Eventually, McKenna had to leave to take care of her real body, and Colin did not want to see her go. But her leaving gave Colin a little time to talk to his party. Things could change, but he needed to let them know his feelings on the matter.

Once they reached the Dark Horse Hotel and their room, Colin closed the door after Larry and Rielle entered and took a deep breath.

“Rielle, can we have a quick talk?” Colin said, pulling away from his thoughts. He would have included Paladin in this conversation, but the Sumo had called it a day and left the world.

She nodded, turning to face Colin, “yeah, what is it?”

“I want to let you know that you have nothing to worry about from McKenna. If you wish to leave, we can go and find somewhere to break the contract that binds us first, then we can go our separate ways,” Colin told her. “If you want, it is completely your choice.”

“Really? So if I was a little afraid of your wife and the way she looks at me, would you go and break the contract so I can find my mother?” Rielle asked, her gaze tentatively flicking between looking at him and the floor.

“Your mother?” Colin asked, curious. “You’ve never mentioned her.”

“She-” Rielle started, then paused, taking a deep breath. “After giving birth to me, she gave me to my Father before vanishing. He said it was the most beautiful golden radiance that all Feylands saw. It was the cause of how they discovered I was a Death Fey,” she finished.

“So, you want to find her? May I ask why?” Colin queried, gesturing dismissively. “If either of my parents had done that, I would want nothing to go with them.”

“How boring,” Larry told them, sighing dramatically. “I hope that she wants to kill the woman, and that’s what a Demon would do to someone that caused them enough grief that a Death Fey receives among their own kind.”

“Would you like me to remove the Demon?” Nox asked, stepping out from an errant shadow near Colin’s desk. The clack of his cane punctuated his words as the dying light from the sun vanished behind a curtain of literal shadow. “So that the two of you can speak privately without unneeded comments.”

“That depends,” Colin turned his glare to Larry. “Can you be quiet?”

“Yes, Master,” Larry pouted, sitting on one of the beds and turning away.

“No, I don’t- I mean, I don’t think I want to fight her. I just want to find out why she abandoned me with my Father. He was a good man and was the only Fey who treated me like a normal child. But when he died a few years ago, the Mer family took me in and effectively made me a-” she paused, gritting her teeth. “They made me into one of their warrior slaves. No levels, all fighting skills training until I was good enough in most forms of fighting to offer me a way to benefit them.”

“So, you want to play it by ear and see what happens after you meet her?” Colin confirmed, doing his best not to get too angry now. There was no point in getting unhinged about something that you cannot change. But the rest of the Mer family was eventually going to meet him.

She nodded. “I hope that she’ll accept me, but I am not naive enough to assume that she will just do that. She did abandon Father and me after all.”

“But, do you want to leave me and do that? It’s completely your choice, Rielle,” Colin told her again.

“I don’t want to, Walker. You’ve been nicer to me than you had any right to, given that you owe me by contract,” she told him quietly. “But what about your wife? if I stay, won’t she be upset?”

Colin shrugged, “most likely. But I also think that if I kowtowed to her about this, I would lose respect for myself. I love her, she is my wife, but she will understand once she gets to know you, right?”

“Understand what?” she asked, unsure what he meant.

“That you are not a threat to her or me in any sense of the word. She is a very secure woman, but she had some jealousy issues before I met her. But I think we will be fine since there is nothing here between us, right?” Colin asked her.

She nervously shook her head in the negative, “no, I- I like you, Walker. But I don’t have anyone I like that way. You know what I mean?”

“Then we’ll be fine, but If she makes you change your mind, all you have to do is ask. I promise you, Darielle, that unless we are in the middle of something that we cannot stop due to time constraints or danger, we will leave to break this connection so that you are no longer subservient to me. I swear this, under my name, DevilWalker,” Colin intoned, swearing to her and using a bit of magic that he knew she’d react to.

