The Adventurer’s Guild stood tall. The ground floor made of sturdy, smooth stone, the next three floors of imposing wood, each smaller than the previous, like a tiered cake. A handful of adventurers relaxed in the field to one side, some shooting their bows towards the targets at the back, while the other side held a smaller field, and another stone building connected to the side.

As Adam pushed open the heavy red wood doors, the smell of the meal filled his heart, that of a stew made of something an adventurer had slain recently no doubt, as well as potatoes and vegetables. To his right, adventurers drunk eagerly to relax, and to his left, adventurers played dice and card games, the wall of overflowing requests awaiting beyond them with told and untold riches.

“Good evening,” the tall, young woman called, with long red hair which draped past her shoulders and down her back. Her red shirt disappeared under the counter. Her freckled face smiled politely towards the oncoming adventurers.

“It’s good to see you again, Emma,” Adam said, nodding his head towards her. “Any rooms?”

“For adventurers, of course.”

Adam nodded. “I’d like to get…” Adam glanced over his shoulders, counting how many companions he had. “Three rooms, two doubles, if you don’t mind.”

“Would you like your room?”

“My room?”

“The room as part of our deal.”

‘Our deal?’ Adam replied. “Ah, well, I guess if Jaygak wants to stay in it?”

“We do require your services.”

‘My services?’ “Oh! Yes, of course, absolutely.” Adam smiled awkwardly towards the beautiful receptionist. ‘I really should review everything before I come out.’

Emma glanced between the five who had returned, noting how many looks the demons were gathering. ‘…’ Her eyes then fell to the corner, where a young Aswadian adventurer sat, a blade at his side. He reached for it and stood, his companions also standing.

A figure intercepted them, heavily armoured as she was, a mace at her side. She removed her helmet, revealing her tender smile. “Good evening.”

“Step aside, miss, we-,”

“I am Ray Vonda, of Life’s Rose,” Vonda said.

The adventurer, his face flashing with annoyance at first, paused. “You are a Ray?”

“I am.”

“You are too young.”

“I am blessed to have been considered for the position, and my task is to watch over my companions,” Vonda replied, noting the bronze trim along his clothing. “I hope you are willing to step back for the sake of the relationship between our orders.”

The Aswadians eyes glanced towards the pair of demons, before his eyes fell to the Ray once more. He glanced towards his Aldish companions, who motioned their heads back, and the Aswadian bowed his head, stepping away.

‘…’ Lucy let out a small sigh.

‘How annoying,’ Adam thought, recalling how he was in the same place a few years ago. ‘We should try and pass them off as devilkin, but I guess they can feel it due to their abilities?’

An older man with pale bronze skin, short salt and pepper hair, and dark eyes stepped into the guild from behind the receptionist. He wore a breastplate, stamped with the symbol of the Adventurer’s Guild, overlapping initials, and he carried a blade at his side. He noted the appearance of familiar faces within the guild, and he nodded towards them all.

“Vice Master Paul,” Adam called, reaching out to his forearm.

“Adam,” Paul replied, his eyes scanning across the others, greeting them politely.

“What a shame you couldn’t come to our wedding.”

“Unfortunately, the Guild required me here,” Paul said, letting out a familiar tired sigh.

“It’s always the Vice Master who needs to work the hardest, eh?” Adam joked.

A small smirk appeared across Paul’s lips. “The Guild Master works the hardest.”

Adam flashed a small smile. “Unfortunately, we’ll be unable to assist this year?”

“Why is that?” Paul asked, as though he didn’t know the answer.

“We’re escorting a very special guest.”

“Yes?”

Adam smiled wide, before shrugging his shoulders. “Well, I’ll leave you to your work.”

Paul nodded, allowing Adam and the others to step away, his eyes glancing across the rest of the guild, noting how awkward the air had become. Thankfully nothing had happened, and nothing would happen, for this was the Guild.

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The food at the guild was passable, as always, though the baths were much greater. Adam spent a while completing his task for the guild, casting his spell Identify as a ritual in order not to expend the Mana, though he hadn’t prepared the spell that day anyway.

Mana: 25 -> 22

Spell: Sending

Adam clutched at his cool obsidian amulet, muttering out the words to his spell as he motioned with a hand to call forth his priestly magic.

“Manager Dunes. We’ve made it safely to Red Oak. Nothing out of the ordinary to report.”

“Understood. Nothing out of the ordinary to report here.”

Adam dropped down onto the bed, sprawled against it as he let out a sigh. “Man, it is really awkward walking around with Lucy and Mara…”

Vonda brushed her hair slowly, collecting the falling hairs within a small bundle of cloth. “My title can keep many at bay, but there will still be those who will wish to press their claim because I am young.”

“Luckily we’re strong enough to handle most of them.”

“You asked Lucy and Mara to step back…”

“You know how Aldishmen are. They attack you and if you defend yourself, they call you a wicked fiend.”

“…”

“Not you, obviously, you’re one of the good ones.” Adam chuckled lightly at his joke.

Vonda lay beside Adam, the bed sinking slightly, causing Adam to draw closer towards her, not that he seemed to mind. She reached up to brush along his cheek, her fingers, equal parts rough and soft, brushed all along the contours of his jaw. “It will be difficult once we leave Red Oak.”

“Yeah.”

“Once we are within East Aldland, there are few who would challenge the authority of a Ray.”

