The baby welcoming party went for the whole night. I learned it is their custom to seclude the parents with the baby for the first whole day after delivery and then present the baby to the family on its second dawn. Only at that moment, the baby's name will be known. And it means spending at least the next day in Colchester.

Helen and Marcy claimed their old room and I ferried the Mirfield people back home. Zahariel and Petal stayed behind. Petal won't leave me and Hilde won't leave Zahariel.

I caught a few hours of sleep and now I am having breakfast with Hildegard and Zahariel in the kitchen.

"Now, Beowulf, tell me how could my little baby Zarr grow into this handsome man in just a season!"

There is no holding back now. I need to start peeling that onion of secrets we were trying to keep away so people won't cry.

"That is because he came onto his real heritage. 'Zarr the Wing-kin' was a cover. The real race of this 'handsome man' you see before you is a seraph. Long story short, when he recovered some of his own power he grew. And then he leveled up a bit and grew again."

Zahariel laughs and mutters between his teeth, "Talk about glossing over things."

"If you want to tell her the whole story, be my guest. But go from the very beginning."

Hilde looks very puzzled, "What is a seraph?"

"Do you want to answer this or should I?"

"Go ahead," he gives up and gestures for me to spill the beans.

"Seraph is how they called the leaders of a race of heavenly beings that existed before the great war a lot of time ago. Zahariel was trapped for a long time in a magic item until we released him. It seems he was even taller than now when he fought. But one side effect of being trapped in that item was being reverted to a small child. And he lost all of his levels. So it is not entirely wrong to say he was reborn when we released him."

Petal flies in from the living room not downstairs. It seems she used a short jaunt spell to get out of the bedroom.

"And what about this cute little lady here? How did you come across her?"

"Tehe, good morning! I was born from Beowulf's own power. I am his fairy guide. Silly legendary heroes need guidance, after all!"

"You know, Beowulf, seeing all this makes me wonder what else are you hiding in there. Don't think you can fool me forever."

"Mother, I have a lot of secrets that would make people run away in terror from me. But I can tell you one thing. I really love all of you and would never try to directly hurt any of you. In fact, I might need to rely on your power soon enough."

"If there is anything we can do, we will be glad to help."

"Mirfield needs..." I stop because I hear the sounds of soldiers marching.

Beowulf: Helen, Marcy, wake up we are going to have company. Ready yourselves for anything. There are dozens of heavy armored people coming here in a synchronized step. Probably soldiers. Petal, go help them get ready.

Zahariel: Trouble?

Beowulf: Yes. We were seen yesterday coming here. Of course, it is trouble.

Petal: Up I go! Poof!

I go outside and scout the incoming group with remote senses. Around thirty-something soldiers wearing heavy armor coming here. And leading them is our old duel-crazy friend, the Colchester guildmaster Kareena.

Marcy: We are awake, what is happening?

Beowulf: Marcy, I'll reform the party and invite the whole family. Tell them to accept. Petal, enter the nursery room and cast {Heroism} on the baby.

Petal: Okay, boss!

Helen: What is going on?

Beowulf: I don't know, and I won't run any risks. And to you, Mirfield people, I am reorganizing the party. I need to remove you for a while. I'll fix it soon.

Cloude: Okay, boss!

Mercy: It sounds grim from what you said above. But go ahead.

"Party kick: Ranna, Cloude, Mercy, Alvus. Party invite: Azelius, Hildegard, Bredda, Bertramus."

Surely enough, Kareena and the soldiers turn a corner and enter our street. Our eyes cross and she points at me.

"There he is. Seize him." The soldiers run to my location. I crouch and on a patch of dirt next to the porch steps I discreetly jab a few small bones. Snail totem. Twilight totem. Sentry ward.

Jel'rannalath was kicked from the party. Alvus was kicked from the party. Mercy was kicked from the party. Cloude was kicked from the party. Azelius has joined your party. Hildegard has joined your party. Bertramus has joined your party. Bredda has joined your party. ??????? has joined your party.

The soldiers come and little by little they fall under the influence of the snail totem. They slow down and some of them become paralyzed. They are confused at the sudden loss of visibility. I walk past the slow motion soldiers and get face to face with the one trick pony of a guildmaster.

"You are under arrest. Do not resist."

"Now, now, my favorite guildmaster, what brings you here." Or should I say, my least despised guild master. I can even recall having a half-decent conversation with her.

"You are a criminal Beowulf! The entire guild knows what you did! Surrender without a fight and pay for your crimes!"

Appraisal attempt blocked.

"Sorry, what did I do again? My memory these days is not good. Or maybe I did too many things, and you are there holding a grudge over a small detail."

Appraisal attempt blocked.

"You are really annoying!" My card buzzes. A guild field was set to cover us. She probably used [Guild Field Expansion] from the guildmaster set of skills. "But first let me give you a handshake!"

