I watch as more than half of the people in our village file out at this strange being’s suggestion. I don’t follow them. As the guild’s spokesperson, I need to be here. Whatever I can learn from him would be useful.

As people stop leaving, he begins to speak again:

“Now everybody form a line, please. You can explain why you haven’t brought a silver coin and pay me.”

As I shuffle a little closer with Carlos, I hear him addressing the first person in line, and think over the implications of his last words. But a few moments later I’m proven wrong. He doesn’t question them about anything. Everyone just pays and leaves.

Though it may change when someone unable to pay the full amount shows up. His word choice seems strange to me. With patience, I will probably learn soon enough what he meant. Otherwise, I can think about it later.

Dozens of people go through with no problem. Each of them delivers one hundred copper payments before they leave. Then comes the moment I was waiting for. Someone doesn't have the full amount.

I feel a little concerned. This will the first case where something could go wrong. After confirming the person in line did not have the required amount of money, our visitor speaks.

"Does anyone want to complete his payment? He’s missing 8 copper coins."

Our scribe steps up. With a ledger in hands, he asks:

"What is your name?"

I stop paying attention to the details as the scribe gives the money over and writes it down. But as the person in line is leaving, I take notice of a very important detail. He only showed 85 coins before. If I don't miss my guess, he tried to keep a little more money to himself.

If that is the case a lot of problems can be avoided. People won't be able to get more money than is strictly necessary from the guild. Though it does have its downsides. This is probably council interference. It would be very useful for people in power not to let go of their grip. They probably prefer that we centralize power and have different factions competing with each other.

It is good we are kinda giving up some of our power back to everyone's hands. Everything going to plan, we will start paying everyone back in a few days. But before more money from our exports come in, we are working with an extremely tight budget.

My mind wonders as the same cycle repeats itself. The thousand things I juggle spin in my mind. The cycle in front of me barely takes any of my attention. This is probably the most relaxed I have been in the last day or two. Just standing around and casually thinking about all that is on my plate.

Then something abruptly yanks me out of it. Not something physical, but watching someone else’s actions. Actions I was told were very dangerous. Holding my breath, I listen to Alex as he holds his hand extended.

He presents the coins as if holding in his hands an item of great importance. A single coin. A copper coin made by Nash. A coin stamped with Pando on its back.

"So, what is this worth?"

I sense surprise in our visitor’s mostly emotionless voice. That is a very strange sound. A strange mix of machine and human that chills my bones.

"This is worth nothing. It is not a system recognized currency."

"Come on, that's bullshit. It has to be worth something."

I see him shaking his head in a very clear negative indication.

"Do you have real currency? Any system-approved currency?"

At those words, Alex slumps a bit. He withdraws from his pocket a silver coin and gives it over.

A sigh leaves me. We are lucky this didn't turn into a disaster. Nash may be a very good addition to our village, but his way of doing things sometimes is troublesome. Let's just hope this will be the worse of it.

I also shouldn’t tell him about what this robot said. Who knows what Nash might do then? He seems to be calm most of the time and his strange connection whenever he touches a tree is reassuring. But beneath all that, if you look hard enough, his silent demeanor tells a different tale.

For good or ill that is who he is. I hoped he would settle down eventually, but he is already leaving again. And I don't even know for how long this time.

--------------------

"I wanted to tell you in person. I'm moving out of the village."

Confusion is written on Charlie's face. "What, why?"

At those words and his tone, I sigh a little. This could get complicated.

"I have been thinking about it for a while. And now is the time for me to leave. I thought a lot about it. Me laying it out for you will be the best course of action I can come up with."

After a moment to think he leans back on his desk. "The question remains. Why are you leaving for good?"

"I have told you before, and I will tell you again. I lived in Pando and almost all I did for years was for it. Or him, or her, whatever. It was probably not the best course of action for me to so single-mindedly throw myself in doing that. But I’m most comfortable when a little withdrawn from society. That is what I will be doing here."

"I don't get it. Why can't you just live here and leave whenever you wanted to?"

"It's a question of my own perception. I can't stay and not get involved in far more than I want to. Things are not working out the way they are now. I need to do things my way. If I fail, too bad. But I trust myself, in the end, there will be a success."

"Do you know what this is going to do to our village? I have told you before. You are a very important part of the village."

"I know, but I need to do this. I will still visit, maybe even do more than just visit, but people need to start taking a little more initiative. Our village seems to have mostly been made of people that just follow along as a few took the lead. Very helpful to get things started, but now we need a kick in our behinds to move along."

With a wry grin, hiding his consternation he speaks:

"That is a little colorful language. I’m still not convinced that is what you should do, but you aren't giving me much choice, are you?"

With a smarty grin, I reply:

"Not really. Now what you need to know." I pull a couple of sheets of paper and extended them to him. “I noted down everything you will need to know. I also gave a few directions. The projects I have started can continue on track."

