Jacksberg Gate Guard's PoV

Ralph liked being a gate guard. Sat around and did nothing all day, and then when people wanted to get in they paid you money. And if a little was taken off the top? No one cared as long as you didn't get too greedy. It was the perfect job in his opinion.

Although the last few weeks sucked. Instead of coming in, people were leaving. He couldn't charge people for leaving. Hopefully they will come back soon. Was probably because of the damn political factions fighting again. Ever since the army left things seem to get more tense.

Best decision he ever made was to keep his lowly position and not get entangled in that garbage. Every one of his mates that had joined up with one of those factions always seemed to wind up dead or disappeared. He liked living.

Which meant that when he saw mercenaries coming in town, he gave them a wide berth. A few of the bastards had long memories and if they felt they had been slighted they don't really care about the right and proper way of doing things. Piss off a mercenary group and you wind up with a dagger in your throat while you slept.

And because of that sentiment he was looking sadly at the group that was approaching his gate. They all had dusky cloaks covering them, but that didn't hide the weapons they carried. One was obviously a mage with a wicked black staff.

Another guy would have given some large trees a good run for their money in the height and girth department. Sheesh. The man's biceps were probably bigger than his own torso. Freak!

The big man was in the lead and Ralph said "Mercenaries right?"

After a short pause the massive man said "Yea. Yup, totally mercenaries."

Meh. The big ones were normally dull in the head. Nothing unusual. He started waving them through and said "Just remember if your faction wins whatever the hell is going on, good ol' Ralph did you a favor. Move along."

The party went inside the gates and were flanked by some massive looking dogs. They looked like pups but were bigger than any normal dog he had ever seen. Jeez, someone must have spent some good coin on these people.

As they passed Ralph went back to where he was sitting and wondered how things were going to play out. The ones in the army were probably lucky. Word is they should have reached Xalross two days ago.

There was a quiet rumor going around that Jacksberg had entered into an alliance with Shila to split the land between the two. If it was an easy attack they would probably be rolling in loot. Still risky business. He would rather rob people a little at a time with low risk than try to sack a city for one big score. Not to mention an ally one day can just as easily be an enemy the next.

Shaking his head he thought "Fools, the lot of them."

***

Jim's PoV

The group had all made it safely into Milly's shop. Seems there was a disagreement about something. Davis had been grumpy the past couple days. Something about Forrest and Scarlet looking around for something first?

Jim kind of missed some of the conversation. The revelation that he could put people into his inventory had been on his mind ever since he saved Milly. He found a mouse and successfully used his inventory to transfer it over to Earth!

People and rodents were the same thing right? So there shouldn't be any problem transferring Milly over. Well, if she ever got done packing.

The implication that he could just bring over anyone from this world to Earth was fascinating. First, he could basically recruit highly qualified people like Milly and just pay her in dollars!

Then he wouldn't have to admit he was totally broke in FF3. With every helmet being put to the torch by that idiot Terry, he couldn't magic himself up a pile of cash in an emergency. Rebuilding 3D Tech without the prototypes was going to take a lot of time and money.

Then there was the thought that he could bring over his wolfies. They would be almost supernatural powers in their own right on Earth. He would wager they could bite through steel and shrug off bullets. Man he was so smart for sharing those Greater Sources!

Currently Milly was handing Jim everything that wasn't nailed down in her shop. Actually she tried to take the front counter which was nailed down. Luckily she couldn't get it up and Jim refused to uproot the thing.

"You finished yet?"

"Just a few more things! And then I still need to get my book from my cousin!"

Jim took a deep breath. Once he got her off this world then it would be Charlotte's problem to deal with her. She had manager powers, she would be fine. One eternity later they were ready to go to her cousin's house.

Davis asked Milly for the third time "Are you sure it's safe here?"

Milly said "Yes, yes it's fine! I still have three more days till the tax collector is due. Already double paid for protection, but that doesn't matter too much now. After that though, the tax collector is going to take the shop."

Jim glanced over to his wolf pups. Milly was a VIP and according to the gate guard, there were mercenaries all over. He wanted some extra eyes. Damn escort quests. Saying to the group "I am taking the wolf pups. Just be careful til we get back. Still a little fuzzy on what you all are up to, but take some of these."

Jim handed everyone 3 Full Healing Potions or 3 Full Mana Potions each depending on what they wanted.

Before they left Jim said to Davis, "Once I'm done with getting Milly's book and letting her say goodbye to her cousin, I'll be back. If you want, I can come to the meeting for the peace talks."

Davis nodded seriously and said "That would be greatly appreciated. I still don't know how they're going to respond when they learn their forces were defeated. Hopefully knowing we have prisoners we are willing to safely return, they will be amenable."

Jim nodded and said "No problem. If things turn nasty, I should be able to get you all out of town. Just let me know the timeline when I get back."

