After resting his aging body for an entire day, Gilbert had finally managed to tear himself up from the warm comfort of his bed during the time of the day that could still be considered morning. While proud of himself, he was still annoyed that both Anastacia and Emilia were already done with their breakfasts by the time he lumbered down the stairs into the tavern. Neither of them seemed particularly spry yet, especially the necromancer who had managed to put her shirt on backwards, but both of them were nonetheless awake.

“Morn’…” The old adventurer grumbled as he joined their table.

Emilia slowly raised her sleepy gaze from the table and looked like she was about to say something, but all that came out was a tired sigh before she sank slightly deeper in her chair and gave up. Anastacia’s response was a short unintelligible wail that apparently commanded both King and Leggy to wave in her stead. The three adventurers and two simulacra sat there in complete silence for what must have been the better part of an hour. At one point Yulia brought Gilbert his breakfast, without him ever ordering anything, and refilled Anastacia’s and Emilia’s drinks, but not a word was exchanged between them. This was all fairly normal for them, and all adventurers for that matter. After returning from a longer quest, they would often not be seen for a day or two and would then just suddenly appear in the tavern as groggy messes that needed a moment to start back up again.

After her third cup of coffee and a quick nap against King’s shoulder, Anastacia finally started to liven up. “Emilia, do you have more of the stuff you told me to put on burns? I used all you gave me.” She asked and yawned.

“That was supposed to last for months! Please tell me you didn’t eat it again.” The priestess pleaded.

“I didn’t eat most of it.” Admitted the necromancer. “It’s for my arm.” She said and showed her right arm, which was almost entirely covered by a bandage, all the way from her shoulder to the palm of her hand.

“Right, the thing in your shoulder…” Emilia remembered and touched her own shoulder in the same spot where Leggy had installed the core on Anastacia. “I don’t have any but I can go out and pick up more of the ingredients in a bit. You should have Iris look at it once she wakes up, let her do her thing, you know?”

Anastacia stared at the stairs which led to the adventurers’ rooms. “She’s been awake for as long as we have. Pretty sure she’s waiting for Yulia to go on a break to sneak in here. She’s worried that Yulia is mad over the whole drugging her thing, from the last time she was here. The current plan is to not let Yulia hear her speak or see her face so she doesn’t get recognized.” She explained based on what she could feel happening in Iris’ room.

“Yulia knows who she is.” Gilbert immediately said while cleaning his pipe. “I told her pretty much as soon as we got back, while you were in the baths.”

The necromancer chuckled. “Is there not a hint of malice in that lamb? She was very nice to Iris yesterday. I would have at least mildly poisoned her drink or something, if I was in Yulia’s place.”

Gilbert nodded. “She’s far too kind for this city.”

“Anyway, I’ll go get Iris then. She should to know she’s in no danger of being kicked for now.” Anastacia decided and promptly stood up. She gestured for her simulacra companions to stay put and quickly disappeared into the second floor.

Gilbert watched her go with an intrigued look on his face. He clearly pondered something for a while and decided if he should say anything while fiddling with the pipe before turning to the priestess. “I’m curious, what’s your goal by making Iris follow Anna for now? She came here specifically to learn from you, and Anna is at least ten years away from being able to offer any kind of guidance to anyone.” He asked, not meaning to belittle his youngest party member, but he firmly believed in experience, which Anastacia critically lacked.

Emilia had expected for such a question to arise at some point, and she didn’t originally really have an answer for it. Telling Iris to stick with her fellow necromancer was more of a way for give herself a moment to breathe and think on what exactly she could teach to the inquisitor that would actually benefit her, but it had quickly dawned on her that it was indeed a very good decision. “I don’t want to say that Iris needs to learn how to not care about her responsibilities, but that’s one aspect of our goblin queen that would benefit her greatly. There’s a chaos within Anna which lets her handle pressure in a certain way and avoid being crushed by it. Iris is obviously the exact opposite, she has exactly one mission in her life, and I don’t know how much of it was given to her and how much of it is something she decided to undertake on her own, but it's obviously too much at the moment. I’m sure she has the ability to do whatever she’s been tasked to do in Mournvalley, but she has nothing else in her life. Every setback to her one purpose is a life-crushing defeat. Enough of those with no time spent on anything but obsessing over the mistakes – imaginary or real – cracks start to appear in anyone’s willpower.” She explained as well as she could.

“Your solution to her stressing too much is to make her accompany the most stress-inducing person we know?” Gilbert chortled heartily. He didn’t doubt the priestess, but did find the solution funny.

