As the morning sun rose in the west, small rays of its welcome, golden light began to poke through over the rooftops and the tips of the pine trees. Diane was greeted by the smell of cooking eggs and biscuits, which smelled so appetizing she woke up with a zeal! She was so excited and full of energy, she hardly felt like the same girl from the night before.

She practically ran over Thistle on her way out the door, grabbing her freshly cleaned dress and quickly throwing it on, as she hurried towards the stairs.

“Thistle, wake up lazy bones! You don’t want to miss breakfast!”

Thistleman stirred slowly, before yawning and sitting up. His need for food was a lot less than that of a person, and for some reason, the idea of taking the morning slow really appealed to him. It was an odd feeling… not having to be worried about being murdered in your sleep, hunted, and especially the quiet in his head. He had no big ambitions or motivations. Yes, he is indeed a lazy bones! And he does not want to miss breakfast!

Thistleman had a big smile on his face, which lasted for a grand total of three seconds. Wait… what? Did I really just think that? All the energy drained out of him as he realized the terrifying truth: he had escaped one horrible mind-altering influence, only to fall in to the hands of one even more overwhelming. With just a word… she keeps redefining who he is. He severely underestimated the power of contracts, no wonder so few Daemons offered them in his time…

“Well, I suppose I better go get some breakfast too, but not because I don’t want to miss it!”

Thistleman declared this to himself, unconvincingly trying to reassure himself he is not being influenced by her.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Ryme was busy making breakfast downstairs, as they had a livelier than usual morning today. It seems that the usual overcast skies were going to be absent today, and a lot more people were motivated to try and go out fishing or gathering. She had chastised Jotuun the night before, when she found out he had given the kids a whole week AND meals for a mere 48 copper coins. That damn softie looks mean, but he tried to explain it away with a “Reminded Jotuun when we were kids.” While Ryme was extremely nice, especially for Skeevers, her racial instincts for the value of goods and services had kicked in. After she was finished with Jotuun, she had gone up stairs, intending to demand Diane earn her week’s stay or leave the following morning.

However, when she heard Diane crying in her room… her heart broke. She couldn’t say anything. Now, that same girl came flying down the stairs, slipping on her shoes as she went. She was absolutely adorable now that she was all cleaned up! She decided to cover up her guilt by giving Diane an extra special plate, and discussing working out a better deal after.

“One moment, little dearie! Hop back on to the stool by the counter and I will have your breakfast right up!”

“Thanks, Auntie Ryme! It smells so great!”

“A-Auntie?!” she exclaimed, followed by a squeak.

Ryme blushed a little, although you couldn’t tell beneath her fur, she did sway a little bit more as well.

She had long since given up on being called an Auntie. Having grown up orphaned in Luthas, which had a remarkably small demihuman population, and eventually settling down with her childhood friend Jotuun, she had given up on having kids or a family, as most species are unable to have children together.

“Yes, you are Auntie Ryme, and he is Uncle Jotuun!”

She had declared their new roles with the authority of a noble, while wielding the cute and innocent face of a little girl. The two pronged attack was far too effective, and threw off Ryme completely. How could she demand more from this sweet little girl? Plus, the way she said it… unlike many of the other orphans or poor children, who felt manipulative in their actions and had a sly look in their eyes, Diane came off as completely genuine.

The final stake through her heart was when Jotuun came lumbering by, with a tray covered in dirty dishes.

“If me Uncle, you niece.”

And then he patted Diane on the head with one of his massive paws, as she started giggling.

“Hey, you’re messing up my hair, stooooooop!”

It’s over. She can stay. But just for the week! “I’ll just ask her about next week when that comes around.” Ryme made a mental note to herself, before excitedly passing Diane a plate full of eggs and biscuits, covered in some of her signature gravy. Normally she would charge extra for the gravy, but for Diane she made an exception. She also set out a plate for Thistle for when he made it down.

“Here you go, I hope you enjoy it!”

