Cadmus sighed, but the sigh slowly turned into a smile. “I guess I knew all along that you’d decide to go. That’s why I chose to present the option to you in the first place, I suppose. Just promise me you’ll be careful, children.”

“Yeah, yeah, we promise! Just tell us what it is already!” Helios said energetically, which made James wonder just who among them was the more impatient one. He was just as curious though, the only reason he didn’t blurt that out instead of Helios was his respect for Cadmus. He wasn’t as familiar with him, it would’ve been rude to hurry him up like Helios did, even though Cadmus was very kind and probably wouldn’t have minded at all.

“All right, all right. Listen, carefully.” But instead of explaining things right away, Cadmus took out his pipe and lit it up slowly, as if to tease the impatient Helios.

Cadmus took a few slow puffs from his pipe, sneaking glances at Helios squirming in his chair. He opened his mouth as if he was about to speak up, but then he took a few puffs of his pipe again. After repeating the process a few times, he finally seemed to be satisfied when Helios started cracking his knuckles nervously. He then grinned and began his explanation.

“As you know, the war is at a stalemate. Not that the Darkness’s forces wouldn’t like to butcher us as we speak, or vice versa. Both sides are building up their strength, trying to power up and gain a decisive advantage, with only small skirmishes and covert operations taking place. Though as you can clearly see, their covert operations seem to be far more successful than ours.”

After the introduction, which didn’t add any information that Helios didn’t already know, Cadmus paused and took another few puffs from his pipe.

Helios finally seemed to have figured out a way to retaliate. Instead of saying anything, he pulled out a pipe of his own from his nearly bottomless storage ring that had plenty of random stuff lying about. He then started furiously taking giant puffs.

“Hey, stop that, that’s a filthy habit boy!” Cadmus exclaimed. “All right, all right, I’ll stop.”

Cadmus and Helios then both grinned. Even though the subject at hand was very serious, their little game made the mood of the room very relaxed and jovial. Lunaris and James couldn’t stop cracking up, despite their best efforts to keep a straight face.

“Oh, get on it with already!” Lunaris said with a smile, jokingly conjuring two rolled up newspapers and striking Helios and Cadmus with them.

“Ok, ok, no more interruptions, I promise!” Cadmus said.

“So here’s the deal. While there aren’t any large battles anymore, we assumed that, just like us, their side is frantically gathering power, researching and exploring any and all ways to get a leg up. Naturally, a part of this whole process is espionage and sabotage.”

Cadmus then paused, but he wasn’t joking around this time. His face turned more serious than James had ever seen him.

“As I said before, unlike them, we’re not very successful with our information gathering against their side. Especially when it comes to what’s happening deep within their territory, it’s very hard for us to know much about it. Luckily for us, you children gave us a good lead.”

“We did?” The three of them asked simultaneously.

“Well, indirectly, of course.” Cadmus mumbled. “Because you survived the sabotage of the Soul Grinder, the agent had to hurriedly abandon his identity and flee. He did scrub most of his presence, but he had infiltrated Hedonia for a long time. You can’t completely erase any trace of yourself just like that.”

“You mean the investigation did produce some results?” Helios asked.

“That’s right. The divination squad had to work overtime, but they did manage to gather some intel.”

“But how is this related to the mission you were about to give us?” Lunaris asked.

“The diviners didn’t manage to get much.” Cadmus answered. “But what they did uncover was a potentially very important lead. A link between our agent and certain events in a different country, in the kingdom of Andarmat.”

“What kind of events?” Helios promptly inquired.

“What else could it be? Murders, disappearances, kidnappings.” Cadmus said in a grim tone. “As awful as these things are, naturally, they’re not exactly something out of the ordinary. Especially in the kingdoms at the periphery of the lands of Darkness, it’s a daily struggle. But the rate of these incidents is what is particularly interesting in this case.”

“The work of agents?” Lunaris asked.

“Exactly. Or to be more precise, we believe it to be the work of a group of neophyte agents.” Cadmus clarified.

Helios and Lunaris gasped. James didn’t have as much of a reaction, to him it was all very foreign. But from his friends’ reactions, he understood that it was a big deal.

“There have been just too many disappearances in the area. There was an investigation by the local kingdom of Andarmat, and their own mages discovered possible traces of agents in the area. Those bastards go on missions, killing strong mages for xp and doing god knows what other things in order to increase their strength. But since they’re still neophytes, they were able to find traces of them. And our diviners managed to link our very own agent to those neophytes, although the exact nature of their relationship is unclear.”

“So our mission would be to kill all these neophyte agents?” James asked.

“That’s correct. The mission has three goals. One, kill all the neophytes. Two, identify the link between them and the agent that infiltrated Hedonia. And three, if that agent is present, discover any information he possesses. He’s bound to know quite a lot of things, and he could hold some intel vital to our cause. Also, who knows what other seeds of corruption he planted in our lands. We need to find out as much as we can.”

Cadmus then paused and sighed again. “Naturally, there’s also the goal of leveling up. Which at this point seems minor, even though it’s the reason I brought this whole thing up. But it is a good opportunity to level up, and you kids are suited for this mission. Resources are stretched thin all over the world, so even something as pressing as dealing with a group of neophyte agents is not something that manpower is immediately available for. Not to mention that only small parties can infiltrate those lands anyway, lest a small war break out. But whoever deals with those neophytes, is bound to come home a hero. Not many people can face this challenge, but I believe you kids can.”

