From above, Talnier looked like a picture postcard of a fantasy town. From here, you could barely see the nasty spikes that covered every wall and roof. They just looked like decorations. You couldn’t smell the fish markets or the semi-open sewers that ran through the main streets. And you definitely couldn’t make out the less savoury parts of the town. Criminals liked to work in narrow streets, covered from the light of the sun by high buildings and jutting eaves.

That was how you could tell the difference between a banker and a criminal— a banker needs good lighting.

Talnier looked much the same as it had when I left. I asked the rider to circle the town so I could get a good look. There was some new construction going on— both in the town centre and outside the walls. The town centre would hold the new administration building while the market outside was going to be a more commercial district. It looked like it was going to be behind a wall, but the small wooden structure barely compared to the high stone walls of the main town.

At least it isn’t on fire, I told myself. I’m sure everything will be fine when I get down there.

I was travelling alone, and by griffin, for a number of reasons. Number one, of course, was that I couldn’t get out of Dorsay fast enough. The other reason was to serve as a lightning rod for the remaining discontent that the noble faction felt about me.

I say remaining, but while they had lost one of their main standard-bearers, the actual amount of resentment hadn’t subsided in any way. The new Duke, one of Finley’s other sons, wasn’t going to be confirmed quickly, but I’m sure he would inherit a certain amount of suspicion of my role in his father’s death. Since he couldn’t go after the King or the other Champions, at least openly, he might well decide to come after me.

As for the other faction of nobles that wanted me, if not dead, then firmly put in my place, I’d been warned about them already by Aubey, just before I left.

“It seems I’m not dead after all,” he had said, wincing at the pain. The King’s healers had been wittering about, claiming that there was nothing they could do at the moment. Whether that was true, or if they were just sandbagging so that the King’s story held up, I didn’t know. It was also possible that the King had ordered them to not save the arm— as part of some cost that Aubey had to bear as the price of the King saving his life.

“I didn’t predict it, and if I had, I’m not sure I would have recommended it,” I had told him.

“Better injured than dead, and I got my confirmation.”

“You know, they’re already spreading rumours about why he did it? Lady Rankin was saying that he was so taken with your bravery fighting the spawned monsters that he couldn’t bear to see you perish.”

“It’s as good an explanation as any,” Aubey had mused. “I still don’t know why he intervened. If that’s true, then I owe you for suggesting it.”

His eyes had darkened as he considered what to say next. “This isn’t over though. Finley’s heir, and my lord Duke, they both want Talnier.”

“They can’t have it, not legally.”

He had shrugged, instantly regretting it as the metal dug in deeper. “They’ll find a way. And when they do… at least when my lord does… I’ll be the head of his spear.”

“You’re going to lead an armed force against me?” I was less shocked that they were willing to countenance such flagrant law-breaking than I was at the fact that Aubey was willing to admit it.

“I’m your closest neighbour… and I owe my loyalty to Duke Victor. If he gives me an illegal order I can report it to the King but there will be some pretext to give them cover.”

“I see. Thanks for the warning.”

“Sorry.”

I left him there, then, in the good hands of the healers. Well, the hands at least. I guess I’d see how good they were the next time we met.

So there was resentment, but I thought that it would take some time to crystallise yet. Travelling alone meant that I could get back to my power base more quickly before something manifested. And it meant that everyone else could get back unmolested by any “bandits”.

Say what you like about nobles, but they did have a refreshing tendency to focus on their principal enemy. Janie and her caravan weren’t a threat to the nobles, so if I wasn’t with them, they should be ignored. While they didn’t care about collateral damage, the notion of going after an enemy’s dependants deliberately was too dishonourable to be even considered by most nobles.

Janie’s caravan was going to take much longer to get here. Three carts worth of kids and supplies didn’t move very fast. I hadn’t wanted to bring the kids with me, but I hadn’t had much of a choice. Most of them had realised that they didn’t have much future in Dorsay and had clamoured to come with me. They were mostly at level three now, so they could take care of themselves to an extent.

Not all of them wanted to be adventurers, to my relief. Some did, but others were saving skill points for crafting skills. I’d promised to see if I could find them apprenticeships in Talnier. Others were interested in [Scribe], and the jobs that could come from that.

