Glenn jumped out of bed with a spring in his step. The Guildmaster had given him permission to head into town. He had only asked for two things. The first was that they return within three days, apparently the Guildmasters of all the halls were doing what they called walking the wall. The Guildmaster who called the Conclave would start The Walk. He would walk to the next guildhall along the wall upon reaching it they would have a ceremony of some kind and go off to the next guildhall together. An honored tradition when meeting, for not immediately urgent matters, it was not skipped lightly. When a Guildmaster left the hall the mana fluctuations could lead to problems for the town. This process would let the mana adjust slowly. The end result, though, would be a wave of mana spiraling out from the city. This was not a problem having already evacuated most of the nearby villages for the monster wave.

  The second thing the Guildmaster had requested of Glenn was that he picked up some rock candy. Apparently the Guildmaster had a sweet tooth. He was, however, unable to go to town to satiate it. It turns own that money was only used for trade between towns so if he said The Guildmaster wants rock candy they would give him rock candy.

  Glenn heading downstairs met Alica for breakfast, she wore simple armor much lighter then when they had met in the Fowl Forest. Her long auburn hair tucked behind her ears, she wore a silvery hairpin of a dove on the back of a wolf to help hold it.

  Glenn on the other hand had been given several new sets of clothing. His prior clothes had been burned. He had stubble, not being able to get a close shave with a straight razor. He had Molly trim his hair back to a more reasonable length. He had always preferred shorter hair, it was easier to manage. He looked to the outside world like he was in his twenties. In his heart though he felt as though he were still forty five.

  It's a different world though everyone has had a past life. I just remember mine. Thinking back though the memories were getting hazier and hazier. The memory crystals had been used the day before while waiting to find out if he would be permitted to go to town. It hadn't gone well, the images were as though seen from a thick fog. Often he found that he couldn't remember certain parts at all. If he had waited much longer he doubted he would have had much he could put into the crystals at all. The skillbook had done a number on his memories of then. When he would try to remember his first pet cat, he remembered it as a Grindlebog, a monster that looks like a cat, but, steals the life of those whosoever’s homes they inhabit. His family resembled a mix of different species, he couldn’t even remember their names. Strangely though he was okay with it. Like it was the way things were supposed to be not something to worry over.

  This worried him the most. He just had nothing he could do about it. He had recorded his feeling of wrongness he was having in a memory stone and moved on. Having asked around, he found it was a side effect of skillbooks. It corrected things you remembered that were incorrect. Apparently that caused problems for all outworlders. Things that had another name for the exact same thing would just change your memory to remember the correct name. This interacted poorly with a memories of a world without magic.

  No reason to dwell on anything I can’t fix. I will ask the Guildmaster again when I am back. He thought.

  “There you go brooding again.” Alica said, snapping him from his thoughts. “Hurry up, I am ready to go.”

  “Okay, okay.” He said with a chuckle, he remembered something like this before, he just couldn’t place it. Finishing his plate he went to get washed up.

  Alica having been done eating before Glenn had arrived headed over to Molly. Mark had mostly recovered, though he was still missing an arm he would recover. Once he was able to take care of himself Molly had returned to work.

  “Good morning Molly.” Alica said with a wave. “How is Mark doing today?”

  “He is doing well. The healers say he will be back to his full self in a week or so.” Molly replied, with what Alica would have sworn sounded like a tale wag. She was dressed in the standard guild receptionist uniform Black with the guild insignia on the breast. The knee length skirt had rustled. “He told me to tell you two thank you. He remembered that you beat the healer to his side and it meant a lot to him.”

  Alica blushed at the genuine gratitude. “Well I mean it’s Mark. What else would I do?”

  “That is exactly the point.” Molly snarl grinned. “Exactly the point.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Molly can I ask you a personal question?” Alica asked a bit meekly.

  “Sure anything.” Molly replied.

  “Why don’t you use your other form at work? I mean it would be easier to control your anger right I know you have to fight back your urges all the time.” Alica asked.

  “That’s why. What better way to work on my control than a room full of drunk adventurers. If anyone is going to strike a nerve it’s this lot. We all have to struggle to grow.” Molly replied warmly. “And I get to blame any floor damage on Vainstrom.”

  This got a laugh out of Alica who said, “I am going into town do you or Mark want me to pick up anything?”

  “Oh you are? Could you pick up some of the chocolates they have at the general store? Oh and pick me out something nice too.” Molly replied excitedly. “Surprise me.”

