The Guildmaster smiled. It almost seemed predatory, but perhaps Serenity was simply reading too much into it from Margrethe’s experience. “Your help. If I help you with your quest, you’ll work on a Guild quest that I think you’re suited for.”

Serenity could see a couple of different hooks in there. “You want me to join Order’s Guild, don’t you?”

The smile became a little more genuine. “Yes, of course. In order to treat you as a Hand of the Order, you need to be one.”

That wasn’t necessarily a deal breaker; he’d have to see the terms. If they were something like the Mercenary Guild, with periodic fees that had to be paid to access Guild services, it would be fine. If they were going to treat him the way they treated Margrethe, however, the deal would be off. “I’ll need details on that to know if it’s acceptable. What’s the quest?”

The Guildmaster didn’t reply in words; he simply shared the quest information. There were two quests; Serenity noticed that they weren’t available for him to accept, which was interesting.

A Past Built in Layers

Group Quest - Order’s Guild

No Time Limit

Variable Reward

Requirement: Wardsmith, Enchanter, or Runemaster

Many worlds hold artifacts older than the Voice itself. They may be buildings or they may be items. Find one and decipher it, then offer the knowledge to the Voice.

The Fall of Zon

Group Quest - Order’s Guild

No Time Limit

Failure Condition: Quest will fail if no strong center to rebuild from remains

Requirement: None

Zon has been shrinking for the entire lifetime of the Voice. While it was slow at first, often unseen, it has continued and accelerated in recent centuries. Only one major civilization remains, centered on the ancient city of Zenith. Several outlying areas are also strong, such as the Duchy of Lowpeak, The Mountain’s Crest, Heavenfall, and Celestials’ Rest.

Guildmaster Tirmanak Oathbinder believes that Zenith will fall within the century, taking most of the civilization of Zon with it.

Find and counter the cause of this decay, reversing it and making Zon grow once more.

Success Condition: An expanding native population and settlement area, leading to an increase in Zon’s Tier. Direct assistance from the Voice will invalidate this quest.

“As you can see, they’re both long-term quests,” Tirmanak commented. “I don’t expect you to be able to succeed at the second one, but I still wanted to present it to you. It’s best if Hands know what’s happening around them. The first one seems almost tailor-made for you, if your sensitivity is as high as Kalo suggested.”

Serenity’s attention wasn’t on the quests; it was on a name. “Oathbinder?” The name vaguely rang a bell, but Serenity had the feeling it wasn’t because of Tirmanak. It was probably from another Oathbinder. It had to be, didn’t it? Serenity remembered.

Vengeance made a deal with Oathbinder. It was a straightforward deal: Oathbinder would pay for the materials Vengeance needed to return himself to life; in return, Vengeance would owe Oathbinder time equal to the number of expensive ingredients - six years. There was a catch, of course; the deal with Oathbinder was the reason Serenity didn’t trust contracts without a very clear understanding of what they meant, unless they were with someone who he otherwise trusted not to screw him over.

The contract didn’t specify “time in service”; it specified “time spent serving”. Only the time Vengeance was actually working towards an assigned task counted, but he had to be continually available just in case he was needed. There were other little tricks; in the end, it took Vengeance fifteen years to pay off the debt he’d expected to retire in six, and he knew it could have been far worse.

The Oathbinder he remembered was also a Daa’il. Serenity didn’t think it was the same man, but his memory that far back was fuzzy. It wasn’t like he’d dealt with the Oathbinder directly very often; they’d mostly dealt with each other through writing, so he’d only seen the man three or four times.

Tirmanak Oathbinder frowned. “Yes. Any oaths you make to me will be binding. Is there a problem with that?”

Serenity was sure Tirmanak was trying to make him feel like he was in the wrong, but Serenity mostly felt justified. “Not as long as you don’t try to sneak in anything I’m not aware of.”

He was going to have to be careful. He hadn’t realized until quite a few Tutorials were past just how different his contract was from the rest of the instructors in the Tutorial. There were some ways it was favorable, but there were also some very important things missing. Some of them were unavoidable by the nature of things; for example, the Voice couldn’t blur the Tutorial experience for him the way it did for the other instructors and still give him the benefits of the time he spent there.

Others were simply things that hadn’t occurred to him, like the rewards. Serenity had no idea which set of rewards he was going to get; he suspected it was going to be an upgraded version of a student’s rewards, but it could be an instructor’s rewards or something completely different. It simply wasn’t in the contract. It was even possible it would be nothing, but Serenity didn’t expect that; he trusted the Voice that far. If there was one thing he knew about the Voice, it was that it didn’t need or want to cheat anyone.

He couldn’t say the same thing about someone named Oathbinder, even if the person he had experience with was only a family member.

Tirmanak Oathbinder grinned cheerfully. It was an incongruous expression for the doubts Serenity was having. “I’d say I’d never do that, but it would be a lie. I won’t do it to you over this, but you have no reason to believe me on that. Please read the contract carefully. Please read all contracts carefully; you may be a Voice-chosen Hand, but that doesn’t mean you’re invulnerable.”

Serenity sighed. As much as he wanted to avoid dealing in contracts, someone generally unconnected to him who could deal with Djen would be very useful. Especially someone from offworld who could leave afterwards. “Show me this contract.”

