Come morning there had still not been any word from Oscar. That made Livia start to worry a little, but it was very hard imagining something that could sneak up on an owl, mosswolf and Oscar all at once, at least around these parts.

They decided to make a proper breakfast, just in case their stragglers were around the corner and about to show up, but it was no use.

But just as they had all gotten packed up and ready to start marching they heard a strange whistle sound out from the nearby woods. It seemed like a signal, but only Redd recognised it and whistled back.

When he did, out stepped a man from behind a tree, bow strung over his shoulder and while he was not quite dirtied up in camo like a special forces soldier, he was still wearing impressively well-blending materials.

“Hi-dee-hoo there, the name’s Matti, I take it you don’t mind me approaching? If you’re headed for Solhem I can certainly help out, as that’s where I’m from.”

Livia went with Redd and Ronia to greet the man, and when they shook hands she told him they were from Salcret.

“Oh, I take it you’re bringing an awful lot of good timber then?” He peeked over her shoulder at their laden carts, his grin slowly spreading. “I know some who will pay prime silver for first access to that, no doubt of that, no doubt of that at all. Were you hoping to offload it all here, or will you be heading onward for the Dormata market?”

Like most lonesome professionals the man seemed to want to make the most out of the meeting, Livia imagined he’d be spreading the gossip of their coming as soon as he left their sight, even if it meant interrupting the day’s hunt prematurely.

Just like the people of Salcret he had a clear and unique accent, yet while theirs was a bit of a goofy, and over-articulating British, his was a much more lilting version. Livia took that to mean he was one of the Finns she’d read so much about. I guess maybe he looks a little bit paler, but otherwise I really can’t spot much of a difference, but hey, maybe it will be clearer once we reach Solhem.

Once they explained where they were coming from, and how they’d been witness to the great battle taking place–which the village had actually contributed a few warriors to–that made them all the more welcome.

Despite contributing warriors, Solhem had noticed nothing amiss besides the alarm until the response from Dormata had come thundering through their peaceful abode, demanding to know if they’d seen sign or hide of the Hives.

The answer had obviously been no, not even during the last war had the lousy ants reached this far after all. The worry that this was changing had been on all their minds since the news came.

It was clear to Livia that the man was hoping that a few civilians having been near must mean it was not so bad, despite their warriors' stories, and so maybe their version of the tale would be more hopeful. Livia was not at all sure they would be able to oblige.

But Matti let them save at least that much for later when they’d arrived and gotten settled, claiming to not want to hold them up any more.

That was right before acting like he had just thought of it and proceeding to ask for permission to peruse more of their wares. Livia sighed internally, but this was their first chance to make an impression, so it was hard to not just play along with what the [Hunter] wanted.

While he was busy she tried out her new Skill on him, just for kicks–and the Skill it showed her was not one she’d heard of before: [Docile Presence], she almost wanted to ask him then and there what it did, but she’d learned enough to know it was way too rude.

He was not coming across as docile at all, so it was hard to imagine it being a Passive. Oh well, much left to learn.

He whistled over the wares on both of the first carts they inspected, seeming particularly curious about the kegs.

But it was not until the third and last carriage–besides the one where they kept the wounded adventurer–that Matti reacted strangely.

“Oh, that’s no good, uh. You might want to hide those away under a cover or something, I would not want you mistakenly making enemies on your first day, and I can assure you the proper townsfolk will cause trouble should they see it.”

When all the strange words earned him was perplexed expressions he felt forced to elaborate. “I did not take any of you for the artist types, and I don’t recognise a tag anywhere?”

Livia was even more confused now, so she finally went closer to check which wares of theirs that he was talking about: it turned out to be the painted maps.

As it turned out Matti had confused the maps for spray-paint art, thinking that the expedition had a pair of artists looking to join the constantly ongoing competitions going on around–but especially in–Dormata.

Mr Beard had no idea of such a thing in his city, but Redd had just nodded along as if it was expected, only commenting about how it must have kept escalating since his last visit, to have spread all the way to the suburbs.

Livia was aware since before coming to Ross that this technology was one of the few to survive, albeit in a home-tinkering manner, but mostly it was used in the military in the stories she’d read.

As Matti told it the practice had been spreading like wildfire among the youths, and all but those targeted by the most talented artists were suffering for it. It was like winning the lottery, getting an expertly painted masterpiece could draw crowds to your place of business like never before.

But the benevolent geniuses were few and far in between, and youths being what they were, no matter how many locations were opened for new pieces to be sprayed, there was still the thrill of doing it where you were not allowed; not to mention the respect of getting on to a location nobody had managed before.

Apparently those were becoming increasingly rare.

Some just considered it culture, and saw no point in trying to suppress it; the battle over Dormata had apparently been lost already. But the old farts in control of the centers of these suburbs were hanging on strong, and seeing new artists arriving was bound to get on their nerves.

After all his talking it was made evident that they better make a proper first impression before trying to explain about the maps they wanted to get sold.

When Hyde returned with news of potential treasure, the nearly-nodding-off Oscar was immediately re-energized. The pressure of being left behind could only push him so far with nothing on hand to do, but when it became clear that the only thing left that needed doing was to get started digging–they quickly got to it.

