Chapter 18

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know!” The Angel whined fearfully, attempting to recoil away but rendered incapable of doing so by Gric’s iron grip upon his arms.

“What did you do to her!” I snarled, pointing a trembling finger at Lash who was still comatose on the floor.

The Angel gulped hard, “I-I cast Judgement on her...” He stammered as if that answered the question.

“Then UNCAST IT!” I growled, the knuckles in both my fists popping as I fought hard to restrain myself.

The Angel grew deathly pale and tried shrinking back and away from me, but Gric wouldn’t allow it. “I...I can’t...” He whispered fearfully.

A sudden surge of fury drove me forward and I barely managed to regain control of myself in time to avoid wringing the Angel’s neck. With a monumental force of will, I slowly withdrew my hands from around his throat, “Why, not?!” I demanded quietly.

Hyperventilating and obviously terrified, the Angel began to cry. “I-I It-It’s n-not h-h-how I-it w-w-works!”

“Then I have no use for you...” The coldness in my voice would have once disturbed me, but it didn’t stop me from reaching out to take hold of the Angel’s neck.

*Boom*

Looking back towards the gate I was just in time to watch the doors shudder under the force of a second impact, shortly followed by another and then another.

*Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Crack*

A web of fractures began spreading over the rightmost door, growing larger and deepening with each impact.

“It is most likely Dar, my Lord,” Gric explained while still intensely staring at the Angel in his grasp.

I slowly began tightening my grip.

The Angel’s eyes bulged as my grip grew tighter, cutting off the blood flow to his brain. “Pleash....urk...no!...”

Feeling the angel go limp, I let go. And began making my way over to Lash. Gently opening her right eye, I could see that her pupil was heavily dilated and could feel her skin trembling faintly beneath my touch. Whatever the angel had done to her, Lash seemed to be under the effects of a hallucination, suggested by the twitching of her eyes.

“Bind the Angel,” I told Gric numbly, “If it tries to escape, kill it.”

“Of course Lord,” Gric bowed and slowly made his way over towards Toofy to retrieve the necessary rope.

Toofy bared her teeth in anger and contempt as the Angel was brought closer, and to my surprise, Ril began to stir. “Baby?!” Toofy gave Ril a rough shake.

“Nng...” Ril pushed feebly at Toofy in response, groggily opening her eyes with a dazed expression on her face, “Mama?...”

“Baby!” Toofy pulled Ril in tight for another hug, fresh tears running down her cheeks.

Ril’s eyes suddenly snapped into focus, “Mama!” She hugged Toofy back tightly.

After a couple of minutes, the damaged stone door collapsed inwards and scattered broken chunks of stone across the floor.

Unsurprisingly, Dar was the first through the breach, staggering drunkenly and rubbing irritably at his bleeding head. If it weren't for his split and bleeding knuckles, I would have thought Dar had been exclusively battering his thick head against the door in order to breach it, although it was only a small consolation given the numerous bruises on his head.

“Lord!” Qreet was next through the breach, carrying Asra in her arms, who appeared to be more or less okay, albeit a little shaken. “The blood outside is drawing more Blood Hunters! What are your orders?!”

“We are going to kill them,” I replied coldly.

“They-are-many,” Dar rumbled, cocking his head curiously to one side and staring at me with one large crocodilian eye.

“We will kill them all,” I repeated. “Gric,I want you and two others to protect Asra, Lash, Toofy and Ril.”

“As you command my Lord,” Gric replied eagerly.

Nodding in appreciation, I turned back to Qreet and Dar, “Qreet, I want you to pick four other Daemons and hold the door. Dar, you and the rest are with me.”

“By your will Lord,” Qreet bowed and lowered Asra to the ground before hurriedly making her choice of defenders.

“Dar-obey!” Dar rumbled excitedly, a sentiment shared by many of the remaining Daemons.

After retrieving my morning star, I considered leaving without saying anything to Toofy, but thought better of it. Quickly making my way over and kneeling down beside her, I didn’t know what to say. “Stay safe, okay?” I asked uncertainly, the reality of what I was committing to beginning to sink in and aggravate the primitive part of my brain.

Toofy and Ril both nodded, “Keep Lash safe too!” Toofy insisted, “Yeah!” Ril nodded energetically, wincing slightly from the pain in her abdomen.

I gave them both a brief hug before getting back to my feet, “I’m so proud of you.” With great effort, I turned away and headed for the door, donning Lash’s helmet as I went.

As per my instructions, Gric and Qreet had both chosen their subordinates to assist in defending the dungeon, while Dar and the remaining Daemons were waiting outside.

Exiting the dungeon and standing alongside Dar, I was a little surprised to find that he was almost as tall as me and very nearly as wide. If he were to stand upright, Dar would certainly be the taller of the two of us, although the heavily packed muscles on his back made such an event unlikely.

Wraithe was amongst those waiting for me outside, her large batlike ears twitching in excitement. “Lord! They are coming!” She hissed, eliciting a chorus of muted growls from the other Daemons.

“We-crush-them!” Dar snapped with a throaty growl, lumbering forwards to the outermost edge of the pack of Daemons.

Confident Dar would be capable of holding his own, I passed through the Daemons and took up a position on the leftmost side. With Dar more or less holding the right and myself on the left, I hoped that the remaining Daemons would be enough to stop anything from getting through into the dungeon.

After less than half a minute, I could hear the swarm approaching from down the tunnel.

The swarm spilled out of the tunnel and into the cavern. Free of the confinement of the tunnel, the dog-sized rodents spread out across the open ground of the cavern and barrelled towards our position with bloodthirsty abandon. Forking at the lake, a full two thirds or more of the swarm were headed straight for Dar, while the remainder headed for me.

Expecting to feel afraid at the seemingly limitless swarm headed in our direction, all I felt was anger.

“RAAAAAAGH!!! DAR KILL!!!” Dar bellowed in challenge, the concussive force of his outburst causing the frontrunners of the swarm to become disoriented and trampled by their kin.

“LET NONE PASS!!!” I roared, burning a point of MP to activate my Class Ability.

To my surprise, a half-second later, a cry reverberated from within the dungeon. “THE LORD’S WILL BE DONE!!!” Gric cried, his words causing the nearby Daemons to swell in size and ferocity.

*Crunch*

I caught the front runner on my flank and was very nearly bowled over as twenty more Blood Hunters barrelled into me, scratching and biting at every exposed piece of my flesh.

Ignoring the minor flashes of pain, I flailed my right arm wildly and felt the spikes of my morningstar cutting and puncturing the seething mass of monsters, despite the reduced momentum. With my left hand, I began grabbing for anything I could get a hold of and squeezed. I didn’t shy away from the feeling of broken bones and rent flesh as I had before. This violence had a purpose.

Taking a shorter grip on my morningstar, I laid into the swarm with increased vigour. No matter what the rodents tried, they accomplished little more than turning my clothes to rags. Too weak to pierce my skin, their chisel-like teeth were essentially useless and their small claws even more so.

With adrenaline crashing through my veins. I surged through the swarm like they were water, trampling any of the vermin unfortunate enough to be caught underfoot.

The Daemons were holding their ground. Those in the front most position were taking the worst of the onslaught but weren’t backing down, savagely ripping the Blood Hunter’s to pieces and gorging themselves on the fresh meat whenever possible.

Dar was a fortress unto himself, killing the Blood Hunters with sweeping arcs of his powerful claws, dashing them to bloody pieces.

Somewhat following his lead, I balled my left hand into a fist and began bashing at the Blood Hunters rather than wasting time trying to grab and crush something important. Blinded momentarily by a golden flash of light, I didn’t bother taking in the status alert, blinking it away so I could continue fighting unimpeded. Judging by the fact that it had been dismissed so easily, it was probably a level-up notification. So it could definitely wait until later.

Seeing the swarms numbers beginning to thin, I realised that I had completely lost track of time. Almost like sleepwalking, I had been functioning just about entirely on autopilot.

Quickly glancing back towards the Daemons, I was relieved to find that they were continuing to doggedly hold the line. At some point, the rearmost and frontmost ranks had changed places with one another. Both groups were covered in blood and small wounds, although they seemed no less enthusiastic for their injuries. This was likely due to the fact that even as the injuries were mounting on those in front, the wounds were rapidly healing on those standing behind.

Even with the swarm weakening by the moment, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that worse was yet to come. The Blood Hunters, although numerous, had hardly been a real threat. Benefitting from a stack of damage mitigating and damage dealing synergies, the Daemons seemed capable of holding their ground near indefinitely. Knowing this, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something dangerous was headed their way.

Laying into the swarm with greater vigour, I smashed and bashed my way over to the tunnel entrance to the cavern. At first, I saw nothing, but that in and of itself should have been a warning. All luminescent fungi had been obliterated, even those growing higher up on the walls and ceiling of the tunnel. All but ignoring the few Blood Hunters that attempted to harass and distract me, I was still very nearly bowled over as the first of the Spinebacks bellowed a challenge and surged into the cavern.

Barely stumbling out of the way in time, I saw three more Spinebacks enter the cavern moments after the first, two scaling the walls and the last effortlessly scuttling across the ceiling.

I quickly realized that I had made a grave tactical error in defending the dungeon entrance instead of the tunnel. But there was still a chance to change that. “QREET! DAR! TO ME!!!” I roared and took a longer grip on my morningstar again.

*Crunch*

I swatted a Spineback off the wall and pushed forward while shoving at the armoured back of another with my free hand.

“RAAAAGH!” Dar bellowed, shaking the ground as he charged towards my position, “DAR KILL!!!”

“WRAITHE!” I jabbed a Spineback in the eye with one of my morningstar’s spikes, “CHOOSE FOUR AND PELT THEM OFF THE WALLS AND CEILING!!” Without slings, I honestly wasn’t expecting much, but the Spinebacks were enlarging the tunnel with every passing second they were delayed. It would only be a matter of time before they were spilling across the ceiling and out of reach.

