'SMACK'
"I'm up!" I shout as I sit up and grab my face. I find myself in an unfamiliar room lying on a padded table.
"I told you he was fine." The Guild Master's caustic voice is the first I hear. Ashley, Travis and an unknown person are all in the room as well.
"You gave us a scare, boy!" Travis says with a laugh.
"My bad."
"A few people go missing and you try to run yourself to death? You're pathetic." Jezabel adds.
"..."
"Well?"
"What? Do you want me to disagree with you?"
"Next time be less of a bitch and hold yourself together."
"I'll try but I can't make any promises."
Jezabel snorts and walks out of the room.
"Let me do a final check on you and you'll be free to go." The unknown man says. He seems to notice my hesitance as he stops to introduce himself before continuing. "I'm Miguel and I work here as a healer sometimes."
"Sometimes?" I ask.
"He also joins other teams as a temporary healer." Travis says.
"I do other things too." Miguel complains. He shines a light from his staff up and down my body before proclaiming my good health.
"Thanks!"
"It's really no problem at all, that'll just be one hundred Denarii."
"Um, I don't have that kind of money, or any money really."
"That's fine, we'll throw it on your tab. Be careful though, the interest is a killer."
"I don't even want to ask." I looked up at Ashley and smile when I see her eye is back to normal. She can't quite return the expression although she tries.
"Thanks, I'm fine now. I'm going to go home."
"Okay." Ashley responds. "By the way, the temp work resumes tomorrow."
"Thanks. I'll be here."
I trudge home through the muddy streets. The sun may be shining but a cloud is still hanging over me. I feel this is a prelude to much more trouble in the future.
Carroll gives Nick the royal treatment when he walks through the door looking wet and pathetic. He's not alone, which means I'm not either. His mother's warm embrace reaches all the way to the bottom of the mind-sea where I wallow. It's nice to have a mother again, even at this distance. We both fall right to sleep after Carroll cooks us a big bowl of Suqaar, which is like a stir fry, that she bought with the money we raised.
I feel better by the next morning. Carroll love bombs Nick during breakfast and we're both feeling great by the time we walk out the door. I smile at Josh and Sakura when I see them at the market square. They look concerned but I tell them I'm fine and walk into the guild.
"Nick, the Guild Master would like to speak with you." Catherine says when she sees me.
"Do I have to?"
"Yes."
"Right now?"
"Yes!"
"Okay, okay. Why don't you two find out what the temp work is today, I'll be right back." The kids nod and walk off while I follow Catherine upstairs. On the top floor sits a pair of double doors that reach all the way to the ceiling. It really feels like I'm about to enter the boss room or the demon lord's chamber.
"She's inside." Catherine says indifferently and leaves me standing alone before the door.
"Come in." Jezabel says through the door as I raise my hand to knock. I push the doors open and walk into the cavernous office.
Shelves cover the walls. they're filled with stacks of loose paper and old books. At the center of the room sits a heavy wooden desk centered on a lavish French window overlooking the town. An oversized-armchair is set facing away from me.
"Is she really doing the super villain entrance right now?
Sure enough, the seat spins slowly to reveal the Guild Master who is even petting a cat in her lap. On second glance, the cat isn't a cat at all. It's a woman with cat ears and a cat tail.
I sharply suck my lips in to keep from laughing.
"Nick, I'm glad you came."
I nod.
"You were in pretty bad shape when we found you yesterday, have you had any trouble since receiving treatment?" She says while calmly petting the woman on her lap. On the other hand I'm about to have a stroke from holding in my laughter.
I shake my head.
"Are you sure? You seem quiet."
I nod. I'm sure my face must be bright red.
"Very well. I brought you in here today to discuss something I'd like you to do for me." Jezabel continues to pet the woman on her lap who languidly stretches out until she falls backwards onto the ground.
"Mroew!"
'Hack, Cough, cough, cough!'
"Are you sure you're alright? Natalie, get him some water."
"Aye, aye, Capitán!" Natalie hops up with a salute and darts out of the room.
"Who the hell is that?" I ask, pointing behind me.
"That's Natalie." Jezabel says with a faint grin.
"Right, of course, Natalie." I reply sarcastically. Unaware or unwilling to play along with my sarcasm, Jezabel continues.
"We have reason to believe that Duke Karanle is planning to invade the Argon Forest with the help of some of the nobles in town, primarily Baron Reynolds. I'd like your help in getting information about their plans."
"Wait, why would they want to do that?" Thinking back to my time in the forest, it sounds as crazy as invading the backrooms.
