Once we were inside the safety of the Nideland gates, we took a brief breather, sitting against the tunnel walls, Danivra and Sania either side of me.

“I should thank you for the points from the Paladins, as grim as the process was.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Lord Clive. I benefit far more from you taking the experience points than I do from taking them myself. Though I fail to see why you find the process any grimmer than any other death you’ve caused. I sense your discomfort, and I hear your words. But they don’t make sense. Perhaps it is a pre-learnt emotional response that doesn’t fit with your current circumstances. We are at war after all. Those Paladins wanted to kill a number of defenseless Fae, as well as all of your friends, and you yourself.”

“True, and they needed doing in, but they were defenseless when I hacked their heads off and that doesn’t sit right with me, you know? It doesn’t seem honorable.”

“They were too strong for you to kill in any other way, and that is how a spider hunts and kills. Do you look upon a spider as less honorable for ensnaring its enemies this way? Aren’t all forms of battle about subduing and killing in one way or another? Isn’t the intention of battering an opponent until they can no longer use their ability to defend themselves the same as poison or paralysis?”

“Fuck. I never framed it like that before. It still doesn’t feel right. Maybe it’s because I didn’t poison them myself. Ah, hell, I don’t know. But you’ve given me something to think about, so thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome. We are a team, and together, we will help you become the leader you need to be.”

“The leader I need to be?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the assertion that I somehow needed to be molded by the Queen of the Dokalfar.

She nodded. “You have promised all of these people we send to your town that you will defend them and keep them safe. Would you see them all die because of squeamishness, a facet of the man you used to be? Or will you do what must be done?

“Remember. It is Justice who are attacking Kalabri with the express purpose of killing all who live here. They deem us unworthy, and no one will fight for us. Not even the followers of Darkness that dwell beneath us. Until you, at least. Is it wrong of me to want to enable you to do that to the best of your ability?”

“I suppose not,” I replied. “I’m trying to do my best here, but the worries I have about the old beheading business aren’t just related to the man I was, but the man I don’t want to become. I might be an arsehole, but I don’t want to become a callous and uncaring arsehole. Like all the time.”

“You won’t,” Sania assured me.

“We won’t let you,” Danivra added with a smile. “But we won’t let you avoid what needs to be done, either.”

Egard appeared, standing over us and bringing an end to the conversation. “Certainly a fortuitous leap in points, and the addition of a tier three target for your fight against Natom. Everything you needed to prolong your journey.”

He was smiling as he spoke, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. and I didn’t need a bond with him to guess his true feelings.

“Yeah, not a bad trip, all told,” I agreed. “You must be our lucky talisman or something, Egard. Thanks for the positive vibes.”

With a slight grimace, he waved off my comment. “Are you ready to continue on our way?”

“We are. What’s the plan now? Seeing as we’ve dodged a trip to Agorak?”

“For now,” he said almost as a threat.

“Either way, what’s the plan, my man?”

“We head to Komal. It is a three-day trek north.”

I sighed. “This is like pulling teeth, Egard. What’s at Komal? Last we spoke, you weren’t expecting to travel any further than here.”

“We will hopefully get an idea of where Cushec might be,” Egard said gruffly, then strode away.

“Just when I thought the atmosphere couldn’t get any worse,” I muttered as we got to our feet and headed off once more.

A few minutes into our walk, Danivra came alongside me again. “Just to further our conversation, I want to thank you for suggesting to Olata to look for my people as they journey south. She may find none, but… thank you. Even just for thinking about it.”

“Yeah,” Sania said, punching me lovingly in the arm. “She seemed genuinely happy to do it too. Looks like those twenty points into Charisma are paying off already, Clive.”

“You know, I hadn’t even considered that was why she had agreed, but it could well be. Charisma is some powerful shit if it was that. Do we know what counteracts Charisma?”

“Intelligence and Charisma,” Danivra replied simply.

I nodded thoughtfully. “So Olata is Level 159. It’s pretty unlikely my Charisma would have had an effect, right?”

