When speaking of young talents in town, even if he was not mentioned first, he was always mentioned.

Albert the [Brewer] was the young bright hope of bringing proper magic apple brewing back on Salcret’s menu of exports. He had a master, but the old man had gotten all his Skills to mass-produce what Bertrud could then add her special magic sauce to.

Albert was the one who could still be counted on to get lucky if he managed to hit a few capstones; which was a slow process as a [Brewer] in a smaller town like Salcret, but that certainly didn’t mean it could not be done.

Now, poaching the village’s young hope might not seem like the brightest idea, unless you were looking to burn a bridge down thoroughly.

However, Salcret had a culture. The founders had been well traveled themselves, and would often send their young members out to learn and return with modern ideas, and in some cases new Skills and even Classes.

The idea that the highest leveled among them were so, to this day, because they had cultivated their Classes in- and outside of Salcret both, was undeniable.

But then again, there were the many people who had tried it and failed to ever return.

Predictably the village would be split nearly down the middle in the case of a young talent like Albert. He was important, so he could really use the levels and techniques–not to mention the connections–a journey might provide. But he was also not a combat Class, so that sort of risk was not strictly necessary.

That’s why Livia came ready to push.

Roldy and Kalle had gotten done with training, and Sten bowed out to go do his usual work so they did not arrive in too much of a crowd.

Kalle and Livia had worked out a series of subtle signals that would indicate spikes in emotion, but Livia was going to rely on herself, their [Druids] fruits, and the Cloven honey primarily.

They arrived at the brewery, which was a large barrel-shaped building, located right by the river. They’d made sure to arrive after the day’s shift, so there was no question Albert would be available to speak.

A lot of young people were streaming out of the building, all done earning a bit of silver presumably. The easier work was often done by Classless like Oscar, it was nothing advanced enough to require a Skill, just stuff like ensuring the quality of barrels, sifting through the ingredients, and handling the drink of course.

The brewmaster role was where Classes came into play, and even that was usually a precursor to the [Alchemist] profession. Only in a place that truly specialized in beverages, like Salcret, would you find higher level [Brewers] who had not turned their Class toward proper potion-making.

Livia led them into the now echoing, empty building. There were stairs up to a pair of offices, so they headed on up and found Albert bent over his desk working alone.

“Hello, sorry to intrude, we were hoping to run a venture by you. I’m Livia Beltaine, this is Roldy and Kalle.” The twenty-something year old looked annoyed at being interrupted.

“And what is this regarding?” Albert stood up.

Only Livia had actually entered, the rest were waiting to be introduced since it was a rather small room.

Kalle coughed into his hand. Oscar decided he should probably provide some support: “We’re forming a [Guild], and moving to an area near Dormata, we’re seeing if any others would like to join. I’m Oscar and this is Kalle and my brother Harold from the Hare’s Retreat.”

Kalle coughed into his hand again, and Livia’s pitching Skill urged her to take over. Albert was practically glaring at them at this stage, for some reason.

“If you are not interested we will not bother you, we certainly understand if you have important relationships or something keeping you here,” May as well still pitch the honey brewing experiment though.

Livia was about to pull out the honey and explain how they just might be able to get more of it, once they got closer to Cloven lands, but Albert finally spoke up again at her words. “Who are you again? Some sixteen year olds who have started getting big ideas–because they just got their Classes–I suppose?”

The mocking sneer on his face told them this wasn’t the first time someone had tried this.

Albert was far from done. “I’m going to be the master brewer of Salcret, before even turning twenty three. Do you know how big that is–I will be leveling like crazy–as soon as I get the Skills to produce our main line. It’s not like you’re going to be offering anything to compare to that,”

Harold was fuming. But Kalle just looked on calmly, sensing something wrong.

“And let me guess, you need me to fund you too?” He kept rolling right over them before anyone could respond. “Get out of here before you humiliate yourselves any further. How about that?”

He was pointing out the door, and the lads all glared right back, but held their peace as Livia held a hand down behind her back and thought of what to do.