A few moments later, Dar materialised at my side.

*Thump Crunch*

Dar tackled a Spineback with so much force that it caused the unfortunate creature to vomit out more than half its internal organs. Bleeding from a small puncture wound, Dar savaged the defenceless Spineback, ripping free a chunk of flesh from its exposed neck and leaving it to die. Gulping down his prize, Dar set to attacking the encroaching Spinebacks with reckless abandon, like some sort of enraged reptilian gorilla.

As ordered, Wraithe and her selected Daemons had begun pelting stones at the few Spinebacks that had managed to slip past. Considering they lacked slings, practice and were still being harassed by the remaining Blood Hunters, as near as I could tell, they were doing an admirable job.

Hearing a pitiable screech from the ceiling, I glanced back just in time to see a Spineback topple to the ground.

*Thump*

Although the fall did not kill it, the Spineback seemed close to paralyzed.

Nimbly scuttling along the ceiling, Qreet homed in on her next target.

Unable to look away from the vicious melee for more than a handful of seconds, I very nearly lost a finger when a Spineback scythed its claws against the back of its kin. Missed only by a hair's breadth, I had no doubt that Toofy’s defensive synergy was the only reason I had managed to pull back in time.

*Whump*

I slugged the offending Spineback in the flank to repay it for the effort and slammed my morningstar down on the back of another. Without the natural weaponry of the Daemons, I supposed I was probably doing reasonably well. Unfortunately, unlike Dar, I was not able to find suitable footholds and was left behind a growing wall of bloody corpses.

Seeing that the majority of the Blood Hunters had been dealt with, I made my decision. The Daemons would need to hold the line on their own, short of scrambling over the pile and fighting on the other side, my involvement was no longer viable. “WRAITHE! KILL WHAT REMAINS OF THE SWARM! ONCE THEY ARE DEAD, JOIN DAR IN DEFENDING THE TUNNEL!!”

“I OBEY LORD!” Wraithe shrieked back with excitement, “FOLLOW ME! CULL THE WEAK!!!”

The chorus of eager cries in response was a little disconcerting, but it also served as a reminder of the fact that I was dealing with literal Daemons.

Stepping back from the wall of corpses at the entrance of the tunnel, I began making my way back to the dungeon. Theoretically, so long as Asra was kept alive and manastones were funnelled back for him to use, the Daemon blockade could be maintained indefinitely. Assuming the water in the lake was drinkable, and no one got sick from eating raw meat.

“-have to leave!” The Angel cried, ”The dungeon will soon collapse! What part of that sentence do you not understand?!”

Clearing the doorway, I could see the Angel squaring up against Gric as best as he was able, which wasn’t particularly impressive given he was very nearly cocooned in rope, struggling to remain upright on his knees.

“YOU! Ogre!” Taking note of my arrival, the Angel shifted the entirety of its attention to me. “We have to leave! The dungeon will soon collapse and kill us all!”

“Is this true?” I asked Gric, unwilling to take an enemy at their word.

Gric shrugged, “It is possible Lord,” he admitted sceptically, “More likely the Angel seeks a chance to escape.”

The Angel gave Gric an incredulous look of disdain.

“Angel says Mama’s treasure will let us escape,” Ril added.

“Treasure?” I asked warily, turning my attention to Toofy, I could see she was suspiciously avoiding eye contact.

Ril gave me an apologetic look before giving Toofy a pinch, “Mama, show Tim!” She insisted.

“Ow!” Toofy flinched and wrinkled her face in thought for a moment before letting out a deep sigh, “Fine, Toofy do...” An ornate gold and silver stave appeared in Toofy’s outstretched hand. Easily more than seven feet in length, somehow she was able to hold up the staff as if it weighed less than a pen.

“Just give me the staff and I can get us all out of here!” The angel demanded, earning a none too gentle kick to the back from Gric.

“Why?” I demanded in turn, “What does it do?”

The Angel groaned and tried rising to his knees again, but failed. “It is a Lesser Staff of Planar Travel,” the Angel grunted angrily, “And I am the only one that would be able to use it!”

“Lies!” Gric hissed, snapping a quick kick to the Angel’s stomach before turning his attention to me, “Lord, someone of your immense strength would have no problems dominating such a paltry magical item and binding it to his will.”

“You believe the staff is magical?” I asked warily.

Gric nodded, “Yes Lord. I can feel its power, and even though it is incomplete, it should serve sufficiently well to provide an escape for those you deem important.”

“Incomplete?” I asked curiously, eyeing the staff and noticing that the clawed tip was actually an empty socket. “Is Ril’s jewel meant to slot into the top?”

Moving closer while Toofy materialised the jewel in her other hand, I noticed a faint shimmering distortion emanating from the staff. No more than a quarter of an inch from the surface of the staff, it still gave me the impression of looking through a pane of glass. Warping and bending the light to distort what was visible on the other side. Unable to slot the jewel into the socket, Toofy shrugged apologetically and offered them both to me instead.

Four separate alerts appeared in rapid succession, the first was a resplendent gold, the second a deep bloody crimson, and the last pair a dull and all too familiar grey.

[Staff of {Lesser Planar Travel} has been acquired! ]

[Limited use item: (5/5)]

[Lesser Planar Travel: Expending MP allows the wielder to open a portal to a location well known to them. While open, the portal will continue to drain MP from the wielder. Incapable of opening a portal beyond the current floor of the Labyrinth. {Intelligence} reduces the required MP to maintain the portal.]

[You have acquired a Jewel of Elemental Water.]

[Jewel of Elemental Water: Accelerates MP regeneration of the owner while they are immersed in water. The rate of MP regeneration is dependent upon the owners {Willpower}.]

[You are not qualified to unlock this Class. {Incompatible}.]

[You have qualified to unlock the {Rift Walker} Basic Class.]

“Bloody hell...” I croaked in relief. The staff was like some sort of town portal item. All we needed was enough mana to operate it and we would be fine. Seeing no racial restrictions or anything absurd like that regarding the staff, there was no way I was going to let the Angel anywhere near it.

Gric, Ril and Asra would be our best bet for sheer volume of MP. Quickly looking through their stats I was only slightly surprised to see that Ril had the highest Intelligence of the three of them with twelve, Gric came second with eleven and Asra in the rear with ten.

Gric’s relatively high Intelligence and high MP made him a logical choice for activating the Staff of Lesser Planar Travel to allow our escape, “Gric-”

Seemingly having come to the same conclusion, Gric shook his head, “No Lord,” he pointed to Ril and Toofy, “Ril would be a better choice. I am just a projection.”

I was far too familiar with Daemon psychology at this point to be blindsided by Gric's seeming benevolence. If he was suggesting this as an alternative, then Gric truly believed it was the optimal solution. Thinking it over for a moment, I had to agree that he was right.

Assuming Ril would be the last to pass through the portal, Gric or perhaps Qreet would be able to serve as an emergency safety to open a second portal in case something went wrong. Furthermore, I didn’t doubt for a moment that Gric fully intended to harvest and bring back as many manastones as possible

“Alright, Ril,” I held out the staff for her to take, “Are you able to activate the staff?” I asked, doing my best to not sound nervous, in spite of the visible panic on the Angel’s face.

Ril eagerly accepted the staff and greedily eyed the Jewel of Elemental Water before hastily nodding in agreement, “I can,” she agreed, still pointedly staring at the jewel in my hand.

Rolling my eyes a little, I sighed and offered Ril the jewel.

Ril snatched it without a second thought, avariciously holding it before her eyes with a near manic obsession. Knowing what it did, I could easily understand why.

Carrying Lash over my shoulder I took a firm hold of the Angel by the back of his neck. Leading the others out of the dungeon, just in case, I was glad to see that the Daemons were holding the tunnel entrance, albeit barely.

As I had feared would happen, the Spinebacks were enlarging the entrance to the tunnel and quite probably the tunnel beyond as well.

Supported by Toofy, Ril gingerly climbed the broken remains of the front door and entered the cavern beside me.

With a telling look from Gric, the Daemons who had been left behind as protection set upon the scattered corpses and began retrieving manastones as well as filling their bellies. Not that I could blame them. The fighting back to Sanctuary’s protective barrier was likely going to be brutal.

Toofy gave the Angel a vicious glare from the corner of her eye, a shiv materializing in her free hand.

Giving Ril a nod, I held my breath and hoped nothing would go wrong..

Rill nodded, closed her eyes and took a deep breath just as I had done. Quickly cloaked in a crimson aura, Ril held out the staff in front of her, “Activate Staff of Lesser Planar Travel!” Ril’s normally quiet voice crashed through the cavern like a thunderclap. Tapping the clawed end of the staff on the cavern floor, the familiar shimmering form of a portal took shape in the air. The carved surface of Sanctuary’s Totem could be seen but was heavily distorted.

Just as I took a step towards the portal, I was temporarily disoriented by a complete absence of sound that lasted less than a second. Noticing the same bewildered expressions on everyone else, it took me a few moments to realize that the dungeon entrance had disappeared, exposing another tunnel and a moving wall of Clay Dolls.

“Through the portal! Now!” With both my arms occupied, I quickly strode through the portal and arrived in a familiar section of swampland. Despite the portal having shown the Totem, the distortion likely represented a variable nature to the magic. Less ideal than I would have preferred, it was still manageable. I was less than five minutes from Sanctuary, so it would not take long to reach safety. However, waiting for more than two minutes in relative silence, I began to worry about the others.

What if they teleported into a pool of water?

My stomach churned with unease. I had to get back to Sanctuary and organize a search party!

“No...” I quickly realized that I didn’t. I could form a search party right here and now damnit!