“It would have made a very small difference. I think it’s more likely she was incredibly grateful for our help. Our arrival essentially saved her entire enclave from certain death.”

“Yeah, that makes more sense.” I looked back to Sania and noticed she was looking a little perturbed.

“What’s up?”

“Me,” she replied flatly. “Or the Wultr race as a whole. We pride ourselves on Strength and Speed. To be great and ferocious warriors. We disregard Charisma and only pay a fleeting interest in Intelligence, and as such, we weaken ourselves dramatically to anyone with even a medium level of Charisma. It is a worrying trend that I hadn’t even realized existed until now.”

“Me neither. I suppose it’s lucky most people are scared shitless of you all to even bother trying to lure you with their charms.”

“Be that as it may, it remains a huge blind spot for my people. Particularly if we are living in a settlement now and the air of mystery and fear surrounding us is no longer there. When we return to Far Reach, I will make an effort to ensure they all encourage their Intelligence at the very least.”

Danivra let out a small chuckle, which surprised me. She wasn’t given to a great deal of laughter considering what she’d been through. However, for some reason, it caused Sania to look offended.

“Was there something funny about me wanting something more for my people?” she snapped.

“Not at all. It’s commendable. I laugh only from the memory of reaching that stage in my own life. The moment when you realize how much every single one of your statistics matters, and the ones you considered pointless or weaker have just as many places where they are the strongest and most essential. When I was Level 50, my Charisma was Level 10, and my Speed and Agility were both at Level 100.”

“That’s insane,” I said, laughing with her, as did Sania, her anger melting away as fast as it had come. “What is your Charisma now?” I asked.

“110,” she replied proudly.

“And Intelligence?” I asked suspiciously.

“212.” She smiled.

“And you’re stuck with me! You poor bugger.”

“It was my Intelligence that allowed me to make the decision to be bound to you, Lord Clive,” she said with a genuine smile. “A decision I truly do not regret. While my heart bleeds for my people, I know that working with you is the best opportunity to offer them safety, and I know we will keep pushing forward to achieve that.”

“Damn right, we will. Far Reach is going to be one of the best places on the planet to live with so many different people living there.”

“How fitting for the scion of Creation, to build such a multi-racial city,”

“City?”

“If we succeed, how can it not be a city?” Danivra asked. “It may very well become the largest city on the surface.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “That would be mental, wouldn’t it? Though, if I don’t miss my guess, it won’t be long until everyone starts being a dick to each other.”

Danivra nodded. “That will be a problem in the future, though I believe the people who come will be at peace with each other for a good while yet. Most will just be relieved to have somewhere safe to stay.”

“Probably. But once we get back, it's something we’ll have to watch out for.”

“With all your Charisma, I’m sure it will be fine.” Sania smirked.

Conversation ebbed and flowed, and I spent time moving along the rest of our line, speaking with everyone until we entered the next major Dwarven town. My body told me it was time for a feed and a rest, so I was surprised when we continued straight through. Assuming there’d be another town soon, I pushed it from my mind.

Without the rise and fall of the sun, I had no clue what time of day it was, but after we’d passed a number of smaller towns and the groaning of some of our members, including a very hungry Grastad in particular, I was beginning to get suspicious of the power marching Dwarves up ahead.

Danivra confirmed for me that we were now past midnight on the surface, and I wanted to ask Egard what the fuck he was playing at. But I also didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of us asking to stop. This was obviously intentionally done to either to stretch us or piss us off. Otherwise, he would have told us.

Despite the frustration and annoyance I felt at whatever stupid game he was trying to play, after a quick check to make sure everyone was okay to keep going, I decided we wouldn’t say anything. All of the people with us had spent a prolonged time on the run with little rest or sustenance. They could do whatever the Dwarves planned easily, and once Grastad knew that the Dwarves were playing some kind of game, he happily continued without complaint.

Danivra informed me when it was sunrise above, and yet still we continued.

