"Um... How did that work, Frey?"

  "You said it yourself earlier~."

  "?"

  "She's a good person. And has likely built up a good reputation amongst the lower-ranking soldiers. Plus~ once enough people around you say that the sky is green, you'll find yourself saying the same, not to stick out."

  Let's not think about this. Yeah, going to bury this real deep.

  ""Orders, ma'am!""

  It seemed that Lieutenant Higgins was still in shock.

  "Um, when did I become a Lieutenant?"

  Grabbing the confused woman by the shoulders, Alex followed up, "Before Captain Algee left, he gave you a promotion and put you in charge~. You were so shocked that it went in one ear and out the other. Isn't that right, soldiers!"

  ""Yes, ma'am!!"" Some of the soldiers agreed.

  Yeah, that's not how that works.

  Lieutenant Higgins looked down at her shield and then scanned her fellow soldiers. Some of them were shifting around nervously, unsure of their future. Another group had determined looks as they saluted her. The final group looked dumbfounded.

  They were practically scratching their heads as they looked left and right, trying to get a read on the room.

  Higgins clenched her hand into a fist and made a decision. "Jayce, Grey, Dawson, and anyone else with earth affinity. Go aid in the construction of the wall! I want a shining wall that won't be knocked down... Easily!"

  ""Yes, Ma'am!""

  "Franklin & Luke, Vicky & Holden, I want you to run recon in pairs in the immediate vicinity of the Spire. I want a report the second you see a wraith step onto the grass or anything suspicious!"

  ""Yes, Ma'am!""

  "Ranged fighters! I want to see you ready to post up on the walls the second it is complete!"

  ""Yes, Ma'am!""

  "Melee fighters! Organize yourselves into teams and be ready to move on my orders! Stand by on the outer reaches of the wall!"

  ""Yes, Ma'am!""

  "We are going to secure the Earthen Spire and keep it that way!"

  ""Yes, Ma'am!""

  She seems a bit clumsy, but I think she might be doing a good job. Some of the soldiers looked confused when a name was called. I think she used first names instead of last names, but it all sorted itself out. At least she isn't cowering in the Earthen Spire, ready to teleport at the nearest sign of danger.

  'sigh'

  Damian looked over toward Ms. Elf. She was jotting something down on her clipboard while watching over her newly purchased goods.

  Better get this over with.

  "Hello, miss, I was wondering where my party and I could station ourselves for the fight."

  Still jotting something down on her clipboard, she plainly said, "Take any free spot up on the wall once it's complete. We're setting the mana potion crates, bows, and arrows up there as well. Take them as needed, don't pocket them, or I'll know. If you go beyond the wall, you may take a better sword and healing potions. I expect you to return them. I will know if you don't otherwise."

  "Ok! Thank you, miss!"

  Damian started to back up to get away from the illusionist elf. Something about her made him feel a bit uncomfortable.

  Damian had slammed into an armored figure behind him. It was more like running into a wall. Looking behind himself to apologize, he was met by the newly crowned Lieutenant Higgins.

  "Betty, that isn't nice to use your skills on new faces. This guy and his party saved me and my men earlier."

  ? Higgins, despite all of her high-strung tone earlier, looked to be much more at ease around Ms. Elf. But for some reason, she was talking to her while facing a different direction.

  "Maria, I don't have time to humor every adventurer who's lost and doesn't know what to do."

  Refocusing on where Higgins was speaking, he could see another Ms. Elf! Looking back at the one he had just spoken to, she was still there, repeating the same action of jotting down something onto a clipboard without ever turning to a new page.

  Automatic response illusions? Crazy!

  "I wanted to check with you to see if my men could take some of the supplies."

  "Yes, that's fine, just pay me back later." Higgins's face blanched at Betty's response.

  Waving her hands weakly in the air toward Ms. Elf, "Betty... You know I don't have that kind of money. I'll be paying you back for years..."

  "Then pay me back over the years if you must. I'll take installments."

  Higgins looked conflicted, but then dropped her arms in resignation.

  "...Ok..."

  Looking up from her 'real?' clipboard, Betty smiled at the simple Higgins.

  "I'll knock off 1,000 dials for each crate you unload from these carriages."

