“That’s not dramatic at all,” Arek said dryly. Magus, whose chest had puffed out slightly in pride during his speech, seemed to deflate as his epic moment was ruined. “The adventurer’s guild loves getting into pissing matches with people. This wouldn’t be the first time one of their enemies has infiltrated them, and it won’t be the last. I think we’re a little more concerned as to why Belmont has been dragged into it.”

“That being said, we’ll be playing it safer than usual,” Belmont said. “The circumstances are irrelevant. We’ll be playing it safer than usual for the foreseeable future, or at least until we know who we’re dealing with.”

“That is probably a wise decision,” Magus said. “I promise we’ll do our best to bring more information to light soon.”

Their conversation petered off into an uneasy silence, with the four of them awkwardly watching Magus. The blue veined mage coughed into his sleeve and cleared his throat loudly.

“Well, I think we’ve done what we needed to. Arek, I recommend you avoid using your magic for the time being. I’ll contact you the moment I find any useful information. With that being said, unless anyone has any reason to stay here further, I’ll be taking us back to Riverfall.”

“Can I have a new spell to learn? I figured out the first one, and it’s kind of boring,” Ming said, doing her best puppy dog eyes in the older mage’s direction.

Magus sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. A faint blue light lit up at the tip of his finger and he traced a line through the air. The line split open into a tiny portal and he reached inside, hunting around for something. He found it after a few moments and pulled out a tiny white book that wasn’t much larger than his hand.

“There are several spells at your level within this book. It’s quite rare, so please –”

Ming snatched it from his hand and eagerly started flipping through the pages, practically salivating at being able to cast more than one pure magic spell.

“– be careful with it,” Magus finished. He let out a weary sigh and turned to Belmont as he pulled another, much thinner, book from his bag. This one was a pale beige, with dozens of dark runes inscribed on the front.

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“And this one is for you,” Magus said, handing it to Belmont. The armored man produced a thin black cloth from within his travel pouch and wrapped it around his gauntleted hand before taking the book.

“What’s this?” Belmont asked.

“You need a mentor or an incredible amount of money to learn new spells,” Magus said, rubbing the back of his head. “You didn’t get one during your exam, so I felt that it was my duty to step in. Temporarily, of course. Just until you find a new mentor. The other two books are just the basics. This one is more appropriate for a healer.”

“I see. Thank you,” Belmont said, wrapping the book in the black cloth and putting it into his travel bag.

“Well then, it’s time to get back. I have quite a lot of work to do. A good bit of it will be explaining to the guild that the giant spike of energy was due to an overeager apprentice rather than a powerful magical artifact. So, is everyone ready?” Magus said. He let out a racking cough and grimaced. The mage wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

Before any of them could respond, pure magic arched out of his hands and enveloped the group. Bright blue light lit up the clearing. When it faded, they were all gone.

The Happy Sunflowers appeared in the bottom floor of the adventurer’s guild, several feet away from the table they’d been sitting at before Magus had arrived. The mage hadn’t come along with them, and their arrival drew the attention of several adventurers.

“Well, that was…something,” Malissa said, letting out a weary sigh. “I suppose we got mostly good news, though.”

Ming grunted in what might have been agreement. Her nose was buried in the book Magus had given her, and the small mage didn’t seem particularly interested in tearing her gaze away from it.

“It’s still concerning,” Arek said. “Not to sound like Belmont, but we need to be on our guard. If Ming and I were both affected by that portal, it’s possible you and Belmont were as well. If even Magus doesn’t recognize what the green runes are, we have to assume that they’re dangerous.”

“You’re right, but is there really anything we can do about it?” Malissa asked. “Magus is already checking the library. If we sit around constantly worrying, all we’ll do is make it harder on ourselves.”

“It is better to be overprepared than the alternative,” Belmont said. “If we don’t know what your runes do, we should prepare for the worst. We could barricade ourselves within our rooms and wait until Magus finds further information.”

Malissa crossed her arms and shook her head firmly.

“No. Being careful is one thing, but we shouldn’t live in fear of something that we don’t know. As long as we’re in the city, Magus can show up and help if things go really badly.”

“What are you suggesting?” Belmont asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, we’ve got a good number of people watching us at the moment,” Malissa said, lowering her voice. “Regardless of what we do, I think it’s time to get a move on. We’ve got some time to kill, and we just finished a dungeon. I think we should pay a visit to the auction house.”