Cruel, uncaring sunlight from a spiteful window stabbed into his eyelids, heralding his body's death and the beginning of Lan’s life as an animated undead. Ogres knuckled his temples as he became more aware of the death of every fibre of his being. Lan rolled over, trying to escape the light.

[New status effect: Hangover]

‘Light, It feels like every organ in my body is throwing up.’ Lan had made many mistakes in his life, but at that moment, none lived up to the mistake of thinking about the word vomit. Faster than his mind could think, he was on his feet and heading for the door, but as Lan threw it open, he was greeted by a hallway he didn’t recognise.

Luckily Lan picked the right end of the hallway, and the door at the end of it led to a roll of stalls. After far longer than he would like to admit, Lan crawled back to the room he had been in, knowing which one it was because he had left the door open.

The room was ragged yet homely. With a large, sturdy bed and a desk with a mirror on which his gear had been left. A wardrobe stood next to a door that Lan had not noticed before, and he would curse the Lords of Light if it was a bathroom. There was also a window, which he threw open and took in some deep breaths. Below, the street was alive.

The smell of fresh bread reminded him of the promise to himself that he had broken and of the bowl that Leah had brought only for the others to steal. Only then did it dawn on him that this had been their goal the whole time.

‘Light damn them all.’ Lan groaned, feeling the urge to throw up again. Instead he leaned against the window and watched those below. Vendors shouted about how much better their items were compared to their neighbours. Merchant wagons slowly rolled over the carved track in the street while women gossiped and street urchins played with children that had escaped from their mother's apron strings.

It was odd. Not too long ago, a scene like this would have felt chaotic to Lan, but now, after watching the battle with the razer wolves. It just left Lan feeling nostalgic and greatly improved his mood. That was until he readied himself to leave and had to fight the urge to just crawl to the door, stopping when he noticed the coin pouch sitting on the desk.

Lan Picked it up. It seemed much heavier than last night. Lan almost looked at himself in the mirror for a moment. But when another urge to throw up came on, he crawled back to the window to gulp in the air.

From the sign hanging just below his window, Lan knew he was still at the silver maiden, so he guessed that he had somehow paid for the room. He thought about taking his gear, but any more weight, and he was sure he would keel over. So Lan left his armour and spear as he worked his legs toward the stairs, using the wall to support himself.

Reaching the main hall, he braced himself for the aftermath of the last night. Instead, he found a pristine inn, the warm smell of chestnut mixed with the sweetness of cured ham and rock tea in the air.

‘Oh, Lan. You're finally up?’ Lan looked to the bar and found Leah behind it, smiling. ‘Although you look pretty rough, you know nothing is stopping you from sleeping in today.’

‘Morning, Leah,’ Lan mumbled as he walked over and took a seat. ‘I would love to, but I have a few things I need to deal with.’

‘It’s noon, and it’s good to see that you are motivated, but you are going to need a bath.’ She said with a knowing smirk. ‘I’ll have one brought to your room while you eat?’ she turned.

‘About that,’ Lan said, wincing at someone on the other side of the room dragging a chair along the floor, ‘how exactly did I get a room.’ Leah’s green eyes were a play of mischief.

‘Oh, so you don’t remember,’ she batted her eyes at him. Like a child proud of knowing a secret. ‘Don’t worry, someone has already paid for a week for you,’ she said before spinning and vanishing into the kitchen

A few minutes later, she returned with a plate, as a girl Lan hadn’t seen before walked passed without even looking his way as she headed up the stairs with a tub.

‘Here you are,’ she said, placing the plate in front of Lan before lifting her longbow from behind the bar. ‘You said you have things to do today, but I would suggest not trying to take any jobs when you are not feeling well. Although, be sure that you do tomorrow.’

‘Why is that?’ Lan looked from the plate.

‘There is a minimum number of jobs you need to do every week in order to not face penalties. Well, unless you’re on a job that takes you longer than a day, you are expected to have at least three jobs a week, and you have four days left.

Alright, see you around.’ With that, she was gone, and Lan was left to watch in awe as she did. The endless stamina that levelling granted was one thing, but where did she get all the willpower and drive from.

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‘You are looking a bit hard, don’t you think?’ Turning at the new voice, Lan was greeted by a mountain of muscle masquerading as an innkeeper with the same warm brown hair as Leah and a close-cut beard. He was dressed in a simple light brown shirt: which seemed a little too small around his rolled-up sleeves and chest, a pair of dark brown trousers, and an apron. Around his neck were an adventurer’s tag and an innkeeper's class item; a gold ring looped through the adventures tag, which had turned black to show his retirement.

‘Oh, you must be Leah’s father.’ Lan said before what the innkeeper had said registered. ‘Oh no, I was just admiring her amazing ability to work here and as an adventurer at the same time.’

‘You trying to say that I am overworking her.’ He grunted as he narrowed his eyes at Lan and frowned.

