Night had fallen by the time they crossed the bridge to the western side of Riverbend. The few braziers still lit on the sides of the streets had hinted at the finished arrangements for the festival the next day, and only a few people were still out stacking barrels and raking leaves in the village green.

Upon seeing the Bedstone just up ahead, Alex twirled his new dagger one last time, spinning the handle around with his fingertips before palming the dagger firmly and sliding it into the makeshift wooden cover Valerian had fashioned for him on the go.

He let his hand linger there for a moment. It was his first loot. A momentous occasion, considering the circumstances. Except after the first nick on the back of his thumb for just grazing against the bone blade, he realized that absentmindedly spinning a pen for hours on end in school did not translate well when you used a razor sharp object. Nor, he figured, did it translate into the system granting him any skills in knife-fighting.

He was a mage, after all.

During the long walk back from the dungeon, he’d thought of selling the dagger the next day to the merchant couple, or even giving it to one of the melee fighters of the crew if he was feeling particularly charitable with all the good cheer of the festival.

But then he’d remembered he was only a few numbers on a screen away from being completely manaless—and therefore no more special than a regular human, so the idea of having a defensive weapon to fall back to was comforting in the most fatalistic kind of way.

Alex was brought to a sudden stop when he felt Cedric’s hand on his shoulder. He blinked when he noticed the rest of the crew was already huddled around the crew leader a few steps off the footpath that led to the inn. Warm yellow light spilled out from beneath the doors, and he could hear the soft murmuring of conversation coming from the inside. The faint smoky smell of the common room drifted in the air.

“What is it?” Daven asked.

Cedric let go of Alex’s shoulder and smiled. “I can’t say we had our best day today, eh?”

The humor didn’t really land and Alex raised an eyebrow. A man’s got to know his timing and all that.

The crew leader sighed, tried and failed to meet all their gazes. “Look. I’m… I’m sorry for how it all went down, guys, I really am. Not only should I not have pushed you all so much, I shouldn’t have been so arrogant. Trying a go at that Enhanced for myself…”

One of his hands combed through his hair. There was a tiredness in the way he moved. “First save me,” he swore softly, exasperated, “we almost died. All of us. I’m glad we made it, of course, but even then… wow, we look like shit.”

He got a snort out of Diana this time, and Daven gave him a soft jab on the shoulder.

Cedric wasn’t lying. It was a sorry group that limped away from the dungeon after another hour of cutting through the second and first stages. Looking around the huddle, the soft light of the inn flickering on their faces, Alex could better see the frazzled state of Diana’s hair now, the black rings around Daven’s eyes, even the hunch on Valerian’s shoulder.

Hell, Cedric looked the worst. He put up a convincing smile when his little joke got the answer he wanted, but the man wafted defeat, eyes flitting about as if some hidden enemy would jump at him from the shadows at any moment. It was a total turn around from the chaser he first saw in the forest yesterday, confident enough to put his spear away in the presence of someone unknown, gaze unerring and resolute.

The scruffed spear hung limp in his hand now, and the blade still hadn’t regained its bronze color. Still, Cedric hadn’t let go of it the whole way back.

“Every experience is an opportunity,” Valerian said, his voice a deep rumble in the night. Then he nodded at the crew leader. “We need only make the best of it. Learn. Grow.” His fist rose slowly to hover in between them all, then tightened, the leather half-glove he had on audibly creasing. “Become tougher. Hardened. Like steel after it is heated and beaten.”

There was a beat of silence, then Daven barked out a laugh. “Alright big guy,” the archer said, quickly dispelling the spell Valerian’s words had casted. “I’m thinking you’re spending too much time with old burly baldy back there in the forge.”

Diana seemed to come alive just enough to scowl at her brother. “It was a nice analogy,” she said, directing her words to the paladin. “Apt too, considering.”

“Yes,” Cedric cut back in, smiling brighter now. “No, you’re right, Val. We will be better off for this, I’m telling you.”