I noticed that a few of the Dwarves up ahead had started turning back to check on our condition. Until now, they hadn’t bothered to look back once. I returned their cold looks with a smiles and waves. And onward we went.

Around halfway through that second day, I noticed that the tunnels had subtly changed. According to my sources—yes, Danivra, who was literally my only source of information down here—we were entering the tunnel systems that had been dug out by the Grobblers that followed Darkness.

I didn't notice any similarities with the tunnels from Akomoka into Knuntang, though it was foolish to assume the Grobblers weren’t capable of finer craftmanship. These tunnels were built to be permanent and lasting, a part of the network that made up the Nideland.

There were a number of towns that we passed, yet still the Dwarves kept on, marching through without a moment's break. I had in my head now that Egard wasn’t going to stop until we reached Komal, which he’d claimed was three days away when we set off.

So it was a happy surprise when the insane march was finally brought to a halt in front of a hotel on the second night. We were in a Grobbler town that was larger than any we’d passed through so far. It had a different vibe than any of the Dwarven towns we’d been to, lacking the fine carvings and expensive gemstones in the construction of their buildings but otherwise didn’t look too bad.

The Grobblers moving around seemed pretty relaxed as they went about their daily business. Some waved and greeted the Dwarves as we passed.

“I wonder if he has anything to say about walking us so long without a word,” Sania said.

“Hopefully not. I don’t much want to speak to the prick at all if we can help it. Let’s just get north, speak to this dragon and this bear, then get home hopefully with them heading south to help us out.”

“Sounds like a perfect plan.” She smiled as we waited for the Dwarves to file into the hotel.

“It’s pretty weird being here,” I said, gesturing to the Grobblers on the street.

“How so?”

“You know, after the tunnels into Knuntang?”

“I don’t see how those tunnels have any relevance to being here apart from that they were underground.”

“They were full of Grobblers,” I explained further, “that we… you know, whacked.”

“We did more than whack them,” Sania laughed loudly. “We slaughtered them all.”

I looked around furtively to see if anyone had heard her.

“Clive,” she said, shaking her head in mock despair. “They aren’t the same Grobblers. For all you know, the two tribes could be mortal enemies.”

“I know that. I was just saying it was weird. Oh look, we can get inside now. Fantastic,” I said, changing the subject.

Egard was busy speaking with the Grobbler receptionist, who was the first fat Grobbler I’d seen, which meant his shoulders and head didn’t look half as out of proportion as with most of the others I’d seen. He barely looked the same race.

I heard him speaking animatedly to Egard.

“Seventy-nine too many! Half go over to other hotel to sleep.”

“We aren’t splitting up the group. We’ll all just head over to that hotel.”

“No way! Then my house not get no money!” the Grobbler said, waving his insanely long arms about animatedly. “Give me a few minutes. I fix this.”

He hurried off into the back of the building and was gone for a good while, leaving us all to stand cramped in the foyer. The tension between our two groups was palpable. The only communication was distrustful looks.

That tense atmosphere was broken when a stream of unhappy Grobblers started leaving the hotel. Fifteen in total passed us, carrying hastily packed luggage and casting harsh looks at us all.

The receptionist reappeared at the desk again with a wide grin on his lizard like features. “Looks like we have space for all if some share rooms, yes?”

“Excellent,” Egard said, as if he was totally oblivious as to what had just happened.

Like so many other things going on in my world, I had no choice but to accept the shittiness of what had just happened. I felt like those closest to me were getting sick of me complaining about every injustice or dodgy action I was part of.

We climbed the stairs to our quarters, opening the door into a room that had very recently been occupied. It wouldn’t have been the finest room in the world even without the imprint of the previous occupant in the mattress, covers half on the floor from where they’d been hastily thrown.

Sania being Sania didn’t care at all and dove on the bed with a satisfied smile.

“Alone at last.” She grinned.

I smiled back, and despite the sudden improvement in the bed, as I sat down next to her on the lumpy mattress, I still felt like I’d rather sleep on the floor.