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Vincent looked around, searching for the woman, but she was nowhere. The public retired, and only the king remained behind. He wanted to leave and search for the Amazon, but Karel beckoned him on stage.

“Congratulations to the new Guild Commander,” the youngster kissed Irene’s hand, making her blush and Vincent jealous.

Thank goodness, he thought, inspecting the notification. Irene had won sixty percent of the votes. Most of the rest were write-ins with Vincent’s name. Dragon had only two votes, meaning his soldiers voted against him.

“Now there’s only the problem of allegiance,” Karel said. “Vincent is still the Guildcher… A duke… That was no problem as long he held both positions, but now… Irene Altenschloss, do you pledge allegiance to your duke? Kneel and kiss his hand.”

“W-what? Irene blurted, taking a step back.

Vincent clenched his fists. “I won’t have my fiancee humiliating herself—”

“Just messing with you,” Karel laughed. “But you’re still her superior.”

“We’re equals,” Vincent frowned. “We’ll have a pesciblot it if we must.”

“Plebiscite… OK, you’re equals… Whatever you want… Make a law, and I’ll sign it. It’s nice to see you back, Vincent. Don’t be a stranger. Come visit. Three days from now would be just fine. You’ve been served… sorry, summoned for a mandatory crown council.”

The young king had become more assertive, albeit the jokes got on Vincent’s nerves. He was about to return the favor, targeting the teenager’s rare beard, which he exhibited with pride like all boys his age but abstained. The king was a good guy… and a king, after all.

“Would you consider giving your king a lift, Guildcher Vincent,” Karel asked.

“Where to, my liege?” Vincent asked.

“Hradcany Square would be just fine.”

“Any bodyguards with you?’

“None. Two Amazons passed through Prague, and we took the train together.”

“Are you ready?”

The king nodded, and Vincent Strode went to Prague. He looked around for a second to see if everything was safe, but a couple of guards noticed the king and came running to escort him to the castle. The passersby didn’t even flinch when they appeared. It was a good and bad sign at the same time. No happy trigger shooting at him, but Vincent was now notorious.

He was about to jump back when a voice called: “Vincent! Yo! Wait!” Coming from Ludwing’s palace, Trinella was dragging a huge bag after her.

“What are you doing here?” Vincent asked.

“Vorrak asked me to bring him some things… his toys, toothbrush, and potions.”

“Like vitamins?”

“Like poisons he coats his fangs with to deliver DOTs.”

“Wait! You said he asked you? How? Do you have an empathy skill, or—”

“I don’t; he has a skill to project his thoughts into his friends’ minds. And can bark simple words; if you listen, you’ll be able to understand him.”

“Neat… See you—”

“Hey! Are you stupid? Take me with you!”

“Sorry, I had a very rough day…” Vincent apologized, returning them to the Guild. He put the sack in front of the warg and went to the dining area.

“Here is your new boss. I resign. Vincent will be your new colonel,” Dragon greeted him, crossing his arms. “Since you voted for him…”

“We didn’t vote for him, we voted for Pest Control,” Thug said. “She’s too cute, man.”

“You better not be hitting on my girl, or else!” Vincent leaned forward, his eyes blazing with warnings of swearing and violence.

“It’s platonic, dude, just platonic… yet those ears and tail… and eyes,” Titan said.

“Yeah,” a chorus added.

“You guys better never even think the wrong way about my gal, or I’ll ask Vorrak to bite your balls off,” Vincent said, dead serious.

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“Err… can we have a word?” Thug pulled Vincent into a corner. “I got all sorts of weird texts about leveling up and choosing a class… We could use some advice…”

“Sure… What are your choices?”

“I can combine three things with any of the other three things. The first are Shadow, Tempest, and Thug, and the other are Samurai, Ronin, and Ninja.”

“Wow… OK, can you read the tooltips to me?”

“I do, but when you come back. A lady told me she wanted to see you in her room.”

“Raya?”

“Yeap… she’s so hot, man… you’re so lucky… Can you ask her when her friends are coming here?”

“Don’t choose a class until we talk. I’ll be back… when I’ll be back.” There was no way to know how much a discussion with Raya would last, and speeding through it was out of the question.

The moment to face Raya had come. Vincent walked the stairs slowly, anticipating what to say if she’d say this or that, but his thoughts and emotions were dulled by the past days' adventures. Going with the flow was the only option left. He knocked at the door.

“Enter,” said both Lila and Raya.

“Vincent!” Raya greeted him with a hug. A polite, reserved hug. Not at all her style. “All well?”

“Yeah… We had a bit of adventure yesterday…”

“I’ve heard…” she paused, looking uncomfortable.

“How’s your family?” he asked.

“I don’t know, Vincent,” she shrugged. “I didn’t see them in a month…”

“We brought a lot of phones. I can give them one, and you can speak with your girls daily.”

“It wouldn’t be fair for the rest of the girls… They have family too.”

“What if we’d put a public phone station in Sofia, so everybody could take turns to speak with you gals here? That wouldn’t be so unfair, only a slight advantage.”

