Before the arrival of Hero Gallant, it was the conventional wisdom that the demon king was immortal.

Oh sure, the demon king could be defeated. That wasn't the problem. Plenty of adventurers, plucky farm boys and soldiers had managed it. All these fine folk cut their way through the legions of monsters that served the demon king and subsequently invaded the Beyond, where the dark stronghold was located. And after what I assume was a titanic struggle, the demon king would be reduced to a glorified pincushion and our brave avengers would be paraded through the streets as they were showered with roses.

Unfortunately the demon king would always come back. Cut him, crush him, burn him. Didn't matter the method of execution, the demon king would always make his grand reappearance around half a century later. The sages once thought the demon king was in fact multiple different individuals wearing the same mantle, but that theory was quickly debunked. In the occasional negotiations between the demon king and humanity, the demon king possessed first hand, almost perfect knowledge of what had become ancient history. Historical geography, culture, politics. Books could teach you about these things, but accounts ultimately become garbled and details lost. But the demon king could expound at length on this topics if he was in the mood.

That old devil certainly liked the sound of his own voice at least. The implications were clear to everyone though. The demon king would not stay dead, no matter what. He would show up like clockwork to ravage the kingdoms of man, only to be beaten back again, ad nauseum. However this status quo would not keep. The kingdoms of man were gradually weakening, the strain of repeated great conflicts slowly but surely wearing them down. While the monsters in the demon king's service remained as numberless as ever.

So when Hero Gallant was the latest in the series of heroes to defeat the demon king, his victory was greeted with a kind of jaded celebration. Old news, the darkness will be back, so on and so forth. Then that genius changed everything. He actually managed to work out the mechanism behind the demon king's revival.

It boiled down to the Beyond basically. Magic ran deep in the Beyond. More so than anywhere else. The reason why no one noticed this was because the demon king and all the monsters were tied to the magic, or more accurately, the 'life' of this place. Before Gallant made his discovery, the Beyond looked no different than any other countryside. A bit harsher in climate maybe, but nothing really unusual. The reason for that was because the land's magic was being constantly bled away to spawn monsters.

Deep underground streams of magical energy, the life veins, ran through the breadth of the Beyond. How they were formed is a complete unknown, but what the veins did was clear. The veins channeled and focused the huge store of magical energy in the Beyond, serving as a kind of primordial soup monsters were forged out of. Gallant searched relentlessly for the actual location the monsters came from, but could never find it. He nevertheless managed to do the next best thing.

In his effort to find the 'forge' where the monsters were made, Gallant researched a way to trace and chart the underground life veins. When it became clear that his search for the forge was going nowhere, Gallant created a stop gap plan to buy humanity a much needed breather. The life veins would be dug up and drained of their magical power, pushing the eventual revival of the demon king further down the road.

Of course once the Great Houses realized that the life veins provided a rich, untapped source of magical energy, far better than the ambient garbage humanity had previously been working with, the enterprise really took off. It kicked off the whole magical revolution thing that has been going on for the last two hundred years. And on the plus side, the demon king never came back.

Still there remained problems. Which was why Christina and I were here today.

"Halt!" a guard shouts at us as our horses gallop up to the perimeter of the excavation site. Large luminous crystals sprout all over the surrounding area, a side effect of opening the life vein and exposing all that raw magical energy to the air. Looming over us were the giant drills, staked into the ground after having burrowed a yawning crater right in the center of the camp. Dull luminescence from the crater illuminates the network of pipes that suckle from it and terminate at a series of grey iron tanks. Heaving extraction pumps that circle the crater hiss in protest as they pull out more raw magic from the earth.

"Here to see Mills." I wave to the guard, slowing my horse to a trot with Christina following suit behind me.

"Sword master." the guard greets, "Didn't recognize you there. Young Master Rahm has been waiting for you in his tent. Go right in."

I give the guard a friendly salute and canter my horse to the camp's makeshift stables. As Christina and I tie up our mounts, I take the opportunity to brief her.

"We're going to be seeing the client." I whisper, "So best behavior."

"I know." Christina replies with stars in her eyes, "Can't believe Young Master Rahm is actually here in running this operation."

"A Young Master Rahm is here." I clarify, "Not the Young Master Rahm. You seriously think the heir to a Great House would be slumming it in the Beyond?"

"Pardon?" Christina misses a beat as her mind makes sense of the explanation.

"Mills Rahm is the fourth grandson of the second concubine owned by the seventh nephew of the uncle of the patriarch of the House of Rahm." I say, after racking my memory for the exact description.

"Uh." Christina's mouth opens and closes impotently as a glazed expression overtakes her face.

"The Rahms have the House of Robeur on retainer." I shrug, choosing to keep things simple, "So that makes Mills Rahm our client. Got it?"

"Sure." Christina sighs, relieved at not needing to think so hard at the exact relationship of the parties.