Thistleman slowly walked down the stairs, taking a good look at the layout of the inn along the way. It was no castle befitting a Daemon King or a Demon Lord, and its defensibility was almost non-existent. The security precautions would serve as, at most, an inconvenience for a determined attacker. The size was also far too small. If he wasn’t in child-form, he definitely wouldn’t be able to fit through here. The only reason this place could exist as a relatively decent and safe inn within the slums is probably due to Jotuun. Few people would have enough balls to set an Ursine on a rampage, and this place was too poor to be worth the risk.

He would need to educate Diane, and hopefully the owners as well, on ways to improve this place with magical wards and dimensional expansion. It is doubtful they would be able to afford buying more land, but if he was going to be here for a while, a certain standard would have to be met. His master could not live in such drab conditions. The challenge… he had to act the part of a peasant. Which meant he can’t directly teach them what they needed to know. Worse yet, anything he wrote, he knew they couldn’t understand. Why? Because, unlike his language automatically translating, he learned the hard way that the writing does not.

Which meant… a picture book. Thistleman would need to come up with one of the greatest picture books ever written to teach Diane proper combat forms and magic. Picture books were originally only ever made for children, and since Diane is still a child, that meant… Thistleman is writing a children’s picture book.

Thistleman groaned loudly as he climbed up in to his seat. “Itadakimasu (Thank-you for the food).”

Yup. He was now certain of it. He actually doesn’t speak their language. It seems he still has so much more he needs to learn.

“Well aren’t you the groggy looking one today, and here I thought with you getting more sleep than Diane, you would have just as much energy!”

Ryme hit Thistleman with a bright smile. Her attack had no effect!

Thistleman started eating a biscuit extremely slowly with an empty, deadpan stare into the wall. Confirmed. Only Diane is manipulating his thoughts. Ryme stared at Thistleman for a moment. That kid… is completely incomprehensible. Although she lost her moment to think about it as another large group of workers came through the door.

“Can we get a table for five? A double order of the breakfast special please, we got a request for some Tivia wood from up in the mountain and got a long haul ahead. Can’t waste these clear skies, and we will need the energy!”

“Coming right up! Jotuun, please get their table ready!”

As Thistle looked back down on his plate, he realized it was empty. He was so focused on proving his mental independence to himself, he didn’t notice Diane had stolen all his breakfast, faster than a ninja! Well, he wouldn’t have stopped her from doing that anyways. The faster she heals up and grows, the faster he can recover himself too. He breaks out in to a big grin.

“Hehe, its fine, since Deedee here has enough energy for the both of us.”

“Who are you calling Deedee, only I can give out nicknames! Its Diane, got it? Miss Di-ane!” She put extra emphasis on her name the second time.

“Anyways, Thanks for the food auntie! We are running out to grab another quest from the guild, we will see ya tonight! By Uncle JoJo!”

Diane grabbed Thistle by the collar as she hopped off her chair, practically dragging him out the door. If everyone wasn’t so busy, it’s possible someone may have noticed the look of absolute defeat on Thistleman’s face.

She could hear Ryme call after them “All right, be safe out there!” as well as an audible grunt of approval from Jotuun.

A minute later, the sound of a dropped plate smashing on the floor could be heard followed by a shocked squeak.

“Wait… did she say a quest?! JOTUUN, DID SHE SAY SHE WAS GOING TO DO A QUEST?”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The guild was bustling with activity this morning, much more so than the previous day. Many lower rank adventurers were aiming to take advantage of the great weather to complete their quests, while a steady stream adventurers also left the guild, fully packed up. A fair number had accepted the mercenary contracts that had been posted.

Elsie was worried this might be the last time she would see the guild this full of adventurers for a while. Worse still, only the higher ranked adventurers tended to have the budget to afford to travel. The implications meant that there would be fewer adventurers willing to take on the local quests, and that there would be inherently higher risk for the remaining adventurers, even if their groups barely met the mission qualifications.

Thankfully, the guild anticipated this mass migration of adventurers and kept a sizable emergency treasury for situations like these. In order to compensate, the guild would post a gathering quest to purchase supplies of the ingredients for low tier healing potions. They even hired a full-time alchemist to produce potions for the guild, which they would sell at a slight loss to the adventuring parties, enabling them to reduce losses until the wars or subjugation missions ended, and the adventurers started coming back to their home branches.