  "Yes!" She dove into the back of the carriage to start moving crates. Her gaze was threatening anyone who would get near. If Damian approached, he thought he might get bitten.

  "Um, isn't this going to slow the speed of unloading if you're going to play with Higgins like this?"

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  "Who says I'm playing with her? Even if she unloads all of those crates, she'll still be in debt by about 10,000 dials."

  Did she dodge my question? And a 10,000 dial debt was no small amount.

  Coined after the curved rectangles found in everyone's status sheets, the dial is the name of the world's currency. The coins that make up the dial were as follows: Copper Dial -> Large Copper Dial -> Silver Dial -> Large Silver Dial -> Gold Dial -> Large Gold Dial

  Each higher tier of coinage would equal 10 of the previous coins.

  Ex. 1 Silver Dial = 10 Large Copper Dial = 100 Copper Dial.

  Long ago, they used to mould each coin to the dial's shape, but over time they abandoned that practice in favour of simple circular coins with the dial's shape stamped on them.

  The old coins were harder to store, and you could even cut someone with the edges. It didn't do well for two heated merchants to have makeshift shives in hand.

  For a simple commoner looking for simple pleasures, five dials could get you the most basic of meals. For people who seek fulfillment in their food, about 30 dials per meal. Looking to become an adventurer? About 250 dials could buy you a decent, cheap sword. Looking toward your wealthy parents to buy you something special for your adventure? About 5,000 dials could buy you an enchanted sword instead.

  'sigh'

  "Would you mind if I help her?"

  Betty's eyes went straight to his stump of an arm. Oh, yeah... Feels like the first time the bum arm has truly held me back.

  "You probably shouldn't."

  "Yeah... Newly lost. You wouldn't have something in there that could regrow my arm?"

  "... No, and if we did, we wouldn't waste it on a tier 4 adventurer."

  "Fair enough, sorry to bother you."

  Turning back around, Damian noticed that Frey was gone. It took a few seconds of searching, but he found her already up on the wall, browsing through one of the crates and pulling out vials of various colors. She was slotting them into a part of the wall that seemed perfectly made to house them. As he scanned the wall, there were various compartments for different tools.

  Did Ms. Elf think of everything in her starting wall design?

  "... ..."

  What?!

  Damian could see Lieutenant Higgins was up on the wall giving orders to the guardsmen. Looking back toward the carriage, he could see that Higgins was still frantically unloading crates. With another head snap, he could see two more Higgins on each side of the wall, prepping her soldiers for the coming battle.

  Damian eyed Ms. Elf.

  "Um, are you controlling those Higgins illusions?"

  Pausing a moment from jotting things down on her clipboard, she looked up, "Yes, although I find Maria to be of good character, I don't believe that she could organize all of these soldiers effectively without a proper command structure in place. They are just the leftovers from the attack."

  Pausing for another moment, she continued, "It would also become difficult to organize cooperation between adventurers and guards with two people giving commands. As much as I am fond of her, I am not willing to give up command when I am much more experienced."

  "Ah! Yes, fair enough, Ms. Elf!"

  Ah shit, I just called her Ms. Elf to her face! Ahh! What is it about this woman that makes me feel so nervous? Ahh!!

  With a slight squint to her eyes, she followed, "I am Betty Sanderson, Vice Leader of the Adventurers Guild in Gamo, Tier 6. You will call me Ms. Sanderson." The feeling of pressure flared up as she concluded those words.

  "Yes, Ms. Sanderson!"

  "Now, if you would get out of my way, I have a battle to prepare for."

  "Yes, Ms. Sanderson!"

  Damian quickly moved to the back of the carriage to flee from Ms. Elf, no, Ms. Sanderson. But his footsteps betrayed him. Instead of fleeing to the familiar presence of Frey or his party, he ended up behind the carriage in his haste. Now he was stuck at the back of the carriage watching over Higgins. If he doubled back the other way, he'd look like more of a fool.

  'sigh'

  Lieutenant Higgins was making quick work of offloading crates. She was practically, no, she was hopping in and out of the carriage with a crate in hand each time. It looked like some demonic exercise soldiers would be put through.

  Not long after arriving at the back, Damian could hear, "There's no more!"

  Looking back at Damian, she said again, "There's no more! Those adventurers already offloaded the other carriage! What am I going to do! I can't handle that much debt!"

