When a perplexed Valance filled out the same quest completion form for the third time, he couldn’t recall that he needed to do anything like that in the past. Usually, things just happened. Suri and Renata told him to fill out a weight-out form and no matter how he tried to charm them into doing it for him, they simply told him the same thing.
“Huh? A weight-out form? Why do I need to fill out any forms at all?”
“You need to fill out that form before anything else. It’s just how it works… guild rules.”
Was Suri’s prompt, and business-like response. Valance couldn’t put his finger on it, but something seemed different. Ever since they returned from the dungeon break, he felt that some people reacted differently to him. Even his team seemed… well, distant. When he tried to give the administration onto the others in his team, he discovered they all disappeared like a fart in the wind without telling him where they were going or for how long.
Even the poor excuse he begged Melody to sell to the guild master about them chasing the big beast down seemed a bit lame to him now. In the end the Red Backs only took a few subjugation quests to clear out some key governmental buildings in the outlying areas, just to lay low and avoid coming into the guild. But he bumped into a few unexpected hurdles.
“Did you write down the weight of your subjugation evidence?”
And there, for the first time, he discovered what the form was for.
“No, because I never do that. Felicia always takes care of those things.”
“Is Felicia here?”
Suri asked curiously.
“No.”
“Then who is going to do that. You, no?”
Valance couldn’t argue that. When Felicia handed the pocket dimension bag to him earlier, he absentmindedly took it from her, thinking she wanted him to hold onto it while she did something else. But she didn’t come back for it and then he needed to take it outside to the far end of the building, to the slaughtering facility to be processed. Valance didn’t know this, but usually three people always slaughtered beasts. Except then of course, because two people needed to leave for family reasons after the recent attacks. The only person remaining couldn’t help him because he was worked up to his eyeballs and couldn’t help Valance until the following day. Valance had no intentions of bumping into the guild master whom he avoided like the plague. But Valance wasn’t a seasoned adventurer for nothing. He paid someone willing to slaughter the beasts for him and soon he had the parts on the receptionist counter in front of Renata because something told him Suri wasn’t very cooperative at the moment.
“What is this?”
“It’s the parts for the subjugation.
“I can see that, but these are the wrong parts.”
“Huh? What do you mean. Don’t we need the lefthand side ears of the beasts as proof?”
“Who told you that?”
“Suri did.”
“First of all, Suri’s on lunch so she can’t defend herself while you pick on a little catkin. Secondly why would a catkin need to tell you that in the first place? Haven’t you been an adventurer nearly all your life, surely you have figured that out by now?”
Some snickering deeper in the guild hall eatery told him some folks overheard the conversation and were having fun at his expense. He snapped a mean look at the tables, only to find everyone fully preoccupied with their own things, seemingly oblivious to his vengeful stare. If he found that person, they would regret messing with the strongest team in the guild, and they knew it.
“So, are you going to show me the right parts or not?”
Renata became impatient.
“Yeah, yeah. Keep your knickers on, I’ll get them.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that before you regret it. Next!”
Renata shouted so loud and so frightened the next man in line, he nearly opted to wait at the back of the line instead.
Valence fumed. He had never been so insulted. What was worse, he couldn’t find that man who cut up the beasts for him before, which meant needed to dig out the parts from the cess pile himself. An awful foul stench emanated from the rotting carcases that already spent more than enough time in the sun. By the time he returned to the guild he discovered Suri had swopped placed with Renata whose turn it was to have lunch.
“What this?”
“It’s the right-hand side subjugation parts Renata said I should present.”
“I know that. But you can’t put those bloody parts on the counter without a fine. Please pay three silvers then wash those parts off first.”
“What? Then I’m going to need to stand at the back of the line again.”
“No point in shouting, this is a reputable establishment.”
Valence became incensed; Suri made it sound like he treated the guild like a bordello.
“I’m not shouting.”
“If you persist, I will have to call the guild master.”
Suri looked pretty mad.
“No, no, no need to do that. Okay, I’ll pay the fine and wash the bloody parts.”
He overemphasised the word 'bloody'. Holding in his anger, he returned to the slaughtering facility, only to find it closed for lunch. He launched into a series of expletives that caused by passers to flinch in horror.
By the end of lunchtime Valence had calmed down somewhat, enough to realise he overreacted to the situation. He needed to get back his mojo, his calm.
“Why am I battling with administration when I can go straight top and get the guild master to sort it out?”