“Hanging out with Anna causes a good type of stress. No matter what happens – and something will happen when you’re with her, you can be absolutely certain that it wasn’t your fault. You might be in the direst peril of your life, but you know that it’s because she did something stupid, or fate just decided to throw yet another punch at her, and you’re just there to help.” Emilia shrugged happily and twirled a spoon in the air. “That, and more importantly, I think they go nicely together. Both could use a friend with something in common with them, it would do well for Anna to see another necromancer as a person and for Iris to see that Anna isn’t a danger to anything that isn’t made from sugar. Don’t you think so too?”

Gilbert nodded agreeingly and stroked his beard. “I guess it’s worth the try at least. Anna will literally befriend a rock if it isn’t trying to kill her.” He joked and glanced over to the simulacra. “No offense.”

Moments later, Anastacia returned downstairs with her outfit fixed and with the second necromancer in tow. Surprise visits to pitch-black voids weren’t terribly conducive for resting, so she had barely slept a wink during the night, and had indeed spent most of the morning in her room, waiting for a moment to sneak into the tavern during Yulia’s break. Partly because of this and partly because that how she was, even in her nice new clothes, she appeared particularly scruffy in the mornings. She took a seat between Emilia and Gilbert, as far away from the simulacra as possible and meekly greeted everyone.

“So, how are you finding this city of ours?” Emilia asked and smiled warmly to make Iris feel included.

Iris crossed her fingers and stared down at the table while trying her absolute best to word what she had to say in the least insulting way she could. “It’s very… intense.”

“You’re not wrong.” Gilbert agreed. “You’ll get used to it in no time, and when you get back home, you’ll start to miss it.”

The four rambled on about the city for a while. Gilbert was firmly of the opinion that the absurd variety of people, experiences and things available was without a doubt what made it the place to be. Nowhere else in the world could you tag along with a handful of people who had mastered arts and skills you didn’t even know of, go beat up a forest troll, find people to buy whatever you managed to chop off and get paid for the whole thing, and then just wake up in the morning to do something completely different. While Emilia agreed, she particularly enjoyed how living in Valor basically allowed you to stand up from your chair, pick up a quest and travel wherever it asked you to go, see the sights, customs and people there, and not for a moment have to worry about what’s going on at home or feel like you should be doing something more useful. In Anastacia’s opinion, the best thing about Valor was the simple fact that it wasn’t Mournvalley.

Their idle conversation was eventually interrupted by Rosie, who popped out of the kitchen to see if anyone needed anything, but spotting both of the necromancers finally awake, she quickly came up with a plan. The innkeeper hurried behind the counter and scribbled a random assortment of items such as a corkscrew, small sieve and a ball of yarn onto a note. She then waltzed over to the table with Emilia and her party and heavily leaned against the priestess.

“You’re going out today, right? Mind making it snappy and getting a few things for me as well?” She requested, rolled up the note and slipped it into a gap in Emilia’s armor.

Struggling to stay upright under the considerable weight, the priestess gave her a pained smile and took out the note. “Uh… Sure, I was just about to head out anyway.” She said, tried to get up but couldn’t before Rosie let her do so after a few attempts and put on her shiny steel gauntlets. “Anyone else need anything? Since I’m going out.”

“If you happen by any place that sells fuses, I could use a small coil of the slow burning kind.” Gilbert asked. “I’ll pay you back later.”

“Is there a type of varnish for stone? I want to see if I can make these two shiny.” Anastacia asked.

Emilia just sighed in return and walked out without saying anything.

Rosie peered through a window to make sure the priestess disappeared into the crowd flocking around the market square before turning back to the table. “Gil, you’re not here.” She stated and sat down.

Gilbert made an absolutely minimal effort to turn away from the ensuing conversation and started to deal with his pipe while pretending to ignore whatever was being said.

“Still nothing?” The innkeeper asked and looked agitated when both of the necromancers shook their heads. “Of course… There’s also a problem with the blood thing.” She said and placed a small iron pebble on the table.

“This is...” Iris asked while leaning in and taking a better look at the small bit of unassuming-looking cast iron.

“That’s her blood. It comes out red but the moment it leaves her skin it becomes like that.” Rosie grumbled.

The iron had no trace of anything necromancy could affect. “Blood isn’t supposed to do that.” Iris commented to herself and rolled it under her finger to see how solid it was.

“Well, aren’t you an expert!” The tigress snarled annoyedly but quickly realized anger wasn’t exactly helping. “Sorry… It’s just, you know.”

“D… don’t worry about it.” Iris smiled warily and picked up the pebble.