“That, I could accept… I miss my girls. I would not say no if you’d get me to Vienna tomorrow. I have a couple of days free…”

“Count on it. How was your trip?”

“Eventful. The Grand Khan's son survived and hid in one of our towns. He also had the rest of the gold you gave him, about twenty thousand gold coins. We made a pact: We helped him get into safe territory, and he promised never to raid us and wouldn’t oppose us if we attacked his uncle, the Despot of Wrocslau.”

“Perfect,” Vincent said. “If we take over Wrocslau, we can have a common border with the Vikings and do commerce. Where are the rest of the gals?”

“They stayed at the border, with the Dark Knights, ready to attack. We were waiting for your orders.”

“It will have to wait until I speak with Karel. I brought some good guys, professionals, they’ll join you. They’re not as strong as you yet but have much experience. You and the Amazons will receive the same salary as they have because it’s only fair. It’s about three hundred gold coins per month. You’ll have an extra bonus as an officer.”

“I won’t accept charity, Vincent,” Raya’s voice caught fire, her gaze finally turning to search his eyes. Until then, they had stood face to face but avoided looking at each other, discussing topics neither cared about.

“That’s how things go for the mercs too.”

“Vincent,” she hugged him, then pushed him at arm's length. “I want you to shut up for a second and hear what I have to say. What you did for me was because you’re a good man, and you felt what I feel too—”

“It was only attraction,” Vincent blurted.

“You saw in me somebody you could love, given time. You decided it was better to cut your feelings out before they grew. That’s why you rejected me and Lila… You realized that attraction leads to love and relationship, and you were not ready…”

“You couldn’t just swear and hit me, could you?” Vincent mumbled, sitting on the bed, taking his head into his palms. His eyes filled with tears, knowing what she had said was true… Since he had met his ex-fiancee, he knew what real love was… and had been afraid of it, hanging on her and on the past.

“And you, my dear,” Raya said to Lila, “you hitchhiked a ride with me because you love him. We have to move on… It’s only fair to all of us. I’ll stay for a few more months until Aliona gives birth, then I’ll go help her and my husband with the baby… Babies are hard to care for if you don’t know.”

“I know… Vincent sighed. “I helped my parents with my baby sister…” And I dropped her on her head a few times… maybe that’s why she grew so stubborn… Lesson for future me: if you have kids, don’t trust another kid with them…

“I’ll move my things into my new room later,” Raya fondled Vincent’s shoulder before exiting.

Vincent remained on the bed, hiding his face. A hand fondled his hair, and he took it and kissed it.

“The fuck!” he yelled, jerking away, then on his feet. Instead of Lila’s soft skin, he had met a wrinkled and spotted parchment. The one who had patted him was the old senile man they had brought inadvertently. He sat at the desk, not far away, across Lila. His presence had been so quiet Vincent hadn’t noticed it. Before them lay many colored pencils and sheets of paper.

“Relax, it’s me, Hubris,” the old man said. “Sorry if I startled you… you looked like you needed to be cheered up.”

“The fuck?”

“So much meaning in only two words,” the old man said.

“You’re riding his body?” Vincent gasped. “Why?”

“To get him back in shape,” Lila said. “We’re raising his stats, bit by bit. He’s lucid, at times, but—”

“We’re doing mental and physical exercises together. In a few days, Selim will be able to take over himself. Your girlfriend… sorry, ex-girlfriend, came in while we were at it.”

“Err… That’s a nice thing to do… I didn’t think you were the charitable type,” Vincent said.

“You think I’m not the charitable type?” Lila frowned.

“I meant him. The Archetype. Oh, sorry, minor archetype. Or was it minuscule?”

“Ha ha ha…” Hubris pretended to laugh. “I like to help old people fit. Every day, I ride in one of them for a few hours, with their permission. It puts things into perspective.”

“Meaning?”

“I’m old, Vincent. I already told you. My body is in a worse shape than his. Somewhere, in a pocket universe, there’s a mummified antique man frozen in time.”

“Sorry, man, I didn’t know.”

“Why are you sorry? It’s just how it is…”

“Say… who are those Grand… people?” Vincent whispered, looking around furtively, expecting the imposing man from before to appear.

“I didn’t even know they existed,” Hubris said. “Maybe they’re those original personalities the System copied… That guy didn’t feel like us, the normal Archetype… more like a concentration of projected energy… Never mind that… Because my mistake… it was the dwarf, really, but… I was ordered to be your personal assistant…”

“You mean that ship really wasn’t meant to be there?” Vincent asked.

“No, it wasn’t… but there never was any space traffic around this Realm… so he took a shortcut.”

“Bad decision. You don’t cut corners when important things are at stake.” Now that he knew he wasn’t directly at fault, Vincent suddenly felt better. Sure, he could have checked the jump’s location better, but it was the dwarf that started it.

“Whatever… Can I go back to drawing, my liege?” Hubris sneered. “There are limits on the time I can spend inside someone. I have about half an hour left and must help Selim change his senior Pampers on his own before I go…”