"This is how it's going to work. Only the guild has the equipment to mill a Mammoth Tree so we're going to give a dividend to every member once we break it down and sell it." Jezabel explains as she stands next to the behemoth fauna. Even laying on it's side the tree still stands five or six stories tall. Near the base I can see the path carved out by its fall and a host of dimly glowing fungus still clinging to the trunk.
"Whoohoo!" A cheer rises and the crowd rushes up to start hacking away at the bark.
"No, you idiots. You need to use special equipment. Mammoth trees have tiny strands of mythril in them, you're only going to chip your weapons. Now, I need you all to form a line and you'll be handed logs to return to the guild as Miguel mill the damn thing."
I walk away from the group and inspect the treeline while a loud buzzing noise starts up behind me.
"Nick, where are you going?" Sakura asks as she and Josh jog over to me.
"I'm going to look around the treeline, they don't need our help."
"But what about the dividend?"
"She said it's going to every member of the guild, right? That means we'll get paid even if we don't participate."
"Oh."
"So while they're busy, why don't you show Josh and I what kind of things to look for in the forest?"
"Okay!" We step into the woods only so far as the light still reaches us from the plains. She points to a number of flowers including the Chetustrus Blossom which has large triangular white petals that overlap each other in rows extending from a large red pistil its center. We didn't bring bags so the plants are just roughly shoved into our pockets.
"Wow!" Sakura gasps. Josh and I both hustle over to she what she's looking at. "It's Fairy Tears!"
An inorganic looking black flower with blue tear drops running down the petals hides among the dense undergrowth. We slowly spread out as we look for anymore valuable plants that have remained unperturbed for several weeks due to the storm and its aftermath. I imagine most of the valuable plants will be gone shortly after the adventurer's scavenging resumes. I step deeper into the woods to the point whee I can just barely see the outside light when I notice a small green glow. Looking closely, I see a familiar pair of tiny wings and a familiar tiny face under a familiar head of tiny blond hair.
"Woohee?"
She ducks behind a rock but her wings are still sticking out over the top.
"Well, I guess Woohee is gone so I should head back to town now." I say loudly with an unconvincing tone.
"Wait!" She pops up from the rock but hides again when I turn toward her. I crouch down and smile at her but don't approach.
"Wait? Wait for what?"
"Woohee, um, thanks." She says with only her eyes visible.
"Of course. Well, it was nice seeing you again." I know there's at least some tension between the humans and the fairies so I'm hesitant to engage with her too much.
"Wait!" This time she flies all the way out from behind the rock and points to her right.
"Go that way?"
She nods.
I take a few steps that direction and see a blue flower with a metallic line running down it's petals.
"Oh, a Hephaestus flower." It's the same one Tyrion took from me during the expedition that Jezabel led. I remember Sakura being really excited about it. I pull out the cookie Carroll gave me earlier and hand a piece to the tiny fairy. "Thanks, try this."
I take a bite of what's left to show that it's not poisonous. Woohee backs off as I extend my hand so I just place the treat on a nearby rock. While carefully plucking the blue flower from the ground, I hear a small shout from behind me.
"So good!" The fairy cries as she flies around with the cookie.
"You like that?" I chuckle.
"It's the best thing Woohee's ever had!"
"Really now. Well, you enjoy that and thanks for the hook up." I wave goodbye to Woohee, who is still whizzing around with the cookie in hand, and make a mental note to always bring a cookie with me to the woods.
I meet back up with the kids once I'm back outside and show them the flower. Sakura grabs it in her excitement and explains that they only grow near the top of Mammoth Trees which is why they're so rare. We fill our pockets with things Sakura points out and head back to the crowd.
Jezabel doesn't seem concerned about our disappearance and only directs us to grab some Mammoth wood before heading back to town. We drop the wood off and then go to the counter to sell our plants. The Hephaestus flower alone goes for over one hundred Denarii. We make two more trips to the woods before the sun begins to set and finish the day with two hundred thirty Denarii each after it's all divvied up. An amount that makes Vincent cheer when Nick drops it on the kitchen table. The proud look on his mother's face almost makes me tear up. Despite all the suffering we went through, everything does seem to be going back to normal. Never let a good crisis go to waste I guess. I feel guilty while profiting from a disaster that killed so many but what else is to be done?
By the next day, most people had figured out that they only needed to take some wood back with them when they were done scavenging so the treeline was quickly stripped clean of anything valuable. We could comfortably spend time by the forest if we wanted to, due to the increased supervision, but it felt like a waste of time. I didn't want to ask Jezabel to continue our training but I was starting to get restless from our my lack of progress. Inevitably, we end up back at the courtyard. I try my best to avoid looking at the few blood stains still left in the dirt.
The door to the guild opens and Jezabel walks out. My heart races as she walks towards me.
"I thought you said you would get back to me about investigating the Nobles movements; did that fall through?"
"Oh, right!" I smack my forehead. "I talked to Tyrion and he agreed."
"Agreed to what?" She as her eyes narrow.
"We're going to share information. I just need you to leak some of your plans and activities to me and he'll do the same with his father."
"I don't remember discussing this with you."
"I mean, you didn't. This is my offer. I know you don't plan on making enemies with the Nobles so there isn't much to be lost by sharing information."
"And Baron Reynolds is aware of this arrangement?"
"Of course."
Jezabel wheels around and marches right back into the guild. I shrug and get back to running. Sakura and Josh don't bother asking me what I was discussing. A few minutes later, Jezabel comes back out and hands me a piece of paper.
