Lan watched what he had said work its way through the minds of Locke and the others. At this point, it was just a matter of fact that he had a bond with a Wisp of all things, but he owed them a moment knowing how long it had taken him to get used to it, not that he was completely used to it.

After a moment, Vulk burst out laughing before pushing past the others and wrapping Lan in a hug.

‘Oh light, Lan, next time we let you out of our sight, you’ll come back married to a dragon. Oh, how I missed you.’ The dwarf said, lifting Lan off the ground and making Tyr fly frantically around the two of them.

‘I missed you too. Now stop before you break a rib!’ Lan wheezed as Vulk squeezed him a little too tightly.

‘Hey, you blockhead! Can’t you see that he is hurt?’ Vasha chastised, making the sheepish Vulk gently set him down.

‘Much appreciated.’ Lan smiled first at the dwarf and then at the archer, who blinked before looking away.

‘So it… she is just following you now?’ Drevin asked, getting everyone back on the same page.

‘Yeah…’ Lan said, not knowing how much to get into, and judging by the way that the other groups were now looking at him, he decided it was better to keep most of it under his hat for now, at least until they could talk more privately.

‘That’s not a real Wisp; everyone knows that Wisps can’t be controlled.’ Someone said from his left.

‘Yeah, and we would all have a luck buff being this close.’ Another added, getting laughs from around the room.

‘What a joke. I bet he failed his job and came up with the story to save face.’

‘Yeah, I bet he thinks if the story is good enough, he can weasel some more coin from the guild.’ More laughter from around the hall rang in time with the darkening expressions of Locke and the others.

‘I’ll give him something to laugh at.’ Sora growled and looked around to start a brawl in the hall. The gesture was touching, and if Lan cared what those other groups thought about him, then seeing it would put a stop to that.

‘Don’t worry about them,’ Lan smiled, and it was Sora’s turn to look away after blinking at him. Maybe there really was something on his face, Lan thought.

‘Wasn’t his job to pick Silk Flowers? How did he end up facing shadow monsters?’ a female voice asked to a round of laughter, which reminded Lan of the job he had taken.

‘Right, about that…’ Lan said, nodding to Locke and the others before heading up to the main desk, finding them fall in behind him as if worried that someone would make a move at him.

As always, Mari was at the desk and had heard everything up until then. So Lan wasn’t sure if it was because of that or the shape he was in that made her look at him worriedly as he approached.

‘I’m so sorry!’ Mari cried, almost hitting her head on the desk as she bowed.

Surprised, Lan jumped back, ‘I thought we agreed not to do that anymore.’ He said quickly, looking around to ensure no one thought he was picking on the girl. Instead, he found that half the hall, the half that seemed to hate him, had gathered around. With Locke and the others, the only thing keeping them from him.

‘I know, it’s just…’ she started before looking up at him. ‘A few hours after you left, an order was called to take down the Silk Flower job.’

As the gathered adventures started to laugh, Lan reeled like he had been punched in the gut.

‘What?’ was all he could manage. After everything he had been through, the flowers were the least of his concerns, but having them mean nothing killed him inside.

‘Apparently, the flowers have become so hard to find right now that the standing order doesn’t reflect the urgency, so the order was removed.’ She said, wincing as the laughter got louder. ‘Sorry…’ she finished in a small voice.

‘Don’t be.’ Lan smiled weakly. ‘You have nothing to be sorry about.’ Lan really wanted to meet the person who should be sorry, but that person wasn’t Mari; in any case, he still had the ears.

‘What an idiot.’ He heard someone call over the laughter as Lan was let in on the joke.

They thought he had made up the story about the darkness because he hadn’t been able to find the flowers and was trying to save face. It didn’t matter as Lan was sure that the lack of Silk Flowers had everything to do with the Tear being unable to rejuvenate the forest, something else he could use to back up his story to the only person that mattered.

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‘Don’t worry, the job will be marked as having been completed, so you won’t get penalised for it.’ Mari said, which was good, at least.

‘I guess that will have to do.’ Lan smiled. ‘Oh, is the standing order for goblins still open?’

At this, Mari perked up, ‘It is!’ in fact, more goblins have been spotted, so the price on their heads has gone up.’ She added, retrieving a tray from under the desk.

‘Great.’ Lan smiled, happy to part with the unpleasant things even if they were in his Chest, which meant he hadn’t needed to touch them. For the same reason, Lan used a little mana and flexed his will, opening the Chest.

One by one, as ears rained into the tray, each seemed to rob the hall of a little more laughter.

‘Did Lan always have an Item Box?’ Locke asked.

‘That’s not an Item Box,’ Olivia answered.

When the ears stopped, leaving nothing but a pile of green and voices asking what was happening, no one seemed to find anything to laugh about anymore.

‘Oh my.’ Mari breathed.

‘Lan… how did you get all of those?’ Locke asked, clearly speaking for the whole party and the rest of the hall as a matter of fact.

‘Well, they didn’t really seem all that willing to give them to me when they were alive, so I killed them.’ Lan tried joking before shrugging when no one laughed.