Issuing the quest to every occupant of Sanctuary, I began hurrying towards the safety of the barrier myself.

By the time the swamp gave way to the cleared expanse and briarwall, I was relieved to see Deep Orc and Serpent-Kin search parties out in force. It was a good thing too because I had no fewer than seven Swamp Lurkers trailing a short distance behind me and had no way of fighting them without setting down Lash or the Angel.

Striking for the closest hunting team, I spent one of my few remaining MP to give them a boost in fighting strength, slowing only long enough to make sure they had the fight well in hand before rushing towards Sanctuary.

Having had to switch to carrying the Angel by the ropes on his back, the near-constant shaking had already caused him to vomit a half dozen times. By the time I set him down by the inner gate, the Angel was barely capable of moaning feebly and looked thoroughly ill.

“I want him watched,” I told the guards still at their posts, “I will be back soon.” Leaving the Angel in their care, I rushed Lash towards the hospital. With any luck, the Hospice Surgeons would be able to rouse her and we would be able to go hunting for the others together.

Just as I reached the hospital, I was very nearly blinded as both Lash and myself erupted with golden light signalling another level up. Blinking away the status alert for later, I groggily trudged across the threshold. “I need a healer!” I called out loudly while striding towards what I hoped was an empty room.

Thankfully the room was empty and I could hear hurried footsteps outside in the entrance hall. “In here!” I called out again while laying Lash down on the bed.

Within a handful of seconds, the room went from being very nearly empty to close to overflowing with surgeons.

“An enemy hit her with some sort of spell,” I explained to no one in particular.

“What do her stats say?” Someone called back from amidst the crowd. It was something I should have checked the moment she went down and the embarrassment very nearly stayed my tongue, especially after I had drilled the importance of the stats information in diagnosing someone quickly.

[Lash - HP: 34/34 - Unconscious, Cursed ]

I read her stats aloud and nervously watched as one of the Hospice Surgeons cast their Class Ability and other surgeons set about removing Lash’s armour to give her a more thorough inspection.

[Ril - HP: 7/20 - Bloodied ]

The Angel had really hurt Ril quite badly, even after healing part of the injury, Ril was still Bloodied and that worried me a great deal. If those Scourges could smell blood, or worse, home in on Bloodied targets, then Ril, Asra and Toofy would be in immense danger.

Removing Lash’s helmet from off my head and depositing it alongside the rest of her armour, I tried to make up my mind on what to do. I couldn’t just leave Lash like this, but the others needed me and I would do far more good out there than in here.

Heading to the hospital fountain to wash myself off, I quickly realized that my pants were beyond saving, literally torn to shreds and nothing more than tattered rags. My boxers had fared a little better, but a few holes in the crotch caused me to shiver as I realised how close I had come to being neutered.

Splashing myself with fresh water and ripping away my useless pants, I began heading back to Lash’s room but stopped as a golden status alert flashed in front of my eyes.

[Quest: Find and Rescue the Children! {Active}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Asra} found by {Sgt. Davis} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Asra} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {TBD} {Toofy} remains unfound]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {TBD} {Ril} remains unfound]

“Oh shit...What did I do?” I cursed myself for being so stupid and ran towards Sanctuary’s gate as fast as I could manage. There was no way in hell the army was just going to ignore the fact that I could issue quests, and even though Lt. Felix and Cpt. Klive seemed like an alright sort, so had the Guild manager...I needed to get a handle on this situation fast, before someone did something stupid, like trying to take my people hostage in exchange for Exp!

*****

“Fuck!...” Lt. Felix cursed defeatedly as he read the quest’s status alert. Just like all the other soldiers, Lt. Felix had been presented with the quest close to a quarter of an hour or so prior. It had only been by pure chance that he witnessed the arrival of the monster boy on the fringes of the camp and seen first hand as Sgt. Davis spotted the boy and challenged his entry to the camp.

The next couple of minutes had led to near-complete anarchy as Sgt. Davis and every member of his watch detachment proceeded to light up the camp like the blazing sun had crashed down from the sky.

Fueling that anarchy were the cries of Sgt. Davis’s men loudly proclaiming their multiple levels of advancement.

Apparently no one but Lt. Felix and Cpt. Klive realized just how much trouble they were in right now. If the Ogre was the one to issue the quest, and Lt. Felix had no reason to think he hadn’t, then the Ogre also knew who currently had at least one of the three missing children.

Lt. Felix wasn’t an idiot, he had read just about every report on the Hurst Labyrinth during his time at the academy. In every single instance where a child was abducted from a Variant, settlement or no, it would immediately escalate into brutal warfare. Regardless of species and even generations-old feuds, Variants would set aside their differences and kill every human in sight until the child was returned or the Variants were completely wiped out.

All too often, the army was forced to enact the latter, as whatever irresponsible adventurer or lordling that performed the abduction had long fled and were near impossible to find. The fighting, by all accounts, was hellish and responsible for the ongoing instability present on floor thirty-two. Hansel, the third son of Duke Varik, had enslaved and run off with a Sylvan girl more than eighty years ago. Every attempt at peace had been violently rebuffed with the same demands made. It mattered little to the Variants that they had collectively lost tens of thousands to the ongoing war, all they wanted was the return of the child.

Lt. Felix had few doubts that the Ogre would prove any different, and the prospect of fighting an enraged Ogre was beyond terrifying. Everything he had read about Ogres agreed upon one thing only, their voracious appetites and preference for still living flesh.

Suppressing a shiver, Lt. Felix began making his way towards the established meeting location to try and fend off the inevitable. With only Sergeants Barus and Louis for company, in spite of the latter’s sour mood, Lt. Felix felt a sort of relief at the prospect that at least he wouldn’t be facing down the monsters alone, but also felt guilty for similar reasons. If the negotiations went poorly, there was no real reason for all three of them to die.

Seeing the Ogre already heading towards them, and a brutal Orc hatchet in his dominant hand, Lt. Felix waved Sgt. Barus and Sgt. Louis back while continuing ahead alone. Who knows, maybe the handful of seconds head start would be enough for the both of them to make it back to camp.

“Where is he?!” The Ogre wasted no time and cut straight to the point, veins bulging across his heavily muscled body.

Lt. Felix gulped hard and raised both hands placatingly, “The boy is safe in our camp,” he hurriedly explained, “No harm has come to him-”

The Ogre’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“-We, uh, were just waiting for the chance to give him back...” Lt. Felix explained hoarsely, his throat had suddenly become quite dry. In truth, Cpt. Klive had not given the necessary orders yet and was still attempting to bring the camp back under control.

“Bring him to me, NOW,” The Ogre demanded, an unspoken, “Or else,” being heavily implied.

Lt. Felix turned to his men and nodded. To his Immense relief, both of them quickly headed back towards the camp.

[Quest: Find and Rescue the Children! {Active}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Asra} found by {Sgt. Davis} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Asra} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Toofy} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Toofy} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Ril} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Ril} returned to Sanctuary]

The sudden appearance of the quest alert took Lt. Felix by surprise, but it seemed like the Ogre had been waiting for it and had immediately begun scanning the swamplands. Blinking away the quest information, Lt. Felix could see that the Ogre’s expression had worsened considerably.

“All of them, NOW!” The Ogre growled, baring his large powerful teeth menacingly and heading towards the army’s camp.

With no express orders to stop the Ogre from entering the camp, Lt. Felix hoped for everyone's sake that the Variants children were handed over without bloodshed.

*****

Riding a wave of adrenaline, I strode through the human army’s camp like I owned the place. In my old life, I had grown used to looks of disgust and contempt, but it was something else entirely to be surrounded by terrified faces of men and women that looked like they had just stepped out of a historical drama. Despite the fact that they were all armed and armoured, precious few stood their ground as I swept through their camp.

“Where are they?!” I demanded, shoving aside one such soldier who had attempted to hold their ground, sending him bodily tumbling into a nearby tent. Noticing a commotion on the southernmost edge of the camp, I changed course.

A small brawl had broken out amongst the soldiers. The two officers that had been sent by Lt. Felix were engaged in a pitched bare-knuckle brawl against five other soldiers, two of which were already unconscious or groaning painfully on the ground.

Another pair of soldiers held the cowering form of Asra between them. Judging by the pained expression on the boy’s face, the soldiers were not being particularly gentle.

At my approach, the fighting broke up almost immediately, with the unidentified soldiers attempting to scurry back towards the other two holding Asra. The elder of Lt. Felix’s subordinates took the sudden distraction as an opportunity to sweep the legs out from underneath his opponent and then viciously stomp their face, knocking them out cold.

“Why is the Ogre in the camp?!” One of Asra’s captors demanded fearfully, “Monsters shouldn’t be allowed inside the camp!” His voice grew high and pitchy, close to breaking.

Lt. Felix hurried ahead of me, joined his subordinates and drew his sword, “Sergeant Davis! You are ordered to relinquish custody of the Variant child IMMEDIATELY!”

The other soldier let go and hurriedly backed away.

The soldier who had spoken earlier, presumably Sgt. Davis, determinedly clung to Asra’s arm and scowled, “The quest reward is mine! Sir,” he spoke the last with visceral contempt. “Aint no way I am givin it up!”

While Sgt. Davis was distracted, Asra opened his mouth wide and bit down hard on the soldier's exposed hand.

“FUCK!” Sgt. Davis punched Asra hard in the face, sending the poor kid tumbling backwards.

Leaping towards Asra, I glared balefully at the surrounding soldiers.

“Arrest him!” Lt. Felix commanded, pointing his sword at Sgt. Davis.

Most of the soldiers just stared in confusion, but Lt. Felix’s subordinates and a few others quickly mobbed Sgt. Davis and quickly incapacitated him.

A sudden blinding flash of light caught everyone by surprise as a new status alert appeared.