As if I don't know what you are going to do. Fine, let's play along.

Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked.

"Sure. In the name of old times, a handshake." I extend my hand to her. She seems concerned about something. Probably it is related to those messages I am getting.

We shake hands and she smiles. It is a 'gotcha' kind of smile. "Guildmaster authority, job set villager." Sorry. We are the underground Bootleg Guild. Our cards are immune to mainstream guild abilities. But what is the hurt in playing along?

I pull my hand. Her grip was weak anyway. "What? What did you do to me! My power! My strength! You turned me into a villager, Kareena! How dare you!"

Appraisal attempt blocked.

"You are under arrest! And now I can overpower you!" She grabs my arm and pulls to force me down. I don't budge an inch. Her smile disappears in an instant.

Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked.

Someone is getting desperate. "I am disappointed, Kareena. For such old friends, I really expected a little more courtesy from you. For what exactly are you arresting me?"

"You stole the job crystal from the Mirfield guild branch and expelled the guild master from the town!"

"I didn't steal the crystal. Beowulf never even entered that room. But yes, I did expel that guy from my town. What is wrong with that?"

Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked.

"Everything! Without the guild, who is going to protect Mirfield from monsters?"

"I don't know. But the guys that remain there are all complaining about too little monsters to hunt. They spend most of the time drinking my booze for free. I know. The higher-ups are feeling threatened, right?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked.

"C'mon. They probably sent a message to all guild branches telling the guildmasters to either capture me or forfeit their positions, right? And they probably didn't send a message about my sighting of demons together with the first one."

"De-demons?"

"Yes. While traveling south we found a scout group of demons that were going to the dungeon. We stopped to report in Barnsley and even delivered some demon bodies as proof."

"That is ridiculous. Demons would never get this close to human towns."

"Oh, so you know them. And also their weaknesses. Good, good. But did you receive the report about them or not?"

"This is ridiculous. You never met a demon! I bet on that!"

"This sounds interesting. What are we betting on?" There is one interesting ping on the sentry totem. Someone is sneaking in my direction. Over a slanted, I can't see from here. Remote Senses is on cooldown. I should stop being stingy on my SP. I have over 500 points to spend... Cooldown Reduction from level 6 to 10 for 34 points, please. It doesn't affect current cooldowns. Crap, ten more minutes to be able to use it. How could I look behind something? If I had a mirror. I'll try casting an illusion of a mirror above the roof. I can see a girl with a huge brown and gray bushy tail hiding behind the roof. Soren.

"A bet? What kind of bet?"

"You called it. You bet that I've never met a demon. I can prove you I did. How about it? I can prove you that the guild is lying to their own personnel." I shout really loud.

Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal attempt blocked. Appraisal Resistance level 10. {Identify} learned. Displays the name of the person attempting an appraise when it is blocked.

Something really good just happened, "And by the way, Kareena, thanks for the training. My appraisal resistance skill just hit level 10 for free. But can you stop trying? These System messages are getting tiresome. And by the way, it is my turn to appraise you."

Name: Kareena Job: [5] Guild Master Level: 37

I couldn't see the rest of her info. It is so boring that I might fall asleep. "Level thirty-seven only? Talk about a couch potato. Get out of your office and go grind some levels already. Beelzebub's dungeon is half a day away!"

An appraisal attempt by Kareena was blocked. An appraisal attempt by Kareena was blocked.

She pouts and denies to keep the subject. Next step.

"Here is the proof I met demons."

I open my rucksack and shake it. Again to make a lame attempt of hiding the item box. And out of it comes a hundred demon corpses. Already stripped of their gear but clothed.

Kareena falls on her butt escaping the wave of demon corpses. Soren climbs and peeks her head from the top of the roof. And her tail over her head casts a shadow the size of a parasol. Some sneaky squirrel.

"It can't be real!"

"But is very very real. Fortunately, [Appraisal (monster parts)] works on demon corpses, so appraise to your delight."

"By the love of the beast lord!" Soren lets her voice escape.

"This is about one-fifth of all the demons I've killed so far. Now, can we leave the deception aside and talk like real adults concerned with the fate of humanity?"

I move the bag over the pile of corpses and store all of them back in the item box. There is a pool of purplish bloody ichor on the street now.

Kareena points at me, "You are insane! You want to rekindle the ancient war!"

"Oh, someone has been studying their history lessons! Say, do you want to arrest me still, or can I go home? Today was supposed to be a day for celebration. My niece was just born. I rushed here when I heard the news, and then you have to come and ruin it. And I'll consider that my report about demons aiming for the bug dungeon. Farewell."

I turn around and walk back to the house. Kareena is left steaming. I walk past the soldiers almost frozen by the snail totem.

There is a swishing sound as a sword is drawn. I don't think she will be stupid enough to stab me in the back.

A swing and her sword and struck really fast at my neck.

I saw the world spin around me and my headless body fall on the ground.