The night of his talk with the smith, Hans found himself looking over to his couch, expecting Olza to be there. She was almost always there. But not tonight.

  The next morning, she entered the guild hall with the manual wrapped in burlap. She set it on Hans’ desk.

  “Wanted to make sure this got back to you. My notes are in here as well if you want them.”

  “Thanks…” Hans couldn’t help but notice Olza’s obvious discomfort. She avoided eye contact, spoke softly, and seemed shrunken into herself.

  The alchemist turned to leave.

  “Wait!” Hans said. “Is that it? Are you okay? Are we okay?”

  Olza shrugged weakly. In the dim light of the guild hall, Hans saw the glint of tears pooling in her eyes.

  “Talk to me, please,” he pleaded.

  She walked back to his desk, but Hans noticed she chose not to sit. “It’s my fault,” she began. “I should know not to fall for adventurers, but I let myself enjoy my ignorance too much. Again.”

  “This is because of the orc thing?”

  “It’s bigger than that. The way I thought of you… I built you up in my mind as a certain kind of person. A good person.”

  “You think I’m not a good person?”

  “No, no, I don’t mean that. I mean that I think that with all Gomi went through, I idealized you too much, built you up to be some sort of virtuous knight. Now, I can’t get the image of you torturing that orc out of my head. It’s all I see when I think about you.”

  The Guild Master deflated. Another one of those moments had snuck up on him, the kind where a singular second abruptly branched into a different future. Olza felt one way about Hans, then she heard him talk about the orc. Now that she was on the other side of that moment, she couldn’t go back.

  He couldn’t go back.

  “Olza…” he attempted to begin.

  “I’m fine, really. And don’t worry, I won’t abandon any of the dungeon work. I just can’t… I just need… Give me time to process this.” Without another word, Olza walked briskly out of the guild hall.

  Hans sat, unmoving, in the empty guild hall for a long time.

  Olza’s opinion of him mattered. He had no desire to hurt her. He found solace in their time together. He liked what they had.

  What they used to have.

  Hans woke, seeing a Gomi sky filled with gray clouds. His head hurt when he sat up. Looking around, he found himself outside the Gomi walls with a burned-out fire in front of him and an empty bottle beside him. He must have fallen asleep in the grass sometime during the night.

  The familiar sound of merchant wagons settling in for a day of trading floated over from the other side of town. It was that time again already.

  All he wanted to do was crawl to his bed and continue sleeping, but he had business to mind. He changed his clothes, did his best to straighten his hair and his beard, and sought out his merchant of choice.

  “Got good news and bad news,” the merchant began as he handed a sealed letter to Hans. “Oh I don’t mean the letter. I don’t read your mail, Mr. Hans. What I mean is I found you a lockpicking box, but it was twice as expensive as the limit we discussed. The item was rare enough that I assumed you’d want me to buy it anyway.”

  “That’s… nice of you?” The Guild had the money to spare, but doubling the price they agreed on without notice bothered him.

  “Don’t ask me how it works. Fella I bought it from said it came with a book, but he lost it a long ways back. Hope that’s okay.”

  Hans said it was fine. It wasn’t like they had a Rogue around to use it right away.

  The box itself was the size of a typical treasure chest. If it were a mimic, a full person could fall headfirst into the box and mostly fit. Not all of them, of course, but enough for the mimic to start chewing to condense the rest.

  Instead of a singular lock and latch, Hans counted fourteen different locking mechanisms at various places around the exterior. The device reminded him of a puzzle box he had seen a merchant peddling once. That box was no bigger than a helmet, but it had dozens of hidden nobs and switches and compartments that had to be used in sequence to complete the puzzle. The item the merchant procured him was like that, but scaled up.

  Supposedly, the inside of the box had toggles for difficulty and trap variations, but the chest was locked. Without the manual, they would have to get inside the Rogue way.

  Quest Complete: Await the delivery of lockpick training tools.

  The merchant also had a new footlocker full of books, including several Haynu novels. He offered to have his men carry it to the guild hall. Hans agreed, saying they could leave it at the door for now.

  “I talked to that printer like you wanted,” the merchant said, sifting through a stack of papers, all of varying sizes. He handed Hans a bill of sale. “Printing fifty of them like you asked. I’ll bring one along on my next trip. What should I do with the rest when they’re ready?”

  “I’ll bring a list of addresses by as well as money for mailing them. I promise to get it to you before you leave tomorrow.” Hans put in an order for new socks for the winter and asked if the merchant could procure a safe for him.

  “You make me earn my money, Mr. Hans,” the merchant said with a chuckle. “Any safe worth having is a bear of an item to move. You shouldn’t bother with anything someone can pick up and carry away, I agree, but my next delivery is already larger than I can handle.”

