Chapter 09

Setting down the final piece of paper, I sighed and scratched my head. I had never been a particularly good artist, so I supposed this would have to do. I had spent the past six hours sketching visual references for human anatomy, mostly making basic copies of the illustrations I remembered from my textbooks. Short of hunting down an Orc from the forest, which I was incredibly conflicted about doing, these pictures would be my best reference for teaching aids. I had made sure to represent each of the major organs as best I could, so I suppose this is better than nothing.

Besides, there was no guarantee that human and humanoid monster anatomy was similar enough beyond surface-level aesthetics to be of much use anyway.

When Rose had dropped off the stack of papers and some pencils in a small messenger satchel, she had also rather excitedly told me that her daughter Millie would be returning some time early tomorrow. With the none too subtle reminder that I had agreed to teach Millie some of the more advanced theory I knew alongside Nadine, I had been preparing structured lessons as best as I could manage. Even with how comparatively little I knew compared to a certified nurse, let alone a fully qualified doctor, I still anticipated the lessons taking at least a month of constant teaching and revision. It could quite possibly take longer if either of them struggled with anything, this was all assuming they internalised everything on the first try.

I sighed and scratched at my chin. There was still the matter of securing a willing volunteer for the class unlocking stage of suturing open wounds. Again, capturing a monster would pretty easily serve this purpose...but besides making me feel incredibly uncomfortable, it set a bad precedent. As someone who is identified as a monster, it was in my best interest to discourage medical experimentation on monsters. Maybe Rose or Kirk would volunteer? Or there was always the chance that an adventurer would be hurt badly enough to require medical intervention...

Ugh, this stuff was stressing me out. Neatly stacking the pile of papers, I stored them and the pencils away in the messenger satchel Rose had provided. Hanging the satchel from a coat hook by the door, I decided to take a short nap on the bed. Sleeping on the floor the past couple of nights hadn’t done any real harm, but it wasn't comfortable.

“Tim tired?” Toofy asked, panting a little from the gymnastics she had been practising to entertain herself with while I was busy.

I nodded, “A little,” I admitted. There was probably only a couple of hours left before Nadine and Clarice would want the bed back themselves, so it would be better to take advantage of it now rather than later.

“Toofy sleep too,” Toofy insisted, hopping up into the bed and snuggling in next to me.

“Alright,” I agreed, despite the fact that short of throwing her out of the bed, there would be nothing I could do to stop her once I fell asleep anyway, even if I wanted to.

Slowly drifting off to sleep, a strange yet profound thought occurred to me shortly before I fell asleep. Of all the things from earth, it was the music that I missed the most and had the greatest singular impact on days like the one I had just had. Without music to serve as a buffer, I felt oppressed by the unfamiliar intensity of silence left in its absence.

Sitting on the jagged rocks and watching the ocean, it took a while to realise that I was dreaming. This was a beach my Mum used to take me to when I was younger, her most favourite place in the world, she had called it. Objectively, the beach was not very good by Australian standards. The sand was littered with rocks and broken shells that would cut your feet if you didn't wear shoes or thongs. The shallow water was strewn with large rocks and made wading out into the deeper water dangerous as well. Still, this was my mum's favourite beach.

I had once asked Mum why, and she told me that it had been where she first met Ryan when she was much younger. Later it was where Ryan had taken Mum on their first date and later still, proposed.

I never got to meet Ryan, he was run down by a drunk driver and died in the hospital four years before I was even born. Mum talked about him a lot though, and even talked to him when she didn’t think I was around.

She had adopted me about eight years after Ryan passed away. I don’t remember much of my early childhood before being adopted, just that I was angry and sad all the time. But I still remember the first time Mum brought me to this beach. I still remember the last time we sat here together and talked about the future. I still remember scattering her ashes into the waves...This was Mum’s favourite place in the world and she had wanted to be a part of it.

Listening to the crashing waves, I was reminded of how much I missed her. I missed being able to talk through my problems with her, I missed seeing her smile...

Turning around to look at the scraggly weed-ridden sand dunes, I confirmed that I was all alone. For a moment, I had hoped that perhaps I would see Mum again, even if she wasn’t real, even if it was just a dream...

Opening my eyes, I felt too depressed to get up, so I just continued laying there until light began filtering through the window shutters. Glancing irritably at the unwelcome source of light, I very nearly jumped out of bed in surprise as I saw Clarice sprawled out on the bed next to me. Worse still, I could see Nadine tucked under the blanket on the far side of the bed.

It took my brain a few frantic minutes to realise that I must have slept straight through the night. Either unwilling or unable to wake me up, Clarice and Nadine had just gotten into bed with me and Toofy. Now hearing Clarice snoring like a sawmill, I was confused why I hadn’t noticed it earlier. The best I could come up with was that I had blocked it out as a sort of white noise.

Carefully getting out of bed, I was not surprised when Toofy’s eyes snapped open and immediately locked onto mine.

“Breakfast?” Toofy asked, already crawling off the bed expectantly.

“Sure,” I agreed. Why not? Reaching for the door handle, I stopped at the last moment. Ugh. I had forgotten about the investigator. “Sorry Toofy, we can't go get breakfast yet. Clarice or Nadine would need to-”

Toofy hopped back onto the bed and jumped onto Clarice’s stomach.

“ACK!” Clarice grunted and instinctively curled to protect herself.

“Breakfast!” Toofy called out insistently, preparing to jump on Nadine.

“Toofy stop!” I called out desperately.

Toofy looked back at me quizzically for a moment before hurriedly hopping off the bed just in time to avoid a kick from Clarice.

“The hell was that for?!” Clarice growled, groaning as she started sitting up in the bed and clutching her stomach.

Toofy had taken cover behind me, leaning out slightly to point an accusing finger, “Breakfast!” She gestured from Clarice to the door.

Clarice stared at Toofy incredulously for a moment before shifting her attention to me instead, “Is she serious?!” She demanded.

I sighed and nodded before turning my attention to Toofy, “You shouldn't jump on people to wake them up,” I reprimanded her.

Toofy shrunk back a little and nodded.

“Is this how she normally wakes you up?” Clarice groaned as she gingerly pulled on her pants.

“Only that one time she was particularly hungry,” I admitted.

Clarice’s expression softened a little, “Oh...” However, it quickly hardened again, “She still shouldn’t do that!” Clarice growled.

I nodded in agreement, “I’ll talk to her about it,” I promised.

“Fine,” Clarice pulled on her boots and stomped out of the room.

“We probably should teach Toofy some basic manners,” Nadine admitted sleepily while making sure to keep an eye on Toofy.

“Couldn’t hurt,” I agreed.

Perhaps as payback for her rude awakening, or maybe because Rose and Kirk hadn’t quite prepared breakfast yet, Clarice didn’t return with food until about an hour later. On the upside, it did give me the opportunity to explain to Toofy why Clarice had been so upset. Clarice’s delay only served to reinforce the lesson.

“Toofy sorry,” Toofy sincerely apologised to Clarice, if only because she now understood that biting the hand that feeds you is ill-advised.

“Fine, just don't do it again!” Clarice grumbled, setting the tray of sausages down on the bed.

Toofy nodded and eagerly ran over to the sausages.

“Did Rose or Kirk happen to mention whether the inspector would be leaving today?” Nadine asked, tying her hair back into a ponytail.

Clarice shrugged, “Didn’t ask,” she admitted nonchalantly.

Nadine nodded, seeming a little annoyed but not willing to get into a fight over it.

Clarice shifted her attention to me again, “You wanna practice some grappling?” She asked hopefully.

I sighed and shook my head, “I don’t know how long we have until Millie is meant to arrive. And besides, this room really isn’t big enough to WRESTLE properly.”

Clarice snorted dejectedly and pouted, “You’re no fun.”

Feeling a little bad for Clarice, I tried to think of something she could do to stay busy. “Do you know if Kirk is still going to go ahead with the bathhouse?” I asked curiously, “Because you could always help with digging the foundations and moving the building supplies.”

“Why would I do that?” Clarice asked dubiously.

I shrugged, “Something to do and a lot of the exercise lends itself well to wrestling.”

“Really?” Clarice asked a little sceptically.

I nodded, “If it involves half the activities I think it will, you should get some decent strength training out of it. You may need to work on some agility training to balance out later, but it’s definitely better than doing nothing.”

Clarice seemed convinced and grinned, “Alright, I’ll go ask Kirk about it.” she left the room in much better spirits than she had been a few minutes earlier.

“Is that really true?” Nadine asked.

I nodded, “It is, assuming she gets a decent balance of activities.”

“Is there anything I can do for practising my surgery skills?” Nadine asked pointedly with a competitive edge to her voice.

“It depends. Practising your sutures is always worth the time and the same goes for bandaging as well, for obvious reasons. But mostly, I would highly recommend writing down everything you know and learn, so you can reference it later if you begin to forget. Revision is an important skill in practising medicine,“ I explained seriously. After all, it was the bedrock of the medical profession on earth, so it really wouldn’t hurt Nadine to adopt it as well. “Also, any sort of activity that improves your manual dexterity in your fingers lends itself well to surgery skills in general as well.”

“Really?” Nadine asked, her interest piqued, “So like sewing and things like that?”

