Edward was sitting across the table from Niviem, intently watching him as he described a monster encounter in which he and Anira had fought several low-level monsters. More accurately Niviem had mostly watched as Anira slashed her way through their opponents in short order using a dagger. Rem was making speedy progress through the food on his plate only partially listening to Niviem's story; given what he had seen of her fighting capabilities in the recent past, none of what was being described came as a surprise to him. They had made a tidy sum of almost three gold from their excursion to the Carrion Rat colony and had decided to eat dinner together at the tavern near the front gate to celebrate their first successful outing.

Edward continued to listen to Niviem's story, and his eyes had grown to the size of saucers. His eyes were fixed on Niviem even as he groped for his mug and brought it to his face to gulp down his ale without looking away. Slamming down his drink, Edward exclaimed "Bloody'ell... that's bonkers!" Shoveling more food in his mouth and chewing for a moment with his mouth open, Edward asked "Whaddy'a even need me for? Just send Anira to kill everything next time!"

Anira was giving Niviem a tired look as if this hadn't been the first time he had told this story. On the other hand, Rem was observing Edward. Normally watching bits of food popping out of someone's mouth as they talked with their mouth full might annoy him, but with his cheeks stuffed and eyes bulging, Edward looked comically like some kind of rabid squirrel beast-kin. Rem looked away as he choked down a laugh only to find Edward squinting at him a second later.

"What's so funny Rem?" Edward menacingly asked.

"You just reminded me of something, that's all." Rem grinned.

Turning to orient toward Rem, Edward went on "Well, what about you Rem? Any interesting stories you'd care to share with us from your.. previous world?"

After a pregnant pause, Rem exclaimed "Ok- is there anyone that DOESN'T know where I'm from?"

"I followed you guys after seeing your little demonstration of dimensional storage magic last night and sort of listened in a bit..." Edward admitted.

"You what? Don't you..." Rem began to retort.

Cutting Rem off, Edward continued "...Oh pish posh! I was curious, and innit the case everything turned out for the best today?"

After a moment of reflection, Rem admitted "It's true I suppose."

"Then spill; what was your world like?" Edward eagerly asked.

Rem shrugged a bit and replied "Sorry to say, but from a day to day view, it was a whole lot like this world. Aside from the cataclysms which hopefully won't happen anytime soon, the System is the only other notable difference."

Edward slumped onto the table "...but that's so terribly... boring."

"I have no idea why those summoners decided to teleport someone as normal as me from such a similar world." Rem muttered. Noticing Edward's crestfallen expression, Rem patted his shoulder, and continued "Don't worry, soon enough I'm sure we'll encounter monsters so horrible and disturbing that we'll be struggling to maintain our own sanity."

Picking his head up a little with a hopeful look in his eye, Edward asked "You really think so?"

Rem was only saying that in jest but it seemed his comment had actually comforted Edward. As strange as the mage was, Rem was still happy he had met the members of this party and that they could spend dinner together like this.

The topic of conversation eventually drifted to Edward's new class selection- an Arcane specialization that granted some uncommon utility. A new type of attack launched multiple spinning blades that could be guided by the spell caster. Unlike the arcane daggers, Edward could continue to drill into and through monsters if he maintained focus.

A different arcane domain skill created a sphere of energy several paces in a radius around the caster when channeled, providing gradual resistance to any physical matter. An arrow would eventually be slowed to a stop and monsters would need to continuously push forward to reach the caster. Edward also speculated that it may help cushion the impact from long falls, but he hadn't tried his hypothesis yet. Another skill bound a single target in magic chains which would last for a few minutes, or until the chains had sustained too much damage after which they couldn't be used again for some time.

Finally, he had gained a strange type of magic armor. With the three charges available at the current skill level, it was similar in appearance to multi-layered glass with a slight blue tint surrounding the mage's entire body. Each layer could absorb a single powerful strike before shattering, but even a relatively weak strike would also expend one layer. As an additional downside, each layer required over an hour to regenerate. With all the limitations, this armor couldn't be used for sustained melee combat but unlike regular chain mail which would allow an arrow to penetrate to varying degrees, this magic armor could be expected to completely block one arrow per layer.

Rem was relieved the mage had chosen this class. The spinning blade skill sounded impressive, but the other abilities gave Edward new options to help survive in case a monster broke past the front line; a scenario he had been worried about from the start with Niviem. Even looking at him now, Rem thought he would need to find better ways than what they currently had to keep the young demi-human safe.

Shaking his head, Rem resolved to make that a problem for tomorrow and sank back into his chair to relax with a faint smile on his face.

...

Ceira slowly regained consciousness with her eyes still shut and instinctively reached for her mother until a moment later the memories of everything that had transpired the past day crashed down upon her. Her eyes snapped open, and for an agonizing period, Ceira looked around her on the verge of tears hoping her mother had returned as she slept.

She was still alone.

She had waited through the previous day and late into the following night hiding along the edge of the crate and peering out onto the main street. Through those long hours, whenever she could hear someone walking toward the alley entrance, a lump would form in her throat as she desperately hoped her mother would step into view, but her hopes were crushed time and again.

