The bright blue light enveloped Austin’s eyes as he moved forward. He could only rely on his other senses to guide him. He was not even sure if the rest of the group was with him. All he could do was hope that they were and that he was going the right direction.

  The light slowly faded from Austin’s eyes, and he was barely able to make out his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was three figures next to him. It did not take long for the light to fully fade, and he could tell that the figures were Maya, Josh, and Sean. He was relieved that the group was still with him.

  Before he said anything to the group, Austin wanted to get an idea of his surroundings. He was instantly shocked at what he saw. He assumed that they would enter the tower in some sort of room, but that was definitely not the case. Instead, they appeared to be in a cornfield. The group was surrounded by large cornstalks.

  “That’s definitely not what I expected,” Austin commented to the group.

  “At this point, I am not surprised by anything we see,” Sean said flatly.

  “Why did I expect you to have a reaction like that?” Josh laughed.

  “Because he’s the craziest of us all. He just hides it behind a calm demeanor,” Maya said.

  “I’m the craziest?” Sean asked. “How does that make sense?”

  “Only explanation for you always being calm,” Maya shrugged.

  “Okay, we get it. Sean is the actual craziest of us all,” Austin rolled his eyes. “More importantly, we probably need to figure out why we are in a cornfield.”

  Almost as if their phones responded to Austin’s words, they each went off. If they all received a message, then Austin could only assume it had to do with the tower. So, he opened his phone and saw there was a message waiting for him without a phone number.

  “Welcome to my tower, brave challenger! I have all sorts of challenges in store for you. If you can conquer them all, then you may claim my grand treasure.

  “I know you must be confused right now. So, I will explain the first scenario and objective. A skilled warrior must not only know how to fight, but also how to protect others. You are located on a farm that will be attacked by bandits soon. You need to protect the farm and the family that owns it from these bandits.

  “Good luck! And please give me a good show!”

  Austin closed his phone and looked towards the group. At least the tower gave them some direction. This was definitely a strange spot to just drop them into. “Well, I guess that makes things somewhat easier. We should probably go find this family then.”

  “We don’t even know which way they are. And it’s not like we can see out of this field,” Maya pointed out.

  “Oh, you don’t know,” Sean responded. “I guess I don’t really show many people. You have to keep this a secret.”

  “What are you talking about?” Maya asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Just watch, I think it’s pretty neat,” Josh said as he nudged Maya with his elbow.

  Tiny droplets of water started to form in the air. More and more formed in the air until Josh was surrounded by droplets that looked like suspended rain. The droplets started to gather together in three separate groups. As they gathered, they looked like a mass of bubbles. Each of the masses started to shape itself until they looked like birds. The moment they finished taking shape, they flew high above the cornstalks.

  “You see, when we got back, Sean pivoted to trying to learn Tamer techniques. They have come in handy for our assignments, but we like to keep it a secret. So, as far as anyone knows, he uses Champion techniques,” Josh explained to Maya.

  “Oh, so you guys are decoys while those birds are the ones really investigating each department,” Maya concluded.

  “Exactly, everyone knows that we work directly under Austin. So, we had to figure out a way to investigate without tipping people off,” Josh nodded. “Which is also how we know about Natasha’s true intentions. She and Jess have been planning to take leadership from Austin since we returned to Earth.”

  “That just really shocks me. I don’t understand why she would abdicate to Austin if she wanted to be in charge,” Maya said.

  “She didn’t want to create problems with James’s former men. Which is why she is conspiring to take the power from Austin,” Josh said. “We are not sure what their exact plans are as of yet.”

  “Hopefully, it’s nothing to worry about,” Austin interjected. “I doubt they would put everyone in jeopardy just to gain control of the town.”

  “I still think that we should deal with them now,” Josh said.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “As long as they don’t cause real harm, they aren’t really a problem,” Austin shrugged. “I still think they have provided a lot for the town. So, I don’t want to cause unnecessary conflict.”

  “Okay, I’m done,” Sean interrupted as the water birds flew down to him. He then pointed in front of himself. “Looks like there is a farmhouse to the north. Also, as of right now, it does not seem like there is anyone I would identify as bandits in the area. So, we have some time.”

  “Well, we should probably get moving to the farmhouse then,” Austin concluded as he walked in the direction that Sean indicated.

  “What about this Natasha conversation?” Josh asked as he chased after Austin.

  “For a later time, right now we focus on our goal,” Austin said with finality as he continued forward.

  The group moved in silence towards the farmhouse. After Austin’s tone, no one felt comfortable talking. Even Maya could feel the tension behind Austin. Like this was something that he had already decided on, and he did not want to talk more about it.

