I half expected a quest to pop up from Duncan's question. He'd done it in the past. If that was the route he took, I'd have to take one of the three options he gave me.

I'd be trapped.

But long seconds passed and there was no quest popup. Maybe he was feeling generous. Wanted to give me a chance to actually talk my way out of things.

Problem was, I had nothing for this.

All of my wit, enhanced stats, and exhaustion at still being under Duncan's thumb after all the gains I'd made just vanished when faced with the bully that had tormented me for months. Someone had severed the connection from my brain to my mouth and all I could do was sit there and gape at him.

Because I also didn't have enough coin from Mari Belle's lend to cover the tab. And like hell I was going back to Kinon. It left me with one option. Meaning I was just as trapped as if he had given me the quest.

Down the table, Duncan grinned at me.

Damn him! Him and his stupid fucking dog face.

Mel and Berry reacted before I could. They both stood up from their chairs in almost simultaneous movements. And while I would have been terrified at the prospect of a human-sized pixie and a, uh, gnome-sized human adventurer bearing down on me, Duncan seemed completely unaffected. He leaned forward, planting both elbows on the table (and somehow avoiding a splinter, damn) and rested his chin in his cupped hands. A glance was spared to the likely angry face of each woman in turn.

"Ladies, please. I'm not afraid to go through you to get what I want, but you don't want to be involved. Neither of you are high enough level to take me on."

"Mel. Berry. It's fine," I said in a voice that said anything but.

Neither woman sat back down.

But they also didn't continue forward.

Instead they just flanked either side of the table like statues, torn between what they saw as duty (which I saw as being fucking stupid) and respecting my wishes.

Or not getting their collective asses kicked by someone who was over level fifty.

Duncan returned his attention to me, but he still kept up the bored and waiting act. "Alright, Harper. It's your move. What's the choice? A, B, or see-your-ass-next-week-when-you-wake-up-again?"

I leaned forward, mimicking the way he was sitting. I didn't want to put my elbows on the table because I knew I'd get a splinter, so I just awkwardly hovered them over the surface and rested my chin on the backs of my hands.

It must have looked ridiculous.

"Well, let's see, Duncan..." I said, starting to speak even though I had no idea where I was going with things. "I'm pretty sure there's another option. You see, I invited you into my house and gave you food. Treated you like a friend, even. But friends don't threaten each other with bodily harm, do they?" I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth. "So that must mean you are a customer. My first customer, I might add." I looked the man dead in the eyes and smiled wide. "I hadn't really thought of how much I was going to charge folk... so what do you say about, oh, a hundred gold a bowl?"

Duncan smiled. It was the smile of someone who knew the ending of the story before it got told. He was expecting my offer, and honestly, I couldn't say I was surprised.

"You know, I think it's a bit high, to be honest." He shrugged with one shoulder, unwilling to take his elbows off the table. Maybe he realized it was a landmine of splinters and he'd just picked the one spot where it was safe. "Your cooking isn't bad. Truly. You have some knack for it, either because you're an absolute failure at everything else and you had to finally be good at something, or because the system holds your hand and you can't get in your own way long enough to fuck it up." He sneered, drawing his lips back from his teeth and just making his face much more like that of a snarling dog. "And while the suggestion is cute, and a great attempt at getting out of the inevitable, they fucking call it the inevitable for a reason."

"Then just give me a quest and get it over with."

I expected some more back and forth. Duncan was always great for a witty bout of dialogue before getting down to brass tacks and kicking my teeth in for whatever stupid thing I'd done.

But there was no hesitation.

Payment

Duncan of Kinon has issued you an ultimatum - you need to choose an option. The first is to pay him one hundred gold. The second is to return to Kinon with him and continue in his service. The third is to submit to a beating worthy of one hundred gold.

"Fine," I said, accepting the quest. "If you're going to be that much of a bitch about it, I guess we'll do this the hard way."

Duncan smiled. "So, out back then?"

Mel and Berry immediately started moving again as if to intercept Duncan, but I stopped them by standing up. "Hey. Mel, can you do me a big, huge favor?"

The human-sized pixie turned and looked me over, curiously. "What is it?"

"Can you take Berry into town and see how Lizbeth is doing? I've been meaning to check up on her, but I didn't want Day to cause trouble. I'm suddenly less worried about his antics now, though."

"Seriously?" She gave me the typical Mel stink eye. "You want me to just leave him here with you?"

I turned to look at her, instead of watching Duncan's smug face. "I appreciate you and everything you've done for me up until now. But you've stayed out of Duncan's grasp because you were a pixie and obviously uninterested in humans. Even me. But now? Now he knows you care for me. So unless you'd like to go about not doing that any more, I need you to leave. Because he will not hesitate to hurt you. Or Berry."

Duncan smiled innocently, but I could see the gleam in his eyes. He knew exactly what game he was playing, and he was more than willing to destroy everything I'd built, even my friendship with Mel, if it meant he got to continue playing with his toy.

"I'll handle this. You go on into town so you aren't tempted to do anything heroic."