  "I'm sure she was only kidding, you're her friend, right?"

  "Betty doesn't kid around! An adventurer once spilled some weapon oil on her clothes. He offered to do anything to make it up to her. She told him that he had to do her bidding for the next month if he didn't want to pay for a new set of clothes!"

  "She was serious! Betty had him running chores all around the Guild. Now he still works there like her dog! You don't make deals with Betty Sanderson! She'll trap you if you do..."

  "... ..."

  "What about the military? They would probably cover the costs of goods acquired during an emergency?"

  "They do!... But you need an official seal from a military officer of at least Lieutenant to mark the transaction. It's null and void if you don't have that! All of the cost would be placed on the officer who made the deal otherwise! I'm screwed!!!"

  "Ok, ok. How about we take another look around? It's dark in that carriage. Let's use a lantern to make sure you didn't miss anything."

  Damian lit and passed a lantern hanging off the side of the carriage over to Higgins. Swiftly, she crawled along the floor, scanning for anything she might have left behind.

  "Nothing... there's nothing... I'm screwed..."

  "At least it was for a good cause." Damian tried to comfort her.

  Higgins then hung the still-lit lantern in the centre of the carriage and hopped out. Looking back one last time, she stopped in her tracks. She stared at the carriage as if trying to burn holes into it with her eyes.

  The focused Higgins then repeatedly squatted and stood, then stepped to the sides of the carriage to drill more holes into it.

  "Are you alright?"

  "What did you say to me before? About lanterns?"

  "Um... It's always darkest under the lantern. But I didn't mean a physical lantern. It was a reference to an institution or organization. Those places you should be able to trust are the best places to commit crimes."

  Lieutenant Higgins proceeded to grab her mace at her side. Raising it high into the air, it came crashing down on the side of the carriage. Up and then down again, she dismantled it.

  "What are you doing, Maria!" A panicked Ms. Sanderson rounded the corner of the carriage.

  "You don't have to pay me back if..." The words got caught in her throat.

  Because a dark-skinned hand flopped out of the side of the carriage, dangling there lifelessly.

  On the back of the hand was a symbol resembling a crow's foot, marking someone as a slave within the Fire Empire.

  Shit!!! What?!!! Why???

  Before Damian could make sense of the situation, Ms. Sanderson quickly moved to the newly formed hole and peered inside. She did a quick take from all available angles and then stepped back, swiping her hand from one side to another.

  A giant meat cleaver appeared in the middle of the air and moved straight for the horses at the front of the wagon. As the ethereal blade met the panicking horses, it simply passed through them, not harming them in the slightest.

  As the giant blade continued toward the carriage, the sound of someone carving wood could be heard.

  *shhhrrr-shrrr-shrrr*

  As the blade stopped toward the end of the carriage, it tilted up and back, picking up the top half and sliding it off away from the horses.

  "!!!"

  As the top half of the carriage was sliding off, Damian could see numerous rune engravings on the underside of the wood. Inlaid in these carvings were metallic fillings, most likely metals of high mana-conductivity.

  Did the runes disguise the hidden compartment? Or something else? Will they blow up?

  Ms. Sanderson took a glance at the runes. "Tsk." And then promptly refocused on what was in front of her.

  Looking at the uncovered carriage, Damian saw two bodies lying there, both with dark tan skin, indicating they were likely descendants of the Fire Empire.

  They were covered in wounds, both new and old, but some were unusual. There were deep cuts in some areas, while others looked more like claw marks. Were these self-inflicted?

  Other than the cuts and bruises, there were dark rings around their wrists, ankles, and necks, marks left from their shackles.

  Slave collars were a nasty piece of enchanting. Once worn, it'd slowly sapped the mana from the wearer over time, making sure that they couldn't gather enough mana to cast skills.

  It was easy to tell that these men were not treated well in their last moments of life. Each of them had one extended cut across their throats, right above the collar mark.

  Slavery wasn't illegal in the Earthen Union, but they only allowed slaves who were either criminal slaves or debtor slaves. Both of which had their own basic rights. Many rules had to be adhered to before enslavement as well. This was clearly a breach of that, and it crossed one of the Valkyrie's taboos of illegal slavery.