Orion heard that a council had been formed for the defense of Valbrand and learned of its location from Carl. The party—minus a certain engineer robot—left the warehouse together.
They headed toward the center of the town, where they found a large building that usually functioned as the city hall. It was right next to the temple that Miriam occupied, and Honeypot marched in to confront who he called “the devious witch,” but she was nowhere to be found. They walked up to the city hall, their tentacled heads drawing the attention of the vast crowd that was milling outside.
Two of the city guards were positioned at the doors that led into the building, and as they approached, Orion felt someone inspect him. The guards straightened themselves at the group’s arrival, one scowling, the other looking at them with wide eyes.
“Can I help you?” the scowling one asked.
Before they could respond, the other guard spoke.
“Dion, these guys are—”
“Jarvis, how many times have I told you to let me do the talking?” Dion shot a flat look at his fellow guard.
“Dion, you don’t understand! They’re—”
“Jarvis!” Dion interrupted. “I know you have some experience on the walls, but let me handle this, alright? Watch and learn how to deal with adventurers.”
The scowling guard returned his attention to Orion, who had stepped up in front of the rest of the party.
“The council is currently meeting. No adventurers or townsfolk are permitted to enter. You’ll have to return later.”
“We have vital information we need to share with whoever is in charge,” Orion said, stepping up to the guard. “I’m sure they’ll know who we are. Just tell them Ori—”
“Are you deaf or stupid, adventurer?” The overconfident guard looked down at Orion with disdain. “Short of knocking me out, you won’t be interrupting the meeting. I won’t allow it, but I wish you’d try…” He smiled maliciously, smacking his wooden baton into his hand. “Give me an excuse, kid.”
Orion was taken aback, more amused than annoyed at the spectacle of such a hostile guard.
I guess there are assholes everywhere in life, even among the townspeople…
“Dion!” Jarvis hissed. “Look at his name, he’s—”
The larger guard rounded on the smaller.
“WILL YOU STOP UNDERMINING MY AUTHORITY, JARVIS? WE ARE A TEAM, AND IT IS OUR JOB TO STOP THE MEETING FROM BEING DISTURBED!”
“LOOK AT HIS NAME, YOU IDIOT!”
With a smug smile, the big oaf did. He inspected Orion, and the color slowly drained from his face. “O-oh, I didn’t… we have orders to—”
Just then, the wooden doors swung open, and the head of Captain Blanc poked out.
“What’s this commotion? We are trying to—oh, good. You’re back, Orion.” Captain Blanc stepped out, pushing the previously scowling guard aside with ease. “Come with me. We have a lot to discuss.”
They followed Captain Blanc into the city hall, walking between the two guards—one looking apologetic, the other embarrassed. Orion heard Jarvis mutter, “Couldn’t you tell by their weapons and gear? Have you seen anything like that, you bloody idiot?”
The inside of the building was beautiful, with decorative wooden architecture spanning the entire roof that swirled in beautiful patterns. Across the room lay a giant wooden table, covered with what must have been a tree’s worth of paper spread out before two women and a man wearing the same outfit as Captain Blanc.
“Everyone, these are the Miscreant Misfits. Miscreant Misfits, these are the other city Captains—we’ll save the personal introductions for later. What can you tell us? In detail, please.”
Orion told the city Captains about their trip west, spilling every bit of information in as much detail as possible. He omitted the revelation regarding Carl for obvious reasons, but everything else was spelled out for them. He told them what he had learned regarding the origin of the monsters, and he told them of the Blood Mist Potion he’d invented.
“Can we see this potion?” one of the female Captains, Captain Noir, asked.
“Sure, I can show you… but it’s probably best if you don’t hold it. It’s extremely dangerous…” He looked at the room around them. “Especially indoors.”
Orion pulled out the potion, holding it in front of him for the captains to inspect. As they did, all of them subconsciously moved further back from it.
“Can we produce more?” Captain Blanc asked. “Master alchemist Carl has been successful with the expansion of workshops to craft your healing potion—could we replicate that for this?”