You have sworn an oath to Darielle the Death Fey. As a Fey, A promise of any sort to and from her is magically binding. It is not something to be taken lightly. As a Death Fey and due to your contracted binding, this promise is bound in a more visceral manner. If broken, the powers from her bloodline will strike you down. Even if you survive, you will wish you hadn’t.

“Walker!” Rielle said, taking a step away and snarling at him. “Why would you do that?!” she demanded.

“To prove a point, because I need you to know that I am very serious. I want you to answer me honestly. Would you have believed me if I had just made that promise without it?” Colin asked, the nearly invisible markings on his wrist that was his binding to Rielle itching as if it was exposed to poison ivy.

“I would have,” Rielle told him. “Eventually.”

“Do you now?” Colin asked.

She nodded.

“Good,” Colin told her. “I am going to sleep. Today has been a long day, and I will be sleeping until dawn. I hope you will be too,” Colin told Rielle.

She shrugged, “probably. That fight with ALAN, then with your wife and Lady Mer. That’s just too much for one day.”

“Mind if you send me back to Hell and resummon me tomorrow. I have some business that I should take care of,” Larry requested. “What are the chances you’ll need me tonight, Master?”

Colin shrugged, “fair enough,” With a flex of will, Colin used a function of his Summon Familiar Subskill that he hadn’t used yet, unsummoning the Demon to his home plane. In a flash of deep red and sulfur yellow light, Larry had been sent back to Hell.

Colin kicked off his shoes and stepped into the bathroom with his Dimensional Bag, struggling to close the door with everything they stole from the Krimson Spire Guild holding it open. A few minutes later, he exited in a shirt and jeans, ready and relaxed for sleep.

He was sure he’d be awake for a little bit longer that evening. It was barely past sunset, his wife had found him again, and he’d defeated ALAN and ended the overall event. But as he thought about the day, his exhaustion caught up to him, and he’d passed out cold.

The next few days moved by fast. Colin refused to do almost anything for the next few days that involved combat of extraneous action. Even when a part of the sewers opened up, a pair of Golems appeared and sprinted towards civilians. He especially did nothing when he saw that they were being chased by a pack of what appeared to be velociraptors. Not the scientifically accurate kind either, the kind from the old Jurassic Park Movies.

That event was interesting. Nox and Rielle weren’t exaggerating when they spoke of Velociraptors in the sewers. But Larry had to defend him when a spiteful group of players, the only one that Colin recognized was a spiteful Gaussian Fist, gave them grief. It wasn’t any real trouble for the Demon since his skill easily trumped their superior levels.

He knew that wasn’t going to last, but he’d had enough of fighting for a few days. Especially since this wasn’t going to last long, soon Colin would have a choice of several paths that he had to choose from.

First, there was going to the Goblin City-States with Kore. Nox had been a previous hero of Hel and the biggest reason Colin had not only gotten his Antagonist Class and done as well as he had in Rosengard. The Goblin wanted to go to see his goddess and regain his place as her hero. All of this did not mention the threat from Limbo that Kore had discussed.

The second was the Elfin Capital City to defeat the Princess and hopefully stop that Demon Lord Candidate from finding anyone else first. Colin knew he got lucky in discovering her as one of the Candidates, given that he could have ignored that news broadcast about the peace treaty. Or he could have been somewhere that the broadcast might not have reached him. But if he saw it and recognized her as a Candidate, maybe one of the others did.

Third, there was The Silent Plateau. The place that Baal had mentioned was the door without a knob but needed four keys to open it. As much as he wanted to sprint there and find out everything he could about it, he doubted that he would get far. The First Demon Lord, Ethanol, created a Vault, and it was in the region as well. The location was protected by a Slime Monarch that lived in the area, as well as it’s many… many spawn.

Then there was wherever McKenna may recommend that they go for her things too. He figured there was a chance that she would go with him, but he hadn’t been able to talk to her for a few days since she left that first evening, and he was forcing himself not to worry about it.