Contract between Hand of the Voice Serenity and Order’s Guild [Administered by Tirmanak Oathbinder, Guildmaster on Ranar]

Serenity will accept one or more of the quests proposed by Tirmanak Oathbinder

Guildmaster Tirmanak Oathbinder will assist Serenity to gain information relevant to the Quest [Tutorial Troubles]

The Initial Period will end when Serenity completes [Tutorial Troubles] and a Quest granted by Guildmaster Tirmanak Oathbinder. A single completion of a Quest that can be completed more than once shall be considered complete for this purpose. At that time, Serenity will qualify for the regalia and identification of a Hand of Order’s Guild, along with all privileges thereof.

To remain a Hand of Order’s Guild, Serenity must make reasonable efforts to complete Quests supporting Order’s Voice, whether they are directly obtained from Order’s Voice or from the Guild. Quests may be refused, but Serenity must provide a reason for refusal if asked. Quest failure is not a sufficient reason for removal from the ranks of the Hands.

Removal of a Hand is only permitted at the command of Order’s Voice.

Serenity may resign his position as a Hand at any time.

It was one of the most one-sided contracts that Serenity had ever seen. It was also in his favor, which made Serenity suspicious.

Where was the catch? What was he missing?

Voice? Where’s the downside to accepting this? There has to be something, right, no one would offer their support just for accepting a quest that I don’t even have to complete. Is it hard to get out of or something?

[There is no direct downside]

No direct downside? That was an interesting way of phrasing it.

Serenity looked back up at Tirmanak. “Why is this so slanted in my favor?”

The Guildmaster smiled. “Order’s Guild exists to support the Hands. Knives cleanse the world, Hands keep it on track. Most Hands give valuables to the Guild when they can, but it’s not required. It’s less common in Voice-selected Hands, but people like you are rare. Most Hands are children of the Guild, brought forward at a Choosing. We value the ones the Voice selects highly; you have some of the most important missions. Our duty is to you, not the other way around.”

The smile fell off Tirmanak’s face. “You’re the first new Hand in this cluster in seventeen years; the last three Choosings have found no Hands. Resources are also tight; while Margrethe will bring a good bit back from her time as a Tutorial’s Knife, this cluster is struggling. When that happens, Order’s Guild struggles as well.”

“It’s not going to get me in trouble, is it? There isn’t some organization that hates Order’s Guild out there, is there?” Serenity was fairly confident at this point that he was going to accept, but he wanted to be sure he knew what he was getting into. An organization that hated Order’s Guild seemed somewhat plausible; they did kill people, after all. “Wait, can people even tell if I’m a Hand?

Tirmanak shrugged his shoulders. “Someone with the right Skills outside Order’s Guild will probably be able to tell you’re a Guild member, but not a Hand, the same way I can tell you’re a Lord but not what rank. Guild members will be able to know your rank if they have any of the standard Guild Paths. If you want to completely hide your affiliation, work on the Skill you’re using to hide your Lordship; it should be able to hide other affiliations with time. You might even be able to hide your nobility.”

Skill he was using to hide his Lordship? Serenity didn’t have a stealth skill of that sort. What was the Guildmaster talking about?

Unless he meant Ghost in the System? That particular title seemed to do a lot of things.

Ghost in the System

You bypass certain restrictions. This title is hidden unless you share it with another.

Unfortunately, it still had a nearly useless description.

Serenity felt tired. He was on the verge of deciding to go for it when he realized that despite Tirmanak Oathbinder’s quiet words, this was still a hard sell. He should take some time and really think about it before agreeing. “Will you be spending the night?”

Tirmanak nodded. “I’ll be here for a couple of days. That’s all the time I can spare away from Ranar right now.”

“Then I’ll see you in the morning. I’m going to have dinner then think on it and rest.” Serenity stood up and walked out of the room. No one called for him to come back, but he did hear them talking behind him once he was gone.

Serenity spent hours thinking about the offer and even visited the Tutorial for advice. The best advice he got came from Blaze, who pointed out that the quest from Order’s Voice was the only reason Serenity was on Zon in the first place. It wasn’t the best place to pursue his own goals. That was the cost Serenity was missing.

They’d present him with problems and he’d accept and follow them even if it wasn’t the best option purely for himself. It was something Serenity very well knew about himself; he liked to help others when he could figure out how. A problem he couldn’t start wasn’t something he could do anything about and he wouldn’t even try, but something he could manage would be done.

It wasn’t a price paid to Order’s Guild, but it was still a price. Order’s Guild was filled with fanatics; Margrethe made that obvious. Hands raised in the Guild were probably just as fanatical as Margrethe; they didn’t need a stick to go with the carrot. Disapproval would be enough, especially if they were careful about who they presented to be “chosen”.

While he was thinking about it, the Voice notified him that it had stopped the teleportation of a student out of the Tutorial and sent her to the second stage instead. She wasn’t anywhere near the first to have been stopped, since there were usually several each day, but it was a reminder of how important what he was doing was.

From there, the decision was simple: he needed help and this was a way to get it that didn’t have an unacceptable cost. He’d say yes.