“Lick it, coward.” Anastacia blurted out.

The cleric rolled her eyes at her fellow necromancer’s grin. “It’s a piece of metal, you can feel as much yourself, can’t you? I would get just as little out of licking metal as anyone else, absolutely nothing!”

“Speak for yourself.” Anastacia smirked and pointed at the simulacra by her side.

With a slightly disgusted look on her face, Iris yielded because she wasn’t willing to go down this road any longer. She picked up the bit of iron and quickly tapped the tip of her tongue with it. For a while, her concentrated frown while swirling her tongue in her mouth looked as if there could have been something to the pebble.

“Well?” Rosie asked impatiently.

“Sorry, but it’s just metal.” Iris lamented and placed the piece back on the table. “It does feel kind of weirdly warm though.”

The innkeeper picked up the bit of iron and held it between her fingers. Indeed, it felt noticeably warmer than it should have been, even considering that it had been on her in the heat of the kitchen for hours. “What now?” She asked.

“We could take it to the blacksmith, see if there’s anything special about it.” Anastacia suggested.

Iris cringed at the idea of going back to the blacksmith and the beast lurking in his shop, despite knowing that they needed to do that at some point regardless of her opinions. “Don’t you think that man has enough troubles for now?” She asked to delay the inevitable.

“I count as one big trouble, so this won’t increase his worries.” Shrugged the adventurer and snatched the pebbled into her pocket.

Suddenly a sharp knock from the inn’s door interrupted the conversation. Outside of the newest resident, everyone knew what a knock like that meant and a few of the patrons hastily shuffled upstairs. The only reason anyone would bother knocking on the door of any of the city’s establishments was a somewhat secret agreement between the guild guards and adventurers. When accompanied by a guild official and thus forced to crack down on even the most insignificant offenses, a guard would knock and give everyone inside a few seconds to cease and hide anything they figured shouldn’t probably be seen by guards. This saved both time and effort on both sides of the deal and was likely known even among the officials, but considered as unavoidable, after all, part of the purpose of the guards was to provide a more relatable and approachable front for the whole organization. Even if there wasn’t anything seedy going on, many adventurers simply preferred not to be present when one of the officials made an incursion into the city, and almost half of the tavern’s patrons were soon on their way to their rooms.

Anastacia simply assumed that she was already in trouble and didn’t even bother trying to tell Iris or Leggy to hide. When it came to the officials, it was often just easier to face the music and try to negotiate or lie than to hide things for a longer period of time.

One of the guards Anastacia had seen around the city opened the door, took one glance at the already annoyed innkeeper and politely removed his helmet. He then briefly looked around until he noticed the small necromancer staring directly at him with a grin that signaled full intent to be as unhelpful as humanly possible. “Yup. She’s here.” The guard reported to whoever was following him and stepped further inside.

“Strawberry!” Anastacia exclaimed with glee as the official who had accompanied her to the recent negotiations in Vassund entered in inn, along with a second guard. For most people it would have been almost impossible to even tell the officials apart, but she had had ample time to memorize what little unique traits her favorite official had. “You don’t need guards to come and see me, unless you do, in which case two isn’t going to do much.”

“Standard operation procedures within the city, not an indication of anything.” The official said dryly and headed directly to Rosie without so much as looking at anyone else in the room. He opened the satchel bag hanging over his shoulder, pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to the innkeeper. “I would request this room to be vacated by everyone besides Anastacia, the simulacra and the unnamed non-adventurer individual – including yourself. I would also ask for refreshments and a small portion of time of day-appropriate sustenance for the guards accompanying me as well as Anastacia and the unnamed non-adventurer. You may file this form and recoup their costs as well as any lost business our stay here may cause.”

“Oh, Strawberry, you know how to treat a girl. I love refreshments and time of day appropriate sustenance!” Anastacia commented, knowing it would annoy the official.

Rosie took a look at the form and sighed. She would have liked to continue the previous conversation but couldn’t exactly do anything when it came to guild matters. “You heard him, everyone! Scram! Gil, take Yulia with you.” She commanded the remaining adventurers and sternly glared at them until they disappeared either upstairs or outside. “Is Anna in trouble?”

“Perpetually, by all accounts.” The official said and gestured for the guards to take seats somewhere by the door to stop any unwanted visitors. He then moved what had been Gilbert’s seat equally far away from both Anastacia and Iris, and sat down to wait for the ‘refreshments.’ Without saying a word, he flipped through some papers inside his bag, took a long, uninterested look at everyone in the table and crossed his hands.

