Li watched as the brothers huffed and puffed their way forward until they stopped in front of him, hands on their knees from exerting themselves.

"Looks like you two need to work on your strength," said Li. "You know, you can still back out of this commitment now." 

Immediately in response to Li's doubts, the brothers stood up straight, stiffening their muscles and making themselves as composed as possible.

"We have never been more ready, seer!" said Mason.

Mercer, the younger brother, pulled out a new set of daggers from his side. They were actually quite nice, their blades curved and honed to a fine edge with black stones embedded in the hilt. A magical weapon. "We've even secured ourselves legendary weapons capable of fending off any darkness."

Mason unsheathed his own new longsword, and it too was magical in nature, the broad blade inscribed with gold patterns that mimicked the wavy flicker of fire.

Li nodded. They were pretty bad weapons, all around, but at least they were not basic Common tier ones, occupying the Magical tier meant for those ranging from levels 20-40, though most certainly, these ones were on the lower end of that level spectrum.

"Magical weapons. Impressive," said Li. "Now, where would you ever happen to find such things? They are quite rare, I hear, and I do not know many smiths that are open to work outside of what they are doing now for the crown."

"Lads, do not tell us that you stole those," said Old Thane, a flicker of disappointment beginning to show on his face. "I know the spirit of battle and adventure flows through you, I know it well, aye, but that is no excuse to take from the hard work of others."

"Of course not," said Mercer triumphantly, proud that he did not steal something for once. "Belmont gave us these weapons of his own free will. He sees us as capable warriors worthy of wielding them, to be sure."

"Though he did take all our life savings for them," said Mason as he put a hand to his head.

"Ah, Belmont," said Old Thane. "His time as a smith may have passed many years ago, but certainly, I am sure he had some weapons in his collection. Cherish them, lads, for in his prime, Belmont was no smith to scoff at."

"Of course," said the brothers surprisingly humbly.

"Alright then," said Li. "Looks like everyone that needs to go is here and ready. All is readied and set."

"Aside from a proper farewell, no?" Ven'thur emerged from the doors of the Farmer's Guild, his purple clothing literally glittering under the midday sun. With his monocle, tophat, and cane, he truly looked as eye-catching as possible, and not entirely in a pleasing way.

Sindra followed behind him, and she evidently thought much the same as Li, her eyes squinting in displeasure as she tried to look past Ven'thur's sparkling figure. In her hands was a wreath knitted together from a variety of plant parts, and it glowed with a light green tinge that indicated it was magically blessed.

"Never too late for a farewell," said Li to Ven'thur. "I trust you two will keep the guild from falling apart in my absence?"

"Dear me," said Ven'thur, putting a hand to his heart in mock offense. "I did not believe you thought so little of me. Certainly not. I shall ensure that no feeble minded Light hawker nor silly merchant will step on our toes, that is to be sure. And Sindra no doubt will do a fine job in handling all those numbers regardless of how dreary they are."

"Someone has to deal with them, and I shudder to think how this guild would be were it to be you," said Sindra as she stepped forwards, wreath tentatively placed between her hands.

"That, I can agree with," said Li. He motioned to the wreath and asked, "Might I ask what that is?"

"Ah this," said Sindra.

"A sign of her much hidden love for you, of course," said Ven'thur, and Sindra bared a fang at the lich. ���I jest. It is a wreath comprised of a precious part of every single farming family in our guild. There are branches from fruit trees, leaves from berries, roots from wheat, potatoes, and even vines from the only vineyard in our midst.

A token of appreciation meant to bring you luck and remembrance of us in your journey."

Sindra held out the wreath, and Li accepted it. He saw that it was quite large – unsurprising considering the amount of people in the guild – and put it around his neck like a large necklace. He willed his divine presence to fuse with it, binding the plant matter as part of him, ensuring that anytime it was damaged, he could regenerate it just as if it was a part of his own body.

"It is a wonderful gift," said Li without any reservation. To him, this truly was perhaps one of the best gifts he could have ever received in this world. He did not need riches or gold or power.