  Hans asked him if he meant his orders.

  “No sir, you are nothing but a great business partner. The Guild hired my company to distribute some fancy statues to every town in the region. I don’t know why, but the one for Gomi has special priority.”

  Hans thought of Devon’s letter. This statue was probably the ward he referenced.

  “I’ll pay, but I understand if you can’t do it for the next run. I’d love to have it that soon, but as long as I get it before the pass is blocked, I’ll be happy.”

  “Aye, aye. Hard to believe autumn is nearly upon us. I’ll do my best for you, Mr. Hans.”

  Quest Update: Await the arrival of a safe for the Gomi chapter.

  Their business concluded, Hans scanned for any sign of Olza. She usually had orders to complete and deliveries to accept, but he didn’t see her among the merchants.

  The adventurer instinct bubbled within him, the one that told him to pack up and go, disappear into the wilderness and leave bothersome memories behind.

  Hans dragged the footlocker into the guild hall and sat on one of the benches to read his letter. The seal indicated it was Guild mail.

  The letter read:

  Guild Master Hans,

  One of your people visited us last year to deliver your letter about an orc and a “squonk” sighting. Because of that, when they announced adventurers from Gomi participating in the Osare tournament, I paid extra attention.

  In terms of their swordsmanship, your Apprentices would likely best many Bronzes, and I know they weren’t sandbagging because you only just arrived in Gomi, all things considered.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I’m sending two of my adventurers, one Silver, and one Bronze, to train with you for two weeks. They will have your fee on their person when they arrive. I’ve asked them to learn as much as they can from you and to observe your methodologies as well.

  I’m looking forward to learning from the lessons they bring back to Kohei.

  -Bertram

  Guild Master

  Kohei Chapter

  Kohei was the town where Luther found a children’s book describing squonks.

  On the one hand, the letter was quite complimentary. Anyone saying good things about his students was complimenting him as well. That recognition felt good.

  On the other hand, two adventurers were coming to Gomi and would stay for some time.

  He felt his head throb harder.

  Hans had hoped the Osare tournament was small enough that a few standout Apprentices wouldn’t garner all that much attention, but in participating, Kane and Quentin became walking advertisements for the Gomi chapter. Izz and Thuz cornering the Apprentices didn’t help to keep Gomi incognito either.

  The kids’ class would start soon. He decided to think on the letter before alerting Galad and Charlie that they should expect visitors.

  “I suppose every plan has its hitch,” Charlie said, reading the letter. Hans enjoyed a custard donut, the bread still warm from the oven. “You got a fix for this?”

  The Guild Master shrugged. “Train them, send them on their way.”

  “Would they leave after a few awful lessons you think?”

  “I can’t do that,” Hans said, shaking his head. “I can’t have someone dying because they trusted in some bullshit I fed them.”

  “Ah, yes, yes, yes. That is true.”

  “Only thing we can do now is let the town know we’ll have visitors.”

  Charlie agreed. “A test would come eventually. That was always inevitable.”

  New Quest: Manage the Kohei adventurers while they are in Gomi.

  Hans longed to sleep, but if Olza was no longer studying the Takarabune manual, he believed he should resume the task himself. He didn’t want to, but he still wasn’t certain why Gret stole the manual in the first place. With the dungeon producing valorite, they could begin assembling the pieces for the device.

  They had several more materials to acquire yet, but if Hans was going to ask the smith to make something to his specifications, he wanted to fully understand what he was asking for.

  Seeing the handwriting of Olza’s notes wrenched his heart.

  She summarized her findings into a list of high points:

  -When quest locations were in neighboring kingdoms, the Guild completed them in secret, alerting neither their own King nor their neighbors.

  -Found three other Paladin records, but they were all Paladins before their Diamond quests.

  -Found no records of what happens to Diamond treasures once they’re handed over to the Guild.

  -We’re on to something with color specificity. I think with Galinda’s help you could ask her to recreate the color wheel. If it were me, I’d hang it on a chalkboard and try to assign every quest as specifically as we can. I’m betting something useful comes out of that.

  He knew better, but he couldn’t help himself. He flipped to his era of Diamond quests and found his entry.

  Hans the Adventurer – 3379.236, Path of Strength, Terathan Hive – FAILED x3

  Reading it stung a little less each time, he noticed. Still hurt like all hells, though.

  Another thought occurred to him, and he began sifting for Bertram's entry to learn more about the nearby Guild Master. He had earned his Diamond promotion from the previous Hoseki Guild Master.

  Bertram the Berserker – 1306.604, Path of Strength, Ettin Horde, Enduring Fury

  Huh. You didn’t say many Berserker Guild Masters.

  Something Charlie said floated into his mind. The Mayor said that Gomi facing tests was “inevitable.” The cover story worked well, so far, but something as simple as the boys going to a tournament wiped away a little bit more of Gomi’s treasured obscurity.