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She spoke calmly. “We did not plan on asking for that, no. We were going to show you this,”

She pulled out the honey and the aroma of deep forests and the industry of magic bees filled the room. “We figured we wanted some mead brewed for us, and that you would be the one to help out,” When Albert’s expression did not soften one wit she tried again. “You know, you could brew something cool for us, get a level out of it, and if you come with us we could work out how to get more,”

The item had surprised Albert but he was still looking far from convinced, with his crossed arms and raised chin.

“I make proper apple drink, cool?” He eyed them up and down. “That stuff’s not at all like anything I work with, so I guess that goes to show what you knew about this brewery before making this hamfisted attempt at having me carry your [Guild] to fame and fortune. My answer is no. I thank you for your wasted time, farewell.” He pointed out the door again.

Livia was fuming, but it was clear there was no path forward here and even her Skill was apparently calling it a day.

They marched out of there and went back towards the [Guild] house.

Oscar finally remembered why maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned the Hare’s Retreat.

Their father Ronald had been one of the few people able to brew a slightly higher quality drink than the old master brewer, once the man lacked his magic ingredients; even if Ronald could not compete in quantity.

They always paid less for the general tap because of that, and the haggling was seldom done in good cheer; now it seemed like Albert had been witness to a few of the rougher rounds.

Livia was likewise pissed. She was running out of candidates quickly, and she still couldn’t see any central theme among the Classes she was gathering together.

There was still the hope of finding the rest of what they may need in Dormata, but Livia felt it was important not to wait until then to start developing their synergy.

Kalle spoke up. “I think he thought you were some snob from Dormata, his mood worsened with every word you spoke at the start, it even spiked when you mentioned your last name. You probably shouldn’t do that,”

That was actually a detail Livia had missed, she hadn’t really had reason to use it much, people always introduced themselves with their Class so she had been doing the same out of instinct. “Wait, do you people actually not have last names?”

They all looked at each other until Oscar spoke up. “Well, we just use the son system, so we’re Ronaldsson, but that’s a kids thing, you know? Everyone simply says their Class, maybe some people still use surnames, it might be a local thing, I’m not even sure, but yes, that’s likely why he marked you as an outsider pretty much from the first words out of your mouth,”

Oscar was the one most conscious of how Livia still needed these details explained at times. The day’s results were a real letdown, but this was why they practised.

The evenings were still dark, but the worst of winter had passed and the dusk was actually looking like dusk for once.

Kalle was the one to come up with something that ended their day with some optimism, once they had gotten back to the [Guild] house. “Oh by the way Livia, I thought of someone who you might be interested in, but who probably did not make your list,”

Her look of hope prompted him to go on. “There’s a guy who doesn’t have the Class but who is very likely to become a good [Enchanter] given the chance, he’s for sure passionate at the very least, he has even stuck to being an Aspirant for nigh on two years now, insistently trying to figure out a way to get the Class. He used to come by the orchard all the time to analyse our Farmgard field enchantment until he declared it was a dead end,”

Livia thought about how this might actually work for a second, even if the guy still didn’t have a Skill. She had assumed they’d had to wait until Dormata to find an [Enchanter], but if they could bring one loyal to Salcret and the [Guild]–who just needed training–then that might be even better. “So, what’s the catch?”

Kalle smiled like this next part was some great prank. “There’s no way he would leave without his siblings, he’s not the independent sort I should say. One of them is fine, I think she’s some [Trader] and the third one I don’t know about.”

Livia sighed, imagining having to face three Alberts, all looking for a fight when they could just say no.

“We’ll do it tomorrow, I’ve had enough, and we still need to save some energy for Harold’s [Rare Quest] tomorrow.”

The [Druid] perked up at this, he’d been feeling useless all day.

“Which Spell are we going for?”

“Well, the higher tier ones still seem too risky, I don’t want to fail and waste a cooldown just because we tried making you sink or swim in the deep end on the first go. We will go for [Roar of the Wild] and see how you do.”

Harold might have objected normally, but since Stens arrival he had been acting a bit more humble, he was just glad to be getting the next [Quest] at all.

“I’ll do us proud!”