"Kiyomi~"

I could feel something nudging my shoulder, but my body felt so heavy, that all I could do was grumble.

"Mom, five minutes."

"Kiyomiii~ Come on girl, wake up. It's time to keep going, you want us to meet your time goal don't you?"

Relenting under the constant nudging of my shoulder, I cracked my eyes open. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Adrian smiling at me as she posted her head in her left hand.

"G'morning."

I mumbled as I slowly tried to sit up. Sometime in the early morning, Graf called for us to stop and make camp after he noticed I was giving in to exhaustion.

"Morning kid."

"Mornin troublemaker."

Alick and Graf both added in order. As they did, the pervasive scent of fried pork and eggs traveled on the breeze.

"Mn? Breakfast?"

I mumbled, creeping out of bed and looking to the source. A cast iron pan, laying atop burnt coals that were patiently tended. Within it, a few slices of bacon and an egg.

"I'm making yours right now Kiyomi, me and Alick already ate; Adrian can wait since she didn't wanna budge on ya."

Graf spoke as he poked and prodded at the thinly sliced pork. It was quite strange seeing the Goblin with an expression mute of aggravation or spite.

"Well, come on. You want it while it's fresh or it'll overcook by the time you dig in. It's not like we have plates."

----------------------------------------

"So some ground rules, Kiyomi."

"Wow, you can say my name instead of kid"

Graf rolled his eyes.

"Touché. Back to where I was, now that we're sobered up enough to know what we signed up for, here are some ground rules."

Graf handed me the fork he'd been using to cook. Taking it in hand, I prodded at the pan.

Mmmm~ bacon is always good~.

"First things first, don't run too far from us. We don't want you getting hurt on our watch. Second, we don't have a primary healer so if you DO feel like you're in danger, be careful."

Graf produced a vial from one of the bags placed around us, handing it to me.

"For emergency use ONLY. We can take care of scrapes or cuts. That's reserved for if you're seriously injured. Not that we plan to just let that happen, not in good conscience."

For a guy that's all bark and grouchy, he's surprisingly considerate.

"The last rule kid."

Graf crossed his arms, sighing as he did.

"We need to know why we're going to the pass. We're not exactly gonna let you near a monster nest to grab an egg or something."

Graf said this as he raised a brow, seemingly expecting a similar answer.

"That's oddly… specific."

Graf shrugged.

"It's specific cause I tried when I was a munchkin."

Graf was surprisingly casual in his explanation.

"We're grabbing a flower, Azure-lace."

The three fell silent, all looking at me.

"You're serious."

Graf stared at me, his expression was unwavering. He looked serious as if someone had just told him an important matter.

"Kid do you have any idea how much money you're blowing? Are you stupid?"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Graf sat with his legs crossed, a hand posted to each knee as he sat with his legs crossed.

Of fucking course I know dickwad, do you think I want to spend the money for fun? I have an objective here. It's for someone else.

"Calling your employer stupid isn't very nice."

I crossed my arms and turned my head away, feigning offense. Graf had nothing to say however, he simply waited patiently.

Okay, fine. That's actually… I should've told you already.

"It's… there's more to it. It's to help a friend in grieving… she has this book of flower pressings and-"

The three sat patiently through my explanation, Adrian eating her breakfast and Alick packing camp as I did. With an occasional nod from Graf, he proved himself to also be an attentive listener with good attention to detail.

"So that's everything?"

Graf stood as he asked.

"All of it, sir."

Graf raised a brow.

"Where'd the manners come from?"

"Well, I think you deserve them now… I could stop if you'd like. Maybe call you shortstop or greenie if you'd like. Or maybe Grub?"

Graf's expression morphed back to being his usual normal face.

"It was good while it lasted, I think I'll just stick to Graf and let it even out if I let an insult or two slip."

"Deal."

With that, I reached my hand out with a smile.

"Let's shake, thanks for your work~."

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"Beryl wake up!"

"Mnn? Wha?"

Beryl woke to Vaughn jostling her pretty hard.

"Kiyomi and the others are moving now, if we're gonna keep up we need to get moving."

"O-oh, crap"

The two stumbled as they hurried to pack their bed rolls in time to keep up. Luckily managing to finish just before Kiypmi and her adventurers were about to disappear from sight.

----------------------------------------

"You fucking what?!"

Hatsumi's yell could be heard through the door to Lorn's office as the guild mistress subordinate shrank in her chair.

"You fell for basic fuckin illusion magic?! How?!"

Hatsumi towered over the cowering elf, taking every ounce of power she had to restrain herself from posting up over her.

"Do you know what could happen? You let a little girl out with a group of adventurers, and ones that she didn't even know on top of that?! You even let Beryl and Vaughn sneak past?"

The Captain, Evelyn, looked to Lorn as she hoped for some kind of alleviation. As she was told though, she would take the initial blame for Kiyomi managing to sneak out. Being rebuked instead of having her blame deflected as a result.

“This was a direct dereliction of your duties. Where your mind may have been, I am unsure, but your neglect directly led to a child being put in danger. We’ll discuss this later, leave!”

Lorn waved her hand towards her office door, her partner leaving in turn. With the initial lashing given, It was up to Lorn to recover the situation and play her next part.

