Knocking on my door once again awoke me, and I once again arose from the floor. Unlike the times before, my body- apparently used to being forcibly woken up by this point- forgot to be groggy… so I felt oddly awake as I grabbed some suitable clothes and came to the door.

Expecting the person at the door to be S- albeit the lack of her talking was confusing me somewhat- I genuinely tilted my head seeing it to be the emotionless face of Serv as the one who greeted me.

She- or they- simply explained, “As I have yet to say this, I humbly regret my distaste for you and refusing to hear your story out.” There was a small pause, as she stared at me with apathy… as if undermining her own point as untrustworthy. Content that I didn’t make a deal, she then continued, “The topic at hand, however, is unrelated. My mistress has dealings to discuss with you… You are an archer, correct?”

Nodding, I follow her obediently. Going through the now familiar hallways of the building, we end up in front of Helen’s workshop without needless delay or any conversation.

There, she knocked thrice and entered, Helen asking upon our arrival, “Did you get him Serv?”

Her response was a blunt, “Affirmative.” Proceeding to lead me to one of the available seats, then standing in the corner as Helen- aware of where I sat probably by the noise- faced me.

“Heya Sam. Can if I see your bow?” she asked with a straight face, her outstretched arm and ribbon covering her eyes making her word-choice just seem ill advised.

“Sure,” I replied, summoning my bow and handing it to her.

Then she felt around the bow, mumbling the things she found as she went. Eventually coming to a conclusion that it was made of Magesapper wood, around a metre in length, double-reflex bow with a simple ‘repair’ enchantment. Also concluding the string was mandrake thread from plucking it a few times.

“The material is weak, but I can tell you care for it alot. Um… is this bow special to you Sam? I’m asking because I can make you a new one from dragon bone if you’d prefer.” There’s no sense of rush or hardship in her words, as her soft tone passed on a peaceful question which allowed either answer.

I simply answered, “I’d… rather not miss Helen. Mind handing it back?”

“There’s no need to be so distant. Here…” She confirmed me holding it by feel, then released her grip, continuing it ask, “So, have you ever tried using a crossbow?”

“No, arrows are easier to make,” I succinctly explained.

“Given the quest, I… may have made an automatic crossbow with the remaining dragon-bone. Do you want it?” Unlike the other questions she asked up to this point, her tone when asking this one made it feel only one answer was correct, and by watching her tail, anyone could confirm this.

Instead of answering, I instead asked back, “Have any bolts? I only have arrows...”

“Yeah, I have lots. So, want it?”

Out of reasons to refuse, I agreed, “Alright… How much do you wish for it?”

To my question she just smiled, her tail wagging with her happy mood. “Don’t worry about it, thanks for letting me use the material in the first place. I’ve never worked with dragon materials before, so this was fun! Can you bring it out Serv?”

Without delay or word, Serv reaches into one of the storage rooms. Faultlessly carrying a crate from within, she exited. Placing it on the table, she slotted the lid off and left back to where she was.

Assuming it was the crossbow, I took a ponder at the contents. Inside, all I could see was bolts. Hundreds of bolts, all of which were piled on top of each other. Removing them all into my inventory, I found a smaller box inside the crate. Although, not compared to the metre cubed crate, this box was still about about as long as my arm and decently thick. It’s size matched it’s heaviness as I freed it.

Upon opening the box, I saw the black and red crossbow. Although like a normal crossbow in most regards, both the black and red of the dragonbone and the drum by the handle which could likely fit twenty bolts at once inside, were both key differences from any I had seen. On the handle was also a medium slime-core, with parts of a magic circle visible around it.

Helen, giving me a moment to examine it, simply asked, “Like it?” Her tail stopped wagging as she anticipated the answer.

“Yeah… Light and looks good,” I looked off to the side when I said my blunt answer.

Hearing my answer, she blushed and laughed happily. Her ears perking up and her the wind generated from her tail’s wagging pushed most of the papers on her workbench onto the floor. Serv started spontaneously picking them up as Helen continued.

Eventually she stopped, showing me out. I then headed to the dining room, on the way bumping into S in a hallway nearby.

‘Oh, hey Sam… Where were you?’ She tilted her skull as she asked.

To which, I stopped in place, then summarized what just happened, “I was called to Helen’s workshop to receive a crossbow she made, apparently with me in mind.”

It took her a second, but she then remembered something, ‘Huh… Ah, is it the automatic one? Helen talked about wanting to give it to you as thanks during our little trip. Do you like it?’

Cocking my head to the side, I simply state, “I… I said I did when she put me on the spot, but I do not really understand ‘liking’ a weapon made to hurt, maim and kill others. I mean, it does suit needs my main bow does not, but… I can not really answer without context to what I am to say I ‘like’ about it.”