I nodded, “You could also try coin or card tricks, there are a lot of things you can try really.”

“Huh,” Nadine was somewhat surprised but seemed convinced.

I remembered something one of my teachers had suggested for me to try, “There are some finger exercises I could show you as well if you want, but it is very much a long term investment and takes a while to start showing results.”

“Okay!” Nadine agreed eagerly.

Spending a few minutes demonstrating and explaining the point of the exercises, since I was honestly not very good at them, I wasn’t particularly surprised when Nadine realized that she could now do them on her own. It’s amazing what having reasonably dexterous fingers allows you to accomplish...

“Just make sure not to overdo it,” I reminded her, “A little can go a long way.”

Nadine nodded, eagerly cycling through the exercises.

Shaking my head, I decided to have some breakfast. Nadine would learn her lesson after her first set of cramps, so there wasn’t much I could do besides waiting for it to happen.

After finishing breakfast, Toofy began slowly staggering around the room in her steadily improving handstand.

“How long has Toofy been able to do that?” Nadine asked, clearly surprised.

“Not long. I was worried about Toofy becoming bored, so I showed her how to do a handstand and helped her learn the basics on how to keep her balance while walking with her hands.” I explained somewhat offhandedly, “Honestly, Toofy is just naturally gifted at this sort of thing, to say that I taught her how to do it is being pretty generous.”

Enjoying the attention, Toofy grinned manically and began moving faster around the room.

“Still though,” Nadine gave me an appraising look, “Are you sure you aren't a class trainer?” She asked seriously.

“Class trainer?” I asked, fairly certain I understood the underlying concept but unsure of the significance.

“A class trainer,” Nadine nodded in confirmation, “A human-like monster created by the Labyrinths that can teach adventurers different classes. Although it is very strange that you do not have access to those classes yourself...”

I seriously considered telling Nadine the truth, but I had a strong suspicion that she wouldn’t believe me. Similarly, I had gotten the impression from Jacque that outing myself as an Awakened was not a good idea. Isn’t that usually how it goes? Reborn as a hero or monster, the moment the natives figure out what you are, powerful forces begin mustering to guarantee your destruction.

So far, the worst I have faced has been malign opportunism. How much worse would my life get when some powerful hero, villain or organisation decided I was a potential threat and moved to snuff me out? Better to not take the risk. Knowing that Jacque could read surface thoughts, it only made sense to assume that something similar could be done with magic. So logically, my secret would never truly be safe, but the risks could be heavily mitigated by reducing the number of people who were aware of it.

Maybe once I knew more about this world and about the Awakened, I would consider telling people who I really am. But until then, there really wasn’t a benefit to gain from doing so, just unmitigated risks and unknowns.

I just shrugged noncommittally, knowing that Nadine had probably made up her own mind already anyway.

Nadine gave me a long appraising look, “Are you sure there aren't other classes you know how to teach?” She asked earnestly.

“I...don’t know,” I admitted honestly, “I didn’t know that what I was teaching would unlock those classes to begin with.”

Nadine nodded with a pensive expression, “Then, do you mind explaining what other skills you know?” She asked, genuinely curious.

I shrugged and took a few moments to think. The bar for unlocking classes did not seem particularly high, at least for the basic classes anyway. So with that assumption in mind, I suppose the more important question is whether the classes are limited to combat or not. “Just combat skills? Or?...” I shrugged and waved my hands a little to express how unsure I was of all of this.

Nadine tilted her head slightly, “You know non-combat-related skills?” She asked curiously.

I nodded.

“Well...” Nadine looked pensive for a moment again before continuing, “Okay, so it’s important to understand that not all classes revolve around combat. Most known classes do in some way, but that is mostly because of the nature of adventurers and the fact that powerful groups like the noble houses and prestigious Guilds keep certain class knowledge a secret.”

“So, there is something like a builder class?” I asked curiously.

Nadine shook her head, “So far as I know, no, not exactly. I heard some more experienced adventurers talking about a Siege Engineer class while I was being trained at the Guild, but it seemed to specialize in very specific tasks like expending mana to repair or demolish fortifications. You see what I mean?”

I nodded, considering all the temp jobs I had worked on over the years. I eventually had to shake my head after realizing that almost all of them were very mundane or over-reliant on technology. However, it did remind me about something I wanted to ask earlier, “If I know how to teach these classes, why haven’t I unlocked them myself? Or started with them unlocked?”

Nadine smirked slightly, “Ah, that’s actually rather easy to answer. Most classes had qualification criteria beyond just the theory and practical elements, or more accurately, they all do. In addition to the practical and theory requirements, classes also have minimum stat-based requirements to unlock them, some are just incredibly low. It’s why prospective adventurers are given aptitude tests to decide which of the classes available at the Guild they can apply to learn.”

Well that kind of sucks. So whatever this status thing was, determined that I was not good enough for classes related to what I already knew how to do. Then again, I still haven't sutured anyone’s wounds, or pinned someone into unconsciousness either, so maybe I was overreacting. Besides, as much as I loathed it, I still needed Slaver for the time being and had no idea of when I would be able to safely be rid of it.

“So you really can’t think of any other skills that could unlock a class?” Nadine asked persistently.

I shrugged, “Not really, no.”

Nadine sighed and shrugged, “It’s fine Tim. I mean, you already know how to teach like four or five classes, two of those being advanced classes as well. Just knowing how to teach one class would have designated you as a class trainer, but five is damned impressive!”

“Thanks,” I rubbed at my neck in embarrassment, “But I am pretty sure Clarice probably had most of the Brawler unlocked on her own hehe.”

“You’re probably right,” Nadine agreed with a smile. She got up off the bed and stretched for a moment before returning her attention to me again, “Can you think of anything else we might need for the lessons when Millie gets here?” Nadine asked.

I thought carefully for a moment, “Well, maybe some sewing supplies to practice suturing first, before doing it on a volunteer? Oh, also, we will want a volunteer...I figured maybe Kirk or perhaps one of the other adventurers if they get injured or something.”

Nadine nodded, “Alright, I’ll see what I can do.”

I turned around to give Nadine some privacy while she finished changing.

“I'll be back in a little while,” Nadine said as she walked out the door, taking care to close it behind her.

Taking the key off the bedside table, I made sure to lock it as well, just in case.

*Rattle*

I had been just about to step back from the door and sit on the bed when I saw the doorknob ineffectually turning as someone tried to open the door.

Toofy looked over in my direction curiously.

I held my finger up to my lips and hoped she understood what I meant.

Toofy quietly ended her handstand, lowering herself onto all fours and crawled under the blankets on the bed.

Very impressed with Toofy, I quietly pulled off my tunic and dropped it to the floor to cover my feet. If anyone tried looking under the door, all they would see is a few stray items of clothing and the bottom of some furniture. Slowly leaning forward, I braced my full weight against the door, just in case.

Neither Clarice nor Nadine had a reason not to announce themselves before trying to enter the room, so there wasn’t really a downside to my paranoia besides the immediate inconvenience.

Hearing some strange noises coming from the lock beneath the door handle, I felt vindicated and began mentally preparing myself for the worst.

“Hey!” A familiar male voice called out angrily, “What are you doing?!” They demanded accusingly.

There was the sound of small metal objects falling on the other side of the door and scrambling boots.

“Ah, nothing...This is, erm, this is official adventurers Guild business!” A nasal-voiced man insisted unconvincingly.

“Like hell it is!” The familiar male voice repeated, “I’m telling the innkeeper!”

The sounds of quick boot steps rushing away from the door stopped suddenly at the sound of a low threatening growl.

“INNKEEPER! SOMEONE WAS TRYING TO BREAK INTO A ROOM UPSTAIRS!” The familiar male voice called out as loudly as they could manage. My brain finally put a name and face to the voice, it was Tobi. Had the girls asked him to keep an eye out just in case? Or was this all just a very happy coincidence? Either way, I was more than grateful.

I heard muted cursing coming from the nasal-voiced man and muttering from other adventurers that had opened their doors to investigate the source of the commotion.

A few moments later a set of heavy footfalls announced Kirk’s arrival down the hall, “I have warned you once already!” Kirk growled angrily, “MY inn MY rules! Now I find you trying to break into MY lodger's private rooms?!”

“I am well within my rights!” The nasal-voiced man insisted indignantly, "As property of the Guild-”

“Privately leased property!” Kirk roared, “You and I both know full well the distinct lack of authority you have in this building without my expressed permission! Which I can assure you, you do not have!”

“But, but-” The nasal-voiced man insisted.

“BUT NOTHING!” Kirk thundered.

“I have a warrant!” The nasal-voiced man shrieked, causing a momentary silence to fall on the corridor before all hell seemed to break loose and everyone began talking all at once.

Okay, I could see where this was going and I didn’t like it. Picking up my tunic off the floor, I hurriedly slipped it back on again. Pulling both my pack and the satchel off the coat rack, I slid them onto my shoulders and quietly walked across the room and over to the window.

“Toofy!” I whispered urgently.

Toofy cautiously peeked out from under the covers.

I quietly motioned for her to come hang off my back.

Toofy nodded, effortlessly climbing into position, hugging her arms around my neck and clamping her legs partway around my chest.