[Quest: Find and Rescue the Children! {Active}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Asra} rescued by {Lt. Felix} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Asra} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Toofy} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Toofy} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Ril} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Ril} returned to Sanctuary]

While everyone was distracted, I lifted Asra up and quickly carried him towards the briarwall. As I had hoped, Hana more or less understood what was going on and opened a small path most of the way through the briars. Lowering Asra down again, I nudged him towards the opening, “Go, I will find the others,” I reassured him.

Asra took a tentative step into the briarwall and stopped, “I don’t want to run away,” he said quietly, his eyes drifting downward in shame.

“I need you to be safe, so I can find them,” I insisted, “Not summoning Gric or any of the other Daemons was very brave, but incredibly stupid. If anything like this ever happens again, you have my permission to summon as many of them as you need to in order to stay safe. Alright?”

Asra timidly nodded and slowly disappeared into the briars.

[Quest: Find and Rescue the Children! {Active}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Asra} rescued by {Lt. Felix} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {Success} {Asra} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Toofy} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Toofy} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Ril} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Ril} returned to Sanctuary]

There was another bright flash of golden light.

“Tim!” Hana hissed from the direction of the briarwall, “Ril and Toofy are a short distance to the southwest, not far from the outskirts of the camp!”

Once the golden light faded, the briarwall had closed and there was no sign of Hana. All the same, I nodded and began running towards the southwest. Uncaring of the attention I was drawing from the soldiers, I ran like the girls lives depended on it, because it very well might.

Clearing the crude earthworks and palisades of the camp perimeter with ease, I ran off into the swamp. Forced to slow down to keep my footing, I still moved as fast as I felt I could get away with. Within a couple of minutes, I heard soldiers shouting and the voice of one soldier, in particular, that sounded familiar.

“-don’t care! Shoot the bloody things down from the tree!” The familiar voice demanded, “Do it or I’ll have you flogged for insubordination!”

Close enough now that I could make them out through the light fog, there were roughly twenty soldiers gathered roundabout a single tree. Looking up into the topmost branches, I could see Ril and Toofy doing their best to take cover from the four soldiers with bows.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE!!!” I bellowed, stalking along the only viable route.

The soldiers just mutely stared back at me for a handful of seconds before one of the archers pulled back the string of his bow and fired.

*Thwack*

The arrow struck my shoulder and the shaft shattered, releasing a hail of splinters.

*Thwack*

Another archer fired and caught me in the chest, the arrow snapping and flying away much like the first but in larger pieces.

*Clunk*

One of the soldiers beneath the tree fell face-first into the muddy ground, a reddish-grey brick protruding from his helmet.

[Toofy has slain {Human: ??? } +0 Exp]

The fallen soldiers closest companions stared at the brick for a moment, then looked up into the tree with a look of horror.

*Crunch*

[Toofy has slain {Human: ??? } +0 Exp]

Another soldier caught a falling ingot with his face and collapsed.

“Somebody do something!” A familiar-looking soldier demanded, his voice close to breaking.

Recognising the soldier as the man who had been attempting to bully the Serpent-Kin hunting party, I gave him my undivided attention. Unless I missed my guess, he was Lt. Uric.

“S-stay back!” One of the archers stammered in a panic, drawing back his bow and aiming up into the tree, “Stay back!” He repeated with more confidence, “Or I’ll shoot!”

*Whump*

A chunk of stone more than two feet in diameter slammed into the ground near the archer, narrowly missing him but crushing the foot of another soldier. In a panic, the archer released his arrow and stumbled backwards.

The soldier with the crushed foot screamed in agony, but otherwise, everyone had gone quiet.

“TOOFY KILL!” Toofy screamed in rage.

All eyes were drawn up into the tree.

Toofy ran vertically down the trunk of the tree and stabbed the archer in the eye with what looked like a Spineback’s spine.

[Toofy has slain {Human: ??? } +0 Exp]

Riding the dead archer’s body to the ground, she ran straight for Lt. Uric.

With his subordinates too shocked to react, Lt. Uric scrambled backwards and thrust his spear towards Toofy.

“NO!” Charging through the waist-deep water, to avoid a lengthy detour, I could feel the piranhas nipping at my legs.

Toofy tumbled over the spearhead and swiped at Lt. Uric’s gloved fingers.

*Whap*

Lt. Uric awkwardly backhanded Toofy across the face, momentarily causing her to stagger. However, before he had the chance to try and jab Toofy with his spear again, Toofy rolled to the side, taking cover behind one of Lt. Uric’s men.

“Gah!” The soldier cried out in pain, staggering backwards and falling to the ground clutching his leg.

Deftly clambering over the fallen soldier’s body, Toofy narrowly dodged another thrust from Lt. Uric’s spear.

Surging out of the water, I caught the shaft of the nearest soldiers spear as he levelled it towards my chest. Viciously yanking it from his grasp, I swung the but end of the spear hard at another soldier. The spear cracked from the force of the impact and the unfortunate soldier was sent tumbling into the shallows.

*Thwack* *Thwack* *Thwip*

Two arrows smacked into my chest but failed to penetrate. A third arrow narrowly missed my right eye and grazed along the side of my head.

“Kill this thing! Get it away from me!” Lt. Uric shrieked in panic as Toofy continued hounding him across the islet.

Having overcome their initial surprise, the remaining soldiers hastily clumped together and formed a crude shield wall with their spears all directed towards me. Contrary to their superiors orders, it was obvious that these soldiers saw me as the greater threat.

“LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS THIS INSTANT!” A familiar voice thundered from the direction of the soldiers camp.

Quickly glancing over my shoulder, I could see a ragged column of soldiers hurrying towards the battle. At their head was Cpt. Klive and Lt. Felix.

The soldiers in the defensive formation looked first to Cpt. Klive and then briefly at one another. “Fuck this,” one of the soldiers spat and threw down his spear, “Not gonna die for that gits promotion!”

There were grunts of agreement from the others and more weapons were thrown to the ground.

“Cowards!” Shrieked Lt. Uric, now fully on the run from Toofy, having lost his spear and now clutching at his bloodied glove.

Just like that, the last of the soldiers threw down their weapons and edged away.

Shifting my attention from the soldiers to the tree, I could see Ril limply hanging on to one of the topmost branches, although there was no sign of the staff. Hurrying over to the tree, I was just about to contemplate how I was going to climb it, when Ril slipped from her branch.

“Ril!” Diving backwards, I barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Cold to the touch, my eyes were drawn to the arrow lodged in Ril’s shoulder.

[Ril - HP: -1/20 - Bloodied, Bleeding ] [Tim - HP: 42/44 - Enraged ]

Biting down hard on the flesh of my thumb, I felt the warm coppery taste of blood welling into my mouth. Pushing my injured thumb into Ril’s mouth, I winced as a sudden chill swept up my arm and Ril’s jaw clamped down hard, anchoring her long needle-like teeth into my thumb. Almost immediately, her mouth formed an airtight seal and I felt my blood being forcibly redirected through my circulatory system and towards my thumb.

[Ril - HP: 1/20 - Bloodied, Bleeding ] [Tim - HP: 41/44 - Bleeding, Poisoned ]

I shivered and awkwardly cradled Ril against my chest. I wasn’t particularly surprised when Ril’s arms wrapped around my left arm to anchor herself in place. Still holding the axe in my right hand, I was actually somewhat relieved by the lessening of the strain on my hand, particularly given how numb it currently felt.

“Toofy?!” I called out and staggered slightly as I tried to quickly turn my head to look for her.

Lt. Uric was scrambling backwards in the mud as Toofy stalked after him. “I yield! I yield!!” He cried pitiably to no avail. Toofy was clearly out for blood. “Captain! Save me!”

I shifted my attention to Cpt. Klive to see what he would do, as did many of his gathered soldiers.

Meeting my eyes for a moment, Cpt. Klive closed his eyes, sighed and shook his head,

“Captain?!” Lt. Uric screamed.

Cpt. Klive turned away and faced back towards the direction of their camp.

“Captain?!” Lt. Uric screamed again, even more urgently, “Capt-AAAIIE-URGH!” His cries turned to a wet rasping gurgle as Toofy slammed her shiv into his face and jugular over and over again.

“DIE! DIE! DIE! TOOFY KILL!” Toofy screamed in blackhearted fury, blood splashing against her face and chest as she straddled Lt. Uric’s feebly struggling body and stabbed him over and over again.

Looking back towards the soldiers, I was surprised to see that they had all taken Cpt. Klive’s lead and literally turned their backs on Lt. Uric.

Perhaps he was literally as bad as my first impression of him had been, or maybe Cpt. Klive was far shrewder than I had given him credit for.

After all, there was no way he would have been able to intervene in time to stop Toofy from dealing a fatal injury. Besides, there was more to be gained from his death anyway.

[Toofy has slain {Human: ??? } +0 Exp]

[Quest: Find and Rescue the Children! {Active}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Asra} rescued by {Lt. Felix} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {Success} {Asra} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Toofy} rescued by {Cpt. Klive} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Toofy} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Ril} rescued by {Cpt. Klive} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Ril} returned to Sanctuary]

The golden flash of light accompanying the quest update only served to reinforce that idea as the soldiers began excitedly comparing stat gains from their multiple level-ups.

Now that the cat was out of the bag, I was far more valuable to Cpt. Klive and his military. Doubtless, the experienced officer was already crunching the numbers on how much leeway he would give in regards to all manner of hypothetical scenarios.

“Toofy!” I waved at Toofy to get her attention.

Caked with blood, Toofy glared back at me for a moment, her eyes hard and feral before noticing Ril. “Baby...” Toofy murmured, dropping her shiv and stumbling off of Uric’s corpse. “Baby!” Toofy cried and ran over, hugging Ril’s dangling feet.