“I suggested the same thing… but no. They’re too dangerous. A single slip in their creation—which is highly likely with the low level alchemists that Carl has been recruiting—would result in certain death.”
Orion noticed all the Captains took a healthy step back, so he put the potion back in his inventory.
“Alright,” Captain Blanc said. “That is all extremely useful. Let us tell you of our plan so far, and we can go from there.”
As it turned out, their plan was simple but effective, and was essentially what Orion had assumed would happen. As there was no way to stop the advance now that it had started, they were going to make their stand inside the city walls. Preparations had already begun to shore up the defenses of the city, and they were clearing more trees in the directions of the attacks so they could spot enemies sooner.
Captain Blanc briefly discussed the problems they had been having previously with adventurers, detailing how they had been attacking and sending each other to respawn—activities that had almost completely stopped since the adventurers’ memories were returned. It appeared even the misbehaved were willing to come together to save themselves, which Orion found reassuring. It made him wonder about Felsteg, and if he had turned over a new leaf. Somehow, he doubted it.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Some people are just evil by nature, he admitted to himself.
“Your party has proved itself more than capable,” Captain Blanc said, “so let me ask what you think. Where would your skills best be used?”
They discussed it amongst themselves and came to a decision.
Shadow would begin cooking immediately, creating buffing food for the siege to come. Captain Blanc gave him directions on his map to a kitchen where such preparations were already underway. On Captain Blanc’s suggestion—and because of his impressive Strength stat—he would be called on to help with the relocation of any barricades or structures if needed.
Orion was thankful for the Captain’s direction, as he found himself less-and-less sure of his own leadership.
Can I trust myself to make the correct decision…?
He was roused from his thoughts by a nudge to the side from Honeypot. The look he gave Orion told him his friend has seen right through his rumination.
Honeypot, with much flair and impressive grandiosity, told them he would start working on his Animal Nutritionist profession immediately, fishing for more ingredients when needed. They all agreed, either because they thought it to be a good idea, or they knew debating Honeypot to be the equivalent of arguing with a particularly snarky wall. Captain Blanc was shocked he learned Animal Nutritionist as a profession, having never heard of it before. As soon as he found out that Honeypot could buff familiars and pets with it, they decided that creating more of that buffing food would be his focus—there were a significant amount of pets and familiars among the townsfolk and adventurers.
Arika would level up her Enchanting, focusing entirely on that. They’d stockpiled a number of reagents over the years for just such a disaster, and there weren’t enough enchanters to fully apply them to all the gear every person had. They already knew of her firepower, and the captains spoke amongst themselves about where she would best be utilized.
Orion would do the one thing no one else could—he would create more of the Blood Mist Potions, everyone present agreeing that they could be pivotal in the success of the defense of Valbrand.
Orion bid farewell to the rest of the party, who all headed off for their assignments. Orion stayed for a while to discuss the layout of the barricades, seeing the potential to herd groups of creatures into choke-points if and when they managed to breach the town’s walls.
***
Orion arrived back at the warehouse where he had met Carl after discussing strategy with the council. He still felt unsure about himself, but with their guidance, they’d managed to lay out a solid plan. He stepped inside the doors, intending to go upstairs and talk to Carl, when he was unexpectedly stopped.
“Um, excuse me… Orion?”
Orion turned to see Tash, looking embarrassed yet determined.
“I must apologize for my behavior earlier. I made an assumption and made a fool out of myself as a result. I understand if you no longer want me to be involved in the organization of your warehouses. Just give me the word, and I’ll leave.”
“My warehouses?” Orion laughed incredulously. He saw Tash was getting flustered, clearly misreading what he was laughing at. He rushed to clear things up.
“These warehouses are more yours than mine. The way Carl puts it, you’ve been instrumental in the organization and recruiting of all the alchemists. All I did was stumble upon a recipe—no more, no less. You and Carl have been the ones taking care of things while I ‘gallivant around the countryside,’ as my spirited teammate would say.”