Elsie bounced on her feet as she made her way to the quest board, and made an announcement familiar to some of the older, veteran adventurers.

“Nyah, listen up! Cyopper rank gyathering quest is now open! Please cyome to the cyounter to accept this quest!”

Catkin were almost always full of boundless energy, and even though she was apprehensive about the guilds current situation, and the higher-than-anticipated departures of adventurers (after all, dwarven-crafted gear is quite hard to come by), she had a very excited expression as she announced the quest.

However, completely unexpected was how she had two groups show up as takers almost immediately after she returned to the counter from the announcement.

However, at first she only noticed one of the two groups at the counter.

They are a group of two male and one female humans and one male wolf Canian, with a decent dispersion of roles. The Canian was clearly the front line fighter, with decent enough leather armor, a small wooden shield and an iron sword. Among the humans, there was the classic archer, a rougely fellow with a shortsword and daggers to spare, and a female sorcerer wielding a much-too-large staff and an overly wide brimmed hat. All of them wore copper plates on their chests. They were also fairly young, between 19-20 years old.

“Good morning Elsie, we are here to pick up the gathering quest!”

“Nyah, its gyood to see you again, Randall! Hiya Jeanne, and Haraldr!”

“Hey Elsie!” (H)

“Morning” (J)

Once Elsie got to the Canian, they both started staring daggers at each other. Much like their distant ancestors, Catkin and Canians harbored a strong dislike of each other. However, she was guild official. So instead, she chose to silently ignore Roofus.

“Here, I hyave the quest details for you here!”

Elsie proceeded to pass a small sheet over to Randall, which listed the ingredients to collect and a small picture of them.

“Stay syafe out there, good lyuck, nyah!”

“Thanks Elsie!” (R)

As Elsie waved the other group out the door, she heard a very loud “Excuse me? What about us? Were here for the gathering quest too!” from behind the counter. She looked over the edge again, and saw the small girl from yesterday standing there, tapping her feet very impatiently. Elsie started to have flashbacks, especially when Thistleman smiled and waved at her. Elsie started bouncing a little faster, a small headache starting to form. She did not expect them to be back this soon.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Hmmm, so according to this pamphlet, we need Crow Grass, Tonba Berries, and Tuffle weed? Let’s see… they are paying 20 copper per ounce collected?!”

Diane and Thistleman were walking out of the city. In their exhaustion the night before, they had left their horses at the guild. By the time they had come back this morning, they were gone. While it was quite an unfortunate loss, the horses also reminded Diane of her old life that she was now leaving behind. It was a welcome change of pace, at least for the moment, and other than her dress, also made her far less notable on the street.

Thistleman was looking over Diane’s shoulder as she read aloud, trying to piece together the words on the page. At the very least, he could connect the words for each of their plants with the corresponding picture thanks to the words convenient placement directly underneath it.

“It seems the crow grass is not too hard to find, as it usually grows in sunny patches within the woods. It gets its name from its berries near its base, which tend to attract lots of crows to feed on them. The top looks just like normal grass, so our best bet to identify it is by looking for the birds! However, the part we need is actually the grass stem, as the berries themselves are surprisingly toxic to creatures other than birds.”

Diane was smiling in excitement as she read the descriptions, and also tried to sound prideful, as she seemed to think that by simply connecting the two pieces of information made her quite smart.

“Next, we would need the Tonba Berries, and the Tonba Berry bush grows on the rocky areas on the side of mountains. So that one would also not be too hard. Lastly, we need the Tuffle weed. That one would be harder to find, as it only grows near streams. Apparently it is a little rare, and it tends to look like the other local plants. What we need from it is the flower, which only opens in the afternoon when the sun is out, and it has a very identifiable crimson color when it does. Luck-yyyy! I knew it, today is finally, really going to be my lucky day!”