Hissing from the sudden emergence of pain, I vaguely felt Ril dislodge her teeth and push my thumb out of her mouth.

“Mama!” Ril croaked, wriggling stiffly as she released my arm and slid into Toofy’s embrace.

Taking care to avoid the arrow still lodged in Ril’s shoulder, Toofy hugged Ril tight and cried.

Realizing that perhaps Toofy had thought Ril had been killed, I could only imagine what she must have felt upon seeing her awake again.

[Ril - HP: 7/20 - Bloodied ] [Tim - HP: 34/44 - Normal ]

Grimacing a little as I looked at the party status, I was relieved and a little surprised to find that I no longer had the bleeding condition. My thumb was throbbing awfully, but it wasn’t bleeding anywhere close to the amount that it should have been, let alone what I had expected. According to my Status, the Poisoned condition was gone as well. Just as I was really starting to think about it, I felt a deep hunger take root in my stomach.

“Toofy, I need-” I looked down and was surprised to see that Toofy was already holding out a fistful of skewered meats, while Ril was savagely gorging on a raw meaty chunk of...something.

Stripping the meat off the skewers and gulping them down, I accepted more from Toofy and tore through them as well. Feeling the hunger abate slightly, I pushed it back until it was all but gone.

“Thanks Toofy,” I patted her head tiredly and winced slightly as her hair rubbed against the exposed insides of my thumb. “We need to take Ril back-” I barely caught my slip up in time, “-home,” I amended, narrowly avoiding outing our surgeons. “She needs rest.”

Toofy stroked Ril’s hair and nodded, “Home and sleep,” she agreed.

Leaning down, I let both girls clamber up onto my shoulders. I hadn’t quite noticed it up until now, but Toofy had definitely been growing. She had to be close to four feet tall by now, perhaps more. Standing back up, I was glad to feel the grogginess from earlier had lessened considerably.

All the surviving soldiers under Uric’s command had banded together and were staying as far away from us as possible. Conversely, Cpt. Klive and Lt. Felix had both left their men behind and were now cautiously making their approach.

Cpt. Klive broke the silence first, by awkwardly clearing his throat and Glancing towards Uric’s mutilated body. “I just want you to know, I did not issue orders to capture or otherwise harass your people,” he earnestly insisted, “If he had not died of natural causes, I can assure you that Lieutenant Uric would have faced court-martial for his offence!” The conviction and disdain in Cpt. Klive’s voice had me inclined to believe him, but there was more to it than what he was saying. Captain Klive seemed genuinely angry over what had happened. “What are your demands?” He asked bluntly, “How can we make this right?”

Stopping to think about it for a few moments, I glanced towards the surviving soldiers that had been under Uric's command. It pained me that I felt nothing for the dead soldiers. Logically, they were my enemies, so it made sense that I felt no pity for them, no sadness...But they were still humans, people...

The smart move would be to set an example, hang the lot of them and establish a deterrent. If anything like this were to happen again, it needed to be crystal clear what would happen to those who attacked the citizens of Sanctuary.

Knowing this, I still couldn’t bring myself to say it. There was a line here that I felt I knew I would regret crossing.

“What is your most severe punishment?” I asked soberly.

Cpt. Klive looked somewhat surprised, “Well...flogging in accordance to the severity of the crime is the most severe, non-lethal, punishment established in our military doctrine,” he explained somewhat dubiously, perhaps doubting I would find the punishment sufficient to match the crime.

Still looking at the dead soldiers, I nodded, “Then flogging it is,” I agreed. I had seen more than enough documentaries and period dramas not to underestimate the sheer brutality of such a punishment. Doubtless, the men and women would be thrashed within an inch of their very lives. “We can discuss further compensation later. I need to return my children home,” I stated bluntly.

“Y-your children?...” Lt. Felix managed to somehow grow nearly as pale as Ril.

Our family dynamic, whatever it was, could more or less be summarised as such, so I nodded and began heading back to Sanctuary.

“Shit!” Cpt. Klive cursed quietly, “Fucking bastard just had to go after the leaders kids...”

Passing by Cpt. Klive’s soldiers, Ril and Toofy bared their teeth threateningly and hissed at anyone who didn’t make way fast enough, or as fast as they would like.

“Half Ogres?!” One soldier whispered fearfully, and soon it was a chorus taken up by others as well. By the time we left the soldiers behind, I was genuinely curious as to whether that was ‘a thing’.

Did the Labyrinth make hybrid monsters? Was it just a named monster thing? Was it supposed to be rare? Or would all of my prospective children with Lash be Half Ogre and Deep Orc?

“Lash...” I felt a twinge of guilt at having forgotten about her in all the excitement.

[Lash - HP: 34/34 - Unconscious, Cursed ]

I tried to take comfort in the fact that her condition remained the same as before and hadn’t deteriorated...but it was a cold comfort at best.

With the soldiers camp all but deserted, I decided to take a shortcut. Thankfully, Hana was ready and waiting, clearing a path through the briar wall large enough that I could pass through with the girls on my shoulders without them getting hurt.

[Quest: Find and Rescue the Children! {Complete}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Asra} rescued by {Lt. Felix} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {Success} {Asra} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Toofy} rescued by {Cpt. Klive} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {Success} {Toofy} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Ril} rescued by {Cpt. Klive} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {Success} {Ril} returned to Sanctuary]

[Bonus reward assigned to {Lt. Felix} and {Subordinates} for personal contributions exceeding expectations! ]

“Are they alright?” Hana asked worriedly, gently yet firmly taking Ril from my shoulder to get a closer look at her while we made our way to the hospital. I quickly realised that Toofy wasn’t the only one who had grown. Hana was nearly as tall as me now, perhaps a few inches taller if I counted her hair. Besides our height, we were close to polar opposites. Hana was thin, willowy and graceful...I was...well...not those things, at all.

Reaching the hospital, Toofy hopped off my shoulder and followed along beside Hana and Ril, “HEALS!” She shouted loudly, despite the four surgeons hurriedly making their way towards her.

I cringed as I realised that her outburst was more or less my fault. Due to Toofy’s inability to pronounce medic consistently, I had opted to teach her something simpler and widely recognisable...

Awkwardly ducking into Lash’s room, I did not envy the poor surgeon that would have to extract the arrow from Ril’s shoulder. Even if Ril handled it like a trooper, which I had no reason to think she wouldn’t. There was a very real possibility that whoever did the extraction would get stabbed by Toofy.

Lash appeared more or less the same as when I had last seen her, only now fully stripped of her armour.

Sitting down on the bed beside Lash for a moment, I took her right hand in mine and gave it a brief squeeze. Unsure of what I had expected such a gesture to accomplish, I snorted derisively at my wishful thinking and gently laid Lash’s hand back down again. I didn’t know what exactly to call our relationship, but...I cared about her. That something like this had happened to Lash under my watch was infuriating.

Getting back to my feet, I very nearly bowled over one of the Serpent-Kin surgeons as I left Lash’s room.

“Lord, Pleasse. You need treatment!” The female Serpent-Kin insisted, taking a tight hold of my left arm and taking a closer look at my slightly mangled thumb.

Even knowing that infection could very realistically claim my whole hand if I delayed treatment, the thought of procrastinating the Angel’s interrogation aggravated me all the same. “Fine,” I agreed, “But make it quick!”

The surgeon nodded and hastily began stitching my thumb back together.

Getting my first proper look at it, I could see why the surgeon had been so insistent. The exposed edges around my initial cut were showing signs of early necrosis. Quite possibly a reaction from Ril’s venomous bite, it could also be the result of the swamp bacteria getting in the wound. Or, most likely, it was a direct result of Ril draining all blood from the surrounding tissue, leaving it to die. In hindsight, feeding Ril my blood through an extremity like that was incredibly stupid and not something I would rush to repeat.

Recalling that this particular student’s name was Elu, I was relieved by the fact that she was a Hospice Surgeon, so I wouldn’t have to track down someone else to deal with the infection.

Despite her nervousness from having me literally watching her every move, Elu did a good job with what was honestly a suboptimal wound. Requiring anchoring sutures farther back to avoid the necrotised tissue, the large cut was largely sealed but looked like a messy spider web. Under the effects of Elu’s healing, I was grateful that the sutures didn’t immediately disintegrate. Even though the suturing hadn’t hurt ‘that bad’, it was still far from a pleasant experience and I had no desire to repeat it.

Confident that my hand was now healing, I very nearly left Elu behind, but I stopped when I recalled that the Angel was wounded. Offering healing for information might provide the cure I needed to lift Lash’s curse, and perhaps get some answers as to why the Angel was in that dungeon to begin with.

With Elu in tow, I went looking for Gric, the original, not the summoned copy. Judging by the steady stream of Exp Status Alerts, the summoned Daemons were still underground.

As I had more or less expected, the Daemons were all hibernating in the Grove, all except for Gric anyway.

Descending into the prison Hana had grown to lock away the vendor the dark spirit had been using as a possession host, I found Gric and the Angel already engaged in a silent staring contest.

Noticeably worse for wear than when I had left him before, the Angel had deep bruises on the right side of his face. However, what immediately drew my attention was the spiked slave collar fixed around his neck.

“Gric...What have you done?...” I couldn’t help but stare at the Daemon incredulously for a moment before realising how naive I had been NOT to expect this. Of course, Gric would do something like this. The Angel was obviously a threat and the slave collar prevented him from using his abilities. Besides bludgeoning the monster unconscious, how else were they meant to interrogate it? All the same, the reality of enslaving an intelligent being made me feel ill.

“What have you learned?” I asked Gric, “Did you learn how to remove the curse?”

Gric blinked groggily as if waking from a deep sleep, “Lord? Yes...The curse.” he glared balefully at the Angel who was now also shakily coming to his senses. “Judgement is countered by Forgiveness, another Ability restricted to the treacherous Angels!”