“All you did was stumble upon a recipe?” She asked, now the incredulous one. “Carl is a Master alchemist, and even he says you’re a monster for creating that. And you’re downplaying your own contributions… you and your party cleared the first world boss, a feat that by all accounts—including that of the Creator—is the only reason we yet stand a chance in the battle to come.”
“I know it all sounds impressive on paper, but really… we’ve just been lucky. We found a dungeon boss early that led us on a quest chain. Hell, even the Bountiful Potion of Miraculous Healing came from us stumbling across a giant patch of Stim Leaf someone else showed me, which then let me refine it down into a concentrate.”
Tash raised an eyebrow, looking unconvinced. “You’re being too hard on yourself. You say it’s luck, but let me tell you what I was doing before the Creator returned our memories.”
She looked down for a moment as she composed herself and her thoughts.
“When I arrived in this town, I decided almost instantly that I didn’t care about adventuring or growing stronger. I just felt so… apathetic. Not just to the idea of getting stronger, but towards everything. I didn’t care what happened to me—all I worried about was distracting myself and making myself feel better. Instant gratification was all I cared about and all I chased.”
She laughed at herself.
“I explored town, finding new places to eat and drink. I did odd jobs here and there for the townsfolk, only so that I could pay to experience even more exciting food. The food here was so delicious, even the stuff they give out for free to adventurers tasted better than anything I’d ever had before. Well, now that I have my memories back, it’s no surprise I took comfort in delicious food. The most exciting thing I ever tasted in my old life was cheese that was only a little off.
She smiled ruefully.
“The point is, I did nothing. If everyone had done what I did, well, we’d all be dead soon, wouldn’t we?”
“There’s nothing wrong with taking comfort in the small things, and you also can’t be blamed for being apathetic to this new world.” Orion looked down. “We’ve all experienced harrowing things in our previous life, enough to, well, you know.”
“That’s exactly my point.” Tash said. “We all experienced things that, in one way or another, led to us taking our own lives. We all felt distraught, and didn’t have our lingering feelings completely wiped as the Creator had intended… yet look at the difference in our paths. Your party single-handedly defeated a fourth of the now incoming force, you discovered a recipe within a week of arriving in a new, alien world, and you worked with the townsfolk to build something new—something that would help the rest of us survive. Meanwhile, most of us were just wallowing in our sorrows, chasing dopamine hits and avoiding risk.”
Orion still felt as though they’d been in the right place at the right time for most of their accomplishments.
I guess we were out there, putting ourselves at risk and striving to grow, though… he admitted to himself.
“Alright, let’s assume that it’s entirely your fault for staying in town before,” Orion said. “What about now? Your memories were returned, and suddenly you’re irreplaceable—the sole reason things have worked out as they have, according to Carl. When we got our memories back, we were all floored. We still are, to be honest. The only thing keeping us going right now is the fact that the town has to be defended. If it weren’t for that, we might be the ones chasing that instant gratification you spoke of. You, however, are working selflessly to ensure we have as many healing potions available as possible.”
“Thriving selflessly? I have no fucking idea what I’m doing.” A look of anger crossed Tash’s face that was entirely directed at herself. “When I got my memories back… I just couldn’t stand the idea of rolling over and giving up again. Sure, I don’t want anyone else to die, but if you really think about it, I’m not doing it for them. I’m doing it for me. I would feel like even more of a piece of shit if people died when I could have done something to help. Everything I do is in defiance of my previous life, nothing more. I’m working hard to make up for the time I’ve already wasted here, too.” She let out a frustrated sigh. “Basically, I’m full of regret, and this is the only outlet I have to rectify that.”
“Who’s being too hard on themselves now?” Orion gave her a kind smile. “It doesn’t mean you’re being selfish just because doing so makes you feel good. Most people help others because it makes them feel good about themselves… that doesn’t make it an inherently selfish action. What matters is the results.”
Orion looked her in the eyes.
“I’m not even the tiniest bit upset at you for accosting us as you did in town. If that’s the same fervor you’ve been using to recruit other alchemists and get the ball rolling on these healing potions, I’m extremely grateful that we have you on our side. Actually, speaking of healing potions, why don’t you come with me?”
Tash cocked her head. “Where?”