It was a long, slow, and awkward wagon ride. The four of them- Simon, Mina, Lawrence, and Dianna, sat in silence within the luxurious wagon. Several times the driver paused and asked if he could offer them anything, showed them the drinks and food he’d brought along to give to them, and even attempted to start a conversation himself. Lawrence would join in, but the crushing silence of the other three quickly and soundly ended all attempts at small talk.

After hours that felt like years, the four arrived at their destination. They stepped out of the wagon, and onto the marble stone that surrounded the restaurant where they’d be meeting their client: Versal on the Water. Known throughout Eldenvale as the place to eat at for the upper class, each night nobles, trade barons, pirate captains, knights, and political leaders would all congregate here to savor in its delicious meals.

“Versal…” Simon said, which caught Mina off guard as he broke the silence. “It’s been… a long while.”

“Hah!” Lawrence laughed. “Of course you’ve been here before.”

Mina and Dianna looked at the two men, at the ragged and threadbare old man and the elegant and armor-clad young man. Mina chuckled to herself at the difference between the two.

“What’s so funny?” Lawrence mocked at the Yanu. She yelped, and stood at attention as though she’d just been chided by her own father.

“Nothing, nothing at all!” Mina replied, nervously.

Dianna silently departed from the group, and made her way towards the building.

“Hey- where the hell are you going?” Lawrence shouted as he jogged after her. “I swear, what is it with young people these days and making me chase them…”

“I’m going in to report. Even if we are early, it is common courtesy to let your client know as soon as you’re available.”

“Well… I guess you’re right,” Simon replied, and grabbed his overly-large pack and began to follow her in.

“I- uh, wait for me!” Mina chased behind the three.

Dianna introduced herself to the hostess, who acknowledged them and showed them to a table. Apparently, their client would be busy for some time, but they were free to help themselves to dinner- paid for by their client. Simon ordered seared griffin shanks, Mina ordered antlion legs, Lawrence ordered deep-squid calamari, and Dianna ordered plain rice. Once their orders were placed, the four were left alone to speak among themselves.

“...If no one’s going to say it,” Dianna broke the ice, “then I’m going to. This whole thing reeks of a bad deal.”

“What makes you say that?” Simon asked.

“The pay, the free ride, and now the free food, and we still don’t know what our job is? It’s all way too good to be true.”

“I did think the pay was really high,” Mina added. “But still, maybe they just really need this job done, and they really need us to do it? Like, they can’t get anyone else to do it?”

“That’s what I’m more concerned with,” Simon said. “Why did they reach out to us specifically?”

“I’m more worried about how.” Lawrence added. “I don’t know about you all, but I’m not an easy man to find. And despite that, someone on the other side of the nation tracked me down just to ask me to dinner? Seems too… romantic to me.”

“Romantic?” Simon chuckled.

“I see what you mean,” Dianna nodded. “It’s like something from a fairy tale.”

“That’s not what I-”

“It’s far too good to be true,” Dianna continued. “Like I said earlier. I’m worried that whoever our client is, they’ll try and lord these acts of ‘charity’ over us to make us take a bad job.”

“That still leaves the questions of why and how they got us for the job,” Simon said. “I’m not worried about some pig arms dealer or other unsavory character trying to take advantage of me after giving me a mild buttering-up. I’m much more worried about how said character managed to get ahold of my personal information, and more importantly how he tracked me down when I’m always on the move.”

“Always on the move?” Mina asked.

“I’m an adventurer,” Simon answered. “Aren’t you all?”

“I’m just a village healer,” Mina replied.

“I’m a…” Lawrence began. “Well, now I’m a lighthouse keeper. Nothing special.”

“I’m… an adventurer too,” Dianna lied. She figured it better that they not know about her real profession just yet.

“Wow…” Simon said, shocked. “So you two aren’t even the types that take on quests, no? What the hell is our client doing reaching out to you?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Lawrence said with a chuckle.

The food arrived.

“Guess we won’t know until we meet our client,” Simon resolved. “We can just wait until then.” He grabbed a fork and a knife, and prepared to dig in.

“Wait!” Dianna shouted as a look of realization crossed her face. Some of the other patrons of Versal turned to see what the commotion was, and she did her best to make herself scarce.

“What’s the problem?” Simon asked as Mina slowly and fearfully swallowed her food.

“What if… they’re planning to poison us?” Dianna asked quietly.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“I… find that hard to believe,” Simon answered.

“Of course they wouldn’t- ack!” Lawrence put his hands to his throat and began choking. Mina passed out. Some of the guests started to murmur about each other.

“Huh. Guess you were right.” Simon said nonchalantly, while Dianna sat there in a stunned, silent shock.

“Just kidding!” Lawrence laughed as he released his grip on his throat.

“Nevermind,” Simon laughed nervously.

“Of… of course,” Dianna chuckled nervously. “No poison acts that quickly.”

“So why the hell didn’t any of you try to help me?” Lawrence chided the two of them with a laugh.

“The hell was I going to do?” Simon laughed back at him. “I can’t cast Cure Poison.”

The four sat across from a masked woman. She wore a plain yet elegant black wine dress, and her mask was a single porcelain piece with slits for the eyes and no hole for the mouth. Her room was elegantly furnished, but extremely dim, the only light that filtered in coming through a singular window. By now, the sun had set, leaving only the moon and the stars to illuminate the room.

“How was your food?” the woman asked.

“It was good… minus an incident we had,” Mina answered, elbowing Lawrence in the side.

“An incident?” the woman sounded shocked.