He paused as Alex and the others nodded along. Subtly glancing at the points begging to be used in his status page, Alex couldn’t deny that. He had certainly come out better off.

“I do have to ask you all for something, though.” Cedric wet his upper lip. “That we don’t mention anything specific of what happened in the dungeon to the good people of Riverbend, eh? The CCC is already having problems with personnel shortage and lack of confidence, especially in small villages like this one. We chasers need to keep up appearances, you understand? The general public needs to believe in us—always.” The words of explanation spilled out of his like a campaign speech. “And besides we got the flower, no?” He fished into his pocket and held up the coveted pale flower for them to feast their eyes on. “Job done, that’s all the civs need to know.”

Alex felt his eyebrows climbing up his brow. That sounded like an incredibly circumvent way of saying he was embarrassed by what happened. Or that he’s got something to hide. Alex immediately shook his head. He’d been down that road before. The dude was a little glory-hungry, yes, but not a con man. He’d witnessed that first hand.

Besides, it really didn’t make much of a difference to him. Alex got the kill for the Sage Treant and he would get the level up from pruning the dungeon from his quest. Two levels! And a third from the Vineling Hill.

That type of fast grinding could buy all types of things from him, silence included.

“Fine with me,” he was the first one to speak up.

Cedric beamed at him.

Valerian nodded. “Operational security,” he said approvingly. “A good mentality to have.”

“It makes sense,” Diana said. “I can see how some details might cause undue panic with the villagers.”

Everyone turned to the last member of the crew, but Daven had already turned their back on them. “Yeah yeah, good talk ladies but can we get some food already?” he said, eyes fixed on the Bedstone’s double doors. “I could go for some fat bacon right about now.”

xxx

When Cedric walked up to the bar of the inn and presented the pale flower to Orson, he did it with such a flourish you’d think his contribution there at the end hadn’t just been plucking the damn thing out of the ground.

The common room wasn’t as full tonight, and the atmosphere felt much more relaxed than the previous day. Alex figured people wanted to get a good night’s sleep before the Festival. You don’t go to Oktoberfest already hungover.

Still, all the patrons had gathered around the bar and were hanging on to Cedric’s words like he was Shakespear come again.

Alex had half a mind to break his minute-long promise of keeping things quiet and just spill the beans on how the man had quite literally been tucked in and put to sleep like a baby by the Sage Treant. Then he remembered how Cedric’s contribution also included absolutely eviscerating more than half of the total monsters they encountered on the dungeon, and he simply kept his mouth shut as the crew leader went on and on about their exploits.

One person certainly wasn’t hanging on to anything, though. Behind the bar, Orson had his bulky arms crossed over his chest as he waited for the tale to come to an end after much ‘awing’ and ‘wowing’ by the patrons.

The innkeeper cleared his throat loudly enough to bring the room to a hush. “A great story, Cedric, but you are aware the village of Riverbend put in no such request for the pruning of its dungeon, right?” he said, raising his bushy eyebrows. “Surely you don’t expect payment for this… unsolicited service.”

Some folks raised a fuss at that, booing and hollering, but a look by Orson was enough to shut them down. Next to Alex, Diana and Daven watched the interchange with apprehension on their faces, while Valerian remained expressionless. For his part, Alex would certainly be glad for the money as a bonus, but the completion of the quest had been what he was really after.

Cedric waited for things to quiet down before he answered. “I expect no such thing, Master Orson,” he said. “Some deeds are so fulfilling on their own that they need no recompense. Knowing that I might have saved even a single life from the good people of Riverbend is payment enough for me.”

That did it. The small crowd erupted into cheers, banging their mugs on the tabletops and demanding the crew be compensated. Cedric took all the praise and the enthusiastic handshakes with a modest smile on his handsome face, and Alex’s eyes suddenly felt a need to roll up so far back they almost ended up looking at his own brain. The man had humblebragging down to a science.