To my surprise, Issey had also asked if I had a place for her. I’d thought that she was married to her dream of dancing… and she was but she’d accepted that there wasn’t a living in it. She’d developed an interest in teaching, which I was happy to encourage, and I promised to teach her the skill when I got a chance. I’d also promised to find her a space, either in the Tower or someplace in town, where she could both practice and perform. There might not be a living to be made dancing in Dorsay, but everything was much cheaper in Talnier, and there wasn’t much entertainment beyond drinking.

Between a couple of runs through the dungeon with Janie and the Spawn night, Issey had managed to make Level Four. Once I set up the new Tower of Learning, she’d be one of my key personnel.

That meant we had to do something about the Gilded Lily. Issey didn’t want to sell or abandon it. Rhis had withdrawn carefully from it, leaving the parts he had occupied in better shape than he had found it. The addition of a cupola hadn’t done any harm. He hadn’t occupied all of it though, and the place was in disrepair. If we stopped occupying it, some low-life would be squatting in minutes.

Fortunately, Guildmaster Voight had owed me a few favours and was willing to rent it as accommodation for guild members. It would need renovations of course, but the building had required repairs already, and they could keep the basic structure. The main ballroom was a little big for a bar, but Voight had assured me that wasn’t a critical problem. Nor was its proximity to the various whorehouses in the area.

Given the absurd price differentials between Dorsay and Talnier, Issey should be able to live quite comfortably on the rent payments, even if she didn’t get a job. As long as the payments came through. Someone running between towns with a bag of gold was no substitute for electronic funds transfer. It might take approximately forever before I was able to set that up though.

Another loose end, the Digger brothers, would not be joining us. While it would be nice to tell a story about how they’d seen the light of gainful employment and left their life of debauchery and petty crime behind, they hadn’t noticeably changed. I avoided the discussion entirely by paying their tab at the Rose and enabling them to be customers once again. The mistress there wasn’t going to extend them credit again but, thanks to me, they had a little money. They were just philosophically opposed to paying their debts.

Access to the Rose got them out of our hair for long enough to pack everything up. Well, for Rhis to pack everything up. Quite a lot of the dungeon was Phantasmal, of course, and could be dismissed at will. There were some actual items and monsters that had to be packed away or slain.

Rhis claimed, with no actual evidence that I could see, that withdrawing from a volume that it had taken was something that no dungeon had ever done before. He dropped all his objections though, once I reminded him that this was just a practice dungeon, and we’d have a chance to construct a new, better, Tower.

Despite never having done it before, Rhis took care of the task with his customary perfectionism, emptying the spaces before undoing the spatial expansion and carefully withdrawing his influence from the parts of the structure that he’d occupied. Then he voluntarily dissolved the mana construct, leaving his core lying on the floor. Not for long of course, as I quickly secured it. It was going to be tough to find a place close to Talnier without disrupting the two dungeons already there, but at least I could operate in the open now.

The griffin dropped at the rider's command, heading for the central yard in the Griffin Rider’s Academy. We landed with a rush of air as the griffin flared its wings as we neared the ground.

Cloridan was there, waiting for me. I’d sent word ahead of when I was coming. Since I wanted my opponents to know I’d left, I hadn’t cared who might intercept the message.

“So it all went well, then?” he asked doubtfully, as I watched myself get unstrapped from my harness. “I kind of expected you to arrive covered in blood, or ash.”

I gave him a glare to hide how glad I was to see him. “I had a bath— several in fact.”

He sniggered. “Your suitors will be glad to hear it, I’m sure. They’re already lined up— I told them you were going to rest for today and you’d see them tomorrow.”

“Suitors? Plural?” I asked. “I would have thought Tom would have legged it out of town by now, and Hector… Hector must know that I firmly rejected Finley’s offer.”

“Hope springs eternal,” Cloridan said loftily. “I dunno why they’re still here, but they are. I don’t imagine you coming back as an even more ridiculously good-looking version of yourself is going to dissuade them.”

“My [Charisma] hasn’t changed,” I objected. Cloridan just gave me a look. “But I might have gained a level,” I admitted.

“I’m sure there’s a story behind that,” he said.

“So you got me one day to rest,” I returned, ignoring the question.

“Ah, well, about that,” he said awkwardly. “There’s a tiny bit of a crisis.”