Johan woke up around 10 in the morning. It seemed that Markus decided to wait for everyone to wake up on their own before they talked about what Johan and Markus talked about last night.

As Johan sat up, one of the first things he noticed was that Anne and Pat were sitting with Jen by the fire. Markus was cooking something on the fire, and Adv was just sitting next to Pat.

"Morning." Johan said as he approached.

"You're awake!" Anne jumped up and ran over to hug him. She wasn't crying this time, but he knew that she had to of been worried about him.

"Yep." He hugged her back.

"So we heard a bit from Jen. Are you alright?" Anne asked as she pulled away.

"Are you talking about the fall? I'm relatively alright. Pretty sure I'll have some nerve damage for a while, but I'll take that over dying. I literally broke my back." Johan shrugged a bit.

"You have nerve damage?" Jen asked from where she was.

"Yeah, it isn't too bad, just a bit of numbness in my hand and fingers, and my limp." Johan waved his left hand, "Unfortunately I don't know how to even get started on fixing that. Otherwise I'd have done so by now. I'm kinda betting on my ring to fix it in due time. Perhaps I need to learn more healing magic."

"That's terrible." Pat said.

"Meh, it is what it is. No one died which is good enough. Anyways enough about all that. Did she tell you guys about the trolls?" Johan asked.

"Well, no. We didn't even know you guys had encountered trolls." Pat said, looking a bit excited about what Johan might say next.

"Yeah. We encountered some trolls. They had a shaman with them that tried to use illusions that pulled on the mind in order to draw us in. It showed us silhouettes of you guys..." Johan started to tell the whole story of the fight with the trolls, from how they found them to how they were defeated. Though he might have embellished a little bit when it came to his killing of the first troll.

"Pft." Markus laughed a bit as he approached from the fire, carrying food, "Sorry, there is no way you managed to cut a troll in half from bottom to top."

"Well, yeah, but it did make for a more entertaining story." Johan said, Anne smacked him on the arm.

"Don't lie to me!" She complained.

"It isn't entirely a lie, I did kill it by sending a Wind Blade up into it. I was able to kill it because of how severe the wound was. I think I made it to the stomach internally." Johan said, thinking back trying to remember. "Either way it wasn't a lie, just an embellishment."

Anne looked at him with a somewhat deadpan expression, "Either way, don't do that to me."

Johan wasn't sure why she was so upset over this, but he decidedly relented.

"Alright, I'll make sure to not embellish my stories for you." He sighed. "Even if that does make them less fun."

"Thank you." Anne smiled.

"Alright. Well, we have lunch now, so let's talk about what we are going to do now." Markus said. "I already talked somewhat with Jen and Johan, but we need to talk about the trolls.

Trolls, at least on this mountain are normally higher up. Even though it *has* been a decade since I last walked this mountain, I doubt that the ecology has changed so much in such a short time. So... I believe that further up the mountain is a creature that is both stronger than the trolls, as well as territorial.

I can only think of a handful of them, but I would not like to encounter any of them. Thus, I think we should go back down and head around the mountain instead. Even if we do encounter more bandits that way."

Markus looked at everyone else. Johan had already made up his mind, and Jen probably did as well, so really only the other two needed to decide. Johan felt that the group should leave the mountain, agreeing with Markus in that he would not like to encounter whatever could drive a troll down the mountain.

"Alright. I agree." Anne said.

"Same, there's no reason not to, after all, I can't really fight." Pat added.

"I also think we should leave." Jen agreed.

"So we all think we should leave too? That's a relief." Johan sighed

"Alright then. We'll eat and then start heading down the mountain. We will go as far down as possible, but let me know if you start to feel off. Mountain sickness is no joke."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

----

Gerald was tired. He had not taken a long journey in almost 2 and a half decades. The last time he had walked this much was when he and his wife escaped from her family. They had eloped to Ambevelance at that time.

Currently they were at a small town named Northwind. The Madam had not been happy with that mage by the name of Nath, though Gerald was over the moon and felt some form of vindication, and was sure that none of the other servants felt any different.

The Madam had given Nath some seeds to help him start to slowly gain more of a foothold, but had been, in more a metaphorical way, slapped across the face. She had expected to get a new mage for her retinue, but in the end, well, Nath gave her nothing. The best part was when he threw it into her face that she had told him it was a gift.

Gerald knew that the only reason that old man still lived was because he was actually stronger than the Madam was, and not by an insignificant amount either. Nath was at least a full state higher. He had gone beyond the Consolidation state, which was where the Madam was stuck at.

It was by no means a shock to the middle aged man, given that Nath was actually Nathanial Grysfel. Also hailed as the Guardian of Gent, though he seemed to have retired. Gerald knew well who the man was. He was recorded with respect even from the empire, a feat that only a handful of people in all of its long history had managed to achieve.

