take Sir Vonda with you, just in case. I should head to the bank to ready the gold.”

“I’ll ready the gold,” Jaygak said. “I received an extra thousand and a half gold from an idiot that I don’t need, so I’ll do that.”

“Being an idiot is my thing, Jaygak,” Adam replied. “No, I guess it’s your thing too?”

Jaygak sighed, but let it go as a small smirk appeared on her lips. “It’s not like it was really my money anyway.”

“It was given to you so it’s your money.”

“Then I’ll spend my money however I want.”

“…” Adam watched as the Devilkin left, taking Kitool with her. “You know, maybe I should beat her up. If she takes being an idiot away from me, then what do I have? Other than my adorable children, my dashing good looks, my wonderful heart, and being the most humble of the group?”

Jurot almost let slip a smirk at the joke, but was acutely aware of the eyes on him. The group made their way out, and Jurot could spot a young man adorned in dark robes, his hood hiding much of his face.

As they turned onto a main road, a pair of workers, carrying large sacks of wheat, walked across from them.

“You hear about the Devilkin in the mines? They say she’s a worshipper of Lady Arya. Can you imagine that? A Devilkin worshipping Lady Arya? Next you’ll tell me the sun is going to fall down from the sky.”

Dunes blinked, his eyes snapping to Adam suspiciously, before seeing Adam’s shocked face, his eyes meeting Dunes in return. Dunes swiftly marched over towards the workers, who could see an angry Aswadian marching up to them.

“Excuse me!” Dunes almost shouted towards them. “You were talking about a Devilkin who worshipped Lady Arya.” Dunes pointed to his amulet, revealing the symbol of the Goddess, which caused the workers to relax slightly. “Can you please tell me more about what you know?”

“I heard there was a Devilkin in the mines who said she was a worshipper of Lady Arya,” one worker said. “Heard she was from an order or something?”

“Where did you hear this?”

“I just heard it about,” the man replied, shrugging his shoulders. “I heard about it before, about some Devilkin in the mines. I heard this morning it was someone who was worshipping the good Lady.”

“Thank you so much for the information,” Dunes said, scrambling for his pouch, before handing the pair a gold coin each. “May Lady Arya bless you.”

“Oh, well kind of you,” the workers replied, bowing their heads.

Dunes met Adam’s eyes, who was staring into the sky, all the while thinking about how unlucky the day would be.

‘Am I going to die today?’