“Barb! Never mind that for now. Are you okay? Did your dad do something to you?” Yes, the whole “getting kidnapped” thing was pretty high on my list of things to figure out, but there were still higher priorities. I was fairly certain I’d never seen the guy look so tired, and that was including after the time he’d almost gotten washed away by the shower elemental. Evidently, Barb’s father subscribed to a very hard brand of tough love, and I wanted to check in on him.

His face sagged as he was reminded of his current state, and he let loose a particularly weary sigh. “I assure you, I’m perfectly fine, if perhaps a touch tired. To that effect, fret not: I will be taking a rather long respite after this. More importantly! We should talk.” He pulled his face back into a more composed mask, evidently putting his own exhaustion on hold.

“About me getting abducted by your dad,” I offered. I could take a hint not to pry, and it sounded like the best thing for Barb right now would be to finish this conversation as fast as possible to let him get some rest.

He nodded. “About your impending abduction by my father, yes.” The words seemed to pain him. “If it’s any consolation, he was originally intent on just grabbing you and explaining everything on the way, but I convinced him that you would perhaps be more amenable to a gentler approach.”

I pictured Suds appearing out of nowhere and tossing me over his back before flying away on his gryphon. Honestly, the image wasn’t as horrifying as half the things I’d gone through recently, but that didn’t mean it was something I would have enjoyed.

“All right. Let’s say I’m even a tiny bit, remotely entertaining this idea. Basically all I got is that your dad is offering to take me somewhere and help me level. I’m assuming there’s some sort of catch?” Theoretically, it could be just out of the kindness of his heart: When you reached that high of a level you were probably powerful enough to do whatever you wanted. At the same time, I highly doubted it.

Barb nodded. “Quite right. In short: Due to a number of factors, our chamber has been left without suitable young talent, which places us at a political disadvantage. As such, many of the other chambers may begin to feel as though they can take advantage of us in a number of smaller ways, and many within the next generation may start to form alliances while we sit on the sidelines.”

Already, I was lost. “Sorry. Chambers? Political alliances? Are you some sort of nobility, or what’s happening here?” Admittedly, Barb did strike me as someone who could be a noble. His father on the other hand…

Not that it mattered that much to me. I was pals with a princess, after all.

“Apologies,” he muttered. “Not… quite nobility. My father heads one of the ten major legislative chambers of the city of Sylum. Specifically the Chamber of the Commons, which represents most lower-waged labor. It’s the reason many in my family style their classes after common jobs such as being a barber or a cleaner. Suffice it to say, it’s a rather large political landscape which I’m sure you’ll be properly acquainted with should you accept my father’s proposal.”

What I was getting out of this was that they were the heads of some sort of weird national labor union? That at least sounded not evil. Better than being told I would be getting sponsored by some tyrant in exchange for putting down rebellions or helping wage war, I guess.

“So, what? I just smile and wave and tell everyone ‘Go Chamber of Commons!’ and your dad helps me level up?” That didn’t even sound that horrible. Probably.

Weird. I’m actually sort of considering this, aren’t I? That in and of itself was bizarre seeing how abrasive Suds had been. I was actually thinking about going off with him?

“Perhaps it would be a touch more involved than that. And you would be expected to meet and mingle with other of the chambers’ scions of your age. Additionally, by its nature, this would hardly be a one or two month affair. But father believes due to your… nature, you would have quite a number of natural advantages in comparison to the others. Considering you’re also someone I know and can vouch for, you two are uniquely well suited to help one another.”

The more he spoke, the less the offer sounded utterly absurd. Sure, it was scary. It was an unknown. It was with a guy who enjoyed washing people’s mouths out with soap.

Suds, however, for all his evident faults, had spoken the truth.

As it stood, I was vulnerable, and if my notifications were to be believed, there were likely tons of people out there who hunted people like me. I needed something, and I wasn’t sure if a better opportunity would ever come around.

Still, was I really supposed to just leave everything here behind? I imagined Hartha and Cal coming back from their “vacation” and me just being gone for good. “What happens to Emer’Thalis? And everyone here?”

“Ah! Perhaps I should have led with that. Forgive me. Though the chamber treasurer will likely have an aneurysm, my father has agreed to give you a pair of recall stones — fixed, unidirectional teleportation devices. You would be permitted to spend a few days here each month, and then teleport back.”

I stood there silent for a while, mulling it all over. That covered my last serious holdout, didn’t it?

I’d never planned for Emer’Thalis to be my permanent home. Admittedly, with how things had panned out recently, maybe someday we’d have a real city here, at which point I’d reconsider. Until then, though, I’d been hoping to find somewhere new.

As absurd as it all was, when would an offer as good as this fall into my lap? I needed a home. I needed training. I needed someone to help me not die to random Antagonists. And if I had to accept a random offer, the father of a friend seemed like a safer bet than most.

“Wild,” I decided. “You know, I feel like I might regret this, but… okay? If it turns out to be absolutely miserable and your dad is lying out of his ass, I reserve the right to run away, but provisionally, yes?”

It actually felt like a sort of turning point for me. Lots had happened since I’d come to this world, but it felt like lots had happened to me. Especially with the whole “god of luck” thing, there were very few choices I’d been able to make myself. While Suds had kind of threatened to kidnap me, I felt like this one was on me though. I was going to do this.

“Lovely! Then I suggest you get your affairs in order. My father is… not the most patient of men. He informed me that you two would be departing in the morning. Now if you’ll excuse me, I find myself in rather dire need of a nap.”

