Shawn

No one says anything for a few minutes as we stare silently at the door behind us.

I eventually break the silence and ask, "Aren't you going to get in trouble for killing the Island Lord's men?"

Hank sends a strange look my way before asking, "No? Why would we?"

Because you just killed your client's men?

Aldred notices my confusion and says, "Remember that we said that our mission ended the moment we brought him here? Therefore, he isn't our client anymore."

"You still killed his men. Won't that get you in trouble?" I ask in confusion.

"Nope," Hank says with a smug look on his face.

That just makes me even more confused.

Amber seems to notice my confusion and explains, "The Adventurer's Guild branch and the Island Lord have been having a silent war of sorts with each other ever since the new Guildmaster came to the Isle of Drifting Ash. Thanks to this, things tend to be rather tense around any of the Island Lord's men, often coming down to fights between the adventurers and his men."

"Why? Does the Island Lord just hate the new Guildmaster or something?" I ask

Aldred looks a little bit unsure himself as he responds, "We think they have a bit of a past together. We don't know exactly what happened, but they both hate each other and are constantly drawing their subordinates into fights over it."

Varthurg pulls out a strange looking orb with a number on it before passing it to me.

I accept it with a confused expression on my face before hearing Aldred explain what it is, "That orb is enchanted to count the number of the Island Lord's men you have defeated or killed and we are awarded by the Adventurer's Guild branch on the Isle of Drifting Ash for the number appearing on the orb."

My mouth drops open at the absurdity of that.

"The Island Lord does the same thing with his men too, but his men tend to be crueler and will often try to kill an adventurer from our branch on sight if they are not in a public area." Amber adds.

What the hell is wrong with this Island Lord and Guildmaster anyways?

I know that I promised to join the Adventurer's Guild on the Isle of Drifting Ash, but I think that I should leave that island as soon as I join it.

"Wait, if they hate each other, then why did the Island Lord still request a job from the Adventurer's Guild? Also, why did the Guildmaster accept the request?" I ask Aldred.

I don't understand why they would help each other if they hate each other so much.

Josh says, "Actually, we don't understand why they did this either."

Aldred looks around for a second before saying, "Well, no use standing around here and trying to figure it out. We should complete this dungeon and move on to the Isle of Drifting Ash."

"True," I say in agreement.

Hank and Elizabeth get up from where they were sitting and we begin walking down the corridor of the dungeon.

The dungeon clearing after Shawn and the others make it through the door.

The Island Lord quickly arrives at the clearing, only to see the door to the dungeon close.

He stares at the door for a few seconds before turning towards a tree located slightly outside of the clearing.

"Get down," the Island Lord orders while staring at the top of the tree.

After a second, an orc can be seen jumping down from the tree and landing on the ground.

This same orc then kneels and says, "I appologise for my failure, my lord."

The Island Lord stares at the orc for a few seconds with a cold look in his eyes, leaving the orc to begin shaking out of fear.

"Please tell me why exactly you were hiding in a tree while the adventurers escaped?" The Island Lord slowly asks without taking his eyes off of the orc.

"I appologise my-" The orc begins before the Island Lord flaps the wings on his back, sending out a wave of ash and flame in their wake.

"I don't want to hear your appologies," the Island Lord says before repeating himself, "I want to hear why you were hiding in a tree."

"T-The Adventurers were with a draugr when they tried to leave," the orc answers in a terrified tone.

For the first time since arriving on the island, the Island Lord's eyes show something aside from a clear coldness.

They show a spark of interest.

"Tell me about this draugr," the Island Lord asks in a hurry.

The orc finally calms down after seeing that the Island Lord's attention has been shifted away from him, so he manages to answer in a calm tone, "Yes, Lord Ash. The draugr had hair as white as the snow around us with pitch-black eyes marking him as a draugr. He was with the party of adventurers and fought us alongside them, but never said a word the entire time."

The Island Lord puts his hand on the lower half of his face as he ponders something before asking, "Is there anything else?"

The orc stops to think for a moment before pointing towards one of the corpses, the one killed by Shawn, and saying, "Oh, that's right! He used miasma during the battle to kill him!"

A smirk can barely be seen in-between the Island Lord's fingers as he glances towards the corpse.

Before anything else can be said, a short demon can be seen entering the clearing.

This demon has grey skin as well as both a tail and a horn and immediately rushes towards the two as soon as he spots the Island Lord.

"My Lord, are you alright?" The short demon asks while observing the array of ash spread throughout the area by the Island Lord's wings.

The Island Lord glances towards the shorter demon and responds, "Yes, Roz, I am alright. In fact, I might even be better than alright."

Roz sends a confused glance towards the Island Lord before asking, "If I may ask, what has peaked your interest my lord?"

The Island Lord turns towards the orc again with a cold look in his eyes and says, "Well, there was apparently an undead prince hiding away on this island, but this buffoon managed to let him escape with the adventurers without meeting me."

The Island Lord waves his hand towards the orc and sends a wave of fire and ash that quickly envelopes the orc, burning him to a cinder before he can even realize what was happening.

Roz's eyes open wide at the mention of an undead prince as he ignores the pile of ashes that was once the orc and asks, "Would you like us to send word to the Isle of Drifting Ash to search for this prince?"

The Island Lord, Lord Xalgath Ash, lets out a light chuckle as he responds, "Yes Roz, I would."