The next day after they visited the Association, Cless had her magical theory lessons with Josefine. The two women were in one of the many currently unoccupied inn room. Cless told Josefine about her class selection but met an unexpected roadblock.

"I am sorry, Cless. I don't know any spell from the Royalty restricted list," Josefine replied to Cless' inquiry with a really contrite face. "Not for a lack of trying, but Royalty hounds their secrets tighter than a dragon keeps her treasure."

Cless gave her friend and magic teacher a wry smile. What could she say? If the Great Sage didn't know, then she would have to seek out an alliance with some Royal House or even plunder it from them. That was a really troublesome thing. The availability of spellbooks was a defining factor for the magical traditions available for a culture.

Spellcasters had to go and learn their spells the hard way, while the other classes could just get techniques as they leveled. There was one benefit of that, you could abandon the class and keep the spells learned while the techniques would be lost as soon as the levels were gone. The cost to swap was also getting bigger and bigger as each tier of a class increased the costs by six hundred thousand over the previous one. Another problem of picking a class just to learn the spells was that the potency of these spells would decrease sharply once the proficiency bonuses were gone.

For classes that compounded their power during a chain that was even more evident. Cless' divine magic should be five times stronger than it was if she kept the Cleric and Priestess classes. Only her Magic and Intellect kept her on the point nobody suspected anything. The whole Holy Maiden debacle happened when she used Hallow before removing the Priestess class. Right now she could be considered strong for a divine spellcaster her level but not an absurd one.

She could even pose as an Earth mage, as her Skill considered her a full caster. That was the reason she could raise a four-story tall tower keep from the ground in a reasonable time frame. Most mages would need to work a wall per day, taking weeks.

"That's fine, Josie. It is not your fault. I'm sure I can find it somewhere, and if I don't then I'll swap out the class. Honestly, given my ability to get Exp through my Skills, it is not a big loss."

"It is a big loss, not a crippling loss!" The elf lectured her back, easily falling back into her teacher persona now that her cover as a barmaid was blown. "Cless, us normal people rely on our classes for our stats. Swapping a tier four class for a person around level one hundred means giving up almost a third of their total stats. Some usually can't even fight something that can give any decent amount of Experience. A time better spent leveling another class in a higher-tier slot."

Cless wondered about what she saw on the Class selection and asked, "Is that the reason most higher-tier classes have variable slots?"

"Indeed. The number of available classes thins out as they go up in tiers. People that don't plan out their path are lucky if they find themselves stuck in the fifth tier. I've seen generalists that didn't pick the right synergies and professions to retire on the third tier."

She leveled a glare at Cless when she delivered that line. She was hanging onto her own because her Skill allowed her to make herself not a generalist, but a one-person-arsenal.

"I understand, Josie. I'll try to focus my development in one direction. When I get my third profession, I'm investing in spellcasting. I'll pick Court Mage."

Besides the classes for Royalty, she had some professions she could take or even grant to others. Court Mage was a profession for the trusted spellcaster advisor of Kings.

"That's a good profession!" Josie clapped her hands. "I have it myself. Court High Mage if you double up, which I recommend."

"Speaking of changing professions, how can I get one of those class crystals for myself? The association hoards them but are they hard to come by?"

Josefine grimaced. "Very hard. They are enchanted Dungeon cores."

"What?" Cless widened her eyes in both surprise and terror. "That is... what did people do to change classes and professions before? It is not like they hunted Dungeons since day one, and as far as I know, the dungeons came after classes and Skills."

"Yes, that is correct. Some people could become either Trailblazers or Trainers. With the right proficiencies and Skills, people could develop new classes or train others on the path they had. After the first dungeon cores came into the market from greedy delvers, people started making all sorts of stuff with them, and someone got the idea of making the class crystals with the shards of broken cores."

"Why would they make the crystals if they had trainers?"

"Because even though they were respected, trainers had to spend a lot of personal resources to become one, and they were limited. The crystals could grant any class or profession. The need for trainers disappeared and even the trailblazers became fewer and fewer."

