The Adventurer’s Guild was as lively as it always was, though Adam didn’t pay much attention to it. He dropped down onto his seat, opposite Jurot and his other companions, sighing.

Kitool and Jurot threw a look between one another, wondering if he was upset because of that thing.

“Okay?” Jurot asked.

“No, Jurot,” Adam said.

“Is it because of the tanner?” Kitool asked.

“No.”

Kitool was surprised to hear it, but then that must have meant that he was upset because of…

“Lanarot?” Jurot asked.

“No.”

Jurot was taken aback slightly. He was sure that Lanarot would have been the most likely reason.

“Cringe?” Vonda asked.

Adam avoided her gaze, but slowly nodded his head.

‘Ah,’ the pair of Iyrmen thought. ‘Of course.’

“Since we aren’t finding much luck here, maybe we head north and find something there?” Adam asked.

“A good idea,” Jurot stated.

“I am nothing if not a man full of cringe and good ideas.”

“You are not that cringe,” Vonda assured.

“I don’t want to hear that from you, Sir Vonda. You, the great Priest of Life, who has seen the darkness I exhibited today.” Adam’s voice was full of a deep gravitas.

The trio were sure that Adam wasn’t feeling too upset since he was joking about the matter. He must have just wanted to make a joke about it to get rid of any small feelings about the matter.

“Fate’s Golden,” Paul called, motioning with his head for the group to follow them.

Adam and his three companions followed the Vice Master up to a separate room, where snacks sat ready and eager to be eaten. Adam brought a long strip of fried dough to his lips as he stared up at the Vice Master, who sat down at the sofa opposite.

“I notice you haven’t been questing much,” Paul said.

“There are certain restrictions we need to abide by,” Adam said. “We’ll find something, I’m sure.”

Paul threw a look to Sir Vonda, and nodded. “We have received news of an Outbreak, and I was hoping that you’d be willing to participate.”

“An Outbreak?”

“The Beast Wave was harsh this year, and though we’ve dealt with most of it, there are still many beasts out there. That doesn’t necessarily mean there is an Outbreak, but we are hearing reports of a large horde of beasts approaching the roads, and the nearby settlements. We didn’t deal with enough of the beasts this year, so too many have spilled out. If we leave them be, well, by the end of noonval there will be quite a disaster which will befall us.”

Adam looked to Sir Vonda. “It sounds like we’ll be needed to kill a large number of beasts. I don’t think we can accept that, right?”

“This is a matter of protecting the people,” Sir Vonda said. “A Beast Wave may be a natural phenomena, but we must cull the excess beasts before they threaten life. There are also many materials which could be gathered which can assist in healing.”

“Sounds good,” Adam said, simply. “Looks like we can accept this task, but I’d like to know more about it.”

“There will be five parties participating, yours and four others. Yours will be second in command, as there will be a Steel Rank party leading, and three Iron Rank Parties who will assist you.”

Adam slowly nodded his head. Meaning there was a group at Level 7, a group at Level 5, and three groups at roughly Levels 2 or 3 or so.

“So…” Adam cleared his throat. “What’s the pay?”

“The pay for all of you will come to one thousand and five hundred gold, after the cost of equipment which will be handed over to you to deal with this matter. Additionally, the loot will be split at a rate of forty percent to the Steel Rank party, and thirty percent to your party, the remaining thirty percent will be split between the three Iron Rank parties.”

“Does the Guild get a cut?”

“We will take ten percent before it is shared between you all.”

“One thousand and five hundred gold…” Adam glanced between the four of them. “Damn. That’s a lot of money.”

“It will require your entire party, Adam,” Paul said. “Fate’s Golden.”

“Ah! So you mean all eleven of us?”

“Yes.”

“That makes a lot more sense.” Adam chuckled. “I’m sure the others will be happy, especially Lucy.”

Paul bowed his head. “You will be expected to leave around the middle of his month, the fourteenth at the earliest.”

“Alright, sounds good. What’s this about the equipment fees?”