With the click of the office’s doors’, Hatsumi’s energy was now directed into worry.

“Lorn, can you believe this?! She’s a demon, a high demon! What if she was targeted? Did someone assume she was worth money? Did they kidnap her knowing she was connected to us? Or-”

Hatsumi gasped panicking clearly past what Lorn was used to dealing with as she slowly began feeling on edge.

“What if someone found out about her family.”

Hatsumi’s face went pale as she ran herself in circles moment after moment. She did nothing but catastrophize, crippled by the idea of previous events replaying themselves.

“Lorn what do I-”

Hatsumi turned around quickly, nearly colliding with Lorn, who already stood from her chair.

“Hatsumi, calm. First thing’s first, gather your team with at least a couple days' supply. I’ll sanction this as a stay in commission, just get a hold of yourself.”

Lorn placed a hand on the beastkin’s shoulder, guiding her to the door.

“We’ll find Kiyomi and her friends, but we can't do that from here. I want you to head west, towards the pass. With any luck, if they take the pass and head to Morus then you’ll cut them off at a chokepoint. Understand? Take this-”

Lorn produced a small bag.

“It’s enough money to procure four mounts so you can make steady time.”

Hatsumi took the bag in hand, planting her heals as she made to rush to her team members before being held firmly in place.

“Hatsumi-”

Hatsumi turned to meet Lorns voice, greeted with a deathly serious glare.

“Remember, this is a recovery mission. This is not a kill mission, it could at the best be a misunderstanding. Be careful not to misplace your feelings too quickly. Besides, you don't want to scar that child.”

There was a moment of pause as Hatsumi’s eyes shifted wildly for a moment as she analyzed Lorn. She’d been caught off guard by the sudden clarification, but she couldn't think of its purpose much longer as she found herself restless in her attempt to reunite with her daughter. With Lorn's grip on her friend's shoulder loosened, the two parted ways, Hatsumi moving the fastest she could downstairs. The echo of feet slamming against wood could be heard as she left, having been in enough of a hurry to forget the door was left wide open from her exit. After a few moments of standing in silence as she stared at the stairwell, Lorn sighed.

“You’re sure this was what you wanted?”

Lorn asked aloud to a voice that she anticipated.

“Hmm? I’ve always known you could sense my presence, but you usually at least mentally acknowledge me way earlier than this~.”

The voice was strangely clear, lacking the muddled sense of delay that she’d usually get.

“Wait, wh-”

Lorn turned, greeted by the sight of a young man sitting on the surface of her desk. Stirring a cup of tea as he looked at her, Lorn could feel not much else but a sense of anger compared to her usual aggravation.

“Is. This. What. You. Wanted?”

Lorn repeated herself, only to receive a disappointing sign.

“You know messing with the patronage of HER isn't my idea.”

The young man raised his teaspoon to the air, forcing the wooden utensil to disintegrate as he did. Taking the first sip before responding, he lowered the cup to reveal a smile.

“She’s Solah’s ‘child’, but the world being as it is, she’s asked me to nudge her in the right direction in her place. A god can only see so much at once in the grand scale of things, and she fears her blessings have been in dire need elsewhere.”

Lorn squinted her eyes tightly as she glared at the man in front of her.

“I don’t particularly enjoy being your surrogate manipulator.”

----------------------------------------

The day had gone on fairly well as we continued walking to our destination. Granted we’d dealt with a handful of monsters. It was just the stray wolf or oversized bug. It wasn't much any one of the three I hired couldn't handle on their own. Graf even joked once or twice to let myself swing at the stray herbivorous monster that moved in front of us to Adrian's opposition. But, the weather was clear and the traveling was easy until the elevation began to rise and their walk became strictly uphill.

*Endurance is now in effect! Manage exertion effectively to maintain effectiveness.*

One of the ever-so-rare prompts revealed itself in orange text.

Is this gonna happen every time I passively use a skill? Or is it just gonna happen every time?

The thought came and went as we pushed ourselves up the base of the mountain. From how Graf described it, we should have only been a mile or so from our destination. Looking up, having neglected to truly get a feel for the scale of the mountains, I took in the sight. It was pretty, something I’d wished numerous times to see untainted on earth. The only unaffected range left back then was a small section of the alps, and the mountains surrounding Salt lake city, Utah. The summit was already capped in a light dusting of snow, and true to some of the books, the forestry lost its density and was no longer oak or pine, but redwood. It was a strange sight I couldn't comprehend on a first glance. Following the lined of the trail we took, I was able to see the vague parting in the tree tops near the natural draw of the mountains.

“Is that the pass?”

I asked, pointing to the natural part.

“That it is, we came through here maybe once but I remember it well enough.”

As we got closer, small talk opened up between Graf, Alick, and Adrian about their time coming through this area. Shortly into the conversation, Alick's eyes opened wide.

“Wait, that flower! Near this side of the pass! I think I did hear of some kind of herb matching their description to the north. We could follow the entrance and trace along some of the natural steps kid. We might get that flower sooner yet.”

With a nudge to my shoulder, Adrian grabbed my attention.

“We can’t very well climb and pick the exact flower you want. So let's give you a piggyback rids to rest those feet of yours.”