"This stupid conflict, no matter who wins, we lose!" Cless cursed.

Josefine held her. "You and I, we have something in common, Cless. We are the last of our respective people. Myrkheim and Alfenheim. It ends with us but you at least can have descendants."

Cless felt a pang of pain and her eyes watered. "Can't you?"

Josefine curled her lower lips. "I can, but... any children I have will be a half-elf, even if my mate is a half-elf. There will be no true elves born anymore." Cless was unable to stifle her tears. "I'm truly the last elf."

"Josie!"

The lesson ended there. All they could do was to comfort each other on their shared misfortune.

The next day, Cless decided to create something. She had the Hellshadow cougar leather and the elastic worm skin, all treated by Olson and ready for manufacture. The slick black leather could become clothing as it was too thin and soft to be made into armor. Clothing then. She made jackets for everyone and a vest for Kurt as he couldn't do sleeves. All of them had the guild's symbol on the chest and back. She also made leather outfits for Kate and Shad. The stretchy worm fibers sewn inside the jackets would ensure they would keep a nice fit without restraining movement.

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Weaving the wormskin fibers with other cloth items Cless made a replacement for the corset. It would help keep the waist in control and give lift and support to the breasts without compromising breathing. After making a few pieces for both her and Venaris, she kept making other clothing and accessories until she ran out of raw materials. A week went by with such endeavors and Cless was bored.

It was a clear day when a message from the sawmill cheered her up. Mr. Anders finished the items she commissioned. Cless gathered her guild and went for the sawmill. Kate was pulling the golem's cart. With the doors and furniture for the tower loaded, they traveled to the gnome village, using fireballs to clear out the biggest snow mounds, flame brand on the sword to deal with the small ones. They stopped by the bridge toll guardhouse to furnish the place and install the doors and shutters. Even without counting the time they used to fix the guardhouse, they still took six hours to do the crossing.

Inside her demesne, Cless could sense the general state of the place. The gnome houses were in ruins and covered in more than a meter of snow. There wasn't a single monster on the surface and she couldn't sense inside the dungeon, not even to the wall inside the cave.

"Let's clear the tower. Remove the monster corpses inside and dump them in the forest. I'm going to raise a wall around the ramp and install the gate."

They set to work. The guild reclaimed the tower and Cless raised the metal-reinforced wooden gate in place. After cleaning the whole tower and placing the shutters and doors where they belong, it was too late to go back and they slept in the tower keep.

Cless woke up to the smell of roasting rabbits. She went outside and found four rabbits on spits roasting by a fire pit. The sky was clear and probably it wouldn't snow anytime soon.

"Good morning. Did everyone sleep well?" She asked the people around the firepit.

"Yes," Venaris answered. "What are we doing today?"

"We are going back. The destroyed houses at the village bother me but we don't have time to fix them. If the weather stays clear, we could move before winter ends."

After eating their breakfast, the guild set on the road back to Tambrill. Cless went slowly, sensing the road for any defects. There were no problems until they reached the inn. The six heroes were gathered.

"What is going on? Is there any problem?" She asked.

"No, nothing like that," Karen pointed at an open seat in their middle, "Sit down, Cless. You guys too, sit down and listen."

"What is going on?" She insisted after taking the seat.

"We are all leaving tambrill in a week. The Church already learned of the Inquisition's fate and we need to move if we want to thwart their plans. Now that they broke our agreement on their side, we are free to act. There are things we need to do and people we need to see if we want to counter them."

Cless perked up, "What should I do?"

"Just go to Glauchester and settle down," George suggested. "You got lucky with the Inquisition but you can't count on a second time. Fortunately, it will seem that we were the ones to defeat Trevor and Frederik."

"Yes, go and delve, see if you can strengthen yourself," Balthus completed. "Get your guild fine-tuned and your neck out of trouble."

Josefine went next, "We will need a fixed address to send you the spellbooks you need. I will try to call in some favors and find what you need for your new class."

