Victus had fallen asleep in the booth, his face squished up against the wall. A soft spoken woman approached him, “Excuse me..?” He didn’t hear her, snoring. “Excuse me? A-Ahem..!” He suddenly jerked awake, accidentally hitting his forehead on the wall, inhaling sharply.

“Ow..!” He rubbed his head.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you so suddenly.”

“It’s fine,” Victus turned to look at her.

She was an older woman, with long brown hair that had a tint of red to it. Her eyes looked tired and puffy, like she’d been crying. She asked him, “I’m looking for my daughter. The keeper, he said you may have seen her?”

Looking past her, Gunther gave Victus a thumbs up. He shook his head in response, “That’s just creepy, old man..”

“Please, she must be scared beyond all reason..”

“Huh? Oh, she’s right-”

Victus turned to where Auburn was sitting across from him, only to realize that she wasn’t there anymore. He quickly scooted out of his seat, peering over the table. Luckily, she was still there, just asleep. “Whew,” he gave a sigh of relief.

“She’s there,” he whispered to the woman, pointing at where the little girl was resting. The woman took a few steps to the side, tilting her head to peer under the table. She gave a relieved smile, closing her eyes, “Thank the Gods..”

The mother fainted, falling back onto the floor.

“Vick, catch her!” Gunther told him, far too late.

“..Real big help, pal.”

She awoke to Victus knelt down beside her, his expression one of concern. “Lady, you okay? Lady?” He asked, rather bluntly. The woman’s eyes had bags under them, likely leading a life of stress as a single mother in an age of uncertainty.

“My, how long have I been asleep?” She sat up.

“Mama!” Auburn, now awake, immediately hugged her.

“Oh, Auburn, dear!” She held her in return, as tight as she could. Victus watched, happy for them, though he felt a little awkward.

“Are you alright?” The mother pulled away to examine her, caressing her face, “Is that a bruise I see? Come, let us visit the doctor at once!”

Auburn shook her head, “I’m fine. Mister Victus found me, and he kept me safe from the bad guys.” He heard this, and his eyes widened in fear. How shocking. What betrayal. Children are never to be trusted again.

“Bad guys? What bad guys?! Did they hurt you?!”

“Mister Victus beat them up. He told me to keep it a secret.”

The woman looked at Victus, “..Really?”

He braced for an earful from the mother, clenching his eyes shut as she got up. To his surprise, she gave him a hug instead, “Thank you, sir! Thank you so much..!” Embarrassed, his face reddened somewhat, and he awkwardly patted her back.

“I-It was nothing, really..” He lied. It was most definitely not nothing.

She pulled away, “How can I ever repay you?"

“Er, don’t worry about it. Really..”

“No, sir, you saved my daughter. I insist.”

He thought to himself, unsure. The mother took her daughter’s hand, “I’ll allow you time to decide. If you ever need anything, don’t be afraid to come and visit us over by Twilholm Pond. It’s not very far from here. Oh, and I’m Aura, by the way. Aura Ashflower.”

“Twilholm? I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Goodbye, Mister Victus!” Auburn waved.

He waved back, smiling, “G’bye kid. Stay safe.”

They left the establishment as Gunther smacked Victus on the back, chuckling, “You’re quite the hero, eh?”

“And you’re getting on my nerves. You coulda just told her the girl was here,” he said, turning to the blue dragonborn.

“She was into you.”

“She was not! And she’s probably, like, twice my age!”

“Not into mature women then, eh?”

“And you? She’s probably closer to your age, you old fart.”

“Nah, she’s too old for my blood.” Victus was shocked to hear such a statement come out of Gunther’s mouth. “Besides, human women are really something. Not my type, that’s for sure.”

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Victus groaned, “You’re really something, man. I’ll be over at the Guild Hall. Let me know if Fang turns up.”

“Alright. Be safe, Vick.”

“Thanks, you too,” Victus left in a hurry. It was still raining, dark and foggy outside, and cold. His boots were stained by the wet, muddy ground on the way there. The Guild Hall was one of many that existed throughout Virunia. Here, licensed adventurers could take on various quests posted on the ever-changing bulletin board.

The building was quite large, too, owned and regulated by the kingdom. He only wished he could stay there when he was low on funds. Divided at the center, there were four large tables between two big fireplaces on each side of the wall, where large parties gathered to discuss their plans. Opposite of the entrance, there was a counter that the Hall Keeper stood behind. Behind them, the large bulletin board, with hundreds of papers pinned to it. Each paper had a quest description, the location of the quest, and the amount of gold to be received for completing it.

