Natasha, in the company of four other knights from the Order of Silver Lion, was heading towards certain farmland, nearly killing her horse in the process. She had a good reason to do so. Yesterday evening the House was visited by messengers from the Black Foxes guild.

She still remembered how the whole meeting took place. She was sitting with Godrick by her cousin’s table in his office as they were celebrating actually ripping the guild's funds a bit more than they expected. This last quest, despite being very difficult and costing them the lives of a few trusted soldiers, managed to generate lots of positive results. Especially in regaining their position that they had started losing due to the Black Foxes. For the House, things started lining up in a favoring way for the first time in months. Only then did these three come. Black Fox’s vice leader and one in the company of two adventurers - a rogue and a mage.

“Long time no see, Nicolai.” a slender, pale man bowed his head with courtesy. He was supporting his body on a simple walking stick. It was not a secret that as an adventurer he suffered a wound that crippled him, now, even walking was difficult for him. He could have healed it up using the help of priests after a small (huge) donation, instead, he declared that he was getting rusty and that this was the perfect time to retire from dungeon crawling. “I believe that both of us regret that it didn’t last longer, Patric.” the blonde-haired knight said with a gentle tone. “Indeed, especially as a matter that I bring is petty and could - and should be - done on the adventurers level, not higher up. Unfortunately, as it appears that among your people are individuals with sharp tongues yet rusty blades, I was forced into coming personally… May I?” he asked looking at one of the free chairs by the table. “Be my guest, if you have to.” Nicolai nodded his head, inviting him to sit with a gesture of his hand. The tall, skinny, pale man sat down, groaning in pain. He was overworked, as every House’s individual and even simplest joys, such a short moment of sitting down helped him relax, even if just a little. “Maybe you care for a drink? We have just made ourselves some tea, I could ask servants to bring something stronger, you clearly look like someone that needs it.”

Despite the fact that the two disliked one another and used every opportunity they had to remind each other about their absolute lack of affection, they were still rivals to be respected and treated with honor.

Patric hesitated, a lot actually, his pride demanded him to refuse, but his body cried in pain and exhaustion.

“If you would be so kind - a cup of whiskey is all I need to keep me going.” After hearing that, Nicolai nodded to one of his servants who quickly left the room, running to deliver the guest's order. “So, Patric, what calamity do you bring today?” the Commander of the Lions asked as the servant returned with a bottle of an expensive brand, pouring cups to everyone in the room. “Rowan - the kid behind me, a young star in our ranks that keeps on climbing in the adventurer's hierarchy, just returned from the quest… only to be unjustly offended by one of your men.” “Oh, yes, for sure. I believe that my people have nothing better to do than to randomly pick up fights with random low-rank adventurers…” Nikolai said, noticing a gold pendant on Rowan’s neck. “Let me just ask you this, kid. Which one of you started talking, to begin with? Were they my people coming to you and starting it up, or the other way around.” “T-that’s…” rogue started, stuttering, not knowing what to say. “That’s irrelevant.” Patric quickly cut in. “O-ho, I think I can see the bigger picture now. You just want an official duel hoping you will be able to flex your muscles in case you win… and because you are requesting this duel, you most likely think you will win it, huh?” “You can either have a duel or make it a bigger issue where you would be marked as cowards. We can work either way… but please, don’t pick a second option. It’s too much work.” man groans, massaging his forehead.

Nicolai remained silent for a few short moments before continuing.

“What happened to you, Patric? You used to have standards, now, you use such dirty tactics…” “Dirty, ha! These are truly words of a noble that had everything handed him. You have no idea how it is to start at the very bottom. You have no idea what it is like to fight for everything when everyone around you tries to suffocate you before you can succeed. When you join Lions, you are given a nice weapon, shiny armor, and access to better quests than the rest of adventurers. Foxes are better than that, you are free to take whatever you can, everything based on your own strength and cunning…” he made a pause “... how much I despised fighting on your side. You were brilliant on a battlefield, yes, but, you never worked as hard as everyone else. You killed ten monsters while I butchered twenty. You moved via the main entrance to the dungeon which I unlocked, covered to the belt in sewer’s shit. In the end, it was me who took that blow protecting YOUR ass… but, when the quest was done, who did they make a hero? And why? Just because your armor was the least damaged. Of course it was! You barely fought. This is personal, Nicolai. Don’t you dare talk about standards to me! Being an adventurer is not a job for knights in shiny armor. It's a dirty job for dirty people, and not for noble sons and daughters playing heroes.”