Before he knew it, two full days had passed, and Colin felt rested and bored. None of the players who knew him besides Paladin bothered him anymore since Larry destroyed any party that tried to ruin his break. No Golem’s had been seen for almost twelve hours now, but pieces were still being found while reconstruction was happening.

Best of all, no one knew who to blame for the Dungeon being destroyed. He thought he heard someone blame him in passing, but no one knew for sure. If someone did, then he was confident that many people or groups would send assassins or soldiers to kill him for the deed.

So, Colin started getting back to work. None of it was anything serious or dedicated towards any goal. It was a weird feeling since he usually created things with a goal in mind, but he went back to the way he was before the Golem Event occurred.

He spent time amongst the books and with his Enchanting Teacher’s widow. Master Quan Li had died in the first wave of the Golem’s and had his final moments against a veritable horde. Even with his defensive enchantments around the shop, that didn’t keep him safe against the tide of enemies. They’d even taken his body to make into one of those Corpse Golems, and he was just glad that the body would have been unrecognizable now. For her sake, at least.

Not being an enchanter herself, Colin was able to buy most of the Enchanting books his Master owned from her. The only things she would not sell were his personal notes and any of the handwritten books from his Master’s Master. She did allow him to read those and take as many notes as he wanted from them.

Colin spent his evenings Appropriating the books from his Master and found himself a few steps closer to finishing the Quest that would get him more Career Points. Most of the books were lower quality, but he could not deny that they would come in handy. Temporary Enchantments, Mechanism Enchantments, The Secret History of Alicia, The Runed Queen, and many others were put into his Library.

At the end of that day, Colin asked Larry to do whatever he had to to get the last two books he needed. Annoyingly enough, Larry returned two hours later with two books at Item Quality 8.

The first was something called ‘The Cathedral of Jahaad.’ According to its description, it told the tale of a Living Miracle Spell and its massive Army of Monsters. All of them were reasonably intelligent and definitely insane. But after they refused to stand down against the atrocities of the Third Demon Lord, Krvavý Hlad, he went on a rampage and ate them all. Only sparing Jahaad and his Wife because he couldn’t kill them.

The second was a more straightforward text without a written title. According to the Appraisal Skill, the Book was called, The Door of the Realms. Unlike the historical nature of the last one, this one was a purely academic text describing the means to traverse the planes outside Rosengard’s Reality.

After Colin had Appropriated both, A Prompt appeared, and Colin decided that he didn’t care how Larry got the books so fast.

Congratulations! You have completed the Quest given by your Career, ‘The MindScape Book?’ having appropriated 10 Item Quality 8 or higher books. You have gained 10 Career Points for completing the Quest, ‘The MindScape Book?’

And Immediately after, Colin got the next Career Quest.

Quest: You have no direct path of growth for your growing knowledge base in your Library, and that is all well and good. But what do you hope to make of your Mindscape Library if you do not find a specific path for it to grow in. Appropriate at least five books that pertain to your First Class choice and use those to expand your Faculties.

Objective: Appropriate 5 Books that relate to the Class ‘Antagonist’ into your Library. Reward: varied depending on Total Quality of all related Books added, The ‘Memory Palace Level 2’ Power. Unlock a New Class oriented Career Path. Time Limit: None.

“Juuuust great,” Colin moaned. This Quest would be easy if he were a more basic class like Warrior or Priest. Hell, it would probably still be quickly doable if he had one of the Psychic Base Classes like Clairvoyant or Psychic. But Antagonist… he had no idea how to find these books.

Given the nature of his Class, Colin decided that it would be a good idea to ask Larry what he thought. “Larry, I just got a new Quest for my profession, and it’s going to be a pain to get the books I need.”

“Really, then why are you telling me this?” Larry asked, throwing in a yawn after the question to emphasize his boredom.

“I need books that have to do with the Antagonist Class,” Colin answered. “Do you think the Demons would know anything about books that have anything to do with the Class?”