But this was something else, something infinitely more valuable. It was belief and appreciation and faith and devotion manifested into something tangible. "I will cherish it for as long as I can. Please, give my thanks to all my followers."

Sindra nodded. Ven'thur interjected. "Oho, but you see, good seer, without Sindra, this wreath would never have seen the light of day. It was her idea, and Ivo the one to execute it, but nevertheless, without the mastermind, there would be nothing to behold! If you asked Ivo, were he here – he is out busy in the forest and fields directing it all – he would most certainly agree with me."

"This was a collaborative effort," said Sindra firmly.

"I am only giving credit where it is due, my dear," said Ven'thur. "You must not downplay yourself."

"I understand," said Li. He looked at Sindra and nodded to her. "Thank you, Sindra, for keeping me in your mind. I hope I can repay you by making this guild the force of change you believe it to be."

"It is nothing, good seer," said Sindra with a slight head bow, her tail slowly curling around her hip in affectionate gesture.

"And I too wonder what you will make of this dreary world and its many meaningless conflicts," said Ven'thur. "Perhaps, with your expert touch, you may make this bleak canvas just the bit brighter."

"Well, I do have a promise to fulfill to you as well," said Li, letting the lich remember the vow to restore Kel'thor Citadel and his compatriots. "Perhaps the canvas will start becoming more interesting to you after that."

"Oh," said Ven'thur, smiling. "It most certainly will. I look forward to our next meeting, good seer."

"As do I." Li heard the clanking of metal greaves approach – the sound of the knights that would escort them out the city for security purposes – and gave one last smile and farewell, waving his hand. "I will leave you two to your work. Do make sure to take breaks once in a while. Especially you, Sindra."

"Bye bye!" said Tia from atop Li's pack, waving her scaled hand vigorously, and Ven'thur and Sindra waved back at her.

And with that, it was time to go. Time to start an adventure.

The knights led Li and his group throughout the empty streets of the city, though some life had returned to it in limited capacity now that the five armies had left. In a couple of days, people would resume their lives as normal, though travel would still be highly restricted and vetted.

Already, there were a few protesting Rivierans who knew that the farmers could leave but they could not, but they were met with a swiftly fatal counterargument that should the farmers not return to their fields, their chances of starving increased all the more.

At the towering gates, the knights opened a small section at the bottom meant for allowing small transports, and as Li prepared to leave, the knights saluted them, wishing them luck, and Li, too, wished them luck for their defense of the city.

It was a pity that Li could not say farewell to Launcelot for the nobleman was far too busy suddenly leading half a legion and ordering the defense of the city, but one could not have everything go their way.

Outside the city walls, Li looked westward, not over the Winterwoods, but beside it where a separate set of trails and roads led to the Midpath that went past the edges of the Winterwoods and into a set of mountains called the Triforge for they were once populated by a now long extinct race of dwarves. 

Over that, there would be the sparsely forested plains of the Outerlands, and through there, they would make it to the Shibboleth, an upraised split in the earth that separated the Hinterlands from the main continent.

Most did not travel through the Midpath and the Triforge for the high level monsters infesting it, instead opting to take the safer Winterwoods to reach the Shibboleth. However, crossing the Triforge mountain pass took much less time than going through the Winterwoods and circling around to get to the other end of the mountains.

And to Li, the danger level of monsters was truly not much of an issue.

But, as he looked to the horizon, at how it seemed to infinitely expand in front of him, he did decide he did not want to just walk his way through it. At the same time, he did want to synchronize his travel time with that of the five armies, and so he could not simply summon some insanely fast, oppressively powerful creature, especially in light of wanting to make use of this expedition to teach Tia, and most of his faster higher leveled summons were live beings he still had reservations freely creating.

So, he decided on a middle ground.

Yes, thought Li as he knelt down and put a hand to the ground. This would be a suitable, if not a little bit of a festive familiar for this adventure.