‘What? No. If anything, I would say I'm a little jealous,’ Lan smiled and got nothing back from the large man who stared at him like the wooden floor behind him was far more interesting and that he couldn’t believe Lan was rude enough to block his view.

‘Your food is getting cold.’ Taking the hint, Lan shut up, started eating, and was happy to do so. Everything was incredible. It may have had something to do with the worst hangover of his life or the fact that he hadn’t eaten since the previous day, but he had never enjoyed eggs and cured ham as much as he was. He was still revelling in the first bite when his fork scraped along an empty plate, and Lan looked down disappointed.

‘Ah, I couldn’t get another plate, could I?’ Lan asked Leah’s father, who had started drying steaming glass mugs. He placed the mug down and walked into the back without a word. Lan didn’t know why, but It seemed like he had done something to upset the man.

‘First one comes with the room.’ the large man said, placing the plate in front of Lan and taking the hint, he reached into his pocket for some of the few coppers he had left and handed five pieces over, with a grunt the innkeeper picked up the money.

‘Oh, I am Lan, by the way.’ he tried.

‘I heard.’ Leah’s father said back, looking Lan in the eyes for the first time, and the obvious finally hit him.

He was once an adventurer who ran an inn for adventurers. There was no way that he didn’t know about Lan by now. And although he was too nice or professional to say it, he didn’t like Lan or what he had done.

Lan ate the second plate, thankful for more food but not tasting it. He should have expected this. Even if Locke and the others had warmed up to him, others wouldn’t be so easy to come around. When he was done eating, he paused before asking the question on his mind.

‘Thanks, but if you don’t mind me asking, do you know who paid for my room?’ Leah’s father raised an eyebrow as he stared at Lan as if trying to decide if he was joking or just an idiot. And then he gave a look that made Lan decide that he better leave. ‘I’m going to go now.’

After a bath that left him feeling like he had gained another level, Lan stepped outside. Lan thought through what he had to get done. First, he decided it was about time he learned how much he had received from the guild job. Retrieving the coin pouch and opening it, Lan immediately shut it as a cold sweat ran down his back. With the bag held tight in his hand for fear that the magic illusion might vanish, Lan called out his tome.

After linking with his guild tag, a contract logs page appeared in the book.

[Adventurer Landrin, member of Hall of the Wild Hunt].

Rank; Drill: recruit.

Active Contracts: none.

[Completed Contracts: One.]

Focusing on that, Lan was given more information.

[Guild contract: Subjugate Razer Wolves horde.]

Kills credited: 74.

Kills made: 0

[Reward: 50 gold Dragons.]

Lan breathed soberly and looked back at the coins. It wasn’t even for confirmed kills,

[Notice. The Umbral Fox adventuring party uses an equal share of the reward rule. Although you were only a temporary member, the party agreed to give you a full share.]

Even while reeling from the amount of gold he was holding, the new information moved him

Fifty gold. He had made fifty gold for just stabbing some wolves. Turning back to his tome, Lan found more information.

[Total team kill bonus x3: This Bonus is based on the team's contribution to the overall subjugate with the seventh most kills at 300 x Razerwolves, 20 x Razerwolf Seekers, 6 x Razerwolf Titans, 3 x Apex Razerwolves.]

No wonder many were upset with him, Lan breathed. He had stumbled into a literal gold mine.

Fifty gold… almost ten times what most workers would make a year. It was twenty gold more than his father had made in his best year before buying supplies. He had walked away with more money than most people would see in their life and his own life just because he had been placed with a strong team.

Fifty gold. With this, Lan was sure he could pay a merchant to mentor him until he got the title. Maybe Lan would still have enough left over to buy something that he could sell in another county, and even if he would get a lousy price buying and selling, with time, wouldn’t he be able to make enough money and experience to call himself a merchant? Without a moment's hesitation, Lan started towards Cawl’s shop.

There were no doubt easier paths he could take. Hell, if he wanted to, with fifty gold Lan could leave, move to a small village and let the world forget that he ever existed. But he had already made up his mind long before seeing the amount, and it was all thanks to Locke and the others.

Adventurers. Those who faced death to keep people safe. Doing so without a second thought as they had people just like themselves to back them up, and when the day was done, to know that those same people were there to share a drink. Even though it had only been for a short time. Lan couldn’t think of living any other way, though he was far from deserving. There was only one way that he had to find out if he ever would.

With his hand gripped tight around the coin pouch buried in his pocket, Lan made his way down the street, careful not to look like he was walking around with a fortune. As Lan tried to remember the way to Cawl’s shop, he saw a little girl running his way with a covered basket before she tripped. Reflexively, Lan reached out and caught her as the basket hit the ground.

‘Oh no…’ a small voice said.

‘Are you alright?’ Lan asked, looking over to the basket and frowning when he found nothing in it. Lan looked back at the girl just in time to see a hand brush past from the corner of his eye as the girl stuck her tongue out at him and vanished into the crowd. As cold realisation hit Lan, he slammed his hand over his pocket.

The coin pouch was gone…