Larry shrugged, “Maybe. You’d have to ask a more Knowledge-based Demon to find that out.”

“What about the Bounty Hounds?” Nox’s voice said from Colin’s shadow.

“No!” Larry yelled immediately. “That is a terrible idea. They are great for hunting things in Hell or even doing brief raids into other planes, but you do not want them to be anywhere that cannot defend themselves. They will tear the place apart like hungry wolves on a corpse, find what they were hired to, if it was there in the first place, and then shit on the place just because they could. No, not them.”

“Shit on the place?” Colin asked, unsure how that would look in this context.

“They’d let their lesser kin, the Krython Hounds, loose on the city for a full day. Unbound and free, those things would make the devastation wrought by the Golems look like a stroll in the park with a bat in comparison,” Larry explained. “Also, they do not differentiate between species, gender, affiliation, or age. So even I would be free game for them, and I refuse that fate.”

Colin couldn’t agree more. With Larry’s explanation and his Demonology Skill, Colin knew some things about the Bounty Hounds and the Krython Hounds. Larry did indeed describe the Bounty Hounds well, except they would find what they were ordered to until they were all killed.

While the Krython hounds were the other side of their coin, they were the unintelligent and bestial forms of the Bounty Hounds, Demons that operated on pure instinct and joy. They raped, killed, made grotesque works of art, and corrupted the young who survived the initial assault. Colin wasn’t sure what happened to these children, but it couldn’t be good.

“Alright, do you have any suggestions?” Colin asked, storing the information aside for later. He didn’t intend to use these creatures, but if he found a need and the place didn’t have kids, then maybe he would.

“None,” Larry shrugged. “I’m a HellRime Knight. I fight things and do it very well, and I did not concern myself with books.”

Smiling, Colin knew a Demon that might work for this purpose. “Alright, then I will summon a Demon that did.”

“Wait, What? Who?!” Larry spat out as Colin faced the empty portion of the room.

Using the Demonology Skill and Heretic Scribe, he created a Ritual Summoning Circle. The circle was small, only a few feet across, and without a grand or simple geometric design. It was a trio of crosses going left, right, and forward, with a tail-like swirl coming out of the forward cross.

Other than the requisite mana, which wasn’t so bad, the only thing he had to do was speak the name of the Demon in that species that he wished to summon. He did so and waited only a moment before the sound of a door opening and closing met Colin. The sound of heels clicking against concrete met him as a silhouette appeared in the circle and became clearer by the second.

Then Hautley, Baal’s secretary and Larry’s cousin appeared in her full pantsuit and neutral expression painting her face. “DevilWalker, Baal allowed me to come here for a few minutes but requested that we hurry. Apparently, I am the only member of his staff that he can stand.”

“That’s pretty sad, actually,” Colin commented.

“It is. I just finished feeding another lazy ass, gold spoon seeking assistant to Cerberus. That threat should keep them working hard for a while before I have to rinse and repeat. I hope there is a reason that you summoned me directly, DevilWalker. I am very busy,” Hautley said, then noticed Larry. “Ah, Larrimortias. It is good to see you.”

“Ignore him,” Colin told her. “Larry here has been very unhelpful about something, and I was hoping to get an intellectual take on this. May I ask for some advice?”

“Asking is free,” Hautley told him, a small smile gracing her face.

“I need a few books that talk about my Class, Antagonist, as part of a Career Quest. I was hoping you might have an idea as to where I should start or know the right Demon’s to ask,” Colin explained.

“Well, I can see why you asked me, DevilWalker. Larrimortias was always happier swinging a sword around than reading a book or expanding his contacts. Also, the only avenue he could have probably asked would be far too embarrassing for him,” Hautley said, the smile turning into a sneer.

Larry immediately became defensive. “No, I couldn’t have asked. He would have refused to talk to me because-”

“You and your Hollow Incubus powers almost blew up his wedding?” Hautley finished. “No, he forgave you years ago. You just do not want to face his wife.”