"You are serious. I thought that maybe this was like last time, but I can see it. You won't be coming back."

"Not as a member of the village, but I will still visit. There is plenty to gain from our cooperation."

"We both know that is far from the same thing." He pauses for a moment. "You have done so much good here. I'm pretty sure you had some significant advantages from the system for knowing and being in contact with magic before the system."

"Likely. I wasn't told why, but I have some advantages." I downplay a little, but it is obvious he is not convinced.

"You could do so much good for humanity. Why are you leaving now? Why don’t you want to help us, and by extension humanity? Our village could be not only the best in our instance but also amongst all of humankind. Most of us probably need to let go of some of our tendencies, such as simply following along whenever someone with authority shows up. But we are close to having a very robust support system. You also don't even know everything that is been happening lately. The people on the Carpenter discovered that..."

I lift my hand gently. Simply indicating he should not continue. He stops himself, the momentum-driven from his pitch. He realizes his arguments that should sound perfectly reasonable to me won’t be hitting their mark. After I lower my hand he stays silent. He almost speaks, but in the end, I’m the one to break the silence.

"It's not that I don't want to help humanity. But, I have done all I can for the short term. Me leaving will not only be the best course of action for me but also for everyone else."

"When you told us all you didn't want to be any kind of leader, you weren't kidding."

"No, I wasn't. Letting myself get dragged in as far as I did was just me going with the flow. I don't regret it, but it’s not sustainable long term. This is a stop in my life, a chapter, not the whole of it."

His whole body seems to catch up with his thought process. With slump shoulders and a tired voice, he says to me.

"Ok, fine. Now, explain to me the mess you want me to manage. If you are leaving tell me everything."

Waving the papers in my hand as if they were they were important documents that prove my stance I speak.

"I will run you through everything, but these are the sheets for when you need to remember some detail."

Sitting we both sigh a little, most of the tension is lifted, but this will be a good hour going over very important information.

--------------------

I say my last few goodbyes. Again with my backpack and jacket, I set out in the world.

Food, tools, equipment, crafting materials, and good staff. That is all I should need for a while. I'm carrying far more than usual, but I can barely feel the difference. Excitement at starting a small new chapter in my journey makes my heart pound.

Each time I have left before, I planned to come back. This time is different.

The path I travel is fairly familiar to me. I travel east with a new mindset. Each step takes me away from whom I became in the village.

I was glad about the change. It was not bad per se, but I needed to be myself. To change and adapt is a very important trait, but it cannot be confused with trying to be someone you are not. Lying to yourself about who you are is far too dangerous. I did too much of that in my life before, I couldn't go back to doing that.

My talk with Charlie comes to mind. I would leverage my advantages in the system to reach the highest levels of power. Or my understanding of the system is so off I probably don't need to bother.

But if daring to hope, and assuming I’m correct, all I need is properly apply that leverage. The only thing that makes sense to me, is to be away from people for a while. It would help me discover who I was apart from Pando. He selflessly helped me a lot, but I needed to take all that knowledge and wisdom and grow into myself.

Being away from people would help me to figure out a lot about myself and test things that I couldn’t back at the village. Not because of a physical limitation, more a question of mindset. I have always thought mindset was a key component for any activity.

My interactions with the system only reinforced this idea in my mind. Even with the couple of advantages I had, my skill levels told an interesting tale.

I had several of them right up against the soft cap. And I did that without dedicating too much time to each one. My focus was split in so many ways and I still barely kept at the top of each of my fields. Doubt crept in whenever I thought about dedicating all my time to a single task for weeks or months.

I could be missing so much more elsewhere. All this wasn’t for fun, I need every advantage possible. Each second wasted could be the difference between life or death. We knew far too little about the system to make proper plans. But complaining would get me nowhere, so I just kept going.

A little more relaxed, I saw more of my surroundings. Most of my track was through places I had not passed before. But even in the exact same spots I stood before, there was so much new to notice. Small details that did not enter my attention previously. Small footsteps from rabbits, rocks someone stepped upon, indications of different vegetation. That and plenty more drew me into the world around me, instead of my recent absent-minded state.

Some of the monotony from this past month was slowly fading.

I don't go too far away from the village. I find a quiet spot on top of a hill that would make for a good place to set up. I set down the 100 pounds strapped to my back and look over my chosen spot.

It's just inside the thirty-mile range where you will only find the rabbits during the day and wolves at night.

Stronger and higher leveled monsters are further away from the villages. The demarcation in the Map only confirmed what I and a few scouts learned. Though as more people level and exercise, even people who never ran before were going farther from the village.

This spot has everything I need.

I'm fairly close to two sources of food. One a herb, and the other one a root. There is also both enough visibility and easy access to water.

After a few moments of looking around and confirming this is exactly the place I wanted to be in, work begins. Work to make a home. Something trying to capture what I have been missing. A place to call my own.

I feel both happiness and sorrow as the work begins.