Confident that Toofy was secure, I peeked out the window and was glad that the street appeared to be empty. Wondering how long exactly I would need to hide, I decided that the roof would be a good starting point since it would keep me pretty decently hidden from view if I stayed on the side of the nearby town wall.

Climbing out the window, I took hold of the edge of the nearby overhanging roof and carefully pulled myself up. Confident that the wood-shingled roof could hold my weight so long as I moved carefully and followed the hidden support beams, I scaled the top of the roof and then made my way towards the chimney. The squat profile of the chimney would help conceal my presence on the roof from the direction of the Guild office, so I felt rather good about this hiding place.

“You can sit down next to me now if you like,” I told Toofy.

Toofy scrambled off my back and sat down on the roof next to me, curiously opting to sit at a higher point on the roof so we were at about eye level, but so I had to look up slightly at her to do so. Judging by the furtive glances and the cheeky smile, it was a very deliberate choice.

Rolling my eyes good-naturedly at Toofy I did my best to remember why we were hiding out on the roof in the first place.

I wonder if that inspector really had a warrant that allowed what he claimed, or if it was all just a big bluff. In either case, he had to be colluding with the Guild manager Gilbert, although I wasn’t sure why exactly. What reasoning besides petty revenge did Gilbert have for wanting me investigated?

With nothing to do but anxiously wait, I was startled when I heard someone flinging open a pair of shutters on the other side of the inn.

“It must have escaped out the window!” The inspector shrieked desperately, the unhinged mania in his voice causing me to picture the room completely overturned with clothes strewn everywhere.

“I don’t know!” The investigator shrieked again a few moments later in reply to a question I obviously hadn’t heard.

A few minutes passed in silence before Shady suddenly appeared next to us on the rooftop, seemingly as surprised to see us as we were to see him.

Toofy grinned and began patting Shady’s head and playing with his ears.

Shady bore with it stoically, making as if to bare his teeth every so often Toofy petted him too hard, but would then catch my eye and calm down.

Wondering if Tobi had sent Shady to look for us, I took one of the spare pieces of paper and drew a rudimentary picture of a roof and chimney in a corner. Tearing the corner piece off of the paper, I tucked it into the buckle of Shady’s collar.

The Shadowcat seemed to sigh in relief right before disappearing in a small burst of black smoke.

“Awww,” Toofy grumbled dejectedly.

“It’s okay, you can pet the kitty later,” I reassured her quietly.

Toofy sighed and nodded, seemingly mollified for the time being.

As I had somewhat expected, Shady didn’t immediately return. Why would he? There was a reason I had sent a picture in the first place. We had no other means of communicating back and forth, so unless it was urgent, better to just remain inconspicuous.

As the minutes dragged on into hours, I was very glad that we had at least had the opportunity to eat breakfast before hiding out up here. Convincing Toofy to take a nap on a full stomach was pretty easy, particularly given how warm it was on the roof. But it did get me thinking about something else. Where did the sun, moon and other stars come from?

I mean, I can see a sun in the sky right now and was doing my best not to look directly at it. I have already seen the moon at night as well as a whole mess of stars forming constellations I don’t recognise. Is this floor of the Labyrinth a literal mini world? Or is everything up there just an illusion accompanied by some sort of weather magic? The sudden wave of anxiety as I briefly considered that I might even be starring in my own Truman show made me feel a little ill.

Doing my best to put the thought of starring in a voyeuristic show for someone’s sick amusement aside, I decided it would be a good idea to take out my apron from my pack and give Toofy some shade so the illusionary sun doesn't burn her skin or cause her to dehydrate so quickly. That was something else I had noticed, despite a complete lack of sunscreen, my vampiric complexion had not burned once since arriving in this strange world. Which only reinforced my theory that the sun was indeed an illusion.

*****

Nadine couldn’t help but pace back and forth with worry. Despite Kirk and Rose’s best efforts, the Guild investigator had only doubled down and was now in the process of figuratively tearing apart the inn room by room. He was strangely convinced that Tim had snuck out the window and was taking refuge in another one of the rooms. The investigator even flat-out refused the possibility that Tim had run off, fleeing the foothold and into the forest again.

It was altogether quite odd and incredibly disconcerting. Even after Tobi had discreetly let Nadine know of Tim’s assumed hiding place on the roof, it didn’t make her feel any better. If anything, it made Nadine feel worse because it meant that the investigator actually did have a method for knowing Tim’s approximate location.

“You’ll get wrinkles worrying like that,” Rose observed as she set a fresh batch of sausages boiling.

“Oh lay off, Ma,” Millie chided, no doubt similarly nervous as Nadine, albeit for slightly different reasons. Like her mother in so many ways, they inevitably clashed over everything. “Isn’t there something you and Da can do?”

Rose sighed and shook her head, “The Guild is overstepping its authority, again. Your Da and I have already sent messages to our friends, but very likely nothing will be done until this evening.”

Millie scowled, “You are gonna gouge them with the contract penalties though, right?”

Rose nodded sternly, “Of course! I don’t know what Gilbert's intended endgame was, but it is going to end with him being fired or saddled with substantial debt.”

“He seemed like such a decent man. Why is he even doing this?” Nadine asked irritably.

“Greed probably,” Rose replied matter of factly, “It almost always is. This is hardly unheard of. A party of fresh-faced kids manages to capture a special monster and think they have hit the jackpot. Only, now they find out that there is a ‘special procedure’ to follow with the Guild that requires them to temporarily hand over the monster. Awww, but wouldn’t you know it? There has been an accident and the monster has been misplaced. The Guild will compensate them of course, but it's nothing compared to what the adventurers stood to gain before. Some months later, wouldn’t you know, there is their missing monster on the arm of some noble son or other, clear as day!”

Nadine blanched, “So you think the manager was really after Tim before?” She asked worriedly.

Rose nodded, still frowning, “Very likely,” she agreed.

“So we need to leave the Guild then?” Nadine asked resignedly, “If we aren’t members then they have no authority right?”

Rose shook her head and sighed, “It isn’t that simple. Leaving the adventurers Guild puts you out of reach of the official channels of the Guild, true, but not the real powers behind it. What's to stop that aforementioned noble from just swooping in and seizing Tim from you directly? Precious little, unfortunately. Sure the noble would likely have to pay a fine to some other higher ranked noble and you ‘might’ receive a reparations payment, but Tim would be long gone.”

Nadine slumped dejectedly at the news, thinking that perhaps Tim had the right idea when he ran off into the woods the last time, “Then what can we do?”

Rose was thoughtful for a few minutes before making her reply, “What do you know of monster settlements on the other floors?” She asked cryptically.

Millie was surprised but nodded thoughtfully in agreement.

“Monster settlements?” Nadine asked, a little confused because she had never heard the term before.

Rose gave Nadine a somewhat smug look and nodded, “So you know how almost every monster the Labyrinth makes is close to identical to the others right?”

“Right...” Nadine agreed.

Rose nodded, “Well, every so often, you get a special named monster, like Tim or Toofy. Due to their unique ‘characteristics’, they will often have children, something the other monsters are just otherwise incapable of. The need to protect their young causes a significant shift in their behaviour. I won’t say that monsters residing in monster settlements are smarter, but they definitely have different priorities.”

“So how does that help us?” Nadine asked, not understanding why Rose would explain all of this.

Rose smiled and waved for patience, “That shift in behaviour and priorities makes it possible to trade with them, albeit to a limited degree. As a standing rule, all Guilds punish anyone who attacks one of these settlements. Not for moral reasons of course, but because of the sheer amount of profit they stand to lose out on. The third floor of the Hurst Labyrinth has many monster settlements and Bertrum, the innkeeper of the foothold, is an old friend. If worst comes to worst, you just need to take Tim and Toofy to the foothold on the third floor and Bertrum will help direct you to a friendly monster settlement,” she explained matter of factly.

Nadine was more than a little surprised, “Why haven’t I heard about monster settlements before?” She asked, “I mean if special monsters can start settlements, shouldn’t the Guild have warned us about them?”

Rose smirked, “They would have, but only after you moved to the third floor. The Guilds like profits, but the kingdom doesn’t like settlements forming on the first couple of floors. This is their sort of compromise.”

Nadine frowned, “So they just let rookies like us wipe out the settlements for them?”

Rose nodded.

It didn’t seem like Rose had been misleading her. It was a well-known fact that almost all monsters were identical as if cast from the same mould and mass-produced. Then there were notable exceptions such as Tim and Toofy. Toofy very obviously stood out on this floor of the Labyrinth since she was the only female Goblin in a forest full of males. Or at least, the only one Nadine had seen so far.

Thinking back on the state Toofy had been in when they found her, Nadine realized that what Rose had said must be true. The trio of adventurers had been chasing Toofy under the assumption that she had special treasure, and Clarice had told her about Toofy’s home in the forest. She had effectively been a settlement of one, waiting for others to appear or maybe even preparing to start the process on her own...

Blushing slightly, Nadine cleared her throat and tried to focus on the issue at hand, “Do you think Tim and Toofy could really find refuge in one of these monster settlements?”

