Chapter Seventeen

Olivia

The settlement had been relatively quiet since John came back carrying Sam. The adventurers still went on dungeon dives, but they were too timid to accomplish much. She didn’t think that they had harvested a single flower since they were told of Sam being poisoned.

Camp itself had been dull as well. Buildings were going up with greater speed than ever but all the building locations had been hashed out weeks ago so there really wasn’t much for her to do. She was enjoying this well deserved break when a farmgirl who sometimes acted as her assistant burst into the room and said

“Ma’am, the supply ship just arrived and they are ruining everything. They already commandeered the area where the blacksmiths shop was supposed to go and who knows what else they are trying to take while we’re talking.”

Olivia stood up and rubbed her temple in an attempt to avoid migraines before talking.

“They’re here early huh. Why is a supply ship trying to claim land anyway? Are they doing something other than dropping off supplies?”

“Ahh well Ma'am there are actually three ships and someone claiming he is head of the adventurers guild is the one claiming land.”

Olivia started out the door before turning to her assistant and saying

“Grab some paper and make sure to take notes while I deal with him. It might save us some time in the future.”

Olivia marched through town towards what was definitely going to be a shop and only stopped when she saw someone she thought might be the adventurers guild master. He was a large man with long legs, broad shoulders, and the gut that most retired adventures developed. She walked up and asked

“Are you the one trying to steal land in my settlement?”

The man ran his hands through his long blonde hair and before saying.

“Is that a rhetorical question? I am a guild master sent here to start a branch of the adventurer’s guild so what do you think I am doing?”

Olivia ground her teeth and said

“I think that you are doing whatever you want in MY settlement. Now stop those men from wasting anymore time transporting supplies to the wrong spot and let’s talk.”

The guildmaster shook his head and said

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. This is the first guild I’m managing and it must be perfect. This was the only acceptable spot in town so we will be building the guild here.”

Once she heard that Olivia grinned as she said

“Oh? Is this decision backed by our financiers? I was promised complete autonomy in management of the settlement and if they are breaking contract I would need to reach out to them about compensating me.”

The man deflated as he blustered

“Ah. Well. I haven’t heard from them specifically but I’m sure they would demand only the best for the adventurer’s guild.”

Olivia stared at him in disbelief as she said

“Really. You think they would demand the best for the adventurers guild even if it meant breaking contract with someone they had to offer very generous terms to draw them away from a cushy job in the capital.”

She continued staring as she waited for a response, but it seemed he didn’t have anything to say so she continued

“Unfortunately, I don’t believe it. So until you get that from someone above my head in writing you are going to follow my rules around here.”

The man spluttered as he said

“But where am I supposed to build my guild? We have to get it up and running quickly.”

Olivia smiled vindictively

“ That's simple. All you need to do is drop by my office and look at the map to find some unzoned land to use. After that you need to submit a written request in triplicate and get my approval. Once that is done you can start building your guild.”

The guild master gave a sickly sweet smile and tried to worm his way into not having to do the work saying

“But surely there is another way? Something that I could do to avoid such a hassle? It would be easier for both of us.”

Olivia didn’t even bother dignifying that with a response before turning around and marching to her office. As soon as she got back there was a knock at her door. She opened it expecting to have to deal with the idiot guildmaster and was pleasantly surprised when she saw John. She gestured him in and then asked

“So what brings you my way? You’ve been pretty busy training ever since Sam got poisoned.”

“Ah well I’ve actually come to ask for a favor. Do you think I could borrow your water rune?

“Don’t you only use earth and fire runes? What would you do with a water one?”

“I’ve only used fire and earth runes so far, but I’ve been thinking it might be time to learn another. Getting surprised by that poison spitting plant made me realize you never know what you are going to need in a dungeon.”

Olivia thought for a second before agreeing

“You can borrow mine for now. The supply ships got here early and it seems they brought a bit more supplies than we were expecting so you should be able to get one from them.”

She pulled her rune off her belt and handed it to John. He reached out and took it before bowing and saying

“Thank you for your generosity mademoiselle. I will make sure to return it post haste.”

Olivia snorted at his ridiculous display and watched him leave. She sat back down and started to work when she heard another knock on the door. She crossed her fingers and hoped it was John again, but fate wasn’t that kind. When she called for them to enter she saw the guest was the guildmaster. As soon as he entered he started talking

“Can we please be quick about this. Like I said we really do need to be ready to go quickly.”