The room became quiet, as Patric massaged his face. He shouldn’t have yelled like that. His overburdened mind just gave up for a few, short seconds.

“And so, that brings us here. Long story short, your man acted dumb and said a few words too much - in the middle of the guild. We can’t, and even if we could, we wouldn’t want to, let it go. So, would you kindly organize a friendly duel between offended and the one who was offending?” “Sure. Who was that.” “Rowan?” the fox's vice leader turned his head towards his lower-rank. “Huge man in white armor, his comrades called him Alabaster.”

The three captains looked at each other.

“Only one question… You said that it all took place in the adventurer’s guild, what was he doing there? Natasha?” “He shouldn’t be leaving Lion’s territory… I definitely didn’t give him permission to take quests on his own, I doubt he would pick one as well…”

A woman said after a moment, carefully picking her words.

“You didn’t give him permission, yes, but did you FORBID him? Nat?”

Only then Patric noticed that the man they were talking about was for some reason special. The peak of the command chain wouldn’t bother so much about mere recruit without a name.

“No, cousin, I am sorry.” she lowered her head. “He is your responsibility! You know that you shouldn’t have let your eyes off him!” the man said in a dead-cold tone before returning their gaze to Rowan “... what kind of mission did they take? How far away?” “I… I don’t know! They only said something about goblin extermination!” “Natasha. You will go to the guild, right now, and ask them about all the details, it’s getting dark, and traveling today will be unwise, but, tomorrow, by the first light, you go after him and bring him back. I don’t care if you would have to drag him from the goblin’s nest to the city behind the horse, I want to see him tomorrow in the barracks.'' His quiet, calm tone was far more intimidating than screams and shouts and it was more than enough to freeze the blood in the veins of everyone around the table, even bystanders such as Patric or Rowan. “Yes… cousin.” she said getting up and leaving the room immediately. “Now…” Nicolai continued “...where were we? Ah, yes. The duel. I am sorry to say that, but Alabaster is rather a troublesome matter and I would wish to ask you to forget about it. For both yours and ours sake.”

And for a few short moments, Patrick considered it. But, only shook his head. If they would give up on seeking satisfaction after being so loudly offended in the public place, they would lose face.

“No can do. I came to ask for a duel’s date, and I will leave either with this, or a formal letter signed by you that you will not participate in it.” “Then, how about a month from now? Now, you need to excuse us, but we have a situation we need to attend.”Nicolai got up and started heading out of the room. “Really? A month? Custom is from two days to a week.” “One, Alabaster is out there on a mission, so technically I should tell you to screw off until he would be present in the room as well. Two, yes, a month. And unless you want me to say in public that you are trying to summon an adventurer back from a mission which saves human lives to tend to your egocentric, petty needs, then go on.” “...you just sent Natasha to get him out yourself…” “I did, but I won’t be mentioning that, obviously. So either take it, or we will drag it for as long as possible, sending Alabaster from mission to mission and from training camp to training camp while calling your duel claims as nothing more but attempts to interfere with our House’s growth. Petty, and childish. So, do we have a deal!?” That was the first time that Nicolai had raised his voice, he wasn’t screaming, but you could notice a tone of irritation in his voice. “...I gave you what you came from. A duel date. Any other reason for you to stay here?”

After a moment of silence, Patric got up.

“Prepare your warrior for that day, because we surely will be ready. There is no place for knights among the adventurers, stay in the palace and army, where you belong.” said the second Foxes leader before heading out of the room.

And just like that, after gathering information at the guild Natasha did as she was told and left the city at dawn.

Fuck! FUCK! The reason why Her cousin reacted like that? Because there was still a possibility that Aster used them, sneaked into the city, did anything he wanted to do, and used the very first opportunity to leave, and get further into the country. And, speaking bluntly, he could do that, because they vouched for him at the guild. If it was known that Lions covered the undead, let him into the city, vouched for him at the guild, giving him a guild’s ID which could open the door to most of the cities without a guards check and then lost him at very next day… that would be a catastrophe which could ruin their House’s name!... not to mention every crime that he undead could have committed.

