Freja’s makeshift office was exactly what it said on the tin. A beige lean-to added to the side of the wooden prefab, complete with a hastily put together desk, which looked more like a discarded table, and a box behind it for a chair.

Despite that, when she sat down, crossing her legs and reaching for a bottle she’d hidden behind the crate, it may as well have been the Ivory Tower penthouse.

“It looks like you’ve managed to scrape phase three,” she said after taking a swig from a fancy glass she’d pulled from her inventory.

“Yeah, though I doubt this place has the time or facilities to send me on a bronze rank exam,” I replied evenly.

“It doesn’t, which is why I’m invoking emergency protocol and promoting you without an exam. Congratulations bronze ranker.”

I was a little shocked, but by her frown I could tell it wasn’t a happy occasion. I liked Freja, even if she did scare me shitless, but as I stood in front of her I felt an icy chill creeping down my spine.

Me and my team were standing on a knife’s edge with her. She obviously wasn’t happy with us, and Sally’s injuries had likely made her mood much worse.

They had a past after all. A romantic one from what I’d gleaned in the elevator ride to the top of Ivory Tower. Regardless of how their relationship had ended, people didn’t usually stop caring about a past lover completely. After all, if it was that easy to turn off our emotions we’d all do all the time. Emotions suck.

“Thank you Director,” I replied, deciding that treading lightly and following formality was the best approach for the current situation.

“Don’t thank me yet, this promotion comes with a caveat. Cali Port is in a state of anarchy and we have almost no information about anything that’s happening outside of AS territory.

“I’m pretty certain the entire council was wiped out in the explosion, I’ve got communists running wild and lynching capitalist collaborators, I’ve got a city guard that may as well be a street gang for how useful they’re being, and I’ve got almost no adventurers to help keep the peace.”

“So you want us to help to maintain order?” I asked tentatively.

“Hell no!” She shouted, shaking her head like I was a child she was scolding, “your team are the reason everything got so fucked up in the first place. I want you out of my town before you cause any more damage.”

“It’s not our fault,” Bell protested, “you were with us when the gnome blew up and we completed the quest to the letter. How could we have known the communists were terrorists masquerading as revolutionaries when you yourself didn’t?”

Gulping, I steeled myself and forced my feet to stay firmly planted on the ground. I wanted to back away in case Freja flipped a table or something, but I also didn’t want to give any ground.

Bell was right, this wasn’t our fault. It was mine. I was the one who made the decision to vie for peace. I just as easily could have found another way, I could have refused the gnome’s offer, hell I could have killed him and kept the status quo.

But no, I had the audacity to think that my meddling would make things better. I had the arrogance to think my Earthen sensibilities and misplaced righteousness could solve all of the city’s problems.

I hadn’t counted on the unpredictability of a certain backstabbing fundamentalist. I’d been played and now all of Cali Port was paying the price. Yet despite that, I still thought that siding with the capitalists would have also been the wrong choice.

Taking a deep breath, I stole myself, ready to that admit my guilt and take full responsibility. With the information I had available to me at the time, I was certain I made the right choice and it was precisely because of that I needed to own up and face the music. That’s what a good leader was supposed to do right?

“Freja-”

“It’s not their fault,” Rex said, approaching the desk and cutting me off. “I was the one who asked them to set up the peace negotiations, I literally led them to the one man I knew could make it happen.”

He was talking about Fredrick Millicent, the brother of the head of the Havarian Millicent’s whose son’s hand I’d once shot off.

“I am ashamed of my misguided trust in the gnomes. Allow me to atone, banishing these kind-hearted adventurers who just wanted to help will only serve to further damage this city-”

Freja held up her hand and Rex quietened, stepping back and hanging his big, fluffy head in shame.

“Your loyalty to Dissident Flame is commendable Rex, considering you’re not even an official member yet, but you were not an adventurer when these events took place and therefore I can’t hold you accountable for them.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Besides, I’m not holding Kaleb and his team accountable either. I appreciate their work even if it didn’t pay off in the end. As you said Bell, it’s not your fault. But… this city is unforgiving and if you stay they’ll make you a scapegoat no matter what you might do in the meantime to help them.”

“But that’s not fair!” Bell protested.

“Let them try, I will devour their souls. A tidal wave of blood will sink this pathetic settlement into the ocean. I will irradicate them all, erase them from history-”

I pressed a finger to Asmodeus’ lips before Freja decided to skin him and toss him in a stew. He struggled for a moment and then caught the look in my eye which I hoped was stern enough to keep him silent.

It was.

