Why near Cloven lands indeed. The question lingered in the office, but Livia just smiled greedily.

"Because it's where the good land is, obviously. You might consider yourselves lucky here in Salcret with the great energy you've got in the orchard and places like by that waterfall Kalle was using. In Cloven lands such places are a dime a dozen and with greater prizes still to boot. Now obviously I'm not suggesting we set up shop inside their borders, but even if we did it's not like there wouldn't be plenty of secret places left to be found where we might build something hidden, new valuable locations pop up all the time after all!" Oscar was starting to get it.

[No need to share too much yet.]

"That's why we need proximity, you might be thinking if there were great spots on the human side then humans would already be there. But not so, on this god's damned continent, where it can spring up in a decade,"

When she looked back at Oscar he had a funny look, the smugly ignorant kind only a fifteen year old can truly manage. "What a weird expression, you know gods aren't real right?" He was speaking as if she had said santa's. "Sorry, I just mean you might make people think you don't know that, using that expression," When her only response was a glare he decided to just rub it in. "It would be pretty embarrassing at your age, wouldn't you say?"

Now, it wasn't that Livia was a good god-fearing catholic or anything, she had been raised christian sure, but fantasy in various forms had sort of taken over in her latter years. She still enjoyed the occasional visit to church, but yeah. The bar was probably higher than that for true outrage.

"What would you know about it?" The words still came out a lot feistier than she intended, so she adjusted her tone. "I mean, don't you guys worship like, the Great Spirits and stuff?"

Oscar was playing with a cheap chess set they had had made after it became Kalle and Roldy's favorite way to settle disputes. "Uh, some people I guess, mostly other races do. But sure, it's not like we deny their existence, but how do they qualify as gods exactly?"

It was Livia's turn to be stumped. And she wasn't alone.

[Really, I had no idea this era had few worshippers. I suppose it has always gone in cycles with us Humans while other races are better at holding the faith, but most of the time over 80 percent call themselves the follower of one or another Spirit. It was a lot lower in our time too, as you know. Wonder if there is a connection.]

"Well, they're the most powerful beings around and so many others worship them, that I figured even the ones who did not still considered them deities," She said unsurely.

"Yeah, but with us Humans it's more of a peer-to-peer relationship, or a senpai-kouhai relationship I've heard it called," That made no sense to either Livia or Mr Beard but the next words quickly distracted them. "Besides, everyone knows the Great Spirits are still growing, what kind of god would do that,"

The words had stunned Livia, but when she asked for clarification, with Mr Beard yelling in her ear about knowledge lost to the ages, Oscar had little more to say. It was all based on rumour and hearsay, but he was very certain of his knowledge. Even more experienced and certainly trustworthy folk like Brunner would back him up, he assured them.

It gave them a lot to think about, but the implications were all for later, they had too much to do to get hung up on Spirits and surviving japanese expressions for long. Today was the day they established a real relationship with Sten. And the plan hinged on Hyde. The mosswolf had truly started to become a part of the team, with Roldy finally beginning to bond with him beyond what his Skill [Bond of the Forest] could provide.

His initiative to apologise to Sten on behalf of Livia had paid off, and the two had started bonding over their in common roles of both frontline fighter and aspiring healer, despite fulfilling them in different ways. Sten had made it clear he was committed to his Class and had no further ambitions as a healer, having given up the chance to be an Aspirant and only finishing up with his last patients at the healer's house. But the sheer desire in his eyes belied the lie.

That was what made the plan rather simple, on the day Roldy had asked for a meeting to bring Sten into the forest to meet Hyde. Once he agreed they would simply act like he wanted to start introducing the growing magic wolf to more citizens and thought it best to start with someone who knew how to handle themselves but wasn't a heavy-set adult who might feel too imposing. Sten happened to love dogs, and found the idea quite exciting so agreement was swiftly secured.

While there Roldy was to act like the successful bonding-session between Hyde and Sten was convincing him to bring Sten further into his confidences, as long as Sten would swear not to reveal his secrets for anything but a true emergency. Roldy's sincerity made the promise an easy one to make, figured Sten.

The plan started out well. Livia was staying hidden at the location they scouted out ahead of time, while Hyde was now staring intently at Sten, who had started sniffing the air like he was searching, but that was when Hyde pretended to cause the [Quest] prompt to appear. Its appearance blew every other thought out of Sten's mind, who had taken quite a few shots to the head without such a result over his life.

[Rare Quest issued: Gather 20 Solblooms hidden beneath the snow. Reward: Class progress. Hidden objective reward: Advanced Blood Control conditional 14 hour deadline]

Solblooms were a common but useful plant, used in pastes that helped to stop bleeding on the battlefield. It should be an easy enough task, in summer. What would happen next was known only to a few. The prompt only Livia knew the details of and only Sten could see it.

The seventeen year old almost went rushing into the forest to search immediately, but when the more experienced forester held him up to give him some provisions and advice, he halted for a minute. "Whatever you need to do specifically doesn't matter, just go out there and be a healer and you will come back a new man, I'm sure of it," And then we can grow together, like Kalle talked about back then.

The supportive words were warming but Sten barely heard Roldy speak. There was too much on his mind, including how someone could possibly issue a [System Quest]. But the hunt was on.