“Alright, alright, settle down everyone,” Orson boomed out, both hands raised up in the air. He turned to face Cedric and the rest of them, then broke into a smile. “My Lanna had already told me where you all went earlier today, though she’d refused to say why. Here.” Reaching into a pocket, he pulled a small coin-purse out and tossed it to Cedric. “Half-pay, chasers, and count yourselves lucky for it.”

Ping!

Level up!

The quest’s reward had come!

xxx

More cheering followed, and Alex was slapped in the back more times than he could count as he and the rest of the crew were ushered to a table front and center in the common room. Alex wasn’t feeling quite in the socializing mood, as he wanted to meditate a bit on his new gains; but when Lanna came around and placed big bowls of pork stew in front of them, he was happy enough to stay for a bit longer.

“I heard the commotion from the kitchen,” Lanna said, smiling brightly at them. “You really did it, then? You pruned the dungeon? And no one’s hurt?”

“Ouch.” Cedric feigned hurt with a hand over his heart. “Did you truly doubt me?”

Lanna was quick to answer. “Not for a moment,” she said firmly, and that got a flirty smirk from the crew leader. For a second there, her eyes flickered toward Alex, as if daring him to challenge her assertion.

Smartly, he just scooped up another mouthful of the stew and smiled back at her, as innocent as a lamb. Just smile and nod, Alex, smile and nod. He didn’t want to touch that with a ten foot spear. As soon as he could put the whole ‘pretending to be a CCC (whatever that might be) agent’ episode behind him the better.

“Urgh.” Daven groaned at the flirting, rolling his eyes. “Can you not? People are eating here.” He pointed at the bowl with his spoon.

“You’re more than welcome to eat somewhere else if you want,” Cedric replied humorously.

“Under the bridge is nice this time of the year,” Lanna said with a sickly sweet voice.

“Or in the stables with the pigs.” Diana got in on the joke, and that got a laugh out of everyone, even Daven himself.

xxx

Soon, Lanna went off to do her rounds serving the other patrons, and the crew settled into a comfortable silence as they ate, even as conversation flowed all around them.

But like it or not, they were the superstars of the night. Occasionally a villager would stop by at their tables, introducing themselves like they would to a celebrity. Alex was surprised they didn’t ask for selfies.

The first to come was a small man with a sun-burned face who introduced himself as a Master Jerom, a thatcher by trade and father of five, who kissed them all in their cheeks and hailed them as friends of the village.

Then two young women—both pretty and dressed in long, flowing skirts, who made fluttering eyes at Cedric the whole time as they named themselves Amelle and Irma. An older man came next, the little hair he still had on his head as white as snow. He didn’t give a name, or spoke much at all, just gave Valerian a firm squeeze on the shoulders before he left the inn for the night.

On and on they came, some just to get a word in. Others hung around their table, watching them and talking among themselves about what it would be like to live the life of chasers. Alex didn’t mind much, not after Valerian stopped another middle-aged man from kissing them wetly in the cheeks. And he minded much less after Cedric started divvying up their reward after their latest fan encounter.

“Half-pay, Mayor Orson said.” The crew leader spilled the coins over the table. The small crowd around them cheered as the coins clinked against each other. “So there should be twenty five silver marks here. Five for each.” His eyes roamed the pile of coins before he nodded to himself.

Alex agreed with the sentiment. Future father-in-law or not, a man’s got to make sure. After Cedric and Valerian took their part, Alex picked his own five coins as well, counting them up in his head with the silver halo already on his person and the bits of copper inside his room’s dresser.

He frowned at the thought, and suddenly five marks didn’t seem much when he put it against his own life. And he had more than one close call in the dungeon. So did Diana and Daven. The Riverbend Dungeon at that, which was supposed to be one of the mildest ones. Even if they were paid in full, ten silver marks couldn’t pay for shit if you were six feet under.

Maybe there was a reason chasers were so celebrated here in a small village like this. It wasn’t easy being the one on the front lines day in and day out.