Cadmus pounded another glass of wine before continuing.

“But you must remember that the mission is very dangerous, agents are not just monsters. They’re a very intelligent race, almost indistinguishable from a human. Even if those are supposed to be neophytes, they’re still bound to be formidable enemies. And they’re basically trained almost exclusively to kill mages. Regardless of you specialization, be it a physical warrior mage or a caster of any kind, the agents live to prey on you. Not only that, their numbers are unknown, and there could be multiple full-fledged agents among them too. Yet again, the unknown factors are what bothers me. Are you still willing to go?” Cadmus still tried to dissuade them from going. He had to give them the option to go, but he couldn’t help himself from trying to convince them not to.

“Sounds like we’d be doing the world a service by getting rid of them. If anything, I’m even more willing to go!” James said, feeling a strange sense of duty. This was a wonderful world filled with goodness and beauty. Even if it was incredibly dangerous, he now had the chance to actually grow as a person and not be such a selfish bum. Murdering a bunch of killer psychopaths was an unorthodox way of doing good and being selfless, but it was a good opportunity to be a good person nonetheless.

As contradictory as these feelings were with the way he lived his past life, he did want to change. He did regret his apathy and cynicism. And most of all, his laziness, which still was a constant struggle to this day. Only by not thinking and always jumping into action he was able to keep it at bay, not giving the laziness any time to take a hold of him.

But even though he didn’t mind his own safety that much, he hated the idea of putting Helios and Lunaris in danger. He looked at them profoundly. But they immediately looked back at him, seemingly understanding his thoughts. They just nodded and smiled. The three friends knew each other very well by now. James also understood that any more worrying about their safety would just annoy them.

Cadmus then looked at the three of them admiringly. Even though he was a bit sad, knowing he was putting them in danger, he couldn’t hide his admiration. “I’m proud of you, children. In these trying times, everyone’s resources are stretched thin. If everyone was as brave and hard-working as you, perhaps we would have beaten the Darkness already. You truly are doing the world a favor by getting rid of those scum. Remember though, you must stay safe! That’s your primary mission!”

Cadmus then grew silent, seemingly being deep in thought.

“You know what, that’s not enough. I can’t just send you children to face those murderous animals without any backup, it feels wrong.”

He then rummaged through his pockets and grabbed his AetherPhone. But he took one look at it and threw it behind his shoulder.

“Those damn things are too damn tiny.”

He then put up his hands and conjured an aetherial screen out of sheer mana. It was just like a screen for a phone, but since he was a powerful archmage, he didn’t need a device to use the Aetherweb.

“Obviously, in these trying times, finding a powerful companion to join your mission would be pretty hard. Resources are stretched pretty thin. But you children have an important goal. And more importantly, I want you to be safe. So I’ll compile a list of mercenaries that I can convince to join you. It’ll be up to you to choose who would fit your needs best.”

After discussing their plans some more, and of course having some more tasty treats, the trio left Cadmus’s office and returned to Helios’s house.

“Guys, if the world’s resources are stretched thin, I’m not wasting your time, am I? I mean, I understand that you’re willingly coming with me, but aren’t there other things you could be doing? James was feeling a bit guilty. Even though he loved his friends more than anything else in this world, he had been pretty selfish by dragging them to all these dangerous missions.

“Get that out of your mind!” Lunaris immediately responded.

“We’re right where we need to be, brother!” Helios answered.

Lunaris continued. “Of course, there are other things we could be doing, but we’d much rather be there with you. Even though we can’t necessarily guarantee that your half-demon powers would be useful even if we did manage to recover them, Helios and I have a feeling that following you is also the best thing we can do for the world anyway. Isn’t that right, Hel?”

“Damn straight! More importantly, hanging out with your best friends is the best thing in life! Even if it is in some god forsaken land where everything wants to kill you. Now let’s never talk about this again. We’re in this together bro, we’re like family, that’s all that matters.” Helios didn’t really like displaying emotions, and neither did James. So Lunaris took it upon herself to initiate a wholesome group hug.

The trio then had to decide their course of action.

“So do we go straight away, or should we train and prepare for a while? What should we do?” James asked. He was willing to go right away, but by now he had told himself many times that he needed to be more prepared and calculated. Even though gaining more levels as soon as possible would be a great thing, the stakes were too high, and he wasn’t willing to risk their lives again.

“I know it’s urgent, and that every day that passes by could mean more people become victims to the agents. But I agree, even if the stakes are so high, we need to prepare first. We won’t be saving anyone if we die.” Helios replied.

“The mission is really risky this time. We’re talking about agents here! Neophyte or not, they’re still agents. I think you should decide, James. You know your own powers better than we do.” Lunaris added.

James thought for a while before responding. As impatient as he was, he couldn’t risk his friend’s lives because of his impatience. He needed to maximize his own powers in order to not be the weak link. He had to be careful.

“I know taking too long would be a bad idea. Either the war breaks out, either the neophyte agents get more powerful. Or worse, they kill more people. But at the same time, we’d be able to accomplish so much more if we just take the safe route this time around. A few weeks of training can do us a lot of good. Non-stop jumping from battle to battle would just wear us down and make us much less effective.”

Helios and Lunaris smiled and agreed. It was a more prudent approach. If they wanted to help the world, first they’d have to help themselves. A burned out, underprepared person with good intentions ends up not a hero, but a corpse.