"To start from the beginning," Lone said, "my group and I felt we should try to do a more adventure-oriented quest for the first time since arriving here in Krieg Moor."

The elderly dwarf nodded. "That makes sense and matches our records. You took up a quest as an apprentice to Steamforger Wilbur, aye? And she's an assistant to that elven tailor on Industrial Street along with the one mentioned in the report that's in a 'cocoon of roots'."

Lone smiled wryly. "That's correct."

"I see," the guild employee said as he narrowed his eyes. "I hope Steamforger Wilbur hasn't been teaching you how to steamforge, now has he?"

Lone shook his head. "Of course not. Do I look like a dwarf to you?"

He was more than aware that it was illegal for him to be learning the cultural art of steamforging as a non-dwarf.

Why would he ever confess to doing so given that he knew it could risk him and Breena along with Sophie getting tossed out of the krieg?

Unless it turned out that this branch of the guild also housed a White Dragonkin as Milindo's did, then Lone would be lying all day and all night if need be to protect himself and his elderly mentor.

"Good. Make sure it stays that way," the dwarf grumbled. "Now, continue with your story, if you would."

"Of course," Lone said. "Things went well at first. The Stone Dwarf employing us, Four-twelve, did a great job leading us through the Farwinds to his destination."

"He even told us stories about his life as a mercenary and he indulged me in what he knew of the dwarven culture, particularly the legends and tales surrounding the Farwinds and the epitomes." Lone smiled a bit sadly upon recalling the genuine chemistry he had with the man before his betrayal and then suicide.

The dwarf taking notes across from him and Breena wore a mildly surprised expression on his face.

Lone watched as the look in the man's eyes became a bit more sympathetic upon hearing how interested in his own culture Lone was.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Persuasion] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 5.

'Unexpected but welcome,' Lone thought. "The quest was to help him scatter his old friend's ashes in his hometown of Urd Vahir."

"And how did that go?" the dwarf asked.

Lone shrugged and laughed bitterly. "Peachy. Four-twelve scattered the ashes with no issue. It was odd, really. I should have been more suspicious. Not a single Darkness Spawn could be seen in the urd. There were hundreds in total in the connecting Farwind road, but the urd itself? As dead as a graveyard."

"So what happened then?" the old man asked as he looked down at the report he'd received yesterday from the Nightwatch. "It says here you said this, eh, 'Four-twelve' character turned on you and injured you and the human girl badly before killing himself. Is that right?"

"More or less, yeah. I have more details though," Lone said before he scratched his cheek. "This might be, um, a little bit unbelievable. Can you bear with me as I try to explain?"

The dwarf nodded. "That's my job."

"Great. Well, Four-twelve claimed to be the only survivor of a demigod attack and he said he was going around burying his friends' remains or scattering their ashes in their places of birth. Simple enough right? The complex part is that he made a deal with a powerful entity just to get access to said remains and ashes," Lone said with a humourless laugh.

"And said entity would be?" the employee asked.

Lone smiled a bit helplessly. "I know this is gonna sound a bit nuts but I'm pretty confident it was the Primal Darkness."

The old dwarf raised a sceptical eyebrow. "I assume you have more of this tale to tell, aye? You can't expect me to believe such a wild claim with nothing to back it up, whether you're a credible adventurer or not."

Lone nodded in understanding. "When Four-twelve turned on us he afflicted us directly with Darkness Corruption. I know because I gained the skill Darkness Corruption Resistance from the encounter. I have the right mix of skills to ward it off but my partner was less fortunate and is currently in a catatonic state as a nature magic skill, Root of Life, is healing her."

"Hmm... That matches the existing reports but it's still not proof of a Primal's direct involvement. You also seem to be doing fine. How is it that Adventurer Sophie is comatose while you seem to be right as rock?" the dwarf questioned.

