“Betraying your master without a second thought? How heartless of you, Harold. And here I was, thinking you could be trusted, relied upon. You’re really breaking my heart.”

The lazy drawl came from a man that had suddenly appeared in the ruined building I had further demolished. Shit, had I offended a stronger opponent? The man was wearing some kind of straw overcoat that covered his body, while ordinary, brown cloth pants stuck out from beneath this ensemble. He was wearing a strange straw hat that seemed to cover most of his face, though some stubble was visible on his chin. The man was chewing on a stalk of grain as he spoke and seemed entirely uninterested in my presence, only staring at Harold.

He approached his subordinate and crouched until his eyes met Harold’s.

My internal monologue was interrupted by the old innkeeper, who ran up to the new arrival and, surprisingly, took a knee and bowed. Well, he bowed with his upper body, since his head was no longer there. I held my breath and prepared to run at a moment’s notice. [Ghost apparition] was ready to activate any second.

Harold moved to defend himself from the stranger.

“Please, Lord of the West! Supreme undead, Fate-denying king...” Harold was about to spout off even more arbitrary titles, but the harsh glare from the stranger shut him up.

Wait a minute... Lord of the West? Was this the dry man himself and not just one of his lieutenants? Why was he here? Would I even be able to run away if I wanted to?

“Hihihi! Great sir, I wouldn’t have told him any truths, I was just trying to buy time until your arrival! This man insulted your honour, I couldn’t stop myself!” Harold claimed, while pointing at me. I realised I was still dangling him upside down, and quickly dropped him. Harold fell face-first into the dirt, but the dry man didn’t seem to care. Instead, he glanced over at me, and then at the old innkeeper.

“Dullahan, it’s not often that you interfere with the village’s happenings, let alone interfere with one of my men, no matter how slimy he might be. What are your reasons?”

The innkeeper, who had still been kneeling, lifted his head and gurgled something at his presumed master, while the dry man hummed noncommittedly after a while.

“I see...” he drawled as his eyes slowly slid over to me. A tense moment passed where we stared at one another, before a big grin appeared on his face.

Suddenly, the dry man’s body crumbled. His bones cracked and his robes fell to the ground. A second later, I felt a light tap on my right shoulder. I whirled around and swung my sword pre-emptively.

A loud clang reverberated throughout our surroundings, and I found myself standing face-to-face with the same dry man as before. He had used a single finger to stop my weapon dead in its tracks, as if to laugh at my weakness.

My momentary frustration was quickly replaced with the looming pressure of powerlessness. Never had I been quite so cornered as I was right now. Even with apparition, there was no way I could escape a tier 6. I was at his mercy.

Thankfully, the same lazy smile was still plastered onto the middle-aged man’s face. From close-up, I got a better view of his face. He looked like a typical adventurer, with some stubble on his chin and under his nose. His greasy, long hair reminded me of myself, before I let my hair grow out.

From this view, I would have never guessed that this man was the ‘dry man’, one of three feudal lords of the between lands, a tier 6 classer that had overcome the disadvantageous odds that any dark-affinity caster suffered from. His tier was, unfortunately, also indicative of the harm and pain he had wrought on others, I assumed.

After a long moment where he seemed to be assessing me, the dry man finally spoke.

“You’re impressive for your age, young man. I’m almost jealous. Dullahan has explained what happened here, so I understand that it was my subordinate that caused this... unfortunate situation.”

Because of his words, I felt relief, thinking I might yet escape from this situation with my life.

Suddenly, the dry man’s smirk turned predatory, and his tone low and threatening.

“But... you still killed some of my people. How would I look if I let you off scott-free? You have to understand my position here, kid...”

All of a sudden, spiked bones erupted from the ground. Ribs belonging to dragons and giants, femurs the size of castles... The entire valley was encased in a field of white skeletons, while a sinister aura that I couldn’t quite place spread across the village.

I gulped nervously, too scared to move an inch. The fear of death was a surprising addition to what I had hoped was a reasonably short list of fears. Yet, here I was, shivering like a newborn babe in the face of death. I never should have come here...

The dry man had noticed my discomfort, and his lazy look replaced his threatening one once again.