"Understood. Thank you."

Heading out the door with his two wolves he saw Maria's look of sorrow. His wolves were even whining about being separated from her. But if everything went well with tomorrow's meeting, they will return to King's End while he continues onward. It was kind of bittersweet knowing that one part of the adventure was over.

He still wanted to try his sequence breaking speedrun. It involved fighting a super boss, a boss harder than even the final boss in the game. A boss that a normal player of the game would have no business fighting in the early game, even if they could reach him.

The world of FF3 liked to gate sections of content with vehicles. You would go from a car, to a riverboat, to a sailing ship and finally to an airship. Each new vehicle would unlock new parts of the overworld of the game. Then your vehicle is basically reset once you reach the other two main locations, the Demonlands and The Elven Kingdom. Both places basically made up arbitrary reasons why your old vehicles didn't work there.

Once your group was super powerful near the end game you could do the super hard optional boss to unlock an airship that had no restrictions at all. It could freely fly anywhere in the game and he could speedrun to the last two artifacts. If the three artifacts could make Zed a god, hopefully he could figure out how to use them to stop the world of FF3 from disappearing if he died.

Jim just needed to convince a captain to find an island in the middle of nowhere. But after leaving Jacksberg, it's very possible he would never see his little crew again. Maybe once he was done speed running the game he could make a second home in King's End.

His mind was envisioning isolating his new 3D Tech workers in the FF3 world. It would be the responsible thing to do. Having another someone like him creating more millions of people because he didn't have the mental fortitude to make a hard decision was reckless. Although before he did that he would need to figure out how to install running water.

Seriously, most humans in this damn world were dirty and stinky. They didn't take showers or bathe regularly! Wherever he settled he was totally going to mandate a bathhouse be made. He really hoped that when he met the elves they were going to be a lot more clean or he was going to be disappointed.

Following his new employee, he wondered how long this was actually going to take. Milly's sense of time seemed to be different from everyone else's. Hopefully it won't take too long.

***

Necromancer Dominic's PoV

Dominic had his feet up on the countertop finishing off the last of his beer. With an audible sigh of pleasure he said, "Damn that's good! How about another round, Anne?"

With a saucy wink, Anne picked up his empty glass and said "Just a moment!"

Watching the sway of Anne's womanly hips he felt more and more he had made the right decision not to sign on as a merc in this current quarrel. Sure, there was money to be made. But right now near half the men were out of town and probably shitting in dirt holes and freezing their asses off at night. He was getting a lot of attention from the fairer sex. Being the second most powerful man left in town was a nice perk.

It might have been fun to let his power go wild with all those corpses around on the battlefield. Seemed like it would be a Necromancer's paradise. But he was more of a lone wolf.

Even teaming up every now and then for an odd job would result in looks of disgust from his teammates. If he didn't have his undead minions watching his back there would have been plenty of daggers shoved there from his so called 'Team mates.' Unluckily for most of them they found that even a dagger to the heart wasn't nearly enough to kill him.

Of all the people he grouped up with, he hated the Priests of Anera the most. The priests of the so-called God of Humanity. Dominic had buried more than his fair share of them. The holier than thou bastards would try to Heal him to death when knowing it would cause him harm.

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Necromantic energy and Healing did not mix. When forming a hunting party for a monster they would proclaim they had no problem dealing with a Necromancer. Then the second the job was done they would say their God hated his ilk while trying to kill him in the night. And there were way too many of those bastards tagging along in this war.

"Friggin liars and charlatans," he muttered.

But it was how the world worked. Everyone found his abilities disgusting till they had need of his services. Being in an army environment was more likely to get his head cut off from a zealot than result in him earning a large amount of coin. So for now he had a nice cushy job to keep the peace.

The Merchant Circle faction and the Nobles were actually cooperating for once with the war. But neither side really trusted each other. Which was why he was getting paid by both sides to keep the peace. He had done the odd jobs for both factions for a long time, so he was a trusted middleman. Just in case there was a troublemaker stacking too many bodies up while the powerful played, he was there.

It was honestly a fantastic gig. Getting paid for doing nothing and getting to see the hungry looks of all the little chickies that didn't have their man in town was great! In some cases it was a lot more than just looks. Dominic reminisced about the night before. Two particularly fine specimens played with him till he was dead to the world.

Anne came back with hips swaying in a mesmerizing fashion and dropped off his new drink. With a restrained smile he said "Thanks Anne," and took a sip.

She returned his smile with one of her own, saying "No problem hon. Just let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. Anything at all."

The gleam in her eye said she meant something more than just customer service.

"Of course."

Man, things were great right now! He was already undressing her in his mind and wondering about the night's activities. As his mind drifted towards the naughtier bits someone sat down next to him. It was a former mercenary with a missing right arm.