'Right as rock? Is that a dwarven version of 'right as rain'? That's pretty neat...' Lone thought before he answered, "Well, I know this doesn't get any easier to believe but I'm incredibly resistant to most things. Chalk it down to my Golden Foxkin bloodline."

"That makes some sense I suppose. There's a lot of powerful species topside. Yours is listed as pretty up there," the dwarf said with a shrug. "What else happened?"

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Persuasion] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 6.

'That's one more hurdle successfully passed, only one big one left; my direct encounter with what I think was Darkness...' Lone thought with a bit of worry. 'Fingers crossed Persuasion can pull me through that too. The people here need to know about the dangers and the possibility that it's Darkness who's behind the strange happenings of the krieg recently.'

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Breena had been listening in to the conversation as she sat there in utter silence.

She was, quite honestly, in awe at how Master Lone was able to easily convince the guild employee that everything he was saying was the truth, or at least that it seemed to be true, regardless of how outlandish his story was.

'I wonder how he can have so much confidence when talking to a stranger?' she thought. 'It'd be amazing if I could be like that too... especially since this elder is reluctant to believe Master...'

"Well," Master Lone said, "This is going to sound crazy and I wish this branch of the guild had a White Dragonkin to prove that I'm not lying, but when I went to sleep last night I was... pulled into the Farwinds."

Breena knitted her eyebrows in confusion. 'What is Master saying? He never said anything about that this morning at breakfast... Is he trying to weave a story to make everything seem more true? But... why?'

She listened with keen curiosity as she waited for a more in-depth explanation.

Master Lone wore a serious expression before saying, "I'm pretty sure Darkness itself somehow found me through the Darkness Corruption Four-twelve gave me and, via my dreams, used it to summon me or something. Whatever Four-twelve did to me and Sophie... Darkness has used it to establish a connection with us. I'm certain."

'... Master is being serious?' Worry immediately filled Breena. 'W-Why didn't he tell me any of this earlier?'

"That's a bit farfetched. I'm going to need more to go off of if I'm to believe you," the scary-looking dwarven man said.

Master Lone nodded. "I understand that. I have no way to prove it was Darkness but I can describe where it brought me. It was a weird ruined town of an origin I didn't recognise. What was particularly odd though was that there were random dwarven buildings mixed in with the unfamiliar ones. They seemed... modern."

Breena saw the investigative employee arch his brow suspiciously. "What are you trying to say?"

Master Lone replied, "People and buildings have been going missing from the krieg, right? I think I may have found a lead."

A grave expression took a hold of the old white-bearded dwarf's face. "If you're not totally crazy, which I don't think you are, then this could be huge. This is, quite honestly, above the guild though. I'll need to bring what you've reported to the local council and wait for their judgement. Are you okay with that?"

Master Lone nodded slowly. "Yeah. Uh, the quest we took won't count as failed, right? Given the circumstances and whatnot."

"That depends," the dwarf answered, "we'll need to send out a group of seasoned adventurers to Urd Vahir to find the remains of your employer and see if all of the facts line up. How exactly did he kill himself?"

The coldness of how the man had just brought up a fellow kin's death bothered Breena. She didn't know why it struck her the wrong way but she felt it was important to treat death with more... sympathy and care.

'Is death a common thing for him? He's so removed from it...' she thought as she snuck a few silent glances at the short yet intimidating dwarf.

Master Lone grimaced a bit. Breena assumed he was recalling the scene that had left even her a bit rattled. "He... uh... he took one of his own arrows from his quiver and, uh... right through the chin."

"Quick and clean. An expert from what I've heard of the man. Thanks. You two can go. If everything checks out on the adventure front, you'll be paid the promised reward for the quest and you'll be compensated too since it's our responsibility to ensure all of our quests are as safe as they say they are. It's unforgivable that we allowed such an unpredictable client to issue a quest," the dwarf said as he lowered his head in apology to Master Lone.

