“Now, you’re probably all wondering why I gathered you here today,” Spur began, leaning over the table and fixing the other council members with a serious stare.

  “We all know exactly why we’re meeting Spur,” General Witherson frowned, already tired of Spur’s antics before the meeting had even begun. “We have bodies to bury, a camp to rebuild, an almost certainly hostile neighbor visiting us first thing in the morning, and a thousand fresh Earthers to deal with on top of all that. Not to mention Captain Reonelli’s bombshell that there are other people from Earth somewhere on Edregon, and the fact that we’re all exhausted from the recent battle. Is now really the best time to be messing around?”

  “No, I suppose it isn’t,” Spur sighed, collapsing into his chair with the wind taken right out of his sails. “Sorry. Jokes are how I deal with stress, and lord knows I’m stressed right about now.”

  Vin couldn’t exactly blame the semi-self-proclaimed leader of their camp. Not only had they just suffered a horrific surprise attack when the third wave of Earthers showed up early and triggered hundreds of deadly monsters to spawn in days ahead of schedule, catching them with their pants down, but they’d also had the leader of a suspected fragment full of criminals schedule an appointment at first light tomorrow.

  Forget stressed, it was a wonder Spur wasn’t having a heart attack right about now.

  “Why don’t we start with the simplest bit and work our way up from there?” Alice offered, the Trapper always the optimist as she gave them all a big smile. “Cleaning up the battlefield should probably happen before anything else, and it’s something simple enough to accomplish.”

  “Mrs. Horne is correct,” Witherson said, nodding her appreciation toward Alice. “My crafters can’t very well begin rebuilding the camp until all this mess is cleaned up, and let’s not forget we have 500 freshly arrived civilians within wave three. No doubt seeing so much carnage first thing after arriving is going to do a number on their psyche.”

  At the moment, Spur had most of the members of the third wave camping about a mile away for that very reason. The man often made a joke of everything, but he tried to do what he could to keep his underlings’ best interests in mind whenever possible.

  “Shia will no doubt be happy to help lead the monster disposal team over to the Sacred Forest again like she did last time,” Vin offered, remembering how the Druid had helped clean up after the battle for wave two. Normally it wasn’t worth bringing Erik regular monster corpses, but when they had a few hundred lying around, the quantity made up for the lack of quality.

  “We’ve got a lot more wounded than we did from wave two’s battle, but thanks to Frank and Shia, everyone’s stable for now at the very least,” Phil pointed out. The leader of the combat classes had just come from the infirmary, having checked in on Shredder, his second in command.

  Vin had been rather surprised to learn the raving punk that had rebelled against Project Ark since day one had somehow wound up as second in command of the combat classes, but it seemed Phil had managed to rein the man in.

  No doubt by whipping his ass in mock combat a couple dozen times.

  “Great, that takes care of the monsters at least,” Spur nodded. “I’ll have Myers scrounge up some volunteers to handle body disposal. Last thing we need is discovering some edgy third waver picked up Necromancer or the like as their class before we can go through and screen them.”

  “Actually, what is your screening process?” Vin couldn’t help but ask. He figured Spur and Myers would come up with something after the fiasco that was Patty taking over half the camp with her magic voice and attempting a coup, but he hadn’t heard any specifics.

  “It’s not as foolproof as I would like, but it’s a start,” Spur admitted. “We have a team of people go through and record every word listed on a person’s interface. Then, after waiting a day or two, we ambush them again when they’re not expecting it and have them repeat it all a second time, noting any discrepancies. Takes way too long and far too much manpower, but it’s the best we can do until a certain Explorer brings us back some sort of truth-detection magic, if such a thing even exists.”

  Vin briefly thought back to the magic charm Madam Trebella had used that would chime anytime it detected a lie, but decided not to say anything. He wasn’t exactly in the mood to deal with the Witch again so soon, and who knew what horrible bargain she would try to strike if Spur requested he go pick up one of her charms.

  Vin and Alka were still indebted to the Witch after she helped them find Alka a new body and bound the ghost to the golem they recovered. Each of them owed the infernal one blanket favor upon request, and he really didn’t want to owe her a second.