"The Argon Forest is full of valuable resources that Duke Ishawaak wants to expand his influence in his clan. As he relies too heavily on imports, given the infertile land in the Northwestern corner of the nation, he needs some economic factor to gain leverage in his negotiations with the head of the clan in Mogadishu as well as the nearby Nobles in Argentterrir who have already managed to gain a foothold in the region by having Vlad Richter instated as the acting count of the region. There, does that help?"
"No, not really." I sigh.
"Exactly. You only need to gather information. Delving further into the politics of the region can only get you in trouble."
"So, what am I supposed to do?"
"I was hoping you'd have some insight on that. Do you have any friends who are Nobles?"
"No."
"No."
"Are there any parties or social events you attend?"
"No."
"No."
"How about anyone you see regularly at the library?"
"I see Baron Armstrong at the library sometimes! I could ask him!"
"I'd rather keep this away from my family as we rely on the library to survive and any further drop in funding from suspected espionage could be disastrous."
"Understandable. Though you really are just a lonely bookworm aren't you?" Jezabel says with a smirk.
"I prefer the term recluse, thank you."
"This isn't essential information so there's no reason for you to take a risk. It would just be helpful to understand what's going on, if only to insure we stay out of the way."
"Hmm, I think I might have an idea then. Can I have a piece of paper and a pen?"I say, to which Jezabel raises an eyebrow.
"Here." She says as she moves her quill pen and parchment towards me. I quickly write down a few sentences.
"Alright, I'll get back to you if I can get the ball rolling in that direction." I say as I walk out of the room. I'm not quite sure why I've been entrusted with any task but I'm glad I seem to be trusted.
I run into Natalie as I walk down the stairs.
"Water for the road?"
"Sure, thanks!" I quickly chug the glass of water and place the cup back on her tray.
"Bye, bye!" she waves me off as I go. I walk into the hall and immediately spot my target. He's standing by himself which will make this a little obvious but I'm not concerned. I stride up and shoulder check him while sliding the paper in his pocket.
"What the hell?" Tyrion shouts.
"My bad." I smile. "I guess I didn't see you there."
"What are you, blind?"
"That's what they call me." He frowns at my bizarre response and I retreat to the other side of the room where the kids are waiting.
"Any news about the temp work?" I ask.
"The guild is gearing up for the storm so they want us to start gathering stones at the market square so they can be used to reinforce buildings."
"Yeah, what's this storm everyone is always talking about?"
Both kids turn and look at me like I just asked if the sky was blue.
'There's a giant storm that comes around every year.'
"Oh, that storm. Of course. I don't know what I was thinking. Are we pulling rocks out of the river again?"
"Yeah... Someone should be at the south gate to guide us just like last time." Sakura says skeptically. I do my best to ignore her and carry on as if nothing happened. Nick kindly fills me in on the storm as we make our way south.
'Ever since the Great Sage moved all the land on the planet together to make the super continent, a giant storm formed and hasn't stopped for thousands of years. One of the books I read said that it's due to all the water that the storm travels across as Giaus is eighty percent ocean. The storm lasts for about a week and there's always a long period of clean up afterward to fix the damage.'
I shake my head at Nick's words. From what I recall, something similar happened when Pangea existed, although I don't know the details.
I throw the thoughts of the storm from my mind and walk up to the man at the gate.
"Hi!" I say as I hand him the slip. The man frowns as he looks over the group of energetic children before him.
"These stones are going to be used for repairs after the storm rolls through. They will be made square and need to stay intact for them to be useful. Make sure you don't drop them."
"Got it!" I say as I throw him a thumbs up, but that only seems to deepen his expression.
We walk past the grumpy guild manager and find a group of people at the river's edge. One person appears to be raising stone from within the ground while two other people shape them into bricks. They look to be roughly the same size as the ones we brought to the North Gate but hopefully they're at least easier to carry now.
"How many do you want?" A man, who I assume is the supervisor because he isn't doing anything, asks as we approach.
"Just one I suppose."
The man nods at the nearby pile of rocks and we each take one. They are definitely easier to carry. This may also explain why more people are taking this job than the last one.
I easily make way past the gate when someone suddenly slams into me.
"Hey! What the hell?"
"I'll watch where you're going." Tyrion sneers as he walks away.
"I suppose I deserved that, he even said some nonsense just like I did earlier." I stick my hand in my pocket and find the piece of paper I expected. We might just have an agreement.
I smile to myself until I look down and see the two halves of the stone at my feet.
"Grumpy is not going to like this."