I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to knock at someone’s door half an hour after sunrise, but they’d better have a damn good reason for doing so. Shuffling out of bed, I peered through my door’s peephole.

Isabelle? She was wearing her leather armour and potion satchel. Don’t tell me they wanted to dive so soon? Not today. I tiptoed back to bed but—

Another burst of knocks pounded against the door.

“I know we just came back!” She yelled. “But Richard’s sister is sick.”

Goddamn. I really wanted to take it easy for a bit and ask the new butcher’s daughter out, but I guess this couldn’t be avoided. “How much does he need?” I asked, opening my windows. The sun shone bright on the nearby houses made of rotted wood.

“Let me in first!” She banged at the door again.

Taking two deep breaths, I made my way back and pulled back the barrel lock's rod.

Barging in, she grinned. “Good morning! I know you’re a little recluse, but we need to go now.”

“Just tell me how much he needs. I’d rather starve than go back right now.”

“Two golds—”

“Sure—” I said reaching for the door, who the hell had that kind of money. “Just wait a bit and I’ll get it.” I pushed her out and closed the door, but Isabelle stuck her foot in between it and the door-frame.

“Of course you do, and I’m a princess. Now get moving.” She hissed and she slithered into my living/bedroom.

Resigned, I asked, “What does she have?” While I made my way to my closet.

“She’s had a fever for the past three days and the healers in the dead-ends can’t heal her. They said she needs to see a healer from the cathedral. Of course, we could wait it out and see if she gets better, she’s young after all… but—”

“We never know. Don’t worry, I’ll go.” I slipped on my new studded leather armour and turned around so that Isabelle could tighten up its straps. “But didn’t your friend go on a pilgrimage to Santiago? Who’s going to take care of Leia in the meantime?”

“Don’t worry, we stocked up on dried food, and the duke financed something called water pumps. It’s pretty great. You just gotta push its handle and water comes up from the well. It’s right next to our place so she can do it on her own. And worse comes to pass the landlady can help.”

“Didn’t you say she’s a bitch though?”

“She is—but I hope she has enough heart to bring a sick kid some water.”

It was getting…hard to breathe. “Too tight, too tight,” I yelled before Isabelle popped my torso off.

She let off on the strings and tied it up. “Anyhow, we also got a few more buckets of water; she’ll be fine.”

I didn’t have any excuses left. I just regretted that this happened right after we had been lucky enough to catch a crystal lizard. If things went as they always did, it would take us a week to make half as much as last time.

“We’ll be heading to the Windless Dungeon’s fourth floor to get the hearts of green goblins.”

“Yea, spring came early, even I’m getting allergies, it’ll sell decently enough.”

“Anyways,” continued Isabelle. “We’ll be waiting at the city gates, be quick.” And she left as quickly as she came.

Sitting back down, I took a second to admire the cloudless blue sky. It really was the perfect weather to do something. I wondered what it felt like to be a bird on such a day. Hunting for your daily worm then setting off till you found the perfect branch for your little claws.

Getting up, I foraged my cabinets for the little dried food I had left over from our last expedition. Then I took a few daggers, my spear, and some coins before running off to the Général Arnault.

#

In the dead center of the dead-ends stood a store like no other. A store which had never been robbed nor vandalized, not even by termites or mites, the Général Arnault.

Pushing open the door, a bell chimed.

“How may I help you—Gregoire! What are you doing here?” Asked Eve, with the worried look only the Mother of the dead-ends could have.

“Leia’s sick. We need to go back,” I explained.

“Why didn’t he come here first! He hasn’t been over in half a year; I’m getting worried for him.”

Every time I came here, she scolded me for other people’s faults. But it was nice to know someone really did care. “He’s just a quiet person and Leia’s recent sicknesses have been hard on him. He’ll be back when things get better.”

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Perhaps,” muttered Eve. “But it is because he’s quiet that you need to talk to him. And, you didn’t say, how much does he need, I’ll pay.” Her tone was firm.

“It’s fine, we needed to head down soon regardless. I spent everything I made last time on this.” I turned around, showing off my new skin. “And we don't need to much so it's fine.”

“Exactly, if it’s not much I’ll pay!”

I wouldn’t win. Slowly, I raised two fingers. “Those are golds,” I muttered.

She said nothing, only looked regretful. She had a whole neighbourhood to take care of after all.

“Don’t worry, if we’re short on it we’ll come see you first.”

“Of course. And don’t even think of asking any lenders even for a copper. If it comes to that I’ll give you the money.” She scurried off to the back of the store and came back with one of her pouches; the dead special. A mix of food rations and emergency goods. “Here, on Arnault.” She smiled.

“Thanks, Eve.” I really did appreciate her help, everyone here did. “I’ll be back soon enough; we’re just going to the Windless Dungeon’s fourth floor.”

“Be safe,” she said with the sincerest eyes.

Leaving, I dropped ten coppers in her mailbox. They clinked around with their cousins, and I ran to the city gates.