It was at the same time what she expected but not what she hoped for. There they were, going off on their crazy hero adventures where they wrangled dragons and fought... her father? Cless knew she was grimacing but she couldn't help. The anxiety of moving out on her own was grating on her nerves.

"Okay then. Olson, is the weather going to stay clear for the next few days?"

"You can bet on it. I don't think there will be any storms until the end of winter. Not for the next week."

"Guess I'll pack up my things then. We will move the day after tomorrow."

She was about to stand up and leave but Karen held her by the wrist and made her seat again.

"We have a gift for you. It was badly damaged when we found it years ago and I never had the heart to get it repaired. I finally sent it to an art restorer and it arrived yesterday."

The Priest took a large square object, it had more than a meter in height by slightly less than a meter width and just a few fingers thick. It was wrapped in leather and was some sort of board, or... Cless held her breath when he unwrapped the object. It was a painting, she could see the frame and the back of the canvas stretched around the frame. She couldn't see what was painted until they turned it around but she felt the solemn atmosphere.

"Josefine enchanted it with resistance to elements and damage," Karen explained. "Turn it around. She deserves to see it."

She saw a painting of an extremely beautiful lady in a royal purple dress and a wide-brimmed hat that accented her face. She resembled Karen but had red hair. It showed her smiling against a grassy meadow. Cless took a good look at the painting and felt her heart clench. She knew who was that woman, the taste in dresses all too similar. The face in her dream was no longer blurred.

Her mother.

She felt awe and also inadequate. That woman was too angelical to suffer such fate. Her smile and the loving gaze she stared the viewer made her feel happy but also the pain of her burned skin. Would she be a tenth as beautiful as that woman if...

She hid her face on the table and cried. The last portrait of her mother. A farewell gift from those that raised her. Cless stopped crying and thanked them. She took the painting upstairs and found a place for it next to the mannequin with the dress.

The next day they packed up their things. Cless used her Bloom spell to force-grow the flowers and harvest the seeds, pruning the plants and making them bloom again with a second casting. She didn't consider herself a princess or a queen, but the size of her wardrobe gave her doubt. She looked down at the main street outside the inn and saw a covered wagon with Olson unleashing the horses that brought the vehicle.

"Hey, Farmer Olson!" She called him using his commoner monicker. "What is that wagon for?"

The rugged man looked up, shielding his eyes against the sun, "That be ye Royal Carriage, your Majesty!" He joked.

They carried the luggage downstairs. Two-thirds of it was clothing. She saw Arnold and Lawrence coming. They waved.

"Hey, guild master, I heard you were abandoning us!" Arnold laughed.

"And without saying goodbye. That's mighty rude of you, Cless." Lawrence added.

As if she needed a push to get emotional. She mumbled something intelligible among sobs and hugged the two guys. Everything that happened felt so far away. And even if they were there and probably would be peer pressured to abuse her if she didn't turn the tables on them with her Skill, she felt no grudge. Too many died. These two's sin was the inability to think for themselves. But they outgrew that. They paid their debt.

"You are going there as well, aren't you?" She was finally able to verbalize something.

"Sooner or later. If the new Dungeon town doesn't hold us."

"Good luck."

"You too," Arnold squeezed her. "Hey, wolf boy! Take good care of this girl!"

Silverfang just showed a lot of teeth. It was hard to tell if it was a snarl or a smile.

She gave her goodbyes to each of them, those that took care of her. The nuns, Priest, Karen, Balthus, Olson, George and Josefine. Olson was arguing with Kate to make her put a leather harness.

"Kate won't pull the wagon, Olson. Let me get my pack beast. - Golem! - Terrakinesis."

She used Terrakinesis to fix the hole the golem made when rising from the ground. They had the harness for the cart-backpack so it was easy.

Cless climbed in the wagon after the golem was firmly attached. It would be a slow ride but the golem didn't need to stop to rest. And the road was bandit-free. She gave one last look to the town she hid in growing up. She knew she wouldn't miss the town, just the nostalgia.

"Goodbye Tambrill."