‘Sam, you’re so dense…’ she muttered, not even giving much time before blatantly insulting me.

“I can not see that being fixed, when you just insult me with no explanation as to why,” I reasonably fired back.

‘The point is, she made it for you. Although it seems like you answered well enough, she just wanted to know you appreciate her effort in making it.’

“Huh…” I nodded as I gradually understood.

‘Well then, let’s go to the others outside. We’re heading to the guild building for an emergency meeting between the guilds.’ She changed the topic, leading me outside to where everyone else was waiting.

-

Once grouping up with all of the the non-crafters, we rode in Jacq’s carriage to the guild hall. There were smatterings of conversation, but nothing I paid close attention to. Like this, we reached our destination in about half an hour, impeded by few, if any, other carriages sharing the road.

Getting there, employees inside, once confirming we were a partially combat guild, ushered us to the fourth floor to which we gave no resistance. After a while, we ended up in a room dedicated to chairs, with only a small stage at the front which at max could fit twenty people crammed on. The seats were ordered so there were three main blocks, two at the sides having five seats wide and ten seats long, and one in the middle which had ten wide and ten long. Every row had a step down, so all seats could easily see the stage at the front.

Most chairs were filled, and following the rest, we ended up sitting on a side row at the back just to ourselves. And, in silence on our part, we waited for more seats to be filled… With people from the guild building itself entering from a door near the stage who proceeded to get on it.

After a few more minutes of patiences, the speaker finally began, their voice booming from a device magically enchanted with ‘loud’, “Silence!” With their word, the conversations immediately died down, everyone wanting to prove how they were professional and listen when needing to.

With no competition for attention, the speaker then continued, “We appreciate your patience in waiting this long, and you confusion in being sent here. To those who have yet to be told, we- with every other country in this continent- are at risk of a treant riot. Like any other mostly rural place, we are not at liberty to take such a threat lightly, so are asking you to fulfil our request to neutralize the threat. The priority being to secure the treants to safety rather than outright killing them. Due to the importance of the quest, we will put on hold any timed requests and not accept anyone taking other big quests until this one is complete.”

They gave a small pause, allowing a few mumbles here and there before continuing, “For the method… We acknowledge bad blood between members of the Golden Cross and those who have legal necromancers or members of the undead such as the tomb queens, and other lesser dramas between guilds… But as we only have around fifty combat-based guilds employed in our city, we’ve had little time to organise this and four major areas we suspect treant activity, we may have missed something out. We will state our plan anyway, and if there are any direct problems, we would like to hear it.”

For the most part, their plan made sense. They had a focus towards two big forest nearby, and gave smaller forces to a small woodlands and two old, deserted towns nearby. We personally were asked to deal with a dungeon nearby the largest of the forests, as most guilds, including the tomb queens and the majority of others. However, as Charles pointed out during one of their breaks, there was a small problem with a specific guild calling themselves ‘The Guild of Silver Blades’. They, like the previously mentioned golden crosses, were against necromancy of any kind. And unlike them, the silver blades were in the same area as us and the tomb queens. Although, when Charles asked if we should make it an issue, Jacq and Mask rejected, as it would be a pain. Plus, as we were dealing with a dungeon nearby rather than being on the flanks, and they were on the same flank as the tomb queens as well as two other guilds known to have the undead, it was seen as an issue that would solve itself without our input.

Then, the questioning began, where guilds got to ask their own questions, state their ideas and so on.

One person asking the obvious question they most forgot they didn’t even answer, being ‘When are we this?’ The answer they gave was in four days, as they were sending scouts to find out more and potentially negotiate with them. With another meeting for the groups in each region separately in three. The speaker stating that this gave them time to organize and make changes on oversights.

Another asked, ‘How should we deal with loot?’ To which the answer was: take what you can, although if we find any fighting and killing over certain drops, we will just arrest you.

Finally, the dramas started coming through. From the guilds who simply hated each other mutually, to the supremacists of both race and religion. Including some of the guilds who hated necromancy and others who hated those who hated their undead members. We personally didn’t butt in, neither did other guilds affected in our area. Most of the drama coming from the guilds heading to the smaller areas, one of which where they somehow organized three small guilds who were all supremacists for different races in the same small, desolate town. Each promising a blood bath if the plan was to proceed as planned.

With the situation potentially turning into a fight right there and then, the staff, wisely, ended the meeting there as they deeply reconsidered. Stating that they’d focus on knowing allegiances of small and new guilds, ours listed with the others that the guild employees would specifically work on.

The meeting concluded, we left to our base. Explaining the situation to the crafters, then splitting for the rest of the day.