As Thistleman thought about it, as he heard rumors long ago about something called a Jinx? He decided not to say anything about it, as he didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Randall, Haraldr, Jeanne, and Roofus were very excited. Today had gone exceedingly well for them. They had planned their route from their previous experience on gathering quests, and had managed to get a decent supply of Crow Grass and Tuffle Weed. All that was left were the Tonba Berries, which they saved for last as it was the farthest away, and the easiest to find on the mostly barren mountain sides, even in the evening light. They had already gathered quite a few, but wanted to evenly match their supply of Crow Grass and Tuffle weed to maximize their reward. Afterwards, all they would need to do is quietly make it back in to town.

“With this much, we should at least be set for the next month! Maybe we can finally get me a new spellbook too??” Jeanne was very excited. Learning new spells was an extremely difficult and expensive task for individuals who were not part of a major noble family. Unlike the nobles, who could afford the academies and kept large, family libraries, they had to hunt out and learn new spells, one book at a time. It was a task that got even harder in the smaller, less wealthy cities.

“Maybe. I’m thinking with my allowance, I might get me a new bow!” Randall decided it was alright to take the opportunity to upgrade his team’s equipment. They had been copper for a while, and better gear would also do better to help with their survival. Once the weather turned back again, they would be much harder pressed for such a good haul.

“Heh, enjoy your gear. I think I want to use my allowance for some… more discreet pursuits.” Haraldr had a somewhat perverted look on his face. He had seen the ladies at some of the brothels in the slums, and had always dreamed of losing his V-card. However, due to his shady personality, he could never win any girls the normal way. For him, the brothel was a sacred godsend. Plus, he just turned 20, and was officially old enough to enter.

“Ugh, you’re so gross Haraldr, this is why you can never pick up any girls.”

“Yeah, well why would I need to worry about picking up girls when I can just pay for them?”

“Its because regular girls are much better and cleaner! You don’t know what the girls, or guys, in a brothel have!”

The two quickly halted their fight when Randall raised his fist, halting the group. Roofus was scouting ahead, using his keen wolf senses to look for monsters. It had helped them avoid a couple of encounters earlier, but this time was different. They could hear him howling in agony.

“Hurry, up around the cliff face!”

Randall dropped his pack with their supplies and drew his sword, Haraldr readied a pair of daggers and flanked back in to the woodline, and Jeanne brought up the rear. In position, the group rushed forward. As the sun began to set more in the east, its light was starting the get blocked by the mountain.

When they got close to the corner of the cliff, they could hear a loud buzzing noise in the air. Randall held in his breath. He could smell the strong scent of blood, and he could hear the chittering and popping of insects, as well as very mushy, crunching noise.

Randall held his breath, closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them again and looking around the corner.

His fear was justified. He saw Roofus, or what he presumed to be what was left of Roofus, being shredded by a swarm of giant, red-eyed hornets. Each one was at least the size of a small boulder, measuring about 6 feet in length and 3 feet tall. Their mandibles made quick work of his flesh, and crunched through his bone and armor effortlessly.

Roofus’ disembodied hand was holding on to the small stem of a Tonba berry bush. In his excitement, it seems he hadn’t noticed the holes pocketing this side of the cliff, marking the giant hornet nest.

Randall couldn’t hold in a gasp at the sight, and immediately threw up. He had never seen nor experienced anything like this before. However, the noise caught the attention of the hornets. The swarm started flying.

“RUN!” Randall screeched as loud as he possibly could. The minimum requirement for a giant hornet extermination was a full party of 6 iron plate adventurers AND a healer. What could they, copper plates, do? The result would be no different than what happened to Roofus. However, as he began to run, he felt the ground start to slip away from under him and a strong pressure grabbed his waist. Then, an extremely sharp pain cut through his shoulder.

He was screaming in agony as he looked over and saw the giant mandibles, easily slicing through his flesh. That’s when he felt the pain shoot through his leg, as another hornet came from underneath and latched on.

Haraldr stood in the trees, watching in horror for a moment, as he saw Randall’s body stretch and the rip in the sky, his blood and organs raining down below. Jeanne was getting pinned underneath a swarm on the ground, her screams quickly turning in to gurgles, and then all that was left was the sounds of chittering, crunching bones, and slicing meat.

He regained his senses, and tried to quickly move away from the gruesome scene, stifling his urge to retch and hoping he hadn’t been noticed. Please, god, if you’re out there, don’t let them have noticed me!