The following morning, Hruk left early for the Mages’ Guild. After returning from the undercity, we were all much too tired to do much besides eating, bathing, and going to bed. As a result, he still needed to turn in the krawler queen’s core and report our success.

Meanwhile, I remained in the inn and took it easy. There wasn’t much for me to do. So, I put my feet up and relaxed with a cup of tea. We needed to figure out our next step. Hruk and I agreed that setting up base in Eldar’s Port wasn’t the best of ideas. It was in shambles and even if the Seekers fell, it would take forever to recover. However, I couldn’t leave until I found Tracy’s champion and took them down. To be fair, it wasn’t a necessity, but it felt like something I had to do. If they were truly behind the Seekers, I considered it my responsibility.

The strange black egg’s humming had quietened. The waves radiating off it had reached its peak when we killed the queen and extracted her core. It had vibrated violently in my pocket for a while but calmed as we left the dungeon. Now, the egg had returned to its initial state. I could feel that something had changed. Mana Sense detected translucent waves radiating off it.

After waking up, I had spent a couple of hours staring at it, trying to see what had changed but failed to progress further. Ever since coming to Arena Disk, I had come to rely on my instincts. And, my instincts told me the egg was the key to figuring out the Keepers of Oth and screwing over their operations—assuming the Tracy’s champion was responsible for them. Given Oth’s lore, I guessed that I was moving in the correct direction.

I had tried all of my senses. The egg’s texture hadn’t changed. It had nothing akin to a heartbeat and didn’t make any noise despite the rhythmic magic pulsing. It smelt of my sweat mostly after living in my vest, but besides that, nothing had changed. I expected something given my hypothesis, but now doubt was creeping into my mind.

“Am I too stuck on this egg idea?” I wondered out loud and got out my scribble journal. It contained all the notes I had made about Oth, the Seekers, and my many theories about them.

One consistent sentiment dominated the notes: Oth, the Forgotten Gods, and all of their spawn aren’t of known realms. By that logic, did an egg or stone have to follow the same rules as what I thought possible?

What if this isn’t an egg but the conduit to one or whatever reproductive process these void entities use?

Much to my disappointment, the system didn’t respond to my written question. I couldn’t also help but wonder whether an entity born of an egg, conduit, or stone would have a heartbeat or anything of the kind.

Would such an entity have a heart or organs akin to what Earth knowledge knows or understands?

Once again, I waited, but the System didn’t boost Loreseeker or provide any confirmation for the hypothesis. I sighed, slumping back in my chair.

“This is going nowhere—” Loud knocking interrupted my train of thought. I almost jumped out of my skin. Much to my relief, the doorknob didn’t rattle. I scrambled to get my underwear and shirt on as more knocks came. No matter how much I looked, my trousers didn’t appear to me. “Hold on a moment,” I called.

Muffled, garbled voices followed, but I struggled to decipher it or identify the source. In the end, I settled on wrapping my colourful cloak around myself before approaching the door. I glanced at Doctor Whoo. She’d spent most of the morning lying on her back, chirping in her sleep. Now, she sat up with her eyes big like saucers. The miniaturised shrike didn’t appear overly concerned, So, I trusted her instincts and opened the door.

“What took you so long?” Tom demanded, raising an eyebrow. He looked me up and down and chuckled. “Oh. I didn’t catch you at an inopportune time, did I?”

“Well, thanks to your incessant knocking, I didn’t get around to tracking down my pants,” I replied, opening the door wider and nodding him in. Much to my surprise, a pair of women—half-elf and human—and a dwarven male stood behind him. Two out of three joined in on Tom’s chuckling while the human looked away. “I’m afraid I’m not in a state to invite all of you in.”

“We’ll wait in the dining room,” the half-elf commented. “I’m pretty hungry and thirsty, anyway. Introductions can wait.”

She turned on her heel and left. The other two followed. Meanwhile, Tom let himself into the room, still laughing. “So much for first impressions,” he said.

“I’m sure I can charm them over. Besides, I think two out of three of them liked what they saw.”

“You’re right. The human claims she likes her men tall. You’re likely perfect for the other two.” Tom spotted my bunched-up trousers sticking out from under Doctor Whoo. She appeared to have used it along with other dirty laundry to create a little nest. We wrestled to get it back from her, and fortunately, she didn’t damage the fabric with her sharp beak. “My cousin claims you’ve been up to no good. Making trouble with the Seekers of Oth and what not?”

“We didn’t break any of the city’s laws,” I replied. “I made sure of that. We skirted a grey area.”

We filled each other in on our adventures so far. Tom had faced no troubles on his way to Steinberg, but his metal-laden cart had made him a major target afterwards. Thanks to his negotiating skill and natural hill-folk charm, he had spent less on materials than our estimate, and put the money towards a recurring escort contract with the Adventurer’s Guild. The planned route had a manageable threat-level. As a result, they assigned a silver-ranked member—the half-elf—as the party leader and put two bronzies under her for her experience. They sufficiently protected the cart from bandits and beasts.

The roads between Dil’s Nook and Eldar’s Port had gotten worse. More bandits plagued the route and other halfling merchants were complaining about losing their wares. They all reported a silent, gnomish presence in the offending parties. Either way, he appeared pleased with the deal. It wasn’t just bringing gold into Dil’s Nook, but also helping his stagnant masteries grow.

Afterwards, I filled him in on everything that had happened during his absence, including my investigation regarding the Seekers. Tom begged me to progress with care since they were a dangerous lot and he cared for me beyond the business deal. I struggled to believe the sentiment, but didn’t let him know. Instead, we moved onto meeting his party and inspecting the merchandise. The former passed swiftly. They weren’t interested in getting to know me beyond the professional hello. The human woman refused to make direct eye contact while the other two shot me a sly smile. The young half-elf woman caught my eye, but I focused on our current priorities.

Finally, we moved onto inspecting the goods. I didn’t understand jack-shit about metallurgy or blacksmithing. However, the material had an eye-catching lustre to it when compared to the products of Dil’s Nook. I assumed Tom had sourced better materials by going directly to the Steinberg.

“The amount of goods on the cart doesn’t seem to match the invoice,” I commented, scanning the parchment covered in thick gothic letters.

“That’s because I approached several suppliers around Steinberg and many sent over samples with differing alloys and purity,” Tom replied. “I had all of them processed into the paths you require. Perhaps Hruk and you can inspect them and determine what’s best for the product.”

“Do you have a price list for the metals?”

Tom nodded, directing me to another sheet of parchment in the sheaf. “I got the smithing costs for them too. Each material requires different temperatures and techniques. On a couple of them, you’ll see a high starting amount and a lower price after about a dozen commissions. Those require new equipment and, after it’s paid off, all your costs will drop.”

“If we opt for such a path, a lifetime discount won’t be enough. After all, I’d be paying for equipment he can use for his trade with other people, too. He’d essentially raise his profits on my dime.”

“You’re right,” Tom said, his brows furrowing. “I’ll talk to him and see if we can negotiate something better. You’d essentially become an investor in his business.”

“Precisely,” I replied. “If I’m investing in a business, I’d rather go all in and get real profits out of it. Can you pass that on for me? If he’s up for it—”

Hruk burst into the inn’s courtyard where the cart stood. He skidded to a stop, almost running into Tom’s vehicle. He nodded at Tom, panting, before turning his attention to me.

“It’s not good,” he said. “The Seekers are out to screw us.”