#

Nearing the gates I spotted Richard, gazing out to the road leading to the farmlands. A head taller than everyone else he made for a good gathering point. Wading through the unusual amounts of merchant carts, I jumped in front of them Isabelle and Richard. “Here! Gregoire reporting for duty.” I stood at attention.

“Finally! Took you long enough,” said Isabelle.

Glancing over to Richard; he didn’t seem to have registered that I was here. That’s when I noticed he was wearing old leather armour a first time Dungeon diver would wear. If things had been so hard recently, he should have said something. We were all in the same boat after all.

“Sorry for being late, let’s go.” I repeated trying to get his attention.

Finally, he gave me a quick glance and nodded. I didn’t know what to say. He had never been so cold to me, but I shouldn’t blame him. Things had been hard for him. His sister had been sick three times in the past year. I couldn’t imagine how much he’d lost, and how long it would take him to build his apprenticeship savings back up.

“Let’s get in line then.” Isabelle interrupted.

It took us what felt like half a day to get to the front of the gate. Again, I didn’t know why there were so many merchants out and about today.

Eventually reaching the guards, I prayed we’d get through without hassle, but that never happened.

“Where are you heading?” One guard asked while another matched us with our dungeon diving licenses.

“The windless dungeon,” answered Isabelle in the driest voice she could muster.

“When are you expecting to return?”

“In a week.”

“How many are you in your party?”

“Three.”

“Any other plans?”

“Nope.”

She should have said no!!!

“Is that so? Isn’t there the purple festival in the village near the mystic dungeon,” prodded the other guard.

“No, we’re just going to the Windless Dungeon. We need money to pay for a healer, we don’t have time for anything else.”

That was a bit aggressive, but it should be fine…

I continued to listen and comment on the endless line of questioning. If those cocky bastards didn’t have a third cousin class holder or something, they’d be our neighbours. I don’t know why they thought of themselves so highly.

On the other hand, Isabelle was a lot better at dealing with these assholes. Honestly, other than being able to rent a room somewhere outside of the dead-ends, I dreamed of being able to walk past these dicks without having to worry about them detaining us for fun.

“Then you’re free to go.” The guard finally said. Having zoned out, I followed behind Isabelle and Richard, but a hand blocked my way.

“We never said you could go,” interjected the guard who had scrutinized our dungeon licences like we could even fake them.

Fuck. It had to happen.

“What? But he’s with us!” yelled Isabelle, finally losing it.

“Don’t speak up!” A guard stepped between her and I while the other approached me.

Again, I didn’t know what I did or what I should say. All I knew was not to prod them too much if I didn’t want them to revoke my license. “What did I do?” I asked calmly, but I accidentally stepped back when one reached for me.

“Don’t resist. We have orders to arrest a certain Gregoire, Son of Justin de Gargoyle.”

Justin. It had been so long since I’d heard that name. Was it because of him that I was being arrested? “I don’t have any relations to that man!” I couldn’t help but yell. To think someone still thought of him as my father made me sick. “I don’t even know him—” I tried to raise my arms in protest, but they grabbed and tied them behind my back.

“Just go without me!” I yelled out to Isabelle and Richard accepting that I was a goner.

I couldn’t even catch their reactions as the guards spun me around and dragged me into their garrison.

#

The garrison interior wasn’t as nice as I’d expected. There were just a few tables, a few beds, and stale food. It was nice, but not special.

“Stop looking around,” the shorter one said. “Over here.” he let a third pry open a large metal door and threw me inside, slamming the door shut behind me. It smelled of piss and the ground was lightly covered in straw. Kicking the straw in a pile, I sat down, getting ready to wait however long I’d need to, but a few minutes later, the door creaked open.

A well-built man, bearing the crest of Bayeux entered. Only those who served a lord and had a class could wear one. This wasn’t someone I could even have bad thoughts about, after all you could never tell what powers a class holder might have. It could be as unimportant as increased stamina regeneration, or it could be mind-reading. Everything was possible, at least to someone who knew nothing like myself.

I stayed silent as the captain closed the door behind him.

“Gregoire, Son of Justin de Gargoyle?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“That’s good! We’ve been searching for you for a long time.”

His tone was surprisingly friendly, not something I’d expect to experience in the guard garrison’s jail cell. “Did I do something?” I asked, careful not to give off a bad impression.

“Oh! No, no, no. Don’t get it wrong, I just told those guys that someone was looking for you. The treatment you received was of their own initiative.” He smirked, opening his mouth hesitantly. “I… I just needed a reason to kick those guys out.” He chuckled.

Evidently, he had a lot more to say but I didn’t want anything to do with it, so I stayed silent.

“Now, let’s get out of here first, this isn’t somewhere someone like you should stay.”

“Like me?” I asked, wary and skeptical of the captain. “You know I’m just a dead-end adventurer, what do you want with me?”

“Oh! Didn’t you hear the news?” asked the captain surprised.

“News? There's always news—”

“Watch what you say.” He clicked his tongue. “Of course there’s always news, I’m not an idiot. I’m talking about the death of your father.

My condolences, and congratulations. You are now a class holder!”

—