I fully sympathized. Noble families, in particular the Great Houses were absolute snake pits where everyone was somehow tangled together. Without another word I peel open the multi colored tent serving as Mills' residence and step inside.

"Hey Mac." greets a young man around Christina's age, as he sits at a mahogany desk cluttered with documents. Slightly pudgy, very much like a scholar who eats a little too much and works too little. He drums his fingers against the table with barely concealed tension while giving the beady eye to a map mounted to one of the tent's posts. After a pregnant pause, the man rubs his scalp, pulling loose a few curly blonde hairs. From the corner of my eye I see an unmade cot, creaking under the weight of more maps strewn across it.

"Mills." I wave back casually, "Its been a month since I was last here, huh?"

"You said the problem had been solved." Mills complains as he gets up from his chair and reaches over to one of the maps on the cot, "Guess what Mac, its not."

Mills tosses me the map and I see a red circle drawn in angry red over one of the sectors, several grid spaces away from our current location.

"The goblins are back. That's what my scouts tell me." Mills says in a rush, nearly stuttering, "They're going to reach the camp within the next few days. I know it."

"Mills, relax. Chillax." I reassure the man, "You've unearthed a really rich life vein here. The Beyond spawning monsters to kick you off this patch of land was always going to happen."

"I know. I know." Mills grouses, "But I can't keep this up. The workers are already complaining about being under constant threat. You know this isn't the first spawning incident."

"And it won't be the last." I pat Mills on the shoulder, "But no one has been seriously hurt, right? Every single incident, dealt with. Just like I'm going to deal with this one."

"Hey Mac, can I ask you something?" Mills suddenly leans close.

"Shoot." I ask, settling in beside him.

"I'm thinking of writing to my family, y'know?" Mills mutters, "Get them to approve a raise for the workers. Smooth things over a little. Everyone has been putting their necks on the line and -"

"Mills, no. Absolutely not." I shake my head, "That is the absolute worst thing for you to do right now."

"What? Why?" Mills exclaims, frowning.

Honestly, he's a good guy, just not really suited for this life. Mills doesn't really have what it takes to impose himself on other people. And you have to do that when you're running an excavation out in the sticks, since anything can go tits up here. The Rahms probably handed Mills this position since it paid decently well but was not really important enough to ruffle the feathers of any of the actually powerful family members. But to keep the foreman position Mills needs to show that he's got matters in hand.

"Everything has already been costed into this operation." I tap the table for emphasis, "You want to mess with the main branch's profit margins, especially when no one has actually been hurt yet?"

"Well, no ..." Mills concedes. I quickly strike while the iron is hot.

"The people who planned this op? They know monsters are going to be showing up." I patiently elaborate, "They're waiting to see whether you can keep the project on track. Getting pressured by your workers? Makes you look weak, Mills."

"Yeah. I got it." Mills raises his hands in surrender, "But I'm counting you to do your part, clear?"

"Sure." I gesture towards Christina who had been standing as a silent observer to our conversation, "Here, meet our latest apprentice."

"Mills Rahm. Pleasure." Mills extends his hand and Christina grips it with a firm handshake before transitioning into a curtsy.

"Apprentice Christina Smitt." Christina greets with a smile, "Please treat me well."

"I brought Christina here to get some field experience." I say, letting the implication sink in.

"Huh. If an apprentice is here, then it can't be too dangerous at the end of the day." Mills muses, picking up on my messaging. I cheer and give a fist pump in my heart. The Rahms are an important client of the House of Robeur. If I lose Mills' confidence, the Knight Commander would have my hide. I just wish our not so important heir wasn't so skittish all the time.

"We'll be staying in the usual tent then?" I ask.

"Yes." Mills nods, "My staff should have brought your luggage in already."

"Ah ..." Christina hesitantly interrupts, "Aren't we going to be sleeping in separate tents?"

"Nah." I shrug, "This is a field study of a combat operation. Comfort and modesty come very distant seconds to practicality. You're going to have to get used to going co-ed anyway. Its the norm for all Magic Knights in the field."

"No other spare tents either." Mills rubs his back, "But I could provide Ms Smitt with my own tent during her stay with us?"

"Where will you be sleeping then?" I query with an eyebrow raised.

"In the same tent as you?" Mills smiles, "This way the lady's modesty and the demands of practicality would be satisfied at the same time."

"Thank you, Young Master Rahm." Christina bows deeply and I can see Mills just lapping this shit up.

"Eh, I'm OK with it." I agree affably. Dude, she's already got a boyfriend. I doubt you'll be getting anywhere with this little show, but you do you.

The goblins will be here within the next two days at most, if my estimates are correct. That's enough time for me to prepare. But for now, I'm saddle sore and tired from all the travelling.

"I'm going to rest." I announce and leave Christina and Mills to continue their conversation by themselves.