Adam slowly nodded his head, pressing his cheek against her hand. “It’s not like Morkarai can help us either, since he’s a Prince…” Adam furrowed his brows. “Isn’t it bad for him to walk around with a pair of, you know?”

“He has already calculated the benefits.”

“The benefits?”

“Would he deny them when he wishes to become so close to you?”

“What’s so good about becoming close with me?”

“…”

“Okay, okay, sure, but he’s still a Prince.”

“He knows so much about you, and he already understands what kind of a being you are.”

“What kind of a being am I?”

Vonda tilted her head, her lips forming a small smirk. “A father who is a fool for his children, and a lesser fool for his wife?”

“Oh come on now, Vonda. Are you going to seduce me even here?”

“Will that change anything?”

“No.” Adam kissed along her neck, and the pair embraced one another for the night.

The five made their way through the market of Red Oak, the noisiness filling the air around them. As Adam procured all manner of tiny gifts for the children of the business, the children of the Iyr, and his own children. ‘I gotta be careful spending so much right now…’

“This book should be fine,” Vonda said, feeling the paper against her skin. “It would be good for writing and drawing, and some painting.”

“How much is it?”

“Two gold,” the merchant said, the dark skinned Aswadian grinning wide, the turban covering his long hair, though the thick beard did little to hide his wide smile.

‘Damn! I remember buying a bunch of books for a quid and now they’re a whole gold? I really should bring a revolution of some kind to this place, even if it isn’t against the nobles.’ “I’ll take two.” ‘I should have just bought some from the Iyr.’

Jaygak escorted Lucy and Mara through the market, allowing them to spend their own coin as they pleased, keeping an eye on their surroundings. Eventually the group returned back to the Guild, to keep Lucy and Mara out of trouble.

Lucy frowned, sitting in their room beside Mara, sighing. "We're not free in the Iyr. We're not free outside the Iyr. Where can we be free?” ‘At least the Iyr treats us fine.’

"They do not understand your majesty."

"What majesty?" Lucy glanced around their small room. "I'm just a dirty demon here."

"Only a few years and they shall know."

"Know what? This land is full of great towns and cities, a hundred thousand in each town at least. The armies I would need..." Lucy stared at the ceiling. ‘Even if I start a cult, just how much death will I have to bring? I’m no Iyrman.’ “I just want to live peacefully.”

“I will endeavour to allow you to live peacefully.”

“You should live peacefully too.”

“I will strive to live peacefully too.”

“Stop talking like that,” Lucy reached out to poke Mara in the side. “Talk like a normal person! You’re not the attendant of royalty any more.”

“You are from a long line of-,”

“I know, Mara, but that’s a different life. Here I’m no one. Here I’m just Lucy. I’m Lucy, a demon, who should just die.”

“I won’t allow anyone to kill you.”

“I won’t allow anyone to kill you either.” Lucy reached out to hold Mara’s hand. “We can’t be beholden to our past life any more.”

Mara squeezed Lucy’s hand reassuringly, the pair laying down beside one another in the large bed. ‘We can’t be beholden to our past life any more?’

Once they had spent their time in Red Oak, the group gathered themselves, resupplying for their journey eastward, deciding to follow the northern path through Aldland.

“I hope your journey is full of blood and wonder,” Amokan said, shaking Adam’s forearm.

“I hope your journey is full of peace and calm,” Adam replied, chuckling lightly.

“We eagerly await your stories,” Timojin said, shaking Jurot’s forearm.

“We eagerly await your stories too,” Jurot replied, shaking the young man’s forearm.

“I wonder if I’ll fight the Blade of the Tide again,” Jaygak pondered aloud, her hands on her hips, standing casually as though she wasn’t picking a fight with the pair.

“Perhaps I will defeat her before you?” Amokan joked.

“You should stick with battling Experts.”

Amokan grinned wide towards Jaygak. “You are so courageous, standing beside Adam.”

“I’m courageous standing beside Kitool,” Jaygak replied, her lips twitching into a smirk.

Kitool bowed her head towards the pair of Iyrmen, who she had defeated in the tournament.

The group made their way out of the town, while Amokan and Timojin waited at the gates to watch them leave, the pair of guards glancing towards the Iyrmen.

“What will they fight this year?” Amokan asked in their tongue.

“A dragon?” Timojin replied, only half joking.

“Jaygak will kill a Gryn eagerly.”

Timojin slowly nodded his head. “She has such rights.”

The pair of Iyrmen watched the party move towards the horizon, with each passing moments their bodies grew warmer and their hearts began to pound with anticipation.

‘We will need to work hard to match them.’

At noon, the party took a break to eat, and while Adam mourned the loss of Korin in their party, he checked his book over lunch.

‘I’m so glad you’re this smart, Jurot.’ Adam wrote down in his book the additional coin they had made as the upfront fee of taking in the order for the Countess of Red Oak. ‘Should we have ripped her off a little more? I feel like four thousand for each Basic Enhanced weapon is fine, but she’s a noble, right? We can probably ask for at least a few hundred, if not a thousand more? The Iyr doesn’t pay quite as much, but it is the Iyr too, so it’s not like I can charge them any more than that. Still, it’s pretty good. It takes twice as long to make Basic Enhanced than Basic weapons, but they sell of for about three to six times as much…’

Adam slipped his book into his robes once more, before he sipped away at his flavoured water. ‘We need to be careful now that we’re down two Iyrmen.’ His eyes fell towards Lucy and Mara, who were eating their food silently, each deep in thought. ‘We should be fine going through all those forts, right?’