Olivia fought back the urge to just start insulting the man and responded

“Unfortunately we have other business we have to attend to first. Let's start with the simplest. I’m Olivia.”

She reached out her hand and the man took it saying

“I am Adrian Steven Spencer the third, newest guildmaster of the adventurer’s guild.”

Olivia nodded and said

“Great, that's step one. Now Mr. Adrian Steven Spencer the third, why are you here?”

Adrian looked confused as he responded

“Didn't you ask for help? I was told a settlement found a valuable dungeon and asked for reinforcements to raid it.”

Olivia rubbed the bridge of her nose as she thought about her reply

“You’re telling me that after I asked for a small amount of supplies to help raid the dungeon they sent two extra ships filled with an entire adventurer’s guild.”

“Indeed. Apparently some of the materials you found are vital for the budding war effort. They even sent an apprentice space mage so that we could send samples back to them quickly.”

Olivia frowned and said

“What resources is that? The Chancellor seemed pretty dismissive when I told him about most of what we found.”

“We’ve been ordered to send back blood river flowers as quickly as possible. Apparently we are to send a sample back through the space mage and then once they are confirmed to be the correct flower we are instructed to obtain a steady supply at all costs.”

Olivia sighed and said

“Do you have any letter or something for me? I know they don’t care about me much but it seems a little too much that they would send all these supplies and then not even remember to tell me what's going on.”

Adrian thought for a second before looking embarrassed and pulling a crumpled letter out of his pocket that read.

“ To the leader of settlement 37,

Your recent discovery of a sustainable supply of blood river flowers is of great interest to us. Your new priority is to gain a steady supply of blood river flowers. Limit this information to only those who absolutely need it. Should you succeed you and the entire settlement will be rewarded. Failure is not an option.

Chancellor Harry Alexander Philip IV”

Olivia examined the seal on the letter trying to find any flaws, but there weren’t any. This was a genuine letter from the chancellor's office. She folded it up and put it in one of her private folders before turning to Adrian and handing him a map and saying.

“This is the zoning map for the settlement. Look on there and choose an open spot for the adventurer’s guild. Based on that letter we better get moving ASAP.”

John

John headed straight to the training ground after getting the water rune from Olivia. He probably didn’t need to be there since it was his first time using the rune and drawing out enough destructive power to damage anything was about as likely as winning the lottery, but it also made sure he wouldn’t get his cabin all wet.

His first attempt at using the rune was disappointing. He held it in his hand, poured a little bit of his mana in, and didn’t see anything happen. He tried again with more mana to be sure but was left with the same result. He sat there thinking about the difference between how he used his earth and water rune and found his first problem. Everytime he uses the earth rune he draws upon an aspect of the earth. It could be the toughness of stone to enhance his defense or the unstoppable momentum of a landslide to enhance his strength. When he tried to use the water rune he just thought about water as a whole and not the aspect of water he wanted to try and use.

The next attempt went much better. John focused on water's tendency to stick together and tried to gather water. After a minute or two of concentrating he managed to pull a fist size ball of water from the surroundings. Excited, he tried to increase the amount of water by adding more mana to the rune. The ball increased in size till it was as big as a watermelon before John lost control and got soaked by the water. He kept practicing for a while without too exciting results so he decided to call it a day and go back to his cabin. His last thoughts on the water rune for the day was “At least I won’t have to go without a bath if we decide to spend the night in the dungeon.”

Camille

Camille stepped out of the healers with bags under her eyes, frizzled hair, and covered with blood. She had volunteered to work full shifts at the healers despite having to do patrols everyday and she was feeling it, but that wasn’t going to stop her. Actually using her mana to heal patients was the fastest way to get better.

John, Olivia, and even the healers she was giving time off to tried to get her to take a break. That wasn’t going to happen though. She hated how useless she felt when Sam went down. Her healing did nothing and John was able to get back to camp faster than her even while he was carrying Sam. She hadn’t been able to do a single thing. Someone walked past her limping and entered the healers. She cut her break short to follow them in and took them to a bed where she studied how the chief healer fixed them up. As she watched she promised herself that next time she wouldn’t be helpless no matter what the injury was.