He asked himself aloud. It made perfect sense, he was networked, it was time to use his contacts. Then he remembered why he avoided the guild master and sat down again to think about how desperate he really was. Nope, he decided on trying to complete the quest on his own. That was until he faced Suri again.
“That's better. The parts look clean now. Pass me your form.”
He handed her the completed weight-out form.
“Eh, where is the other form?”
“What form?”
“The one I gave you with the weight-out out form.”
“You didn't give me another form.”
“Are you saying I'm lying?”
Valence had enough, and he was just about to tell them exactly how he felt when a feared voice called in from the mezzanine floor.
“Valence! Stop making fool of yourself and come here.”
Valence didn't say a word. He didn't dare. But never in his life had he wanted to commit murder in front of so many witnesses. Only the guild master's voice stopped him from doing something stupid.
When Grud saw him, he pointed Valence to a chair.
“Sit.”
Strangely, Valence felt some relief at knowing he could no longer avoid talking to the guild master.
“What's going on that even Suri is riling you up?”
The pent-up frustration valence felt from that morning bucketed out as he poured out his frustrations about the guild's useless administration.
“I see. Useless, eh?”
“Let me guess, you had to fill out a weight-out form?”
“How did you know that?”
Valence suspected something wasn't right. Just how did the guild master know about his problem with the form when he never mentioned its name to him?
“You must have done something really serious to upset Suri and Renata.”
“I didn't do anything to them. I just wanted to claim my quest rewards and go home to rest. Instead, they subjected me to endless harassment.”
“Valence, we don't have a weight out form in the guild. It's a form the administrators use when they want to punish someone for upsetting them.”
“Really? But I didn't upset them. Why would they treat me like that?”
Grud sighed to himself. He hated having to teach someone the obvious, especially when they were so oblivious to their wrongdoing.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Valence, the ladies told me that they witnessed your interaction with the Sunkiss team the day you left the guild to go on the dungeon quest. That's what is going on.”
He wanted to retort but suddenly realised he was in the wrong. It dawned on him that part of the reason he felt the way he did about meeting the guild master was that he still hadn't reconciled the death of that team he let down. He felt terrible and bottling it up wasn't doing him any favours. He decided to come clean with the guild master.
“Guild master, I let you in the Sunkiss team down. I feel that I did them wrong, I should have been there for them, and I wasn't. I don't know how to make up for it, but I'm willing to do anything just to clean my conscience.”
“I'm glad you recognise that it's one of the reasons why you're such a good leader. But there is no point in telling me that, it's then you need to explain that to.”
“It's too late for that. They are dead now; how do I compensate for that?”
“Who told you they were dead? On second thoughts, don't answer that.”
Suri and Renata's handprints were all over it.
“You mean they are still alive?”
“Of course, you idiot. They all walked out of the dungeon just fine.”
He looked incredulous. He met the dungeon boss, how did a newbie team managed to survive that creature?
“You're probably wondering how a newbie team could survive that dungeon beast, correct?”
“Well, yes.”
“How about you ask them yourself when you see them. But first, I suggest you do something about those two downstairs, otherwise I wouldn’t give two copper bits to be in your shoes.”
Valence didn’t feel confident about that. Someone like him defeated massive beasts in life and death battles over the years, and yet the thought of fronting up to those two gave him the chills.
Suri thought Valence looked like a wet rat feeling very sorry for itself. She couldn’t believe that she ever felt so infatuated by the man now standing in front of Renata and herself. He started by apologising to them. They felt angered by his two-faced behaviour and how badly he treated Sunkiss. After his return and discovered that he left his charge in the dungeon they were shocked to the core. Not just that, but his attempts to avoid dealing with the consequences riled them up even more. Action needed to be taken, they unilaterally decided, and Operation Administration Revenge was initiated.
Valence already said a few words, but Suri didn’t pay much attention at first. It seemed the man’s magic that so entranced her in the past, simply didn’t work on her anymore.
“I apologise for the way I behaved today. I deserved my comeuppance and I accept my due punishment with dignity. I heard that you witnessed my dreadful behaviour a few days ago, when I treated Sunkiss so poorly. I compensated for my frustrations by wrongfully taking it out on Keegan who did nothing to deserve my animosity.”
The duo nodded in agreement. Suri had a thing to get off her chest and spoke her mind.
“Yes, you were wrong. You are treating them like that, even when their own lives were at stake during Aryan’s death was selfish and… wrong. We miss Aryan. She was our friend too, but we didn’t treat Sunkiss like they killed her.”
“I agree.”
