“A good choice.” The decrepit old man who I had gone to patted me on the arm. “Come here, I have something extra for you.” He took a book from a brass box and held it out for me to touch.

I walked over excitedly and placed my hand firmly on the book cover. A swathe of information flowed through the rugged, aged leather and filled my profession tab. With a thought, I browsed the new tab under Witchcraft to see what the book contained.

It was full of Witchcraft Alchemy recipes: long lists of how adding certain materials to traditional Alchemy concoctions would produce variations instead. The names of the items and mixtures were completely foreign to me, but it was enough to know they were there to be confident I could eventually learn to make these alternative potions and pastes.

“If everyone has gotten their professions, it’s time to meet the Red Prince,” the steward stood anxiously at the door.

“Thank you all,” Lucas said to the staff who had brought us these important new powers. “We’ll do our best to quell the gnoll invaders.”

“Try to not get eaten alive” The decrepit old man laughed. He was clearly a bit eccentric and not afraid to mince words. That made him more agreeable to me than those who tiptoed around their words.

“No one will be getting eaten.” Maria replied proudly. I could see that everyone was feeling a lot stronger than when we walked in. “We are…” Maria was about to continue boasting when she was cut off.

“The Red Prince should be here any moment now,” The steward raised his voice, clearly trying to move everything along. “Can our mentors and guardians of the professions follow me now please,” he was almost shouting as he herded the crafters and artisans out the door.

“We all appreciate it,” Lucas called after them, but the steward had already disappeared out the doorway and most of those following him were out of earshot.

“I had so much more to say,” Maria harrumphed.

Conversation quickly turned into a fiesta of profession talk that Jessica and I excused ourselves from.

“How do you feel about our chances?” I asked her. I trusted her judgement more than anyone else’s, even more than that of Lucas.

“I think we’ll be okay,” she replied. “If everyone else upgraded themselves as much as they seem to have, then I think we will prance our way out of here.”

“Prance?” I chuckled. “Honestly, I think that even though you and I are better geared than the others, they have probably upgraded even more than we did.” I paused. “I do hope we can prance out of here though.” Now that we had professions, a quick return to Earth would be ideal. In my daydream we had an easy boss fight and then we unentangled ourselves from the throne feud. “I’m interested to see if we can now do more for the people surviving on Earth.”

“Agreed. We’ve achieved as much as we could have hoped for here.”

“Except perhaps help the Red Prince to power and get another reward for that.” And as I said that the door creaked open and the Red Prince walked in.

“I hope you’ve not been waiting long?” He asked. His eyes stayed for a longer than normal time on Anna and Maria, who were decked out in their splendid new items. I wondered if the Steward had found something else to do so as not to be reprimanded. We were supposed to be modest… I was going to speak up and say something apologetic when Anna rushed forward instead.

“Not at all,” Anna spoke sweetly. She was wearing enough jewelry to be considered royalty now. “You’re just in time. We really appreciate what you’ve done for us.” I’d seen this move before from her, and it usually worked. I was optimistic.

“Good…” He paused. “I’m sure your new capabilities will take a bit of getting used to. Let’s get you all back and well rested for your mission.”

No one complained as we followed him out and I didn’t feel like talking or trying to justify our choices. It was a relief to leave the palace. While beautiful, the atmosphere of the palace demanded a certain level of respect that was oppressive and tiring. The buildup to seeing what was on offer had been so suspenseful that now it was hard to believe it was over.

There was already a carriage waiting for us when we stepped outside. I turned to the Red Prince for a moment. “What mission is planned for us when we return to our barracks?” I asked. While he was considerate, the idea of giving us extra rest was a bit far-fetched to believe.

He gave me a long look and then said, “It’s true, you’re expected to leave tonight to tackle the gnoll general.” This made more sense to me and was probably also why he didn’t make a comment on Anna and Maria’s extravagant ‘shopping spree’.

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“I suspected as much,” I replied. “All is good. Thank you for the help. The gear we’ve obtained will make us that much more likely to succeed.” The entire interaction was mutually beneficial. I didn’t feel so bad about looting his treasure when I thought about it that way. Some items for the throne? I was sure he would take that deal any day.

For us, the sooner we dispatched the gnoll boss, the sooner we could get back to Earth. The risk we were undertaking compared to him wasn’t quite equal, but we had no choice. “We’ll do our best.” I waved to him as I raced towards the carriage and then stepped in.

“What a lonely place.” Jessica said as we pulled out, leaving the view of the palace far behind.

“You mean the whole sub-world or the prince’s place?”

“All of it. The city surrounded by a gnoll army.”

“I really wanted to get out of here originally,” Mark said, “but it’s grown on me.”

“If we go back to Earth, I’m gonna miss it,” Maria confessed, “sleeping under the stars with no security is not my idea of a good time.”

“Treat this like a vacation then,” Jessica said, not just for Maria to hear, but for everyone. “This might be the most relaxation we get for a while.”