Nathanial Grysfel was the man who single handedly shielded the kingdom of Gent from the empire for hundreds of years. Apparently the only reason he left was because of the schism that had occurred once the technology of the kingdom advanced to the point that robots were imbued with true intelligence, bringing back arguments of slavery once again.

It shortly fell apart and entered a state of civil unrest that ignited into war. Those from outside of the situation knew all too well that Nathanial could easily have solved such an issue, and were thus confused by his sudden abdication of the kingdom, though many simply assumed he had more pressing matters.

Gerald, knowing what he now did, could assume what was happening. It would seem that Nathanial Grysfel had finally gotten tired of Ambevelances necrotic council that they called a government. Chances are that Ambevelance glassing the areas around them had paid out pretty well, making it so no mages could really attack them effectively.

Gerald turned back to the front of the path, seeing that the Madam had paused midstride. She then turned and looked at a young woman with brown hair and a blue doublet, who was carrying bottles of potions in a crate somewhere.

"You there! Girl." The Madam called out.

"Oh? Yes, would you need something ma'am?" the woman asked, pausing to turn and look at the Madam.

"You... Are you a mage?"

"Oh! Yes. Though I don't really call myself a mage, I like to consider myself to be more of an Alchemist. It's what I usually do anyways, alchemy that is." She had such a bright smile on her face.

"Hm... An Alchemist? How good are your potions?" The Madam inquired.

"Well, from testing them on those who are less fortunate, I found that they can restore the broken bones of an average individual in about 30 or so seconds. Recently due to the help of another mage, I found a better way to infuse the light in my lightwater." She explained with a cheery atmosphere about herself. Gerald could tell that she genuinely enjoyed her craft.

"Oh? Would you be willing to teach me about that method?"

"Not for free. Even if you are another mage, I don't give things for free. Though if you'd like a sample of my potions... Well, that'd be different." The girls brightness diminished as she took on a more methodical look, seemingly doing some math in her head.

"Hm... What if I were to employ you? I can offer you some good conditions." The Madam said.

"Well... I have a customer who relies on my product for more business. But if you have a way to help me with delivering my products to them, I don't see any reason not to go. I like alchemy, but I can *technically* do it anywhere. And besides, maybe I'll see that mage again one day if I go on a journey."

"I may have something. Lead me to the business of the merchant you supply to." The Madam nodded.

"Alright. I was headed there anyways. Also are you guys traveling through town? You are a much larger group than the last travelers. The people from Basin were few. That's where that mage I was talking about came from by the way.

Quite a talented guy. Fun to tease as well. He also taught me a couple things he managed to learn about spatial magic. I kinda feel like he probably lost out a lot on his end of the deal. Though I did give him a bunch of potions, and I taught him about advancing to become a Construct state mage." The woman made some small talk as they meandered through street after street before they arrived at a small general store named simply "David's".

"Hey, David. Got your shipment of potions. Also we need to talk a bit about something." The woman turned to the Madam, "This lovely lady here wants to hire me to join her party, which would normally be an issue when it comes to delivering potions but she said that she had some way to solve the issue."

"Well, Clare. I don't mind just letting you go off honestly. After seeing Markus last week, I've been thinking of retiring. I've run this business for nearly 40 years now, and Klein said he wasn't interested in continuing to run it. I'll probably sell it anyways." David explained, a gentle smile on his face.

"Oh, in that case I can just go then! Alright." The woman, Clare it seemed, smiled at the Madam, "Alright, so You want to employ me right? We should probably sign some sort of contract then correct? If you don't mind we can have David as the witness and reviewer, as well as one of your friends, that way we someone for each of us."

"Well, alright. Gerald. Retrieve the employment contracts, I want type 4, Mutual Beneficiary." The Madam commanded.

"Here you go, Madam." Gerald handed it off to the Madam.

"Alright, girl. I will want your employment until we reach the capital of Menstra at the minimum. I expect you to make whatever potions I happen to need while in my employ. I will, of course supply ingredients, as well as recipes for that which you don't know. Of course taking that you are still in your early Constructs, I will try not to push you too far."

"Free recipes? For doing something I already like to do? Sounds great. However, I also want to include provided meals, so long as I am in your employ, and upon separation I would like to be given... I'll say 45 gold, which if I truly do make as many potions as I believe I likely will... It shouldn't even equate to a single percent, but it should be more than enough for me to purchase a small lab so that I may stay and work in the capital."

The Madam thought for a moment or so, then nodded. "Those terms are acceptable, as well as easy to meet. We have a deal, girl." She held her hand out.

Gerald could feel his back break into a cold sweat. That hand was the hand of a demon. The young woman, however, simply took it in her own hand and shook.

"Good to meet you, My name is Clara, though I go by Clare."