Jane had ignored the commotion outside that made everyone else rush out in a ready stream to greet the [Druid]; but when she heard the strange trilling sound of the ostrich even Jane had to get up and go see.

“Bird, such big, nice bird!” TRILL. She tried copying the sound it had made, and when it responded in kind she looked as delighted as a little girl touching her first soft puppy.

“Yours Oscar?” When the [Squire] gave her a nod she looked satisfied. “Strong. Good bird, take care of it, don’t fuck it up.”

He hadn’t even tried riding it yet, but he gave her a serious nod nonetheless.

That night they all started feeling like they’d finally made their landing in the capital, and they slept well at the Legume.

Although around midnight was when five of them met up, out by one of the nearby late-night döner vendors, to Kalle’s happy belly’s surprise.

It was the original clique of five, and Livia shared the news of finding Margaret–another Earther from home–as they walked; leading to them all being quite happy for her, that she’d been so lucky with who was chosen from her time. They still couldn’t quite wrap their heads around a world with billions of Humans, all of whom may have been the ones to come to help, what with how indiscriminately some Spells worked.

But the more vital news, at least for the [Guild] in the short run, was Livia’s newly unraveled ability–the [Officer Corp] Skill. Apparently you just had to keep the correct intention in terms of type of command in mind as you granted the promotion, light work once you knew the details of what the Skill did and the targets Class.

They were down by the beach and the yellow moon shone down, while the waves lapped the sandy shore in the cloying dark.

And then she walked up to all three of her chosen ones in turn; who were standing proud as peacocks to receive their new designation. Kalle, I dub you my [Warlock] Commandant.

[Esperlock: level 11]

[New Distinction Granted: Commandant: level 1]

And Harold. I dub you my [Druid] Commandant.

[Chaos Druid: level 10]

[New Distinction Granted: Commandant: level 1]

Then her third choice.

And despite it not being his exact Class, he was close enough that the System accepted her choice. I dub you my [Physician] Commandant.

[Naturalborn Pugilist: Level 10]

[New Distinction Granted: Commandant: level 1]

And then she tried a fourth time; despite the Skill telling her it was at its limit. Oscar deserved one too, with how hard he worked, and the risks he had dared.

But the time was not yet ripe. The Skill could not be pushed further–her efforts just sliding off, making it clear some requirement remained unfulfilled, or else it would have at least drained her of some mana from making the attempt.

It seemed most likely that Oscar would need to get his first capstone. Then with all of them caught up–and with no further way of activating the Skill, they went and sat by the water where the moon was shining down–to just enjoy how far they'd come for a while. Maybe my Skill will grow as they level it up, I really can't imagine it ever being upgraded otherwise?

Unfortunately the information in the library tablets had not held all the details.

They had decided on this order of promotion in order to not risk wasting it in case it was more limited than expected. Since even if learning if it worked on Oscar would have been valuable–it was pretty clear that Sten’s chances of recruiting additional hangers-on, and thus leveling the Skill-distinction–was a lot better than Oscar's. Almost certainly, with Sten having a much more common Class, even if the specific variation was rare.

Which Livia only knew the import of because this was what Margaret had unearthed from the past studies of other Classes with similar Skills. The Skills like [Promote Soldier] or [Assign Workshop] made it clear you truly had to gather recruits of your own–other potential ways to level up this new System approved officer distinction were not recognised. The tablet had made it clear how it only worked with ‘true’ followers, who would follow their commander above anyone else. As a result it was not so easy as the overall commander providing you with ranks by simply assigning you units, only to then remove them and give them to another potential junior officer the next day.

Officer levels had to be earned; as they would never fade.

“Sorry Oscar, but I’ll work on finding more ways of upgrading it soon, if it turns out to be as useful as we hope, next time you’ll be first up. Especially as you might just have a talent, what with recruiting someone new even before I did, hah. Can't wait to meet this Moa,”

“Well, technically Sten was the first to manage it after us leaving Salcret, with Jane,” And they had to laugh at that being their first official recruit. “I’ll keep leveling to earn it in the meantime, don’t worry.”

The crazy bastard was already level 4, and was not even a month into his Class. Things were bound to slow down in the second half to his capstone, but it was impressive nonetheless.

“Yes, exactly. If you just work hard you’ll be leading sorties on your… Ostrich, in no time.” Yes, Livia was still dealing. The smashing of her knightly image of Oscar was mere hours old.

Sigh. Even if you worked hard the future wouldn’t look exactly how you imagined, but that was alright. Oscar was way too happy for Livia to begrudge him his taste in mounts for long.

They ended on one final note; one on which they took a vote. Sten had joined this inner circle rather spontaneously after Livia made up her exhausted mind in the moment, and decided to keep trusting in this generation of Salcret, or whatever it was that made them all such good eggs.

The rest of them had approved when learning of it at the time, but Livia made it clear she would consult them first in the future so they could add observations of their own regarding candidates first, there was always the risk that Livia had missed something she should know.