“You’re right, it isn’t fair, but the life of an adventurer is anything but,” Freja said, keeping calm despite the outburst. Then she turned to me and sighed, looking genuinely apologetic. “I hope that expediting your quest reward, despite not having any forms left to follow the correct procedure for it, and promoting you without an exam will satisfy you. I really am appreciative of your help - as chaotic as it may have been. The previous regime was as corrupt as they come. They needed to be stopped. I just never imagined that in doing so we’d inadvertently give rise to something even worse… fucking gnomes.”

“It does,” I replied with a curt nod, “but you said there was a caveat to me becoming a bronze ranker this way?”

“There is,” she smiled slightly, well it was more of a faint upward flicker of her lips but it was almost a smile. “Though I can grant you the rank using the emergency protocols, there is a single requirement that you must fulfil to keep it.

“Society protocols for the provision of promotion during an emergency situation states that an adventurer can only be granted the next rank if they are needed to be at that rank in order to take on a leadership role during an emergency.”

“That’s a mouthful,” Bell said quietly.

“You can say that again,” Panda agreed.

“That’s a mouthful.”

“So,” Freja continued, shooting them both a harsh glance, “you need to prove that you can lead people for the promotion to stick.”

“He’s the party leader,” Bell interrupted again, “so doesn’t he already have that ticked off?”

“It certainly helps but it isn’t what I had in mind.” Freja continued, “Rex here has just this day been accepted as a temporary adventurer and as luck would have it, he has expressed an interest in joining your team.

“If you accept him and lead him on some quests on your way to Castalor, then when you get there, once you fill out your observational reports and update your own card to reflect your new rank, of course, he can be made a full timer and you can keep your promotion. And, it just so happens I have the perfect quest to start you off.”

Her smile finally stayed firm and my stomach twisted as I realised that this was what she had wanted all along. Everything else was buttering us up for whatever devious, nasty-ass task she needed us for.

She-devil!

“It’s quite simple really, and it’s on your way anyway,” she continued. “I would like you to take on a trail quest for the Cali Port branch.”

Freja waited for a moment, assessing our faces with a cautious and expectant look. Her brow furrowed slightly when all she saw was blank expressions.

“What’s a-” I began and she explained.

“A trail quest is a quest that you do whilst travelling between places. It’s usually about pest extermination, the type of busy work that most low ranked adventurers cut their teeth on. We also use these as punishments, but that’s not why I’m asking you to complete it.

“These quests are different in that they start at one branch and end at another, solving a problem that plagues both. I’m hoping that if you complete this one for me it will foster good will with the Castalorian branch when you deliver this note to their director.”

With a poof of air, a sealed envelope appeared in her hand. Dried wax connected the flap to the main body of the package which was also covered in runes.

“Do not open this letter,” she instructed, looking pointedly at each of us in turn. “It is an official request for aid due to the calamity in which we find ourselves in. I’ll know if you do open it, these runes will tell me.”

“I’ve never seen runes before,” Bell said, leaning in for a closer inspection.

As it happened, neither had I.

“They’re pretty rare, some branches have clerks with rune-based skills but not many people choose to go down that path. Trap magic is a dying art sadly.” Freja explained.

“Why do you need us to deliver a letter when you could just send a system message?” I asked.

“That is not your concern,” Freja replied bluntly, her demeanour giving me the distinct impression that I wasn’t going to get any more out of her no matter how hard I tried. “So, do you accept these terms?”

“Do we have a choice?” I asked with a long sigh.

“You always have a choice; however I strongly suggest that yours aligns with mine,” she smiled threateningly. “I’m hoping that this quest will be good for your development, if it eases the burn any. Your teamwork isn’t exactly… well oiled. Perhaps Rex can help you with that.”

I looked towards Rex who still had his head bowed. Nudging him with my elbow, he jumped slightly and looked around at us.

“Uh, yeah…” He said dazedly as if I’d just woke him up, “I’m new to adventuring but I led a mercenary team for decades. Lycanids are taught tactics and warfare practically from birth. I’d be happy to show you some.”

“Decades?” I asked, “I thought you were a similar age to me, just how old are you?”

“49,” he replied with a shrug.

“That’s 343 in dog years,” Bell whispered behind her hand causing Panda to snigger.

“Well… you look good for it,” I said, focusing hard on not showing my awkwardness and trying to keep a straight face. “I’d be happy to learn from you. Anything to improve our chance of survival I guess.”

“Perfect!” Freja said, clapping her hands together and startling us into attention. “Now that’s settled, let’s get that quest assigned to you and send you on your merry way shall we?”

“Hold on a second,” I said, raising my hand as she began to leave her desk. “What about our quest reward?”

“It’s waiting for you on the other side of the gate, I had it brought there just a few hours ago. One of our temps is guarding it.”

“Alright then, but we can’t leave until-”

“Director!” Someone shouted and I turned just in time to see a small, ginger girl running into the tent. She doubled over, breathing heavily. “The catonid… she’s awake.”