Jessica had given me the perfect opportunity to speak up, “Relaxation isn’t on the menu currently. We will be heading out tonight.” I told them what the Red Prince had said. “Which means our nights of sleeping in a bed are gone.”

“Do we have a new plan?” Thomas asked.

“I think we use the same route, but this time head straight for the main gnoll encampment,” Lucas said. “Before, we weren’t confident in a direct confrontation so we avoided it and opted to be sneaky instead.”

“We can discuss it now.” I said to everyone, “I’m on the side of direct confrontation.”

“That leaves us open for counter-attacks though.” Glenn said. “No sneak attack means the full force of the gnoll invasion could very well loop back on us, or even be waiting for our arrival.”

“Just have the city deal with that problem,” Richard suggested, “have them send out their men and force the issue on the open field.”

Jessica spoke next, “Ideally this is going to be in the middle of the night. But we can’t rule out they will be prepared for us.”

“I’ll talk to Rhugar when we return,” Lucas said, “if he can have a sizeable force ready in the early morning, the threat of their attack will impede any retreat and reinforcement attempt.”

The idea for the plan was starting to come together quite smoothly. “So we take the same route, approach as undetected as we possibly can, but we aren’t shying away from a fight. If Rhugar can mount a force that will keep the front lines busy, we can make a play against the gnoll leader and potentially end this entire incursion in one night.” After I pause I added, “as of right now, this should be our game plan.”

“What about the Yellow Prince?” Alan asked.

“We can’t influence that situation anyway. The Red Prince and Lazemus are surely hard at work keeping him in check. If he is assisting the gnolls in some way, it will be hard for him to make a move openly when our mission is public knowledge,” Lucas said.

“We should expect them to be fully prepared for our arrival, even having traps ready for us,” I looked at Jessica, “You’ll be our eyes as usual, and the final call can be made by you whether we advance or retreat.” I looked around the carriage at everyone, “Does anyone have any questions or concerns?”

No one did, and the trauma from our last battle seemed to have disappeared with the acquisition of our new gear. Even Alan was fully confident and roaring for a fight. I only hoped he didn’t have some underlying issues from his past brush with death. Only time would tell.

“Let’s get some rest when we return, it’s going to be a long night.” I leaned back on a comfortable pillow and closed my eyes. The excitement of the palace, our new gear, the professions, it all faded away into some obscure feeling of unease. It wasn’t even Sixth Sense giving me that feeling.

I guessed that was just the human psyche at work. We were walking into the unknown and it was scary, regardless of how well we were prepared. All we could do now was push forward and hope for the best. Cracking my eye allowed me to see Anna, Glenn, and Thomas with glazed looks watching the passing streets. I couldn’t be the only one feeling this pressure.

The entire carriage hummed through the streets, and before long the rhythm helped me push all concerns out of mind and bring me to a deep sleep.

“Mike.” I heard Jessica’s voice and felt her nudging me awake. “We’re here.” I hadn’t slept so deeply in a long time. It was surely a feeling I was going to miss once we returned to Earth. “Lucas is taking care of the preparations with Rhugar. He said everyone should rest up if they wanted to.”

“Alright.” I nodded as I wobbled off the carriage. I was starting to feel the hunger of having not slain any enemies. It wasn’t possible for me to eat rations and sustain myself anymore. “Let’s take it easy until tonight.” I suggested. I was still drowsy from sleeping on the carriage.

Lucas returned around an hour and a half after I got off the carriage. “I’ve talked to Rhugar and we are good to go,” he said, “sunrise tomorrow morning he will sound the horn and all available troops will enter formation outside the walls.

“So we strike then?” Alan asked.

“We strike shortly after we hear the horn of battle. That should focus the gnolls on the city, and give us crucial time.”

“Anything else?” I asked him.

“I spoke with Lazemus as well. We haven’t seen him, but he’s been busy. He’s almost certain there is cooperation between the Yellow Prince’s side and the gnolls. He’s been applying heavy pressure with the nobility, and spreading rumors about the deceased princess and a gnoll conspiracy. There are too many eyes for the Yellow prince to act without being discovered.”

“That should give us an earnest fight then,” Richard said, “I hate playing these pissing games anyway.” There was some battle spirit in his words, and I could tell Alan was firing up as well.

“That’s the hope.” Lucas looked at Jessica, “You’ll still be the determining factor on if we go for it or not.” She gave a stern nod in response. “We’ll be leaving in around six hours. If all goes well we’ll be coming back here at least one more time. If not, this may be our last time in Rigar.”

While fond, I hadn’t grown overly attached to Rigar. The Red Prince and Rhugar were the only two people I truly felt indebted to. While Lazemus had helped us greatly, he had also embroiled us in this mess in the first place. I had said my goodbyes to the Red Prince, and tonight I’d see Rhugar before leaving. There wasn’t any other attachment I needed to consider.