Oscar had a small shovel on hand that Redd had lent him, but it was still tough work in his current state, and they needed to get ten metres deep. Hyde was helping, and Algernon declared that he’d keep on keeping watch with a hoot. But mostly it was Oscar doing all the heavy lifting despite not having had a wink the night before and the hour once again approaching later evening.

Hyde dug for a bit, but he’d already been working hard and after a while the mosswolf decided to rather practice something he had a hunch should work for him somehow.

He wanted to sink down and then re-materialize mid-earth, and it should be doable. When his magic activated it was more like he became liquid rather than truly becoming immaterial, changing back should just be a matter of control. If she can do it, then so can I for moss’ sake, even if I was only a week in the Valley. I’m sure she would have let me go all the way if I’d been that good so soon, heh.

Oscar took Hyde’s optimistic wolf’s grin as a sign of motivation and approved the attempts. By working that out Hyde should be able to make room below Oscar’s pit, and then dig upwards to meet him, but the rocky walls and roof was keeping him from doing so from the hollow they were trying to reach.

They worked at it all night, with Oscar making it a whole six of the required ten metres in as many hours. He was feeling beyond exhausted at this point–but also strangely tireless–the pain came and went, suddenly fading before returning to remind him not to push too fast, but his body refused to stop moving.

He felt like he was digging for his Class.

When Hyde finally figured it out, and managed to push out a big section for them and then collapse the path forward further, they finally reached the odd rock. Oscar saw how it all consisted of small fitted stones, clearly made by Humans or something similar.

It was sturdy–but with Oscar’s full weight from above, and the iron tip of the shovel to dig the stones out, he finally reached the promised hollow and Hyde could not help but howl in excitement, even Algernon was hovering at an angle to be able to peek inside after all their hard work: It was a dark hole.

Yeah, as exciting as mud.

Hyde helped Oscar find the item with helpful, delighted sounds, then he finally grabbed hold of it and the tugging in his head finally stopped, although he’d barely been able to notice it without focusing after those first few hours.

It was clearly a shield, but it was impossible to make anything else out. It was just as muddy as Oscar and Hyde, and the waterfall outside beckoned.

But as he turned around with the rather heavy thing it was like all his energy drained away, and he stumbled. Hyde gave a worried yelp, but Oscar was not about to quit this close to the finish.

He stumbled back up through the hole they had made, struggling the whole way with nowhere to set the shield as its straps must have rotted away.

Luckily they had rope up above but Oscar’s hands were shaking so much by this point that it took him a good fifteen minutes to properly secure the loot. He considered a dip in the waterfall’s pond for a second, but he was not sure he’d be able to make it back up from the water in his current state.

Instead he headed out towards the expedition, looking far from human.

When Livia remembered to ask Matti how far off Solhem was they found out their map had been overestimating, and that it was not actually more than five hours off by this point. It was the last thing Matti told them before waving in thanks for a nice chat and heading off.

This led to the decision to send some of their party ahead with the carts while the others waited another night for Oscar.

Ronia volunteered to go, along with their five guest travellers as well as Elin and her two brothers, Felix and Alfred, together with Albert.

Which meant Redd stayed around together with the original clic forming the [Guild], plus Sten and Lena.

They set part of the camp back up again, only having to reignite the fire for a quick dinner, and then they waited all day with no sign.

Harold was finally considering going back to check out what had happened, despite sensing through their connection that Hyde was still okay.

Of course that was when they spotted a strange-looking mud golem coming at them, with an equally baneful looking mud-hound companion to make up the formidable pair. Or so they would have thought, for a few seconds, if not for the familiar owl hitching a ride on the top of Oscar's head, with the poor guy barely seeming to notice.

Livia and the [Guild] came out to meet him, and he could barely muster the energy to greet them all. He handed off the shield to his [Guild] master, and then closed his eyes in relief, swaying on his feet; expecting to see the System first thing once he opened them again.

But just as Livia was about to hand the thing off to someone for a proper cleaning while she took care of Oscar, she felt a twinge from one of her Skills; [Nurture Talent]

Livia paused to consider.

Going off her intuition, she then handed the shield right back and whispered a few carefully chosen words in his dirty ears: “You will be my shield Oscar, not that clumsy thing.”

He looked at her in dazed surprise, but then gave her a serious nod–before stumbling over to his tent, which they’d so thoughtfully put up for him–and falling down on top of the coverings, muddying them properly before turning over on his back with the shield safely resting on his chest.

And then right before his light went out he spotted these few words painted on his eyelids, somehow perfectly intelligible.

[Quest completed]

[Class Aspirant Detected: Sentinel Squire. Braveheart’s Charge. Yes/No?]

Yes.

[Class Granted: Sentinel Squire]

[Skill Granted: Rear Vision]

[Skill Granted: Treble Suggestion]

[Passive Granted: Thick Skin]

[Skill Granted: Recall Blade]

[Skill Granted: Arrow Guard]

[Skill Granted: Subversive Provocation]

[Passive Granted: Apprentice Mentality]

[Skill Granted: Perception’s Mark]

[Skill Granted: Guarded Position]

[Skill Granted: Braveheart’s Charge]