Rose nodded, “Monster settlements aren’t exactly racially diverse or inclusive, but they can be bargained with. I am certain that if Tim offered to teach even a couple of their members the Surgeon class, he would be treated as an honoured guest at worst or perhaps even invited to join the settlement outright.”

Nadine nodded in agreement, “As a skill trainer, Tim has immense implicit value,” she admitted, “And I am sure that a healing class like that would be just as valuable to monsters as it is to us.”

“No kidding,” Millie sighed dejectedly.

*****

Staring up at the stars in the evening sky, I was regretting not having emergency supplies of food or water stored in my pack. At least I was able to give Toofy the padded cloth armour I had made for her to sleep on and my now sleeveless tunic to use as a sort of blanket.

Doing my best to ignore the smokey smell of food wafting up the chimney, I tried to remain alert. I had heard someone poking around in what I assumed was the attic just below us around an hour ago. There seemed to be a distinct possibility that the investigator was using some sort of ability or maybe a magical item to try and locate me, which was very disconcerting. I honestly expected the guy to try searching the roof at any time now.

For whatever reason though, nothing happened. I stayed awake throughout the entire night, waiting to be discovered and prepared to grab Toofy and flee. But nothing happened.

I nearly gave myself whiplash as I looked around for the source of the voice, before suddenly realising it had been in my head.

There was a hint of amusement in the voice.

A few moments later, Jacque suddenly appeared by the chimney amidst a burst of black smoke. Jacque smirked as she took a seat next to me and set down a small sack that smelled of food.

I smiled and gave Jacque an appreciative nod before gently jostling Toofy awake and moving the sack beside her.

Toofy’s nose sniffed inquisitively at the sack before opening it and giving me an excited toothy smile, “Eat?” She whispered questioningly.

I nodded, “Eat.”

Toofy’s smile grew wider as she pulled out a particularly large sausage and began wolfing it down.

Jacque glanced pointedly over at the Guild office and nudged her head,

I slumped a little and nodded. A small part of me had already been worrying about something like this, the inexplicable escalation.

Jacque grinned a little and shook her head,

“What?!” I whispered hoarsely, too rattled to form the thoughts coherently.

Jacque sighed and shook her head again. She settled down on the roof and became lost in thought for a few moments before shrugging and turning her attention back to me again.

I nodded.

Jacque nodded and sighed while rubbing at her temples.

I gulped anxiously and couldn’t help but glance around the surrounding area.

Jacque gave me a telling look. She shook her head.

Thinking back over the past few days, there was one thing in particular that stood out.

Jacque nodded.

My brow furrowed from a combination of anxiety and confusion.

Jacque gave me a longsuffering look and stared at me for a few moments before making a reply.

I nodded.

Jacque let out a long sigh and became lost in thought for a while again before eventually shaking her head.

I thought about that for a moment. I had gotten the key from that Goblin chieftain after defeating him in a duel. Did that mean I have to duel someone else?

Jacque snorted and shook her head in amusement. She gave me a dubious look and shook her head.

I slumped somewhat dejectedly. I was not looking forward to another one on one fight after barely winning the last one.

Jacque nodded.

I asked hopefully. I had seen Jacque fight and could tell that she was easily the most proficient fighter I had seen thus far, by a substantial margin.

Jacque shook her head.

I stared blankly at Jacque for a moment before what she had told me sunk in.

Jacque gave me a small smile and shook her head as she got to her feet. she fired a pair of finger guns at me, winked, and disappeared in another puff of black smoke.

A few moments later, I noticed that Jacque had now left the group, leaving me as party leader.

“Well...” I considered cursing but honestly felt too anxious and depressed to make the effort. Joining Toofy in abating my anxiety a little with some old fashioned stress eating, I seriously hope that whatever plan the others were coming up with was a good one.

Once Toofy had eaten her fill and drank some water, I stored the sack inside my pack and helped Toofy put on her padded armour. At this point, it would be better to be as prepared as we could be, so I put my sleeveless tunic back on as well as the leather apron.

I could only assume that the Guild branch manager would have reasonably powerful agents at their command considering they were responsible for overseeing an entire Labyrinth of adventurers. The reality of having caught someone of their influence’s attention was unsettling, to say the least. If all Guild managers were Slaver’s, didn’t it make sense that a higher-ranked manager would be a higher level too? If they were, then I did not like my chances of breaking the enslavement of someone of their assumed strength.

When the sun began rising over the treeline, I was very nearly hit on the head with a rock. Looking around, I saw another rock sail up and over the edge of the roof,

Cautiously moving across the roof, I looked down over the edge and found Clarice preparing to throw another rock.

Clarice was about to throw the rock when she noticed me looking down at her. Dropping the rock, Clarice motioned for me to come down.

Retrieving my pack, I waved for Toofy to hop on my back. Once Toofy was secure, I carefully climbed down the side of the inn and looked to Clarice for an explanation.

Clarice looked around conspiratorially for a moment before leaning in close, “We are leaving the foothold,” she whispered urgently, “Nadine, Tobi and Emelia are already headed towards the gate and are waiting for us!”

Already informed by Jacque that there was a plan in the works, I was not particularly shocked by our initial gathering point. However, I was more than a little surprised that Nadine and Clarice trusted Tobi and Emelia enough to include them.

Hurrying along behind Clarice, we ran along the inner side of the town wall until we reached the gate.

Just as Clarice had said, Nadine, Emelia, Tobi and his cat Shady were all waiting for us and wearing their adventuring equipment and large packs.

“We can talk more once we reach the edge of the forest,” Nadine hissed urgently, “We need to put as much distance between ourselves and the foothold as possible before the investigator and his thugs realise what is going on!”

I nodded and took the lead by jogging out into the plain ahead of the group. Any reservations I had about serving as vanguard were nothing compared to my unease regarding the investigator and his goons.

Just like every other time, I had not seen a single Vrabbit while heading towards the forest. They really did seem to be over-reliant on scenting blood to track their prey.

“Okay!” Nadine announced, breathing heavily, “Rose says the portal to the second floor should be up on the mountain, specifically at its peak. So after a short break, we should start making our way to the mountain as fast as possible while not leaving ourselves exposed to potential ambushes,” the way she laid out the plan made it clear that Nadine did not expect any input.

The thought of leaving all that money behind in Toofy’s bunker was somewhat painful, but I honestly had no idea how to find it again. Besides, the delay could very well prove fatal in this race against the clock.

“Oh, ah, here is your mace,” Tobi said awkwardly, pulling my morningstar from his belt and handing it to me, "Sorry that I couldn’t bring your shield, but it was a bit too conspicuous.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I gratefully accepted the weapon, silently berating myself for not retrieving it when I regained consciousness after the raid.

With Shady and I taking the lead, Clarice on our left flank, Tobi on our right flank, and Emelia, Nadine and Toofy roughly in the middle, we began quickly moving through the forest in the direction of the mountain.

Every few minutes we would hear cries of pain and combat from somewhere out in the forest around us, but we didn’t stop to investigate. Instead, we would alter our course as best as we could approximate to avoid the source of the disturbances and keep hurrying onward.

Making decent time, we stopped for a very short break at the treeline bordering the base of the mountain. With Shady’s animal senses and instincts to give us an early warning of danger, it was not nearly as dangerous as it would have been without him. Although, I was still very impressed with how the Shadowcat had unerringly steered our group through the forest.

“It’s about to get much more dangerous,” Tobi said nervously to nobody in particular.

Looking up at the mountain, I could only agree. With only sparse sporadic cover, they would not be able to sneakily avoid encounters nearly so easily. In all likelihood, it may devolve into a bloody running battle right up until the portal as more and more Orcs and Goblins rush to join the fray.

“Tim, do you mind carrying a couple of the heavier packs?” Nadine asked, already shrugging off the bulging pack off her back.

I nodded, handing Nadine the messenger satchel in exchange, “Sure.”

Emelia quietly removed the larger of the two packs she was carrying and handed it to me as well.

I handed my much emptier pack back to her in return as I balanced the two large packs as best I could.

With everyone ready to continue, we left the cover of the forest and quickly made for the foothills.

We didn’t see our first Orc until we were partway up the mountain. There were close to a dozen of them, perhaps more. Near as I could tell, there were two groups fighting over territory, or maybe about who should be the leader? It was tough to say, the Orcs were spending more time and energy trying to kill one another than talk. The brawl was taking place on an open slope, so we could run past them easily enough, but we would definitely be spotted doing so.

“What should we do?” I asked quietly, even though I was quite certain what the answer would be.

“Let’s carve straight through 'em,” Clarice insisted, “We don’t have time to be standing around overcomplicating it.”

Surprisingly, Nadine nodded in agreement, “Let’s just try to hit them hard and fast enough that they can't muster a defence.”

Steeling my resolve for the fight, I clenched my jaw and squared up to charge. With only six Orcs left standing and still embroiled in their conflict, they didn’t see me coming until it was too late.

*Crunch*

My morningstar tore into the side of an Orc’s head, caving in the bone and causing the Orc to crumple lifelessly to the ground. Before the other Orcs had time to react, I swung the morningstar back in the opposite direction, catching another Orc in the back of the neck.

*Thud Crack*

The Orc’s head flopped to one side and its body fell limply to the ground, narrowly avoiding a meaty fist to the face from one of its rivals.