“Well, she’s fucking terrifying,” Larry spat before sitting back down on the bed in a huff.

Yet again, her smile shifted, turning from mockery to amusement. She turned to Colin, “Okay, I think I can help you. I have a contact, someone from the ninth circle, who’s like a seeker of Knowledge for hire. I can give him your contact signature; if you wish, he will come to you in the next few days.”

“What about the contact that Larry didn’t want to use?” Colin asked.

Hautley shrugged, “he might be able to help, Asfried knows what he’s doing. I just think he’ll be slower than Velg.”

“And the price?” Colin asked.

“Velg, probably some favor involving your world. He cannot enter Rosengard, I don’t know why and he’ll likely want something. As for Asfried, I don’t know. Larry, do you know what his going rate was when you last saw him?” Hautley asked.

“He’s a member of the Marching Horde, so he’ll want several Aspects of Violence unless he’s altered his tastes. Not hard to get, but he gets picky,” Larry shrugged. “You’ll have to ask him what he wants.”

“Aspects of Violence?” Colin asked.

“Concentrated and distilled emotions, Demons can subsist on them for years,” Hautley explained. “Succubi and Incubi can do it with Aspects of Lust or Desire.” The Demoness looked behind her, nodded, then faced Colin. “Looks like my time is up. Do you know which you’d rather work with, or shall I set up meetings with both?”

“Both,” Colin told her. “But what do I owe you for the service?”

“Nothing, hearing you call Larrimortias Larry has been payment enough. I’m good,” she said, giving Larry some side-eye.

“Oh, great. I guess I’m never going back to Hell,” Larry moaned, putting his face into his hands and moaning.

“Worth it,” Hautley said, smiling at her cousin before fading out of the room.

“Bitch,” Larry muttered, standing from the bed. “Master, can I go kill some stuff?”

Colin nodded, “sure. Just keep it to monsters.” The Demon didn’t wait a moment. He just grumbled as he hurried out of the room, red-tinted ice forming around his body.

Ignoring the Incubus, Colin sat in the desk chair and looked over his list of available powers from his Career. He had ten points to spend, and he intended to spend them now.

Memory Palace Level 2

(10 CP) The second level of the Memory Palace power increases the size of the space where you can store information. Previously, your Library was the size of a medium-sized office, and now, it is the size of a medium-sized apartment. Index

(10 CP) As the size of your Mindscape Library grows, so will the need to order and find all the information within it. The power adds an alcove to the inside of your Library, near the entrance, where it can be found easily. This index will properly organize your Library and make it easy to find whatever you store in there. Projection

(10 CP) The MindScape Library, or Memory Palace, is a place created with the help of mental magic and your pre-existing Knowledge and wisdom. This power allows you access to the Library with a mental projection of yourself for as long as you are actively meditating. While in the Library, your faculties shall be absent from your physical form, making all Perception skills useless while inside. Peripheral Learning

(5 CP) Just as something moving on the edge of your vision can catch your attention, hearing something can have the same effect to you. Any information that is spoken within 5 meters regarding a Knowledge Skill that you have at least 3 levels may add to your Knowledge Skills experience if it is new information. For the purpose of this description, the conditions of the environment must be ideal for the maximum range to be achieved. Detect Knowledge

(5 CP) Everything has an aura, books and documents included. With this Ability, you can see the auras of the written word as you see fit, getting some semblance of what is contained within, how relevant it is to you, and how old it is, before you even touch it. Literacy Bane

(10CP) The term ‘the pen is mightier than the sword is more true than most people would like to believe. With this power, any spells that are the Bane of a creature that Knowledge skill that you have that encompasses deals more damage.

Correct Applications

(10CP)

You’ve read how to do something so you are able to do it better than the average person. Any book in your Library that pertains to an active Skill (Like Acrobatics, Stealth, Sprinting), grants you a bonus to the relevant skill.