“Due to the nature of this quest, there will be equipment which will be rented and sold to you at a discount. From pack animals, to carts, to extra arms.”

“What is the nature of this quest?” Adam asked.

“You will be teaming up with the other parties and will be sent out into the wild, where we expect the Outbreaks to occur. You will form a small outpost and will need to defend yourselves within it, while you thin whatever beasts try to assault you. We will not be able to send many supplies to you, so you will need to take everything with you.”

“Ah,” Adam said, nodding his head. “I now understand what you mean.”

“I will leave you with a pamphlet of what is to be expected, but it will not explain every small detail.”

“Sure. I’ll speak with the rest of the gang to talk about it. I’ll need to invite the porters too, so I’ll try and get the message back to you some time tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

“Ah,” Adam said. “The Steel Rank party, they’re not going to be annoying, are they?” Adam asked, twitching his ears.

“I do not believe so.”

“Alright, cool.”

Omen: 7, 9

“Mister Adam, always a pleasure to see you, ain’t that right, Remy?” Jeremy, whose real name was Jeremiah, said.

“Always, always,” Remy, whose real name was Jeremy, confirmed.

The pair were near identical, tall and strongly built, though like labourers rather than warriors. They wore thick trousers, but a much lighter shirt for noonval. At their sides were a set of javelins, and they carried a dagger at their belt, a staff on their back, and wore a helmet. A small shield dangled over their side, tied to their pack, but one which they could easily reach in case of battle.

“You’re both a sight for sore eyes,” Adam said, shaking their forearms. “Ready to make tons of gold?”

“Aye!”

Adam invited the pair, who were not actually twins, but cousins, to the meeting room where the rest of Fate’s Golden awaited.

“So, what do you guys think?” Adam asked after explaining the request.

“Lots of killing?” Lucy asked, sitting taller.

“Apparently so.”

‘I could find a mount for myself too…’ Lucy hummed quietly.

“You know I’m always up for a fight,” Dunes said, nodding his head. ‘I need to gain more strength.’

“I want to see how strong Stormdrake really is,” Jaygak added.

“Brittany, Nobby?” Adam called. “It’s going to be dangerous. Very dangerous.”

“You’re going to save us if something goes wrong, right?” Brittany asked.

“Obviously.”

Brittany slowly nodded her head, though the apprehension weighed heavy in her gut. ‘There are three Iyrmen who will be joining us too…’

“I will be stronger?” Nobby asked.

“Hopefully.”

“Okay.”

Adam wondered if Nobby was really an Iyrman in disguise. He looked to the others.

“I will follow your lead,” Jonn said.

“Uhuh,” Adam said, his voice full of doubt. “Fred?”

“Yeah,” Fred replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“Rather casual of you considering how dangerous it is.”

“I’ve nothing else to do, Adam.”

“Fair enough.”

Jeremy and Remy glanced between one another. This was a dangerous task, not one for porters like them. It wasn’t as though the group needed them to fight, but at the same time, their Nobby was going to be going with the group, and they couldn’t just let their nephew go out to danger without them.

“How much are you going to pay?” Jeremy asked.

“Good question. I think, in terms of pay, we have thirteen people. However, Nobby and Brittany are getting paid separately, so they won’t really count. So, we’ll split everything in ten parts. One for the nine of us, and a share for the porters.”

“We get a half share each?” Remy asked, surprised.

“Yes.”

“Gold and loot?”

“Yes.”

Jeremy whistled. “Sorry,” he said, flushing red. Remy threw him a look, but understood why his cousin had whistled.

A share of both gold and loot was quite a lot. That would mean roughly 150 gold, and even more from the loot, which could be multiple beast’s worth of hide, which could be sold for a pretty penny, or used by their families.

“It’s a good offer,” Jeremy said.

“We’ll need to speak with the missus,” Remy added. “We’ll be gone for at least a month.”

“Seems like it,” Adam said, looking down at the piece of paper.