*Chunk*

Before that particular Orc could do much more than blink at me in confusion, his head rolled free of his neck and onto the ground.

Clarice followed up her backhanded swing with her sword by sweeping it into and overhead chop into yet another Orc’s collarbone.

*Crunch*

Surprisingly, Clarice’s sword cut through the collarbone and down into the Orc’s abdomen.

Clarice, the Orc and I just stared at the sword for a moment before the Orc collapsed. I was pretty damned sure Clarice hadn’t been nearly strong enough to do that before.

*Crunch*

Another one of the remaining Orcs was dropped to his knees as Toofy slung a stone into its back and probably broke its ribs.

Tobi slung a stone as well, but it scored only a glancing blow against the otherwise uninjured remaining Orc. However, Shady followed up his master’s attack by leaping onto the Orc, biting down on its collarbone and ripping open its abdomen by raking its hind claws.

The Orc went down screaming, desperately swinging at Shady but missed as the shadowcat agilely disengaged and tore open the Orc’s inner forearm with a swipe from his paw and hooked claws.

I couldn’t bring myself to attack the two downed Orcs, but Shady and Clarice had no such reservations and dispatched them as a matter of course.

Taking a few moments to let the others catch us up, we reformed our formation and began heading back up the mountain.

“You saw that right?” Clarice asked giddily.

Knowing she was talking about nearly cutting the Orc straight down the middle, I nodded.

“This bonus to momentum is great!” Clarice added, “Definitely worth losing those stats in the short term.”

I was definitely inclined to agree. It was obvious that the bonus to momentum for her attacks was not limited to unarmed attacks or wrestling throws. Obviously, a flat increase in momentum would need to be treated with care so Clarice doesn’t pull a muscle or worse, but it seemed like a worthwhile trade-off for such a drastic increase in fighting potential.

Continuing the hike up the mountain, our choice in route quickly became restricted to a single path littered with Goblin and Orc bodies. Staying on our guard against a potential ambush, we were not surprised when a growl from Shady informed us of just that.

Three Orcs leapt out from a boulder up ahead, stood there for a moment and then ran.

“Maybe they didn’t want to fight a group as large as ours?” Tobi suggested hopefully.

Nadine frowned, “I think it is more likely that they are running off to gather more Orcs.”

“I don’t think so,” Emelia interjected, shrinking back nervously as everyone turned to look at her for an explanation, “Ah, I mean, didn’t they look super scared the moment they saw Tim?”

Nadine furrowed her brow and thought about it for a moment, “Weren’t the Orcs rather afraid of Tim before the raid as well? When Tim came to our rescue on the plains, the Orcs ran away the moment Tim thinned their numbers a little.”

Clarice nodded, “Hey, actually, now that you mention it, we haven’t seen any of those larger Orcs yet either and it was always those big ones that had a rage-boner for Tim in the first place. I reckon the low-rank Orcs were being bullied into fighting him. I mean, Tim can kill one of them in a single decent hit, so it makes sense to not want to risk an open fight.”

“I think you are right,” Nadine agreed, “But in either case, we should probably hurry. Just because they weren't willing to risk an attack now, doesn't mean they won’t find courage in greater numbers later.”

Redoubling our pace after that short break, it didn’t take long to reach a large open plateau at the top of the mountain. On the far side, sheltered by some ornately carved boulders, was a large shimmering doorway I assumed had to be the portal we were looking for. Unfortunately, there were literally hundreds of Orcs between us and the portal, violently laying into one another with rocks, clubs and even a few primitive stone weapons.

“Bloody hell!” Clarice cursed quietly from our hiding place.

Nadine shot Clarice a scathing look but said nothing.

The only upside I could see in the current situation was that the number of Orcs capable of fighting was dropping off rapidly. Unfortunately, I could also see four particularly large Orcs moving about the melee, seemingly avoiding fighting one another directly while also slinging crude monosyllabic insults.

“We can’t just wait here doing nothing!” Clarice insisted, her sword twitching slightly from her battle lust.

“Well, we can’t fight that many Orcs either!” Nadine countered irritably.

I nodded in agreement with Nadine. If Clarice's earlier theory was right, then we would very likely have to fight every single Orc present until the larger Orcs were killed and the ‘weaker’ Orcs morale was broken. Then again, what if I challenged the larger Orcs directly? Would that work? I took another look at the way the larger Orcs were deliberately avoiding one another. They were clearly smart enough to realise that fighting each other would leave them vulnerable to a rival, but they were also obviously trying to goad their rivals into a fight.

“Toofy?” I lifted her onto my shoulders to get a better view, “Do you think you could hit one of the big Orcs with your sling?”

Toofy moved off my shoulders and onto the boulder we were hiding behind, crouching low to reduce her chances of being seen. After a few moments, Toofy looked back at me and nodded, loading a stone into her sling and waiting for the order.

Realising what I intended, Nadine looked surprised and nodded in approval.

Worst case, we would have to fight the Orcs, the best case, the largest Orcs would kill one another and demoralize all the Orcs that remained.

I locked eyes with Toofy, channelled my inner Palpatine and nodded, “Do it.”

Toofy stood up straight, rapidly swung her sling for a few moments, launched the stone towards the melee and rolled off the boulder and into cover alongside the rest of us.

For a moment, nothing happened. But just as I was about to peek around the corner for another look, a thundering roar echoed over the plateau.

“RAGH! ME KILL YOU!!!” An Orc roared angrily

“YOU DIE!!! ME KILL!!!” Another countered.

Taking a quick peek around the boulder, I saw two of the larger Orcs shoving through the melee to engage one another directly. The Orcs around them moved away to give them space to fight and surprisingly, even the two forces of Orcs not directly involved in the challenge stopped fighting to watch as well.

Wasting no time, the brutes charged one another and began battering away with their clubs and fists. They seemed evenly matched for the most part, but one of them was reacting slightly slower than the other and was favouring their right arm. With only a minor advantage, the victor was in poor condition to face the inevitable challenge of the next large Orc, who in turn was ill-matched against the last large Orc yet to participate.

“ME STRONGEST!!!” The Orc bellowed in triumph, his body littered with bruises.

Gulping hard and stealing my nerve I led the group out from our hiding place, “I CHALLENGE YOU!” I shouted, pointing my morningstar at the large Orc.

The crowd of Orcs turned around and stared at me for a moment and then looked back to the large Orc again.

The large Orc balked, his shoulders sagging as he looked at me with an equally stunned and incredulous expression on his face. It was kind of ironic, given that this Orc had been all too smug when confronted by the same expression from his rival only a few minutes earlier.

Curiously, rather than prepare to fight me, something unexpected happened instead. The Orc bowed his head in surrender, “Me beaten!...” He declared loudly but submissively.

Unsure if I had heard the Orc correctly, I looked to the rest of the group for confirmation and found that they were just as surprised as I was. Turning back to the Orcs, I found that all of the Orcs in the vicinity were behaving similarly and kneeling down with heads pressed to the ground in submission.

“Should we just walk through?” I asked the others quietly.

Nadine shook her head a little, “I think maybe you should try ordering them down the mountain. They could seriously slow down the investigator and his group.”

“You think they will do that?” I asked nervously.

“Yeah I reckon they would,” Clarice interjected, more than a little awed at the spectacle herself.

Nadine nodded, “They clearly recognise you are stronger and you are a fair bit larger too. So now that the only rival you have has surrendered, they will probably do what you say until another Orc challenges you.”

Taking a steadying breath, I turned back to the Orcs again, “L-Leave this place!” I commanded gesturing to the path down the mountain as I led our group up and onto the plateau.

The large Orc Looked up at me along with the others, but then he turned to the portal instead of the path I had indicated and seemed to realize what I intended. Getting to his feet, the large Orc kicked at those nearby and pointed to the path down the mountain, “GO! WE GO!” He roared menacingly.

The smaller Orcs all quickly got to their feet and began hurrying towards the path.

Circling around the rushing Orcs, I kept an eye on the large Orc, who in turn kept a wary eye on me. It was pretty obvious that the Orc had figured out that we intended to leave and that he would be free to seize control of the gathered Orcs once again afterwards.

Approaching the portal, I waited for Nadine to explain what exactly the plan was going forward from here.

“You remember what I told you about the portals?” Nadine asked, somewhat distractedly as she kept her attention on the portal in front of us.

I nodded.

“Well, we aren't going to use the waystones for rather obvious reasons, since showing up in another foothold at this point is rather foolish. Instead, since we have a little bit of time, I want to see if we can get a good entry location close to the next portal on the other side,” Nadine explained distractedly.

Looking at the portal, I could see rolling grassy hills on the other side but not much else. After a minute or so, the image changed and showed a dry and dusty expanse littered with withered shrubs that were oddly reminiscent of the Australian outback you see on postcards for tourists.

After a few minutes, the portal changed again and Nadine immediately perked up. It was the same dusty expanse as before, but now there was a rocky formation in the distance. Unfortunately, there was also a rather sizable horned lizard near the portal’s exit as well. The lizard resembled a very large iguana with filmy drool running down from its mouth.

