On their way to the Rosy Drake, which was apparently an inn on the eastern side of town, they went back through the street with all the brothels. Aside from the whores flaunting their goods, Bee also noticed vagrants loitering about the establishments, many of them missing limbs, who were occasionally chased off by brawny bouncers.

“Stump shakers,” Will said, noticing her preoccupation. “These brothels often have demons working in them. Sex is an easy way for them to get tributes without having to do much in return. It’s pretty common for guys to get addicted to it, except demons take flesh instead of money for payment. So soon enough you see ‘em walking around like that, stumbling around without arms or crawling without legs. In the end, many of them give up their lives for one last go.”

“Jesus.”

Will pointed to one of them, a limbless man slumped against a wall with a dirty blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He had a line of AP crystals running diagonally down his face, one of them cutting his eyebrow in two.

“If you lose your sheet, the arm that has your AP crystals, it’ll just appear somewhere else on your body. That guy got a bit unlucky with the placement.”

Bee was only too happy to leave all that existential dread behind and put it out of her mind once they got to the inn.

The Rosy Drake turned out to be a cozy little place, in a slightly more sparse area of the city away from the worst of the sprawl. It was the first time Bee had ever been in a proper inn, and it made her feel like she was really living out the medieval life fantasy.

The establishment was three stories tall and painted a brownish red, with a one-story annex jutting out in front. The place had a stables with the neighing of horses coming from inside, and the annex consisted of a courtyard with flagstone paving that was apparently used to accommodate plays, music performances, and amusement acts.

Going through into the main part of the establishment, they entered straight into a large common room with a merrily burning fireplace and various plush furniture strewn about, the floor covered in thick rugs. The walls were covered in pink and white diamond patterns, and candles burning on tables provided a little bit of extra light.

There were a few guests lounging about or conversing with each other, but otherwise it was fairly quiet. A tall, thin woman who appeared to be the owner busied herself about the place, tidying up little messes and polishing surfaces with a rag.

Will spoke briefly with her, and they were given permission to sit around and wait while they waited for Mongrel and the last of the goods they had bought to arrive. In the meantime, he paid for two beers, and soon they were nursing one each.

Bee bounced her butt up and down on the soft chair she was sitting in. “This is fancy! We should stay over here sometime.”

“I’m sensing an ulterior motive behind this sudden innterest,” Will said with a smug smirk, clearly quite proud of himself for that one.

Bee rolled her eyes at that. “It’s unfashionable for a man your age to be making dad jokes. Wait at least five years before you break those out.”

“But seriously, you want to stay at an inn to have sex, right?”

“Aaand because it’s fun to have little adventures. But yes, mostly sex. I don’t like hearing the monkeys snore while I’m getting down with you, sue me. The demon’s probably got her ear to the wall the whole time, too. Absorbing our sexual energies or whatever.”

“Honestly, I hear where you’re coming from. How about this? Once you’re finished with your training regimen, I’ll take you here as a little reward. Sound good?”

“Fuck yeah, dude. I’m gonna train the shit out of… me.”

They ended up having to pass quite a bit of time. Mongrel arrived fashionably late, probably closer to six than five.

“Brother, I cannot describe to you the experience I just had,” was the first thing he said as he strutted up to them, his tunic untucked and his hair even messier than usual. “She literally, and I mean literally, sucked me dry. She was like an anteater on my shit. I’m in love, Will, I swear on Era’s tits.” Noticing that he was garnering more than a few stares, he cleared his throat and quieted down, at least having the decency to look ashamed.

“I’m glad you got your money’s worth,” Will replied in a polite tone.

Mongrel collapsed into a chair, letting his head loll against the rim of the backrest. “Well, I’m pooped. Wanna grab a drink and chill for a while before we go?”

“We’ve already had several. You’re late, so we’ll be leaving right away. We don’t want to be traveling after dark.”

“Man, you suck. Bee, back me up.”

“I wanna go home,” Bee said.

“Man, you both suck.”

“Did you take care of the food shopping?” Will asked.

Mongrel gave a dismissive wave, throwing one leg over the armrest. “Yeah, the boys are taking care of it. They’re bringing it here right now.”

“You sent the chimps to do the shopping?”

He shrugged with a mocking grimace. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Several things. Mainly that they might get murdered and robbed, the second being of greater importance.”

“Well, it’s fine, they handled it. Geez, you’re so anal about everything.”

The chimps arrived roughly twenty minutes later with one overstuffed bag each. The clothes and monster parts had already been delivered in a pile of bundles and cases just inside the common room. With everything in order, they were finally ready to leave, and Mongrel summoned Zero so they could burden the poor beast with all their trash.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

They were bringing just as much back from Sheerhome as they had come there with, if not more. Will expressed great satisfaction with the animal parts he had procured, and explained some intricacies about the process of distilling them into potions that Bee paid zero attention to.

They traveled back the same way they’d come, leaving a short while before the guards were set to close the gates for the night.

They returned to the house just as the last light was failing, and Number Five was glad to be reunited with his brothers.

To everyone’s extreme shock, Nix actually had made dinner, just like she’d promised, a chicken salad with some hard-boiled eggs on the side. Will confirmed that it wasn’t poisoned.

It didn’t even taste half bad. There was definitely something fishy about the whole thing, but when asked about it she just said that she ‘wanted to show some appreciation for her gracious hosts’.

Yeah, sure.

After dinner, when they were unpacking all the supplies and shopping, Will presented Bee with an individually wrapped item.