Appropriate Tome level 2

(10CP)

The demand of a MindScape Librarian is taxing and never-ending. Not only are there always more books to add to your Library, but they are all so expensive to Appropriate. This Career Power Allows you to transfer two books at once and all Book Appropriations are 10% more efficient.

Appropriate Spellbooks

(10CP)

Spellbooks are special books that hold spell forms that need to be bound to the caster in order to use. These nuances of Spellbooks are what have not allowed you to Appropriate them and store them into your Library. Now, you can appropriate spellbooks that are bound to you and not risk damage or severing the connection.

Imbue Book

(10CP)

Much like how enchanters can empower swords, shields, armor, and even baubles with their Imbue Item Skill, you can do so with books. This has several unique effects, first is adding elemental effects to ordinary paper. This does not allow true enchanting on normal paper.

Colin considered his choices carefully for a moment. He already knew what he wanted but hated to jump right in without considering.

Memory Palace Level 2 was a good idea, but there was no need since he knew his Library wasn’t near being full yet. Same with Index and Projection. Peripheral Learning had the potential to be a great way to advance his knowledge skills passively, but he was not planning to be in an environment to encourage that growth. Detect Knowledge had a similar problem: he needed to be in a place that had the Knowledge for him to detect it. Appropriate Tome Level 2 would be worth it eventually, but the level 1 version was working just fine for the moment. Imbue Book could lead to interesting things, especially if this had a variety of applications. But the description left much to be desired.

That left Literacy Bane, Correct Applications, and Appropriate Spellbooks. The combat applications of Literacy Bane were evident since the sort of things his knowledge skills encompassed was getting bigger and bigger. Correct Applications had strong uses since he was sure it could be used with his magic crafting skills like enchanting, which would be infinitely valuable. Then there was Appropriate Spellbook, the Ability to absorb a spellbook and add it to his Library without losing the ability to cast those spells. It could lead to a nearly unlimited number of creative spells, if nothing else.

After spending several minutes contemplating the choices, Colin chose something he was comfortable with. If nothing else, he trusted hardware he made himself, so he decided upon Correct Applications.

You have gained the Ability, Correct Applications. You now gain a 0.1% bonus to your skill in most of your non-combat related skills for every Book in your Library that involves those skills. This Ability is very subjective considering the different levels of Knowledge in some books, which may affect the bonus gained.

The levels are: Novice, Mediocre, Journeyman, Adept, Advanced, Master, Epic, and Unearthly and will now be available to be seen in the Descriptions of Books you read. The Higher the Book’s knowledge level, the greater the bonus.

All Bonuses added to Skills are considered instinctual and take no actual learning and practice to advance. But reading the books is always suggested. An unread book is an unfortunate book.

There was no noticeable change to himself or his mind when he thought about the Career Power. Since this was a passive power, it made sense that this would be the case, but he still hoped to notice something, so it didn’t feel like nothing happened. To satisfy his curiosity, Colin looked at his Career to see what abilities had been revealed by his current choice. Happily, this time there were three.

Technique Manual

(15CP)

You’ve learned how to take books in your Library and use them to increase your use of non-combat skills. Now you can use books affiliated with combat skills and use them to assist with your proficiency with weapon, movement, and technique skills.

Creative Leap level 1

(15CP)

You are many things and one facet of your essence is being a crafter of something. Being well learned and having access to a library of knowledge is helpful, but being creative with what you know is worth a lot more. While you are crafting, planning, or studying you have a small passive chance to get inspired and have an intuitive leap.

The third one was connected to another part of the Career powers, directly related to the Memory Palace Level 2 power.

Fortify Mindscape Level 1

(10CP)

No structure is impervious, no mind exempt from intrusion, and no soul free from creeping corruption. Fret not, fortification is possible and a restructuring of your mind is possible. This will not affect your active or subconscious mind, only build walls around your mind to assist in keep the mindscape safe from intrusion, destruction, or alteration.