Mel tossed her head in frustration. But then she paused and looked towards the kitchen before asking: "And what's stopping me from just running right to the constable the second I'm out the front door?"

"Ooh, please do." Duncan's lips pulled back from his teeth once more. "I'd love to see how quickly and cheaply I can buy out the law here after murdering our little chef right in front of their eyes. Harper is under contract, after all."

"See? He's thought of everything." I didn't believe it, not for a second, but I wasn't going to say that outloud. "I'll be fine. Just, um, maybe also stop by Karina and grab some poultices?"

Mel looked as if she wanted to argue, but Berry shook her head. "He's right, Mel. We're only likely making things worse."

"But it's so much more fun this way," Duncan said, faking a pout. "After all, I'm more than willing to add interest to Harper's little debt the longer we delay things."

I don't know what the hell Duncan was thinking. Everyone with half a brain knew you didn't piss off a pixie. Like, sure, Mel and I had a good back and forth going and sometimes it would make her mad. But not like... mad, mad.

Mel stalked towards the lender on legs that seemed to never move. She loomed over him somehow simultaneously directly in his face and impossibly far away. "We're done here, Duncan Buchanan." She smiled, and it was a thin, dark smile that Mel usually reserved for something that was going to die very quickly. "I will take my leave. But know that you have made a terrible mistake. You have invoked the wrath of the pixies. Try as you might, you will not harm a hair on Harper Emerson's head this day. Nor will you get your payment. Your quest will be impotent - limp and without value. Retract it now or wait until after my words prove true - it matters not. But know that a pixie speaks no lies."

She reached out as if to pat his head, but stopped her hand just inches from the crest of his crown.

And then she turned and walked away.

Tension bled from the room and I released a breath I hadn't known I was holding.

I half expected Duncan's quest to be gone, but it did still loom in the corner of my vision.

Had... had anything even happened?

Mel looked satisfied. Berry, confused.

And Duncan was seething with anger.

So, maybe?

Did he like... have a debuff? Some pixie curse? Or was Mel just really good at putting on a show and nothing had actually happened?

Mel walked behind my chair, pausing to place her hand on the top of my head. She applied a little pressure and so I leaned back to look at her, and she pressed a small kiss to the center of my forehead. "Have fun, okay?"

"What, that's it? No 'stay safe' or 'I've hidden a sword under the preparation table go nuts'?"

Mel released my head and patted me on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll think of something, Harper. You always do."

I felt like I was missing something. Like Mel knew something I didn't and I was supposed to follow, but no one had given me the set up for the joke.

She didn't stop to explain, though. Just took Berry by the hand and led the adventurer out the front door.

At least Berry looked as confused as I did.

"Well. I'd say she's lovely and you're a lucky man, but we both know neither of those things are true."

"Dude, I would be careful. Insulting me is fine, but I'd leave Mel out of this. You’ve already pissed her off - don’t make it worse."

"Your pixie doesn't scare me, Harper." Duncan pushed his chair back from the table and stood. "Although, I do have to admit, the loyalty you've earned is very impressive. I'd ask how you managed, but I'm sure it was the same self-sacrificing bullshit that you are just so very good at."

I mean, he wasn't wrong. So I sort of just shrugged at him. "Nailed it."

"Now. I do still rather want to be paid, so, last chance to complete that part of the quest."

I opened my arms wide. "I have nothing, Duncan. I've got less than half of what you ask to my name, and that's because everything went into this eatery. The eatery, I might remind you, that hasn't opened yet. But it is days from opening. So if you want to beat me for having the audacity of not being able to pull gold coins out of my asshole, great. Fine. But could we do it out back? I'd really love to keep the blood in here to a minimum until after I open."

Duncan motioned towards the kitchen. "Lead the way, oh esteemed chef."

I got up from my chair and led Duncan towards the back door. What the hell else was I supposed to do? I had been given three choices, all of them sucked, and the one way out I tried to take was an abysmal failure. All that was left was leading the man who was going to punch me into a coma to the place where he was going to punch me into a coma. I would just have to hope that Mel was able to grab a few poultices and that they'd reduce my down time.

Ambition had to be open for business sooner rather than later, unless I wanted to make a couple days of recovery time a weekly endeavor.

We didn't get very far, however.

Only about halfway into the kitchen.

Because the door was wide open (see, I had forgotten to lock it) and a feminine figure stood in the way, flanked by two goon looking thugs who seemed to be exact duplicates of each other in almost every way. Right down to their dead, empty eyes.

The woman between them was beautiful. Ethereal. She had long, deep brown hair that crested in perfect waves over her shoulders. She wore a thin, gossamer dress of the deepest green, and it sparkled like it was made of sunlight. Her skin was the perfect shade of brown, neither too dark nor too light, and it seemed like it would be perfect and smooth to the touch.

When our eyes met, hers lit up with a recognition mine couldn't match.

I'd never seen this woman before in my life.

And yet, I knew her.

All too well.

"Mari Belle."