“Too good to pass up,” Nadine sighed, “Alright! We are going through!” She announced decisively. “There is a large Razortooth on the other side, so watch out!”

Everyone quickly moved into position and looked at me expectantly.

Right, of course I had to go first...

Readying my morningstar, I braced myself for the worst and stepped through the portal. The sudden change in climate was more than a little disconcerting and took me a moment to adjust. Unfortunately for me, the Razortooth was at no such disadvantage and sprang into motion, quickly running towards me.

Remembering that the others would be coming through right behind me, I couldn’t just dodge and hope for the best. So instead, I shakily ran forward and off to the Razortooth’s right side to draw its attention.

Thankfully, my gamble paid off and the Razortooth halted its own charge to take a vicious snap at my legs. Even though it was only the size of a medium-sized dog, I was in no hurry to see if the Razortooth lived up to its name. I have watched far too many documentaries on venomous lizards and reptiles to risk getting bitten by one if I can help it.

*Thump*

A flying stone smacked the Razortooth in its side and caused it to hiss in pain before quickly scurrying away.

Watching the large reptile run away, I was a little taken aback by how easy that had been. Looking around us, I could see other Razortooths in the distance, mostly just basking in the sun or slowly ambling around. It took a moment, but then I realized why the encounter had been so easy. The Razortooth were most likely at the bottom of the food chain, just as the Vrabbits had been on the first floor.

“We need to hurry and find the cave,” Nadine announced, pointing towards the rocky formation in the distance.

Toofy scrambled up my back and sat down on my shoulder, most likely to get out of reach of the Razortooths. I didn’t blame her and would have insisted Toofy get up out of reach anyway.

Curiously, Shady had slunk back into the centre of the group and did not seem keen on joining me at the front. I suppose that made sense, shadowcats were probably not very high tier and these Razortooths were as large as he was. Still, I was a little annoyed at being left at the front ‘on my own’.

Setting a brisk pace, it was after walking for around an hour that I noticed a problem, well, two problems really. The first problem was that we didn’t seem to get noticeably closer to our destination. The second problem was that there were signs of a larger predator than the Razortooths wandering around and that we hadn’t actually seen one yet.

Stopping at around midday, we were all somewhat demoralised. Constantly trudging across the dusty plains towards the rocky outcropping in the distance without making any notable progress was taking its toll. Tobi at least had been somewhat distracted while we travelled, slinging stones at any Razortooth that drew too close. Now that we were taking a break, Toofy excitedly took up the duty instead.

"The portal to the third floor is further away than I expected,” Nadine sighed and apologised disappointedly.

Emelia said nothing, just smiling somewhat nervously in support.

Tobi shrugged, “We already knew that this was a possibility. At least we can see where we need to go.”

Clarice yawned and stretched, not really seeing a point in contributing to the conversation one way or the other.

“Tobi’s right,” I agreed, “At least-THE HELL IS THAT!” I pointed off to the right of the rock formation ahead of us. A large emu-like bird with a huge vicious-looking beak was racing across the open ground towards us. Easily as tall as I am, the apparently flightless bird was massive.

Terrified that the monstrous bird would snap Toofy up in one bite, I pushed Toofy into Nadine’s arms and charged towards the giant murder bird. This was not the dumbest thing I had ever done, but as I moved farther and farther from the relative safety of the group, I began to recognise my mistake. Without the rest of the group for support, I would be stuck facing this monster on my own and obstructing Toofy and Tobi’s firing lines.

Damnit...

As I swung my morningstar to catch the monstrous bird in the side of the head, it suddenly ducked its thick sinewy neck down and jabbed its beak into my gut.

*Thump*

I was knocked off my feet and tumbled awkwardly to the ground, losing my grip on the morningstar in the process.

The mutant emu immediately followed after me, hissing and screeching as it tried to stab me with its beak again.

Rolling back and forth on the ground, I was actually far more worried about its large powerful talons than its beak. With no opportunity to stand back up again, I balled my fist and slammed it into the side of the bird’s head the next time it tried to jab me in the guts.

*Thump*

The giant bird recoiled and staggered, giving me enough time to scramble to my feet and look for my fallen weapon. Unfortunately, my morningstar was laying beneath the murder bird, so I would have to get dangerously close to its talons to try and retrieve it. Opting instead to snatch up a decent-sized rock off the ground, I hurled it at the bird’s head and even though I missed my target, I still managed to hit its body with a meaty thump.

Glaring balefully at me, the mutant emu hissed menacingly and stalked towards me again.

*Thwack*

A rock struck the giant bird in the side of the head, stunning it and causing it to fall weakly to the ground.

Seeing a golden opportunity, I turned back to the group, “Emelia! Quick! Try and tame it!” I called out urgently, shifting my attention back to the dizzy looking murder bird and preparing myself to tackle it if it tried to run away.

After half a minute of tensely waiting for Emelia, I was just about to move in when I saw a new addition to the group status.

[Draptor - HP: 8/30 - Bloodied, Stunned ]

The so-called Draptor looked nothing like the dinosaurs I had grown to associate with the word, but after remembering the actual meaning of the word raptor, it made perfect sense. I have honestly never seen a bird that so fully embodied the description of ‘bird of prey’.

“I have control of it now,” Emelia said nervously, her tone not quite contradicting, but certainly undermining her words.

“Status,” I glanced down at the group synergies and saw an interesting new pair of additions to the list.

{Concussive Force: 0 } {Hardy: 0 }

“Emelia? What does Concussive Force and Hardy do?” I asked curiously.

Emelia didn’t reply right away, but a short while later she shared the Draptor’s status with me instead.

[Draptor - Draptor Runt: 3 ] [HP: 30/30] [MP: 12/12 ]

[Emelia’s Slave*] [Class: ??? ] [Exp: 0/0 ]

[Strength: 15* ]

[Agility: 11 ]

[Toughness: 15* ]

[Intelligence: 2 ]

[Willpower: 2 ]

[Presence: 1 ]

[(Racial Ability: Concussive Force {Rank 2}): Increases chance to inflict {Stunned} Condition with {Blunt} attacks. {Strength} increases duration of effect.]

[(Racial Ability: Hardy {Rank 2}): Reduces the need for food and water. {Toughness} increases resistance to environmental extremes in temperature.]

Given our current situation, the Hardy synergy was probably going to make a fair bit of a difference. There was no telling how long it was going to take us to get to the cave and I had not seen any water so far, so this was a pretty big deal. I wonder if the Razortooths have a similar ability. I would assume that they had to, or else water is more plentiful than I was assuming it to be. Although, that was of course assuming the Labyrinth even cared whether its monsters could survive more than a few days at a time before being replaced by new monsters.

Likely having checked the group status themselves, the others cautiously made their way over to get a closer look.

“Bloody hell...” Clarice cursed, walking around the giant stunned bird and thoroughly looking it over, “This thing is huge!”

“I thought it looked plenty big from back over there, but...wow...” Tobi agreed, wincing slightly as he got a closer look at its talons.

“You reckon we could ride it?” Clarice asked excitedly.

Tobi balked somewhat, “Ah, we don’t really have a saddle or anything...”

“Right...” Clarice agreed glumly, misinterpreting Tobi’s reluctance for disappointment.

“Well...” I scratched at my head thoughtfully for a moment, immediately earning Clarice’s intense interest.

“What?!” Clarice demanded eagerly.

“Well, I was just thinking that we might be able to make one? I mean, the Draptor is already tamed right? So we could probably just use a bedroll to cushion the back a little and just make some rope stirrups and reins to keep your balance if you don't want to hold on with your legs....what?”

Nadine was just staring blankly at me like she had no idea what I was talking about.

Clarice similarly didn’t seem to understand what I said, but was plenty excited, “So you can make a saddle right?!” She insisted excitedly.

“I could try...” I agreed apprehensively. As silly as the idea was, at the very least we would probably have the Draptor carry some of the group's supplies like a pack mule.

With Emelia giving the Draptor firm commands to stay still while I worked, I was still more than a little on edge whenever I had to work around its beak or talons, so pretty much the whole time. In the end, I settled for sacrificing my apron to provide a base layer beneath the bedroll to provide a more durable foundation before securing each layer with more rope and fashioning crude stirrups from the looped rope. The replacement for bit and bridle was trickier since I couldn't actually put anything in the Draptor’s beak without it being damaged. In the end, I settled for just anchoring a rope around the base of the Draptor’s neck. Whoever was trying to ride it probably wouldn’t be able to steer very well, but at least they would have some crude reins to hold onto.

*****

Sitting on the back of the giant bird, Clarice could hardly contain her excitement, “Up,” she commanded eagerly.

The Draptor looked back at Clarice with one of its beady eyes and promptly stood itself up, shaking a little to dislodge the dust and sand from its lower feathers.

Even though Clarice had no real comparisons with which to fairly judge Tim’s workmanship, she was still incredibly impressed with how easily she was able to keep her balance. “Let’s go forward,” Clarice murmured excitedly, flicking the rope reins.

The Draptor began gingerly walking forwards, occasionally turning its head to look at her before twitchily glancing around at the surrounding scrubland.

“A little faster,” Clarice flicked the rains again.

The Draptor broke into a smooth trot.