Suppressing a shiver, Colin’s thoughts drifted towards the implications of this power. If his MindScape needed fortifying, then that implied that someone or something could affect it in one way or another. This was both interesting and terrifying, but not surprising. He did have access to Mental Magic, and it made sense that things might be able to affect his Mental Space. He’d need to investigate this thoroughly. Though he had a Mindscape, supposedly, he’d never explored what a mindscape actually was.

And that was another thing he needed to investigate. Add that to the Miniaturize Ritual that Baal recommended for his new Chimerology Skill and find out more about the Void that McKenna’s necklace is involved with.

But with the thought of his wife came the question; where were they to go next? It only took a moment for Colin to make up his mind on that. In retrospect, there was only one choice given the situation, not to mention that he owed Nox for everything he’d done to help.

“Nox, is Kore still here?” Colin asked the shadows.

“She is,” the shadows answered. “I doubt she would leave without me or a definitive response that I wasn’t coming back.”

Colin nodded, “where is she?”

“Where we left her. In that bakery,” Nox told him. “The owner lived but cannot enter; thorns and brambles of massive proportions keep everyone back. What I hear says that they fear the bakery was cursed.”

“Good, that makes finding her easy,” Colin said with a slight chuckle. “That leaves only one thing left to do.”

“What?” Nox asked.

“We need McKenna, Paladin, and Rielle so we can leave. I can just dismiss and resummon Larry, no problem there,” Colin spoke. I only hope McKenna will be here soon. I’m not sure how long we can keep Kore waiting before she gets impatient.”

“It will probably be a while. If what you sensed about her is true and what I see is true, she is likely very patient. But she’s on a mission from Hel, so I suspect she will be trying to hurry us along to get back quickly.”

“So, until everyone gets back, we will prepare and relax. I likely have a while to go before my Epitaph’s Branding wears off. So I can stand to wait until McKenna get’s back. Everyone else will be back shortly-”

The door into the Hotel room opened suddenly, and McKenna strode inside, her smile wide and a little manic. “Walker!”

“Holy shi-” he said, surprised but cut off by McKenna hurrying into him and wrapping him in a hug. The hug quickly escalated into a kiss as she melted into his lap, refusing to break it off until they needed to breathe.

“She’s as bad as Royal Fey, you said her name too many times, and she appeared,” Nox commented, a chuckle coming through the room’s shadows.

When she finally did release him, McKenna held onto his hand as she stepped back, “I’m sorry about leaving that abruptly. I had to get a few things taken care of. The most important is that I am on an extended vacation from my firm. Other than sleep, exercise, eating, the restroom, and taking care of your body on the outside, I will be here helping you.”

“Well, that does explain it,” Colin nodded. “But I doubt Daniel Ross was thrilled to see you go. You do the work of two competent lawyers.”

“Oh, he wasn’t happy. But I told him that if he wanted me back when I finished this vacation, he needed to let me take it. He was especially unhappy when I said the first place I would apply was to Kerr and Armas. Ha, hates it when we bring up his self-proclaimed rivals,” McKenna grinned maliciously.

“Going for the weak point on the first blow, that’s my girl,” Colin said, smiling at her. “So, McKenna, do you care if I say where we go next?”

“Nope,” she said immediately. “Just as long as you know that I am coming too.”

“Of course,” Colin told her, standing from his seat. “How would you like to go down down to Goblin Town?”

“Hell yes!” she said, her smile turning feral.

“Good, because we leave tomorrow. I want some time to prepare some goodies since I have no idea how busy we’ll be when we get there,” Colin informed her.

“May I stay and watch?” she asked, unsure if he needed the quiet.

“Would you leave if I asked?” Colin asked, primarily curious.

She shook her head, “I’d just be quieter than I would be otherwise.”

“Then you are more than welcome,” Colin told her. “So tell me,” he started grabbing a piece of paper and a pen to start working. “What sort of devious tools should the Antagonist start with?”