Some quests had a ranking attached to them. These quests could only be taken by an adventurer with the required rank or higher. A map of the continent could also be provided here for free, as long as you were registered with the Hall as an adventurer, so it wasn’t really free. Victus was licensed, even though he strongly disliked the whole system. He especially despised the ranking portion of it, but that may have been because he’s been a D-Rank adventurer for over a year already, which was the lowest rank one could be, and the one you started out with.

“Back already, Vick?” The woman behind the counter teased. She was a Sirin, a humanoid with bird-like features. She had a small button nose and a widow’s peak that matched well with her golden diadem, her hair made up of gorgeous turquoise feathers that had a shiny black gradient. These same feathers were decorated along her forearms, all the way up to her elbows. They were both fond of each other and well aware of it, but she worked for the kingdom and he couldn’t bring himself to look past that.

“Yep,” he sighed.

“Without the artifact, no less?”

“Fang double-crossed me, Jade. Don’t ask.”

“Why am I not surprised?” She sighed, taking out a wooden tablet and marking off a name with chalk. Jade then pulled out the quest paper, stamping it with a big red “VOID” print. “Here, your insurance,” the Sirin reached under the counter and took out a couple of coins from a large sack. She placed them in front of Victus, and he took them.

“That’s it? I almost died, you know.”

“That’s me being generous. This isn’t a charity, Victus.”

“Fine,” he sighed. “Give me a new quest, then.”

She turned around and looked up at the board. “Any in mind?”

“Nope, as long as it’s not a kill quest.”

“Most of these are kill quests. Actually, all of them are.”

“You’re kidding! Look harder.”

“Oh, here’s one-”

She grabbed at one far from her height, and it fell to the floor. “Oops,” Jade bent over to pick it up, and Victus not-so-discreetly peered over the edge of the counter. She side-eyed him, quickly turning around and slamming the paper onto the counter, loudly. He gulped nervously, as a few stray feathers floated past him.

“See something ya like, Mr. Knightsilver?” The woman smirked. Nearby, a mysterious man in a cloak overheard them. He turned his head to listen, intrigued.

“N-No..”

“No, what?” Jade moved her face closer to his.

“No ma’am..”

“That’s what I thought, ya perv. Here’s your stupid quest,” she moved back, crossing her arms. Victus took the paper, scanning over it. His expression became one of dissatisfaction.

A retrieval quest.

These were commonly posted, yet most adventurers would get to them before Victus could. The last quest he took was a retrieval quest too, though, one that Fang managed to snatch and accept without asking him. The more he thought about it, her actions didn’t make much sense: why would she take the artifact and not bring it back? Did she perhaps know what it was? Maybe she thought the pyramid was particularly valuable, and that the quest’s reward wasn’t good enough. Still, it lingered in his mind.

“Retrieve Glowshrooms? Jade, you know how I feel about fungus,” he groaned. “Is that really all there is?”

She nodded, “That’s all there is.”

“Ugh. Wait, this says I need a party of two? Why?”

“Probably because those mushrooms only grow in caves and dungeons. You know how it goes,” she pointed at the party count required. “Dungeon diving requires at least two people. It’s for your own safety.”

“Safety my ass, I can do this on my own.”

“No can do, Vick. That’s against the law.”

“Screw the law!” He banged his fist on the counter.

“Hand over your license, then,” she held her hand out. “You don’t like it, you can take it up with the kingdom.”

Victus glared. He despised her, more specifically, the way he felt about her, because he didn’t hate her as much as he felt he should. She made him feel dumb, and perhaps he was. His father gave him his education, and when he passed away, Victus continued to teach himself for several years, until meeting Duncan.

All of that hard work, only to be outshined by a Sirin with wealthy parents and good looks. He felt that anyone could get what they wanted so long as they were charming enough, and he felt it unfair that he was not one of those charming people.

The cloaked man from earlier walked up behind Victus, placing a hand on his shoulder, “I can join you.”

Victus flinched, “Huh?!” He turned to him, having to take a step back to see him fully. The man was even larger than Gunther.

“And who the Hel’re you?”

The man took off his hood, revealing himself to be a human with an exceptionally long beard, and even longer hair. Both were black and grizzled, and his voice was gruff, intimidating, “You can call me Wolfe.”