If he remembered correctly, he was connected to one of the High Prince's entourage. It's been hundreds of years but still the ruler's descendants of Jacksberg kept the Alextrian moniker of Prince.

The former merc said "Got some interesting visitors just a bit ago. Very fancy gear. Claim their mercs. They might be trouble. They came in from the South Western Gate."

Dismissively Dominic said "'Might be' is not my problem. My contract specifically states that 32 people must die before I get involved. And as you know… I am particularly good at telling when people die."

The man said with a haughty tone "They look fairly strong. No one has seen them before. As you know, there aren't many strong people left in town. Maybe you should take a look?"

It was in his contract that he would not be disturbed unless there was an emergency. He was not some common foot soldier. The damn Nobles. Too many of them thought that just because they paid him, that made him their servant. No. He would abide by what was in the contract. The emergency condition in his contract had not been met.

Getting irritated that the lackey was ruining his good time, he let a little of the green necromantic energy leak from his eyes. His otherworldly visage stared at the man who jumped to his feet with a shaken expression.

The frightened man said "Sorry! Was told to inform you!"

Mr. One-Arm made his way quickly to the exit while making his apologies. Hearing a bottle crash to the floor he snapped his neck around and saw Ann staring at him with a frightened expression. When their eyes met she quickly averted her gaze and went about cleaning the mess.

Dominic sighed. Dumb. Real dumb move. So much for tonight's activities...

His mind went back to what was said earlier. They came from the South Western Gate? That's the opposite direction from where the battles were taking place.

His Death Sense was constantly telling him of the lives being lost in the war. It was going off even now. But there were two very powerful non-human entities that died in the opposite direction of the war. Was it this party who caused those two powerful entities' deaths?

Similarly, a very powerful human died in the far south not too long ago. Dominic was half tempted to go in search of that powerful dead human. He would make an excellent addition to his followers.

There is an interesting Catch-22 situation about knowing when someone powerful has died. If they were human or animal, finding the corpse would be a great boon. But if something powerful died, the logical conclusion was that something more powerful killed it. So the question was, which one would you find if you followed the trail?

In a single motion he flung the rest of his alcohol down his throat and slammed the glass on the bar. Knowing that his impulsiveness had cost him a chance at fun nightly activities, he tossed some gil on the counter and left the establishment. Wasn't there a new barmaid at The Shattered Tavern? Putting on his cowl he meandered towards the new bar.

As he walked out into the street numerous homeless looking people seemed to wander in the direction he was heading. Those with an observant eye would see that none of them were breathing. Luckily the random seeming movement of bodies did not alarm the average citizen. But those who knew better got out of his way.

***

Gwen's PoV

Gwen watched as Forrest said "You ready Scarlet?"

The woman nodded. Then her brother said "Be careful. Going on a manhunt inside hostile ground sounds like a suicide mission."

Forrest responded "Sure thing. Hopefully we can just end the threat to King's End before we have to..."

Forrest trailed off as he saw her brother's stormy look. Davis said "If you can, try not to lead them back to us. I would still like to try to negotiate peace. You're just going to piss them off more."

Forrest angrily said "Oh you mean like how they are going to be super happy with us when we tell them their little caravan that wanted to kill us in our sleep got their asses kicked by a tiny backwater town? Then after that the prisoners you wanted to return were planning on poisoning us to death? All because of greed. I am tired of trying to be reasonable to unreasonable people."

Her brother sighed and said "We don't see eye to eye on this. Just be careful, watch your back."

When he said that he gave Scarlet a meaningful look. Forrest rolled his eyes and the pair left.

Gwen tried to calm her brother down and said "He should be fine, that armor of his makes it really hard to see him. If anything they will get Scarlet first with that red armor of hers."

Davis laughed and said "Good way to look at it."

Feeling something hug her leg she looked down to Maria. Sighing she picked the girl up, she was getting almost too big for this.

Gwen said to her "Don't worry, your four legged friends will be back soon."

Maria muttered "That woman lies. She said it would only take a little time to pack her stuff. It took all day."

Gwen didn't know what to say, she wasn't wrong. She swayed with the girl like when she was little and patted her back. Half an hour passed with no one talking. Then she heard the little bell on the door go off and she looked up hoping to see Jim or Forrest.

Confused, she saw neither. They looked like ruff men, three of them. Maria saw them too and quickly dropped down and picked up her staff. Gwen did the same a second after.

The man gave a snake oil smile and said "Well well, looks like we have new customers! Fantastic! If you could just pay your protection fee we will be right out of your hair!"

Gwen was tired of feeling weak. Her brother was about to say something but she cut him off and said coldly "We both know this place is beyond covered for your so-called protection. Get. OUT!"