And it was all her fault! How stupid she was to leave him without supervision! She thought that he would wait in the barracks for two bloody days! Just two! Still, she should have told him that because of his “condition” he is not allowed to act as he pleases! Now, she only hoped that all their fears were unjustified and that they hadn’t just been used. She hoped instead that Aster would prove to be a simple-minded undead who genuinely wanted to help without taking into consideration the plots of the bigger scheme.

A few hours of intense journey later she managed to arrive at the location mentioned by the guild workers, she quickly found a man that posted the request and confirmed if the adventurers have arrived.

“Yes indeed, the party leader - Luka, managed to locate the nest, and should be clearing it about now, or so I was told… But, by the merciful heavens!” he pointed with his fingers at the opposite part of the farmland.

Over there, across the path in the fields, Thomas was leading three wounded people to safety. As soon as they arrived the citizens collapsed on the ground and started weeping quietly, exhausted both physically and mentally.

“Report, soldier.” she said looking at Thomas, demanding information.

He only lowered his head and said:

“I am sorry, lieutenant-commander, but, Alabaster…” “What about him?! Speak, god damn it!” “The nest was bigger than we thought, and… there were prisoners inside…” he gestured at people dressed only in traveling cloaks. “Calm down, and talk to me.” she, noticing the sudden change in the mood of the group, put her hand on his shoulder. “Alabaster stayed behind, he took on himself half of a nest so we could save the prisoners… Luka said that we would return later to aid him, but, once we left the nest… he forbid us to return there… and in my fucking stupidity, I listened to him.” “This was not stupidity, you were given an order from the commander in charge. If you would disobey then the Lions would…” “FUCK THE ORDERS! FUCK THE LIONS!” he dropped his axe under Natasha’s feet “...This is not what it is all about! If he would order me to burn down the village, would I have to listen to him only because he is in charge!? I should have gone back! He fought so hard because he believed that we would return! And… and.”

And then, Natasha hit him in the guts, depriving him of air, making him choke and spit.

“Calm down…” she said in a far gentler tone “... Regardless if you are a knight, adventurer, soldier or just a man, you are still expected to remain cold-headed in even worse situations, or else your risk making a mistake and putting more people in danger. You said that there are still more goblins in the nest?” “We left Alabaster with thirty or so… He might have killed a few… but…”

Yeah. Fighting alone, in the dark tunnels against dozens of monsters was a suicide, even for an experienced adventurer.

“Do you need help? We can aid you in clearing the nest.” One - she couldn’t leave the quest unfinished, especially such a low-ranked one, that would be bad for House’s reputation, two, she needed to find Alabaster’s body, just to be sure.

Once Thomas calmed down, he nodded and led the newly arrived knights of the order to the nest, where Luka was sharpening his blade.

“L-lieutenant Commander Natasha? What are you doing here?” he asked surprised. “I hope you will forgive me for not explaining myself to a mere cadet I hope?...” she asked angrily.

These new cadets were a disaster. One huge man nearly crying after losing his comrade in the open field in front of bystanders, another one demanding reports from higher up. On top of that, they most likely lost the only decent soldier that had joined the House in recent memory.

“S-sorry Commander!” he straightened his back, embarrassed by his own words. “Get yourself ready. We need to finish what you have started.” she nearly spat these words.

And then, something moved in the tunnels making everyone flinch, readying their weapons, and preparing for battle.

Whatever was about to come from those dark depths was moving slowly and loudly. Did the nest have an ogre? No, according to what Thoams said earlier, they didn’t even have hobgoblins among themselves, having yet higher evolutions was very unlikely.

Soon, in the light of the sun, a creature covered in red appeared. Natasha needed two or three seconds to realize what she was looking at. It was Alabaster, his armor was in a mess, dented all over, even his helm was nearly broken open, his once perfectly white armor was now red and grey because of blood and dirt. By his side, he carried a trophy - the head of a monstrosity which had to be as big as a cave bear. He moved his head, looking toward Luka, before saying quietly.

“...You didn’t come…” in a tired, exhausted tone of a person that had given up on everything. He quietly shuffled past Natasha and dropped the head at Luka’s feet. “You didn’t come…” he said again, in the same hollow voice.