About midafternoon I approached Colsir on foot via the only road connecting it to the Academy.

The village was too small to be called a city but was too big to truly be a village, so I wasn’t sure what to call it. It had all the creature comforts of a big city, but there was enough space between the buildings that you needn’t worry about your neighbor hearing your nightly “activities”.

It would be my ideal place to live, were it not for its proximity to the academy. Though, that’s precisely why the academy’s teachers and other staff members lived here. Even now, I could see people I recognized going about their lives and trying to enjoy what remained of their vacation.

The school year began in less than a week, and once that kicked off, days like this would be few and far between.

After a few minutes of walking past mundane houses and buildings of wood and stone, I arrived at the market Square. It was Sutas: the last day of the Zilrenian week, which meant the farmer’s market was open for business.

Half a dozen merchants were hawking their wares at the few passersby still wandering around at this hour. Most are already home for the day, eating dinner with their families and getting ready for work in the morning.

I could make a killing with “I hate Mirtas” posters and tunics. People would eat them up, especially if I put some kind of cute critter on them. I smirked at the idea, thinking of the popularity of “I hate Mondays” stickers I saw everywhere back on earth.

Hey, maybe if the magic thing doesn’t pan out, I can go into marketing. I watched enough ads in my time, I could probably whip together something that would drive people mad.

I snapped back to reality in time to swerve around a horse pulled carriage that had no intention of stopping for something as paltry as pedestrians. Suppose they thought plowing over people was a perfectly productive way of clearing the pathway.

I took another few steps forward and winced as I felt something soft and wet squash under my shoe. Looking down, I grimaced at the pile of manure and cursed my luck for having not noticed it until now.

I was forced to scrape my shoe off as I walked, or risk dragging it inside the adventurer’s guild— which was frowned upon. There weren’t many rules in the guild but ruining the carpet would definitely break one of them.

I spared a few moments to pull the hood of my robe over my head and make the rest of me more presentable before I shoved open the swinging half doors of the Guild, which were reminiscent of the kind I used to see on bars and on saloons in old Western movies.

I will admit to putting a little more “shove” into it than I needed to, but only because I thought it was amusing to hear them smack against the wall.

The inside of the Guild is about what you’d expect an “adventurer’s guild” to look like. A few chandeliers to keep the place lit, numerous tables and booths filled with adventurer parties planning their next grand excursion, and a bar at the head of the building that served as both— well, a bar, there were several hundred gallons of the stuff. And it was only good for two things: killing brain cells and degreasing train engines.

It also served as the “mission” counter. Adventurers would go there to accept missions they’d taken off the notice board, and to get paid after completing one.

The pretty lady behind the mission counter frowned at me as I entered, and I heard someone clear their throat from nearby.

“My lord, the Guild master asked you not to do that again. You chipped the wood last time, and the entire door had to be replaced.”

I turned at the voice and saw my “contact” in the Guild. The man’s name was Gabriel Evari, and he was something of a friend of mine… Well, I guess you could say he was technically an employee.

Gabriel was in his late twenties and stood several inches over six feet tall. With shoulder length blonde hair, sparkling silver eyes, and looks that made women— and some men— swoon. And he had the personality to match his looks: kind, generous, loyal to a fault. Gabriel was every bit the knight in shining armor.

Literally, he was a knight of Ziral, and he wore a reflective suit of plate mail armor. Despite that, Gabriel had a rather rough back story. He was the sole provider in his family. His dad had either died or abandoned them at a young age, leaving him to take care of his dying mother and two younger sisters.

All three of which lived in his two-bedroom apartment back in the capital. Last I heard, his younger sisters were approaching the age where they would need to begin attending school.

Early on in the anime. It was revealed that Gabriel had begun selling secrets to Ziral’s enemies in order to supplement his meager earnings as a captain. Weekly visits to the local healer and tuition costs for two up and coming mages wasn’t cheap.

Talk about hitting all the tropes, eh? The author wasn’t going for subtlety when he made Gabriel. The knight in shining armor turns out to be a bad guy, a classic.

Honestly, I hated how he was written into the story. The author could’ve done so much more with his character, instead he was written off as a spy, and possibly killed off after the fact.

So, I did something to change it. My first visit to the capital, I tracked Gabriel down and hired him to be my personal trainer in my effort to lose weight. And I overpaid him… By a lot. All on the hopes that he wouldn’t turn traitor if he already had the money he needed to take care of his family.

Let’s hope that gamble pays off…

“Right.” I said, nervously scratching at the back of my head. “Sorry, Gabriel.”

Gabriel sighed out of exasperation and waved my apology away. He beckoned me over to his table and motioned for me to sit down across from him.

“What am I turning in this time?” He asked, choosing not to drag this out any longer than necessary.

“Troll ears.” I slapped a brown leather bag onto the table between us. “At the very least, it should get you a couple Tals.”

“You’re positive?” He eyed the bag suspiciously.

“Do you doubt me?”

“No, I don’t doubt that there’s troll ears in his bag. Just questioning if you actually know how much one of these is worth.”

“Unfortunately, I haven’t exactly had the time to memorize the market rates of every monster in the Sukon mountains. But it should be close enough, and I’ll cover whatever is left. Don’t worry about it.”

Just don’t ask me how I’m going to come up with the money.

He sighed again, though this time out of relief.

“Thank you, my Lord. I apologize for being discourteous to you, I know you don’t have to do this… I guess, I just don’t know how I can ever repay you.”

Well, you could not sell secrets to foreign countries. That should be a good place to start. Is what I wanted to say, but what I actually said was— “Don’t worry about it, Gabriel. I don’t need the money. And I get more value out of their bodies anyway. You should focus on your family and discard any thoughts of paying me back. Your friendship is enough.”

“I swear to you, I will pay this back one day. No matter what anyone says about my Lord, you’ll always be a good man in my eyes.” He said while smiling. He grabbed the bag and left the table to collect “his” earnings.

What they say about me? What who says about me? I thought about following to ask what he meant. But grimaced the moment my eyes landed on him.

Gabriel was chatting up the lady behind the bar, and she was laughing at something he said.

I really don’t want to go over there. I know she already doesn’t like me, and I can’t imagine interrupting their conversation will win me any brownie points either. I sighed as I stood up— and immediately winced as I noticed the back of my chair covered in blood. Looking down, I saw that my robe was dripping on the floor.

Oh, look. A reason for me to leave unexpectedly. Well, darn. I was really looking forward to hearing his explanation. Guess I’ll just have to ask him next time. I quickly exited the building and began heading towards the Academy.

As I left the village limits, I heard someone raging off in the distance. If I strained my ears just a bit, I could swear I heard them screaming my name… It’ll be fine. Just a figment of my imagination, that’s all it is.

“ULVANI!! Your little ass is mine!!”

Yep, definitely just a figment of my imagination.