The Angel made as if to refute Gric but yelped in pain instead.

Trying to put the Angel’s suffering out of mind for the moment, I focused on Gric’s answer. “So I need an Angel to use another ability to remove the curse?” I growled irritably.

Gric nodded but waved his hand uncertainly, “Judgement amplifies guilt and traps the target within themselves. Most will overcome guilt with time...Some are crushed by it...”

“Am I right in assuming this Angel doesn’t have the required ability to remove the curse?” I demanded irritably.

Gric nodded and glanced briefly at the Angel for a moment before smirking with grim satisfaction. “He is no Angel, Lord. Orphiel harmed an innocent, broke a holy vow. He is a Fallen Angel now.”

I frowned, “What difference does that make?” I asked, in no mood for any shenanigans.

“The difference, my Lord,” Gric grinned maliciously, “Is that Orphiel has nowhere else to go. Angels execute their fallen on sight!”

It took a minute for the enormity of that particular revelation to sink in. “Then why did you put the slave collar on him?”

Gric gave me a dubious look, “My Lord. Just because he has nowhere else to go, does not mean he can be trusted. Orphiel is still an Angel at heart and their arrogance knows no bounds.”

The Fallen Angel made as if to say something again, but hissed in pain instead.

“I am certain he will join us in time, my Lord. But for the time being, it would be best if he is kept under...observation.” Gric grinned happily.

I motioned for Elu to approach, “Tend his wounds.” A part of me wanted to set Orphiel free of the slave collar, but the thought of Lash laying comatose on the hospital bed caused me to hold my tongue. I would deal with him later...

Leaving Gric and Elu to tend to Orphiel, I made my way back to the hospital. Hana, Ril and Toofy were all waiting for me in Lash’s room when I got there.

“Do you have any ideas on how to break the curse?” Hana asked, waving her hand over Lash’s bed to rejuvenate the moss. which had a similar effect to fluffing a pillow.

I grimaced slightly and nodded, “I do, but it isn’t something we can take advantage of...” I explained dejectedly, “The special ability or spell that Angel, or Fallen Angel now I guess, anyway, the curse amplifies feelings of guilt. Without the counterspell, there is no other way than hoping Lash snaps out of it on her own...”

“Tim... It will be alright,” Hana gave me a small smile and patted my shoulder, “Lash is a fighter, you know? You can’t just fight your way through the deep below and the swamp of death without being made of strong stuff...”

I could tell Hana was trying to make me feel better, so I nodded despite my own reservations. Sitting down on the bed beside Lash, I gently took hold of her hand again and gave it a reassuring squeeze, hoping that she would return the gesture. However, as I expected, Lash remained unresponsive.

“Lash is cursed?” Toofy asked curiously. Even though the question had been directed to Ril, it still readily got Hana’s and my attention due to the relative quiet of the hospital and the loudness of her inquiry.

Ril nodded, “Big Mama cursed,” she agreed, giving me an apologetic sad smile.

Toofy nodded and rubbed her chin thoughtfully for a moment. “Why Tim not kiss Lash?” She asked bluntly. "Lash is Tim’s mate. Big kiss removes curse, Makes Lash all better,” Toofy explained incredulously, like Hana and I were deliberately overlooking an incredibly obvious solution.

“Toofy...” I sighed and tried to rein in the aggravation I felt. She hadn’t meant anything by it, and was just trying to be helpful. “That’s not how you cure curses...'' I explained gently.

Toofy scrunched up her face incredulously and gave me a look that made it painfully clear that she knew I had no idea what I was talking about. “Yes it do!” Toofy insisted, looking to Ril for confirmation, “Kiss break curse in sleep time stories!”

Ril nodded vigorously, “Happily ever after,” she agreed.

Toofy opened her arms expansively towards Ril, “See? Toofy no lie!” She huffed and rolled her eyes while shaking her head disappointedly. “Just kiss! Break curse! No more sad! Just happy!” Toofy insisted, kneading and puckering Lash’s lips.

“Toofy!...” I narrowly avoided snapping at her and took a moment to calm down, “I know you are trying to help...”

“Just kiss!” Toofy insisted exasperatedly.

Letting out a long deep breath and counting down from ten to calm down, I gave Toofy a warning look.

Toofy belligerently shrugged it off, “Just kiss!” She repeated.

“...” I stared at Toofy incredulously for just over a full minute.

Toofy glared right back, refusing to back down, even scurrying up onto the bed to bring herself closer to my eye level.

“Fine...” I conceded bitterly. I decided I would give Lash a quick kiss and then go to my room. I was past emotionally exhausted at this point, and one more escalation with Toofy was liable to result in me saying or doing something I would regret. I was already regretting telling her those children stories and folk tales.

Toofy nodded sternly and pointed to Lash’s face.

Cradling Lash’s head and leaning in for a kiss, I bitterly resented Toofy for insisting I go through the motions. Real-life was not a fairy tale. As much as I may hope for it to be the case, Lash was not Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, a simple kiss wouldn’t fix this!

Why not?

The thought came unbidden from the chaos of my mind and I very nearly dismissed it just as suddenly as it arrived.

This place is different from Earth, it clearly operates under different rules...So...Why not?

Shaking my head to dislodge those thoughts, I reconsidered just leaving and heading to my room. This world, for all its craziness, was not actually that different to Earth after all. There were invisible laws that seemed to govern everything. Like the laws of physics, slightly different than what I had grown used to, they nonetheless could only be specifically altered, not ignored outright...

Wait...

*****

Lash was on the brink of utter exhaustion and her armour was close to being completely compromised. No matter how hard she fought the shadowy apparitions, they would only reappear moments later.

Returned to a twisted form of her former home, Lash was forced to fight off her former friends and clansmen over and over again. Although the scene was not quite as she remembered it, the mad chief’s ambush had more or less resulted in the same confrontation around a week or so earlier. With no choices beyond kill or be killed, Lash had chosen her own survival. Those who had remained were corrupted...beyond saving...

“Lash!” The twisted apparition of a female Deep Orc a full head taller than Lash reappeared for what had to be the thousandth time. “Kinslayer! Betrayer!” The apparition howled in fury swinging her twin axes in opposing scything arcs to shear Lash’s head from her shoulders.

Lash was tired of fighting and briefly considered allowing the apparition to end it. If it truly was the haunting spirit of Crish, then Lash’s death would only be just. To slay one’s kin was the worst crime imaginable...and Lash had killed so many...

Just as the first axe was about to bite into her flesh, the axeblade was blown apart like smoke in a powerful air current. Unable to stop the momentum of its second axe, it was lost just the same as the first.

“TREACHERY?!” The apparition howled in confusion and fury.

Confused, Lash felt a sudden warmth emanating from her shoulder. Seeing a faint golden light emanating from beneath her cracked pauldron, Lash shoved the hunk of scrap iron off her shoulder and was nearly blinded by the sudden intensity of the light. Even with her vision somewhat limited by her heavily dented helmet, Lash could easily recognise the glowing patch of skin for what it was. It was her bonding mark.

“THIS CHANGES NOTHING!” Crish’s shadowy doppelganger insisted while forming a spear from the same shadow stuff as her body.

Touching her bonding mark, Lash felt a pang of guilt over the pain and anguish she had caused her mate...Tim had not desired the bond, or had not been prepared for it. Even after their coupling, Lash still feared those negative feelings lingered and would resurface in the future. But just as quickly as the sense of guilt had appeared, it was swept aside.

“I forgive you.” Barely louder than a whisper, it was a miracle Lash even heard it over the cries of the apparition.

“NO! YOU ARE MINE!” Crish howled in anguish, her shadowy body collapsing under an invisible force. “YOU OWE ME YOUR DEATH!” With one final desperate surge of strength, the apparition launched itself at Lash with suicidal abandon. The shadowspear evaporated as it came within inches of Lash’s chest, and still the apparition barrelled onward with grim determination.

Dropping her axe, Lash felt no fear and accepted the tackle without reservations, wrapping her arms tightly around her adversary and bearing them both to the ground.

Somehow Lash was the one to end up on top. Despite her sister's greater size, strength and skill, Lash was the one who would survive their battle.

Crish smiled up at her, blood welling from the knife Lash had forced between Crish’s chest plates and into her heart. Madness clearing for only a moment, Crish looked relieved. Trying to speak, she barely managed to utter a single word before growing still, “Survive.”

Lash felt the same harrowing sense of loss all over again, only this time, it was different. Lash now understood why she was the one that triumphed. Whatever it was that the Bright Lord had done to her sister, there was still enough of Crish left that she managed to give Lash the opening she needed in order to deal a killing blow and survive. There was no other explanation for it. Crish had always beaten her before, so defeating Lash would have been a matter of course.

Now aware of the golden light growing stronger, Lash was forced to shield her eyes against its intensity.

Suddenly feeling quite stiff and flustered by a familiar pressure against her lips, Lash tentatively opened her eyes. Tim was leaning over her and kissing her lightly on the lips. His eyes closed but he had a weary yet hopeful expression on his face.

“Awake! Awake!” Tim’s adopted daughter Toofy shrieked from further down the bed, “See! Toofy right!”

Tim’s eyes opened immediately and stared intensely into Lash’s own. All at once, the worry left his face and Tim pulled her into a tight embrace.

Still shocked by the sudden change in events, it took Lash a few seconds to react. Hugging him back, Lash leaned into the embrace as much as she was able. Now recognizing that she had to be inside one of Sanctuary's dwellings, Lash understood that there was almost certainly a great many things she had missed out on while incapacitated. But more important than that, Lash wanted to know how exactly Tim’s daughter Toofy had known how to help her...

*****

“Children's stories?” Lash asked curiously.

Toofy nodded emphatically, while Ril nodded supportively.