Said Renata,
“I’d like to think that Aryan would not have appreciated your treatment of them, she loved Sunkiss as well. But that’s enough of that. We forgive you and besides, Suri probably still wants to have your little catkins.”
“Renata!”
“Well, it’s true. I heard you say it yourself.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
Valence felt relieved that awful chapter of his life was now over. As he stood there watching the two administrators going at each other, he couldn’t help but wonder what quagmire he still needed to navigate out of. However, he discovered his day wasn’t over. When he finally extricated himself from the guild and walked out the door, he discovered the remainder of his team waited outside for him.
“Please don’t tell me you guys were on this as well?”
“No, we weren’t. But then only you were dumb enough not to see it coming, so we thought we’d let you navigate yourself out of it.”
Said Felicia. Valence knew them well enough to know he just received their version of revenge.
“You guys probably think I behaved like an idiot with Keegan.”
“Yeah.”
“Yip.”
“Totally.”
Came their blunt replies.
“Why didn’t you say anything at the time?”
Rodney slung his massive arm around Valence’s neck. That one arm held some serious muscle, he could feel it tighten around him like a constrictor snake.
“Valence buddy. We’re never going to contradict or challenge you in front of others, especially newbie teams. We might not agree with all your decisions, but we follow you no matter what. However, when the time comes for you to get your ass kicked because you’re a total ‘dufus’, then we’ll also be first in line to mete out the punishment. And that ended the team’s pep talk.
“Oh wow, I’m so privileged to have a team like you.”
He said with a tear in his eye.
“He’s going to cry.”
“He’s crying like a little baby.”
“You’re on thin ice there Felicia. Don’t push it.”
“Aww, are you going to cry to mommy now?”
“Now you’ve done it.”
The pedestrians walking past the guild were exposed to the odd scene of a team of adventurers chasing each other around in circles while shouting unusual things to each other. Most people put it down to typical adventurer behaviour and didn’t pay it more attention.
Everyone except the guild master who stood watching them from his window, smiling at their antics.
“You seem happy today.”
Harrisman commented.
“Ah, Harrisman, you’ve arrived. Come on in and have a drink.”
Grud poured two small cups of liquor he liked to share with friends he cared about. Harrisman and he built up a friendship over many years.
“Yes, I am happy. I just witnessed the end of an unhappy story.}
“I assume it ended on a good note?”
“That it did. I assume you have news for me?”
Harrisman delivered his report to the guild master on his investigations into the young Carl’s unexpected revelation about the soldiers delving the new dungeon.
“I managed to speak to a special friend of mine. It seems he had an interesting tale to tell about our friend the mayor.”
“Speak about yourself, he’s no friend of mine.”
“Well then, our acquaintance, the mayor decided that he wanted to get ahead of the adventurer guild when it came to mining the dungeon for its wealth.”
“That explains the motivation and it comes as little surprise the mayor was behind it. We also know the outcome since not one of them exited the dungeon. That leaves the question of whether they contributed to the dungeon outbreak.”
“No one can answer that because not one person in that platoon survived, probably thanks to that massive beast. But there was a small bit of information I managed to glean from some guards that I befriended that might shed some light on the situation.”
“Pray do tell. I’m all ears.”
The guild master mocked a fake tea party scenario, where noble ladies gossiped to each other.
“The guards that entered the dungeon were using an aetherium sphere.”
“Just how the heck did they manage to get their hands on something like that?”
“Apparently the mayor handed it to them to assist them with the subjugation. All I can believe is that he was so desperate to get hold of the dungeon before us, he was willing to let them use something as powerful as that.”
Grud’s mind filtered out the facts from the fiction. If the mayor was so desperate that he would send a priceless energy tool into a dungeon the issue had to be financial. Aetherium spheres were ethereal power plants on a worldwide scale. Only cities with millions of people used those spheres as power supplies for energy hungry things like city shields and interdimensional gates. Those spheres sat on the level of a national treasure. Kingdoms didn’t hand those to any other kingdom for any reason, they were that priceless.
That aetherium sphere came with the mayor to the Regesea Realm because nothing like that could be manufactured. Did his family know he even had it with him, and would they have allowed him to take it with him? Not likely. Those spheres represented the indisputable wealth and power of a realm.
It wasn’t the world’s best kept secret that the mayor fell afoul of his brother’s claim to the throne back home overseas. When his plotting failed, he scurried over to the Regesea Realm hoping to keep a low profile in case his crown prince brother sent any assassins to ‘fare-thee-well’ the mayor into the next life.