“Don’t be so disheartened, young one. Dullahan vouched for you, and said you were a customer. Out of respect for my long-time friend, I’ll be merciful and let you live... as long as you fulfill a task of mine...”

I gathered as much courage as I could and tried to act nonchalant as I sheathed my weapon.

“What kind of task are we talking?” I asked, more confidently than I felt.

Hearing my words, the dry man’s grin only widened. He casually put an arm around my shoulder, as if we were long-time friends.

“Listen, little guy. Even an old sod like me has things he cares about. A couple of years ago, the lord of the East, the abyss watcher, took something from me. Something very... precious. I want you to sneak into his territory and bring it back. Simple, right?”

The thumping of my heart was starting to settle again, though my back was still dripping with cold sweat. As a result, my response came out quite calmly.

“Why haven’t you sent Dullahan to do it? He seems a lot tougher than me.”

“Several reasons, young fellow. For one, Abyss watcher knows who all my people are, so they wouldn’t be able to get into his territory, much less find my da..., the thing I care about.” He said, cutting himself off at the end.

“For another, none of my subordinates are what I would call... sensible. They either lack intelligence, or their intelligence is matched by their insanity. You, on the other hand, seem sensible and smart enough to sneak about undetected. On top of that, it seems that abyss watcher will be at necropolis for a few weeks. That makes this the first, and perhaps... the last opportunity to get my ‘thing’ back. Listen, do this for me, and I’ll make it worth your while. I’ll waive your offence and give you something you need, trust me. Roa’s treasury is nothing compared to mine when it comes to dark artifacts.” He finished, sending a chill down my spine with his last sentence.

This entire time, he had known who I was. Unsurprising, considering the public nature of the tournament.

This also meant that I was well and truly fucked. I couldn’t run away, the dry man would know immediately and kill me.

On the other hand, stealing from another tier 6 while he was away seemed just as dangerous. How could a single mission escalate to this point? Was the church really so unaware of the situation here that they would send me into a death trap?

In the end, I had to agree, though. If I had to choose between dying now or ‘maybe dying’ later, I would pick the latter. Both the dungeon and the border to Roa were within the dry man’s territory. As long as he kept his word, I had a good chance of making it back and completing my mission.

That was IF I made it back to his territory after the heist...

“Fine, I accept, on the condition that you’ll let me retrieve an artifact from a nearby dungeon.” I asked. For a moment, I was scared that the dry man would kill me where I stood, but I steeled my heart. Now that the tier 6 had found me, he wouldn’t let me wander around his territory unsupervised. If I tried to sneak behind his back, I would definitely get killed.

“Oh, you mean that cup? I guessed that the church would send you here for that old thing... Sure, I’ll accept your condition. It’s not like I care about a single tier 6 piece of equipment that I can’t use anyway. Just don’t let it slip anywhere that I let you get that rusty thing.” He said, smiling good-naturedly. Something sinister told me he had other reasons for helping me retrieve that artifact, but as long as I got my hands on it I wouldn’t pry. Sometimes ignorance was bliss.

“So... when do you want me to get that stolen object for you?”

The dry man seemed to flinch at its mention, but quickly recovered.

“Rest for the night, first. Dullahan will nag my ears off if I steal the first customer he’s had in years. I’ll come to find you tomorrow, after you’ve dug that old grail out of the ground. We leave for the border right after. Until then. Oh, and remember: I see everything in these lands. Nothing escapes my notice.” He threatened, before his body once again crumbled into dust.

The visual was actually quite unsettling. First, his skin and flesh disappeared, as if they had only ever been an illusion. Then, when only his skeleton was left, it cracked and crumbled into smaller and smaller pieces, until a pile of dust was all that remained.

Now that he was gone, I could breathe a sigh of relief. Dullahan stood back up and, with a few swift motions, beheaded the remainder of the thugs, including Harold, who let out a wet gurgle as his bodyless head rolled across the ground. My onyx chains shimmered out of existence, and I slowly carried myself back into the inn, up the stairs, where I tossed myself onto the bed like a big bag of flour. Not five minutes passed until I was out like a light.