“They are used to teach children morals and consequences,” Hana explained, looking to me for confirmation.

I nodded, “Human children don’t have all of this information monsters seem to begin life with. And since kids are usually more interested in running around and having fun than listening to rules-”

Ril glanced sidelong at Toofy.

“-someone figured out that they could tell entertaining stories to teach the kids about important things without them noticing,” I explained as simply as I could manage.

Lash nodded slowly but still didn’t seem fully convinced, “How did Toofy know a kiss would work?” She asked apologetically.

“It didn’t-” I tried to explain but was rudely interrupted.

“It did do!” Toofy insisted incredulously, waving both hands at Lash emphatically as evidence.

I waved her down, “Something Gric told me about how the Angel’s ability worked...I figured that maybe there was a loophole, a cheat of some kind...I really didn’t think it had much chance of working, but...I forgave you for marking me, biting me out of the blue like that was pretty upsetting...”

Lash winced a little and nodded, “I understand,” she agreed and rubbed at the large scar on her shoulder where I had marked her in turn. “The light came from you,” Lash explained, “Nothing I did changed anything. The fight with my sister repeated over and over. But that light...it changed what I saw...”

Lash had already described both the events of their exodus from the clan and her experiences under the effects of the Angel’s Judgment ability. Even so, it still hurt to hear Lash talk about being forced to fight and kill her own sister.

“How did you know that would work?” Lash asked, the determined look in her eyes making it clear she wanted the real answer.

I sighed and nodded. “Well, everything has rules, laws, that keep the world functioning. You throw a rock in the air, gravity will make it come back down.”

The mention of gravity made Lash somewhat uncertain, but she nodded and motioned for me to continue.

“Well, this world, monsters and classes have abilities that specifically alter these laws in small ways. For example, back on Earth, an iron or steel headed arrow should have pierced my skin with no real problems. However, just earlier I was shot with a half dozen or so arrows and walked away with barely more than a scratch.”

Lash nodded in understanding and Hana looked contemplative.

“So knowing that the rules and laws aren't as rigid as they otherwise should be-” I took a deep breath and stared straight into Lash’s eyes, “-I gambled that so long as you felt any guilt over...y'know, biting me, that my forgiving you would weaken or disrupt the Curse.

Lash was quiet for a moment and before she could say anything, Hana snorted and began to laugh. “Ahahaha! So Toofy was right! You got your idea to cheat from the children’s stories! Ahahaha!”

Toofy perked up immediately and smiled upon hearing she was right.

I grimaced and nodded, admitting defeat. “Some of the stories, when it boils down to it, teach kids to search for unconventional answers, and when necessary...cheat.” I let out a deep sigh. “Snow White is a story about a princess cursed to sleep forever...unless she receives a kiss from her true love. There are different versions of the story, but almost always a prince shows up and kisses her, breaking the curse and waking her up. But how can two people who haven't even met share true love’s kiss?”

“Unless they cheated,” Hana interjected with a grin, “The rule or law on what constitutes true love varies from person to person. So long as the prince believed his intentions were pure of heart, which is also pretty damn subjective, then who is to say it isn’t true love’s kiss?”

I nodded in agreement, “Sleeping Beauty is very much the same, and I’ll bet there were hundreds of other similar stories too. But basically, I was hoping that the rules or laws in charge of that ability would be so poorly defined that I could rules-lawyer an exception and cheat the system.”

I seemed to lose them with the last part, so I roughly cleared my throat and tried again, “I hoped for an opening and cheated,” I paraphrased.

“Lawyered?” Hana asked curiously, “My mother said that sometimes, what does it mean?”

I flushed a little in embarrassment, “Well, it’s not a real word, but a lawyer is someone that looks over legal documents to find loopholes. What they do with those loopholes depends on who they are working for.”

“Oh,” Hana nodded, “I see, so you would be the lawyer in this instance, working for Lash to break the curse?”

I nodded.

“Lord!” A Deep Orc called out anxiously from the hallway before ducking his head into the room and finding our small gathering, looking somewhat relieved upon finding me, but far more so upon seeing Lash was awake.

“Is something wrong?” I asked worriedly.

Hana spoke up before the Deep Orc had a chance, “There are four humans at your designated meeting place,” she commented dryly.

The Deep Orc nodded, “The leader of the humans wishes a meeting with you, Lord, and they have brought tribute.”

“Tribute?” It took a moment for the situation to begin making sense. With so much going on I had very nearly forgotten an important detail from earlier. I had claimed Toofy and Ril as my children. If the humans had taken that literally, then it only made sense that they would do their damndest to try and settle things sooner rather than later. After all, it was still incredibly likely that they thought of me as little more than a dangerous beast. Albeit a beast they could reap benefits from if well managed.

“I’ll meet them,” I agreed, but wanted to know something else first. “Hana, where exactly are the Daemons right now? I would have thought they would be back by now?”

Hana looked surprised, “They are firmly entrenched just beyond the Barrier limits. As near as I can tell, they have been stockpiling materials for collection in the primary cavern below. Is that not what they are meant to be doing?” She asked curiously.

“It’s not precisely what I told them to do,” I admitted, “But the stream of Exp is definitely a welcome addition...”

Hana gave me an exasperated look, “Were you planning on inviting me for this Exp-” She waved her arms around in frustration trying to find an appropriate word, “-Farming?!”

I shrunk back under her justifiable anger. Tied down to Sanctuary as she had been thus far, it was cruel that she had been excluded while Ril, who had no class was taking up a party slot...

Wait a minute...

Flicking through the Daemons statuses, I confirmed that each did not in fact have a Class. Which was kind of weird that Gric did. Were the Daemons incompatible with all the others? Arriving at Ril’s status I couldn’t help but stare.

[Ril - Daemon Fledgling: 3 ] [HP: 20/20] [MP: 1/17 ]

[Tim’s Minion. Minion of Sanctuary.] [Class: ???. ] [Exp:0/0 ]

[Strength: 8 ]

[Agility: 15 ]

[Toughness: 11 ]

[Intelligence: 12 ]

[Willpower: 11 ]

[Presence: 7 ]

[Class Qualifications: Surgeon, Field Surgeon, Hospice Surgeon, Taskmaster, Slaver, Summoner, Pact Binder, Rift Walker, Rift Stalker, Nexus Binder. ]

“Tim? What's wrong?” Hana asked, her earlier annoyance now taking a backseat.

“Ril,” I croaked, “Her Classes...”

Hana gave me a confused look before panning her eyes back and forth to see for herself. “Woah...Is this real?” Hana whispered.

“I unlocked the Rift Walker Basic Class when Ril opened an emergency escape portal with a magic item we found,” I explained.

Hana nodded absently, “I thought something like that may have happened when you and the others all suddenly appeared out of nowhere, but Rift Walker? Rift Stalker? Nexus Binder? What do those Classes even do?”

“How the hell did she unlock all of those others?...” I went back and began looking through the Daemons statuses again, this time paying particular attention to their unlocked classes. “Bloody hell...” Glad I was already sitting down, I quickly came to realize that the Daemons were far from living up to their potential. Every, single, one, had five or more Basic and Advanced Classes already unlocked, but only Gric possessed an actual Class.

Granted, two of those Classes were Taskmaster and Slaver, but every single Daemon had Surgeon unlocked and most also had Pugilist.

“Ril?” I tiredly turned my attention to the suddenly innocent-looking Daemon, “Do you know why the other Daemons haven’t taken any Classes?” I asked with a somewhat strained tone.

Ril smiled and nodded, apparently all too happy to help, “No one told them to.”

I felt like screaming.

“You can’t be serious?!” Hana demanded incredulously.

Ril cocked her head slightly to one side and raised an eyebrow, “It’s true,” she insisted, “No one told them which Classes to take, so they haven’t taken any.”

Hana covered her mouth, faced the wall and released a muffled scream of frustration, “MMMMMMMRRRRRRHHHHMMM!!!!”

Ril looked confused, “Is something wrong?” She asked nervously, “Coz Mama said Ril is too young for Classes...”

Toofy stiffened and suddenly looked very guilty.

“Toofy...You knew?” I croaked incredulously.

Toofy gulped, shrugged and made a sound similar to blowing a raspberry, “Pfffft, no...Toofy not know what Tim and Baby talking about. Toofy no read,” she stated defensively, raising a good point but sounding more suspicious than before.

“Ril?” I looked back to the Daemonling.

Ril looked conflicted for a few moments, her eyes anxiously darting between myself and Toofy.

“Baby not say!” Toofy warned, wagging her finger and completely undermining her own pretence at ignorance.

“Toofy...Why?” I groaned. “Having a Class would make Ril safer, you know that right?”

Toofy looked guilty for all of a second before looking confused, “Really?”

“Yes Toofy...Classes literally make you stronger.” I tiredly rubbed at my eyes and took a deep calming breath before moving on. “Ril, I would really appreciate it if you answer this next question to the best of your ability, okay?”

Ril nodded determinedly.

“Okay. Ril, do you know what the Rift Walker, Rift Stalker and Nexus Binder Classes do?” I asked with a deliberately patient and measured tone.

Rill nodded, “Yes.”

“Alright then,” I took another calming breath, “Can you please explain, to the best of your knowledge, what exactly each of those three Classes do?”

“Okay,” Ril replied cheerily. “Rift Walker is easy to explain. We did it already,” she pantomimed striking the ground with a staff and then hopped forward. “Rifts are unpredictable, but still useful. High-level Rift Walkers can open rifts between different floors AND Labyrinths!”

I barely had time to process that bombshell before Ril was moving on to the next Class.

“Rift Stalker is a hybrid Class...like Sword Mage. Only, Rift Stalker attacks from short-range, ambushes enemies with more stable rifts. High-level Rift Stalkers are very hard to fight and almost impossible to catch,” Ril explained teasingly, leaping and pouncing around the room like a cat.

