The situation defused as quickly as it had appeared.

The leader of the group, with a wave of her hand, quickly dismissed her awed subordinates, stepped forward, and clasped hands with Samuel, a gesture which turned into something of a half-hug. Accompanied was this sight by an exchange of friendly ribbing and more than one of these comments referred to Samuel’s advanced age, his eyesight, and the fact that maybe it was time for him to pass off his collection of flying artifacts to someone younger than him if he couldn’t even manage to find the designated docking tower any longer; of course, the woman also had a good idea as to who that younger person should be.

Severin used this exchange to in the meantime, and only reluctantly, take off the ring he once again had been fiddling around with and handed it over to Emily, made sure she put it over her thumb, and warned her not to take it off under any circumstances.

He was already starting to regret that he hadn’t prepared better and, not for the first time this day, wished himself back into the safety and comfort of his bed and for this rotten day to finally end.

Instead, after the initial exchange, the intimidating woman’s attention now changed over to him.

“So, who is this? Picked up another stray or two? Speaking of which, if you’re looking for the two other brats, you’re too late. Already gone ahead.”

Following that remark, discontent but, hopefully, with a naturally looking smile forced onto his face, Severin stepped forward and extended his hand.

From up close, the woman looked much less rough than her ferocious arrival and the fortress of an armor she was hurling around had led him to believe. On a closer look, she almost seemed fragile. Mostly because of her own apparent age. The lines on her face, the crow’s feet in particular, revealed that while she may not have quite reached Samuel’s age, she couldn’t be that much younger than the man she had just scolded. The amusing realization greatly improved his mood. But only for a moment.

“What do you mean, gone ahead?”

Before any introductions could be made, Samuel’s surprised question caused the woman to stop in her tracks and, consequentially, to leave Severin hanging.

“Well, Markus was getting ready for another dive when they arrived. Left together the next day.”

“What?! These two…” Samuel was looking for the words to describe his irritation.

“Now, now. Don’t get so upset. Markus knew you wouldn’t just let them join a full-blown raid without you supervising them in person. They headed into the Garden-“

“The Garden? Wh-”

“Now, let me finish, old man! They said they would stay on the first floor until you caught up to them. And before you go rushing after them, I suggest you go check in with Gillion. I think they left a notice for you with him where exactly they set up camp.”

“Pah, near the river crossing, of course. Where else would they camp in there?”

“Don’t be grumpy now, you hear? And don't turn senile on me, either. Or do you need me to remind you about your younger days? Trying to sneak away at night to settle a score? Trying to cheat the Society for some easy task completion rewards? Entering a dungeon on your own because you outleveled it? I’m sure that was your words. And by four levels, let me remind you. Who knows how a troublemaker like you would have turned out if it wasn't for that hag saving your ass over and over again?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Hmpf.” Obviously unwilling to admit anything of the kind-though the change in his complexity spoke for itself - the [Berserker] crossed his arms. “Better watch your words. That hag’s hearing is still as abnormal as ever, you know.” With that, he nodded towards something high up behind him.

Slowly, as she stared in the indicated direction, one could see her expression change. A blank mask of incomprehension at first, to a hint of apprehension, before finally, after swallowing her saliva with a loud gulp, turning to understanding.

"Up there, you say? Why would...wait. So it’s true? And that means... you’re the guy?!”

For the first time, she really paid attention to the ordinary-looking man who had been awkwardly standing there.

All of a sudden, the woman stepped towards Severin, pulled him in by his long retracted hand, and, with her left, patted him roughly onto his back.

Either not noticing or simply ignoring Severin’s sparse remainder of goodwill and his struggle for air that came as the result of having a classbearer slap their metal glove onto his back, she took a step back and looked him over. With different eyes than before.

“Took it for just another floater, you know?” She said while gesturing towards upwards but still a little meek, as if she really was afraid someone could hear her from all that distance away.

But Severin didn’t know. Though he had a suspicion.

Knowing what sight to expect, he turned around himself. And still found himself surprised.

The last time he had the chance to look at the mountain from outside, from afar, was when he had first joined Samuel on his trip to Hanvia. At the time, though, it had still been covered in clouds, he had already realized it had to be huge. Now he realized just how huge exactly; the System’s side view of the thing did not do it justice. Just how tall was that thing?

Any reply he might have had come up with got stuck in his throat; not that the woman seemed to notice. With no pause and as if not even expecting him to answer in the first place, the woman simply kept on talking.

“So it turns out you can steer that thing, huh? Interesting. And brought some people with you? Explains the traffic up there. Have you considered settling around here? I’m sure once the word goes around you’ll have plenty of customers”

“I-”

“Markus will regret having gone ahead already if he learns of this.”

“Haven’t Tim and Miriam told you?”

“Only that you were coming. Not that you would bring… guests. Guess they knew they couldn’t convince him if they did.”

“Ha, could’ve just waited either way.”

“Maybe. But he seems to be in a rush to make some progress. Make a name for himself. Not content with being just the second string leader anymore.”

“… still twenty levels too ear-”

By now the woman had already proved to be a chatterbox, and Severin wasn’t the only one whom she did not let get a word in edgewise. This time it was Samuel who she abruptly cut off and simply continued,

“Also, shouldn’t sound all too unfamiliar to you, no? Well. With that being the case, you really should give Gillion a visit. Besides, I’m sure he’ll be glad to see you. Come, let me escort you two. Three. Sorry there, young lady. Almost overlooked you. You should get some meat on your ribs. Unless you want to remain a stick forever, be sure to always eat up, you hear?”

Emily earnestly nodded in response, but the woman had already swirled around and with a wave of her hand indicated the others to follow behind her.