  Austin pushed through the edge of the cornstalks as they arrived at their destination. Ahead of him was a small wooden house surrounded by several barns. The buildings looked like they had been repaired many times throughout the years. Patchwork repairs covered the buildings in various spots.

  “I guess we introduce ourselves?” Austin asked the group as he broke the silence.

  For a moment, the group was caught off guard by the broken silence. Maya was the one to respond. She did not have the same fear that the other two in the group seemed to have of Austin. “Yeah, we probably should.”

  “Well, what do we even say?” Josh asked. “We can’t really say that we are in a tower and this is part of the trials.”

  “We can probably just tell them we heard about bandits in the area and are here to help,” Sean suggested. “We’ll just treat it like an RPG. We are getting into our roles.”

  “Honestly, that’s probably the best approach,” Austin nodded in agreement.

  Before the group could approach further, the door to the house swung open with a crashing sound. A burly human man marched out of the house with a hatchet in his hand. His skin was a deep tan, stained from decades of labor outside. Through his wrinkled face, he glared daggers at the group.

  “This is private property,” the man growled. “You best be leaving.”

  Austin moved forward to address the man, but was interrupted by Sean coughing to clear his throat. Once his throat was cleared, Sean began to speak exaggeratedly. “Hello, good sir. We are a humble band of adventurers, and we heard about bandit trouble around these parts. We’ve come here to rout the bandits and defend your land.”

  The man still kept his axe ready as he looked over the group. “I don’t know why a bunch of adventurers would come way out here. No one has tried to deal with our bandit problem before. Seems to me like you are a new group of bandits trying to trick me with fancy talk.”

  “We are not in it for the coin. We just want to carry out justice. I swear it on my grandfather’s honor,” Sean responded, still with an exaggerated tone.

  “There you go again! Using fancy talk!” The man started to grow even angrier.

  “My honor does not allow-“ Sean continued to speak.

  “Shut up! You’re making it worse!” Josh interrupted Sean before turning to the man. “I’m sorry about him. He can be a little strange. We really are just here to deal with the bandit problem, I promise.”

  Before the man could reply, another man around Austin’s age walked out of the house. He was just as tall as the first man, but was much thinner. With his tan skin, he looked like he could be a younger version of the older man.

  “Pa, do you really think these people are here to trick us? The bandits have not had any trouble in their raids. I don’t know why they would send someone to trick us,” the younger man tried to reason with the older man.

  “You never know with bandits,” the older man turned to address the younger man. “I’ve been trying to tell you, Jacob. They’ll do anything to get what they want.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to just attack us? I think we should hear them out,” Jacob suggested.

  “You can hear them out,” the older man grumbled as he turned away. “I’m going inside. Just don’t do anything stupid.”

  Jacob shrugged as his father walked into the building and turned his attention to Austin’s group. He walked towards them with a friendly expression. Even if he looked just like his father, his demeanor was definitely the opposite of his father's.

  “Sorry, my dad can be kind of stubborn,” Jacob said to the group. “He thinks I am too trusting, but I don’t see a reason not to trust you guys. I am confused as to why you came all the way out here, though.”

  Sean was about to speak when Austin motioned with his hand to stop. Austin then turned to address Jacob. “We are fortunate enough to have plenty of money for ourselves, but we want to test our skills. We figured what better way than to fight off a group of bandits? That way, we get to test our skills and help someone.”

  “I can’t say I fully understand, but I have always heard that adventurers are kind of strange. Not to mention, I have heard plenty of stories of powerful guys just doing things for the fight or to help others,” Jacob nodded as he thought over the situation.

  “Exactly, do you think heroes in stories started off fighting the big bad monster? No, they worked themselves up to it,” Josh added on. “We can’t be heroes like that unless we get stronger.”

  “Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense!” Jacob said with a smile. “I guess I need to consider myself lucky that some amateur heroes decided to come here.”

  “Yes, and we don’t want to cause any trouble. We will help with the bandit problem and be on our way,” Austin said.

  “I really appreciate it. I’m not sure how much longer we could deal with their raids,” Jacob said before he frowned slightly. “I am sorry to say, I don’t think my dad will trust you guys. So, I can’t offer you a place to stay in our house. Not that we have much room anyway. Between my parents, my brothers, my wife, and my son, it’s kind of cramped. I know it’s not much, but you could stay in the barn for the time being. That way, you have a little shelter.”

  “That sounds great to me,” Austin nodded with a smile. “Anything is good. Like I said, we don’t want to cause you trouble.”

  “Thank you for understanding. I’ll show you the way,” Jacob said before he turned in the direction of the barns.