The last phrase she screamed and then she called her magic. Tapping into the lightning she manifested a ball of it and started pointing at the thugs.

After that the men couldn't get out of there fast enough. Davis turned to her and said "That wasn't a good idea Gwen."

Gwen sighed and said "I am tired of feeling powerless."

Her brother said with some rebuke "You were not powerless at the alcove battle."

She shook her head and said "I needed both you and Scarlet to support me or I would have been dead. And if Maria hadn't been keeping you two in good shape it would have gone even worse for me."

Davis said forcefully "We are part of a team. Everyone has their role. While that may be true, you caused more damage than all of us combined."

Gwen didn't feel like that was true. From her vantage point everyone had been so brave. Gwen felt ashamed that even her daughter had fought those things to protect her. She felt like a coward that had hid behind everyone. Even Scarlet had done more to protect Maria then she did. She felt powerless and she hated that feeling.

Davis then sighed and said "We need to be ready. Scum like that always has a way of reappearing on your boot."

"What should we do?"

Davis looked at the counter that was still nailed down and then crouched and put his shoulder into it. With a heave he pushed the counter bracing his foot against the back wall. With a screech the desk slowly started tearing the nails out. After a couple more attempts he uprooted the thing.

***

Davis' PoV

Davis used the hilt of his sword to nail the desk down near the shop's entrance. The door opened inward and with the desk's current position the doorway would barely fit one person in at a time. He examined the rest of the area and there was not much.

There was a small staircase to the left that led to a loft that sat above the doorway. There was a window on each floor. Davis turned to Maria and asked "Unlike your new healing spell, your Vigor Heal spell requires touch, right? But I have seen you touch clothing and not skin. Can it be used on a sword?"

Maria asked "What do you mean?"

Carefully he pointed his blade towards Maria slowly and said "If you touch my sword with your staff, can you use your Vigor Heal? Like you did back at the battle when you touched my back."

Maria said "I don't know, I can try."

Maria touched the sword with her staff and Davis was enveloped in white light. Davis could feel his stamina recharge. Nodding he said "This is what is going to happen if we get attacked. Gwen you stay at the bottom of the staircase and use it for cover. I will stay out of your line of sight to the right. You will cover the left window and any stragglers I can't take care of from the door. Maria, you will be upstairs in the loft. If I reach my sword up like this."

Davis demonstrated raising his arm up and tapping the loft with his sword "Then you use your Vigor Heal spell. Otherwise you need to hide and just use your new Heal spell at range. If they don't see a healer, they won't try to attack you. So keep your head down. If someone comes through the top window, call down. Everyone got it?"

Gwen asked "Why all the trouble?"

Davis sighed and said "Gwen these people run this entire street. People like that can't be seen to look weak. So if someone causes trouble they make an example out of them."

"Oh… but if that's the case, shouldn't we run?"

"Run where Gwen? We were just marked. This is their city. If we run, they will find us. Maybe if they are level-headed we can try to pay this fee of theirs."

Her anger started to return and she almost screamed saying "Pay them? Those thieves?"

Davis sighed and said "Surrounded by hot heads. Anyway my stamina just got recharged, so get some sleep if you can. I got first watch."

***

Forrest's PoV

Forrest was looking down on the bloody corpse of Aaron. The night went by in a blur. Scarlet was death in the night. Once she found one person who was in Aaron's gang it quickly became evident that he was a major player in the so-called Merchant Circle.

Scarlet snatched body after body working her way closer to where the man was. She started with a regular foot soldier, who gave information about his sergeant, who gave information about a lieutenant, and finally they found the man.

He still felt rage at the man's words. How could he call wiping out his town "Just doing business?"

Scarlet went into a daze after she got all of the information out of him. Putting his hand on her shoulder he asked "You okay?"

She shook her head and said "All of my friends are probably dead. All of them were sent into traps. With Shila and Jacksberg both marching on Xelross, there is little doubt what the outcome will be. Especially after all of her Knives in the dark had been taken out by betrayal. But who?"

Forrest made a grim face and said "That will probably be easy to answer in time. They will be the ones who are not dead."

Scarlet nodded. She finally said "I don't know what to do."

Wrapping his arm around her he said "We can always go on an adventure. Jim has two more temples to go to. See the world, and then get to stab things. Then after things cool down we come back and see who isn't dead. How about it?"

Scarlet nodded and said "Yea. Maybe. Let's go. I can think about this later."

When they were about to reach Milly's shop Scarlet held a hand up. Peeking around the corner she said "Trouble."

Taking a look for himself Forrest saw around thirty men preparing to attack the shop. He grinned evilly. He was totally going to win the argument with Davis! He got in way more trouble just by staying in a shop! Haha! Forrest was never going to let Davis live this down!

Grabbing an arrow from his quiver he nodded to Scarlet who already had her daggers in hand.