Torwin let out a satisfied groan as he stretched out in the hot spring. The water was doing wonders for his sore muscles with each passing minute, and the only way the experience could be better was if he’d had a cool mug of beer to toss back while he soaked. Unfortunately, Heldsmouth wasn’t the kind of place with high-end enchanting, and as tempting as it was, five thousand decarmas for a cup that could keep whatever was stored inside it at the same temperature just wasn’t worth it.

And that warm, spiced cider they have here just doesn’t hit right, not when I’m relaxing here.

He’d been here for months now, and, admittedly, the first few weeks had sucked. Finding pixies wasn’t easy, but his physical was so high that the hallucinations caused by inhaling the dust they shed with their wings couldn’t affect him. That simplified the whole process, and he’d made strong headway by the end of the first week. Clearing out the whole nest had taken the rest of the month, but pixies were a lot like bees, and a good smoke was all it took to subdue them.

Torwin had started a few fires, let them spread until the whole colony was knocked out, and then he’d finished things up and put out the flames before they could spread out of control. He’d known this job was supposed to be four or five months of misery, scrounging through the woods for signs of pixies and catching them one at a time, but he didn’t see much point in doing things the hard way.

Since no one was expecting him back for a few more months, and Heldsmouth had a small hot spring on the east side, he’d decided to just have himself a quiet vacation for a bit before returning home. The beer was tolerable, the monsters were few in numbers and low level besides, and the inn was surprisingly well furnished. About the only thing that could make things better was some good company.

“What are you doing?” a voice asked from behind him, startling Torwin so bad that he practically leaped out of the water.

“Morgus’s great hairy balls!” he swore, spinning in place to see Velik standing five feet away. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

And how did he sneak up on me? Did he level up even higher since the last time?

“I came to help you finish up your job. Imagine my surprise when I learned that you’d eradicated the pixies months ago.”

“Ah, uh, well… You see,” Torwin trailed off under Velik’s baleful gaze.

“Your guild sucks, by the way. Months and months of putting up with their crap, only for them to deny my advancement out of iron as some sort of political move.”

“You’re a bit new to be dealing with politics,” Torwin protested, but he saw the gold pin on Velik’s collar. “Ah, they forced a gold trial on you. What did you end up doing?”

“Swamp hydra.”

Torwin winced. “Oh.”

“So, I’ll ask again. What are you doing?”

This was not when I meant when I said I wanted some good company.

“I’m enjoying a good soak in this hot spring. When you get to be my age, you too will learn to take advantage of some extra leisure time between jobs.”

Torwin settled back down into the water, but now he was irritated and it just didn’t feel the same. With a sigh, he craned his neck to look back at where Velik still stood, motionless. “What do you want?”

“Jensen wants to recruit you for his first expedition as a [Vault Seeker].”

That explains why you’re here to ‘help’ finish up the job the guild stuck me with.

“No thanks,” Torwin said. “Too many people. Too slow. And the guild keeps all the good stuff anyway. Let some other gold-ranked fill one of those spots.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Velik walked around the hot spring to stand across from Torwin. The pool was only about ten feet wide, bordered by white granite stones and covered in a layer of steam. At its deepest, it was three feet deep, making it damn near perfect with the stone seats the locals had placed to sit on.

“There isn’t going to be any of that,” Velik said. “Jensen is planning a group of six, stacked with golds.”

“Why’s that?” Torwin asked. “Wait, let me guess. His father’s interference.”

“The guild’s, actually. They refused to support the expedition unless they could decide where it went.”

He went against the guild, huh? Good for him. It’s going to be dangerous though. They’ll try to stop him, and a few of them are underhanded enough to take a shot at him if they think they can get away with it. And of course he wants me to put my foot into that trap with him. Gods, kid, I’m not even your master anymore.

“I don’t think he realizes what he’s asking,” Torwin said. “It’s going to buy him a world of trouble, him and anyone else on board with his plan, which I’m assuming includes you.”