“I think the mayor doesn’t want anyone to know he has an aethereal sphere. If his family found out he stole it, they’ll send every knight they have to retrieve it.”
It worried Grud that the mayor brought such a dangerous political tool to Hafeld. Perhaps that’s why he stole it in the first place.
“Yes, but even if they know it’s missing, they certainly will not advertise it.”
Added Harrisman.
“Don’t mention this to anyone. The last thing we need is the Definium Kingdom’s troops parked outside our city walls demanding their sphere back.”
Grud laughed to himself that even the mention of that device could create headaches.
“Don’t worry, the information stays with me.”
Harrisman could be trusted and Grud didn’t even argue that.
“That raises a more crucial question, what happened to that sphere and where is it now?”
“Well, I have a theory about that, and you’re not going to like it.”
Grud suspected what Harrisman was about to say and didn’t like where he was leading the conversation.
“I believe the guards couldn’t use the sphere in the dungeon before they were attacked. For whatever reason, that beast ate the sphere and now its inside of it, and helping it grow.”
“I have to disagree with you.”
“You do?”
“Yes, I seriously dislike what you’re saying.”
A knock on his office door irritated the mayor no ends. He hated disruptions when he faced conundrums requiring a lot of his mental capacity. The loss of the aetherium sphere caused him sleepless nights. What was worse, the sphere was now missing and even a clandestine follow-up search issued by the garrison commander turned up nothing. Even those little adventurer brats that survived the dungeon break disaster didn’t know anything if he could trust his spies in the adventurer guild.
The knocking didn’t go away.
“Leave, I’m busy.”
He shouted in his most offended sounding voice he could muster.
“The adventurer guild master is here to see you, sir.”
The news didn’t warm him up to the situation, his unwanted visitor being the last person he wanted to speak to. However, no matter how much he despised the man, his influence in the city couldn’t be dispelled offhand and the situation required at least some of his attention.
“Let him in.”
The door opened, letting a smug looking guild master come through and sit down without invitation. The man’s cavalier attitude rubbed the mayor up on all levels and the guild master knew it.
“What can I do for you guild master? I am particularly busy and if you will excuse my abruptness, I will not be able to entertain you much.”
Grud waved his hand dismissively as if waving off a minor hinderance.
“Please it’s no bother.”
He said very diplomatically.
“Since the terrible events of a few days ago, we have been investigating the possible reasons for the dungeon break since it caused so much death and destruction. We also believe the dungeon behaved in a totally unnatural manner, and we are considering the option of outside interference. I’m here to ask if you can add any clarity as to why the dungeon might have behaved the way it did?”
The mayor made a sound like a beached whale before sputtering nearly incomprehensible words at Grud.
“And why guild master would I know anything about that?”
“I don't know. That's why I'm asking you.”
“Well, you are wasting your time and mine. If there is nothing more, I need to continue with my work.”
Grud watched the sweaty mayor squirm under his gaze as he simply looked at the man for a while. Finally, he concluded his visit.
“Very well, I'll go now. I just wanted to be certain about the rumours.”
And he stood up to leave.
“What rumours?”
Grud smiled to himself, the mayor took his bait.
“Oh, you couldn't have heard about it then?”
“I wouldn't be asking you if I had.”
“The rumour about a round object some men were seen carrying into the dungeon before the break.”
Grud saw the mayor nervously swallow before he violently shook his head in denial.
“No. I didn't hear about that.”
“Don't worry about it then, probably baseless rumours anyway. You know how these things go.”
“No, I don't know how these things go.”
“The truth comes out in the end, I mean. I'll let myself out.”
Just before he opened the door, he said something that gave the major chills a long time after the fact.
“If I catch the person responsible for the dungeon break, no place in Hafeld city will be safe for them. I'll hunt them down, and make sure they pay for every single person that died, and for the losses the city suffered.”
Truthfully, Grud laid some thick sentiment onto the mayor who he knew was lying through his teeth. The problem with lying is that those that told them didn't sleep well. He felt sure the mayor would not sleep well that night. What's more, Grud would ensure the man didn't have a good sleep for weeks to come.
Grud hated being surreptitious about things, but there were times he had to be careful about how to approach sensitive issues. The presence of an aetherium sphere in Hafeld created a dangerous precedent for them. No matter what, that still missing beast needed to be found and destroyed before it morphed into a behemoth they couldn’t handle. That would become the biggest priority for the guild as soon as the current emergency abated.