Lucas felt like his week had passed in a blur, keeping himself busy with the preparation for invasion he anticipated coming soon, his daily training routine with his party and he even put in a routine just for himself, trying his best to stay sharp as his duel with Pyra showed he wasn’t unbeatable in single combat and lack of effort on that part can easily cost someone his life. The rest of the party have also started their individual routines, Margaret hilariously failing as she lacked any real offensive skill, except for her newest one which was proving to clunky to use in actual battle, as the transfer was relatively slow. Unsurprisingly, however, that speed could be increased with Intelligence and seeing that it was already her primary stat, she could grind it to become somewhat useful. Other than that, pre – System guns showed how inferior they were in this new environment. Margaret was good shot, she didn’t have much misses and yet, her pistol quickly emptied its magazine, making her a sitting duck while she reloaded. Troopers at least negated that weakness with their skills, but it seems like the deceased General didn’t think that the field medics needed that utility.

Lucas had wondered how mercenary unit had such uniform skills and fighting style and it seemed that Bruce had the same curiosity, as he announced to Lucas he finally broke the former archivist of the General and made him to make the archives he held available to all Loremasters, as it was agreed within their clique. It seemed that the man was instrumental in General’s plan, seeing as he pushed the boundaries on knowledge related to classes and skills and how the System used them, learning how to bestow a class with pre – selected skills on individuals who were interested. The obvious caveat was that the classes obtained that way were of course weaker than the one System gave, but if the Loremasters crack how to make Advanced classes like that, they will somewhat mitigate the weakness of the method, as the Advanced classes were powerful, as Lucas showed when he upgraded his class.

Other topics had also come up during their daily briefings, but nothing substantial. There was a frustrating lack of progress on investigation on the identity of the person who sent assassin after Lucas and just slightly better news on the control of the assassins Lucas wanted to achieve. Only thing they were achieving any progress was the elections that awaited the Adventurer’s guild. Bruce meet with two of the candidates, both of them showing interest in continued cooperation with the Camp Hearth, serving as their elite troops if the need arise. Both of them wanted to negotiate on the initial deal which was as expected, at least according to Bruce. Although neither of the two actually wanted Rosenborg to win, they knew that his candidature and campaign meant that Bruce had to relent on some things, tax on loot and other profit the main thing of interest. Lucas was happy to be left out of those meetings, finding all those politicking extremely boring and yet frustrating, letting Bruce to handle that as the man seemed like fish in the water when it came to stuff like that. The matter wasn’t settled yet seeing as the two frontrunners for the position, Rosenborg and a woman named Rose Leon were yet to meet with Bruce. Initial report painted Rose as the candidate interested in cooperation with the town, but fiercely against any kind of monetary gain for Camp Hearth, her stance being that the presence of adventurers with their pocket suitably filled will be incentive enough for the settlement and no further taxes were to be levied at the guild.

Someone calling Lucas by name pulled him from his thoughts and he turned to find Margaret and Maggie standing behind him, dressed in civilian clothes and carrying bags that looked like filled with more civilian clothes.

“Hey, girls” Lucas greeted them “what brings you here?”

“You mean, to the plaza and the market? The place where people go to buy stuff?” Margaret said teasingly, making Maggie chuckle.

“Don’t mind her. We are out on a shopping trip now that there isn’t any more pressing issues” Maggie said, still chuckling.

“I thought you already had the best gear available.” Lucas said.

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“You know, you sound so dumb sometimes. People usually buy other stuff than gear” Margaret once again teased him. Lucas realized how dumb he just was, his mind already turning to combat and gear. Of course, people did buy clothes just for the sake of it. A while ago, he paid good money just to make his armor look pleasing to the eyes.

“Huh, I was distracted a bit” he said, trying to find some excuses for himself.

“No, it’s okay. You do have a lot on your plate, despite Margaret’s jokes” Maggie said, thankfully defending Lucas and his dumb words.

“Hey, I thought we were on the girl’s day out and you betray me so for the first man that crosses our path” Margaret said in mock disappointment. The three of them burst into laughter, Margaret always cracking them up.

“Where are you headed now? I could use some company if you have more business in the market” Lucas asked.

“Well, we just finished, but I will gladly use a cavalier like you to carry all those bags to my home” Margaret said, handing a momentarily confused Lucas her bags before he had a chance to say anything. He rolled his eyes and then took Maggie’s bags. They headed out towards Maggie’s place, Lucas pacing behind the girls as they took detours to look even more stuff from the merchants. After what seemed like the eternity, they were out of the market and they quickly picked up the pace, walking at rapid pace so much that it became second nature to them. On the way, they talked about inconsequential things, making Lucas remember how long he hadn’t had a conversation that didn’t carried some long term consequences. In that small talk, they arrived at their destination.

“You know, this was nice. It was long since just the five of us went somewhere. Maybe tomorrow night?” Maggie said.

“Count me in” Margaret immediately responded while Lucas just nodded. She had a point, they hadn’t had a night out for at least two months, maybe more.

“Great. I will get Ted on board, and we will get the message to Chen” Maggie said and said her goodbyes as she went into the house. Lucas gaze lingered on her long, maybe to long as he heard Margaret laughing before dragging him by the arm to get him to move.

“You can pick up your jaw on the way” she said to him, prompting Lucas to show her the finger. “You know, you are not kids anymore. You should just ask her out and be done with it”

“It’s not that simple, you know. I fight with her and her brother on almost daily basis. That move could shatter our chemistry and get us all killed” Lucas responded

“Or it could enhance it. That is bullshit and you know it.” Margaret retorted back.

“Maybe it is, but I’m not about to risk anything. We are not fighting boars and bears as you are well aware”

“Or you are just scared of rejection. The great Lucas, conqueror of maiden is afraid to ask a nice lady because he is afraid” Margaret started mocking him.

“I’m not like that since…” Lucas started responding before stopping himself, that fateful night of the ambush and Michael’s betrayal vividly coming to his memory, along with all the sting and bite it usually bring when it came.

“Since?” Margaret rushed him, impatient as always.

“Since Michael” Lucas blurted out. Margaret immediately gone silent, aware what her words had brought. She wasn’t able to remain silent for long, as the woman seemed incapable of the feat.

“You know, I know how much that shook you. You were like brothers and he sold you out for pretty words and a vague ideas. But you cannot let it haunt you until your life end. You know have new crew and correct me if I’m wrong, but we are friends”

“You don’t know anything about it, you grew up alone and abandoned” Lucas shouted, immediately realizing what he said “I’m sorry, I’m a moron” he continued in the same breath. If Margaret was hurt by his words, she certainly hid it well, her face stoic.

“It’s okay. But think about what I said. It will not do you good to constantly keep people at arm’s length afraid that they will betray you” Margaret said and then took her bags from Lucas’s hand, heading toward her home, not waiting for Lucas to catch up. It was futile, as Lucas could easily outrun her with just his Agility, not to mention his passive speed bonus, but he decided to let it go. He deserved that and now he had to think of the way to make amends.

“I’m definitely a moron” he thought to himself as he headed back to his home. It would be a long day and he fully expected to be haunted by memories and regrets both from the past and the present taking in consideration how his parting with Margaret went.