Iris was already living through the worst possible outcome of the meeting, where her presence would cause everyone to get kicked out of the city or worse. She couldn’t understand why Anastacia seemed so unperturbed by the whole thing.

“So, what brings my favorite little knobhead into our humble abode?” Anastacia asked to break the silence

“I am not saying anything before there is something here to placate you.” Strawberry immediately answered.

The adventurer gasped overdramatically. “Shit, he’s learning.”

After a couple of more minutes of complete silence, Rosie returned with drinks for the necromancers as well as some leftover bagels with an assortment of fillings left over from the breakfast. She also served the same to the guards, who seemed to be on their best behavior due to the combination of being in the presences of an official as well as the innkeeper. Making sure everything was in order, she took her leave and started furiously prepare for the next meal to handle her nerves.

Strawberry exhaustedly looked at the sustenance provided and the barely contained grin on Anastacia’s face. “Is there a way to avoid this?” He asked, to which the necromancer simply shook her head. “Do what you must then.”

Having been given permission, Anastacia grabbed a bagel and slowly slid it on Strawberry’s crystalline horn, savoring every fraction of a second as Iris watched it in horror. The official obviously removed it as soon as he could, and shot a glare at the chuckling guards by the door.

After having her fun and choosing her favorite toppings Anastacia asked again. “So, why are you here?” Because of what Unit Twelve had told her, she now knew how the officials roughly worked, all being a part of a larger collective with all the same knowledge and experiences while still barely being individuals. Thus, her question was more about why specifically send Strawberry and not any of the other officials.

“Unfortunately, in an attempt to limit any undue trauma you might cause, it has been decreed that I am to process any of your business unrelated to quests available at any of our offices.” Strawberry explained, visibly unhappy with the decision. “As for the matter I came here with, it will wait. There seems to be more going on here. So let us start with why is that in the city and why I shouldn’t have it removed?” He asked and pointed at Leggy.

“What a rude way to speak of your sister.” Anastacia frowned disapprovingly. “But if you must know, I have hired her as my housecarl. So, as my bodyguard, she goes where I go.”

The official took out a few blank pieces of paper as well as his writing utensils and began writing down what was being said. “And why do you, of all people, think you need a bodyguard on top of what you already have?”

“First of all, in no piece of paper you’ve ever written, is King here to protect me. According to you assholes, he’s classified as a tool or equipment, and by the laws of my people, he’s my husband. Bodyguard is an entirely different thing.” The necromancer argued. “And I need a bodyguard because the enemy is everywhere and takes forms unknown to all.”

Strawberry wrote down the entire argument but stopped his quill for a moment on the word ‘unknown’. “And what is ‘the enemy’ in this context? Is it Mournvalley again, or have you caused new wars that have yet to reach our walls?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Anastacia smirked.

Strawberry had known from the very beginning that getting a real answer was unlikely, so he simply wrote down everything, word by word. “There is no law that says an adventurer can not have a bodyguard. There is a matter of it being a simulacrum though…” His horn flashed frequently as he spoke. “While we are not thrilled to have even one of them in the city, an adventurer hiring one was not something we foresaw happening and did not account for. The considerably more dangerous apex pattern has been under control during its stay here, so we are willing to show good faith and allow the presence of this comparably harmless one for now. This does mean, however, that you need to file forms 3228-B and 779-C to prove an established contract between you, and make quarterly payment reports for its salary. After all, you can not hire someone and not pay them for the service. We have some recommended rates that will automatically be taken into account when taxing your quest rewards in the future.” Though he didn’t show it on his face, it was easy to tell that the guild was slowly learning how to make things as annoying as possible for Anastacia without directly becoming the target of her ire.

The adventurer found the solution reasonable and was actually surprised of the lack of resistance. “Do I need to pay her in gold? Our kingdom doesn’t use it as currency.”

“But we do, so yes. The payments need to be made in gold. It will also not gain any of the benefits of being a citizen, and you are responsible for it in full.” The official finished and turned his attention to Iris, who had mostly just been baffled by the conversation so far. “And what of you? What is your relation to Anastacia? Have you come to Valor to become an adventurer?”

Iris frantically muttered something unintelligible while trying to signal for help from Anastacia. She failed to remember anything of her flimsy cover story under pressure and wasn’t at all prepared for interrogation.

“She’s a temporary hire. I needed something for a thing in my castle, so I hired her. It’s too cold to sleep in there for now, so I took her here.” Anastacia lied, not particularly convincingly, but she was fairly sure the guild already had what they needed to identify Iris.