  How long could they trade their goods in secret? How many skilled adventurers could they hope to hide indefinitely? How long until a disillusioned adventurer like Sven revealed everything they knew? How long before more adventurers turned up, asking about Gret?

  Active Quest: Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers’ Guild.

  Active Quest: Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

  Active Quest: Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

  If it was within his power, giving Izz and Thuz Diamond quests was the right thing to do. Yes, they would protest, but they had earned it several times over. Their application denial was likely fallout from Hans’ actions, and the mere presence of Diamond adventurers would be a boon to their homeland. People felt safer knowing that someone could save them from the darkest threats. Just as important as the power it provided, the jump in rank would give the brothers more influence in any conversation they had.

  Hans could still write up a bunch of ideas for improving a town from his time in Gomi, but what good was knowledge without power?

  I have to convince them to take a Diamond quest.

  That meant building the Takarabune first, and once it was complete, he could prep Gomi adventurers for Diamond. A few rare Diamonds reached the rank in three years, but for the average Diamond, the journey took ten to fifteen. That was a ways away for the Apprentices.

  Could Gomi keep the charade going that long?

  If they had three or four of those Diamond adventurers, though, Gomi might have the leverage to negotiate additional protections from the kingdom. Having the manual helped with leverage too. Hans knew that the Adventurers’ Guild took Diamond quests from allies without their knowledge, and he had reason to believe a trove of magic items was being withheld from the people.

  If someone was bold enough to bother Gomi then, they would be generic riff raff. Any of his adventurers could cut them down with ease. They wouldn’t need to stack up too many of those bodies before word got around that if you wanted to keep on giving tusks shit, don’t try to do it in Gomi.

  His three quests became one.

  Quest Update: Complete construction of the Takarabune (still need diamond, scarlet steel, celestial steel, and mimic blood).

  Or they could just hang Hans and end the story there.

  The more likely outcome, for sure.

  Sometime late in the night, Hans found himself facedown on his desk. His skin crinkled and roared as he slowly straightened his burned leg. He grimaced as he finally reached the full extension. He felt the warm sensation of blood rising to the surface beneath his bandages.

  His room was dark, his lamp having burnt out hours ago.

  A familiar habit tingled the tips of his fingers. He wanted a sword in his hand. He wanted to feel it work.

  He obliged himself. He walked out the door with his sword and a light sweater. The guard at the back gate was startled when Hans yelled for him to open the gate, but he collected himself and did as Hans asked.

  “Keep this between us, yeah?”

  The guard nodded but looked confused.

  Hans picked a direction and stuck to it, crossing the treeline and trudging through dark forest, his arm up to keep from losing an eye to a low twig. He walked until he felt like stopping, and he couldn’t say how long that was. He found a decent log and sat down with his sword in his lap.

  “Hey! Hey! Anyone hungry?! Oh no I’m wounded and easy prey!” he shouted into the darkness.

  He needed a fight so he could live within a single moment. Not on either side of a moment, in a moment. He needed that peace.

  While he waited, a thought came to him: This is like my solo run. What would she think if I told her about that? Nothing good. Maybe she’d appreciate knowing to help her be sure she was done.

  Because Olza was right about Hans. He felt no remorse about the orc and was, frankly, a little confused why those actions bothered Sven and Olza so much. The choice seemed plain to him. The Mikata adventurers had been forced to slaughter helpless families. The same orcs who delighted in that bloodshed marched on Gomi.

  They were lucky only Philip died. If the Lady of the Forest had sent one less dire wolf, Hans was certain at least two of the Apprentices would have fallen as well. He knew that risk from the start, and he accepted it because the math said it was the right thing to do.

  A few adventurers to save a town full of families? The idea of that decision didn’t bother Hans anymore than slitting the orc’s tendons had. He would be heartbroken for the individuals–devestated, really–but tactically, the scale of the problem warranted significant risk. No amount of wishful thinking would ever change that.

  Hans sat in the dark, hoping a pack of gnolls would try their luck.

  Chip.

  Chip.

  Chip.

  Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

  Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

  Mend the rift with Devon.

  Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

  Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

  Visit the locations of old Diamond quests with Becky.

  Explore the idea of training “dungeon lifeguards” to accompany adventurers in training.

  Ideate on physical chokepoints to prevent monsters from escaping the dungeon.

  Determine if the golem is a threat when the tower is undisturbed.

  Find a new Apprentice Rogue to fill the gap in Gomi’s adventuring capabilities.

  Await the arrival of a safe for the Gomi chapter.

  Manage the Kohei adventurers while they are in Gomi.

  Complete construction of the Takarabune (still need diamond, scarlet steel, celestial steel, and mimic blood).