“I need his help to get through the border checks,” Velik said simply.

“Going out of the country? You know it’s not that hard to get around those, right?”

“I’m going to Slokara.”

“Oh,” Torwin said. That did change things a bit. They were a militaristic country and it was difficult to move freely, even with the proper paperwork. They also had a natural border in the mountains that circled the country, which made it far more difficult to sneak in. It wasn’t impossible, but Torwin could see the appeal to getting in legally. “What’s in Slokara?”

“A flesh beast, like the one I fought up north in the cave.”

“You think it’s tied to your friend,” Torwin said thoughtfully. “To what was done to him.”

“It’s possible. Morgus himself thinks there’s more to it.”

“The guild won’t be happy with you if you do this. Not only are you spitting in their eye helping someone they’re trying to control break free, but they like to keep tabs on where their golds are and what they’re doing.”

“Thus your unreported vacation, I assume.”

“Exactly.” Torwin’s irritation was fading now that the heat was soaking into his muscles. As much as it irked him that Velik had snuck up on him and was almost certainly ruining his time off, it was just too difficult to stay mad.

“I suspect Jensen plans on extracting so much money from this trip that, even splitting it between the rest of the team, he’ll no longer have to worry about trying to find financial backers or giving the guild control over his business. He’ll just go on trips, wherever and whenever he wants.”

“It won’t be that simple,” Torwin told the young hunter. “Politics never are. But it will be a good start for him.”

“Presumably, it will set up everyone who goes with him for life. Or at least enough to get that extremely expensive spatial storage device you said you wanted.”

Up to that point, Torwin hadn’t really had any plans to get involved. Unlike Velik, whom he suspected didn’t know or care much for the politics involved with defying the guild, Torwin knew exactly what kind of blowback he could expect if he participated in an expedition outside the guild’s jurisdiction when they were actively trying to leverage control over Jensen.

But he also knew the average haul a [Vault Seeker] could bring in, and it was measured in the millions. Even splitting it among a small team, it would be enough to get himself a pack or pouch, or maybe even one of those super expensive amulets or rings that things just disappeared into on command. Or to buy a nice cottage in a remote stretch of woods and just retire, like I keep saying I’m going to do.

Maybe it really was time to seriously consider that. The next generation was on the rise, most of the people Torwin had personally trained well into silver-rank with the guild now. Despite the problems its leadership had cooperating with each other, monster hunters did good, important work. That was why Torwin had stayed on all those years.

“Who else is on this team?” Torwin asked.

“According to Jensen, it will be six people. You, Jensen, Aria, a woman named Giller who works for one of the financial backers, Sildra, and myself. Sildra is being pitched as a monster tracker, but her real purpose there will be the fulfillment of her quest.”

Torwin’s eyebrows climbed up to his hairline. Aria and Giller are going to be in the same room? Gods, I wish I could be there to see it. If something hasn’t caught on fire by the time the conversation is done, I’ll eat my boots.

“I don’t think I like that look,” Velik said. “Why are you smiling like a crazed drunkard?”

“No, it’s nothing,” Torwin said. Despite his best efforts to school his expression, a grin threatened to break out again. “Alright, I’m in. I suppose we need to get back as soon as possible?”

“The sooner, the better.”

“We’ll leave in the morning then,” Torwin decided. “Go find yourself a room at the inn or a bush to sleep under, I don’t care which. I’m going to relax here and I don’t need you hanging around unless you’re getting in and can keep your mouth shut for the next few hours.”

Truth be told, a bit of relaxation probably would have done Velik some good, but Torwin wasn’t particularly surprised when the young man walked away without a word. He’s still wound just as tight as always. I bet Aria pisses him off every time she sees him, probably on purpose, too.

Now that he was alone, Torwin let himself start laughing. His former apprentice could not possibly have picked a better combination of personalities to clash with each other. It was going to be quite the show, and he couldn’t wait to see it.