But they did all still agree unanimously on the next candidate; come tomorrow night Livia planned to initiate Redd into the [Guild]’s deepest secrets, provided he was not bringing bad news regarding their investment and wanted to opt out.

Day 3 started with Livia doing her shift at their market stall.

There was only a little more than two days left until the auction, and they were pushing to sell as much as possible in preparation.

They’d be getting the mundane stuff right afterward once they knew how much was left of their budget, but it still remained to be seen whether they even found something magic that was truly worthwhile, and that might help them build a real home.

To build anticipation the auction houses always kept the list of items secret; so you never knew which week might hide the sale of the year. It forced the real bargain-seekers to practically get season passes. Is that a thing here? It should be.

But the bottom line was the wallet you brought. Unlike back in Salcret–this time Livia aimed to be prepared.

That day she went ham, shouting like crazy to attract the customers who had not yet been to visit this new pop-up stall of theirs; making full use of her freshly upgraded [Sway the Lot].

Of course there were plenty of other Skills competing in this theatre of commerce, but Livia was up there on her soapbox feeling like a proper trader, and her confidence and presence was helping to power [Socialite’s Allure]–a Skill none present that day had ever been under the influence of before.

That sort of thing made even experienced [Merchant]s–who easily resisted the actual effects–turn their heads and get curious, and like with all such things; the mood was infectious.

Livia ended up selling off half their stock in nine hours flat; before she had to take a break and went to tag in the slightly tipsy Albert, who soon had their fortunes reversed again, which was exactly the intention.

The stuff would sell well tomorrow too, even if only the dregs remained; and they were here to make a name for themselves, which meant expanding the customer base just as much as it meant earning short-term money to other rival merchants with better connections; so long as it still meant that everything they had no need for actually got sold in the end.

They planned to travel far lighter to their next destination. It was primarily a scouting trip after all, even if they planned to keep going until they got lucky.

At least their fortunes were holding up fine so far, and everyone was clear on what was expected of them in order to get the final tasks done. They just needed to bring this economic part of the mission home safely. So long as Oscar isn’t somewhere, right now, saying ill-boding things out loud again. Sigh.

Livia could imagine it all too well; but Oscar deserved a little more credit than that.

At least that day.

Alfred was not at home here.

Well, he was a [Ranging Herbalist], so that much was obvious.

But what was also increasingly obvious was that he could never feel at home here, not in a big city like this. It’s only for a few more days, you’re used to getting caught out in storms, having to share caves with scared predators; it’s not that big a deal. A few days more.

He just needed to stand it.

Despite how pretty much everything he had gathered and brought here was already sold–and how they'd put a freeze on his budget for buying more ingredients to experiment with. Now he was stuck here, having to sit still for hours while everything–and especially his feet–itched, or else go out and brave the packed streets with no purpose at all…

The others all seeming to have such a swell time did not help either. Even that Jane woman was looking to be in a slightly improved mood today, while Alfred’s was steadily worsening with feeling so stuck here. I should have gone with Redd to his farm.

But they’d needed him for a shift at the store; everybody couldn’t be gone at once.

At least someone was noticing how Alfred was growing irritable; and had even volunteered a balming activity. Alfred would have expected it from Elin, or even Oscar or maybe his brother Felix, if he had not gone off to the Albernautics academy on their first day here...

Instead he had been aided by Albert of all people.

True, they had been working together. But that was different from spending time on a more voluntary basis. Way different; and the [Brewer] had suggested they go out mushrooming in the fields, of all things.

Apparently he’d heard from a customer how a variety of magic mushrooms grew among the dung pats out in the pastures surrounding Dormata; but it was merely consumed by the animals in most cases.

But dotted among them you could apparently find a special pointed one growing. A so-called Blue Spear mushroom. It acted as a highly effective sedative that helped people go to sleep; but also induced freaky dreams. Like dreams aren’t freaky enough already.

But it was a great ingredient for some experimentation, and so out into the fields the pair headed.

When they finally got into the weeds it was admittedly dreamlike. It might have taken them ages, but Alfred’s favorite Skill [The Unbeaten Track] was guiding them to where the mushrooms bloomed like guppies in a lagoon. The Blue Spear mushrooms were pointy and white besides the light blue tip, and only made up about 10% of the bounty, but they brought along everything they could find that was unknown, to be properly identified later.

Unfortunately their picking spree lasted all of 30 minutes before they were suddenly interrupted by a trilling sound, that sounded deeply strange but also weirdly familiar.

And so yes; they got charged by oversized ostriches that had taken offense to their trespassing in the pastures included in their domain.

After all that trudging through terrain, their first voluntary, joint venture ended up being aborted and they only escaped without suffering serious wounds because the big birds were trained to be more lenient with the unarmed poachers who might have only made a mistake.

They still ended up plenty bruised; but also in a state fit to be vowing to return later–much better prepared.

Hopefully Oscar had already started figuring some stuff out about ostriches, or else they would need to question Redd; since apparently his sons ran some sort of ostrich farm.

So like most of their virgin attempts this one ended in a failure; but even Alfred had to admit it was a bonding experience.