“I got you something else while we were at that boutique,” he said. He looked somewhat sheepish as he handed over the cloth-wrapped bundle. “I wanted it to be a surprise, I guess.”

Bee undid the string holding it together and withdrew a summery cream-colored dress with little white flower embroideries, bundled with a braided leather belt.

Bee held it to her chest. “It’s like the one you got me back then.”

Will nodded. “I never got to see you wear it.”

“I was going to wear it when I went to see you at the hospital. But it ended up being too late, so I wore it to your funeral, instead.”

“I know you don’t like this kind of thing, so consider it a purely selfish purchase. Still, I was hoping I might see you wear it someday.”

“It’s not that I don’t like it,” she said, bundling the delicate fabric against her face to hide her red cheeks. “I just don’t feel girly enough to wear it. I worry it makes me look stupid.”

Nix, who had been busy needling Mongrel over smelling like another woman, suddenly caught onto their conversation. She opened her mouth to say something, but Will silenced her with a hard look.

“You won’t look stupid,” he assured her. He took her by the arm and planted a light kiss on her forehead that sent tingles down through her face and neck. “I’ve never thought you weren’t girly. You’re beautiful when you dress for utility, and I think you would suit this kind of thing just as well.”

“You’ve never told me that before,” she muttered.

“I was probably worried about sounding like an idiot.”

“You are an idiot. But that was kinda sweet.”

She hugged him hard until she felt his ribs creak, and he soon patted her on the back to let him go, ostensibly so that she wouldn’t crease the dress but probably more to prevent a ruptured organ.

“I’ll wear it on our next date,” she promised. “I’ll make sure to look nice and pretty.”

Nix and Mongrel had apparently made up and were now engaged in conspiratorial whispering, periodically glancing over at them while making various furtive gestures at each other. When Mongrel caught her looking, he just gave an innocent smile.

A pair of love leeches, those two.

*****

That night, she was brought back to the library in her dreams. This time, there was a single book open on the help desk with a hand stamp placed next to it.

Leafing through the book, she found that it contained a long list of skills and passives. She went through them until she found the two that Will had mentioned, Heat Resistance and Tenacity, keeping track of their respective pages with two fingers. She leafed back and forth between them, conflicted.

He really wanted me to pick Heat Resistance. It’s probably the right choice, since he’s Mr. Big Brain and all.

But Tenacity felt right.

She stamped Tenacity. A few seconds later, the world lit up pure white around her.

Then, in the next moment, she was coming to in the dark with Will roughly shaking her.

“Get up, Bee,” he said with urgency in his voice, stepping away from the bed to get into some pants. “We’ve got a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” Bee asked, blinking sleep from her eyes as she dragged herself into a sitting position. A glance out of the window told her that it was still pitch black out, not even approaching dawn.

“Bandits.” Will retrieved his belt from the nightstand and slipped it on. Drawing his pistol, he inserted a fresh magazine and racked the slide.

“Bandits?”

“Yeah. They must have followed us back from Sheerhome.”

She stopped and listened for a second, but couldn’t hear anything. “How do you know they’re there?”

“They triggered one of Mongrel’s noise traps, then I used Detect Life. There's five of them.”

“I see. Is Mongrel awake?”

“I don’t know. You get dressed, I’ll check.”

Bee slipped into some clothes, hopped into a pair of boots, and strapped her shortsword to her waist. She left the room on light feet and found Will and Mongrel in the living area. They had turned down their sleeves, and she followed suit. All the boys were assembled too, with Number Two and Number Four back in action. Nix laid on top of some kitchen cabinets like an imp up to some mischief, clearly enjoying the commotion.

Bee, Will, and Mongrel crouched down to avoid being seen through the windows, and Will kept his voice low as he spoke. “Since they’re attacking at night, that probably means they have some sensory abilities. Bandit groups that would attack a random house like this will probably be in the lower levels, but let’s not assume anything until we know for sure. I should have some potions of night vision here, let’s see.”

He popped open a hatch in the floor and reached down to withdraw a dusty, cobwebbed crate filled with clinking potion bottles. He went over them, brushing away dust to make out the colors and symbols on them, and eventually came up with two that had dark purple stripes. He popped one of them open and sniffed at the mouth of the bottle.

He made a face. “They’ve gone bad. Shit.” He discarded the bottles and looked through the others. He sniff-tested another. “This one should be good. Potion of shielding.” He gave it to Bee. “Take it just before the fighting starts.”

Bee nodded, tucking the potion into a pocket.

“I think I’ve got two more potions of night vision, but they’re in the workshop,” Will continued. “They’ll probably notice us if we make a run for them, so maybe it’s best to stay put and let them come to us. We’ll catch them when they try to get through the door. Unless they’ve got Detect Life, in which case they already know that we’re onto them.”

“If they set off the trap, maybe they’re already assuming they’ve been found out,” Bee speculated.

Will shook his head. “I don’t think that’s likely. If they were making that assumption, the smart thing would be to pull back. They came here for an easy grab, not a fight against high-level lifers.” He began mixing several of the leftover potions together into one bottle, then shook around the resulting concoction and gave it a sniff, nodding with satisfaction.

“So you think—”

“Shh.” Will closed his eyes, listening for something. “I can hear them." There was a brief pause. "I pulsed Detect Life again. They're coming in. Two in front, two behind. One stayed in the woods. I Identified that one, and they're a Level 4 Explorer. Probably a ranged back-liner. Mongrel, you take the back door—me and Bee will handle the front.”

Mongrel looked like he was about to protest, but Will’s black eyes glinting in the dark quickly silenced any dissent.