Seeing as I’d already figured out all the governance-related details, there were only two things I really needed to do. Well, three really — the last thing I needed to do was find Suds and get him to give me a fuller rundown of everything. While I’d provisionally accepted, I had little desire to get whisked away without completely knowing what I was getting myself into.

Prior to that, however, I had two goals. One was to say my goodbyes. In large part, it was easier than I expected. I tracked down Amak and let him know I’d be leaving for at least a few weeks, and he took it well. He had, after all, managed much of Emer’Thalis without me when I’d been traveling in Ftheran and Drawgin.

I didn’t manage to find Jason or Kex, but hopefully Barb would give them my best, and I wouldn’t be gone too long in any case.

I did have one more goodbye that I wanted to say before leaving, but I decided to handle the second of my tasks first. I made my way back to my tent — strangely enough, something I realized I would miss — and scanned through my inventory until I found what I was looking for.

Spell Shard of Sense Minds

Teaches the user the Novice mental magic spell, Sense Minds.

The crystal had been weighing heavily on my mind since I’d gotten it, burning a proverbial hole in my pocket. Even now, I was considering getting rid of it, making sure I’d never be able to give into the seductive temptation of mental magic.

At the end of the day, though, Hex was right. The thought of being mind controlled again still haunted me. It was something that didn’t consume me too much seeing as I was still in Emer’Thalis — the people here, more or less, were known quantities.

If I was going to be thrust into an entirely new environment, though — and more so, an environment where all eyes would be on me — I knew that niggling thought would soon return in full force. Far from being anonymous, I was about to involve myself in politics, and if someone thought they could get away with it, I imagined they’d be more than happy to take a peek into my mind.

“Well. Here goes nothing, I guess?” The purple crystal pulled at me as I held it, giving me an instinctive sense for how to use it. Giving into the pull, I let the information contained within wash through me.

Strangely enough, it was different from learning a spell from Elphaea or even from a spellbook. I could feel mana thrumming within me, coiling within my stomach in odd patterns which etched themselves into my mind. Despite the wealth of information contained within, the actual process only lasted a second. A trio of notifications heralded my success.

You have learned a new spell: Sense Minds.

Sense all cognizant entities within 1 + meters. May yield decreased results for large number of targets or beings with less active minds (e.g. certain animals or sleeping minds). Precision of signal increased with Intelligence.

You have learned a new skill: Mental Magic

+1% strength to all Mental Magic

+1% resistance to all opposing Mental Magic

You have completed a class quest: Learn an advanced magic class.

+5000xp

+2 class points

And there it was! I was an evil mind mage now! Curious to see what my new magic class would grant me, I attempted to channel some mental mana into my armor, only to feel it fizzle out.

You have not met the requirements to use advanced mana classes with this skill.

I stared at the message for a while before frowning. Repeating the experiment with my boots and my weapon yielded identical results. “Well, damn.” Something to look forward to, I guess?

Still, I wouldn’t let that put a damper on my mood. Not only did I have a new spell, but also I was rocking two new class points!

Deciding to test the spell out first, I cast it, ready to see what it felt like to “sense a mind.” As the cast finished, I braced myself and felt… nothing!

Guess it doesn’t work on my own mind, huh? After all, it wasn’t like there was anyone within a meter of me.

Well, okay. Kind of zero for two here on testing the new toys, but that’s fine.

At the very least, now that I had three class points, I knew exactly what I’d be buying for myself: Arcane Vision. I considered grabbing it right that moment, but held off. I knew myself well enough to know that once I got it, I wouldn’t be able to keep myself from playing with it, walking around and channeling all of my mana types into it.

Instead, I had something more important to do.

I’d already said most of my goodbyes. Plus, if I missed one or two people, it wasn’t the end of the world. I’d be back.

Still, there was one person I felt I should probably talk to before leaving. If nothing else, I owed her that.

“This… I’m going to hate this, aren’t I?” In fact, I was already hating it. I hated it. I exited my tent, walking out into the forest in the direction of the bar.

I’d screwed Nadja over royally without meaning to. Even more than that, she’d already made it clear that she wasn’t going to attack me, and was waiting for an apology from me. I was a coward, but I liked to believe I wasn’t the kind of person to just completely run away from the city she was in without at least saying something.

Step by step, I made my way closer until the sight of the two-storied, tree-lined bar came into view. I stood at the door for a time, steeling myself, until at last I mustered up the resolve to walk inside, praying that it would end up better than it had last time I’d been here.

It was busy — far busier than last time — with the entire lower floor filled to the brim with all the residents of Emer’Thalis who were looking for a little buzz. Right where I expected to find her, I saw Nadja.

She saw me right as I saw her, our eyes locking together. I could see as she tensed, and I made my way towards to the bar, realizing I still had no idea what to say to her.

Then, while I was only halfway there, a man with a particularly imposing presence turned from his seat at the bar. He grinned as he saw me.

“Look at that! I didn’t have to come find you; you found me! You know, I was enjoying a good drink here, but now that I got you here, might as well head back, yeah? Already spent too long here.”

Without waiting for a response, Suds got up from his seat and in a split second was right next to me. He clapped a hand on my shoulder while throwing his other hand into a pouch at his side. I opened my mouth to tell him to stop — to give me a moment before I had to leave.

As soon as his hand connected, however, the world started to grow transparent. I locked eyes with Nadja, her surprise a twisted mirror to my panic.

“Wait! I-”

And then, just like that, I was gone.