  “Can’t you just use your Traitor-bane Capstone like you did with General Lones?” Vin asked, remembering how Spur had revealed the general’s nefarious intentions, right before executing her on the spot before all the new members of wave two.

  “No, I can’t,” Spur sighed. “I haven’t made this information public for obvious reasons, but the Capstone has its limits. It’s hard to explain, but basically, I have to recharge the Capstone by embodying my class. Leading people and acting like a Commander and all that. Thanks to Kym, I’ve learned this type of Capstone is called a reservoir skill. They’re not super common, and often are a lot stronger than skills of a similar level, because you have to accumulate the power before you can spend it. It’s all charged up and ready to go after today’s battle, but I’ll probably only get two or three uses of it at best before it runs dry.”

  “That seems like as good a segue as any,” Witherson said, raising an eyebrow at Spur. “What do we do about Kym, and the men after him? You’ve been hanging onto every word that came out of Kym’s mouth this past week, and yet after he advises you to kill Golrim, the man who sent an assassin into camp last week who killed four of our own, you instead extend an invitation for him to stop by our heavily damaged camp. I don’t suppose this is an uncharacteristic ploy to separate him from his friends and have him killed?”

  “No, it’s not,” Spur frowned, clearly not pleased with Witherson’s summary of events. “Since our first day here on Edregon, there’s been one thing and one thing alone that we lack more than anything else. Information. Despite how helpful he’s been to us thus far, Kym himself refuses to speak about his past. Now, I’ve been willing to look past that due to how useful the man is and his willingness to answer all our questions, but I’m not about to let Kym integrate himself into camp when we don’t know anything about him. Golrim obviously knows more about Kym than we do. All I want is to have a discussion with the man and find out what he knows.”

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  “I don’t like it,” Phil grunted. “He strikes me as the type of guy that is planning four steps ahead, and even Kym warned us he was cunning above all else. Do you really want to invite someone like that into our camp?”

  “What’s the worst that could happen?” Spur asked, grinning at the four frowns that he got in response. “Sheesh, I’m kidding! You guys make some excellent points. How about Vin and I meet with him outside of camp, within shouting distance of the walls? Worst case scenario, if he tries to jump us or anything, Alka can blitz out of Vin and do a little slicing and dicing.” Spur mimed cutting the air with his hands, bouncing his eyebrows at Vin. “Sound like a plan?”

  “Actually, Alka’s ghostly blitzing days are over,” Vin admitted, earning surprised looks from three of the four council members, and a smirk from the last one. Alice had already gotten a rather hands on experience regarding Alka’s new form after the golem had carried her in her arms for a couple of miles. “Long story short, Alka died battling a divine warrior who was going around slaughtering the populations of entire fragments, and in order to save her, we stole a golem from a floating library and formed a contract with a powerful half-demon Witch to bind Alka’s spirit to the golem. So… she’s a golem now. Not a ghost.”

  Spur, Witherson, and Phil all stared at Vin like he was insane, the three of their mouths literally hanging open. Clearing his throat, Vin offered them a small smile. “I told you guys we’ve been busy. You don’t think we were gone for so long just because we were sightseeing, do you?”

  “I don’t think you can preface something as crazy as that with ‘long story short’ and not expect us to ask for more details,” Spur said, getting nods from his fellow council members. “I know we have a lot on our plates at the moment, but give us at least the ten minute version instead of the ‘single breath’ version.”

  Expecting this to come up sooner or later ever since they got back and things died down, Vin launched into his prepared spiel, going over the main things that they’d gone through during the almost two weeks they were gone from camp. He talked about studying earth magic with the villagers of Sakis, how they almost died to the radiation filled fragment and giant stone golems hidden within, and how they barely survived by stumbling upon the infernals’ village and getting saved by Madam Trebella.

  He mentioned the civil war that had taken place in the trogum’s fragment and how the divine warrior had nearly killed the rest of them alongside Alka. How they’d gotten word of the floating library and managed to snatch up one of the golems at great risk to their own lives. He told them about the ritual Madam Trebella used to bind Alka to her new body, and how they then ventured into the dwarf-filled Crater and managed to convince their only surviving master smith to craft her a new sword and transplant her arm over onto Vin.

  He wrapped it all up by explaining the reason they’d needed Alice’s help, and how the Trapper had been paramount in their plans to trap and take down the impossibly fast divine warrior once and for all.