"If Reynolds pulls any moves then this arrangement is over."
"I'm sure he feels the same way." I smile and head into the guild to find my mark. Sure enough, Tyrion is hanging out by the entrance looking impatient.
"Took you long enough. My father probably thinks I'm an idiot for even talking about your dumb plan." He says as we trade documents.
"Sorry. Unlike you, I was busy."
"Ha, Nobles have more important things to do than concern themselves with the problems of peasants."
"Whatever, loser."
"Idiot."
I chuckle and walk into the back room where Jezabel is standing by the stairs.
"What does it say?" She asks as she snatches the paper from my hands.
"How should I know? You told me to stay out of this, remember?"
"Hmmph, I'm surprised you listened. Nobles never know how to mind their business."
"Thanks." I lean back against the nearby wall and wait for her to finish reading the document. When she's done, Jezabel shoves the paper into her pocket and walks up the stairs.
"I guess we're done."
I meet back up with the kids outside and start running laps with just the weighted vest. Jezabel's approach obviously worked but I'm not enough of a masochist to replicate it on my own.
"Change of plans." Jezabel declares as she reappears outside. "First, I'd like you all to wear there weights."
She raises a number of different sized metal rings in the air. We all stop what we're doing and take the objects she hands to us. They're heavy.
"Attach one to each wrist, each ankle, and your waist."
We do as we're told.
"Now, don't take those off for any reason."
"How long do we need to wear them?" I ask.
"A few months at least. Maybe a year."
"What?"
"Shut up. I'm not happy about this either. Next, you each need to choose a weapon and begin gaining skills."
She brings out a bucket with wooden weapons for us.
"Sword." Josh says when he sees the bucket. He reaches in and grabs a wooden sword about half as tall as himself.
"Since he's taking a sword, the rest of you should choose weapons that compliment him if you plan on working in a team."
"Like what?" Sakura asks.
"A bow or a shield would probably be best." Jezabel explains.
"I'll take a bow!" Sakura says,
"Then I guess I'll take a shield and spear." I say. An image of Greek hoplites crosses my mind and I puff my chest out as I take the wooden equipment.
"Good. In order to gain a weapon skill with the commoner class, you need to preform the requisite action at least one hundred thousand times."
"One hundred thousand times?"
"If you practice for an hour a day then you'll be done in a month, so quit whining."
"What about changing class?"
"You'd need to pay one million Denarii." Jezabel says, flatly.
"One million Denarii? Why do we need to pay money? And why so much?"
"Unless you have that much money lying around then I suggest you doing as I say."
"Damn, alright."
"Josh, just swing the sword down as hard as possible." Jezabel says.
"Okay."
"Sakura, you just need to shoot arrows but make sure you aim properly before releasing or it won't count."
"Got it." She says with a thumbs up.
"Nick, you should start with thrusts. Make sure to put your hips into it and fully extend your arm."
"Alright."
Jezabel watches us practice for a few minutes until she's satisfied.
"Good. Keep that up for an hour and then we'll move on to training."
I swallow back a shout at this news and both the kids pale.
"You're going to alternate between training and field exercises for the foreseeable future. I'd like you to collect a certain fungus while you're out."
She pulls out a small book from her robe and shows us an illusory image of the fungus. It looks like a normal mushroom other than the fact that it's glowing neon green.
"Dilata potions?" Sakura interjects.
"That's right. I'd like your father's assistance in making them."
"I can ask but no one really uses them. Papa doesn't even keep those Viridian Mushrooms in stock anymore."
"I'm sorry, can someone fill me in here?" I ask in a low voice.
"They make you gain stats faster but it's only for one stat and it isn't by much." Sakura explains.
"Up to twenty five percent, but it's better than nothing."
"Why are you in such a rush?" I ask as I turn to the Guild Master. She sighs and rubs her temples with her hand.
"I don't have many assets I can use and I'm forced to rely on you children."
"Damn, that's sad." Jezabel glares at me and I back up slightly. "Sorry, continue."
"A war with the Fairies is brewing and I need to do what I can to protect all the people in this town, not just the guild members. Ironhead, who you know, are retiring soon and increasingly reluctant to help after Yuki lost an arm fighting the Brontobeasts."
"Oh, that's terrible."
"They were the only team I could rely on."
"There has to be stronger teams than us." I say as I gesture to the kids standing behind me. "I mean, we aren't here to go risking our lives or anything; we just joined to get stronger and make a little money."
"There are certainly stronger teams, but I don't trust them."
"But you trust us?" I smirk at the taciturn Guild Master, fully expecting her to hit me for it.
"Yes," she surprisingly answers honestly. "You remind me a lot of myself when I was your age, except weaker, and more pathetic, and dumber."
Perhaps a little too honestly.
"Aw, you really know how to butter me up." I reply sarcastically.
"I should only need you to run reconnaissance and I'm willing to offer what little resources we have here to help you prepare. If I had any better options I wouldn't be talking to you."
"How long do we have?"
"I'm guessing about six months based on the information you gave me earlier."
"What do you say?" I ask as I turn to my team.
"Yeah! Let's do it!" Sakura shouts. She's surprisingly motivated for this.
"Okay." And so is Josh.
"Alright, you got yourself a deal." I throw my hand up for a handshake but Jezabel slaps my hand aside.
"Then get the weight vests on, we need to hurry." She snarls.
I'm immediately regretting my decision.