Clarice pulled the reins to the right and leaned her weight onto the right stirrup experimentally and was ecstatic when the Draptor obediently began turning to the right. Directing the Draptor back to the group, Clarice pulled back on the reins to call the Draptor to a halt a few paces away from Tim.

“Everything is working alright?” Tim asked anxiously.

Again, Clarice lacked any real experience to truly judge the effectiveness of the saddle in any professional terms, but she nodded vigorously, “It’s amazing! How did you even know how to make a saddle anyway?”

Tim shifted uncomfortably and shrugged, “I just sort of eyeballed it and adjusted it as I went. I think it’s the commands that really make the difference though,” he insisted, “Emelia’s taming ability is really overpowered when you think about it. I mean, she could tame another one of these if we managed to find one.”

Clarice nodded excitedly, “We should totally try and find another one!” She insisted.

Tim appeared to think about it for a few moments but eventually nodded, “If we can get the four of you all riding a pair of Draptors, we could probably make pretty good time moving forward, especially with that Hardy ability synergy.” Tim gave the Draptor another appraising look, “But I think we should probably work on getting that one healed up first.”

Seeing where this was going, Clarice grinned, “I’ll take it for a quick combat test!” She announced eagerly and flicked the reins before Tim or anyone else could say anything to the contrary.

“Be careful!” Nadine called out in a surprisingly supportive tone.

Flicking the reins a couple more times to bring the Draptor up to what Clarice considered to be a reasonable speed, they were soon racing across the scrubland and spotted their first target, “Kill!” Clarice commanded, pointing to the Razortooth ahead and to the left.

The Draptor turned its head to the side to look at what she was pointing at and screeched excitedly as it broke into a sprint.

Glad for the reins and stirrups, Clarice managed to stop herself from being thrown by the sudden burst in speed. It was a totally different experience to before and Clarice almost felt like she was flying.

Contrary to Clarice’s expectations, the Draptor overran its prey and smacked it hard with its beak as it passed. The Razortooth was barrelled over like it was nothing and struggled to right itself.

However, the Draptor quickly returned and bludgeoned it with the tip of its large beak, resulting in an audible crunch as it broke bones from the force of impact. Knocking the twitching body of the Razortooth a few times to be sure it was down for the count, the Draptor planted one talon on the body, leaned down and tore off its head.

Swallowing the head whole, the Draptor thoroughly crushed the Razortooth’s body into the ground under its weight before removing its talon and revealing that it had managed to snap off the dorsal spines running down its back. A few seconds later the Draptor had swallowed the body of the Razortooth down whole.

Thoroughly impressed by the raw power of the Draptor, Clarice was convinced that Emelia had to give it a name. After all, Clarice was still convinced that the main reason the bloodhunters had died was because Emelia hadn’t named them. But that raised the question, what did you call an eight-foot tall murder bird?

*****

“You can't call it that!” Clarice demanded.

Emelia shrunk away but shook her head in disagreement, “Tim caught it so I am fine with him choosing,” she insisted.

I shrugged, “And I told Toofy she could pick the name,” accepting no responsibility for the Draptor’s new name.

Clarice slumped in defeat, “How am I meant to ride into battle astride a mighty war-mount named Beaky?...” She lamented.

“Beaky good bird,” Toofy insisted incredulously, patting the Draptor’s head as it leaned closer. She had established an early rapport by feeding it some food from one of my packs earlier.

Since Emelia and Tobi were not benefitting from the synergies, Nadine and I silently agreed that it would probably be best if the both of them rode Beaky for the time being. This meant that one of them would need to hold the other around the waist to stop themself from falling off, but it was a small sacrifice Nadine and I were prepared for them to make.

To Clarice’s immense disappointment, we did not find another Draptor before the sun began to set and we had to make camp for the night. Tobi and Clarice took first watch and the rest of us hunkered down for the night. Considering that I hadn’t slept for almost two days I honestly hadn’t felt as tired as I would have expected.

Although the others had tried to be considerate, I still woke up shortly before sunrise. Stretching and patting myself down to dislodge some of the dust and sand, I made a point of taking in our current surroundings. All told, there really wasn't much to see. Small piles of rocks, withered shrubs and rolling dried earth and sand for as far as I could see. The only visible landmark was the rocky outcropping we were headed for.

Using the distance we had travelled yesterday as a baseline, I guessed that it would take us at least four more days of solid walking to reach it. Perhaps a little less if we could capture and tame another Draptor or find some trees to make a sled or something.

Nadine and Emelia had taken the last watch and were still noticeably tired, so I insisted that they get at least an hour of sleep before we set out again. With Beaky, Shady and Toofy now awake to help me keep an eye out, there shouldn’t be any problems.

Toofy seemed to have figured out the knack for taking care of the animals, namely giving them food. The biggest problem Toofy had when feeding them was knowing when to stop.

“That’s enough Toofy,” I chided her warmly as she moved to retrieve another sausage from the pack.

“Kay,” Toofy agreed a little dejectedly.

Shady and Beaky looked at me with a sense of betrayal in their eyes.

“You can give them head pats though,” I reminded Toofy by tousling her hair, dislodging a decent amount of sand.

Toofy grinned excitedly and scrambled after Shady who had seemed to realise what was happening a few moments too late to get a head start.

“Good kitty,” Toofy cooed, playing with the indignant Shady’s ears. Beaky, who seemed left out, began receiving head scratches through its feathers after ‘playfully’ nudging Toofy and nearly bowling her over.

Watching Toofy play, I wondered what the unlocking requirements were for Emelia’s Monster Tamer class. I regretted having convinced her to go to sleep, but I suppose I can just ask her later.

Gathering some stones and borrowing Tobi’s sling, I began experimenting with how to use it. Toofy and Tobi had made it look incredibly easy, just spin and release, so I figured that if I could get halfway decent at it that it would be a net gain for the group. Unfortunately, after an hour of trial and error, I was still woefully inaccurate. I hadn’t even managed to hit the bush I was aiming at even once. To my immense disappointment, I found I was actually much more accurate just throwing the stones by hand and could reliably hit the bush seven times out of ten attempts.

I just assumed that there was something I wasn’t getting about sling throwing, so I would ask Tobi about it later.

“I think you just need to practice,” Tobi said unhelpfully after watching me sling a few stones towards the bush. “I mean, on some throws you are releasing too early and on others too late. Because the sling amplifies your throwing force, when you miss, it’s causing you to miss badly. As for your aim, that should get better with practice too.”

I sighed and nodded, not really sure what I had been expecting. It was unrealistic for there to be a single thing I was doing ‘wrong’ that would immediately be correctable and make me a sharpshooting marksman.

Tobi was nice enough to make me a sling of my own from some of our rope. He said it would better suit me because of my size and I could see that it was a fair bit larger than the one he was using. Of course, the most significant difference this would make was the size of the stones I would need to practice with as well.

Once everyone had eaten their breakfast, it was agreed that Toofy would ride with Emelia on Beaky, so I could get some practice with my sling and Tobi could play safety. Rather unexpectedly, Tobi didn’t have to intervene nearly as often as I had expected. Turns out that fist-sized rocks smacking into the ground in their general vicinity was enough to convince most Razortooths to quickly lose interest. I still hadn’t hit one by the time it was midday and we were taking a short break, but Tobi only had to intervene once out of the couple dozen incidents, so that was something at least.

“I still don’t see why you are bothering with it,” Clarice commented while lounging against Beaky, “I mean, you can probably just kill one of those lizards in a single hit with your morningstar anyway.”

“I guess,” I admitted. The real reason I wanted to become at least reliably proficient was to try and deal with potential threats BEFORE they were right up in my face. The scars on my right leg were proof that I desperately needed some real fighting skill and a more versatile toolkit for approaching combat. The root of the problem was that close-quarters combat still terrified me. Everything was capable of going pear-shaped in a matter of seconds and I just didn’t have the experience necessary to judge the situations objectively and respond effectively.

“No, I think Tim has the right idea,” Nadine interjected, “It would probably be a good idea for all of us to get some practice. After all, flying monsters begin to appear on the third floor in this Labyrinth.”

“Really?” Clarice sounded a little worried.

Nadine nodded, “Nothing too dangerous, but it is still a good idea to start practising now while we have the opportunity.”

“Wish I still had my bow,” Tobi sighed dejectedly.

I vaguely recalled that he had lost it in the forest while we were fleeing the Goblin ambush. “You couldn’t afford a new one?” I guessed, judging by Tobi’s tone.

Tobi nodded, “Bow’s made from Labyrinth materials are pretty expensive and I just didn’t have the savings for it.”

“And since the Guild-” Clarice pointedly spat into the dirt, “-delayed payment while the ‘investigation’ was happening, none of us got compensated before leaving!” She growled angrily.

Emelia nodded dejectedly in agreement.

“Not that we blame you for this Tim,” Nadine added hurriedly.

“Yeah, it’s the Guild being a bunch of bastards!” Clarice agreed angrily.

I nodded but still felt responsible. Jacque had told me that I was standing out too much and making myself a target, and I knew she was right. I hadn’t made much of an effort to hide that I was different and before learning of the Awakened and now experiencing firsthand the repercussions, I hadn’t understood why pretending was necessary. Arguably, my treatment would have been far worse if I hadn’t behaved irregularly, but who is to say just how far-reaching the consequences will be? For now, it is an adventurers Guild branch manager, but what if it continues to escalate? I really wasn’t looking forward to finding out.