  “Absolutely I have just the thing in mind!” Alica lied through her teeth.

  Glenn came back downstairs shortly after Alica and Molly said their goodbyes. Together they headed out the door and toward the town.

  The road to town was perfectly straight like the spokes of a wheel, and long. The wall was a half day travel from the wall in all directions. About ten of so miles Glenn thought. As they walk though Glenn understood why. Most of the land was used for crafting and other industries near the wall, but the closer they got to town, the more farms and pasture land he saw. Alica had said that the craftsmen benefit from the higher magical density near the wall. Glenn almost didn’t want to leave the crafting area when he had seen a man Louis doing what he had learned was runecrafting. Alica had to almost drag him away until Louis had told him he would be welcome to come and learn there anytime.

  “I’m sorry.” Glenn said. “It’s just I was an engineer and isn’t that like magic engineering?” His excitement clear.

  “I get it but who knows, you might find other things more interesting in town. You don’t want to miss everything else do you?” Alica had said. “Plus I need time to find something for Molly.”

  “You are picking something up for her?” Glenn replied curiously. “What does she want?”

  “She told me to surprise her.” Alica said with a frown. “What should I get her?”

  Glenn put in deep thought and said, “A hairbrush?”

  Alica hid a laugh. “I think that would be rude.” She said.

  “Honestly I’m terrible at giving gifts.” Glenn said “How about something to eat… well I just scared myself. What do werewolves eat?”

  Still laughing at him she said. “The same thing as everything else. They are Werewolves not wolves.”

  Glenn stopped walking. “You mean she has a normal form? Wait is that rude, what is normal for a werewolf? What does she look like?”

  Alica was dying she knew it, she couldn’t breath. The look on Glenn’s face as he went through Shock to thoughtful to genuine curiosity had hit her funny bone hard. “Stop.” She barely got out. “Is that, what you think about, when you are brooding?” She gasped falling back into laughter.

  Glenn was not amused, which caused more laughter as he furrowed his brow.

  “Alright, that’s enough, calm down.” Glenn said to more laughter. It was several minuets where Alica avoided looking at him until she finally composed herself.

  “Her other form is her normal form. Werewolves are turned not born. And you will have to ask her yourself.” She answered wiping a tear from her eye. “Honestly I don’t know if asking is rude. Most werewolves don’t spend as much time as a werewolf. So it’s not normally a problem.”

  “Are there a lot of werewolves?” he asked.

  “Some but not a lot. It is one of the few ways to change your class without a quest so some take that route.”

  They continued walking, passing wheatfields and orchards, Pastures with grazing animals and fields left barren. It was soothing.

  “Alica this is great, so peaceful, if I wanted to could I live here?”

  This caught Alica off guard. “You could but when you level past 25 you would have to leave you know?”

  “But if I stopped leveling could I live here?” He asked.

  “I am sure you could but why would you want to?” She asked.

  “I don’t know if I want to be a fighter.” He said a hint of shame in his voice.

  “Oh then don’t fight.” Alica replied matter of factly.”The town is for people too young or have lost the ability to use magic anymore. If you don’t want to fight just do your class quest and change your path. You could pick up runecrafting.”

  “But when I cross level twenty five I cant go back into town right?” Glenn asked.

  “Yeah of course but you could have a shop near the wall too. Also at level twenty five you would be safe in a village for the most part.”

  “Don’t monsters attack the villages wouldn’t I have to fight then?”

  Alica stopped and looked him in the eyes. “You don’t mean you don’t want to fight. You mean you want to make someone else fight for you don’t you?”

  “It would be nice if my life wasn’t in danger every day.” He replied unflinching.

  “Everywhere is dangerous, but here is where you struggle. If you don’t struggle you won’t get stronger. If you don’t want to get stronger you would have chosen a different afterlife. Your soul made this decision already, you just need to realize why. No one can tell you why.”

  That didn’t sound right to Glenn. He really didn’t want to fight. In fact he wanted some potato chips and a couch right now. “Why would anyone want to fight?” He asked finally.

  “I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, it’s to protect those I care about. You ran in to help me and Mark when we needed it. You know when to fight. So the question is why did you jump in?”

  “I don’t know, but thank you. I will need time to think about that.” Glenn replied thoughtfully.

  “Get your brood on!” Alica teased.

  They continued on in silence.