“Is that so… The distinctly blue robes that were reported by the sanitation workers, as well as several blood samples and other questionable items confiscated from someone accompanying you don’t belong to her?” Strawberry inquired with a completely serious tone, obviously hinting that he knew. “Care to tell us what might be her profession, and what is it that she provides for your castle?”

“I’m an interior decorator!” Iris exclaimed, somehow proud of the lie she had come up with. On the Mournvalleyan scale she was indeed considered to have a good taste, and so she was sure she could pass off as a decorator for goblins as well. “Blue is just my favorite color and the items you took from me were for reference.”

Suddenly Anastacia had to work very hard to stifle her laughter and was unable to do anything but stare in awe at the inquisitor.

Just like before, without missing a beat, the official wrote down the clumsy lie. “We must admit that an interior decorator using a dried human kidney as a reference is something we hadn’t considered. We advise against using those robes for now though. In these parts they carry a certain meaning and their users are considered a security risk. You wouldn’t want to be mixed up in all that would you, Miss… What was your name again?”

“Iri- Uh… yeah! My name is Iri Deco- Iri Décor!” Iris constructed yet another bad lie by scraping together whatever was on her mind.

“Iri Décor, the interior decorator who wears blue, carries around blood and pieces of people for reference and just so happens to be hired by the only necromancer in the city…” The official repeated the lie in its complete absurdity. “Very well, I expect the same forms regarding any payments made to you for your work. You may go now, there’s still more I need to discuss with Anastacia in private.”

Iris didn’t need to be told twice. She shot up form her chair and practically ran upstairs.

Strawberry waited for a few moments while proofreading what he had written so far. “Is she not supposed to be an assassin or a spy? I would expect better from the inquisition.” He sighed and neatly folded the paper into his bag. “We do not know why there is an inquisitor in our city, and quite frankly we do not want to know. Her stay is expected to be brief, and if she is caught outside without you, she is to be permanently banished from Valor. Are we clear on the matter?”

Something had dawned on Anastacia during the silence. “You’re kind of giving me a weirdly large amount of leeway here, is there something going on with you? You wouldn’t be the first ancient being trying to come onto me, but honestly, I think we work better as just friends.” She hid a question in a joke.

The official packed away his papers and writing tools before answering. “Thirty-eight hours ago, we were contacted by what remains of The Wrath Core, and received a thorough briefing on your quest within Erratic Judgement. From this we extrapolated what knowledge regarding our origins you and your friend have come to possess, and deemed it to be too much. This left us with two options: to destroy you or work with you.” He stated matter-of-factly. “Most of the thirty-eight hours were spent weighing these options, and in the end, we came to an agreement that any attempt to rid the world of you would be cripplingly costly at best. It was also agreed that though your cooperation with us tends to be hostile to say the least, it has still been cooperation. So, we will continue this awkward relationship where you skirt the rules our as best you can, in exchange for your and your friend’s absolute silence on matters that can not see the light of day again.”

Taking this to mean that the guild was now forced to live with her in the city, and ignoring the slight threat, Anastacia had no issues letting them buy her silence. “You spoke with Twelve? Then you probably know everything I could report to you anyway. Well, maybe not actually. You should also know that Eminence was killed by inquisitors on the surface and The Firstborn probably burned the corpse or something.”

“Really?... That is truly spectacular news.” Strawberry said without showing a hint of delight or relief in his demeanor, but the intense flashing of his horn made it clear that Eminence’s demise was important news to the guild. As the blinking finally calmed down, he stood up, seemingly content with the conversation. “The Wrath Core, brash and warlike as they may be, have taken upon themselves to bring down whatever organization is behind this ‘Eminence’ being, and The Avarice Core decreed that to be the right call and will support the search fully. We have deemed them to possess knowledge even more sinister and dark than you, and must be eradicated all the same as our creators once did. Just so you know, we might call upon the necromancers to do it once more – and you will be available.”

“Yeah, well, there’s starting to be a line for folks who want them gone – and I did promise that if they stood in my path again, I would hunt them down.” The necromancer smirked and leaned against King. “It’s not my problem if someone puts them there and I have to act on it.”

What almost approached the faintest of smiles rose to the official’s face as he gestured for the guards to follow him and departed from the table. “That will do for now.” He said, perhaps just a bit more warmly than before, only then to revert back to his role. “Remember the forms we requested, and do keep an eye on your gaggle of hires, this was their first and last warning.”

The guards gave a polite nod to Anastacia as they followed the official out of the tavern, and she spent a while munching on the bagels before remembering to tell anyone that they could come back.