It was still nighttime outside, and Ceira once again resumed her vigil. A small, illogical part of her mind was wondering if she had done something wrong to deserve this; that maybe her mother was upset at her and she would return to sweep Ceira up in her arms if she would just be good. She resolved to hide as well as she could, just as her mother had asked of her.

Of course, another part of her knew that her mother would never be so cruel as to punish her this way, but the mind is a funny thing. The thought that something horrible had happened to her mother, that she would never be coming back was a vast, pitch-black ocean threatening to pull Ceira into its depths, and this illogical invention was the scrap of floating debris she had been clinging to.

Rem looked on wishing there was something he could say or do to make her understand none of this was her fault, but as before, he was a passive audience in everything that happened.

After some time, a small wagon pulled by a tall grizzled man in leather and cloth armor approached the alley. Peering in, the man spotted Ceira almost immediately and flashed a disturbing grin before slowly advancing.

"Heya little gurly- t'was told'a come 'ere an pick ya up." he wheezed.

After all the suffering she had gone through, Ceira could only ask "M-my mother?"

"Sure, thas'right.. I'm takin' ye to see 'er..." he claimed as the smile slipped off his face.

Rem knew what was going to happen next and carefully burned every last detail of this man's face into his memory. There was no chance that Ceira would have been able to escape this man, but even still he had been despicable enough to dangle this last bit of hope in front of her to save himself a little effort.

Swiftly reaching down and grabbing her arm, he turned and dragged her toward the wagon where a small cage awaited. Still coldly observing the surroundings through Ceira's eyes, Rem caught a glimpse of a crescent moon and gauntlet engraved onto the side of the wagon. Finally locked in the dark cage, he could hear Ceira quietly sobbing and begging her mother to forgive her for not hiding well enough.

Rem silently bristled and vowed that he would find this man, then ensure he regretted everything he had done.

...

Everyone in the party had gathered outside the adventurer's guild in the morning to wait for Bolaer and his associate. Rem had brought everyone up to date on his experiences from the previous night and was now staring down the street lost in thought.

He would need to get much stronger. He had no idea how dangerous the man he had seen was, nor how many were with him. From speaking to the rest of the group, he had learned the symbol of the crescent moon and gauntlet was a large slave-trading association spanning the continent. Unfortunately, there was no law against slaving, and randomly attacking members would mark Rem as an outlaw. Would he be pulling the rest of his party into unnecessary danger with what he was planning? Even with the trip to the summoning circle, there was no need for them to risk themselves this way.

"You know, I can wait for Bolaer by myself. No need for all of you to also go up to the summoning circle tomorrow." Rem offered.

Niviem glared at Rem and exclaimed "Ugh, did the ogre drop you on your head when we weren't looking or what? By the Elder- sometimes you're dense Rem."

"Yes, how about we don't end up known as legendary poseurs that only helped each other when it was convenient. That isn't the tale I want the bards to sing about us." Edward added with an eye roll.

Anira simply tipped her head to the side and smiled saying "What they said.. and we're with you."

Looking down and rubbing the back of his head, Rem mumbled "You all.. have my thanks."

A few minutes later, Bolaer descended the steps of the guildhall alongside a warrior wearing half-plate, a tower shield, and carrying a spear. He was a large muscular human with black hair streaked with grey. Upon drawing close, Rem could see his face had a stark, focused expression and his gaze traveled over the members of the party indifferently assessing everyone.

"Hello all, I'd like to introduce you to Hashel. I've asked him to travel with you tomorrow morning to the summoning circle to assess the situation there." Bolaer said gesturing to the warrior.

"Is there anyone here specialized to hold the front line? Also who is in charge of the party?" Hashel flatly asked.

"Nobody is specialized to guard, and nobody is in charge." Rem replied.

"I can take up the task of defending. Healer, I will need to maneuver so do not stand behind me unless I call you over. I maintain some situational awareness, but most of my focus is on the immediate threats attacking me. I can't issue commands so decide among yourselves who that will be. Finally if we are in the process of retreating and any of you decide to stay and fight, I will leave you to die." Hashel intoned.

Pausing a brief moment for any response, Hashel turned and strode down the street toward the town gate.

Edward was the one to break the silence shortly afterward by exclaiming "Wanker!" then calling out "Oi!... oi!... my name is Edward by the way!"

Bolaer sighed and asked "Please give him some allowances. He hasn't had the easiest life but I believe him to be a decent man at heart."

Niviem responded "Well he isn't wrong about needing someone to coordinate during a fight. It definitely can't be me; I don't know anything about that stuff and I'm already getting targeted enough as it is."

Edward added, "Trust me, I would cock it up- I'm out."

"Anira?" asked Rem with a weak smile.

“Apologies Rem, but with my planned enhancements to stealth, I will likely be of most use if I can quickly and quietly eliminate the most dangerous enemies. I won't be able to issue commands in the midst of that.” Anira replied.

Rem resigned himself to his fate- "I suppose it makes sense as I don't have a well defined role to begin with, and can both pick up a loose monster to engage in close quarters or attack from range if needed. Alright, in that case, lets head over to the armor smith and get you outfitted Niviem. After that, I'd like to practice some drills with you and Edward in a pair."

Retrieving the spear from dimensional storage that he had looted from the brigand, Rem tossed it to Niviem and said "Try using this. It will be useful in conjunction with Edward's new skills. And yes, I have been thinking about this."