Fighting someone or something capable of teleporting short distances was something I had seen playout in tv and movies before. It was almost always a pyrrhic victory at best for the teleporter’s enemies. “And the Nexus Binder?” I prompted.

Ril smiled wider, “Nexus Binder specializes in stable and reliable Portals.” Her smile faltered a little and Ril looked more than a little upset about something, “Sorry for breaking the staff...” she apologised quietly.

“Wait, what? The staff broke?!” I demanded a great deal more harshly than I had intended.

Ril flinched and nodded, “The first portal dropped Mama and me in the water,” she sniffled and hugged Toofy, visibly shivering as she recalled the event in question, “So I used it again and...and...” Ril couldn’t bring herself to say anything further.

“Bitey lizard bite stick,” Toofy explained, snapping her sharp teeth shut to accentuate the point, “Stick break,” Toofy shrugged unapologetically, as if it were no big loss.

Ril nodded in confirmation, “The staff broke...”

“Is that when those soldiers found you?” I asked sympathetically.

Toofy nodded dourly, “Stick break. Big noise, Toofy and Baby land in tree. No place for hiding, so humans find.”

“Wait...The staff exploded?” I demanded incredulously.

Ril nodded, “Made an unstable portal, we...we fell from the sky and landed in the tree...”

“Bitey lizard went splat,” Toofy grinned maliciously while comfortingly rubbing Ril’s back.

“Bloody hell...” The two of them had damn near died using that piece of junk. While I may have been initially annoyed at the loss of an emergency item, I was now quite glad to be rid of it. There was precious little point in relying on an item that could catastrophically fail like that. Besides, the random teleportation was enough of a problem on its own.

“I could take Nexus Binder to replace the staff,” Ril offered timidly, “I didn’t mean to break it...” she sniffled.

I shook my head and gently squeezed Ril’s shoulder, “No, that’s alright Ril. I am just glad you and Toofy are okay. When you pick a Class I want you to pick the one you want, not just the one you think I would find most useful, okay?”

Ril nodded, “Okay.”

“Well...” Hana gave me a guilty look, “Having a Nexus Binder really would help in the event of an emergency,” she insisted guiltily.

“It’s her choice,” I reiterated, “I unlocked the Rift Walker Class as well, so it's apparently not all that hard to get. Worst case scenario, we just need to find or maybe buy a magical item like the staff, right?”

“Right...” Hana agreed somewhat reluctantly.

“On a lighter note, if you want in on the Daemons ‘Exp farming’, just ask Lash for an invite to her retinue. Mine is already packed full of Daemons,” I leaned over and intended to give Lash a quick peck on the cheek before leaving, but she dragged me down for a lingering kiss that I enjoyed far more.

“Be safe,” Lash demanded, refusing to let go until hearing a satisfactory response.

“I will,” I agreed, making a mental note to rearm myself before leaving Sanctuary.

Seemingly satisfied, Lash pulled me in for one last hug before letting me go. The curse had taken a great deal out of her and she was obviously tired. I was actually rather touched that she had stayed awake this long and made the effort to see me off.

Borrowing Lash’s axe, I similarly ‘borrowed’ ten more Deep Orcs while on the way to the gate. Intended only to serve as insurance, I knew the Deep Orcs would still put up a stiff enough resistance that short of another Hydra barrelling out the swamp and collapsing Sanctuary’s barrier, there was nothing strong enough to stop us from retreating back into Sanctuary itself.

Not wanting to jinx anything, I avoided saying as much aloud while traversing the outer border and heading for the designated meeting place.

As expected, Cpt. Klive, Lt. Felix and his two seconds were the only soldiers in attendance. Captain Klive was sitting on a footlocker, but when he saw me coming, he stiffly got to his feet. “Chieftain...erm, is it really just Chieftain?” He joked nervously as I approached two of the Deep Orcs as personal guards.

“It’s Tim,” I replied flatly, not wanting to relinquish any ground for the negotiations, but also accepting that my original stance had been pretty stupid in insisting they just call me Chieftain.

Cpt. Klive stiffly bowed at the waist, “Well, Chieftain Tim, I just want to take this opportunity to express my sincerest regrets over the unconscionable treatment of your kin. There is no excuse for such egregious treatment of an ally and I want to assure you that as we agreed, the guilty parties have been punished severely.” In spite of his somewhat flowery language, Cpt. Klive seemed truly sincere. “In the spirit of good faith, I have organised what I hope you will agree is a suitable tribute so we can settle this ugly business and leave it well and truly behind us.” he turned to Lt. Felix, “If you would Lieutenant?”

Lt. Felix nodded stiffly, knelt down and unclasped the chest before standing back up and opening it.

The smell of rich spices and herbs hit my nostrils almost immediately. While some were completely unfamiliar, I still recognised some of my favourites.

“I have taken great pains to secure not only processed herbs and spices to bring happiness to your dining hall, but also seeds so your people can ‘attempt’-” Cpt. Klive didn’t seem comfortable with using that word, but pressed on regardless, “-to grow those you find most agreeable,” he smiled wide and nodded, seemingly quite pleased with himself, before suddenly remembering something, “Oh, and twenty pounds of salt too. Ain't nothing that don’t taste better with a good pinch of salt!”

In spite of myself, I couldn’t help but smile. I had been worrying about what to ask for in ‘reparations’ so I was more than happy to accept a gift like this that would arguably improve everyone's quality of life. Good food was a real morale booster, especially in tough times.

One of Lt. Felix’s seconds handed him a sack, which Lt. Felix in turn offered to me, “We took the liberty of retrieving the belongings that were left behind earlier,” he explained somewhat anxiously and opened the sack to reveal its contents.

I hadn’t actually given much thought to the ingots Toofy had dropped earlier, but it was a welcome boon all the same. I motioned for one of my bodyguards to take the sack. “So long as something like this does not happen again, I think we can continue with our arrangement,” I suggested, without actually agreeing to our deal being renewed.

Cpt. Klive nodded in understanding.

“I want assurances that something like this CAN’T happen again without extreme repercussions for those involved,” I insisted.

Cpt. Klive nodded again, “You want a soulbinding contract,” he guessed, “Very well, this can be arranged. With the provision that every soldier under my command obeys and upholds the spirit of the agreement under pain of death. Will this prove sufficiently satisfactory to negotiate terms for additional services as well as continued support for our previous agreement?” There was a damn near perverse hunger in Cpt. Klive’s eyes, and I couldn’t blame him.

That hastily issued quest had distributed millions in Exp, and I could only imagine how many total levels his soldiers had gotten out of it. The lives of Asra, Toofy and Ril were an abstract variable, but somehow the Labyrinth had quantified a reward it had deemed appropriate. It just so happened to be that the total Exp reward was just shy of three million.

As big a mistake as it had seemed at the time, issuing that quest may very well prove to be to my greater benefit. That is of course assuming the Captain could keep his word.

I held out my right hand to shake on it.

Unsurprisingly, Cpt. Klive went in for an arm clasp instead, “You won’t regret this!” He beamed, “Don’t you worry about pesky adventurers either, I’ll make sure those miscreants aren't allowed to so much as set foot within a mile of your...Sanctuary, wasn't it?”

I half-nodded but realised that might create as many problems as it potentially solved. By being entirely reliant on the Military for the protection of my people, I would only be inviting disaster.

“You want adventurers?” Cpt. Klive asked, sounding a little perturbed, “Look, what happened with Lt. Uric and his boys, I won’t dig into that. Heavens know the man lacked the discipline necessary for soldiering. But I can’t allow more indiscriminate killing.”

“You think my people would just murder humans for the fun of it?” I demanded dryly.

Cpt. Klive shifted uncomfortably, “Well, no. But most adventurers are dumb as bricks and events like today could become all too common.”

Adventurers tend to be lacking in regard to impulse control, but I wanted to establish a precedent for moving forward in the future. “I have friends who are adventurers,” I explained carefully, making sure to keep my tone measured and calm, “I have sent an expeditionary force to offer them shelter from the conflagration taking root beyond the river. Those who have my trust will always be free to come and go from my lands. If we are going to enter a long term partnership, I need to know that you will not interfere.” Completely aware of how amoral and sketchy I just sounded, I suppress my desire to take it back. Instead, I focused on the Captain while he made up his mind on the latest requirement added to our hypothetical alliance.

Even though he did not seem particularly pleased about it, Cpt. Klive agreed. “It is your land,” he admitted grimly, “But I want guaranteed access to high yield quests for a special training regimen.”

“Quest yield is based on difficulty and prospective value,” I explained neutrally, “The Labyrinth has final say on the reward.”

Cpt. Klive looked intrigued, “So the more difficult the quest, the higher the reward then?” He asked, the greed that had been dampened earlier now returning with a vengeance.

I nodded.

“So if I wanted high yield quests, then all I would have to do is make sure the objective is as difficult as possible?” Cpt. Klive gave me a crooked grin, “I can work with that, two Rocs with one ballista. Alright, you want to pick and choose who gets special permission to come and go as they please without my soldiers harassing them, I can agree to that so long as a certain number of quests each month are offered in exchange.”

Knowing full well that I could simply set and forget repeating quests, it wasn’t that bad a trade-off. Factoring in that I stood a real chance at learning more about the military forces of this world and what the Captain considered to be ideal quests for power levelling, it really wasn’t a bad deal at all. “Alright,” I agreed, “You have a deal.”

Cpt. Klive smacked his hands together and gingerly rubbed them together, “Hot damn! If my recruiter told me this was what the diplomatic corps did for a living, maybe I wouldn’t have pursued a career in the regular army!”

I smirked and had to cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing. This was, all things considered, a VERY good deal for both of us. I just really hoped that Clarice wasn’t going to mess it all up once she got back...