  Naturally, there were a number of things Vin decided to withhold from the council for the moment. Things such as Shia’s divine boon that allowed her to locate the infernals’ village in the first place, or his discovery of the dungeons and the giant extradimensional series of rooms and corridors running parallel to Edregon that he'd begun thinking of as the Underside. He’d most likely tell them about at least the dungeons soon enough, but Spur had asked for the ‘ten minute’ version, and with how often he had to stop and answer questions, Vin’s explanation was already nearing the better part of an hour.

  Finally, he caught up to the present, explaining how it was thanks to Alice’s Personal Trap Sense that they’d been alerted that something was wrong around camp, and rushed back as quickly as they could to see if they could help.

  As soon as he finished his long-winded explanation, Vin leaned back in his chair, giving his fellow council members a few moments to digest everything. Eventually, Spur just slowly shook his head, letting out a slightly crazed laugh.

  “Okay… I know I said I was mad… But you can officially consider yourself out of the dog house. You weren’t kidding when you said you were busy.”

  “Still, I feel bad about leaving for so long,” Vin admitted. “I can promise you I’m not planning on vanishing like that for weeks on end again anytime soon. Especially not when there’s such a prominent threat right on our doorstep.”

  Besides, now that I know how the dungeons work, I can zip around Edregon faster than ever before… Vin didn’t voice this last thought of course. Better to let them think he wasn’t planning on going more than a fragment or two away for the time being.

  “That’s definitely appreciated. Even without Alka echoing you, you’re still one of our strongest assets,” Witherson said, giving him a firm nod. “What level are you at this point anyway?”

  Coughing, Vin sheepishly scratched the back of his head. He’d known this was coming as well, but after hearing how far he’d eclipsed the rest of the Earthers, he was still a tad embarrassed to admit it.

  “I, uh… I’m level 30…”

  “God, damn it!” Spur shouted, standing up so fast he knocked his chair over. Leaning over the table, he glared at Vin. “Come, on! After today’s battle when I hit level 25, I thought I’d surely have finally caught up to you in level! You mean to tell me even after all I’ve done for this camp, I’m not even close?!”

  “Tough luck colonel,” Witherson said, a rare smile on her face as she took in Spur’s annoyed face. “Guess you and I have been racing for second place all this time.”

  “…Explorer’s a stupid class…” Spur muttered, righting his chair and plopping himself back down, all while rolling his eyes. “Anyway, good for you for progressing so far in what, less than a month? And before you start drooling Phil, no you can’t fight him, we’re far too busy.”

  “I wasn’t going to ask,” Phil drawled. “I don’t know what it is, but even I don’t want to try fighting him right now. Despite the fact that Challenger’s Intuition is saying the gap between us has closed quite a bit, my own instincts are screaming at me that he’s more dangerous than ever.” Phil paused, peering closer at Vin’s latest addition to his magical arsenal. “…Maybe it’s the arm.”

  Feeling slightly self-conscious, Vin slowly hid his magic arm under the table, earning a frown from the battle-addicted councilor.

  “If you guys are going to be arguing over who’s fighting Vin or who’s beating who in level, are we done here?” Alice asked impatiently. “A certain someone asked me to reset all my traps that the monsters tripped before our visitor shows up tomorrow, and I don’t exactly have a ton of time.”

  “Yes, I think we’re done here,” Spur sighed, staring up at the ceiling. “We have too much on our plate at the moment to worry about the supposed other Earthers just yet. When I have a free moment, I’ll have a chat with Reonelli and get some more information from him. But for now, I’ll start the screening of the third wave and show them where to set up camp until we can get new buildings up and ready for them. Vin, once we finish our chat with Golrim, think I could actually get your help around camp for once? God knows we have no shortage of things that need to get done, and some of the magic you talked about learning has given me a few ideas.”

  “Of course,” Vin nodded, quickly agreeing. After missing the last monster battle, he wanted to do whatever he could to help out.

  “Fantastic. In that case, places everyone!” Spur grinned, getting to his feet and rubbing his hands together.

  “We’ve got an audience of a thousand bushy eyed Earthers, and the show’s about to start!”

  Patreon

  Discord