‘Yeah, but how.’ Drevin added, backing up his leader. ‘You were level five when you left, and I’m sure you’re not the stealthy type.’

Looking around, everyone seemed interested, even if most looked like they were waiting for something they could catch him out on.

‘Well, I was out looking for Silk Flowers when I was attacked by a goblin knight. We fought for a while, and when I managed to kill it, I found a very unhappy goblin band waiting for me. With the help of my Wisp friend over here.’ Lan said, reminding them and rubbing it in a little. ‘I was able to lead them into a large hollow tree and set the goblins on fire when they followed me.

Before anyone, and by that, he meant Olivia, could ask him how when he didn’t know any magic. Lan cut a bit of the little Fire Silk he had and pushed mana into his thumb and forefinger. After a moment, the silk ignited, and Lan could have sworn he had burned half the hall's childhood toys with the way their faces fell. While Olivia seemed tickled pink at his little display of mana manipulation.

It wasn’t helped by Vulk, Sora and Vasha turning to grace the hall with their smug grins as if they had done it themselves.

‘Did you say a knight?’ Mari asked before anyone else could.

‘Yeah…’

‘Well, I don’t see any goblin knight ears here.’ She said, picking up the largest ears there, which he guessed belonged to the newly evolved knight, which was still smaller than they should be. ‘Could I see your tag, please.’ She added formerly before catching herself. ‘Not that I don’t believe you!’ she quickly cried, ruining the effect.

‘Yeah! I bet he came across the ears after someone else had killed them.’ Someone shouted, making Mari protest more strongly.

‘That’s fine.’ Lan smiled, handing over his tag before Vulk could lunge at the man who had spoken.

‘Great!’ Mari grinned gratefully. Thirty Goblins, three Goblin Knights and One Goblin Titan.’ She read off cheerfully before what she said hit her. ‘What!’ she cried loud enough to have the effect of shutting the gathered adventurers up.

‘Well, hopefully now you idiots can move on with your lives.’ A person that Lan recognised from the inn, who was part of a group that hadn’t come over, chirped, rubbing a little more salt into the wounds of the suddenly sour-faced adventurers.

‘You are going to have to tell us the full story later.’ Locke smiled as he grabbed Lan’s shoulders.

‘I didn’t even get to the crazy part.’ Lan said so only Locke and the others could hear. ‘But I’ll get a lot of practice telling the guild master first,’ he shrugged.

‘But still, the only way there can be three knights and a Titan in the same place.’

‘Would mean there really is a Goblin Swarm,’ Drevin finished.

‘Like I said, you no longer have to worry about the Swarm,’ Lan tried, and although they didn’t shoot him down, it was clear that they didn’t know what to believe.

‘Whatever is doing this, all that matters is that we are going to stop it.’ Locke said with so much certainty that Lan believed it.

‘Yeah,’ Lan answered, finding his will turn to steel. Whatever it was, he would return the order that was broken no matter what. ‘I just wish I knew what to do with these damn Silk Flowers.’ If there was a shortage, then he could make some real money from it, but if there was a restriction placed on them, he could be looking at some serious trouble if he was deemed trying to smuggle restricted goods.

‘Did you say you had some Silk Flowers?’ Mari asked as Locke and the others blinked at him.

‘Yeah, it was a pain in the ass, and it almost got me eaten by a Goblin Knight. But I was able to find a patch of them. I almost regret gathering them now, knowing that they are worthless.’ Lan said, taking away even a little magic from the forest as it was now. It left him feeling wrong in a way that Lan didn’t know he could feel. Maybe it was his new nature as a Light Mark or the pact with the Tear of creation?

‘Oh, I never said anything like that!’ Mari said quickly. ‘The standing order was taken down because it no longer reflected the job's urgency and the flower scarcity. A new critical order has been raised.’

‘What? Well then, why did you make it seem like the job had been cancelled.’ Lan said a little too spiritedly, making Mari jump.

‘I didn’t mean to. I just thought that, like most others, you wouldn’t have been able to find enough, if any.’ She answered in the form of an apology. ‘If you want, I can accept any flowers you could get at their new reward pay.’ Mari added, and Lan could feel the hearts of the adventurers gathered to see him fail, drop even without looking, which he did.

The sullen look of desperate hope was almost sad enough to make him not do what he did next. Holding his hand over the new tray, he watched them and opened the chest, letting the flowers fall.

As the silver flowers rained onto the new tray like snowflakes, it seemed to drag the mood of those gathered with them. He knew why they hated him. In their eyes, he had weaselled his way into one of the biggest shares of the guild job. And he knew they wanted to see him prove the fraud they thought he was. Nothing short of that would do. Just getting by as an adventurer would not earn their respect. And the fact that only those that didn’t like him had gathered made it undeniable.

Every flower was a spit in the face of those around him. So Lan let them fall, for there were a lot of them gathered.

The silence of victory ended abruptly as a booming laugh crashed through the hall.

‘Light and Stone, look at your stupid faces.’ Vulk cried as he pointed to the ones he found particularly funny.