Tobi made slings for everyone in the group and it was decided that we would all take turns practising against the Razortooths. With so many of us taking potshots, it wasn't really surprising that we started killing the Razortooths rather than just driving them off. What was surprising that honestly shouldn’t have been in hindsight, was the amount of EXP the Razortooths were awarding upon being killed. Each Razortooth was worth as much EXP as a similarly ranked Orc from the first floor. So assumedly, the Razortooths were tier one monsters and the bottom of the food chain, at least in this section of the floor. Who knows what monsters there are in the grassland that was presumably somewhere out there beyond the horizon.

Remembering my question from earlier I took a break from sling throwing practice and began walking alongside Emelia, Toofy and Beaky. “Emelia? What sort of training did you have to do to become a Monster Tamer?” I asked curiously.

Emelia stiffened and gnawed at her lip nervously, “Um, ah, I can’t tell you,” she replied nervously,

“What do you mean?” I asked a little put out by her flat-out refusal.

“Ah, I mean, I literally can’t!” Emelia insisted, “They made us swear a special oath and everything!”

“Special oath?” This is the first I was hearing of anything like this.

“Emelia is right,” Nadine chimed in, apparently having overheard the conversation, “All prospective adventurers have to swear a magically binding oath not to reveal the class training methods of the Guild.”

“Oh...” Now things were starting to make sense.

Continuing walking for a while and not really thinking about it all that much, a thought suddenly occurred to me. Was the Guild branch manager after me because he suspected I was the one who taught Nadine her field surgeon class? The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that it was true. Damnit! I don’t blame Nadine for doing her best to make the most of her newfound healing abilities, but it was pretty obvious now that it was the primary motivator for this current escalation. I mean, assuming the surgeons Guild had a similar oath to secrecy for its members as the adventurers Guild, that made my ability to teach those classes incredibly valuable. This all just made what Jacque had said doubly true, I had brought this on myself.

Judging by the somewhat guilty look on Nadine’s face, I guessed that she was thinking along similar trains of thought. ‘Sorry Tim,” she apologised, “I probably could have been more discreet about it...”

I shook my head and sighed, “it doesn't matter now, what’s done is done. Besides, this might all be for the best, who knows?”

Nadine looked relieved and nodded, “The third floor should be a good chance for us to make some real coin, improve our equipment and level up,” she added optimistically.

“You think we will really be able to take refuge with a monster settlement?” I asked nervously.

Nadine hesitated, but nodded, “I think so. Rose and Kirk both seem to think it will work and they should know, being retired adventurers themselves.”

That piqued my curiosity a little. Despite being a staple of most RPG’s and fantasy settings, I didn’t really get a battle-hardened vibe from either of them until the raid on the town. “Do you know their classes and levels?” I asked curiously.

Nadine shrugged uncertainly, “They have to be at least level five or the Guild wouldn’t let them run the inn. But the innkeeper in the third floor’s foothold used to be their party member and he has to be at least level fifteen, so they are probably at least level ten?” She guessed with another shrug.

“The Guild has a minimum level requirement for innkeepers?” I asked somewhat incredulously. I mean it kind of makes sense, given the danger and the fact that they were expected to keep adventurers in line.

Nadine nodded, “The standard rule is at least five levels per floor of the Labyrinth and more favourable rates for being higher than the minimum. I think it's similar for the managers too,” she remarked as an afterthought with a sour expression.

Now that was important information. “So the manager on the third floor is at least a level fifteen Slaver?” I asked pointedly.

“Yes, or at least an equivocal class, although I haven’t heard of any classes that would be considered interchangeable with the Slaver,” Nadine admitted thoughtfully.

“So how much stronger do adventurers get as they level anyway?” I asked curiously. It had been something that was bothering me for a while now. If an adventurer's stat progression continued at the rate I was witnessing thus far, then it seemed quite bizarre that adventurers would continue struggling much against monsters deeper in the Labyrinths.

Nadine smiled and nodded in understanding, “Not very,” she admitted glibly, “Class progression is similar to the tier progression of monsters. After level five, you only get additional stats every fifth level. But you do get one additional maximum mana per level as well, which is pretty important since you need mana for using magic items and using some special class abilities.”

I hadn't expected that. “So how does the increased mana work regarding monster tier progression? I asked warily.

“That is counted separately, like your base stats and class bonuses. Or at least that is what I have heard anyway,” Nadine shrugged.

So if Nadine was right, I would eventually be able to Shadow Step? That seemed kind of cool. Recalling how much EXP I would need to make that happen quickly put an end to my wishful thinking though. Besides I just realised something very troubling indeed, Toofy had access to that ability synergy as well, and she would soon have mana to be able to use it. The thoughts of what kind of mischief she could get into with near impunity were very nearly enough to give me a stress migraine on the spot.

As if on cue, a familiar-looking dust cloud was hurtling towards us on the dusty plain.

“Dibs!” Shouted Clarice, racing off towards the approaching Draptor with open arms and a manic expression of determination plastered on her face. Holding no weapon, it was obvious that Clarice intended to try and subdue the murder bird with her bare hands.

Damnit...

I dropped my sling and raced after Clarice. So far as I knew, Clarice had no real idea what the Draptor’s racial abilities were, let alone its stats. She wasn’t even wearing her damn helmet because of the heat. Now lamenting having captured the first one, hoped that at least this Draptor would be smaller and easier to knock out...

It wasn’t. The rapidly approaching Draptor was noticeably larger than Beaky and appeared to be far more vicious with darker plumage and a myriad of scars littering its face and legs.

Damnit...

Snatching up a large rock from off the ground, I slowed and hurled it at the Draptor in an attempt to hit it somewhere around its centre mass. I would have missed if the Draptor hadn’t tried to dodge and accidentally facilitated a glancing blow.

Fortunately for Clarice, the Draptor now changed targets, shrieking angrily from the pain. Unfortunately for me, the Draptor was now targeting me instead.

Clarice leapt at the Draptor in a flying tackle but missed, tumbling into the dirt.

Picking up another rock, I had just enough time for one last throw before the Draptor would be in range to batter me with its beak or start raking me with its talons. Or at least that is what I had thought as I reached down to pick up the rock. Quickly looking up again, I was very nearly face to beak with the Draptor. Desperately stumbling to the side, the rock slipped from my hand as I flailed my arms trying to keep my balance.

*Thwap*

The Draptor staggered as I accidentally smacked the side of its head. I hadn’t hit it very hard, so the Draptor quickly shook it off and hissed at me angrily as it stalked towards me.

Pulling my morning star from my belt, I warily paced to the side of the Draptor to try and give myself as much room as possible to swing or dodge.

Just as the Draptor and I prepared to attack, a rock smacked into the back of the Draptor’s head.

*Crack*

The rock broke into pieces and the Draptor collapsed, twitching and keening as blood began welling behind its head and soaking into the sand.

“GOT IT!” Clarice roared in triumph, “EMELIA! Get over here and tame it already!” She demanded.

“I think you overdid it,” I stated bluntly, pointing to the nasty wound on the back of the Draptors head.

“Oh, shit...” Clarice cursed, “You better come too Nadine!” She shouted insistently.

Emelia arrived a couple of seconds later and within moments the dying Draptor’s information was added to the group status.

[Draptor - HP: -7/32 - Bloodied, Stunned ]

Confident that the Draptor now wouldn’t bite my hand off, I wadded a bunch of the small cloths that had been used to wrap our food and pressed them against the large gash in the back of the bird's head. Thankfully, near as I could tell, the skull was still intact.

Nadine reached up a few moments later. “What should I do?” She asked, pulling out her own small medical kit.

“Could you try just healing the wound as it is now?” I asked, “This will be a good test to see what the limits of the ability are.”

Nadine nodded and pressed her hand against the bloodied cloth. Within moments, the wadded mass of cloth began glowing and slowly disintegrating until they disappeared entirely.

[Nadine has healed a {Moderate Wound} +100 Exp]

The gash in the back of the Draptor’s head had closed significantly compared to before and was no longer bleeding. Seeing that the Draptor was back into positive values of HP I didn’t think we should use any of our limited medical supplies just yet. “I think we should try and heal the rest of the Draptor’s missing HP with food,” I suggested.

“You mean Thunder,” Clarice interjected.

“Huh?” I looked over and saw Clarice with her arms crossed and a smug expression on her face, “His name is Thunder.”

“Thunder?” I asked warily, although I was quite certain of why.

“Because he has black and grey feathers and it sounds badass!” Clarice replied matter of factly.

I just stared blankly at Clarice until she broke eye contact. Beaky was unacceptable? But Thunder is okay? I rolled my eyes and sighed exasperatedly. Granted, I couldn’t exactly think of a better name myself, but I wasn’t the one openly criticizing other people's choices.

Although...

I glanced at the Draptor’s heavily muscled legs and smirked as I realised the fun I could have with a particular nickname. All will quake in terror at the mere sight of Clarice and her ferocious steed, Thunder Thighs!