“Through no fault of your own,” Simon quickly added. “An issue that came up between the four of us.”

“Well, that isn’t good,” the woman replied. “I can’t have my precious adventurers fighting amongst themselves so soon.”

“Not to be rude,” Lawrence chimed in, “but I’m not an adventurer anymore.”

“Oh?” the woman tilted her head. “Then why did you accept my invitation?”

“Because I-” Lawrence stopped, and thought about it briefly. “Because… I… huh, I don’t know.”

“I believe I have an answer for you,” the woman cooed, “but whether you accept it or not is up to you.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, dear. Only that you might not be as ‘over’ adventuring as you tell yourself.”

Lawrence took that in silence.

Dianna began to silently regret having lied to the rest of the group about her occupation, because now it meant she couldn’t ask this woman about the trick she’d pulled with her letter. Instead, Dianna resolved to ask her as many other questions as she could.

“So, could you begin by telling us who you are?” Dianna asked.

“Of course, darling,” the woman answered. “I’m the owner of this restaurant.”

“And your name is?”

“If I was comfortable sharing that information, I wouldn’t need this,” she replied as she tapped on her mask.

“So we’re supposed to take a quest from someone who won’t tell us who they are?”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you won’t need to know who I am.”

“Won’t we?” Simon chimed in. “How are we supposed to collect our payment? You promised ten thousand silver- that’s not exactly the kind of payment someone forgets about.”

“Yes, I understand. That’s why you’ll be paid in-full, up-front.”

“Right, so how are we going to collect our- we’re going to what?” Simon’s jaw dropped.

The woman made a small hand gesture, and a man emerged from the shadows holding a small coffer. He opened it, and within was the promised ten thousand silver. The four stared in disbelief.

“A-and,” Dianna attempted to compose herself, “if we decline the job?”

“Well, naturally you won’t be paid. But wouldn’t you like to hear the job first, dear?”

“I… suppose so,” Dianna replied.

“Excellent,” the woman clapped her hands. “Well, allow me to elaborate. My associates have discovered the location of an ancient and incredibly powerful artifact. However powerful you imagine this artifact to be, triple it. That is the barest minimum of the power this artifact possesses.”

The four looked at each other eagerly.

“However,” the woman continued, causing the eagerness dropped off the faces of the four, “my associates were not able to ascertain the exact location of this artifact.”

“So that’s our job?” Dianna asked.

“Correct. You will find the artifact, and retrieve it- and then it is yours to do with as you please.”

“It’s ours to what?” Simon asked as his jaw dropped again.

“It’s yours,” the woman reiterated. “Your only job is to find the thing. Your reward is keeping it. And the money, of course, but you’re already getting that.”

“Speaking of that,” Lawrence asked, “what if we fail this job? Say we all die- then what?”

“Well,” the woman chuckled, “then I’m out ten thousand silver and four good adventurers. And I’ll need to find four more adventurers to complete this job for me.”

“You’re not going to…” Lawrence continued, “rip our souls from the grave or anything, get your payment back that way?”

“Of course not,” the woman laughed, “how powerful do you think I am?”

“...About this artifact,” Simon began, “what does it look like? Do you have any clues on how we can find it?”

“Well, you’ll know it when you see it. But to be more specific-”

The woman made the same gesture as earlier, and an identical-looking man with an identical-looking coffer emerged from the same patch of darkness. He opened the coffer, and inside was an iridescent blue, green, and red cubic crystal, which wove in on itself in numerous spots to create a manifold cube of shimmering light.

“This is a bismuth crystal,” the woman continued. “The artifact we seek will have a large amount of these crystals nearby. As a matter of fact, follow the bismuth- that would be my first piece of advice. Now, as far as clues go, the artifact is likely deep beneath the earth- as all artifacts are- but I would assume it not so deep as to reach the Hinterwelt. You’ll be in the area of Ad Limosa, so ask around there for tunnels and for bismuth.”

“Ad Limosa?” Lawrence shuddered. “Not exactly somewhere I wanted to return to.”

“May we… may we take the crystal?” Mina asked. “If we need to show anyone, that is.”

“Of course,” the woman replied. “I’m prepared to give you anything you need in order to unearth this relic.”

Simon paused, and then cocked his head. “On that topic,” he began, “you seem awfully invested in recovering this artifact. So- if you don’t mind me asking- what’s in this for you? Don’t you want it?”

“Want it?” the woman said coldly, in a tone that sent shivers down the spines of the four. “I wouldn’t say that. What matters to me more than anything is that the artifact is brought back to into the world, and who uses it is of no concern to me.”

“I… I see,” Simon stuttered.

“So you said we’d be going to Ad Limosa?” Lawrence asked nervously.

“That’s right,” the woman replied.

“And that’s a week’s travel from here by cart, and three by foot.”

“I’m well aware.” The woman once again made the exact same gesture, and another identical man with an identical coffer emerged from the exact same patch of darkness.”

“How many of those guys are there?” Mina whispered to Simon.

The man opened the coffer, and within was a horse’s bridle, but with extraordinarily long reins.

“This is more symbolic than anything,” the woman began, “but this will be your main mode of transportation. Speak with the stable-master outside; I’ve prepared a Loamcrawler for you to travel with.”

“A Loamcrawler?” Mina exclaimed. “Those are!- rather… expensive…” she timidly added as she realized how loud she was. “Is it truly alright for us to have such a beast?”

“Of course,” the woman said. “Like I said, anything for the sake of this artifact. Now, do you have any more questions?”

The four looked at each other, and shook their heads.

“Excellent. Well, I look forward to never seeing the four of you again.”