'Oh, thank you,' Breena sighed in relief mentally. 'I need to excel as an adventurer... I can't afford to have any stains on my record... I... I just can't.'

The dwarf seemed to glance at Breena but she shied her gaze away instantly as she tried to become one with her chair. Seeing that, he didn't let his eyes linger on her for too long.

"I can't make any promises in regards to the council and your claims, but they are desperate for any leads so expect a visit or a summons from someone representing the council of Krieg Moor," the man said in an official and formal tone.

Master Lone smiled with that patented charming smile of his as he responded, "Thanks for listening to me. I know it's all a bit... well, insane."

"Insane? Nah, lad, your story is the definition of sane when compared to some of the other going-ons around Teresta," the old man chuckled.

"Such as? I'm a bit uninformed, sadly," Master Lone asked in a friendly tone.

The employee shrugged. "On the high end? The Eastern World Tree got attacked by a fookin' Ancient only 50-years ago. What's nuts is that they survived. On the cataclysmically worrying end? The Great Barrier sealing up the monster continent is showing signs of weakening in recent centuries. On the local and more minute end? The bloody human kingdom just a hop, skip and a jump away from here had most of its ruling class and armies destroyed in a single moment by one of the guild's strongest adventurer groups."

He sighed deeply. "I'm too old for this nonsense. Aye, your tall tale about being abducted by Darkness itself is a bit outlandish but what isn't these days?"

Breena's eyes opened widely and she stuttered out, "M-Milindo had that happen to i-it? Can you, um, explain more?"

The dwarf raised an eyebrow. "Your records do say both of you came from there. Well, it's no secret or anything. A guild member was wrongly set to be executed by the irrational king of that country. Said adventurer was broken out by a couple of demis and then disappeared. I think he was a foxkin like this fella here but I can't recall. I didn't look into the report much. Foreign affairs and whatnot. We're busy dealing with our own shit here in the krieg."

"Anyway, the meat and potatoes come a bit later. So the four dukes of Milindo, right? They ambushed and tried to kill the local guildmaster there. Great kid called Gilbert Elksworth. Met him a few times over the past few decades. Real down to earth guy who doesn't like abusing that racial trait of his," the employee of the guild detailed.

He stroked his beard thoughtfully before continuing, "I heard Gilbert fought off and killed one duke before disappearing entirely with two dwarves and one of the other dukes. Eyewitness reports claim a massive man of smoke appeared and magiced them away."

"A Djinn," Breena mumbled softly.

"Right. Demigods are no secret to the guild and it was in his file that he owned such a dangerous set of artefacts; the Djinn wishes. I'm glad it saved his life. Well, hopefully. Djinns are right bastards," the old dwarf laughed a bit sadly. "Needless to say, the main branch over in Mystopolis wasn't best pleased. Sent over Sloth herself from the Seven Deadly Sins. Scary girl, that one. I'm glad I've never met her personally. Apparently, she just opened her eyes and everyone who was corrupt, evil, or entirely against the guild were spirited away by her powers. I'm half-convinced she's a demigod."

Breena saw Master Lone frown upon hearing that. Regardless though, he seemed to nod before saying, "Thank you for the news. I suspect we've eaten into your work time for a bit too long though, haven't we?"

"A little bit, aye, but with age comes the realisation that it's not really a bad thing to waste time talking to others, haha," the dwarf chuckled heartily. "I'll make sure all this paperwork is completed and sent where it needs to be sent as soon as possible."

"Thank you. We really appreciate it," Master Lone expressed his feelings in kind.

Breena wanted to voice her appreciations as well but found herself unable to speak. Panicking a bit, she instead bowed her head and softly mumbled something inaudible.

"Shy girl, huh?" the dwarf remarked in passing. "Enjoy the rest of your day."

Breena felt her face heating up in embarrassment. She didn't even hear Lone say farewell in kind and she barely registered that they'd left the guild already by the time she snapped out of her feelings of shame.